Episode 1 Kate Humble: Off the Beaten Track

You might think that this is a Canadian forest,

the African savannah...

..the Scottish mountains,

but this is my adopted home, Wales, and the many countries within it.

I've always been drawn to remote places around the world,

but only recently I started questioning myself.

Why am I travelling to these far-flung parts of the world

to look for authentic, intact communities

when there are communities like that right on my doorstep?

Wales is home to less than 5% of the UK population,

with most people concentrated in the south.

And the sparsely inhabited countryside

is exactly what attracted me to move here ten years ago.

The further I looked west towards Wales,

the fewer roads there were, and I thought,

"That's where I want to be."

But in all honesty, I still barely know Wales,

so I'm taking my trusted Welsh sheepdog Teg on a journey...

You're a horror. No!

I really don't... No. I don't love you! No!

..along its hilly, and mostly empty, heartland...

And I know you're going to look at me and go, "She's mad."

It's the equivalent of the Amazon rain forest.

..to discover how our landscapes are being shaped...

GUNSHOT This is the only option.

..and how it's shaping its people...

Look at her! She's just like a little mermaid!

You're amazing!

..to experience Wales off the beaten track

with my most Welsh companion.

Of course, I may only be accepted in these communities

because I've got the right nationality of dog.

Our journey begins at the most northerly farm on mainland Wales,

nestled on top of the Great Orme.

Parc Farm became famous

when the National Trust put a call out for a tenant,

offering the farm for the rent of £1 a year.

But this bargain came at a price.

The chosen candidate would need to restore the Orme

to its former glory.

This special piece of land is home to hundreds of rare wild plants,

but a foot-and-mouth outbreak

prevented animals grazing here for a decade.

The land became overrun with weed grasses,

and the plants were almost lost forever.

Now, the bid winner, Dan Jones,

is hoping to fully restore the Orme using an unusual conservation tool -

English sheep.

-Good morning. I'm Kate.

-Oh, hi. How's it going?

-Lovely to meet you.

-This is Teg.

-Are you going to help me a little bit today?

-I will try.

-Cool.

-SHE LAUGHS

So, I'm interested in why you've got Herdwicks.

You know, I think of them...

They're the classic sort of fell country,

the Cumbrian sheep.

And I would have thought there was almost a stipulation

that you had to have Welsh sheep and that you had to have local sheep.

The Herdwick was chosen because of the way they graze.

They graze different plants,

compared to other native lowland Welsh sheep.

So, they were chosen almost as

-a kind of management tool, really?

-Of course.

That's exactly what the Herdwicks are here.

They're conservation grazing tools.

Something that I'd like to prove is that

conservation farming and modern-day farming techniques

can work together successfully.

Well, the big factor in all of this is

the tenancy here's only £1 a year.

It was a big news story at the time.

I remember lots of people e-mailed me going,

"There's a farm up for £1 a year!"

You know, "Do you want it?" I was like, "Absolutely not!

"Way out of my league!"

But a lot of people did apply for it.

Apparently, there was about 2,500 people that wanted it,

or showed an interest in it.

-I think I ticked most of the boxes they were looking for.

-Yeah.

For that £1, Dan is tasked with maintaining

over 800 acres of grazing with 400 English and Welsh sheep.

It's still early days. He's been on the farm for just six months.

Conservation aside, this is still a working farm,

and there's plenty of work to be done.

Today's job is bringing the youngsters in

for their worming medicine.

Good thing I've got my herding machine with me, Teg.

Teg! Come here. Come here. Good girl!

Steady! That'll do! Teg!

While everything started well,

there's always one that gets away, but not for long.

Teg never likes to leave anyone behind.

Shall I see if I can get that lamb?

-Yeah, if you go back, I'll just take these through.

-Teg! Teg!

Teg and the lamb almost look like they're playing catch.

Come here, Teg! Teg!

Good girl! That'll do!

And then a little hide-and-seek.

But as much as I enjoy a walk,

I'm quite thankful that Dan joins the party.

Well done. Well done, Teg. Well done.

-That is a lively lamb.

-It is a lively lamb.

The concept of using sheep for conservation sounds contradictory

when they're often accused of grazing landscapes bare.

Botanical specialist Trevor Dines explains how and why it works.

You can pop that in your mouth. That's salad burnet,

and that should taste of cucumber.

