The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Rosemary on July 14, 2013, 04:49:54 pm

Title: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: Rosemary on July 14, 2013, 04:49:54 pm
"Adam gets up close to rare native Shetland cattle"

Not often I get excited about "Countryfile" but I am today  :excited:
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: jaykay on July 14, 2013, 07:34:37 pm
Ooh, will get organised, as I have a warp to wind, and watch it (like you I don't love the programme but am interested in the Shetlands)
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: lachlanandmarcus on July 14, 2013, 09:03:30 pm
I missed the Shetland cattle bit, boo, will have to catch up on I player, I was too busy walking those inexhaustible new sheepdogs :-))) :farmer:
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: mojocafa on July 14, 2013, 09:27:33 pm
I thought tonight's programme was superb. As for the seaweed woman, cracking accent!!!
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: Lesley Silvester on July 14, 2013, 10:11:00 pm
i player here I come.
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: jaykay on July 14, 2013, 10:40:41 pm
I just loved all the accents, the animals, the landscape - great place  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: Anke on July 14, 2013, 11:11:35 pm
"Adam gets up close to rare native Shetland cattle"

Not often I get excited about "Countryfile" but I am today  :excited:

Excited because of Adam (Henson?) or the cattle....  ;D
 
 
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: shygirl on July 14, 2013, 11:13:00 pm
"Adam gets up close to rare native Shetland cattle"

Not often I get excited about "Countryfile" but I am today  :excited:

Excited because of Adam (Henson?) or the cattle....  ;D

 :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: colliewobbles on July 14, 2013, 11:16:08 pm
We just watched it - was a very good episode, actually about farming.  I think there has been too much time spent on things like mountain biking lately which is not what we tune in for.
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: Simon O on July 15, 2013, 12:40:27 am
I said to Cheryl Rosemary will be liking this one - I was right!
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: Fleecewife on July 15, 2013, 01:08:02 am
I liked seeing where Socks the dancing Shetland stallion comes from - and of course what he can really do  :horse:
 
I was in Shetland in 2000 and saw Mary Isbister's croft - I fell for the Shetland  :&> :&> :&> and tried to get some so we could start our own little flock, but I was unlucky.  With about a thousand now it sounds as if the numbers are climbing rapidly - excellent.
 
Mary baked us spelt bread and I fell in love with that too  :hungry: .
 
Seeing 'Ellie' with her hair flapping around in the wind on the boat made me wonder how on earth she's going to untangle it - I have long hair and long ago learned to put practicality before pride in the tresses department, especially where salt winds are involved  ::)  and plait it.  Spoil sport I know.
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: SallyintNorth on July 15, 2013, 01:27:47 am
Loved the cattle  :love: :cow:

Loved the ducks  :love: :&>

Didn't think much of the Shetland fleeces on show - the one Adam was skirting was almost felted, wasn't it?  And the locks held up to compare with the Cotswold must've been britch wool?  Surely they could've found some more spectacular fleece to show off on telly?

But, I suppose most folks wouldn't know the difference, and it was good to see the full range of Shetland livestock. :)

I had similar thoughts about Ellie's hair, FW.  My long hair is never loose when I am out and about , unless it's flat calm and I'm not working.  Do you think vanity comes into it?  :innocent: :eyelashes:  Perhaps she and Neil Oliver have access to special conditioners / untanglers :roflanim:
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: Fleecewife on July 15, 2013, 02:03:44 am
 :roflanim: :roflanim:
 
It may be her vanity or the producer's, but her hair, lovely though it is, is always to the fore and often in the way.  Remember Julia Bradbury who had gone to look at hives of bees with her hair loose - got all tangled up with a bee and stung next to her eye.
 
