0:00:02 > 0:00:05From the green and pleasant land of William Blake's Jerusalem,
0:00:05 > 0:00:08to the hills and glens of Flower Of Scotland,
0:00:08 > 0:00:13it is to nature that we turn when we celebrate who we are.
0:00:13 > 0:00:14CHURCH BELL RINGS
0:00:14 > 0:00:16We cherish the beauty of our villages,
0:00:16 > 0:00:20churches, fields, hedges, forests and streams.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23Nature's everything to me. It's my religion, if you like.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26Our countryside is shaped by man
0:00:26 > 0:00:30and driven by our needs for shelter, food, worship
0:00:30 > 0:00:33and an appreciation of lives lived well and lost.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36This is a document, if you like,
0:00:36 > 0:00:40of the whole of the English countryside as it went to war.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45For almost 120 years, Country Life magazine has been aspiring
0:00:45 > 0:00:49to capture the elusive soul of the British countryside.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52We spent a year going down lanes, turning corners,
0:00:52 > 0:00:55stepping through front doors.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57- Where do you want to go? Through the back, or...?- Yes!
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Up staircases, opening boxes...
0:01:00 > 0:01:04"My darling girl, I do believe that as long as one had
0:01:04 > 0:01:06"enough for a cup of tea and a cottage here or there,
0:01:06 > 0:01:10"one could live like a prince in the light of another's eyes."
0:01:10 > 0:01:14..to discover the meaning of beauty to people in the countryside.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16More than epic, isn't it?
0:01:16 > 0:01:19I mean, you know, look how far your eye can see.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24But when we dream about the British landscape, what do we dream of?
0:01:24 > 0:01:26And how do we keep that dream alive?
0:01:28 > 0:01:29Who owns the landscape
0:01:29 > 0:01:32will become an increasingly important question to ask.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34So, if you own the land,
0:01:34 > 0:01:36does it mean you own the landscape?
0:01:36 > 0:01:41This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:01:44 > 0:01:45DOG BARKS
0:01:51 > 0:01:56Harry Parsons moved from London to live in Devon ten years ago.
0:01:56 > 0:01:57You get the breeze off that sea.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00You smell the cutting of the grass, the farmers working.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03You're just in a part of merry old England and it's lovely.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05Harry regularly roams the hills
0:02:05 > 0:02:08with his pack of endangered Sealyham terriers,
0:02:08 > 0:02:10which he breeds from home,
0:02:10 > 0:02:13having made it his life's mission to save them.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15'I've got Ethel,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19'Maud, Alice, Betty, Madge, Doris, Flo,
0:02:19 > 0:02:21'Frankie, Victor, Edward.'
0:02:21 > 0:02:23I try and keep them old-fashioned Victorian names.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Some of the names of me old aunties.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Once popular with the royal family and Hollywood stars,
0:02:30 > 0:02:32the breed has almost died out.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34DOGS BARK
0:02:34 > 0:02:40In 2013, only 48 Sealyham puppies were born in the UK.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44- That's that one, there.- Harry turned to the magazine for help.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46That's me Molly.
0:02:46 > 0:02:47She's a very laid-back dog.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51We got so much help from that bit of publicity, you wouldn't believe it.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53The Sealyham is quite a tricky balance.
0:02:53 > 0:02:54We wanted the breed to be saved.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58We don't want to turn it into the next greatest fashion that, er,
0:02:58 > 0:03:00super models have one trotting behind them.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03But without our help, I don't think it would've existed.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06When we wrote the article, I think it was rarer than the giant panda.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08INTERVIEWER: Did people want to buy them
0:03:08 > 0:03:09after you appeared on the cover?
0:03:09 > 0:03:11It did. That's the downside of it.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13One person phoned from Dubai.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16I won't disclose the money they offered for that actual puppy.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18It was ridiculous.
0:03:18 > 0:03:19And he wanted it for the sole reason
0:03:19 > 0:03:22that it had been on the front cover of the Country Life.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Give us an idea of how much he offered you.
0:03:26 > 0:03:27You have a guess.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29- £5,000?- A lot more.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33- Ten? 15?- A lot more, a lot more.- 20?- A lot more.
0:03:33 > 0:03:34- 30?- 3-0.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40What did you think?
0:03:40 > 0:03:41I think it's disgusting.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44To want to pay 30 grand just to own a dog
0:03:44 > 0:03:48that's been on the front cover of a magazine, it's ridiculous.
0:03:48 > 0:03:49Brrr!
0:03:49 > 0:03:54Ethel, behind! Back up, stay behind. Oi! Stay up, stay up!
0:03:54 > 0:03:56I think we met him at the game fair
0:03:56 > 0:04:00and he came along with six or seven of these charming little dogs.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Without him - I mean, I wouldn't want the magazine to take too much credit -
0:04:03 > 0:04:05he is the great advocate.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09We just gave him the mouthpiece for trying to save this breed.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13He's a remarkable man who seems to have given his life
0:04:13 > 0:04:16- to the Sealyham terrier.- Lilly!
0:04:16 > 0:04:18I was a window cleaner in London.
0:04:18 > 0:04:23The only sort of contact I had with the countryside was hop-picking.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26I come to Devon, I found out Devon through fishing.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29I liked it so much down here, as the years rolled on,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31I've changed this...for London.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33It's a nicer way of life.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37It's really a slow, slower way and I'd rather be here with my dogs.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43Of all the dogs that Harry has owned,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46it was Alice that stole his heart.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50"Alice was born on the 9th of October in 2001 in France.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52"We share the same birthday.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56"She has shown all the true traits of a Sealyham,
0:04:56 > 0:05:01"documented here in this book, including gameness with discretion,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05"a scenting ability that has never once let me down
0:05:05 > 0:05:07"and on a few occasions
0:05:07 > 0:05:11"she has made me feel so proud that it's brought me to tears.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13"Above all else,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17"she has been to Gary and I...
0:05:17 > 0:05:20"the most lovable, loyal terrier that one..."
0:05:27 > 0:05:30HE EXHALES DEEPLY
0:05:30 > 0:05:32"..that one could wish to meet."
0:05:32 > 0:05:36That one's Alice, who's looking head-on. The side one is Betty.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39They was like partners in crime.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42She's been dead about two years now, but it seems like yesterday.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44It was just one of them things. It just happens.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47If you keep livestock, you're going to have dead stock.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49I might be a bit soft on it, but she was... She...
0:05:49 > 0:05:53If it wasn't for Alice, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57- Do you like people, Harry, as much as dogs?- No.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59I think we're disgusting creatures.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04I think our greed and our thing to do things quicker and faster,
0:06:04 > 0:06:05the way it's spiralling out,
0:06:05 > 0:06:09I like to step off of that and see where we've been today
0:06:09 > 0:06:12and go and talk to a farmer who's been out sitting down by his tractor
0:06:12 > 0:06:14with a lump of cheese and bread.
0:06:14 > 0:06:15What this nation has come to,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18from how great we was and what we was,
0:06:18 > 0:06:20I think it's... I think it's sad.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33# Ohhh....
0:06:35 > 0:06:38# Ohhh... #
0:06:44 > 0:06:49650 miles north of Harry's Devon home lives Mary Miers,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52the magazine's fine arts and books editor.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56'I suppose it is a bit odd to be living quite so far'
0:06:56 > 0:06:59from where I work and to have chosen a place
0:06:59 > 0:07:01that isn't part of a village or a town,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04but is actually on its own in the middle of a wood!
