I'm afraid that small breeding flocks of primitive sheep are not easy to make a profit out of. Putting the ewes to a commercial tup for reasonable fat lambs is probably the only way, really.
Looking at the premium meat angle...
Not many people know this, but Swaledale hogget (reared on moorland grass and no cake) is absolutely delicious. Lean, sweet, succulent - and from a second summer sheep, it cooks just like lamb, doesn't need long slow cooking, which some hogget really does. Having a seasonal crop that sells to restaurants in a tourist area is no bad thing
Swaley boys are very cheap to buy in.
Not a rare breed, of course.
(Not many people know
this either, but the Swale is a double-coated breed; the layers are easy to separate, and the inner layer is quite soft. But it's a bit of a niche thing
- I don't think you'd necessarily find it easy to sell your fleeces. If you could be bothered to separate the fibres yourself, however, you'd sell the softer inner fibre, I think.)
Another great (and individual-tasting) meat is Castlemilk Moorit. It has a flavour all its own. In terms of a rare breed that's
local, this might be your best bet - they originate from the Castlemilk estate near Dumfries. And it was the near loss of this breed in the 70s that inspired Adam's dad and got the whole RBST thing going.
Castlemilk Moorit boys are also cheap to buy in...
And if you could get your boys from a flock that has great fleece, you'd have a fleece crop too.
I do wonder, though, whether any outlets in the Lakes are going to be interested in any breed-specific sheep meat other than Herdwick?