Countryfile Season 36, Episode 6: Underground Britain

1

Rural Heritage

John Craven is at the National Hedgelaying Championships as competitors go chainsaw to chainsaw, billhook to billhook in a bid to claim the coveted title.

54 min

2

Shooting Estate

Charlotte explores the 12,500-acre Rhug Estate in north Wales to see what it means to be a traditional shooting estate in the modern world, and looks at how it contributes to local business.

55 min

3

Audley End House

John Craven and Charlotte Smith visit one of the finest Jacobean houses in the UK, where they roll up their sleeves and muck in with winter cleaning and maintenance.

57 min

4

Flash: The UK’s Highest Village in Winter

Anita Rani and Joe Crowley are in Flash, the UK’s highest village, to hear about the Big Freeze of 1962/63, one of the coldest winters on record, when even the sea froze over.

57 min

5

Breaking into Farming

Charlotte Smith and Steve Brown are visiting first-time farmers around the country to discover the trials and tribulations of trying to break into the industry.

55 min

6

Underground Britain

Sean Fletcher visits Cornwall to unearth the legacy of the county’s renowned tin and copper mining industries. Tom Heap finds out if mining Cornish lithium could herald a new gold rush.

54 min

7

Small Fishing Village

Joe Crowley and Steve Brown are on the North Yorkshire coast in the beautiful village of Staithes to find out how the traditional fishing community is adapting for the future.

55 min

8

Livestock Market

Adam Henson and Charlotte Smith visit Bakewell Livestock Market in Derbyshire, and Joe Crowley finds out about opposition to a proposed new multibillion-pound power grid.

55 min

9

Going to Extremes

On the seventieth anniversary of the first summit of Mount Everest, Ellie Harrison is put through her paces at a materials research facility, including a cold chamber that reaches -40 Celsius.

57 min

10

Vanishing Villages

John Craven and Matt Baker are on the east coast of England to find out how storms are devouring the coastline, and Adrian Chiles rolls up his sleeves to find out what it takes to be a hill farmer.

55 min

11

Dartmoor

Charlotte Smith discovers how political parties are responding to the recent wild camping ruling on Dartmoor. Adam Henson visits a rehab centre for horses.

65 min

12

Troubled Waters

Like so many of our waterways, the River Wye is being suffocated by pollution. Matt Baker and Anita Rani meet the volunteers trying to save this spectacular river.

55 min

13

Aberystwyth

In Aberystwyth, Joe Crowley meets scientists behind some of the biggest new developments in farming and food security. And why is London's salad bowl in the Lea Valley on the brink of collapse?

45 min

14

Hidden Histories of Sherwood Forest

Margherita Taylor and Joe Crowley visit Sherwood Forest to discover how much more there is to this nature reserve and site of special scientific interest than Robin Hood.

55 min

15

Compilation (9th April 2023)

Sean Fletcher is in Hendy, south Wales, visiting Europe’s most productive leech farm, which supplies 70 per cent of medicinal leeches worldwide.

57 min

16

Wild Britain

Picking up the baton from Sir David Attenborough’s Wild Isles, Countryfile launches 'Wild Britain', an ambitious initiative to galvanize us all to help and save our wildlife.

56 min

17

Dumfries House

Charlotte Smith and Hamza Yassin travel to Dumfries House, a showcase for the King's passion for rural life.

57 min

18

Lambing Special

It's lambing season, and Charlotte Smith visits the Outer Hebrides to meet teenage farmer Archie, while Paralympian Sammi Kinghorn is back home lambing on her family farm in the Scottish Borders.

56 min

19

A Rural Welcome Revisit

Matt Baker and Margherita Taylor are back in the New Forest in Hampshire to catch up with the community and families who have come together to help Ukrainian refugees.

57 min

20

Mental Health Awareness

Ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week, the team explores initiatives in different parts of the UK that are helping people to improve their mental wellbeing.

57 min

21

Cumbrian Shepherdess - Spring

Sammi Kinghorn catches up with a 16-year-old farmer from Cumbria. Adam Henson looks into the dangers facing sheep and lambs from an increase in dog attacks this year.

57 min

22

Upper Teesdale

Charlotte and Matt travel to Upper Teesdale to meet a remarkable woman who has made it her life’s work to look after one of the most important botanical sites in the UK.

57 min

23

Lower Hampen Farm

Charlotte Smith and Matt Baker are at Lower Hampen Farm in the Cotswolds to meet Lydia and Clive Handy, who have turned back the clock to adopt a more traditional approach to farming.

57 min

24

Argyll Hope Spot

There are 151 hope spots around the world – areas that have been identified as critical to the health of the oceans. Hamza Yassin visits the only one in the UK – the Argyll Coast and Islands.

57 min

25

Porthcawl Surf and Sand

John Craven meets the UK's first female European surfing champion in Porthcawl, and he joins Swansea's Surfers Against Sewage to help clean up the local beach.

