0:00:04 > 0:00:07The British countryside holds a special
0:00:07 > 0:00:09place in the heart of the nation.
0:00:09 > 0:00:14Swallows and rooks and creaking wood, and then incredible silence.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18I mean, this is completely free from the noise of a big city.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20It's really like being on another planet.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25Yet only 18% of the population lives in the country.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29Of those that do, some have been bred into it.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32I was born in the front room of the house there.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37And I've been here ever since. Never lived anywhere else.
0:00:37 > 0:00:38A few have inherited.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41It's one thing knowing your brother's going to inherit
0:00:41 > 0:00:45everything, it's another thing when it actually happens
0:00:45 > 0:00:50and you suddenly think, "Huh, it's his house now and not Mummy's."
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Many have bought in to it.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55It was meant to be, it was a matter of destiny,
0:00:55 > 0:00:57I was just drawn to it like a magnet.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Within an hour of arriving, I made the offer to buy it.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04But only 4% of us actually work on it.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06When you go to the country, it's quite rough
0:01:06 > 0:01:08and it's quite dirty, but nice dirt, you know, muddy.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10- It's muddy. - SHE LAUGHS
0:01:10 > 0:01:13You know, you walk in the country, it rains.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17For over 120 years, Country Life has been aspiring to capture
0:01:17 > 0:01:21the elusive soul of the British countryside.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23We spent a year filming with the magazine,
0:01:23 > 0:01:26from muddy fields to stately homes.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28DOGS BARK
0:01:28 > 0:01:31Increasingly, there's a tension between town and country.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Edward!
0:01:35 > 0:01:38With 80% of us living in cities and suburbs,
0:01:38 > 0:01:42the countryside is under threat from urban values.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45Many rural dwellers are asking who runs the countryside
0:01:45 > 0:01:47and what can be done to protect it.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51I'm afraid it's the bloody do-gooders.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54They interfere with everything we do now.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04Hetty, do you know, have you done the pictures for this one yet?
0:02:04 > 0:02:10It's a sort of Henley theme and a floral kind of jewellery theme.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12MUSIC: Wouldn't It Be Nice by The Beach Boys
0:02:12 > 0:02:16Would you not open this magazine? Come on, when this is there?
0:02:16 > 0:02:19As a surf guy, looking at the West Country.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22- Of course!- Flora. Yeah. Flora.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27I'll flick through the back and then I'll start at the front,
0:02:27 > 0:02:30and of course we love the adverts, so I'll be looking at the houses,
0:02:30 > 0:02:32like we all do.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40I always look, first of all, at the property section, and then sometimes,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43I'm afraid, rather egotistically, I look to see if I'm in it or not.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48Although the magazine has been slavishly devoted to houses,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51gardens and architecture since its Victorian origins,
0:02:51 > 0:02:56its most famous page is its frontispiece, which still features
0:02:56 > 0:02:59the engagements and achievements of young ladies in society.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07Over 6,000 girls have appeared since 1897, although, strangely, the
0:03:07 > 0:03:12very first edition featured a rather wry Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18116 years on, these girls are relevant, you know,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21it's not just a picture of a pretty, erm,
0:03:21 > 0:03:25aristocratic British woman. We want to show that the English rose
0:03:25 > 0:03:30still exists, it's not something that is of the past.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34You know, British women are still very much at the forthright...
0:03:34 > 0:03:39- at the forefront of...- British women are the most beautiful in the world. - They are.- Stop being so modest.
0:03:39 > 0:03:40How do you get around that?
0:03:40 > 0:03:42British women are the most beautiful in the world,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46and the English rose is something very special.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Mark Hedges, the former editor of Horse And Hound,
0:03:49 > 0:03:53became the 11th editor in 2006.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55My job is to provide something that the readers want to read,
0:03:55 > 0:03:58and no more and no less than that.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00- OK, no, I like that.- A variety. - Yeah.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03'We've made some very strong statements on wind farms and badgers
0:04:03 > 0:04:06'and HS2 and all of those sorts of things,
0:04:06 > 0:04:08'but it's also a magazine of pleasure,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11'and it's an escape from the slings and arrows of normal life.'
0:04:14 > 0:04:16Until recently,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19copies of the magazine were sent out to soldiers in Afghanistan,
0:04:19 > 0:04:23with the frontispieces subsequently pinned up in Camp Bastion.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27# No matter where I roam
0:04:29 > 0:04:32# I will return to my English rose
0:04:32 > 0:04:34# For no bonds... #
0:04:34 > 0:04:37"It is at Nethergill Farm, and a church just down the dale,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40"where, this year, Ella and I will be married.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45"She is, in truth, a wonderful character with sparkling eyes
0:04:45 > 0:04:48"and a smile that lights a room, a true English rose.
0:04:48 > 0:04:49"The mere sight of..."
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Flight Lieutenant Ian Fortune,
0:04:51 > 0:04:53who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
0:04:53 > 0:04:58in 2010, wrote to the magazine during his sixth tour.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03"Everything that Ella and I stand for, our love for the country,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05"the countryside, and an aspiration for the finest
0:05:05 > 0:05:09"things in life, as well as a deep-rooted desire to keep this
0:05:09 > 0:05:13"country protected and great for future generations..."
0:05:14 > 0:05:18At the end, he says, "Finally, it was always a pleasure to be reminded on a weekly basis
0:05:18 > 0:05:21"of what other treasures Great Britain had to be proud of.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25"I refer to the frontispiece and the wondrous girls and pearls adorning each glistening edition."
0:05:25 > 0:05:27"It is for this reason that I write to request that
0:05:27 > 0:05:30"Miss Ella Charlotte Clark be considered for the frontispiece
0:05:30 > 0:05:34"of the magazine and become one of the timeless girls in pearls."
0:05:35 > 0:05:36Wow.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Do you think you're going to be pinned up on anybody's wall?
0:05:41 > 0:05:43- Oh, God, I hope not. - SHE LAUGHS
0:05:43 > 0:05:49I doubt it. Maybe on Ian's wall, but we'll see.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51So she might become a pin-up now in Camp Bastion.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Yeah, absolutely. Will be on my wall.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57- And that's the only wall it'll be on. - SHE LAUGHS
0:05:57 > 0:06:00- I'll give you reference points to look at.- OK, fine.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03What we're going to do, we're going to use a bit of controlled light.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05Bring your head round towards me a bit more.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09There's an authentic farm vehicle coming down the track over there
0:06:09 > 0:06:11that we'll just see if we can capture that as well.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13I want my daughter to be a girl in pearls
0:06:13 > 0:06:14but I don't think she'd agree with me.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16She'd be gorgeous in there, but I think every mother
0:06:16 > 0:06:20wants their daughter to look like one of those lovely girls.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23They all look lovely and pretty and young and peachy.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26Well, I liked it better when it was grand ladies,
0:06:26 > 0:06:28scions of families.
