0:00:03 > 0:00:08For thousands of years, farming has shaped the landscape of Wales.
0:00:08 > 0:00:09HE WHISTLES AND SHOUTS
0:00:12 > 0:00:17Generations of farmers have worked the land and in Snowdonia, one family
0:00:17 > 0:00:21has been farming the slopes of the Carneddau Mountains for centuries.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Meet the Joneses.
0:00:25 > 0:00:31For 350 years my family can say that we have farmed this valley.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35Gareth Wyn Jones is the latest in a long-line of hill farmers to
0:00:35 > 0:00:37rear sheep on the mountains
0:00:37 > 0:00:40near Llanfairfechan on North Wales coast.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43But the way we buy our food has changed.
0:00:43 > 0:00:48Lots of people has lost contact with the land, with agriculture,
0:00:48 > 0:00:49with farmers.
0:00:49 > 0:00:55Gareth's wife Rhian takes care of the family, their home and the garden.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57Picking peas.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02Ahh, there is nothing better than eating peas fresh from the park.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06Their sons, Rolant and his elder brother Sior,
0:01:06 > 0:01:10are following in their father's footsteps.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14Steady steady, hey stand! These sheep are getting on my nerves.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17And their daughter Mari isn't far behind.
0:01:17 > 0:01:18Sit! Sit.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25Their grandparents also live on the farm, Gareth's mother Eryl
0:01:25 > 0:01:27and his father Roland Senior.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37We will follow Gareth and his family through
0:01:37 > 0:01:42the course of a year, as they take their animals from the mountainside....
0:01:42 > 0:01:44to the market place.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46That's it. That's the end product.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49After all that hard work this is what we sell.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54But with bad weather and rising costs, what does the future
0:01:54 > 0:01:57hold for the traditional Welsh hill farm?
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Physically, mentally, emotionally it's tough. Two faces.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06If you are born and bred into it. You know nothing better.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08That's the way it is. That's the way the mountain is.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21It's spring.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26But this year Wales has been hit by freak, unseasonal weather.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32A fierce blizzard with gale force winds and heavy snow
0:02:32 > 0:02:34has crippled parts of the country.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40The extreme weather has proved devastating for hill farms and,
0:02:40 > 0:02:42as he has been for the past week,
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Gareth is out searching for his sheep.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51So far the farm has lost almost 100 ewes and countless lambs
0:02:51 > 0:02:53to the cold weather,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56but Gareth has worked tirelessly to save what he can.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00This just gives you the scale of how much digging was with of each one.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05These two were in these holes and, you know,
0:03:05 > 0:03:08that doesn't look like a lot,
0:03:08 > 0:03:10but bloody hell, there is a lot of digging gone there.
0:03:10 > 0:03:15That's two sheep, we have dug 70 of them over these days.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24And to be honest this is supposed to be Easter, isn't it?
0:03:24 > 0:03:28We're supposed to be in a glorious sunshine and...
0:03:29 > 0:03:36Praying to God for bloody miracles, I think, today. For miracles.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45It may be spring, but here in the Carneddau Mountains near Conway,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48at over a 1,000 feet above sea level,
0:03:48 > 0:03:50this unseasonably cold weather
0:03:50 > 0:03:53could not have come at a worse time for the farm.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57What the problem is, it's come too late in the season.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00The sheep are at their weakest. Heavily in lamb.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03All the nutrients goes to the lamb.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07So, if she is stuck in a drift for five or six days
0:04:07 > 0:04:12possibilities of her aborting and dying.
0:04:15 > 0:04:21How many we'll be losing at the end of the day is anybody's guess.
0:04:21 > 0:04:28But...the ones that survive are bloody tough, I can tell you that.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36That's breading stock for next year. Nice little ewe lamb.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42Lovely to see her. There are a few, you know? They're going to make it.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45These will be the breed lines that survive, the fittest.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47We never had a winter like this.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Gareth's family are not the only ones suffering.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59All over the country, farmers are losing livestock to the snow.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04All these farms, all you see in front of you, they've all had sheep.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06And he's got 40 missing.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Doesn't know where they are.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11He's got a lot more than that.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13He doesn't even know how many he's got missing.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15And over the next valley.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18And this is only a small community, Llandegfan
0:05:18 > 0:05:23of about seven or eight farmers. It's shocking.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27So, I think we'll be looking of casualties of thousands
0:05:27 > 0:05:28throughout North Wales.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35He's so tired, Gareth is. I can't believe what he's going through.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38I think he's aching all over, but he's just been carrying on.
