
Countryfile (1988)
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Sean Fletcher as Self - Presenter
Episodes 59
Nature Strikes Back
Thirty years on from the Great Storm of 1987, Ellie Harrison visits Wakehurst Place in West Sussex to learn how it dealt with the devastation.
Read MoreHertfordshire
Countryfile is in Hertfordshire, where Charlotte Smith meets the man who's made it his sole mission to save the barbel in the Old River Lea.
Read MoreCleveland Way
Helen Skelton and Sean Fletcher are on the Cleveland Way in Yorkshire. Helen meets the team of Scouts who have 'adopted' their own stretch of the 109-mile trail.
Read MoreRoyal Special: Windsor
To celebrate 65 years since Her Majesty's coronation, Countryfile, also celebrating its 30th anniversary, has been given unprecedented access to the Queen's Windsor estate.
Read MoreNorthern Ireland
Sean Fletcher, Margherita Taylor and Steve Brown are in Northern Ireland. John Craven launches the Countryfile Photographic Competition with Cerys Matthews.
Read MoreHampton Court
Ellie Harrison and Sean Fletcher explore the grounds and surrounds of Hampton Court Palace, which is home to the last stable of working shire horses in London.
Read MoreThe Seven Wonders of Wales
Sean Fletcher introduces his 'seven wonders of Wales' - the mountains, hill farming, heritage, wildlife, castles, food and the coastline.
Read MoreA Different Day Out
Ellie Harrison is in Derbyshire to explore ideas for a different day out, including building a makeshift raft and taking in an arts trail.
Read MoreEast Sussex
Countryfile visits East Sussex, where Sean Fletcher meets the family with a passion for poultry.
Read MoreCambridgeshire
Countryfile visits Cambridgeshire, where Anita Rani is at the 40th annual hedge-laying competition and meets a painter who finds trees totally inspiring.
Read MoreCairngorms
In the Cairngorms, Matt Baker meets Tilly Smith and her herd of 150 reindeer, whose grazing habits are being studied by scientists to assess their environmental impact.
Read MoreFood Compilation
Sean is in Oxfordshire meeting farmers with a passion for our more unusual produce, from picklers to cheesemakers.
Read MoreNational Parks
Matt Baker, John Craven and Margherita Taylor mark the 70th anniversary of the creation of our national parks.
Read MoreHerts & Bucks
Matt is in Panshanger Park in Hertfordshire, seeing how an old quarry has become one of the best places for wildlife in the county.
Read MoreSouth Wales
Matt Baker learns about a scheme to create new structures from the fabric of the land, while Tom Heap asks whether our countryside has become a tax haven for the super-rich.
Read MoreSummer Special - Royal Highland Show
The team are at the Royal Highland Show celebrating the best that rural Scotland has to offer, including the Arbroath smokie and an award-winning Scottish gin.
Read MoreGloucestershire
The team is in Gloucestershire to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Riding for the Disabled Association. Interviewed, Princess Anne talks of her long association with the RDA.
Read MoreWorking Animals
Sean is in the Lake District taking a look at some of the jobs working animals do, and we take another look at working animals we’ve featured in the past.
Read MoreEvacuees Special
This special programme looks back at how the wartime evacuation of children to the countryside shaped the lives of a whole generation.
Read MoreTees Valley
Sean Fletcher and Helen Skelton explore the Tees Valley, while Tom Heap looks at whether enough is being done to protect UK farming and food production from flooding.
Read MoreChristmas Special
John Craven and the team are at Tyntesfield in Somerset, a stately pile that celebrates Christmas in high Victorian style.
Read MoreWelney Marshes
The team are at Welney Wildlife Reserve in Norfolk. Charlotte Smith helps out with the international swan census, and Sean Fletcher hears how mini donkeys are helping residents of a Welney care home. Steve Brown is on the trail of the elusive cranes that live in the washes around Welney. Margherita Taylor sees how the reserve's staff control flooding on the wetlands, and Sean Fletcher hears how mini donkeys are helping residents of a Welney care home. Tom Heap investigates the threat posed by the alien species making their way to our shores, and Adam Henson has designs on his own mini wetland down on the farm as he starts creating a dewpond.