0:06:28 > 0:06:29It was such fun.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33Well, I remember arguing that they ought to get rid of them.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36You know, when it was the Marchioness of Granby with
0:06:36 > 0:06:38her daughter, you know, the Lady Diana Cooper on her
0:06:38 > 0:06:43lap as a child, it was so stunning. I mean, all that Edwardian
0:06:43 > 0:06:46splendour and hauteur of presentation.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49I mean, and these sort of girls skimping around.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Well, they could be anybody on the pavement.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54MUSIC: There She Goes by The La's
0:06:57 > 0:07:00Simon Jenkins, former editor of The Times,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03worked at the magazine in the '60s.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06I wanted to be a romantic foreign correspondent, and my first job
0:07:06 > 0:07:09in journalism was writing captions for the girl with the pearls.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15We had a stack of them, we'd get probably 20 or 30 a week.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19I'd sort of pre-select half a dozen of them, the...
0:07:19 > 0:07:21- INTERVIEWER:- Based on? - Oh, goodness knows.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24I mean, they... they really were all identical.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27# There she goes... #
0:07:27 > 0:07:31From stiffly staged black-and-white portraits of aristocracy
0:07:31 > 0:07:33to more provocative modern poses,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37the frontispiece still remains a badge of honour for a certain class.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43I have to say, I looked back on the ones I did
0:07:43 > 0:07:45and I thought they were much better.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49As soon as they started including impedimenta, a setting round the
0:07:49 > 0:07:53girl, she became a particular class, only with her dogs or horses or
0:07:53 > 0:07:57whatever it might be. It immediately sort of dripped money.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01Then it was literally a portrait of a face, and the fact that they
0:08:01 > 0:08:05were all the same, I thought, was in many ways much more democratic.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08It was kind of artistic rather than social.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10They were simply English girls.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Up a bit, up a bit more, bit more. OK, and then turn it round.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17It'll leave our readers wondering.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21I think we should just go back. I'm going to go for that one
0:08:21 > 0:08:23because that says Yorkshire, that says, "She's at home,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26"she's clearly a country girl."
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Oh, wow, look at the dog's eyes.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31- Oh, it's cool.- Yeah. - I hope it's called Ziggy Stardust.
0:08:31 > 0:08:32SHE LAUGHS
0:08:32 > 0:08:35- INTERVIEWER:- Do you feel you have to be politically correct?
0:08:35 > 0:08:38I don't think political correctness comes into it at all.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Political correctness is, that's for newspapers to worry about,
0:08:41 > 0:08:43that's for the BBC to worry about.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47We don't support a political party, we support the countryside.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50We try and give a sort of statesman-like lead rather than
0:08:50 > 0:08:52a sort of jackboot lead.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58Based in South London, the magazine is a Bible to the upper and middle classes.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Many of its Victorian readers would still recognise it today.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08In the main, it's urban and always was.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11The magazine was born out of the late Victorian
0:09:11 > 0:09:14revulsion against the industrialised city.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19And it was a time when the new middle classes had this vision
0:09:19 > 0:09:23of wanting a country cottage and living, really, a kind of mythology.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29- INTERVIEWER:- Do you think it's a magazine for snobs?
0:09:29 > 0:09:31I don't know what people mean by snobs.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35If you like country life - I mean living in the country
0:09:35 > 0:09:40by that - it's hardly snobbish to have a magazine to reflect it.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43I mean, some people could say it's quite elitist, couldn't they?
0:09:43 > 0:09:45There's nothing wrong with being elitist,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47it's a step in the right direction, I think.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51There seems to be too much uniformity in the world as it is.
0:09:51 > 0:09:52Let's keep up some elitism.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57- OVER TANNOY:- Final call from X, subsection B pony fillies,
0:09:57 > 0:10:02two or three-year-olds. Final call, X120...
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Rupert Uloth joined the magazine 20 years ago,
0:10:05 > 0:10:09and became the deputy editor in 2008.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11He's also been a steward at The Royal Bath and West
0:10:11 > 0:10:16agricultural show for the last 30 years.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20This is, for me, the heart of country life in England, where all
0:10:20 > 0:10:23these passionate people gather together to come and show all
0:10:23 > 0:10:26their animals and to enjoy all these special things about the country.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32It's a bit like London Fashion Week for farm animals.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35The sort of Kate Mosses of the, you know, the cattle world,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38I can put it that way. It means they're the sort of finest specimens.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Erm, they're a slightly different shape to Kate Moss, I must admit,
0:10:41 > 0:10:43and the best ones are the sort of, you know, really muscled up
0:10:43 > 0:10:47and look absolutely amazing, but they're all groomed and immaculate.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56This is Milo, and this is Montenaro.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59- INTERVIEWER:- What do you use to make his horns so gorgeous?
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Just baby oil.
0:11:01 > 0:11:02SHE LAUGHS
0:11:02 > 0:11:06He has to have a bath about a week before the show, then he's trimmed.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11It looks a bit archaic, wearing a bowler hat.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14You're expected to be identifiable, rather like, erm,
0:11:14 > 0:11:16policemen in, er, in a town or something.
0:11:16 > 0:11:21You know, if you're going round the showground, we're representing the show.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24I'm delighted I'm wearing it, it was my grandfather's hat,
0:11:24 > 0:11:26which I think he wore in, er, in the city.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29You've got to have something you... Especially the stewarding that I do.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31I steward in the main, er, in the main grandstand
0:11:31 > 0:11:35and I help, erm, people who are giving the cups out to people,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37and so I have to indicate things, you know,
0:11:37 > 0:11:41when the show jumpers gallop off round the show...the ring.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44I need to indicate, it's very useful to sort of put it on and say...
0:11:44 > 0:11:45You know?
0:11:45 > 0:11:48And they know straight away. It's amazing how symbolic it is.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02There are lots of shows all round England,
0:12:02 > 0:12:06and every county has a show. That is where a lot of people meet.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11You know, human beings, we're all human beings, we all need to
0:12:11 > 0:12:15exchange information on a social level, but also just chatting
0:12:15 > 0:12:17to people, you find out what's going on, and especially farmers.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20You know, as less people are working on the land,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23they're seeing less people. I mean, they've all got, you know,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27bigger and better tractors maybe, but it's, you know, employing
0:12:27 > 0:12:30people is very, very expensive and so you need to meet people to share
0:12:30 > 0:12:34ideas and find out what's going on and what the latest innovations are.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42She got first, we got first and seconds all the way, so we did, and
0:12:42 > 0:12:44champion Charolais and reserve interbreed,
0:12:44 > 0:12:46so we had a really good day.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50Very, very beautiful. They're very hard to keep clean,
0:12:50 > 0:12:51they're the wrong colours.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53THEY LAUGH
0:12:55 > 0:12:57There's one local farmer who's come to the show,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00leaving his cattle behind.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03His herd was struck by TB four years ago.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06- Because they what, they come and test every year?- Yeah.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10- And then they say... - And once they find it, they test you every 60 days.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13- Have you ever slaughtered some? - We've slaughtered about
0:13:13 > 0:13:15100 of them so far, over the four year.
0:13:15 > 0:13:16Yeah.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26An outbreak of TB is the news every dairy farmer dreads.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29Maurice Durbin owned one of the biggest pedigree Guernsey
0:13:29 > 0:13:31herds in the country.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35My father changed to Guernseys the year I was born.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38At its peak, he had 350 cows
0:13:38 > 0:13:42delivering 10,000 litres of milk a day.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47I grew up as the tractors grew up. I grew up as the milking
0:13:47 > 0:13:50parlours grew up,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53and I grew up with the land growing up.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00In 2010, when TB was found in 47 of his cows,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04they were condemned overnight and removed for slaughter.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09Each one had been hand-reared and was worth up to £3,000.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14This is Mum and Dad. Stood out there, outside that window.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21I think it was their silver wedding. Charles and Evelyn.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24That was me back in the goat days,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28when I were going to make a fortune with goats.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32That's me again, making a fuss of the farm cats.
