HETHPOOL in the College Valley maybe isn't the most accessible of places, but it's ideal for breeding Cheviot sheep, as far as farmer Bill Elliot is concerned.

He and his wife Fanny run 900 Cheviot ewes alongside 450 Blackfaces across almost 2500acres of hill ground near Wooler.

"The land we work runs along five miles," explains Bill, "so it's a fair stretch, and it's very much mostly rough grazing."

Familiar faces in Cheviot circles, Bill and Fanny have had the tenancy at Hethpool since November 1999 and Bill's family have been there 60 years this year.

"My father Gilbert came here as estate manager of College Valley Estate, and oversaw 12,000acres, 5600 ewes, 160 head of cattle, 14 shepherds', and numerous other farm staff," Bill tells us, "he did that until he passed away in 1980, and even though I was working elsewhere at the time, the estate asked me to come home and take over."

The decision was taken however, to split the huge estate into four separate units and rent them out as individual concerns. Bill took one of these on himself, with an agreement now in place that he'll have the tenancy until he retires.

He now works Hethpool, where his Cheviot flock is based, and Fleehope where he has his Blackies. Hethpool itself rises from 400ft at the farm, with the hill reaching 1500ft above sea level and the hill at Fleehope running to 1970ft.

He chose to stick to both breeds as they were on the ground when he took on the farm, and he's built on this and developed them from there. He doesn't run any cattle now, as is agreed in his tenancy, and only takes on some as summer grazers, to help with grassland management.

He regularly does well selling his Cheviot tups at Lockerbie, Dingwall and Lairg, but with lambing just around the corner, this is his current priority.

Bill does the lambing each year with the help of Fanny, but also with the help of Jim Gardiner, a local man who also lives in the valley.

"Jim is wonderful, and definitely invaluable to me," Bill admits, "we think the same way, which means we work well together, and I wouldn't be able to cover the ground we have without him.

"He lambs half of Hethpool and the rest of the year he works part-time doing anything and everything. Without him I really would be stuck."

Fanny, a practice nurse in Coldstream who works four days a week, takes a fortnight's holiday during lambing time, and even after she returns to work, leaves early on those mornings to check the Blackie ewes with twins at Fleehope before her official working day begins.

The Blackface flock is almost all completely finished lambing, having started around the end March, before the Cheviots start around the middle of April, taking some of the pressure off the team.

With up to 700 pairs of twins born annually, and a scanning percentage of on average 150% for the Cheviots and 170% for the Blackies, Bill doesn't make his own fodder, with all available fields needed for his ewes and lambs. Instead, small bales of hay have to be bought in each year.

"It does cost," he admits, "but I need the field space, and that way I can guarantee good quality hay each year!"

With only one barn and single hay shed at Hethpool - with room for 14 tups at most during sale time - the lambing is completely done outside.

This time of year is the only time the Cheviots are down off the hill, and once lambed, the singles and their mothers head straight back there, with the twins kept shut further down until after shearing.

Bill also adheres to a strict regime of treating his flock, so as to give them the best chance both throughout lambing and the rest of the year.

His ewes all get a mineral drench prior to lambing, and they're treated with Footvax at scanning, before more minerals when the lambs are cut and again pre-tupping.The lambs are treated at clipping and speaning time.

He also puts out salt buckets that are made to the farm's own specification, with high levels of cobalt, selenium, copper, iodine and zinc to provide the flock with what may be lacking in the ground.

These buckets also have added biotin, which, combined with the zinc, Bill finds helps massively with lameness issues.

Bill sells all of his Cheviot and Blackface ewe lambs privately, with the Blackies in particular always going to the same home.

"When I sell breeding stock - whether tups, ewes, ewes lambs, anything - to anyone, they must go on to do well, that's very important to me.

"The price must be right and reasonable so that we encourage return custom. I use Lairg ewe lamb sale as my bench mark for the Cheviots, and try to stay in line with prices there."

The farm's top end Cheviot wedders are sold prime with the remainder as stores. Blackie wedders are all fattened off grass and kale.

Bill sells two or three shear tups through Lockerbie, Lairg and Dingwall each year, which have also done very successfully.

"The main reason we sell male stock as at least two-shears is that they all get used on farm first so we know they work and hopefully won't disappoint customers in that respect!" Bill explains.

Around 30 a year are sold through the different centres, and the past four years have seen them average more than £1000 per head. Top price to date has been £7500, which was received in 2010 at Lairg.

Bought in tups that have bred well at Hethpool include Torrish Cardinal, which was bought in 2006 and has bred 16 sons average £2160 over three years, and Attonburn Grand Slam, which has bred 22 tups to average £1814.

Most of Grand Slam's sons have been bred out of Cardinal daughters, and the Elliot's still have shearlings, tup hoggs and lambs to come from this strong breeding combination.

Bill is very specific when it comes to buying tups. Each year he only buys one or two Cheviots and one Blackface, and he does so with certain particulars in mind.

"The way I look at it is that I'm trying to breed good females as my end product. This means that when I'm looking for tups I'm looking for an excellent mouth, a good body, a right good tight skin, dense wool and good character. It might seem a lot but it's all important."

This keen eye has often seen him do well at the breeding sales, and their pre-sale shows.

As well as this, when he sells draft Cheviot ewes at Lockerbie and draft Blackface ewes at Hexham, Bill often tops at least one of these sales, occasionally leading the prices in both, proving that the quality of his females is as important, if not more so than his tups.

"I love the breeding side of things and trying to develop quality stock.

"Figuring out what works well together and what doesn't. It's very rewarding, and a very enjoyable way of life.

"If you're going to do a job it must be done properly" Bill concludes, "this does generally mean doing things the old fashioned way, which is often quite time consuming, but I would say it's well worth it in the long run!"