A group of three Ryeland sheep delivered a fairytale ending to the Royal Welsh Show for a Llanfallteg family and they hope to be just as successful at the County Show.

John and Suzanne Donovan and their sons, Simon and James, clinched the supreme interbreed group title at the Royal Welsh in a competition regarded as a world championship among sheep breeders.

Their yearling ram, ewe and ewe lamb were judged among more than 40 different breeds and almost 3,000 individual entries.

Unsurprisingly, the Donovans, of Dolwen, Llanfallteg, were over the moon. "We are delighted to win a supreme award at the most important sheep competition in the world,'' said Mr Donovan.

"It is a family event where we all take an active interest in maintaining and preparing the sheep, which are all home bred and trimmed for the show ring by Suzanne.''

Ryelands have been kept at Dolwen for 12 years where the family's main aim is to produce quality Ryeland sheep and to promote the breed through the show ring.

The Ryeland, one of the oldest native breeds, is a rare breed increasingly valued for its tasty meat, fine wool, gentle nature and ease of management. These characteristics make it popular with smallholders.

"They are also sought after by commercial breeders for quick maturing lambs and group one scrapie resistance genotyping,'' said Mr Donovan.