0:14:32 > 0:14:37- INTERVIEWER:- What were they called? - Oh, God. Cats.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41They all had names at the time, but I can't remember that.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43And that's my dad, yeah.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47Charles Durbin, born, yeah, 1903.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51Poor old Dad.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53Why did you say that?
0:14:53 > 0:14:54Had a hard life.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58Did it all by hand?
0:14:58 > 0:14:59Yeah, a lot of it.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06TB continues to linger in Maurice's herd.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08As a result, there's a movement restriction on the cows,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11and he can't transport or sell any of them.
0:15:11 > 0:15:1313, 14.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16The milk from the healthy cows can still be used
0:15:16 > 0:15:20but, in effect, the farm is shut down and the herd has to be
0:15:20 > 0:15:25individually tested every 60 days until they're clear of TB.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30- INTERVIEWER:- Are Country Life taking a stand with TB? I mean, what is
0:15:30 > 0:15:31the magazine's approach?
0:15:31 > 0:15:35Country Life desperately cares about the farmers.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Some of these herds have been built up for three generations,
0:15:38 > 0:15:43five generations, and then they get the TB, and they have to shoot these
0:15:43 > 0:15:48cows that have taken decades and decades and decades to build up.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52The vet, Ian Whyte, has made over 20 visits to date.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56He'll spend two days injecting the cows with a small
0:15:56 > 0:15:57extract of tuberculin
0:15:57 > 0:16:02and another two days interpreting any reactions the herd might have.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09This is, erm, Titiana, we took her to Frome Show, Frome Cheese Show,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12and she was first prize there and reserve champion,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14and we took her to the South West Dairy Show,
0:16:14 > 0:16:18held at Shepton Mallet, and she's calved again since then now, so.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20- INTERVIEWER:- Is she one of your special ones?
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Yeah. Yeah, she's a favourite, yeah, one of the favourites.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26- Why is she called Titiana? - It's just her family name.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30The family names, they give each pedigree line, so each cow,
0:16:30 > 0:16:35its daughter will carry on then and be the next one on.
0:16:35 > 0:16:40This is Bramble. Her father was a bull that we kept
0:16:40 > 0:16:43- from one of our show cows.- You're very proud of them, aren't you?
0:16:43 > 0:16:46Yeah, I am, yeah, I think you have to be.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49I think it's something that I'm really excited about, you know.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53We all are here because we've got pedi... There's pedigree cows, and if you want to work with pedigree
0:16:53 > 0:16:55cows, you're going to work on a pedigree farm.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02What was it like the day, the very first time you got the news
0:17:02 > 0:17:03that TB had come in to the herd?
0:17:03 > 0:17:07It was devastating because you go along and think, "Oh, yeah, that's right, we just have the
0:17:07 > 0:17:11- "test and then we'll be all right." - Five, five.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14And then, as time goes on, you start hearing of other people that
0:17:14 > 0:17:16go down and they don't, they don't get out of it.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19And you start to think, "Well, when is it our turn?"
0:17:19 > 0:17:23But even when that day comes, you're still not prepared for it.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25- That was a hard day, wasn't it? - It was.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28Ian, do you remember that, that day that this farm first tested?
0:17:28 > 0:17:32Yes, because the first cow came in, just coincidentally. She had
0:17:32 > 0:17:36massive reactor lumps, and it was one of Laura's favourites.
0:17:41 > 0:17:47There is, within the countryside, a certainty that the poor old
0:17:47 > 0:17:52badger is transmitting the TB to the cows.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Now, I think one of the things that has to be understood is that
0:17:55 > 0:17:58nobody dislikes badgers. I personally remember,
0:17:58 > 0:18:01when I was aged eight, my father stopping the car
0:18:01 > 0:18:05because one had been hit, and in those days they were so rare that
0:18:05 > 0:18:10you got out and you looked at them, because you'd never seen one before.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14The badgers were, at one stage, persecuted.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18What has happened is that they were then protected,
0:18:18 > 0:18:22and like any protected animal, their numbers surged.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26There's probably 1,000 times as many badgers as there'll have
0:18:26 > 0:18:28been in, say, the '60s.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33The biggest...the biggest problem in many ways is that, erm,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36the spread is very much easier from a badger.
0:18:36 > 0:18:41If they become infected, not only do they become
0:18:41 > 0:18:45infected in their lungs, but their kidneys can also become
0:18:45 > 0:18:49infected, so they're actually excreting
0:18:49 > 0:18:51TB in the urine.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53As I say, nobody...
0:18:56 > 0:18:58Six, six.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Nobody wants to condemn the badgers out of hand,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04and most farmers, in, erm, in the old days, would have one
0:19:04 > 0:19:08or two setts on the farm and they would tolerate that perfectly well.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10And they would be healthy.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13If there's any contamination from the badgers at all,
0:19:13 > 0:19:17the cow's just got to hoover it up, that sort of thing.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19So many badgers about.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22There are so many of them about that, erm, we don't stand a chance.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28In no way do we hate badgers, you know, it's just a case of wanting
0:19:28 > 0:19:31an equal share of the pro... You know, to sort the problem.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35Come on, then. Come on, Bab.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39- INTERVIEWER:- Do you have a good feeling about the results?
0:19:39 > 0:19:41No. I daren't.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47I daren't have a good feeling about this jab at all.
0:19:47 > 0:19:48She'll get a disappointment.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55When Laura was talking about her show cows,
0:19:55 > 0:19:59I thought, "Careful, Laura, you're putting a price on her head."
0:20:01 > 0:20:05It's taken all the manpower on the farm to test the cattle.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10In two days' time, they'll get the results.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14If a lump has grown on the injected spot, the cow will be sent
0:20:14 > 0:20:18to the abattoir and the farm will be shut down for a further 60 days.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21They're just on their way now.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25They say, "Thank God for that."
0:20:25 > 0:20:27We hope they, if they meet a brock
0:20:27 > 0:20:29on their way out, they'll kick it.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33Because I'm not allowed to.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36I'm not allowed to kick anything like that.
0:20:39 > 0:20:40Much as I'd like to.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18We're at Smedmore House, in the Isle of Purbeck, in Dorset,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20on the edge of the sea, facing France.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26The house has been in different families, the Clavells,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29the Pleydells, the Mansels.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33Since it was built in the early 17th century, it's never been sold,
0:21:33 > 0:21:38and the land hasn't been sold since around 1400.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Everybody's come in through marriage, gone through nieces
0:21:41 > 0:21:42or nephews.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46- INTERVIEWER:- And how long have you lived here?