Read MoreHope Valley
This week, Countryfile is in the heart of the Peak District, where the pub is most definitely the hub! Anita Rani hears how the locals here saved Bamford’s village pub. It is now owned by the community and seems to be the epicentre of village life. Anita meets some of the locals and puts her best foot forward with a group of ramblers that meet here before exploring some of the stunning countryside that surrounds it.
Sean Fletcher meets Luke Osborne, who is a grocer with a difference. He pulls together the best regional foods from farmers and local producers and delivers it to people in the wider rural community.
Helen Skelton hangs out with a few more of the locals. When they are not propping up the bar in the village pub, some of them can be found dangling off rock faces! And the Peak has some of the top climbing spots in the country.
Read MoreFarm Diversification
Sean is in Essex meeting a farmer who has taken diversification to the next level. David Eagle has let the sea inundate acres of his farmland to create vital saltmarsh habitat for migratory birds, and already thousands of brent geese are making the most of his hospitality. David is also on trend with his sea buckthorn juice, made from the berries of hundreds of sea buckthorn shrubs he has planted. But Sean finds out that they are not so easy to harvest.
Sean then dons his running shoes to take part in a farm run – a form of diversification designed to help those with stress. We also look back through the Countryfile archives at other farm diversification stories featured on the programme.
Read More24 Hours in the Lambing Shed
It is all systems go in the lambing shed as Adam Henson and Helen Skelton work round the clock to help a Wirral farmer at one of his busiest times of the year. Meanwhile, Sean Fletcher is in Carmarthen discovering first-hand the rigours of lambing outdoors.
Read MoreSean's Home Patch
Sean Fletcher visits Hampton Court, not far from his west London home, seeing how the team there keep the gardens and grounds in top condition. There is no machinery here, though - it’s a team of magnificent shire horses that do the work. Sean meets the handlers and takes the reins as the horses start another shift, pulling and harrowing and preparing the grounds for the summer ahead. Back home, Sean gives us tips on how to stay fit during lockdown by building his very own home gym. Kate Humble reports from her Wye Valley home patch on how local food producers are rallying round during the crisis, and Adam turns out a new Gloucester calf onto spring pasture.
Read MoreBlack Mountains
Ellie Harrison and Sean Fletcher are in the Black Mountains, which straddle the border between Wales and England, to find out more about a drive to preserve ancient rural skills and traditions. Sean gets a bird’s eye view of the spectacular landscape, while Strictly alumni and former thatcher Joe Sugg battles for supremacy in a hedge-laying competition. Joe Crowley investigates the challenges facing the Scottish salmon industry, and Adam has high hopes that his smart new ram will be a hit with the ewes in his flock.
Read MoreReview of the Year Compilation
Sean Fletcher looks back at 2020 – a difficult year for all of us as we faced a pandemic but a year when the countryside became a lifeline for unprecedented numbers; when wildlife came out to play and also made their homes in curious places during lockdown. Sean also catches up with some of the inspiring young people at the forefront of the battle to protect the environment, and there's a timely reminder of how we can all do our bit to safeguard our countryside.
Read MoreHambleden Valley
Sean Fletcher goes wild in the Hambleden Valley in Buckinghamshire with a whistlestop trike tour of a chocolate box landscape that has been the beautiful backdrop for many TV dramas and films. But how can we breathe new life into the area? Sean finds out how the old cottage industry of lace-making is poised for a comeback, and he saddles up to meet a couple opening up their farm to enable safer riding in this corner of the countryside. Adam Henson is busy with some new arrivals, and as picking season dawns, Charlotte Smith investigates whether UK farmers can cover any shortfall in the number of seasonal farm workers needed to gather their harvests.
Read MoreWhite Peak
Matt Baker and Charlotte Smith head to the Peak District to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the UK's first national park.