0:07:06 > 0:07:10It's just so wonderful and quiet and I can work here.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13I can't work anywhere else properly like I can here.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17There's a wonderful sense of sort of peace and stillness here.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21The nearest neighbour is about quarter of a mile away.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25I can't get up the lane in winter, because it's too steep and icy.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27But I love the fact that it's mine.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30To fulfil her dream of living in a remote
0:07:30 > 0:07:32and beautiful landscape,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36Mary's prepared to travel for over 12 hours each way every week
0:07:36 > 0:07:39to reach her desk in London.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43'I love the city for what it offers, but it just makes me feel chilled.'
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Oh, the potholes are getting so bad.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51I just could not imagine having my only home in a city.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56- TANNOY:- ..at 20:26.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58Caledonian sleeper service to London Euston.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02'There's something about the idea that you're rolling through
0:08:02 > 0:08:04'this unbelievably desolate,'
0:08:04 > 0:08:06beautiful, but bleak landscape
0:08:06 > 0:08:10and that you're going to wake up in a city.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13There's something about that contrast.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16There is definitely a romance.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19'There's certainly a romance to the travel.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25'The old-fashioned image of the sleeper, you know,
0:08:25 > 0:08:30'as this place with sort of waiters serving you at a white tablecloth'
0:08:30 > 0:08:33with wonderful silver service and freshly caught
0:08:33 > 0:08:36salmon and grouse - all of that is obviously, you know,
0:08:36 > 0:08:38long since gone.
0:08:38 > 0:08:39Here we are. Ah.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44So here we have ScotRail's complimentary washbag.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48It has everything you need in it - shoe-cleaning equipment,
0:08:48 > 0:08:52a very useful cloth, which makes a good dishcloth, actually.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55The walls are paper thin, so if you've got any secret things
0:08:55 > 0:08:57you want to discuss with your companion,
0:08:57 > 0:08:59don't do it on the sleeper.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02The basin, I never really bother to use,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05and I do know some people use it as a toilet.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07So, um, it's probably best avoided.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17(Hi there.)
0:09:20 > 0:09:21How are you?
0:09:21 > 0:09:24- Very well, how are you? - Oh...- How was your day today?
0:09:39 > 0:09:42'The Inverness train stops at all those wonderful little stations,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45'down towards Perth, and they all have such wonderful names -
0:09:45 > 0:09:48'Kingussie, Newtonmore,
0:09:48 > 0:09:50'Pitlochry and Blair Atholl.'
0:09:50 > 0:09:52Sorry, Blair Atholl first.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Um, you've got... Oh, Aviemore, I forgot.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56'Aviemore's a wonderful station,
0:09:56 > 0:10:00'because that's one of those, um, the Swiss chalet-style stations,
0:10:00 > 0:10:03'which you see quite a lot on the West Highland Line.'
0:10:11 > 0:10:14'The noises of the train are quite soporific.'
0:10:15 > 0:10:17Doors rattle.
0:10:17 > 0:10:18The ladder rattles.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24And I find it very easy to fall asleep
0:10:24 > 0:10:26with this sort of gentle rhythm.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46Ooh, they've done the fruit salads differently.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49Oh, they've packaged them in a more sort of smart way.
0:10:49 > 0:10:50They never used to be like that.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Because you get so dehydrated on these...trains.
0:10:55 > 0:10:56Ah...
0:10:56 > 0:10:59And it's not cos I've had too much whisky the night before.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04So, I've got to go to a party tonight.
0:11:04 > 0:11:05I've got to go to a book launch.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08So the big question - there's always these dilemmas -
0:11:08 > 0:11:11do I put on my clothes that I'm going to be wearing tonight?
0:11:11 > 0:11:13Bearing in mind I'm not going to have time to go back
0:11:13 > 0:11:15and have a shower.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17You know, I won't have washed, my face probably looks
0:11:17 > 0:11:21all, sort of, a bit horrible and, um,
0:11:21 > 0:11:23you know, then I've got to sort of think,
0:11:23 > 0:11:25I've got a busy day in the office.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Yesterday morning I woke up to the sound of an owl, quite early,
0:11:42 > 0:11:46and I had that owl hooting at me, on and off,
0:11:46 > 0:11:48for about half an hour,
0:11:48 > 0:11:52and I read in bed and it was just bliss and quiet.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55'And, um, here in London it could be any time of day,
0:11:55 > 0:11:57'any time of year, really.'
0:11:59 > 0:12:04'I don't feel I could ever put down my roots in the city.'
0:12:10 > 0:12:12'Country Life, you know,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15'I mean, it's representing a view of Britain
0:12:15 > 0:12:16'which sort of does exist,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20'but also is a sort of romanticised image of the country.'
0:12:20 > 0:12:21Morning.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27The magazine was founded in 1897 by Edward Hudson,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30the son of a wealthy printer.
0:12:31 > 0:12:37His original office clock needs to be rewound once a week.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39Everyone in the countryside has superstitions,
0:12:39 > 0:12:40but I'm worse than most.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44If the clock ever stops, something will go wrong with the magazine.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48Er, it's a bit like the ravens in the Tower Of London for me.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51It goes for about eight days,
0:12:51 > 0:12:53but if we all have a break at the same time,
0:12:53 > 0:12:55I get in a complete panic.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58- INTERVIEWER: And that was Hudson's clock?- Yeah, yeah.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03In fact, you can just about see, there's the initials EH there.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07So it's rather amazing to think that's been ticking away
0:13:07 > 0:13:10in the editor's office for whatever that is now -
0:13:10 > 0:13:12114 years or so.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16BIRDS TWEET
0:13:19 > 0:13:23The countryside we know and love is shaped by history,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25and the First World War
0:13:25 > 0:13:29had a significant impact on villages up and down the country.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36In 1914,
0:13:36 > 0:13:39Mells was a thriving rural community,
0:13:39 > 0:13:41with a blacksmith, baker, farmers
0:13:41 > 0:13:45and even miners living amongst its medieval layout.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48By 1918,
0:13:48 > 0:13:51many of its menfolk had died in the trenches.
0:13:53 > 0:13:59Today, Mells has a population of 638 - many of them commuters.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03At its heart is Mells Manor.
0:14:04 > 0:14:05It was a very happy place.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09I think the manor's always been a happy place, actually.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14I know my grandmother Catherine always had a...
0:14:14 > 0:14:18She regarded it as a person, but she calls it a magical place.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Mells is an entrancing...place.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25I've never been to the manor.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28I've only peered at it over a garden wall.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31'You can feel that Mells,
0:14:31 > 0:14:37'when you just go to the village, is really a work of art.'
0:14:37 > 0:14:40That sense that beauty is a very important thing in life,
0:14:40 > 0:14:42pervades Mells.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47INTERVIEWER: Why does Country Life want to feature Mells Manor?