57 min

26

Rare Breeds 50th Anniversary Compilation

A visit to Adam Henson's farm to celebrate 50 years of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, which was founded by Adam’s father Joe.

55 min

27

Ronald Blythe’s Suffolk

John Craven and Margherita Taylor are in Charsfield to celebrate one of the UK's most respected rural writers, Ronald Blythe, whose works were inspired by the Suffolk countryside.

54 min

28

Flower Farming

The team visit Spalding, the historic hub of Britain's bulb and flower farming industry, to learn how a new generation of farmers is shaping the future of the UK's flower industry.

55 min

29

Countryside Cycling

Joe Crowley joins a group of electric bike riders who have all recovered from heart attacks, and Sammi Kinghorn meets an organisation combating pollution in outdoor spaces.

55 min

30

Wild Fires

In the aftermath of one of the biggest fires to ever engulf the UK countryside, Joe Crowley and John Craven explore the impact of increasing wildfires.

55 min

31

Hay Time

Charlotte Smith and Adam Henson discover what makes hay, one of our oldest crops, so special. And Tom Heap investigates how heatwaves are threatening the sea life that lives around our coastline.

57 min

32

Dumfries House

Matt Baker and Charlotte Smith return to Dumfries House where the summer activities are in full swing.

55 min

33

Glasgow

In Renfrewshire, John and Hamza judge this year’s entries to the Countryfile photographic competition with the help of photography enthusiast and DJ Edith Bowman. The final 12 images will grace the 2024 Countryfile Calendar in aid of Children in Need. John also meets artist Martha Orbach to uncover the origins of nature photography and visits a Glaswegian community collective who are changing the way that we shop and eat. Hamza reveals a simple butterfly feeder to support wildlife this summer, and Adam has some tough decisions over what to grow after harvest as farmers face another possible year of volatile grain and fertiliser prices.

55 min

34

Farmers and Festivals

Every year, hundreds of farms across the UK diversify their income by opening their gates and hosting music festivals. Anita Rani heads to Somerset to meet sheep farmers Andy and Jen, and their sons, as they prepare to transform Fernhill Farm for an annual festival - something this farming family have been doing for 18 years. Anita helps festival organiser Kev make use of wool from the farm’s sheep to build giant sofas for the revellers, and later joins Andy and Jen’s 18-year-old son Kyle as he helps out in the farm café kitchen, where a mutton curry is being prepared for hundreds of campers. Back out in the fields, Anita visits the farm’s remarkable waste water cleaning system – a series of lakes which produce water so pure that it’s an official Ark habitat for endangered white claw crayfish. She also dips into the Countryfile archive to explore rural music, revisiting an outdoor violin performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending.

52 min

35

Bannau Brycheiniog

Sean Fletcher and Matt Baker find about the changes being made in the management of the national park of Bannau Brycheiniog, formerly referred to as the Brecon Beacons.

55 min

36

Dame Judi Dench Special

In a special episode, Dame Judi Dench reveals her love of the countryside – and Scotland in particular. From picnics to camping, saving the arts in rural communities and a lifelong passion for wildlife, the legend of stage and screen joins Charlotte Smith in the grounds of Inveraray Castle to reflect on the impact the countryside has had on her and her family. Dame Judi is a talented watercolourist, inspired by the Scottish landscape. So how will she take to oils? She’s joined by her grandson Sam to check in on a tartan that’s being created for her, in which every thread tells a personal story. Adam Henson meets Dame Judi’s partner David Mills, an award-winning farmer who gave up dairying to create the British Wildlife Centre on his Surrey farm. It was Judi’s love of otters that brought the two together. And wildlife film-maker Hamza Yassin takes her to a secret location in a bid to help Dame Judi fulfil a lifetime ambition – to see golden eagles in the wild.

55 min

37

Young Shepherdess

Sammi Kinghorn returns to Cumbria to find out how young shepherdess Katie is doing now that she’s finished school for the year.

55 min

38

One Man and His Dog

From the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex, four of the UK’s top sheepdog handlers go head-to-head, aiming to claim 2023's One Man and His Dog trophy. The challenging course at Goodwood leaves our competing teams nowhere to hide from the expert eye of judge Jane Drinkwater. Can Scotland veteran Willie Welsh and his dog Cap, or the youngest competitor, 21-year-old Shannon Conn and her dog Yellow Hill Chip outdo England’s Carol Mellin and her dog Pentrabet, or Wales’s Rob Ellis and his dog Todd? There’s everything to play for. We also meet 16-year-old Jack Howells from Wales, with his dog Cydros Boss. Encouraged by his father, Jack caught the trialling bug three years ago, and in a showcase round, demonstrates why he’s one to look out for in the future.