Tastes of dog wee. HE LAUGHS

-It doesn't!

-That's your dog's fault.

-Yeah, that's my dog's fault.

And it's that richness that makes the Great Orme so special.

It's unlike anywhere else in Wales,

and it really is one of the top five sites for wild plants in Britain.

It's a botanist's Mecca.

And yet, Trevor, you say it's a botanist's Mecca,

and it's got sheep on it.

What on earth are you thinking?

Sheep are like a herd of hairdressers

actually out on the hillsides.

The sheep will come in and graze this tougher grass away,

but they'll leave these herbs underneath.

-Why will they leave those herbs, though?

-Well, they will graze them,

but the roots will be there to come back up afterwards.

There are plants here that grow nowhere else in the world,

there are plants here that only grow in a few places in Britain,

so all of that richness is here.

Because of that, we then get the rare butterflies,

the rare insects, the rare pollinators,

the rare bees here, as well.

And that sort of cascades up the food chain,

and it's all down to this richness of this tapestry on the ground.

Which is why Dan has gone back to old-style shepherding -

staying out with his flock

and making sure they munch on the right stuff.

The real challenge of this seemingly utopian partnership is,

can it pay?

Can it be worth a farmer's while

to go back to this slightly more old-fashioned way of farming?

It may ultimately be great for biodiversity -

not just of plants, but of wildlife in general -

but if it doesn't work for the human beings

who are the guardians of our countryside,

that's where the idea is going to fall down,

and that's why this experiment is so important.

If Dan and his herd of hairdressers left the Great Orme ungrazed,

it would eventually turn into shrub and woodland,

and then we would lose all the unique biodiversity

adapted to these conditions.

As we continue our journey south,

I realised that the conditions in

the dramatic Snowdonia mountain range

can change in mere moments.

And as humans, we, too, must adapt to stay safe.

Forged by the good old Welsh weather,

the mountains attract millions of visitors every year,

but, sadly, their beauty goes hand-in-hand with their perils.

Every year, the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue team

receives around 130 calls

to help even the most experienced hill walkers.

Sorry. Mobile one, this is Ogwen base. Go ahead.

They're one of 12 teams in Wales giving up their time for free,

24-7, whatever the weather, 365 days a year.

And they're lucky to have a four-paw sniffing machine in their team.

Spin is one of the seasoned dogs of SARDA,

the Search and Rescue Dogs Association.

Her loyal companion is paramedic

and mountain rescue dog handler Sally Armond.

Right, so, here we are in your glorious back yard,

and I'm imagining that this sort of weather is nothing for you.

-Most mountain rescue searches happen at night.

-Right.

And very often in blizzards

and the sorts of conditions you'd imagine that people get lost in.

They don't tend to happen on a glorious sunny day

-when you're out in your bikini.

-KATE LAUGHS

To keep on top of their game,

Spin and Sally stage regular rescue exercises

with the help of volunteers, lovingly called dogsbodies -

literally somebody hiding in the mountains

for the dogs to sniff out.

The human body's about 20 trillion human cells

-and about 30 trillion bacteria.

-Right.

So, every minute, we're giving off tens of thousands of human cells,

and each human cell has got a raft of bacteria on it.

So, those rafts are given off as plumes in the wind.

And what I want to do, as a search dog handler,

is work across the wind,

putting the dog and the dog's nose into the best position

-so she's most likely to pick up on those rafts.

-Right.

Well, Spin is already looking keen.

-Aren't you?

-She's looking cold.

Little bit cold, as well. Do you want to get going?

-I suspect the dogsbody's a little bit cold, as well.

-Yeah.

So, you want me and Teg to stay back here, is that right?

-I think so, yeah.

-Yeah. So, it's better for you.

-You can just concentrate on what you're doing.

-Yeah.

I suppose that's the thing about doing a search with a dog,

is it's like having sort of a super extra pair of eyes,

a super extra pair of ears, a nose, and, of course, four-paw drive,

which means that you can cover more and more landscape

than you could if you were just on your own.

It takes around three years to train a dog

in the art of air-scenting mountain search and rescue work.

Spin started as a puppy, and at 11 years of age,

she has the equivalent of a PhD.

I'm just watching her cross this very steep bit of hillside now.

Quite a difficult place for Sally to get to, I would say.