Matt joins a pioneering scheme to restore ruined farm buildings and meets 'legend' of the Peak District Gordon Miller, one of the area's early rangers and a last link to those who brought about the national park. Charlotte channels her inner artist to help create a giant anniversary art mural and records the special sounds of the park's waterways. Sean Fletcher meets a 'tyre runner' using the Peak District's hills to help his mental health. Meanwhile, as some of his traditional crops fail, Adam takes a glimpse at what the farming of tomorrow might look like, and Joe Crowley investigates new pollution laws causing controversy in the countryside.
Read MorePlant Britain Spring Special
Plant Britain is all about encouraging community gardens and planting wildflowers in a two-year initiative to help combat climate change, help wildlife and pollinators and transform our own wellbeing. Matt Baker and Margherita Taylor help Bristol locals to create a community garden, and Charlotte Smith visits a project in Glasgow that is blooming. Sean Fletcher is in Northern Ireland with primary school children to find out about their field-to-fork project. Helen Skelton is with a young botanist who is on a mission to save our native wildflowers, while Joe Crowley discovers the secret life hidden in a special meadow in north Wales. The Natural History Museum do some cutting-edge soil and pond DNA forensics, and John Craven finds out how to do your bit no matter how small a space you have - from a pot on a windowsill to a balcony planter. Also, look out for special messages from some well-known faces.
Read MoreConiston
Charlotte Smith and Steve Brown are on Yew Tree Farm in Coniston, which sits in the stunning landscape of the Lake District National Park. Steve meets first-generation farmers to find out how they are diversifying and tries a bit of therapy with some of their woolly residents. Charlotte discovers how the landscape surrounding the farm is one of their driving inspirations, Sean Fletcher visits a farm in Monmouthshire that has branched out into music and some of the biggest names in rock and roll, and Tom Heap investigates if plans for a greener, more environmentally friendly economic recovery can really bring benefits for the UK’s wildlife and its habitats.
Read MoreManifold Valley Agricultural Show
Sean Fletcher and Steve Brown are in Staffordshire at the Manifold Valley Agricultural Show, where the focus is on encouraging young people to get into the countryside, agriculture and the show ring with their prize livestock. After weeks of preparation, will it be a red rosette for eight-year-old Owen and his Limousin calf, and how will 12-year-old Myles and his Clydesdale fare? Adam Henson finds out what he needs to do to go green on his farm, and Tom Heap investigates a toxic threat to dolphins, porpoises and killer whales.
Read MoreCumbria
Sean Fletcher and Charlotte Smith catch up with mother-and-son farming duo Andrea and Hector Meanwell in Cumbria. Countryfile has been following them throughout the year, and they have some big challenges ahead - not least the results of TB tests. Will Hector’s cattle be clear?
Get ready to ramble as we meet 14-year-old Alfie, who is determined to live life to the full, no matter what. Adam meets the third and final contender in our Young Countryside Champion Awards, and John has a big surprise for an unsuspecting photographer when the winner of this year’s Countryfile Photographic Competition is revealed.
In an exclusive Countryfile investigation, Charlotte uncovers fears that the UK’s farm labour shortage has left the foreign workers who bring in our harvest at greater risk of exploitation than ever before.
Read MoreThe Cairngorms
Sean Fletcher is in the snowy Cairngorms to mark the centenary of the death of the great explorer Ernest Shackleton.
Read MorePembrokeshire
Anita Rani and Sean Fletcher explore the beautiful south west corner of Wales as they celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Anita faces her fears as she abseils one hundred feet down a sea cliff to discover how best to protect the nesting spots of the thousands of sea birds that flock here. Sean meets the artist behind the coveted annual fish licence and heads to Angel Bay to discover how to farm oysters. Adam’s Exmoor ponies are in for a treat when a farrier gives them a pedicure and they meet a new stallion. And in a special investigation, BBC News’s rural affairs correspondent Claire Marshall meets the farmers with Parkinson’s Disease who fear their condition could be linked to years of using a toxic herbicide.