0:14:47 > 0:14:50We particularly want to write about it at the moment
0:14:50 > 0:14:53because it's got a very strong association
0:14:53 > 0:14:57with the First World War, because both Edward Horner -
0:14:57 > 0:14:59who was the last of the Horners,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02who'd been here since the 16th century -
0:15:02 > 0:15:05and his brother-in-law,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Raymond Asquith - who was the son of the Prime Minister,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11a brilliant young man - they were both killed
0:15:11 > 0:15:15and they both have remarkable monuments in the church,
0:15:15 > 0:15:19which in a way tell the story of their generation.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23Um, so it's a very appropriate place for us to write about,
0:15:23 > 0:15:26when there's the anniversary of the First World War.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32The manor dates from the 15th century.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34- BELL RINGS - Ah, there was a bell.
0:15:34 > 0:15:35- Hello.- Clive.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Its many famous visitors include Charles II,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40the writer Hilaire Belloc,
0:15:40 > 0:15:43the most notable architect of his day, Edwin Lutyens,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47and many of the pre-Raphaelite artists.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51- That's a Dante Gabriel Rossetti of Frances.- Gosh.- But, well,
0:15:51 > 0:15:53I don't know, Clive, I mean, they all look rather the same!
0:15:53 > 0:15:57- THEY LAUGH - I have to say they all come up the same, whoever it is.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59So that's a Burne-Jones to that design
0:15:59 > 0:16:01- and that's a Burne-Jones design. - Gosh...
0:16:01 > 0:16:05- So we've got a lot of sort of...- ..quite serious. - ..Burne-Jonesy stuff here.- Hm.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Raymond's grandmother and great-grandmother
0:16:08 > 0:16:11were avid letter-collectors and diary-writers.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14Oh, my goodness. This is amazing.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16And this is a very ad-hoc archive room.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20It used to be the main laundry for the estate.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22It was all over the place. Um,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25everything was swirling around, um, you know,
0:16:25 > 0:16:29a good 150, 200 years' volume of correspondence,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32- and then there are letters from, sort of...- But that's...
0:16:32 > 0:16:34..from Virginia Woolf,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37next to, you know, a sort of advertisement for Stannah Lifts.
0:16:37 > 0:16:38Were there record books, too?
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Every day the aunts were recording rainfall
0:16:42 > 0:16:46and, you know, I mean, I don't know what to do with it, really, but...
0:16:46 > 0:16:48No, but well worth keeping.
0:16:48 > 0:16:54In 1907, Lord Oxford's grandmother Catherine married Raymond Asquith,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57the son of the future Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00There's the Prime Minister and other mem...
0:17:00 > 0:17:02daughter and wife,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05and there's Catherine, looking up at Raymond,
0:17:05 > 0:17:07um, who's sitting up on top of this balustrade.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12Let's see, letters from Raymond to Catherine. Let's see.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14Let's look at 794.
0:17:14 > 0:17:15We might have to...
0:17:16 > 0:17:18..get out this box.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21- CLIVE LAUGHS - This is all just one box.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23I mean, these go on...
0:17:23 > 0:17:27- So they were writing to each other...- ..for seven, seven years. - ..all the time.- Um...
0:17:27 > 0:17:29That's absolutely great. Here you are.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33"My darling girl, from..."
0:17:33 > 0:17:36something, "as long as we live,
0:17:36 > 0:17:40"because in spite of all abuse of romances,
0:17:40 > 0:17:42"I do believe that as long as one had
0:17:42 > 0:17:46"enough for a cup of tea and a cottage here or there..."
0:17:46 > 0:17:48something, "according to the season,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52"one could live like a prince in the light of another's eyes."
0:17:52 > 0:17:53Well, yes, it's very nice.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01It was an enduring love story, actually, their marriage.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06In 1914, Herbert Asquith led the country to war.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09His son Raymond, along with all the young men in Mells,
0:18:09 > 0:18:11went off to fight.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13You can see there's something not quite...
0:18:13 > 0:18:16There's no frivolity in the eyes at all any more.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18"We came out to this utterly bloody camp, where we
0:18:18 > 0:18:23"now are on Sunday night, leaving behind one the flash and clatter..."
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Raymond wrote to Catherine daily from the trenches in France.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29"Many thanks for the razor blades and watch strap, et cetera,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33"and please thank Frances for the marmalade and treacle tart.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37"Mells must be rather pleasant now among the hollyhocks and dahlias.
0:18:37 > 0:18:42"2nd of September 1916." So just a fortnight before he was killed.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45"Another night I was in a much worse place than this.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47"The most accursed, unholy and abominable wood,
0:18:47 > 0:18:51"where all the trees had been cut off by the shells the week before
0:18:51 > 0:18:54"and nothing remained but black stumps of really the most...
0:18:54 > 0:18:59"..craters swimming in blood and dirt, rotting and smelling bodies
0:18:59 > 0:19:03"and rats like shadows, fattened for the market."
0:19:03 > 0:19:05He knew he was going to die.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07When he writes about the horrible noise
0:19:07 > 0:19:11and how the men absolutely hate the noise of the bombardment,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14it's worse than the shells coming down, it's worse than the mud,
0:19:14 > 0:19:16it's worse than the rats. It's just this noise.
0:19:16 > 0:19:22Um, and that always betokened, for me, a sense in him
0:19:22 > 0:19:24that, er, something dreadful about to happen.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26BELL TOLLS
0:19:29 > 0:19:33On the 15th of September, 1916, Raymond was killed,
0:19:33 > 0:19:36leaving Catherine devastated.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40It was a catastrophe for Catherine. A catastrophe.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43And only eight months later, her brother Edward,
0:19:43 > 0:19:48heir to the Mells estate, also perished, in the Battle of Cambrai.
0:19:48 > 0:19:56They're remembered in the church in two astonishing memorials.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59One is to Edward, which is by Munnings -
0:19:59 > 0:20:02a great painter of horses - and his only work of sculpture.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06Raymond Asquith, who was a great scholar,
0:20:06 > 0:20:09is remembered in an inscription in Latin,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13carved into the very stone of the church of Mells by Eric Gill,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16who was the greatest carver of his age.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18This last line was added by Catherine,
0:20:18 > 0:20:22because she thought this was a little bit too formal.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24It's almost untranslatable, but it says,
0:20:24 > 0:20:29"In unassuaged incomplete love, his own" - his loved ones,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32but his own - "are following him."
0:20:32 > 0:20:36By 1919, Mells, like every village in the country,
0:20:36 > 0:20:38wanted a war memorial.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41Edwin Lutyens, who built the Cenotaph in London,
0:20:41 > 0:20:45was a family friend and agreed to design it.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48He walked around the village one morning,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52just after the end of the First World War,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55trying to find the right place for it, and he described it
0:20:55 > 0:20:57in a letter to his wife, Lady Emily,
0:20:57 > 0:21:01how particularly sad it was to walk around with the Horners
0:21:01 > 0:21:04and some of the leading members of the, er, the village
0:21:04 > 0:21:07and he said, "All their young men are dead."
0:21:12 > 0:21:16"We died in a strange land, facing the dark cloud of war,
0:21:16 > 0:21:21"and this stone is raised to us in the home of our delight."
0:21:24 > 0:21:27Mells was an estate village and the whole community -
0:21:27 > 0:21:30the whole male community - would have gone.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34Francis Baber, Geoffrey Bates, Oliver Burge, Stanley Burge,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38Edward Chamberlain, Edward Fricker, Wyndham Hames,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42Edward Horner, Raymond Asquith at the top.
