TWO young handlers who are already forging successful careers in sheep farming and showing are set to appear on TV later this year.

Brother and sister William and Harriet Allin are devoted to the small flock they’ve raised on their farm in Milton Damerel, near Holsworthy.

Farming is very much in the Allin family, who go back in this part of North Devon to the 1500s. But while they’ve learned alongside their mum and dad Katie and Julian, William, 15, and Harriet, 13, have brought their pedigree Zwartble flock on themselves, starting with the two orphan lambs they purchased with their own pocket money in 2018.

The siblings had already began showing, with some modest successes, and a milestone came when the first of their homebred sheep – Rubyview Grace - was born, enabling them to offically call themselves sheep breeders.

During the 2019 season William and Harriet were regulars on the agricultural show calendar, and the trophies started to come one after the other. The siblings were also busy helping to promote the Zwartble breed at National Sheep Association events.

It was in the run up to their first Royal Cornwall Show experience that William and Harriet were filmed for Channel 4’s second Devon and Cornwall series, which began airing earlier this year and will be back on screen in September.

Having built up points at all the shows through the Young Handler League competition, Harriet was named the South West’s 8-12 year old category winner at her home event in Holsworthy, and her brother William took the 13-18 year old title.

The 2019 Royal Cornwall Show saw Harriet and Grace win reserve in the Wool on the Hoof section, and William gained reserve champion in Junior Sheep Handling, a success which meant he could go forward along with 40 other county winners from across 20 shows to the national championships at the Royal County of Berkshire Show. During this event, the young people had to show three sheep they hadn’t handled before, and to everyone’s pride and delight, William was crowned Rare Breeds Survival Trust Young Handler of the Year.

This year, of course, it has been very different for the Allins, who without the local and county shows to attend have been concentrating on their flock, on learning new skills, and on participating in some of the online events that have been run.

Harriet eagerly awaits the arrival of two ewes in lamb which are set to arrive towards the end of the year, and she and William have been documenting some of their life on the farm on the Rubyview Pedigree Facebook page.

Mum Katie puts their showing achievements down to the fact that they have had to learn everything from scratch and have always carried out the tasks that need doing with their own animals.

’They’ve set up the flock themselves and have learned about the art of showing with the local farming community,’ she said.

’None of it is done by the adults, so it’s not a routine they’ve had to learn and remember, it’s something they just know from doing it day to day.

’The are also motivated by their prize winnings, as they have to fund the flock too – it was prize money they used to hire a ram to come on ’holiday’ with the ewe for a few weeks.’

While William is a born showman says his mum, and would love to go into judging, Harriet is enthusiastic about helping other youngsters learn about farming and has her eye on becoming a teacher.

William and Harriet will appear on Series 2 episode 6 of Devon and Cornwall on Channel 4, date to be confirmed.