Blackthorn Fibres

Felt-backed fleece rugs from  the 2024 clip.  Individually handmade felt backed rugs from the fleeces of our small flock of Gotland sheep.

These rugs are known as “vegetarian sheepskin rugs” because no animal is harmed in the making of them, meaning that every animal can go on to grow another beautiful fleece ready for the following year.  

All of the rugs are produced from 100% natural fibres and each fleece is completely unique in its colour, texture and  look.  

The natural grey tones create a bold statement or a subtle touch of elegance which compliment any living space. 

A variety of fibres from our flock of superfine Bowmont  and Gotland sheep.   Spun wool and worsted yarns for weaving and knitting, roving for spinning and felting, as well as stuffing for soft toy making.

 We also sell raw skirted fleeces, and locks for fibre arts well.

In 2016 I was made redundant from my job as Head of Wardrobe in a producing theatre in Essex so we decided this was a perfect opportunity to sell up in favour of a more rural life.  

From a young child, I’d always loved Kent and felt an affinity towards the county with its beautiful countryside and rich farming history.  I’d always dreamed living in a converted oast house.  

Mark was born and brought up in North London but had spent a lot of time in rural Wales as a child and always imagined himself living there.  I persuaded him that Kent was a sunnier, less rainy version of Wales, so in 2017 we finally made the move.

I love natural fibres and textiles and we decided we’d like to keep alpacas for fibre production.  We quickly learned that alpacas are total nightmares in every respect  so when I saw bowmont sheep we quickly changed our plan and bought seven Bowmonts.  Then after discovering Gotland fleeces we felt they were a must have addition to our small flock so made the journey to Derbyshire to collect nine Gotlands.

In 2020 when Covid hit an we were both unemployed so spent all of lockdown learning as much as we could about sheep, getting to know our animals and lambing for the first time, as well as having our own new baby.

Fast forward 4 years and we have grown our flock to over 50 sheep are finally able to produce our own beautful rugs, yarns and fleece products.