And you can just see how quickly

and efficiently a dog can cover an area that a human would find

really hard work and slow going.

She's working into the wind.

And, interestingly,

where Spin is now, she won't be able to see Sally -

there are too many rocks and boulders in the way -

so she's going to have to use her own initiative.

Good sheepdog trait.

Streaking across the hill now.

Find!

Now, it looks like, to my admittedly inexpert eye,

that she might have picked up on something.

Suddenly, the kind of energy levels picked up.

SPIN BARKS

She looks more urgent now.

Heading back to Sally.

-SPIN BARKS

-What have you got? Show me.

-Come on.

-Yeah, she looks like she's leading Sally back now.

Again, a really intent run out.

Back towards the boulders. Sally's running,

so maybe Sally has picked up on the fact that she's found something.

And, yes, Spin is going back to a particular spot.

-SPIN BARKS

-What have you got?

Show me.

Barking. I think she must have found them.

Show me, then. Where is he? Where is he?

There he is.

Yay! Hello.

-Whey! Good girl.

-Yay!

SHE LAUGHS And I can hear cheering.

She has obviously found her quarry.

Gosh, that was amazing.

Clever girl.

And, you know, we're looking at this extraordinary craggy space.

You couldn't see anything from this spot,

and within ten minutes, they found him.

Well done, Spin. Yay!

Can I come out of my hole now?

But in Snowdonia, canine power is not only harnessed for saving lives.

Ten miles east is the largest forest

in North Wales.

The lush, evergreen Gwydir Forest

stretches over 28 square miles,

and it's hard to believe this was once a derelict landscape.

The need for wood to build trenches during the First World War

left the area with few trees.

However, in 1921,

conifers were brought over from North America

and the land is now thriving.

But the trees are not the only things that were imported.

For Gareth Bowyer, Gwydir Forest is a training ground.

He runs the Snowdonia Sleddog Racing Team,

and Teg and I are joining his pack of huskies

to view this woodland from their perspective.

I think Teg wants to join your team. SHE LAUGHS

Well, Teg's welcome to try.

What do you think? What do you think?

You might knock some sense into them.

SHE LAUGHS I can completely understand

people doing it in Canada and,

you know, in the northern states of America,

but I never really think of it as something that we Brits do.

If I had any sense, I'd have got a horse.

SHE LAUGHS Bit late for that now.

It's a bit late for that. I just... I think they're wonderful dogs.

-They're pure athletes.

-Yeah.

And I just wanted to be a part of that.

DOG BARKS Do you think this is a hint?

Do you think they're saying, "Come on, stop talking, let's go"?

They don't like standing still for long.

Let's talk on the run. And could you give Teg a lift?

I'm not sure she's quite up to pulling a quad bike, but...

-I think she just said yes.

-SHE LAUGHS

-OK?

-Yeah, ready.

-OK, good boys. Hike on.

-Wow!

Harnessed to an all-terrain vehicle, the dogs learn to pull.

The use of a quad makes it easier to control the pack when training,

and the extra weight is compensated for

by giving a bit of throttle to the engine.

That was amazing.

How much was dog power and how much were you using this?

It very much depends on how fast you're going...

-Yeah.

-..and how fresh the dogs are.

And what are the commands that you used?

I heard you say "gee" at one point.

Yes, we say "gee" for right and "haw" for left.

-"Haw" for left. Do you ever say "mush"?

-No.

And what about stopping?

Cos that's probably quite an important thing to be able to do.

-That's just hit the brakes and say, "Whoa."

-Right.

Do you think I might be able to have a go?

-Of course you can.

-Do you think?

-Yeah.

-OK, good.

Although I'm not sure Teg wants me to have a go!

-Ready?

-Hike.

-Hike on.

Well done, dogs.

Woohoo!

Come on, dogs. Come on.

My favourite times are when I'm just out in nature

on my own with the dogs.

And sometimes we just have a beautifully smooth run,

and everything is in unison, everybody knows what they're doing.

You see it more from an animal's perspective, in a way.

-Yeah.

-A car is too fast.

-Right.

-Cos you don't see much.

-Yeah.

-And a bicycle is too fast, as well.

-But walking's too slow.

-SHE LAUGHS

This is just a wonderful way of passing through the countryside

and seeing everything.

Mush, mush! THEY LAUGH

OK, good boys.

It's very calming, actually, isn't it?