0:05:38 > 0:05:39Just pure willpower.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46He is dealing with it in his own way by trying his very, very best.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49And if he knows that he has done his utmost, then he is happy.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53That's how he feels and deals with it, I think.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56He has got to do it, because, you know, he's got no option.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03He comes back in and was it Saturday? He had the gripper
0:06:03 > 0:06:06and he just couldn't feel his hands.
0:06:06 > 0:06:11He was through to the bone. He was, ah, stone-cold.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13But I just try support him as much as I can and, you know,
0:06:13 > 0:06:17just be there for him and just be, you know,
0:06:17 > 0:06:20something different from work for him, really.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45Those that farm these mountains form a close knit community,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48and on a neighbouring farm, Gareth's cousin, Tudor,
0:06:48 > 0:06:50still has many sheep missing.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55Having done all he can to find his own sheep, Gareth volunteers
0:06:55 > 0:06:57to help his cousin search for his flock.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37It isn't long before they find the first sheep -
0:07:37 > 0:07:39a ewe trapped deep in a drift.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43She's alive. Closed in up to her eyes.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46And she is one of ours.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Come on, little girl.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54That's the reality, lamb hanging out of her.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Having been trapped for six days this ewe is unlikely to live.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18All Gareth and Tudur can do is move on in search of sheep
0:08:18 > 0:08:20strong enough to survive.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Whatever's here now, is dead.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31I've got to close my mind about it. Forget about it.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34And whenever it melts, we will have to find the bodies.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37I've got to concentrate on the sheep.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40I brought about 380 or 390 down to the village.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42There is no snow there. I'll look after them now.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49It has been a disastrous start to the spring,
0:08:49 > 0:08:51but life on the farm must go on.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12It's the middle of the lambing season,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15the busiest time of year for hill farms.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Often ewes will need help delivering their lambs
0:09:18 > 0:09:22and from first light Gareth is out tending to his flock.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37With the ewes weakened by the weather, many lambs have been lost.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42Come on!
0:09:55 > 0:09:58Ewes without lambs and lambs without mothers
0:09:58 > 0:10:01will mean even further losses for the farm.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05So, to ensure that every possible lamb has the best chance
0:10:05 > 0:10:09of survival, Gareth employs an age-old technique.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Strip...the skin off.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17And give it to the other lamb,
0:10:17 > 0:10:22and the mother thinks it's its own lamb.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25She goes by scent, so if we didn't do this,
0:10:25 > 0:10:27she wouldn't take it.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35This is a little girl and she will go up on the mountain
0:10:35 > 0:10:38for the summer now and she'll most probably be a breeding ewe.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45It makes me feel better as well after the death of losing that lamb.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47You've got a bonus, haven't you?
0:10:50 > 0:10:52It sounds absolutely mad, but I believe
0:10:52 > 0:10:55that I've turned a corner today and we are on the way up.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59It has been a horrible six days.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02Probably the worst six days in my life.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04But you got to get on with it.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07And when you see that tunnel and the light,
0:11:07 > 0:11:09you got to just keep chasing it.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13So, erm, you know, we'll be here, we're not going anywhere
0:11:13 > 0:11:15and we will do the best that we can.
0:11:24 > 0:11:29As the sun starts to the shine, the snow begins to melt.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32After weeks of cold weather it feels like spring
0:11:32 > 0:11:34has finally come to the Carneddau.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44Rising from the Menai Straits to over 3,000 feet,
0:11:44 > 0:11:48these mountains form part of the greater Snowdonia range.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54Their rugged terrain is home to a range of wildlife
0:11:54 > 0:11:57including a unique breed of wild pony.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05These windswept slopes have been inhabited for millennia...