Read MoreAt the Seaside
Sean Fletcher visits Whitby, the setting for the novel Dracula, published 125 years ago. He meets people protecting Whitby's coastline and introduces clips about coastal Britain from the archives.
Read MoreShooting 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.
Read MoreUnderground 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.
Read MoreCompilation (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.
Read MoreBannau 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.
Read MoreWessex Downs
Charlotte Smith and Sean Fletcher explore Marlborough Downs, which is home to one of the UK’s newest nature reserves – Bay Meadows.
Read MoreRural Mental Health
Ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week, Sean Fletcher and Margherita Taylor travel to the Sharpham Trust, located in the beautiful wilds of south Devon.
Read MoreHidden Treasures of Wanlockhead
Sammi Kinghorn and Sean Fletcher explore the natural riches and hidden treasures of Wanlockhead – the highest village in Scotland.
Read MoreHengistbury Head
Charlotte Smith and Sean Fletcher are on Hengistbury Head in Dorset, where a large-scale engineering project is set to save huge swathes of this coastline from being lost to the sea.
Read MoreBorrowdale
Sean Fletcher explores Borrowdale Oakwoods, England’s largest remaining temperate rainforest and one of the rarest habitats on earth.
Read MoreAngling
Fishing is one of the most popular outdoor pursuits in the UK, with three million anglers casting their lines each year. The UK’s coastlines and rivers offer incredible fishing opportunities, from bass swimming in our seas to trout meandering through our rivers. Some fish, however, are trickier to catch than others.
Joe Crowley visits the Dorset coast to team up with a local fly fisherman as he takes on one of the UK’s most difficult fish to catch – the mullet. Joe learns about a very specific method, using unique flies created to hopefully entice one in. Along the way, we trawl the Countryfile archives in search of stories about our relationship with the fish that call our rivers and seas home.
Read MoreWest Exmoor
Sean Fletcher and Anita Rani explore the rugged hills and valleys of west Exmoor, where landscape-scale change is occurring with the introduction of large animals to aid nature restoration.
Read MoreBBC Children in Need Countryfile Rambles 2024
Presenters Matt Baker, Anita Rani, Sean Fletcher, Margherita Taylor and John Craven are celebrating the tenth anniversary of Countryfile Rambles for BBC Children in Need.
Read MoreYorkshire Dales
Sean Fletcher and Sammi Kinghorn are in the Yorkshire Dales with its craggy hills, plunging valleys and expansive moors - but the landscape hasn’t always looked like this. Sean discovers the Dales were once covered in trees as he joins one of the biggest native tree planting projects in England, helping to restore woodland to the area. He also meets a young farmer embracing the local tradition of making cheese from a small herd of cattle.
Sammi learns the story of Yorkshire wool, from the cottage industry of knitting shepherds, to the water-powered textiles mills of the 18th century. We also meet the man who has spent 35 years filming the underwater world of one of the Yorkshire Dales’ many rivers, and join a printmaker who takes inspiration from her daily fell runs. And Tom is looking at the government’s plans for a big increase in house building and what that will mean for the countryside.
Read MoreNew Forest
Adam Henson and Sean Fletcher explore the rich landscapes of the New Forest, where the animals that roam the heath and woodlands play an essential role in shaping the landscape. Adam joins the head agister on his rounds, overseeing the commoners' livestock, and meets the people who have the right to graze their animals in this ancient landscape.
Sean helps to restore Europe's largest remaining area of lowland heath and visits a community woodland where Shire horses are helping with coppicing. He also goes in search of the elusive hawfinch and meets a woman building a successful soap-making business from goat's milk.
Beyond the New Forest, Adam travels to Shropshire to meet a young pig farmer who is passionate about both agriculture and preserving the countryside.
Read MoreDyfi River
John Craven and Sean Fletcher are in Mid Wales around the Dyfi river, exploring the hidden stories of wildlife that flock to the area at this time of year - and the people ready to welcome them.
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