0:21:46 > 0:21:49I've lived here since 1958, on and off,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52when my father moved back after serving in the army.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57I read a lot of books, I read a lot of the leatherbound books,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00histories of France or Napoleon.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03I spent half my childhood reading.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05All my life, I've been coming back here.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08There's probably never been a year when I didn't come back.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10As I grow older, of course I enjoy the peace more,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13and it's become more like a foreign country,
0:22:13 > 0:22:15so coming here from London is like visiting a foreign
0:22:15 > 0:22:19country, as the rest of England becomes more different from London.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21Ah, look what I've found,
0:22:21 > 0:22:25photographs of Smedmore from Country Life.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28The last article about Smedmore appeared in the magazine
0:22:28 > 0:22:33in 1935, when Philip's grandfather was still alive.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37Well, this is Smedmore, which is owned by Philip Mansel. Like many
0:22:37 > 0:22:41houses of this scale, I mean it's a, you know, large gentleman's house,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45it's been extended, the earliest parts of it are probably 17th-century.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47I'm very intrigued. Some of the existing
0:22:47 > 0:22:50analysis of the building doesn't seem to be quite right, erm.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53A very important element of our architectural analysis that
0:22:53 > 0:22:55we're trying to, in the architectural articles, that we're
0:22:55 > 0:23:00trying to look at houses, consider their evolution and development,
0:23:00 > 0:23:04but write them up in the most engaging way we possibly can.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08"Behind its prim Georgian front, Smedmore has certainly known
0:23:08 > 0:23:12"strange goings-on, and a light winking through the window
0:23:12 > 0:23:18"from the house would be picked up by a lugger exactly at the entrance to the bay."
0:23:18 > 0:23:21And, in fact, the great untold story of Dorset is the relationship
0:23:21 > 0:23:25with smuggling to the land and to the people on the land.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31The coast on the army range is said to be one of the darkest
0:23:31 > 0:23:33coastlines in England.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38Country Life, in many ways, is recording, with these historic
0:23:38 > 0:23:41buildings, the intersection of the past with the present,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45and that is, after all, what's so marvellous about Britain.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50And these two things do intersect, often so colourfully and engagingly.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53- INTERVIEWER:- Do people arrive here on time?
0:23:53 > 0:23:55No, they're always late.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59This is a private drive and it's not on sat nav, so unless I remember to
0:23:59 > 0:24:02tell them, er, they get completely lost and rather flustered.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10How lovely to see you, you've arrived.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13John Goodall is accompanied by Jeremy Musson, who will be
0:24:13 > 0:24:18writing the article on the history and curiosities of Smedmore House.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20And it's so wonderful, seeing...
0:24:20 > 0:24:23Now, you see, all the relics of previous Country Life visits
0:24:23 > 0:24:25are laid out for you.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28- Oh, my goodness, is this 1935? - Yes.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30And I have two aunts who can remember.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33One says, "Yes, we giggled madly
0:24:33 > 0:24:36"because everything was changed to suit Country Life,"
0:24:36 > 0:24:40and another says, in a rather mysterious way,
0:24:40 > 0:24:44"Nobody was told anything they weren't meant to know."
0:24:44 > 0:24:46JOHN LAUGHS
0:24:46 > 0:24:50- That's wonderful.- There were already secrets being hidden.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54This is my great uncle, Ronald Campbell,
0:24:54 > 0:24:57who helped run the Washington Embassy in the Second World War.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00His mother added on the locks to make it a prettier portrait.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02THEY LAUGH
0:25:02 > 0:25:06It's the perfect Country Life house, it's a beautiful, proportioned,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10very liveable space, and, er, what I always try and do is
0:25:10 > 0:25:12find out the history sufficient to tell its story.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Usually almost always, we'll find something new to say about that
0:25:15 > 0:25:19early history. We will sort of put together a different story.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21But it's important that it gets a wider public than
0:25:21 > 0:25:23a lot of academic history, you know, that this
0:25:23 > 0:25:27is about pleasure of reading about the past, and this sort of house
0:25:27 > 0:25:32couldn't be better, because it's been in the same family for so long.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36This is the Turkish room, which has just been created.
0:25:36 > 0:25:41That's a famous print of Ali Pasha on the lake of Yannina.
0:25:41 > 0:25:46Ali Pasha, of whom Byron said, "He was the mildest-mannered man
0:25:46 > 0:25:48"who ever slit a throat."
0:25:48 > 0:25:50He said, "Never judge a man by manners,
0:25:50 > 0:25:54"Ali Pasha had the best manners of anybody I've ever met."
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Because he ruled through terror. He ruled very well.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03We're trying to capture the delight of these places.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05You know, some people would say that the English country house is
0:26:05 > 0:26:08one of our great contributions to world culture.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12It's been pointed out that Philip is actually a descendent
0:26:12 > 0:26:15of a figure who was in Domesday. I mean, that's an incredible length
0:26:15 > 0:26:19of connection between a place and a family by any standards at all.
0:26:19 > 0:26:25I made this a family museum. I put livery buttons and war memorabilia,
0:26:25 > 0:26:31my grandmother's dolls, and opera glasses and documents all together.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34I think they lived through their collections in part.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37It's to give them something to do.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41- INTERVIEWER:- Why did plates end up getting hung on walls instead of paintings?
0:26:41 > 0:26:46It's my idea. I think porcelain makes a room come to life.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50And once it's up, it's up, you don't, erm, you don't get it down?
0:26:50 > 0:26:55No, no, there's plenty left to use for dinner or lunch, yes.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58And now I want to take you to another room...
0:26:58 > 0:27:01about a harsher reality, which is the war room,
0:27:01 > 0:27:06which has just been made from some letters and photographs of two
0:27:06 > 0:27:11great-aunts, who were nurses with the French army in the First World War.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15They wrote home to their mother, who was a dangerous revolutionary,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18she was a suffragette who'd broken the windows of the war office
0:27:18 > 0:27:20with other suffragettes...
0:27:22 > 0:27:26How often do you two meet such a learned house owner?
0:27:26 > 0:27:29Well, you'd be surpri... I mean, you know, people know a lot.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33I mean, people who have lived and been brought up with objects
0:27:33 > 0:27:35and things, they know an enormous amount.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39And, of course, they know it often in a way that you cannot know it
0:27:39 > 0:27:41unless you live with it.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45It's the richness of being in Britain,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48it's a part of the world where the past touches us
0:27:48 > 0:27:52in all kinds of extraordinary ways, if we only open our eyes to it.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55It doesn't mean we live in the past or just love the past,
0:27:55 > 0:27:59but not to enjoy the past seems to be like not enjoying
0:27:59 > 0:28:02music or not wanting to learn another language. It seems to me
0:28:02 > 0:28:06it's a bit of wilful blindness, it's just shutting something off.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11This is the grave of a tiger who was brought
0:28:11 > 0:28:17back in about 1880 from India, because John Mansel was
0:28:17 > 0:28:22serving in India, and he obviously wanted to show the neighbours
0:28:22 > 0:28:25he was better than anybody else. He brought back this poor tiger, which
0:28:25 > 0:28:29then died after its first English winter, or maybe because no vet
0:28:29 > 0:28:33would come and see it, and everyone was terrified, and it's buried here.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37- Didn't eat any of the children, though?- Not as far as I know.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41I'm sure people were invited to admire the tiger, which would've
0:28:41 > 0:28:46roared and then probably died of sheer vexation at being in the cold.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51I might just be able to make out "September" there but I might be wrong.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53Very sharp eyes.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15It's really wonderful, I've just seen these marvellous boats.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17It's like something out of the 12th century
0:29:17 > 0:29:19mixed with The Wind In The Willows.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23It's just so colourful, so charming, this is the perfect English day.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27The sun is sparkling, there's a parish church, it's just wonderful.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33I joined Country Life in December 1977.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37I had been studying history of art at Cambridge,
0:29:37 > 0:29:41and I was recruited, rather as though I was a spy.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44At that time, Country Life was looking for somebody to
0:29:44 > 0:29:47write about country houses, about architecture, and because the
0:29:47 > 0:29:51two people who were already there, erm, had gone to Cambridge,
0:29:51 > 0:29:54and somebody else who'd been to Cambridge had just left, they
0:29:54 > 0:29:57thought they had to go to Cambridge as the only place that they
0:29:57 > 0:30:00could find somebody who was going to be, erm, appropriate for them.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03That's probably not an attitude which would be taken now,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06but anyway, that's how it worked at the time.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09MUSIC: Straight To Hell by The Clash.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15- INTERVIEWER:- Why are you sending Clive swan upping?
