Ellie keeps a small, varied flock of rescue sheep, purely for wool and friendship, at her smallholding in Upper Weardale, high in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  The smallholding is off-grid, powered entirely by renewable forms of energy.

Having spent many years as a British wool specialist felt-maker making, among other things, many hundreds of felt hats, in the summer of 2015 Ellie undertook a millinery course in order to work on a new range of hats. She spent a year developing these hats which are made from a combination of felted crowns made of fleeces from her own sheep with brims of British wool tweeds, including Harris Tweeds.  Increasingley Ellie uses tweeds woven from her own flock. The hats are handstitched and finished with Certified Organic Liberty Tana Lawn linings.