There are 25 farms on the Estate, covering 20,000 acres. Most of them are upland sheep farms, the most popular breed is the Swaledale which copes well with the more challenging climate at high altitude.
What makes the farms distinctive is the pattern of small fields, many edged with dry stone walls, which forms the backdrop for the traditional stone houses and small barns that make up the farmsteads. The farms lower down the dale and beside the River Ure occupy a gentler more wooded landscape supporting a mixture of dairy, livestock and arable farming.
With current, unprecedented levels of change to the agriculture and rural economy as a whole, the Swinton Estate is one of a vey few estates continuing to let farms.
