Traditional livestock
The Museum keeps a variety of livestock as part of its mission to interpret the farming landscape of the Chilterns. You will find these animals around different parts of the Museum’s site throughout the year.
Sheep
The Museum has its own long established flock of Pedigree Oxford Down sheep. This now rare breed of sheep was once very important in the Chilterns area and formed the backbone of many local farms. The Museum breeds these sheep to help conserve them as their number has declined to a little more than a thousand breeding ewes over the whole country. The flock is run in a traditional manner.
Find out more:
Oxford Down Sheep
Sheep Folding
Lambing Folds
Chickens
We have a small flock of beautiful Dorking chickens. This rare breed has ancestry dating back to at least the end of the Iron Age. The birds can usually be seen happily scratching around outside in one of our fields.
Ducks
We also have some Aylesbury Ducks, who most certainly like to have their voices heard.
Cows
Clementine, a red cow, is half Shorthorn (a typical breed in Victorian times), a quarter Guernsey and a quarter Limousin she arrived a the Museum in 2013. A second calf, Evie, came to the Museum in the summer of 2017 to keep Clementine company.
Cats
You may be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the Museum’s two farm cats as they go about their duties.
Goats
The Museum is home to rare breed, English goats, called Crystal and Beverly and their children Dora and Elbie. They love eating the hedgerows and browsing the trees around the site.