0:30:15 > 0:30:19I think it would be, erm, slightly out of his comfort zone.
0:30:19 > 0:30:24I think it might produce a rather wonderful article.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27Clive messing about on boats with a very large bird flapping
0:30:27 > 0:30:29sounds like it might be quite fun, to me.
0:30:29 > 0:30:30But don't tell him that.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33I have, strangely, never done swan upping at all.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36At this moment, I think I can truly say I knew nothing about it.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38- INTERVIEWER:- Do you hope he's going to get wet?
0:30:38 > 0:30:42Erm, I'm sure he's going to get wet, I hope he doesn't fall in, because he might not forgive me.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45# How's about a British jig and reel...? #
0:30:47 > 0:30:50Swan upping is a 900-year-old tradition where
0:30:50 > 0:30:54the Queen's swans on the River Thames are counted,
0:30:54 > 0:30:57numbered and trapped to monitor their population and wellbeing.
0:31:00 > 0:31:05The team of boatmen take five days to cover 79 miles of the river.
0:31:08 > 0:31:12David Barber, Swan Marker for Her Majesty The Queen.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16This is my 22nd swan upping.
0:31:16 > 0:31:17We've got six skiffs,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20and the first boat to see the family of swans,
0:31:20 > 0:31:21and they shout out, "All up".
0:31:21 > 0:31:25And that is the signal for us to get ready for a swan catch.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28- Of course, you know, we have to check them all round...- Yes.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31- ..we have the wings, like I explained before, round there. - Oh, I see, to make sure...
0:31:31 > 0:31:34So we have to make sure... Right, Clive.
0:31:34 > 0:31:35SWAN SQUAWKS
0:31:35 > 0:31:38Right, come on. Make sure he gets in.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42But they look so beautiful on the river, and it's very touching
0:31:42 > 0:31:46that they're relaxed when they can see each other.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48Because swans, apparently, get very upset
0:31:48 > 0:31:50when they can't see the whole family.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53Which is quite moving, I think.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55I suppose one mustn't be anthropomorphic,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58but something very human about it, really.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00They're a family.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02Well, I mean, in a symbolic way it's still lovely.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06# Clear as winter ice
0:32:07 > 0:32:10# This is your paradise... #
0:32:10 > 0:32:13I feel proud to be Her Majesty's Swan Marker.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16I've met the Queen several times, she's been swan upping,
0:32:16 > 0:32:18and hopefully she enjoyed it.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21I'm sure she did. And it's very nice.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23# ..take me home
0:32:23 > 0:32:27# See me got photo, photo, photograph
0:32:27 > 0:32:30# Of you and mamma, mamma, mamma-san... #
0:32:30 > 0:32:33That's all right. It won't hurt you.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36One of the cygnets had got back in the water with his feet still tied,
0:32:36 > 0:32:39so one of the boatmen
0:32:39 > 0:32:41sacrificed himself, or two of the boatmen did,
0:32:41 > 0:32:43and jumped in after to go and get it,
0:32:43 > 0:32:44and the swan, the big swans were coming
0:32:44 > 0:32:46and so they had to splash them away, I think.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49But er, they got the cygnet, untied his, untied his feet.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53But, of course, so the poor guys, they're very wet.
0:33:08 > 0:33:12Country Life has had really an extraordinary existence.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15I suppose it was born at the close of the Victorian age
0:33:15 > 0:33:16and through the Edwardian period
0:33:16 > 0:33:21when there was a vision of, in particular, Englishness,
0:33:21 > 0:33:26which really embraced the whole island as a kind of greater England.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30Which I suppose the parallels with things like Elgar's music,
0:33:30 > 0:33:32that kind of feeling of the countryside.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35It's essentially a southern vision of England.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38It's, er, non-urban,
0:33:38 > 0:33:42it's, er, villages with little churches,
0:33:42 > 0:33:45it's quite gentle landscape,
0:33:45 > 0:33:47market towns,
0:33:47 > 0:33:51it's old houses that seem to have been there forever,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54old families that have lived in them seemingly forever.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58It has a security and a continuity,
0:33:58 > 0:34:02and, in a sense, it's an artificial vision.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13Every year, over 4,000 gardens open in England and Wales
0:34:13 > 0:34:16raising money for charity.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18If an Englishman's home is his castle,
0:34:18 > 0:34:22then his garden is surely his paradise.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25Everyone has seen these at the roadside,
0:34:25 > 0:34:27then you sort of think, "Well, actually I'm on my way
0:34:27 > 0:34:28"to such-and-such a place,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31"but, well, I may have half an hour just to pop in there
0:34:31 > 0:34:33"and have a bit of tea and a quick whizz round the garden"
0:34:33 > 0:34:36and you end up staying a couple of hours and being late for your,
0:34:36 > 0:34:39er, other destination. But I do it all the time.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43What I really love about gardens are the sort of romantic, blousy...
0:34:43 > 0:34:47English sense that you get, and you get that lovely moment
0:34:47 > 0:34:50in twilight when everything is in bloom
0:34:50 > 0:34:53and the birds are sort of singing their hearts out
0:34:53 > 0:34:55and it's something completely magical.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58A lot of our readers open their own gardens,
0:34:58 > 0:34:59so they will be saying,
0:34:59 > 0:35:03you know, "Yes, I completely sympathise with that, oh,
0:35:03 > 0:35:06"maybe we should put up bunting, we haven't done that before".
0:35:06 > 0:35:09When you open a garden, it's a discipline
0:35:09 > 0:35:12because it means that you have to get everything ready for that
0:35:12 > 0:35:13particular day of the opening,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16so beforehand you have to edge, weed,
0:35:16 > 0:35:20mow, so it looks, so all the lawns are beautifully cut.
0:35:21 > 0:35:22I'm quite keen on symmetry.
0:35:22 > 0:35:27I love all the old-fashioned, good English, sort of standbys.
0:35:27 > 0:35:32Delphiniums, lupins, erm, roses and monardas and penstemons,
0:35:32 > 0:35:35phlox, they're all in there.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37Who does what in the garden?
0:35:37 > 0:35:41Er, Malcolm Holloway does the, um, kitchen garden.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43He's been with me pretty much since we moved here,
0:35:43 > 0:35:46and we couldn't manage without him.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48I was bell ringing here in the church,
0:35:48 > 0:35:51the head of the bell ringers, he said to me "Somebody's moved in to
0:35:51 > 0:35:54"the er, rectory, he wants somebody to grow a few vegetables".