56 min

39

Harvest 1

Adam Henson and Sean Fletcher join the Martin family on their Cambridgeshire arable farm at harvest, a time that can be financial 'make or break' for many UK farmers.

54 min

40

Harvest 2

Adam Henson and Sean Fletcher are back in the ‘breadbasket’ of East Anglia as farmer Tom Martin learns if this year’s harvest has been a success.

55 min

41

Highland Games Compilation

Hamza Yassin fulfils a long-standing ambition by taking a trip to Royal Deeside to attend the Braemar Highland Gathering.

54 min

42

Autumn Spectacle

Joe Crowley and Charlotte Smith head to the Wash in Norfolk to see one of the greatest wildlife events in the UK, the Snettisham Spectacular.

54 min

43

Agmash Auction Hub

Adam Henson and Charlotte Smith are in Cambridgeshire at Cheffins’ famous agricultural machinery auction, the ultimate trading floor for farm equipment.

55 min

44

Ramble for Children in Need 2023

It’s time for presenters Matt Baker, Charlotte Smith, Margherita Taylor, Joe Crowley and John Craven to pull on their bobble hats and get rambling in aid of Children in Need 2023. They join five remarkable young people who have battled and overcome adversity with the help of projects supported by the charity. This year’s rambles include a challenging crossing to Worms Head on the Gower Peninsula in Wales, a trek through the dramatic Nevis Gorge to the 120m high Steall Falls in Fort William, Scotland, a hike through the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee ancient woodland in Leicestershire, England, and a trip to Castlewellan Forest Park in County Down, Northern Ireland, with dramatic views of the Mourne Mountains and the Irish Sea.

69 min

45

Wild Britain

As part of Countryfile's Wild Britain initiative, Ellie Harrison and Hamza Yassin visit Wytham Woods in Oxfordshire.

55 min

46

South Downs

John Craven and Sammi Kinghorn visit the South Downs to see how the past is inspiring residents to preserve the future of this diverse landscape.

55 min

47

Dumfries House

Countryfile returns to Dumfries House as autumn is in full swing and the first year of teaching gets underway at the new rural skills centre recently opened by the King.

53 min

48

Poole Harbour

Ellie Harrison and Anita Rani are at Poole Harbour for the conclusion of a three-year environmental study, and thety celebrate Ellie’s last Countryfile episode with a trip down memory lane. Ellie visits artificial rock pools and learns the results of a trial which uses 3D printed reef blocks on the sea floor, hoping to make sea defences more habitable for marine wildlife. Ellie also harvests an unusual cooking ingredient - sea spaghetti. Anita joins a crew fishing for Manila clams on one of the final catches of the season, and she explores bird haven RSPB Arne to see the work done to protect the land for nesting birds such as oystercatchers. Anita also tries paddleboarding for the first time, meeting a local water sports group to find out how structures like piers help to reduce the impact of water sports and walkers on the bird population. Adam Henson is busy on the farm checking in on his Cotswold ewes and seeing how the recent back-to-back storms have affected his wheat crop.

53 min

49

Elan Valley

Charlotte Smith and Matt Baker head to Elan Valley, nestled in the heart of the Cambrian Mountains, where the Welsh natural world is getting ready for the onset of winter. The valley is a patchwork of habitats including Celtic rainforests, open moorland and raging rivers, all dominated by huge dams. These dams have changed the landscape forever, and Charlotte finds out how the rivers of Elan Valley have recently welcomed back migrating salmon. She also helps restore peatlands by getting behind the wheel of some earth moving machinery to rework the topography of the rugged peat landscape. Matt helps drive cattle down into forests on the valley floor to not only provide them with shelter for the winter, but to improve ancient Celtic rainforests. Charlotte looks at how some farmers have started a campaign protesting and blockading supermarket depots to demand fairer prices. Adam travels to the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells where the Winter Fair is in full swing.

55 min

50

Country Lore

The team meet with experts to learn about nature and the behaviour of wildlife in the winter, and what folk wisdom across the centuries can teach us about the season.

55 min

51

A Cumbrian Christmas

The team return to the Cumbrian fells to learn of 16-year-old shepherdess Katie and her family's Christmas traditions on their upland farm.

55 min

52

River Lea

New Year's Day is traditionally a day when we get outside and go for a gentle stroll to blow off the cobwebs from the night before and welcome in the coming year. Margherita Taylor goes for a wintry walk alongside the River Lea. On her journey, Margherita meets historian Dr Jim Lewis, who describes its history from the ice ages to the present day. A stop at the UK's oldest angling club reveals what happens on the river out of season, and a short detour finds Margherita at Lee Valley Park, where she meets Cath Patrick, a conservation manager who tells her about some of the beautiful wildlife that calls this area home. Along the way, Margherita will plunge into the archives to look back at other wintry outings enjoyed by the team over the years.

55 min