7000 feet up, to be precise, in the Southern Alps of New Zealand’s South Island, an area bigger than the Swiss, French and Austrian Alps put together.

You see a lot more sheep than people up here. There are just 700 registered Merino growers with give or take 3.3 million sheep between them. That’s 12 sheep for every Kiwi.

But why come all this way for a sheep? Quite simply, because New Zealand Merino wool is acknowledged to be the best in the world.

The air is pure and clean up here. The spring water the Merino drinks wouldn’t be out of place in a fancy-schmancy restaurant.

In return for getting to live in sheep heaven, the Merino produces beautiful super-fine wool. And because these fibres are so fine, they can produce incredibly warm, comfortable fabrics.

Which is where man comes in. Well, MAPP actually. That stands for the Merino Advanced Performance Programme. MAPP is a quality control programme

The sheep is sheared just before summer starts, which means the hot summer sun doesn’t get to yellow the bright white fleece. A top shearer can shear a sheep in around a minute and can handle up to 400 sheep a day. Phew.

Because the sheep gets good nutrition all year round, the wool fibre is strong all along its length, so it’s less likely to break.

The finer the fibre – and Merino is typically five times finer than a human hair – the higher the grade of Merino.

Any fleece not up to scratch gets rejected. The standards here, like the mountains, are very high.

But if you want to make a better base layer, it pays to start with a better sheep.