0:21:42 > 0:21:49This is a document, if you like, of the whole of the English countryside
0:21:49 > 0:21:54as it went to war and what it meant when these men didn't come back.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58So there's a whole span of English history there.
0:22:05 > 0:22:10Country Life is immortal, because it has an absolutely unchanging vision.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13It must be like the royal family, which is an odd thing.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17It's something that's always there. It's a kind of rock.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19It doesn't wind you up much.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22You turn its pages and you go for a walk in those photographs.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25You are seduced by this sort of wonderful vision.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28So that, in fact, it does offer a kind of anchor.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32An anchor of what the country represents.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34And it's comfortable, and it's peaceful,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38and it's rural and it's about dogs and nature and the sky.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42And it may be raining, and you may be shooting, you may be fishing.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45All those things are absolutely enchanting
0:22:45 > 0:22:48and they're not politically divisive in any way.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50They're out of all that.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52And I think it's all such a relief.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00The magazine may well celebrate traditional values,
0:23:00 > 0:23:02but they aren't averse to the odd gimmick.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04# This is a man's world...
0:23:04 > 0:23:08They're on the hunt to find the perfect English gentleman.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10# This is a man's world... #
0:23:10 > 0:23:14You know, it is the greatest prize that a man can get.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17You know if you go and you meet somebody and you said,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20"He was a complete gent", you know, forget OBEs and MBEs
0:23:20 > 0:23:25and peerages and whatever, that is the ultimate award from your peers.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28That's what I really want to achieve, is just actually celebrate
0:23:28 > 0:23:31this highest form of manliness that you can have.
0:23:31 > 0:23:32SHE LAUGHS
0:23:32 > 0:23:37- Is he heavy?- Yes. A proper man. Ha-ha!
0:23:37 > 0:23:41Country Life is many things, but it tries to be a civilised
0:23:41 > 0:23:44magazine and, er, hopefully helps civilise other people.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47Being a gentleman has been as much part of Country Life
0:23:47 > 0:23:53as any of the country sports or the great houses or the gardens
0:23:53 > 0:23:54or anything else that we do.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58It remains a great ideal, and Country Life is about ideals.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03When you... You girls, when you meet a gentleman, I mean, how do you...
0:24:03 > 0:24:07How quickly do you realise that he is a gentleman, opposed to...?
0:24:07 > 0:24:09- Pretty quickly. - I think very, very quickly.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12If they stand up and they, you know, to shake your hand,
0:24:12 > 0:24:14that's very important. Eye contact.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16There's space in his wardrobe for... He's got,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19you know, his smart black-tie and things for a wedding,
0:24:19 > 0:24:21- but he's also got, like, his bonfire jumper.- Yeah, exactly.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23And the reading glasses that come off the peg at Boots
0:24:23 > 0:24:25and they've got thumb prints on them.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27- He's shabby, but never grubby. - Yes, exactly.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30And those ghastly women that hate it when you open the door for them.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32We could sort of explain to them that we're actually only
0:24:32 > 0:24:35trying to be nice to them and, er, the battle of the sexes doesn't
0:24:35 > 0:24:38need to be carried on to being... You know, we're only being gentlemanly.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42What's happened to his feet?
0:24:42 > 0:24:43We couldn't get his shoes on.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45We've been shoehorning for about half an hour!
0:24:45 > 0:24:48He's come home, he's taken his shoes off, he's pouring himself a whisky.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51- Yeah, and he's just chilling out. - Just chilling.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53They have to look good in their clothes.
0:24:53 > 0:24:54There's a lovely man called Shepherd Mead,
0:24:54 > 0:24:57warning women never to go to bed with an English gentleman,
0:24:57 > 0:24:59because his clothes, his clothes are so well cut
0:24:59 > 0:25:01you can never tell what his body is underneath
0:25:01 > 0:25:03and then it's too late!
0:25:03 > 0:25:05I don't know anything about David Bowie,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07except he was a pop star, wasn't he?
0:25:07 > 0:25:11Is that Jimmy Carter the pop... The... The, um, head of America?
0:25:11 > 0:25:13What about David Beckham?
0:25:13 > 0:25:14Yes, I think so.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16I'm worried about his tattoos.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18But he's got so many.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21David Beckham was 7/4 favourite.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23Duke of Edinburgh is 5/1.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26Prince William I think is 6/1.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Prince Charles is trailing at the moment at 50/1.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35I think it's a brilliant idea,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37because everybody's obsessed with class.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39We're not allowed to talk about it now, are we?
0:25:39 > 0:25:42- Do you think a gentleman is about class?- No, I don't.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44I don't think it's anything to do with class.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47It's to do with chivalry and kindness
0:25:47 > 0:25:52and courteousness and tremendous, um, lack of vanity.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56A gentleman is at ease in any situation and puts others at ease.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00A gentleman is always on time.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03A gentleman dresses to suit the occasion.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07A gentleman will eat anything that's put in front of him,
0:26:07 > 0:26:11but left to his own devices is happiest with unfussy fare,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14such as omelettes and shepherd's pie.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17I think manners are hugely important to a gentleman,
0:26:17 > 0:26:21but I think the first thing is style.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26I think you have to have style. It can be very much your own style.
0:26:26 > 0:26:32It can be odd. It can be much more regular, but you have to have style.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36A gentleman will occasionally be drunk, but never disorderly.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38A gentleman makes love on his elbows.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41You know, I think the old adage that they went to a posh school,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44the fact that they wore a Savile Row suit, the fact that they
0:26:44 > 0:26:47wore New & Lingwood shoes, is very much out of the window.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49That's what would be called probably in the old days a dandy.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51And, you know, dandyism exists.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54You know, I mean, gentlemen's eyes don't swivel at parties.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56They dance with wallflowers occasionally.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59If they go to bed with somebody, they don't rush round telling everybody.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01They don't kiss and tell, gentlemen.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03This is nothing... It's much more behaviour than appearance.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07In the run-up to the announcement of the Gentleman of the Year,
0:27:07 > 0:27:09articles about gentlemen's luxuries are featuring
0:27:09 > 0:27:13in the pages of the magazine, much to one reader's horror.
0:27:13 > 0:27:18Well, I think that's just so vulgar and tasteless as to be unbelievable.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21And all this thing, "luxury new".
0:27:21 > 0:27:25I actually find, in a period when we are getting more socially divisive,
0:27:25 > 0:27:27when the poor are getting poorer and the very rich
0:27:27 > 0:27:29are getting richer, and richer, and richer,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32that is something this magazine has never,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35NEVER aligned itself with, ever.
0:27:35 > 0:27:36To me, that is a betrayal
0:27:36 > 0:27:39of what the essence of Country Life is about.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41It was never about money.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46The people may have been rich. They may have had grand houses.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50But it was never about money and flogging rather vulgar wares.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Thank you all very much for coming.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02We're here to judge the Gentleman of the Year.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06We've all got a list that I think you've been given.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11I will just go round the table, um, see if anyone's got any additions.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13The third person I'd like to have on my list
0:28:13 > 0:28:15is Ricky Wilson of the Kaiser Chiefs.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Federer. I don't know what his Christian name is.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19Roger. Roger.
