Fleece you now Sir, says barber Clifford

Clifford, a former Royal Show judge and an instructor for the British Wool Marketing Board, will spend the next two or three weekends trimming the Hatton flock - including the famous racing sheep.

But how he goes about removing those thick winter coats depends on the sheep.

There are six traditional types at Hatton. Most are mules, a cross-bred Leicestershire sheep crossed with one of the Welsh breeds, but there are also black Hebrideans with floor-length fleeces, Jacobs with four horns and spotted black and white coats, Wensleydales with blue faces, ears and legs, the long-horned Manx Louhgton plus the ultra-hardy Welsh Mountain Badger Faced variety.