0:12:06 > 0:12:10..from pre-historic times to the first hill farmers.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15Today, 27, 000 acres of open grazing
0:12:15 > 0:12:19is shared by dozens of farms and their families.
0:12:25 > 0:12:31Its 7am, and down at Ty'n Llwyfan, the Jones family farm,
0:12:31 > 0:12:32the mood has changed.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34WHISTLING
0:12:34 > 0:12:35Come on!
0:12:38 > 0:12:41Spirits are high and the bustle of day-to-day life has returned.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45Come on! Come on.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Before breakfast there are chores to be done.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52Every morning the first job of the day is the milking the goat.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58For Rhian, the biggest chore is getting all three children ready
0:12:58 > 0:13:00for school on time.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04Mari! Mari!
0:13:07 > 0:13:08That is very hard work.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11She says "I'm coming," but it's another half hour.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19Before school, though, Sior has more work to do.
0:13:19 > 0:13:25The farm has around 20 chickens and he sells their eggs in the village.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29I collect them first, sort them, clean them and then...
0:13:29 > 0:13:31LAUGHTER AND MUTTERING
0:13:31 > 0:13:33OK. No, I sort them, she cleans them.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35You are a good businessman.
0:13:35 > 0:13:41You grandad buys food, buys you chickens, I build you the shed.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43I help.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45You reap the profit.
0:13:45 > 0:13:46Better that way, isn't it?
0:13:48 > 0:13:50Instead of him getting a little bit of wages,
0:13:50 > 0:13:54he has got chicken money and egg money, which is fair enough.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58This is the way I was brought up and you know if you want something
0:13:58 > 0:14:00in life, I think you've got to work for it.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04They are fresh everyday.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08They're free-range, aren't they?
0:14:08 > 0:14:10Some of them are dirty, so we clean them,
0:14:10 > 0:14:13but we are very careful when we clean them.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18You don't need to put them in a lot of water, because they absorb.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22The egg will absorb the water and they'll be no good.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26A key part of Sior's business plan is to get his grandmother
0:14:26 > 0:14:28to do most of the work.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30Yes, it's easy, isn't it?
0:14:30 > 0:14:34£1.50 half a dozen, so it's not bad.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37- We'll be millionaires before long! - I don't think so.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52She came into our bed and she got kicked out by her mother.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06Come on, Sior!
0:15:09 > 0:15:13With the morning's work done, it's off to school
0:15:13 > 0:15:14and back to work for Gareth.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19It's time for him to come out, I think.
0:15:24 > 0:15:25He is a young little crown.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42The happiest sight in the world to see that, to me.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46So important new life coming in like that, first thing in the morning.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48And it's just a buzz, a buzz.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55Every single calf that is born alive is a massive bonus
0:15:55 > 0:15:59and you know, we've got to look at them as our profit
0:15:59 > 0:16:02and what keeps us up here.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Because we need to live, we need to survive.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09I tend to think lots of people have lost contact with the land,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12with agriculture, with farmers
0:16:12 > 0:16:15and they tend to think that a lot of us are scroungers,
0:16:15 > 0:16:19that we sit around and just open cheques from Europe and stuff.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22But that's not the reality of farming.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26We are subsidised and we do have money from European grants,
0:16:26 > 0:16:31but at the end of the day, our job is to produce food.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33But there's a matter about that,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36even the toughest of farmers have feelings and there is nothing better
0:16:36 > 0:16:39than bringing something new into this world
0:16:39 > 0:16:42or helping to bring something new into the world.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52The farm occupies some 2,000 acres of land
0:16:52 > 0:16:56just outside the town of Llanfairfechan.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59The family keeps more than 300 cattle
0:16:59 > 0:17:03and around 5,000 head of sheep and lambs.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05Yeah, this is how spring is supposed to be,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08this is what we should be seeing is these lambs running around,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12having races and sleeping in the sun.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14But this is probably the first day they've had
0:17:14 > 0:17:17of good sun on their backs.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21And, yeah, makes you smile, makes you happy.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26When you've seen so much death and destruction,
0:17:26 > 0:17:28it's blooming good to see this.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30It's... Yeah, happy!