0:28:20 > 0:28:27I'm rather fond of Grayson Perry. He is the most extraordinary intellect.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30David Miliband. Now that's a strange one.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33In fifth place we have David Miliband.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36In fourth place, Jim Carter.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39In third place, David Attenborough.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42In second place, David Beckham.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46And the winner of Gentleman of the Year 2014 is...
0:28:47 > 0:28:51DRAMATIC STRINGS
0:28:51 > 0:28:52..David Dimbleby.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56MUSIC: It's A Man's Man's Man's Man's World by James Brown
0:28:58 > 0:29:00Mark, what was David Dimbleby's reaction
0:29:00 > 0:29:03when he was told he was Gentleman of the Year?
0:29:03 > 0:29:04Um, he was thrilled, wasn't he?
0:29:04 > 0:29:07Yeah. He behaved like a gentleman should.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10Thrilled. But then slightly discreet about it.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12Terribly embarrassed, but quite pleased, I think!
0:29:21 > 0:29:24The judges may not have chosen a countryman
0:29:24 > 0:29:27as their Gentleman of the Year, but the magazine does spend much
0:29:27 > 0:29:31of its time celebrating the men and women who champion and preserve
0:29:31 > 0:29:36the British landscape, like gamekeeper Simon Lester.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40Yes, yeah. I was, I was... I played in a punk band.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45My, er, stage name was Percy Cute
0:29:45 > 0:29:49and, er, did a tour with XTC,
0:29:49 > 0:29:52supporting XTC, with a band called The Secret.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00Did you think about nature during that time?
0:30:00 > 0:30:01Constantly, yeah.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04Living in London and being on tour,
0:30:04 > 0:30:06I really missed the countryside
0:30:06 > 0:30:11and sort of, as we were sort of half-comatosed
0:30:11 > 0:30:13driving round the country from gig to gig,
0:30:13 > 0:30:17did look out the window, thinking, "I want to be out there."
0:30:17 > 0:30:23Simon leads four gamekeepers on Langholm, a 30,000-acre grouse moor.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26His main job is to regenerate the rare heather
0:30:26 > 0:30:30and protect the grouse from predators of all kinds.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33This is a rail trap.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37Stoats and weasels favour walls, and they'll follow the tracks.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40So we put the traps in the places where they are.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42So, a stoat or a weasel will run over that little bridge
0:30:42 > 0:30:45over the stream and get caught in that trap.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47And they're killing traps,
0:30:47 > 0:30:50so, those traps actually kill the animal straightaway.
0:30:53 > 0:30:58'When I was little, I used to shoot with my grandad.'
0:30:58 > 0:31:00And my other grandad was a fisherman
0:31:00 > 0:31:03and we just used to roam around the countryside
0:31:03 > 0:31:07and press wild flowers with my mum and had a real passion for nature.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12Simon has almost 300 snares and traps on the moor,
0:31:12 > 0:31:15which he checks every morning.
0:31:15 > 0:31:17The snare is actually a holding device.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20There's a stop on the snare which stops it restricting,
0:31:20 > 0:31:28and it holds the animal until I come along and dispatch it, shoot it.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32If there was a better way to control foxes, I'd be delighted
0:31:32 > 0:31:35because I spend my life walking round in weather like this,
0:31:35 > 0:31:38checking snares every day.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44This is a midden. So there's snares around here.
0:31:44 > 0:31:49This is a fox I caught last week.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52And we use the dead foxes to actually draw other foxes in.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56And why does this attract other foxes?
0:31:56 > 0:31:58Because of the smell.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00They're attracted to the smell of rotting meat
0:32:00 > 0:32:05and they think they're going to get a feed out of it.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07- Will they? Will they eat that? - Yeah, yeah.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10They'll scratch it about and tug it about.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14That's why foxes are so successful - because they eat virtually anything.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17This is the problem with predation.
0:32:17 > 0:32:18You get a fox in the wrong place.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21There's an awful lot of foxes out there.
0:32:21 > 0:32:26There's less people killing foxes than there was in the countryside.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29Langholm used to be a successful grouse shoot.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33But, 20 years ago, they took part in a scientific experiment
0:32:33 > 0:32:36to measure predation by birds of prey.
0:32:36 > 0:32:42Ultimately, grouse shooting stopped and the gamekeepers were dismissed.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46When they took the gamekeepers off here originally in the '90s,
0:32:46 > 0:32:48the actual grouse numbers went down.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51And that was mainly due to predation.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55And, as I say, since we've been back here for the last seven years,
0:32:55 > 0:32:58we've produced lots and lots of harriers.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01The grouse are doing better, the black grouse.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04And that's simply by removing the predators -
0:33:04 > 0:33:07mainly the fox and the crows.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10Since Simon and the other keepers were brought back,
0:33:10 > 0:33:14the grouse population has successfully risen.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17But they're still far short of the numbers needed
0:33:17 > 0:33:19to be able to shoot 2,000 birds in a single season.
0:33:19 > 0:33:25If you want this iconic environment,
0:33:25 > 0:33:28then it's got to be paid for.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32To shoot a brace of grouse is 150 quid.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34So, times that up, you know.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38But you need to generate that money to pay for the management.
0:33:40 > 0:33:45Simon is married to Paula, the features editor of the magazine.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49They live 365 miles from London.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51Because I've grown up in the countryside,
0:33:51 > 0:33:53because I am a gamekeeper's daughter,
0:33:53 > 0:33:55because I'm a gamekeeper's wife,
0:33:55 > 0:33:59I feel like I understand the countryside and the issues,
0:33:59 > 0:34:01and also the beauty of it.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03And the reality of living in the countryside
0:34:03 > 0:34:06and what that means to people.
0:34:07 > 0:34:12'Nature is such a huge, strong force that you can only be in awe of it.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15'And when you live in the countryside all the time,
0:34:15 > 0:34:19'you have an enormous respect for all the flora and fauna
0:34:19 > 0:34:24'and how it survives, how it gets through incredibly harsh winters
0:34:24 > 0:34:27'or wet weather, but it's still there.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30'Nothing's going to change it too much.'
0:34:30 > 0:34:33It will always try to keep coming back in its own way,
0:34:33 > 0:34:35because it's stronger than us.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38And it's something that keeps us grounded.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42All through the summer, I had a couple of adders, three adders.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45I mean, I'd say good morning every time.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48And I'd watch them for five or ten minutes.
0:34:48 > 0:34:54And you build up, I suppose, silly little relationships
0:34:54 > 0:34:55with different animals.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58It's like looking for the salmon in the river.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02When you find nests, when you find so many nests
0:35:02 > 0:35:03and you check on those nests,
0:35:03 > 0:35:06whether it be a curlew, or a lapwing,
0:35:06 > 0:35:09or a grouse, or a harrier, or a merlin.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13You know where those nests are and you mark them
0:35:13 > 0:35:16and, every so often, just have a sneaky peek
0:35:16 > 0:35:18to see everything's all right.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20Is it people have an idealistic view
0:35:20 > 0:35:23of what it's like to live in the countryside?
