[oor wullie]

Countryfile are in the Highlands tonight and I know they have a bit on a couple of crofters who are friends of mine in Rogart.

I am not sure what they are talking about but might be of interest to some people.

[Rosemary]

Jeez, Countryfile in Scotland. There's a thing.

[Rupert the bear]

Bring back Landward

[Rosemary]

Bring back Landward

 It is back.

[Tighnaneun]

Yeah Countryfile got in touch with the SCF Young Crofters group which I'm the secretary of and asked for a new entrant, young crofter to feature. we went through a few options and they settled on Tom and Steffi as the are on the NC500 route, they have a great place and a lovely story, and I'm nearby too so I got a wee interview about the political side of the SCFYC.

I had been featured on Landward back in October!

[Scotsdumpy]

Bbc alba has a new series about crofting - sorry, not sure when it starts but probably this week. The first is about someone starting an egg production business.

[Rosemary]

Bbc alba has a new series about crofting - sorry, not sure when it starts but probably this week. The first is about someone starting an egg production business.

Tonight I think. It's about one bloke trying to make a living off a croft.

[oor wullie]

It is "An Lot", Mondays on Bbc Alba, following a crofter in Ness trying to make a living from it.
 
I watched the first episode this week and quite enjoyed it, it seemed a bit less sanitised than some programs (he expressed surprise that none of his hens had died in the back of his van on the journey home from Lanark, no doubt helped by driving all the way home with the door tied slightly open for ventilation).

[pharnorth]

It was a nice piece on Countryfile. I don't watch it as much as I used to because it is like reading a coffee table book all pictures and no content but sometimes they get some real material on there also not only does it not get up,to Scotland much it rarely goes East most of the reporting is within a couple of hours drive of Bristol.....

[Rosemary]

I prefer Landward.

[SallyintNorth]

We get BBC Alba here, and I did enjoy the crofting programme very much.  I am a bit bothered about all those nice healthy hens in that Portacabin for three days until he has time to continue work on their henhouse, mind... 

I was particularly entertained by the 'blackface' sheep that looked more like Swales than some Swales!  (Apart from the trademark Blackie handlebar horns.)  If I farmed that land, I'd want Swaley genes in my sheep, too.

I watched Countryfile too - I always try to catch Adam's Farm and the weather for the week ahead, but often tune out the rest of the programme these days.  I did enjoy the piece with oor wullie's pals in it but I have to say I can now recall very little about it.  Was there more of Ellie cycling than there was of the young crofters? 

I've also seen Ben Fogle's piece on the Hidden Valley folks in Exmoor this week.  Given what's been happening up here this week, and that the valley they are in is the one where the devastating floods originated in Lynmouth in 1952, I couldn't help thinking that they'd lose the lot if there were another flood like that one.   Fingers crossed that doesn't happen! 

We've been trying to work out how she gets £500-worth of sales from one Berkshire pig... Their website says they slaughter at 55kgs deadweight.  According to the website, the customer pays £4.95/kg deadweight, so a 55kg deadweight pig would fetch £272.25.  Slaughter costs to come off.  I guess she was meaning if they sold all the meat individually - but even at that, looking at their price list, they wouldn't get £500 from one pig.

Anyway, more to enjoy than pick holes in, I hope they get their planning permission.

[oor wullie]

Yes Countryfile is a bit too much like a coffee table book.

I think it would have been a bit more interesting if they had mentioned why she was brushing down a horse that was black with mud - but perhaps that story doesn't fit their model of everything being "nice" in the country even though I think they had filmed some of the incident.
(The horse had been discovered that morning up to its neck in a peatbog - an excavator was required to dig it out!).

It is nice to see familiar things, places and people on TV.

[juliem]

Countryfile recently filmed a hedgehop release scheme about a year ago here in Shropshire.....After they finished filming they had to recapture the hedgehogs..as the area was awash with badgers.(that prey on hedgehogs)