0:17:30 > 0:17:32Over the coming weeks and months,
0:17:32 > 0:17:34Gareth will rear these lambs,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37keeping a close eye on them from day to day,
0:17:37 > 0:17:39until they are big enough to be sold.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44In recent years they've had good prices for their livestock,
0:17:44 > 0:17:48but their costs - fuel, feed and fertiliser -
0:17:48 > 0:17:50have risen faster,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53making every single animal all the more valuable to the farm.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02This little lamb doesn't look too well.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11Yeah, look.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15He's very light.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17His mother's most probably left him.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19And then, erm...
0:18:19 > 0:18:22He's very, very thin as well.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24He'll be dead by the morning.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27Maybe one of a set of twins,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29or his mother was just too weak,
0:18:29 > 0:18:31so she's just gone off.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33So what we'll do is,
0:18:33 > 0:18:35we'll take him home now
0:18:35 > 0:18:38and give him a drink.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41It's pound, shilling and pence for us -
0:18:41 > 0:18:43the more of these we can produce,
0:18:43 > 0:18:45the more money we can make.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47You know, if we can save him,
0:18:47 > 0:18:49find him a new mother,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52he can get on that mountain, then, for the summer,
0:18:52 > 0:18:54then gets back down, fattened,
0:18:54 > 0:18:56and he's 55, 60 quid
0:18:56 > 0:18:58if we're lucky.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00And that's if we're lucky.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03So each one of these is...
0:19:05 > 0:19:07Is a couple of days wages, isn't it?
0:19:07 > 0:19:09Come on, fella.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13This lamb will now need to be hand-fed every day
0:19:13 > 0:19:16until it is old enough to feed for itself.
0:19:23 > 0:19:24Sound of music.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31The more of these that we save,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33the more chance that we can carry on farming
0:19:33 > 0:19:38and it's nice to have five minutes
0:19:38 > 0:19:39to just give him a drink, really.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41The kids are growing up now
0:19:41 > 0:19:43and I remember them when they were like this.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46He'll survive, he's a survivor.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55'It's been quite a bad winter, really, you know. Yes.'
0:19:58 > 0:20:01'I can't remember - and I'm 76 -
0:20:01 > 0:20:04'and I've never seen anything like it, no.'
0:20:04 > 0:20:09This year, we got to accept our losses.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13We had four or five, six, seven good years,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16but this year's been horrendous.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20We're going to loose a lot of money this year on lambs.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26We've got to work hard
0:20:26 > 0:20:30and there will be no new tractors this year
0:20:30 > 0:20:33and there'll be no nothing like that.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35We won't have any money to, you know what they say -
0:20:35 > 0:20:38an extra, that won't be there.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41And that won't be there for a few years now.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43It's going to hit us hard.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49The full cost of the cold spring
0:20:49 > 0:20:51has yet to be counted,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54but out on the mountain,
0:20:54 > 0:20:55there is a stark reminder
0:20:55 > 0:20:58of just how devastating the weather has been.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05The sheep weren't the only thing lost in the blizzard.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08Many wild ponies also perished.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12So, this is the kind of spring it has been for us.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17This is just one hole and one pile.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21There's another one on the next mountain in Carneddau.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26Yeah, it's pretty hard to look at these.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29This is what their heft was here, this is where they ran.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32What's really, really upsetting is
0:21:32 > 0:21:35that so many of them died giving birth.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40You know, that's just real nature
0:21:40 > 0:21:44at its most raw, really.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46The wild mountain ponies of the Carneddau
0:21:46 > 0:21:49have grazed these slopes for centuries,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52forming an important part of the ecology of the mountain.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56Gareth and others from the community
0:21:56 > 0:21:59are responsible for looking after the herd.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03I've seen quite a few of my farmer friends quite upset over them.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06My father was quite upset,
0:22:06 > 0:22:08I'm quite upset.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10Erm...