0:35:54 > 0:35:56I said, "Well, I can grow a few potatoes".
0:35:56 > 0:35:58I've been a farmer all me life.
0:35:58 > 0:35:59So when you come in, in the morning,
0:35:59 > 0:36:02what's the first thing you think "Oh, dear, I must do..."?
0:36:02 > 0:36:04Greenhouse. Water the greenhouse.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07It's watering everything that needs watering,
0:36:07 > 0:36:09especially now, this time of year.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14And he works, absolutely sort of, er, indispensable.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18He does a lot of edging, weeding, helps in with the planning,
0:36:18 > 0:36:20does a lot of hard landscaping.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24Erm, my husband Andrew, obviously.
0:36:24 > 0:36:25And what's Andrew's main job?
0:36:25 > 0:36:27Paying for it!
0:36:29 > 0:36:31Er, general dogsbody, really.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34I'm far and away the least important person in the garden.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38Er, I would say that I'm probably the third under gardener.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40Unpaid, unqualified, unskilled.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44Erm, and er, and essentially I do what I'm told.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55Victoria sponge number six.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59Is Victoria sponge THE cake to do for National Gardens Scheme?
0:36:59 > 0:37:01No, probably not.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05Lemon drizzle cake or coffee and walnut cake.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08Da-da! I have previously made one.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10Yeah. Tray bake, delicious.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13Dorset apple cake, I've got a lovely lady who makes these,
0:37:13 > 0:37:16Sunday Best Coffee Fudge Cake - Mary Berry's.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19- Really lovely. - So how many cakes do you need?
0:37:19 > 0:37:21Do you know, I don't know.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23I just actually don't know any more.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26I can't, I can't think how many more cakes I've got.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29I'm fed up with cakes.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31This is going to make Mary Berry spin because she would be
0:37:31 > 0:37:35very organised, and would have it all calmly laid out.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42Calm shot.
0:37:42 > 0:37:43Under control.
0:37:45 > 0:37:46INDISTINCT
0:37:52 > 0:37:54I think it's quite jolly, isn't it?
0:37:54 > 0:37:56Think it, erm, cheers the place up.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58And is it more complicated than it looks though?
0:37:58 > 0:38:00- No. - ANDREW LAUGHS
0:38:05 > 0:38:07Oh. Lovely.
0:38:11 > 0:38:12Is there always a moment when you do wonder
0:38:12 > 0:38:15- if anyone's going to turn up? - Yes, very much so.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Actually, the first two years no-one turned up at all, cos it poured with rain,
0:38:18 > 0:38:20which was slightly disappointing.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24One doesn't want to be absolutely inundated with people.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28You want a lot, want enough to feel the whole thing's been worthwhile,
0:38:28 > 0:38:30but you don't want to be absolutely swamped.
0:38:33 > 0:38:34Da-da!
0:38:36 > 0:38:41Now that, I think, looks just what an NGS tea should look like.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44- Well done, everybody.- So how much can you take at the gate?
0:38:44 > 0:38:46£4.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49It's worked out beforehand how much each garden is, can justify,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53and er, we are £4.
0:38:53 > 0:38:54There's a league table.
0:38:54 > 0:38:58You check whether their gardens have made more than somebody else's.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01I think, not that I ever participate in that because I...
0:39:01 > 0:39:03- Surely not.- ..rise above it.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16CAMERA CLICKS
0:39:16 > 0:39:21It's a very jolly thing, it's a celebration of summer.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24And, er, a celebration of beautiful gardens.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27That's a lovely shot, isn't it? Isn't that lovely?
0:39:27 > 0:39:28That's the owners, there.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33Yes, prune them out, prune, take out,
0:39:33 > 0:39:37leave four inches between each, each stem.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39I think it's all lovely.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41Yeah. All of it.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43Marvellous, I wish mine was half as good.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45THEY LAUGH
0:39:45 > 0:39:48- It's so varied. There's such a lot of different parts of it.- Yeah.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52- Typical of what you'd think of as England, I think.- Yes, definitely.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54Perfect, isn't it, really?
0:39:54 > 0:39:55WOMAN LAUGHS
0:39:55 > 0:39:59Over 100 people turned up across the afternoon,
0:39:59 > 0:40:02raising £350 for charity.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06I feel very privileged.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09Erm, because it is an enormous privilege living here.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14Actually there's nothing nicer than a delicious cake,
0:40:14 > 0:40:17cup of tea and a pretty garden to look at.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21It's so essentially English, the whole concept,
0:40:21 > 0:40:24and when the weather is good, it's just heaven.
0:40:26 > 0:40:31And are you looking forward to the end of the, er, afternoon?
0:40:31 > 0:40:33Erm, I'm enjoying every minute of it.
0:40:33 > 0:40:34ANDREW LAUGHS
0:40:34 > 0:40:37But you're going off somewhere, aren't you?
0:40:37 > 0:40:38I am indeed, I'm disappearing,
0:40:38 > 0:40:40I'm let off for good behaviour at five o'clock.
0:40:40 > 0:40:41And where are you going?
0:40:41 > 0:40:44Er, I am going to Norfolk, funnily enough,
0:40:44 > 0:40:48to hit a golf ball for a couple of days.
0:40:48 > 0:40:49ANDREW LAUGHS
0:40:54 > 0:40:58Hello, old girl. What you got there, then? Eh?
0:40:58 > 0:40:59What you got there?
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Eh? You got a nice little burrit. You have?
0:41:03 > 0:41:06You've got a nice little burrit?
0:41:06 > 0:41:08Have you?
0:41:08 > 0:41:09Hello, little tiger.
0:41:12 > 0:41:13Eh?
0:41:13 > 0:41:16Poor little calf.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18You all right, are you?
0:41:19 > 0:41:20COW MOOS
0:41:20 > 0:41:23She was born during the dark hours,
0:41:23 > 0:41:27been very pleased to see yet another heifer calf come along.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30Ain't we, old girl, hey? You clever cow.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32What do you think of her?
0:41:32 > 0:41:34I think it's a nice calf.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36Got a good future ahead of her.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39COWS MOO
0:41:48 > 0:41:50Ah-ah-ah! You.
0:41:54 > 0:41:56That is Aiden...
0:41:57 > 0:42:01..and he's just coming up to...four.
0:42:01 > 0:42:03Do you think your grandson will be taking over
0:42:03 > 0:42:05the farm in 30 years' time?
0:42:05 > 0:42:10Well, he certainly talks and wants to be involved in it all.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13He wants to be helping in his little way.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17- RADIO ANNOUNCER:- 'Well, now it's time for Farming Today this week
0:42:17 > 0:42:19'here on Radio Four with Sian Oldsmith.'
0:42:19 > 0:42:22'Good morning. Well, this week, as the second year of the pilot
0:42:22 > 0:42:24'badger culls got under way,
0:42:24 > 0:42:27'we're looking at TB in cattle and how to tackle it.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30'The disease is being fought on all sides,
0:42:30 > 0:42:33'through tougher bio-security measures on farms,
0:42:33 > 0:42:34'vaccination, cattle testing
0:42:34 > 0:42:38'and movement restrictions and the controversial culling of badgers.'
0:42:46 > 0:42:49It's results day on Maurice's farm.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52The vet has come to measure any lumps that might've grown,
0:42:52 > 0:42:56indicating the possible presence of TB.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58Have you had a look at any of the cows?