0:35:23 > 0:35:27There is a romantic notion. Like this house that we live in here.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31It's in a beautiful valley, it's completely secluded.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35It's a great place to live if you want to live and work and write
0:35:35 > 0:35:38and have that solitude.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43But, with that romanticism comes a harsh reality.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45And when it's freezing, when it's minus 17
0:35:45 > 0:35:47or when it's chucking it down with rain,
0:35:47 > 0:35:52you've still got to go and take your dogs out, tend to your animals.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54There are no choices.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57It's not just being sat by a lovely roaring fire
0:35:57 > 0:35:59and looking at it snowing outside.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08Gamekeeping still carries on after sunset.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14Every night, Simon goes out lamping for two to three hours,
0:36:14 > 0:36:17searching the whole estate for foxes.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23Called lamping because you're using a powerful lamp
0:36:23 > 0:36:26and the fox's eyes really shine out.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29All animals' eyes shine out at night.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32But the fox's are particularly bright.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35Once we've located the fox, if it's within range,
0:36:35 > 0:36:39then we can shoot it with a high-powered rifle.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43Do the foxes not run away when they see this light?
0:36:43 > 0:36:46Sometimes. Sometimes they will do.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50You can get a lamp-shy fox. If the fox has been shot at and missed,
0:36:50 > 0:36:52then they don't take long to learn.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55As soon as they see the light, they'll leg it.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57They are incredible animals,
0:36:57 > 0:37:00you know, that's why they're so successful.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02I've got a lot of admiration for foxes.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08You've got to be self-motivated to do this job.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13You can go out night after night and it be fruitless.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16But you've just got to keep going.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18It's the same with checking traps and snares,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21that you've got to put the time in.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26- Do you go out on Christmas Day? - Er, no.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29I think there's a little bit of respect for everything.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34- So, there's an amnesty on, is there, at Christmas?- At Christmas.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36Yeah, definitely.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43There's always going to be a fox on a place like Langholm.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46That's how it should be.
0:37:46 > 0:37:51I would hate to think that we'd killed the last fox.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08Mark Hedges, the magazine's editor,
0:38:08 > 0:38:11spends much of his time travelling to all corners of the country
0:38:11 > 0:38:13to ensure the magazine captures
0:38:13 > 0:38:17the beauty and diversity of the landscape.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21Today, he and his fishing editor David Profumo
0:38:21 > 0:38:25are on a research trip to North Uist.
0:38:26 > 0:38:28What we're really lucky about is how many
0:38:28 > 0:38:31extraordinary different places there are in Britain
0:38:31 > 0:38:36that people can find enormous pleasure and affection for.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39You know, one of the great problems that we face
0:38:39 > 0:38:42is that we don't know how to put a price on beauty.
0:38:42 > 0:38:47And that means that it's very hard to protect it.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51Politicians only seem to see things in terms of money
0:38:51 > 0:38:53and how much can be got out of it,
0:38:53 > 0:38:55or how much can be given away about it.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58Whereas this is just beautiful and it's free.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05When we make the final westward turn onto the road to the Isles,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09I always feel that that's the beginning of the final approach
0:39:09 > 0:39:14to the spectacular series of mountains - bens, they call them here -
0:39:14 > 0:39:16riding their way down to the sea.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20Their population level is so low suddenly,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23and you realise you're in one of the last bits of wilderness
0:39:23 > 0:39:27there is Europe, let alone in what we can still call Great Britain.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52North Uist has a population of 1,254
0:39:52 > 0:39:55and more than half the island is covered by water.
0:40:11 > 0:40:16I just love the fact that it's just nature and me.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23You feel that you are on the tip of,
0:40:23 > 0:40:27well, I suppose we're on the tip of the United Kingdom.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29It's beautifully bleak
0:40:29 > 0:40:33and so peaceful.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38I really do think Britain is the most beautiful country,
0:40:38 > 0:40:40but this is another area,
0:40:40 > 0:40:42a different landscape I've never seen before.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47Beautiful grey colours against the sort of kelp and the seaweed.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49It's really special.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54It's quite good sometimes, having a bit of time by yourself
0:40:54 > 0:40:56and some time to think.
0:40:56 > 0:41:02I quite often think of the big changes I want to do to the magazine
0:41:02 > 0:41:05when I'm fiddling around with a fishing rod.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08I should charge all my fishing to work
0:41:08 > 0:41:11because some of the big ideas come when you're just allowed
0:41:11 > 0:41:15to let the mind relax and you just get a chance to think.
0:41:28 > 0:41:33After 16 hours of fishing, Mark and David call it a day
0:41:33 > 0:41:37and feast on their catch - two small brown trout.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40Cheers, David. Thank you very much. Great trip.
0:41:42 > 0:41:47That is sweet. Absolutely one of the nicest fish I've ever tasted.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51- It's really good.- Good work.- Yep.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07Back in London, Mark Hedges has a new idea.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10He's asking readers to nominate their pets,
0:42:10 > 0:42:13to find the naughtiest dog in Britain.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17So, this is Dickens and he ate that carpet.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21So, this is Barney, who is a working Cocker,
0:42:21 > 0:42:25and Barney likes to steal and eat people's false teeth.
0:42:25 > 0:42:26We're a very doggy nation.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29With Country Life, you know, above all things,
0:42:29 > 0:42:33if you want one guarantee, the readers love dogs.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36This is Dexter. His owner said he's the only Dalmatian
0:42:36 > 0:42:38that Cruella would give back!
0:42:38 > 0:42:42So, I had this idea just to try and find Britain's naughtiest dog.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44Highlights include chewing through
0:42:44 > 0:42:47her brand-new Argentine collar and lead at the National Polo...
0:42:47 > 0:42:49It's great fun when dogs are naughty.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52And everyone loves telling each other
0:42:52 > 0:42:54about what their dog has got up to.
0:42:54 > 0:42:56A particularly memorable occasion was when she ran away
0:42:56 > 0:42:58to incur a large bill at the seafront cafe.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02There is this balance between being naughty, which is funny,
0:43:02 > 0:43:06then there are some dogs obviously that are really not very good
0:43:06 > 0:43:09and that's why we have the Dangerous Dogs Act.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11We've got to find the naughty dog,
0:43:11 > 0:43:14not the Genghis Khan of the canine world.
0:43:14 > 0:43:16And what's the prize for the winner?
0:43:16 > 0:43:21So, the winner will be on the cover of the magazine.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24They will be a Country Life cover star -
0:43:24 > 0:43:27which, you know, is an amazing prize -
0:43:27 > 0:43:31and they will also get a big hamper of treats.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33DOG BARKS
0:43:34 > 0:43:37One man who won't be entering his dogs into
0:43:37 > 0:43:41the naughtiest dog competition is Harry Parsons.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43- Oliver! Shush up now. Pack it up. - DOGS BARK
0:43:43 > 0:43:46He may be on a mission to save the Sealyham Terrier,
0:43:46 > 0:43:49but he and his dogs still have a job to do.
0:43:49 > 0:43:51He's come to a free-range chicken farm
0:43:51 > 0:43:55to let them do what they do best.
0:43:55 > 0:43:57It's to kill the rats that are here.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00It's more like pest control than some sort of hunting.
0:44:00 > 0:44:02There's rats in here in abundance.
0:44:02 > 0:44:07so, today is about controlling the amount of rats that are here.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14The farm produces a million eggs a year.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18To keep vermin down and maintain hygiene regulations,
0:44:18 > 0:44:21the rats have to be regularly culled.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24The sheds are moved probably once every 18 months.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28Cleaned, washed down, new chickens are put in.