0:22:10 > 0:22:13But it's life, we live and we die.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17You know, and this is something that we see every single day,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19but not on this kind of scale.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22I think that's what's shocked me, really,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24is the scale of the disaster up here.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29There were just over 200 ponies roaming free on the mountains,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32it is feared that up to half of these
0:22:32 > 0:22:34may have been lost to the snow.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38Only when the ponies are gathered up and counted at the end of the year
0:22:38 > 0:22:40will the scale of their loss been known.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49During the winter months,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52the mountains are cleared of livestock.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55This gives the land time to recover
0:22:55 > 0:22:58and protects the flocks from the worst of the weather.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03Then, on the 1st of April,
0:23:03 > 0:23:05the mountain is open for grazing.
0:23:06 > 0:23:11Traditionally, farmers race to herd their sheep on to the best pastures.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16But it is only now, three weeks later than normal,
0:23:16 > 0:23:20that Gareth is finally able to take his flock up on to the slopes.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23The sun's really beating down now,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25I can feel the heat.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27This is what we want for growth.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29Everything looks nice,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32the sun's on your back,
0:23:32 > 0:23:34the spring is here.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Swallows are out, birds are singing.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39HE WHISTLES Oi, come on!
0:23:48 > 0:23:49TRANSLATION FROM WELSH:
0:23:51 > 0:23:55'Today, Gareth's eldest son Sior has come to help his father.'
0:24:06 > 0:24:10Yeah, we're getting to the drift now, I hope.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27They're going over the drift, anyway. That's brilliant.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31This is as far we can go in the Land Rover now,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34so we'll go out and see them.
0:24:46 > 0:24:47Here, come by.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04It's Sior's first time to bring the sheep up with his dog, Bill.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07Yeah, he's having a few problems,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10but I had probably more problems when I was his age.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13I think he's got a better dog than I had at that stage
0:25:13 > 0:25:16and yeah, he is a bit sleepy this morning.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22So, yeah, I'm trying to give him the tradition of hefting,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24like my father taught me.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31Hefting is the foundation on which hill farming is built.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34The heft, or "cynefin" in Welsh,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36is the part of the mountain
0:25:36 > 0:25:39that has been grazed by the family's flock for generations.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44It is a right that has been passed down from father to son.
0:25:47 > 0:25:48With the day drawing on,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51the sheep will be rested for the night
0:25:51 > 0:25:54before continuing their journey up the mountain.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Tomorrow morning,
0:25:58 > 0:26:03we'll be heading up for Blaen y Ddalfa and...
0:26:03 > 0:26:07This is where their heft is, right on the top there,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10which is about a mile and a half again from here.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21With the boys busy at work,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25down at the farm Rhian is making the most of some time to herself.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30The family grows their own fruit and vegetables,
0:26:30 > 0:26:32and at this hectic time of year
0:26:32 > 0:26:36it falls to Rhian to do most of planting.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38I don't tend to have much time to go outside,
0:26:38 > 0:26:43because I have got chores in the house - cooking, cleaning, washing.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47It's nice to be outside and doing something where you can see.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Sometimes...living in a house full of kids,
0:26:50 > 0:26:52you can't really see what you have done,
0:26:52 > 0:26:54because it gets undone so quickly.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57There's a satisfaction in gardening, isn't there?
0:26:57 > 0:27:00Where you can actually see the fruits of your labour.
0:27:00 > 0:27:01Picking peas.
0:27:01 > 0:27:06Ah, there is nothing better than eating peas fresh from the pod.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10So sweet and so nice raw.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25It's idyllic.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27It's idyllic. We're so lucky.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31We are, we realise we are so lucky.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33To be part of this, it means so much to us.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46If you live off the earth and work hard,
0:27:46 > 0:27:47you've got that connection with nature,
0:27:47 > 0:27:49because you are living with nature every day.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52I don't know, maybe it's something about being Welsh.
0:27:55 > 0:27:56I don't know.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02I can, honestly, for half the time,
0:28:02 > 0:28:07sit down and just stay totally happy,
0:28:07 > 0:28:08just listening and just watching.
0:28:08 > 0:28:09It's quite mesmerising.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16It has been the hardest spring in living memory on the farm,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19and the worst possible start to the year.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23But the seasons are changing
0:28:23 > 0:28:25and there is a big year ahead for the Joneses.