A MUCH-LOVED Lakeland shepherds' meet will be held later this month.

Buttermere Shepherds' Meet will take place on Sunday, October 24, from Gatesgarth.

Pauline Blair, sheep farmer and show secretary for 30 years, said: "We are moving this year to Gatesgarth, which we hope will be a much better venue.

"The 20 sheep classes, fell races and hound trailing will all be in the same place, which will be great."

In its original guise the meet was an agreed time when stray sheep would be returned to their owners.

Local shepherds would walk to The Fish Hotel in Buttermere, have a meal and a sing-a-long before collecting their own sheep and going home.

Traditionally the event took place in November.

However, it was cancelled in the 1960s following an outbreak of foot and mouth.

The community then revived it 41 years ago as a small agricultural show.

Now it is a specialist show for Herdwick sheep and is open to people in the Buttermere area and adjoining parishes.

The show was previously held in a field in front of what used to be The Fish Hotel, part of Croft House Farm.

It has also been held near Lanthwaite Green.

As it moves to a different location we thought people would enjoy a trip down memory lane to meets that have been held over the decades.

We have selected some of our favourite photos from the archives.

There was a great turnout at the event four years ago, when the sheep classes, hound trails and fell races were all highly contested.

The Herdwicks took centre stage, with the show attracting more than 200 sheep.

Mrs Blair said the standard was fantastic across the board.

"We had a lovely day. It was good to see so many young shepherds taking an interest and coming through," she said.

The show's champion was Joe Weir, from Borrowdale, who won with his ram. The reserve champion was Stanley Jackson, also of Borrowdale, with his ewe.

Mr Jackson also won the rose bowl trophy for the most total points gained.