-It is calming. You can actually switch off.

-Yeah.

And that's one of my favourite things about it is you just stop thinking.

-It's a lifestyle.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

A pretty good one when the weather's like this.

So, what did you make of it, Teg?

-What do you think Teg made of it?

-She was sitting there...

She honestly looked like the Queen of Sheba, didn't she, with her sort of subjects...

-She did.

-..running along in front of her.

It's wonderful to experience new ways

to enjoy the different landscapes of Wales.

And while, for some, it's a job,

others simply seek solace in the natural beauty.

Hidden amongst the Snowdonia mountain range are around 250 lakes,

so we head south-west to discover one of these hidden gems.

Teg and I join Yorkshire-born artist Natasha Brooks

to see if we can be brave enough to immerse ourselves in her world.

What is it about being in water naked

that allows you to, I don't know, appreciate the landscape differently

than, say, sitting here with this magnificent view around us?

You just kind of see another side of the landscape

that's hidden to you unless you go in.

You feel like you've gone into the mountain,

then gone into the mountains even further.

Most people are used to wearing a swimming costume,

but as soon as you get rid of it, there's a sensory difference.

It's free-er.

If I was to come into a solitary place and cover my body up,

I'm hiding it only for myself, really, and I don't...

-Don't need to.

-..understand... I don't like it.

I feel it's healthy to shed my layers

and be me in the landscape.

It's April.

There's no chance that that water has had any opportunity to warm up.

When does the pleasure hit?

So, if you do it often, the shock does go away.

I don't know whether I just like suffering or...

-THEY LAUGH

-But it makes you feel alive.

In that moment, you're just overwhelmed

by that sensory feeling.

Well, I've got to try it, haven't I?

-Yeah.

-I'm here now.

And will you forgive me if I literally last, like, two seconds

-and squeal a bit?

-Yeah, that's fine, as long as you get in.

-THEY LAUGH OK, that's a deal.

-Yeah.

We'll shake on it. I'll get in. I promise.

I'm just not telling you how long I'm going to stay in.

Teg matches this landscape incredibly.

-Doesn't she?

-Yeah!

KATE SHIVERS Natasha, you are bonkers!

How ready are you? I'm not going to stand here waiting for you

-for very long.

-Erm, nearly there.

-Right.

Come on, Teggy.

Wow. Ooh!

-Oh! There's that kind of middle bit, isn't there?

-Yeah.

The creepy bit over your thigh.

Oh!

THEY LAUGH I wish I didn't like you so much!

Dog, don't you dare let me down. You're coming in.

Are you going?

Breathe.

Ooh! Come on, Kate. Oh, yes.

-Oh!

-And now just keep breathing.

-Breathing.

Urgh! I can't speak! I'm so... Oh!

I can't speak! It's too cold! Oh!

Teg, come on, you've got to come in.

Oh! Oh, my goodness!

Oh!

OK, I feel like I'm slightly on fire.

-Yeah.

-I think I'm going to have to come out.

-OK.

If you...

Oh, Teg, come on.

Oh, my skin just feels...

..so alive.

SHE LAUGHS

You feel sort of euphoric, and suddenly,

out here, it feels almost tropical.

SHE LAUGHS Teg, you let me down.

You beastly, horrible dog.

No, you stay away!

SHE SHIVERS

Ooh!

SHE LAUGHS Oh, that's heavenly.

Look at her. She's just like a little mermaid.

You're amazing!

Just swimming with every part of you in contact with the water

is the most exhilarating feeling.

And you do, it's one of those situations where

you don't know whether you're hot or cold.

Every part of your skin is

tingling, is alive, it's just... It's fantastic.

And even though I know I must look like I'm hypothermic,

actually, I'm not. I feel quite warm now and I feel about,

I don't know, 20 years younger.

You just feel like you've just been completely reinvigorated.

It's like a sort of massive reboot for the body.

That said, I am going to go and put my thermals back on.

It really actually was properly lovely.

Properly, properly lovely.

I just want to do this.

-I loved it.

-Thank you.

-Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Of course, wild swimming isn't the only natural high

available in these parts.

As we make our way south,

I'm hoping that local

mushroom expert Cynan Jones

will be keeping strictly to the legal side of fungi foraging.

If you think about it, there are 30,000 species

of fungi in the UK alone.

