herdy has always been committed to donating a percentage of profits to look after the Lakeland landscape. Our first project has been to support the certified training of two dry stone wallers. Now things have moved on and we've created the herdyfund.

The herdyfund will provide grants and funding to enterprises and organisations promoting the conservation of the Herdwick sheep and rural lifestyle associated with upland fell farming in Cumbria and The Lakes. It’s a broad brief which enables us to do all kinds of great things from rural community support through to making good use of the wool and caring for the landscape we all know and love. Nurture Lakeland, the new name for The Tourism & Conservation Partnership, has recently been granted charitable status. This means that the herdyfund will be able to receive charitable donations, not only from us, but also from third parties. We will maintain our give back policy whilst encouraging other parties to contribute to the fund. Nurture Lakeland is promoting the fund’s agenda in awareness campaigns throughout 2010. We’ve designed a range of herdy products for exclusive sale through lakeland hotels, guest houses and hospitality sector businesses called herdycountry through which a direct contribution from the accommodation provider is made into the fund as well as the give-back from us - a double whammy!

A board will meet twice each year and will include representatives of the herdy company and Nurture Lakeland to agree award decisions (more details to follow). The first contributions into the fund will be confirmed in June and award decisions made later in the year.