Work on the WILD SIDE
‘I’m out in the hills from 6am until it’s dark – and I love it’
ELIZABETH KNEAFSEY, 41, is a traditional shepherdess, and wildlife and countryside conservation practitioner (wildwoolshepherdess. com). She lives in Nottinghamshire with her son, Harry, 16.
For the past decade, I’ve been a shepherdess. I live a very simple life, spending most of my time out in the fields, in harmony with the land and animals. I didn’t grow up in a farming family, though; in fact, I was a dancer for many years, following a degree in theatre arts.
After becoming a single parent, I went to college for a year to study wildlife conservation and countryside management. I wanted to live wild, to go back to old ancestral ways of living. Part of the course involved lambing, which I’d never done before, and I fell in love with it.
Afterwards, I began volunteering with – and later working for – a wildlife trust,