0:44:29 > 0:44:33The rats live up in the rafters. They become immune to poison.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35There's one, look, now!
0:44:35 > 0:44:40Up to 200 rats can be killed each time the dogs are brought in.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43Nell, that's dead now. Nell, leave that one.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45I've been killing rats all my life.
0:44:45 > 0:44:46I've come to respect them.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49I mean, I don't want to upset anyone in the filming of this.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51There's going to be some with pet rats
0:44:51 > 0:44:52going to be screaming about it.
0:44:52 > 0:44:57At the end of the day, you've got to understand the rate that they breed,
0:44:57 > 0:45:00and can multiply in no time at all, it's frightening.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02Look under. Here, here, under. Go on.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04You got it?
0:45:04 > 0:45:06There's no nice way of killing anything.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09You know, poisoning, we hate the poisoning.
0:45:09 > 0:45:10It's a slow, horrible death.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12Shooting, you might injure some of them.
0:45:12 > 0:45:16Trapping them. This way, it's quick, it's done.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18I'm not trying to justify it.
0:45:18 > 0:45:19As I say, I enjoy doing it.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22Leave it! Eddie.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25For Christ's sake. Eddie, drop it! Eddie!
0:45:25 > 0:45:29- Leave it alone. Leave it!- Why are you telling him to put it down?
0:45:29 > 0:45:31- Because it's dead. - HE LAUGHS
0:45:31 > 0:45:32And there's others running around.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36Good girl, Lou. Drop it.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38Drop it, Lou. Drop it down, dead. Good girl.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50Good girl, Lou.
0:45:58 > 0:45:59Shit!
0:45:59 > 0:46:01Eddie, Eddie, Eddie!
0:46:01 > 0:46:05What a lot of people don't realise, the countryside,
0:46:05 > 0:46:07it supports and maintains the cities,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10its food, its beef, its lamb, its corn, its wheat.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13And it's the pretty little hedges and the things that you see
0:46:13 > 0:46:16were put in there by man. It's managed by man.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18We need to have it carried on being managed.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21If you've got something carrying disease,
0:46:21 > 0:46:23like rats, badgers, or anything,
0:46:23 > 0:46:26you can't take the cattle or chicken out and kill them
0:46:26 > 0:46:28and leave that to thrive. It needs to be managed.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31That's all it needs, is sensible management.
0:46:31 > 0:46:32Eddie! Eddie!
0:46:32 > 0:46:34'Some of the old-fashioned ways have got to be kept.'
0:46:34 > 0:46:36Eddie!
0:46:36 > 0:46:38The problem starts when people in Westminster
0:46:38 > 0:46:41tell people in the countryside how to live and what to do.
0:46:41 > 0:46:43It's wrong. They shouldn't do it.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Good boy, Ed. You don't like rats, do you, son? It's a good dog.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04Come on, Nell! Come on, girl, you and all.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22The battle to manage the land and the landscape is all around us.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24Simon and Jo Murray
0:47:24 > 0:47:28live above the villages of Westbury-on-Severn and Newnham.
0:47:28 > 0:47:29Locally, it's called Mugglewort,
0:47:29 > 0:47:32but I think on the map it's something else.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35But we've always known it as Mugglewort since we've been here.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39Simon is the deputy head at the National Trust,
0:47:39 > 0:47:41and Jo works for Age Concern.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44This is where you come after a long day.
0:47:44 > 0:47:49Climb up here and stand at the high point and look at this lovely oak,
0:47:49 > 0:47:53which is different every time we come, and then at the view beyond.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57You come here for peace and quiet
0:47:57 > 0:47:59and you get to the top and you get this fabulous view.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02Over to the north, you've got Gloucester Cathedral.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04You've got the spire there in the middle distance,
0:48:04 > 0:48:07which is the entirely wooden, with wooden shingles,
0:48:07 > 0:48:09spire of Westbury Church.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11You can see the Cotswolds in the distance.
0:48:11 > 0:48:13Basically all the way down to the Severn Estuary.
0:48:13 > 0:48:18And it's just extraordinary that it's so broad.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20Do you think it has an epic quality to it?
0:48:20 > 0:48:23Well, it's more than epic, isn't it?
0:48:23 > 0:48:26I mean, look how far your eye can see.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31But some views like this are changing,
0:48:31 > 0:48:35with renewable energy sources such as solar panels and wind farms
0:48:35 > 0:48:38appearing around the country.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40Many support this advance, saying
0:48:40 > 0:48:43the benefits to the environment outweigh the aesthetic opposition,
0:48:43 > 0:48:47but others consider it a blot on the landscape.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50Wessex Solar Energy is currently examining the potential
0:48:50 > 0:48:52for a solar park at Elton Road,
0:48:52 > 0:48:56about 1.1km west of Westbury-on-Severn.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00The solar park could generate enough renewable electricity
0:49:00 > 0:49:04to power about 2,500 homes.
0:49:04 > 0:49:06It would also help to prevent harmful emissions
0:49:06 > 0:49:08from fossil-fuelled power stations
0:49:08 > 0:49:12while the land would continue to be available for grazing.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14Your first reaction is to sit down and cry.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17And then, actually, you get to feel quite angry
0:49:17 > 0:49:20that somebody else thinks that it's all right.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23And, of course, the guy who owns the land doesn't live close.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26He won't look at it.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29He's not going to sit and look at it day after day as we are.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35When we first came up the drive, we hadn't even been into the house.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37We just stood in the garden
0:49:37 > 0:49:40and we knew that we wanted to be here and this was the place
0:49:40 > 0:49:43that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives here, to be honest.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46Susan and Geoff live 100 metres from the site
0:49:46 > 0:49:48of the proposed new solar park.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51It just turned up in the letterbox.
0:49:51 > 0:49:56Not really much of an introduction to a very big change in our lives.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00Our understanding is that it would start where the small,
0:50:00 > 0:50:03the low hedge is there.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07And then, from there onwards, all the way down to the white house,
0:50:07 > 0:50:13Pound Farm, and you can see the garden cliff in the background,
0:50:13 > 0:50:16and extending all the way round here
0:50:16 > 0:50:17to the white building over there.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23And right over to the brook at the far right-hand side.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28- We went and bought some white boards and took some photographs.- From B&Q!
0:50:28 > 0:50:33And we took these photographs from up on the escarpment looking down
0:50:33 > 0:50:38and, just very, crudely etched on the extent of the two fields,
0:50:38 > 0:50:40because it's actually two solar farms.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43And, in our hugely professional campaigning mode,
0:50:43 > 0:50:47we kind of just wrote what we wanted to say on the boards.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50"Say no to Elton Solar Park.
0:50:50 > 0:50:55"Two fields of glass, steel, fencing, CCTV and other structures."
0:50:55 > 0:51:00It is not a farm. Those are weasel words to use for this.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03If somebody had been putting up, I don't know, 50 acres of warehouses,
0:51:03 > 0:51:04and you said to everybody,
0:51:04 > 0:51:06"They're going to put up an industrial park here,"
0:51:06 > 0:51:09everybody would have been, "Yeah that's terrible. We're with you."
0:51:09 > 0:51:12But, actually, the first reaction of most people is,
0:51:12 > 0:51:13"Yeah, but solar's fine."