0:42:58 > 0:43:02- Have you looked at their sides, their flanks?- Yes. But I'm not, er,
0:43:02 > 0:43:05I'm not in a position to be able to read them.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08I'm not allowed to.
0:43:08 > 0:43:09But do you have an instinct?
0:43:11 > 0:43:12No.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16- Are you optimistic this time?- Always optimistic. Always optimistic.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19Got to be, haven't you? But er, erm,
0:43:19 > 0:43:23we've been shut down for four years so, erm,
0:43:23 > 0:43:26hopefully this will be the time that we go clear,
0:43:26 > 0:43:28so, yeah, fingers crossed.
0:43:32 > 0:43:3329-07.
0:43:33 > 0:43:3529-07.
0:43:36 > 0:43:37Clear.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41Come on, then. Come on.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43That's all right.
0:43:45 > 0:43:46Clear.
0:43:50 > 0:43:5229-14.
0:43:52 > 0:43:53Clear.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55Oh.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10- Oh...- Okey dokey. - Don't like the sound of that.
0:44:11 > 0:44:1312 on the top.
0:44:22 > 0:44:2515 on the bottom, which er,
0:44:25 > 0:44:27is outside...
0:44:29 > 0:44:31..outside the range for a doubtful as well
0:44:31 > 0:44:35because they're on, it's called severe interpretation here.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37Poor old girl.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45This is what it's all about.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48She got to have a little trip.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52Bloody badgers.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56- It must feel very unfair? - Yes, it does.
0:44:56 > 0:45:01And they say that we don't do anything in regards of culling.
0:45:01 > 0:45:07Normally in, er, in a first outbreak that would be an inconclusive,
0:45:07 > 0:45:11erm, but in this case it was actually severe interpretation,
0:45:11 > 0:45:15so although it's just to a certain extent, borderline,
0:45:15 > 0:45:16it's still reactive.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22Like I say, we've been through it... time and time again, so...
0:45:23 > 0:45:2660 days ago she was OK.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30- Will she get a second chance? - No.- No.
0:45:32 > 0:45:34That's her condemned.
0:45:37 > 0:45:41Most farmers believe badgers transmit TB to cows
0:45:41 > 0:45:44and trialled badger culls have begun.
0:45:44 > 0:45:47Many people are passionately against these efforts,
0:45:47 > 0:45:50which involve gassing or shooting to control the disease,
0:45:50 > 0:45:52maintaining they're inefficient
0:45:52 > 0:45:55and cause unnecessary cruelty to wild animals.
0:45:57 > 0:45:587-7.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02The only certainty is that any cow with suspected TB
0:46:02 > 0:46:05will itself be destroyed.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09Opinion remains deeply divided.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11So why not have a cull?
0:46:12 > 0:46:14Why not?
0:46:14 > 0:46:18I can't think of any reason not to have a cull,
0:46:18 > 0:46:19and I think now,
0:46:19 > 0:46:22I say with the momentum of disease that they've got,
0:46:22 > 0:46:26that it's the practicalities of funding it
0:46:26 > 0:46:29and what was supposed to be a trial cull, you know,
0:46:29 > 0:46:34provoked a major amount of, er, public opinion, didn't it?
0:46:34 > 0:46:38But as I say, what is emerging more and more,
0:46:38 > 0:46:42that until something's done, erm, to reduce the numbers,
0:46:42 > 0:46:46they're not, erm, not going to make any progress.
0:46:46 > 0:46:47Clear. Stay.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54I think quite regularly decisions are made, erm,
0:46:54 > 0:46:56in Westminster,
0:46:56 > 0:46:58whereby if they'd asked some people in the countryside
0:46:58 > 0:47:02about what was the likelihood of it being successful,
0:47:02 > 0:47:04er, they would've,
0:47:04 > 0:47:07it would've been pointed out to them that it was pretty unlikely.
0:47:07 > 0:47:12You know, these are, these are wild animals who are extremely sensitive.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17If they find that their sets or whatever have been disrupted,
0:47:17 > 0:47:18they change their habits,
0:47:18 > 0:47:20and because there is this short window,
0:47:20 > 0:47:23it just wasn't a sufficient time to do it.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26- 12-10. - So it was a disaster because, erm,
0:47:26 > 0:47:30it's probably put some form of resolution to it backwards,
0:47:30 > 0:47:34it polarised, in some ways, town against country.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37Come on, walk on.
0:47:37 > 0:47:42You know, last year, 38,000 cows were killed
0:47:42 > 0:47:45because they had TB on their farms.
0:47:46 > 0:47:51That's 38,000 heart breaks for farmers.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56Am I frustrated with people that have sympathy with the badgers?
0:47:56 > 0:47:57Yes.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59Cos they can only see one side of the story.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02But hey-ho, well, what's another dairy cow?
0:48:02 > 0:48:04They obviously don't value a dairy cow.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07Are badgers more important than what a dairy cow is?
0:48:07 > 0:48:09They obviously don't like milk on their Cornflakes
0:48:09 > 0:48:12or milk in their tea or coffee.
0:48:12 > 0:48:137-7.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17- Is one as bad as 20?- Yes.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19Cos it have the same effect on us,
0:48:19 > 0:48:23it shuts us all down and devalue the animals.
0:48:23 > 0:48:25Come on.
0:48:32 > 0:48:37- It's not good, no. - Not good?- This one's not, not good.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42- MAURICE SIGHS - Six on the top, 12 on the bottom.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45Another...what was that?
0:48:48 > 0:48:51This one's unusual cos there's nothing on the top, but...
0:48:53 > 0:48:55..but a substantial lump.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59This two-year-old cow is with calf.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01A bloody-nother one.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06Off to the abattoir, old girl.
0:49:08 > 0:49:10A hole in her head, just to there.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14Poor old girl.
0:49:16 > 0:49:17Go on.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25People have committed suicide as a result of this,
0:49:25 > 0:49:28er, families have been broken up.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31It's absolutely appalling what's happened.
0:49:31 > 0:49:37And we have to find a solution to this, both for the badgers,
0:49:37 > 0:49:43but especially for the farmers, the dairy farmers and their cattle.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46- MAURICE:- We can't retaliate in any way.
0:49:47 > 0:49:52We can't retaliate against the badgers in one way at all.
0:49:52 > 0:49:537-7.
0:49:53 > 0:49:59We are taking out our cows, our animals was affected,
0:49:59 > 0:50:02but the other side of the fence is...
0:50:04 > 0:50:06..not touched, they're encouraged.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10The dairy industry has been on the floor anyway because of,
0:50:10 > 0:50:12er, the price of milk,
0:50:12 > 0:50:14there's been times when the supermarkets have
0:50:14 > 0:50:19been accused of price fixing the milk to keep it at a very low level.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23We may lose almost all our dairy industry,
0:50:23 > 0:50:26because people cannot bear to go on.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29Erm, of all the types of farmers that I know,
0:50:29 > 0:50:33it's the dairy farmers that love their particular animal the most.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35Clear, no change.
0:50:35 > 0:50:41If it was rats that gave them TB, nobody would be blinking.
0:50:41 > 0:50:46- Come on then, quickly. - They're just like everyone else.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49Want to make it better for your children.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55Do you also think of your dad?
