Stuart Holden

Last updated 14:06, Friday, 18 July 2008

NEVER mind the Face of 2008, what about the Fleece of 2008!

• View all six entries: View more pictures...
• Your Fleece of 2008 pictures

All the contestants for Fleece 2008

A new book, Beautiful Sheep, pictures sheep as you've never seen them before - photographed by leading fashion photographer Paul Farnham!

It forces you to look again at the creatures we take for granted wandering about the valleys and fells.

But which is the most beautiful? Choose from our shorn-list (sorry short-lsit). Is it:-

• the proud Border Leicester
• the smiling Southdown
• the punk-looking Boreray
• the comical Wensleydale
• the scary Manx Loghtan
• or the more familiar Herdwick

Just for fun, we're giving readers the chance to vote for their favourite sheep - click the vote on the side of the page. Poll closes on July 31st.

But three readers can also win a copy of Beautiful Sheep in our photographic competition - just email or post (Whitehaven News, 148 Queen Street, Whitehaven CA28 7AZ) your picture of a sheep and we'll pick the prettiest to win the book. Closing date is July 31st - one entry per person.

Beautiful Sheep features dozens of breeds of sheep and Kathryn Dun, honorary secretary for the Sheep Veterinary Society, provides details about their origin and distribution. But it's the photographs of fashion photographer Paul Farnham which sets this book apart from any other agricultural reference work! Paul, who has worked alongside the likes of Bryan Adams, Annie Liebowitz and Brigitte Lacombe brought the sheep into a studio for some startling results.

• Beautiful Sheep is published by Frances Lincoln and costs £12.99.