Thanks for the responses all. There's such a lot of breeds to think about!
The previous owners have very helpfully wrapped chicken wire around the trunks of all of the trees, so hopefully debarking won't be an issue. I have to go out and loosen it a bit every now and then to allow the trees to grow. I was working on a stocking density of five per acre, so a sensible choice would be two for my paddock, however, I'm concerned about having just two animals of any kind. If anything happens to one of them, it leaves the other on its own. Being flock animals, I imagine that would be very stressful for a sheep, especially if it has lambs, and there would be a period of quarantine and then adjustment if I brought in a replacement. I was wondering whether to attempt three and carefully manage the food resources by splitting the paddock down the middle to use in rotation and supplement feed. That and pray for no triplets
Twizzl - I hadn't considered the overlap, especially if I ran them to hogget so thanks for pointing that out. Something else to consider in the mix. It might be best for me not to do hogget until I have access to more land.
MF - I recognised her name through the RBST. If Southdowns have a slow metabolism, can they easily run to fat?
crobertson - why do you like Derbyshire Gritstones? Why do they work for you?
SallintNorth - I'll be sending the clean fleeces away to be processed and just knitting the results so spinning won't be such an issue. Looking at someone like Halifax Mill, which I understand does small batches.
In terms of breeds, I've been through all of the suggestions, compared their characteristics and read blogs and forum posts from owners.
I think Soay has to be ruled out for 'quirky behavioural traits', one of which seems to be hard to catch. I think I need something a little more sedate in nature with less primitive instinct to flee until I get my mojo back. Ouessant I'm going to rule out as well - I'd prefer a native rare breed, although their small size is appealing. Cotswold is also out - I want to get more experience spotting fly strike before keeping longer fleeced breeds.
Shropshires - like the dense medium fleece and are good foragers, especially under fruit trees apparently, although they seem a little on the large size. It will be me mostly handling them and I'm quite short. They have a gentle disposition. Little bit concerned about the lambing percentage...triplets not uncommon.
Romney - fleece is tiny bit on the long size so concerned that fly strikes might be hard to spot, and again they are big sheep, however they mature relatively early so there won't be the issue with overlap. Good feet.
With medium to large fleeced breeds like Romneys and Shropshires, is there a higher risk of casting? Or is that this more of an individual trait, and dependent on when they're shorn?
Derbyshire Gritstones - hill sheep good for grazing semi-natural vegetation of varying heights, easy to handle, mature early so no overlap problems, but is my paddock going to be enough for them? Being hill sheep, will they be happy on flat ground with a bit of challenging vegetation here and there or are they going to go looking for excitement in all the wrong places?
Llanwenogs - these look quite good. Slightly smaller so easier for me to handle, quite docile, and not likely to give me triplets so might be easier to plan paddock maintenance around.
Southdown - love the look, smaller breed so easier to handle, early maturing, docile, good feet, multiples common but triplets not so much.
I must confess, I'm tending towards either Southdowns, Llanwenogs or Gritstones, the latter mostly on its ability to handle the rougher foliage under the trees.