Daegwallyeong Sheep Farm

The Daegwallyeong pass sits at around eight hundred metres where the Taebaek range meets the coastal plain, and the plateau behind it is grazing country - too high and cold for rice, so it went to sheep and cattle instead. The sheep farm is a private operation that has turned that into a visit: a walking loop of about a kilometre and a quarter climbs round the open ridge through pasture, with the wind turbines of the Daegwallyeong wind farm turning on the skyline and views down toward the coast on clear days, and there is a barn where visitors feed the sheep hay at set times. The grass is what people photograph - it is green and bare in a way that reads as unusual in Korea, and it appears constantly in advertising. In winter the whole plateau is under snow and the loop becomes a snow walk. Sheep are usually indoors in the cold months, which visitors are not always told before arriving.

What you actually see

• The ridge loop - the walk round the open pasture.
• The wind turbines - the Daegwallyeong wind farm on the skyline.
• The feeding barn - hay feeding at scheduled times.
• The winter snow - the plateau under snow from December.

When to go

May to October for green pasture and sheep outdoors; winter for snow, though the sheep are then usually inside. Mornings are clearest for the coastal view.

Honest expectations

It is a commercial farm attraction with a ticket, not a nature reserve. Sheep are often indoors in winter and hay feeding runs to a schedule. The plateau is exposed and windy year-round.

Nearby

The Daegwallyeong wind farm ridge and Woljeongsa are close; Gangneung and the coast are down the pass.