0:51:15 > 0:51:18The community have been consulted for their views
0:51:18 > 0:51:20and the proposal for the solar park
0:51:20 > 0:51:24was recently rejected by the local council.
0:51:26 > 0:51:28I mean, we'd bought this place for the view.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34And everybody you talk to, they say that's why, pretty much. I mean,
0:51:34 > 0:51:37obviously people were born here and they're here for their jobs,
0:51:37 > 0:51:41but they are living where they are living because they value that view.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43Nobody has said to me in the last year,
0:51:43 > 0:51:46"I've bought a house and I don't want to look at that."
0:51:46 > 0:51:49If you look at a tourist brochure for coming to England,
0:51:49 > 0:51:52they have views like this, don't they?
0:51:52 > 0:51:56It is those big trees, and the big clouds, and the green grass
0:51:56 > 0:52:00that they're putting in all the pretty, glossy pictures, isn't it?
0:52:00 > 0:52:03# Some kind of nature
0:52:03 > 0:52:06# Some kind of soul... #
0:52:06 > 0:52:08Almost 20,000 acres of British farmland
0:52:08 > 0:52:12is now covered by solar panels, such as this one in Norfolk.
0:52:12 > 0:52:13# Some chemical load. #
0:52:13 > 0:52:16You can understand why farmers do it
0:52:16 > 0:52:18because, if they're going to get nearly £1,000 an acre
0:52:18 > 0:52:21a year, guaranteed for 25 years,
0:52:21 > 0:52:24as opposed to maybe £100 if they were letting it for agricultural,
0:52:24 > 0:52:26yes, of course, you can see their point of view.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30# Some kind of plastic I could wrap around you... #
0:52:30 > 0:52:34People who support solar farms do so because they're silent,
0:52:34 > 0:52:38non-polluting and fulfil renewable energy quotas.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41It's not that we've got it in for the farmers.
0:52:41 > 0:52:43It's more that, because it could go elsewhere,
0:52:43 > 0:52:47there's a lack of political will to pass the legislation
0:52:47 > 0:52:49which has just been passed in France
0:52:49 > 0:52:53that means that all new commercial buildings built in commercial zones
0:52:53 > 0:52:56have to have roofs of solar panels.
0:52:56 > 0:53:01Since we moved here, it was the first time I'd ever seen a lapwing.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03I couldn't believe it that we suddenly saw
0:53:03 > 0:53:08a flock of birds land in this paddock and in the main field.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11And we looked out with the binoculars, they're lapwings.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13I'd never seen them before.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16I think, increasingly, and particularly in public terms,
0:53:16 > 0:53:18who owns the landscape will become
0:53:18 > 0:53:21an increasingly important question to ask.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24So, if you own the land, does it mean you own the landscape?
0:53:26 > 0:53:29So, does landscape come deliberately first, as our greatest glory?
0:53:31 > 0:53:36Almost everything else that is great hangs off the landscape
0:53:36 > 0:53:41and the variation that we have, and why places are different
0:53:41 > 0:53:44and why you have dairy farming in one place,
0:53:44 > 0:53:46and cereal farming in other places.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49So, everything starts with the landscape, for me, anyway.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02The hunt for the naughtiest dog in Britain is over.
0:54:02 > 0:54:07He's been found in a sleepy village in a Wiltshire valley.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11Rabbit was nominated by his owner Violet, aged five.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15Rabbit was a Christmas present for me.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20Rabbit arrived years ago from Battersea Dogs' Home
0:54:20 > 0:54:24and, in that time, he's eaten £250 in cash, a pair of trousers,
0:54:24 > 0:54:28an entire chair, two pairs of specs, a mobile phone,
0:54:28 > 0:54:30sofa, many favourite toys,
0:54:30 > 0:54:35steals every egg the chicken lays, and that is only the beginning.
0:54:35 > 0:54:36Sit, sit.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42One of his most brilliant adventures was when he decided
0:54:42 > 0:54:45that life in the back of a delivery van was much more interesting.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48He jumped in the back when a delivery was being made
0:54:48 > 0:54:50and then spent a morning in the back of the van,
0:54:50 > 0:54:52whirling around Wiltshire and Dorset,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55chewing parcels with the driver totally unaware.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58He is really... He is unbelievably... He deserves it.
0:54:58 > 0:55:00He decimates everything.
0:55:00 > 0:55:06But he does love her massively, so it comes out in the wash.
0:55:08 > 0:55:09Silly Rabbit.
0:55:10 > 0:55:16- How much money did he chew? - I got... I had some cash. £250.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21I'd left it on my bed for all of 30 seconds while I went to run a bath
0:55:21 > 0:55:26and came back, and Rabbit was having the time of his life.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30Yeah, he's cost us a fortune.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32- But...- It's all your fault.
0:55:34 > 0:55:39And he chewed... I think he chewed this one first.
0:55:40 > 0:55:41Um...
0:55:42 > 0:55:45And there were bits everywhere.
0:55:45 > 0:55:47This one was in my room.
0:55:47 > 0:55:52He chewed the back. The back's damaged, but not really the front.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55I think there's a bit of Scottie
0:55:55 > 0:55:59and I think there's a bit of Yorkie, Skye Terrier, that kind of thing.
0:55:59 > 0:56:04But then I think... Sometimes I think there's a bit of sheep dog
0:56:04 > 0:56:07in him because he herds the children!
0:56:32 > 0:56:36But, even at the printers, Rabbit has the last laugh.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43BELL
0:56:48 > 0:56:51The magazine was founded to celebrate the countryside,
0:56:51 > 0:56:55its houses, its gardens and its way of life.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59A love affair the readers continue to this day.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02We are part of nature. Humans are part of nature.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05As I say, I mean, we've done what we've done to the countryside
0:57:05 > 0:57:08because we've lived here all these years.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11What we've got to decide in the countryside is
0:57:11 > 0:57:12what we want from the countryside.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17One lot of people want a raptor in every tree
0:57:17 > 0:57:20and another one want so many badgers
0:57:20 > 0:57:23and another lot want so many grouse, or whatever.
0:57:23 > 0:57:25It's not the animals.
0:57:25 > 0:57:27It's the humans that are the problem.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30It may not be a simple love affair,
0:57:30 > 0:57:34but it is the stuff of dogs, cottages, fields and rivers,
0:57:34 > 0:57:38a soaring coastline and undulating hills.
0:57:38 > 0:57:43You have Munlochy Bay, the distant hills of Strathglass.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46You have the wonderful farmland of the Black Isle.
0:57:46 > 0:57:48I love coming back late at night, by full moonlight,
0:57:48 > 0:57:51walking up the lane in the snow.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54In summer, it never gets dark.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57I can go out and do some gardening at midnight.
0:57:59 > 0:58:03The natural world can bring us great joy and peace.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06Just to walk out under those big old oak trees around there.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09Those oak trees, I think a gentleman came in from the estate last year
0:58:09 > 0:58:13to measure them, and he estimated them at 500 or 600 years old.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16You know, I love the place. I love the place to bits.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19And I hope I don't need to go anywhere else in life.
0:58:19 > 0:58:22Sometimes, to be truly human,
0:58:22 > 0:58:24you have to feel small in your landscape,
0:58:24 > 0:58:27rather than the master of it.