0:50:55 > 0:50:58Yes, I do think of my dad quite a lot...
0:51:00 > 0:51:04..and wonder if he could come back and pass an opinion what...
0:51:06 > 0:51:08..his honest opinion would be.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10I hope it'd be good...
0:51:13 > 0:51:15..which I feel it would be, but, er...
0:51:18 > 0:51:21Well, I try not to let him down, anyway.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32WIND HOWLS
0:51:41 > 0:51:45370 miles north of Maurice's farm,
0:51:45 > 0:51:50honouring the past is also on the mind of the magazine's editor.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54In 1902, Edward Hudson, the founder of Country Life,
0:51:54 > 0:51:56made Lindisfarne Castle his home
0:51:56 > 0:52:00to protect his own little piece of Britain.
0:52:00 > 0:52:02The one thing you'd have to say about Lindisfarne is that,
0:52:02 > 0:52:05you know, it is, you can only get here at low tide
0:52:05 > 0:52:07so twice a day it's cut off,
0:52:07 > 0:52:10and so there'd have to be a lot planning.
0:52:10 > 0:52:15113 years later, Mark Hedges is on his first visit.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19The first thing I notice is this,
0:52:19 > 0:52:24which is exactly the same picture as I have in my office.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27He looks slightly sadder than I've ever seen him before now.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33The castle houses a considerable number of old issues
0:52:33 > 0:52:35of the magazine.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38September 14th, 1907.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40It cost...sixpence.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44Or by post...
0:52:44 > 0:52:46..six and a half pence.
0:52:46 > 0:52:48The quality of these black and white pictures
0:52:48 > 0:52:51are far superior to any other magazine
0:52:51 > 0:52:55or practically any other magazine that exists at the time.
0:52:55 > 0:52:57- And was it noted for that? - Yes, it was.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00It's a bit like when, sort of colour comes in to newspapers,
0:53:00 > 0:53:03it's something that is a game-changer
0:53:03 > 0:53:06and so the magazine is a technical game changer
0:53:06 > 0:53:09as well as tackling a subject that hadn't ever been done before,
0:53:09 > 0:53:11and they combine together to make it
0:53:11 > 0:53:14an instant success, because people perhaps are looking at it
0:53:14 > 0:53:16because they hadn't ever seen pictures like this before.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20And then they find this is a subject that fascinates them as well.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22"The British burrowing spider."
0:53:22 > 0:53:24Well, I'm quite good on my countryside,
0:53:24 > 0:53:27but I didn't actually know there was a British burrowing spider.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29I could spend all day,
0:53:29 > 0:53:33the longer I look at these, the more fascinating it is.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37I also nick ideas from these, there's...you always see something.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41"The Burrowing Spider." I'll have to find out more about that.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44It's amazing, they've actually put in a photograph of a badger.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47Over 100 years ago it was worth putting
0:53:47 > 0:53:49a picture of a badger in cos it was so rare.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53Now we wouldn't. There wouldn't be, you wouldn't do that, you know,
0:53:53 > 0:53:56everyone's seen a badger who lives in the countryside.
0:53:57 > 0:54:02Since 1897, the magazine has been celebrating the landowners,
0:54:02 > 0:54:04farmers and gardeners of Britain,
0:54:04 > 0:54:08who, each in their own way, continue to protect the landscapes
0:54:08 > 0:54:10that we know and love.
0:54:15 > 0:54:20Ten days after suspected TB was found in two of Maurice's cattle,
0:54:20 > 0:54:23the abattoir lorry arrives to collect them.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33It's 8pm and Maurice has been waiting all day.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35Emotions are running high.
0:54:35 > 0:54:37- Get out.- Go on.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41Psst! Go on.
0:54:41 > 0:54:46- Come on. Come on.- Stop it. - Go on, baby.- Good girl.- Go on.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48WHISTLING
0:54:48 > 0:54:50- Go on, baby.- Come on.
0:54:50 > 0:54:56Go on, baby. Go on, baby. Go up in there, go on. Go up in that.
0:54:56 > 0:54:57Go on.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01INDISTINCT
0:55:04 > 0:55:05Go on, baby.
0:55:20 > 0:55:25- It's kind of hidden all this, isn't it?- Oh, very much so. Very hidden.
0:55:25 > 0:55:30- People don't...- Because everybody... no-one wants the publicity.
0:55:32 > 0:55:36No-one at all. He didn't, I didn't.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38I'd rather go on with my job
0:55:38 > 0:55:44without any of this climbing on me back, of TB, and...
0:55:45 > 0:55:49..and if they don't want us as dairy farmers, tell us,
0:55:49 > 0:55:51we'll get out, everybody will.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55There won't be a need for a hedgerow or anything, then.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59Remember, the cattle's the only reason why there's a hedgerow.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02Who's running the countryside now, Maurice?
0:56:02 > 0:56:04I'm afraid it's the bloody do-gooders...
0:56:06 > 0:56:07..what's taking it all over.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12They interfere with everything we do now.
0:56:12 > 0:56:16They dictate to how they think we should farm it.
0:56:18 > 0:56:19And when you get, er...
0:56:21 > 0:56:24..big noises, big money backing that side...
0:56:26 > 0:56:29..we got, we got no hope in hell's chance.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36They don't get it, they don't realise, yeah,
0:56:36 > 0:56:39they're nice badgers, but the real, the real story,
0:56:39 > 0:56:40or at least half the story,
0:56:40 > 0:56:43and in my mind the majority of the story,
0:56:43 > 0:56:47is 38,000 volts going in to cattle's heads
0:56:47 > 0:56:50because nobody has done anything about it.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52The Conservative Party have done a little bit recently,
0:56:52 > 0:56:55but the Labour Party didn't do anything about it,
0:56:55 > 0:56:58they have just allowed this massacre in the countryside
0:56:58 > 0:57:00because they couldn't deal with the problem
0:57:00 > 0:57:04that this animal that people are attracted to could do some damage.
0:57:06 > 0:57:07It's politics gone mad.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13The countryside doesn't have as many voters in it as the towns,
0:57:13 > 0:57:19so the countryside gets trod on, stamped on, all the time,
0:57:19 > 0:57:22because the votes are all in the metropolitan areas.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26Thank you very much for sharing your experiences
0:57:26 > 0:57:29and what you've allowed us to see, and...
0:57:29 > 0:57:33Well, somebody got to stand up. Everybody's afraid.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36No doubt I shall have reason to be afraid
0:57:36 > 0:57:39now I've stuck me head above the water line.
0:57:40 > 0:57:43But, somebody got to start somewhere.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47What are you going to go and do now?
0:57:50 > 0:57:51I don't know.
0:57:53 > 0:57:54Water me flowers.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58Been a long day.
0:58:03 > 0:58:07Next week, inheriting a crumbling stately manor...
0:58:07 > 0:58:12What are the challenges of keeping a house like this alive in 2014-15?
0:58:12 > 0:58:15You need a good woman around, really.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17..climbing to the top of the castle...
0:58:17 > 0:58:20And who would the Philips have been trying to keep out?
0:58:20 > 0:58:22Erm, probably the Welsh.
0:58:22 > 0:58:25..and falling in love with the past.
0:58:27 > 0:58:30Are we in a historic house? Are we in a 20th-century house?
0:58:30 > 0:58:33Are we in the middle of a wedding cake?!