Long hair and machinery don't mix either, unless you want your head sucked down a pto shaft  :o
 
I suppose I notice because my own hair is long.  I also notice really long fringes, which just get in your eyes and are annoying (and stand on end when you ride a bicycle) - I used to have mine like that so I know  ;D
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: Rosemary on July 15, 2013, 09:03:27 am
Well, it was brief but nice publicity anyway  :) I've had the pleasure of meeting Mary (and Tommy) Isbister and Ronnie Eunson, and they are lovely folk, as were all the crofters we met last year. Loved Shetland (wouldn't want to live there) and would love to go back with Dan sometime soon  :fc:
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: HelenVF on July 15, 2013, 09:34:09 am
It isn't very often I enjoy Countryfile (although do keep watching it), but last night was fantastic!  Really enjoyed it and what it should be like every week! 

I am liking the shetland ducks.......project coming on......

Helen
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: Still playing with tractors on July 15, 2013, 09:46:45 am
Yes i agree it was one of the best episodes of late, no arty farty stuff :relief:

loved the duck house brilliant :excited:
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: Backinwellies on July 15, 2013, 11:47:13 am
On going fight in our house over ellie ......... as far as I'm concerned she is a blond  b   put on for show my OH thinks she is lovely!!!  Give me practical funny, competitive julia anyday   (shame they dont compete Julia with Ellie .in something practical ........ we all know who would win!!!.......... come to that she would beat adam hands down at most things too!!!!



............. awaiting the back lash................. :innocent:
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: SallyintNorth on July 15, 2013, 11:57:54 am
There's something about Julia that just grates on me, can't put my finger on it.

Ellie doesn't grate, but yes, is a bit of a blonde b.  Sorry, Ellie, I'm sure you're really nice.

Adam's ok, definitely a bonus having another real farmer on the prog.

I do like Matt.  Another Northerner, and from a farming family to boot. :)
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: Fleecewife on July 15, 2013, 12:08:23 pm
I quickly get fed up with most presenters when they have been around too long especially when they appear on loads of other progs - for example Hammond is a name which pops up all over now, not just imagining he's still 18 and playing boy racer.  I begin to notice all their foibles and mannerisms to the point that I can let it spoil the programme.
I never get tired of David Attenborough though.
 
I agree that Countryfile is less about agriculture these days, but they are appealing to the masses and encouraging greater interest in the countryside for everyone.  It leaves us with no specialist TV programme and some of us are not up in time to listen to Farming Today  :-[
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: HelenVF on July 15, 2013, 12:15:22 pm
I like Matt a LOT lol!  I don't mind Ellie but her hair does get on my nerves - tie it back!!  I can't make my mind up about Julia Bradbury.  Sometimes I like her, but sometimes I don't.  Not sure why.  Adam needs a programme of his own!  He is fab!

Helen
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: Still playing with tractors on July 15, 2013, 12:18:48 pm
I don't mind either Julia or Ellie but hey i'm a bloke :-J  :roflanim:
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: colliewobbles on July 15, 2013, 04:28:19 pm


I am liking the shetland ducks.......project coming on......

Helen

 :&> :&> we loved them too
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: kye on July 15, 2013, 06:48:18 pm
I bought my cows from Mary (with the ducks). They are lovely girls.  :love:
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: Backinwellies on July 15, 2013, 10:24:35 pm
Yes Adan maybe does need a programme of his own ......but not one where he  pretends to farm or even worse smallhold ........... he is a landowner of a very large estate and i suspect the 2 minutes of farming he does for countryfile a week is the most he ever does! (watching him try to tell the age of a sheep by its teeth in one episode (he was wrong!) had me laughing out loud.    Yes he has done a lot to promote farming to the masses and I'll thank him for that, but how many bulls at several £1000 each  can you buy and how many new tractors can you drive  before Joe Bloggs thinks all farmers are rolling in it ...........   Give me Matt any day......... when he goes home to his papernts farm he gets dirty!
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: colliewobbles on July 15, 2013, 11:33:24 pm
Yes Adan maybe does need a programme of his own ......but not one where he  pretends to farm or even worse smallhold ........... he is a landowner of a very large estate and i suspect the 2 minutes of farming he does for countryfile a week is the most he ever does! (watching him try to tell the age of a sheep by its teeth in one episode (he was wrong!) had me laughing out loud.    Yes he has done a lot to promote farming to the masses and I'll thank him for that, but how many bulls at several £1000 each  can you buy and how many new tractors can you drive  before Joe Bloggs thinks all farmers are rolling in it ...........   Give me Matt any day......... when he goes home to his papernts farm he gets dirty!