There's probably maybe ten or 12 that are worth eating, really nice.

-Is that right? Only that few?

-Oh, yeah.

And about ten or 12 that are absolutely poisonous.

Like lots of people, I'm a bit dubious about trying mushrooms,

but hopefully I can trust Cynan.

-They're called scarlet elf cups. It tastes of radish.

-Really?

-Can you eat them raw?

-You can eat them raw, yeah.

You know, the perceived wisdom is if it's bright red,

-probably not a good idea to eat it?

-Yeah. Just get it...

Usually, red in the fungal world, is a dangerous thing.

-Yeah.

-Usually is, but not in this case.

-Are you sure?

-Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Well, I did survive that,

and Teg seems to be enjoying her own foraging.

Looking to diversify the family's farming business,

Cynan has extended his hobby into a trade.

He now rears mushrooms for the market,

and - believe it or not - this is the largest mushroom farm in Wales.

-So, is this mushroom HQ?

-This is it, yes. Yes.

Now, you see, when I heard I was coming to your mushroom farm,

I'm not sure this is quite what I expected.

So, does everything happen in those containers?

Everything happens in the containers, yeah.

That's where we control the conditions

to just give the mushrooms a little bit of a helping hand.

That's extraordinary.

-When do you usually see mushrooms?

-In the autumn.

-In the autumn.

-Yeah.

-And why?

Because the temperature changes, the light changes, humidity changes,

and they understand winter's coming, so we better fruit before we die.

-Right.

-And what we see are the fruiting bodies.

-Yeah.

-So, what we do here...

..is we have the summer here and we have the autumn here.

-OK.

-Two different conditions.

-Yeah.

And by moving the mushrooms from one to another,

they get the shock that they need to actually start fruiting.

-This is the warm summer.

-OK.

It all starts in these bags,

full of locally sourced oak woodchip,

inoculated with spawn or the germinating spores

that will grow into mushrooms.

-That's effectively a live bag.

-It's a live bag, yeah.

And that's a good way of putting it, actually.

It loves it here - it's warm, it's got plenty of food,

-so it won't fruit here.

-Right.

-Why should it expend energy?

-It's too comfortable.

-It's too comfortable.

-Yeah.

-Needs a shock.

After eight weeks, the growing fungi start showing signs

of being ready to fruit.

-I'm sorry to say this, but they almost look like sort of warts or something.

-Yes.

-Yeah, well, we call them popcorns.

-Do you? That's much nicer.

-Which is better, much nicer.

-Yes, it is, yes.

And to help shock them in the colder temperatures

of autumn next door, I don my sexiest dinner-lady look.

-Come through here.

-Yeah.

-This is where the magic happens,

but you shouldn't really use

"mushroom" and "magic" in the same sentence, really.

-But there is some magic going on here.

-Your sales might go up.

-Yeah.

-Look at your little loaves!

-You see? Yeah.

You see all those little lumps and cracks?

-So, those are our little warts who have now...

-Yeah.

-Don't call them warts.

-Popcorns. They are warts.

Yeah, and this has been here for about two days.

Really? So, it's come from there and then literally into...

-Gosh, you do shock them, don't you?

-Oh, yeah.

-Poor little things.

-Poor little things, yeah.

-So, this is a loaf in trauma.

Yes. It's in trauma because it thinks it's going to die.

So, it's pushing out little babies all the time.

Even though this is a small-scale mushroom farm,

it produces 200 kilos of shiitake a week,

with customers even in the Far East.

-We can cook with them later on.

-Can we?

-Yeah. Do you fancy it?

-Yeah!

-OK.

-Well, I'm not doing all this work for nothing!

And so while Teg and I take a little stroll,

Cynan shows off his culinary skills.

And Teg loses interest in the walk.

I wonder why.

Smells nice, doesn't it, Teg?

I think it looks unbelievably good.

That is delicious.

Have you got a spare room for me and my dog? HE LAUGHS

-I'll come and cut your mushrooms for you.

-Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yes. Well, I'm sure we can talk about that.

Always need a pair of hands.

Next time, we play apex predator...

I don't know about you, but I'm quite looking forward to venison for breakfast.

..Teg and I chase cows in the mist...

Yeah, they're back on the road now, Will!

I think. No, they're not.

..and I discover the spirit

of the Dyfi Valley.

Right, I'll see you, Pete. LAUGHTER