I have to disagree somewhat with this - we got our GOS weaners from him and spent quite a lot of time at the farm with him and his farm manager.  They are actually tenant farmers and don't own the estate at all.  A short drive from their farm is a massive country house which is actually the estate that Adam, and originally his Dad, rent from.  The Farm park only covers about 2 acres and is not a particularly big set-up.  And the farm house looks fab on the TV but is actually pretty ramshackle and needs quite a bit doing to it.

When we talked to him about livestock he clearly knew his stuff and was very hands on whilst we were there, as was his young son who was well into the farm animals too.

Obviously his farm manager is fantastic and they seem to work very well together and he needs someone to rely on whilst doing his other work. Every farmer needs to diversify and he is lucky that he has been able to diversify into something fairly well paid that brings him good publicity - I guess we all would if we could.
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: colliewobbles on July 15, 2013, 11:34:53 pm
On going fight in our house over ellie ......... as far as I'm concerned she is a blond  b   put on for show my OH thinks she is lovely!!!  Give me practical funny, competitive julia anyday   (shame they dont compete Julia with Ellie .in something practical ........ we all know who would win!!!.......... come to that she would beat adam hands down at most things too!!!!



............. awaiting the back lash................. :innocent:

My Dad is totally convinced that Julia and Matt have a thing going on  ;D  Lucky her I say - after all the man can dance, is a sheep farmer by trade and loves collies - what more could a girl want.   ;)
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: HelenVF on July 16, 2013, 09:50:28 am
Nooo, Matt is happily married, isn't he?  He is a NICE boy!  :roflanim: :roflanim:


Yes Adan maybe does need a programme of his own ......but not one where he  pretends to farm or even worse smallhold ........... he is a landowner of a very large estate and i suspect the 2 minutes of farming he does for countryfile a week is the most he ever does! (watching him try to tell the age of a sheep by its teeth in one episode (he was wrong!) had me laughing out loud.    Yes he has done a lot to promote farming to the masses and I'll thank him for that, but how many bulls at several £1000 each  can you buy and how many new tractors can you drive  before Joe Bloggs thinks all farmers are rolling in it ...........   Give me Matt any day......... when he goes home to his papernts farm he gets dirty!

I have to disagree somewhat with this - we got our GOS weaners from him and spent quite a lot of time at the farm with him and his farm manager.  They are actually tenant farmers and don't own the estate at all.  A short drive from their farm is a massive country house which is actually the estate that Adam, and originally his Dad, rent from.  The Farm park only covers about 2 acres and is not a particularly big set-up.  And the farm house looks fab on the TV but is actually pretty ramshackle and needs quite a bit doing to it.

When we talked to him about livestock he clearly knew his stuff and was very hands on whilst we were there, as was his young son who was well into the farm animals too.

Obviously his farm manager is fantastic and they seem to work very well together and he needs someone to rely on whilst doing his other work. Every farmer needs to diversify and he is lucky that he has been able to diversify into something fairly well paid that brings him good publicity - I guess we all would if we could.


 :relief: :relief: :relief:  I'm pleased you said that, I was getting worried!


Helen
Title: Re: Tonight's Countryfile - from Shetland
Post by: MarvinH on July 17, 2013, 11:07:16 pm
Yes Adan maybe does need a programme of his own ......but not one where he  pretends to farm or even worse smallhold ........... he is a landowner of a very large estate and i suspect the 2 minutes of farming he does for countryfile a week is the most he ever does! (watching him try to tell the age of a sheep by its teeth in one episode (he was wrong!) had me laughing out loud.    Yes he has done a lot to promote farming to the masses and I'll thank him for that, but how many bulls at several £1000 each  can you buy and how many new tractors can you drive  before Joe Bloggs thinks all farmers are rolling in it ...........   Give me Matt any day......... when he goes home to his papernts farm he gets dirty!

Well said