Staffordshire Countryfile

The uplands of Staffordshire.

Open country dominated by stark, brooding ridges and vast moorlands.

There's a rough beauty to it all,

it's the sort of place you could easily lose yourself in.

But just imagine you did get lost here.

How in all this vastness would you ever find your way out?

These guys just might know.

But there are places from which there's no escape,

mysterious pools and dank green gorges.

Places of myth and magic, where Green Knights dwell and ghostly mermaids

wait to snare the unwary,

but what is the fact behind the fiction?

Adam meets the young farmers taking the legwork out of milking time.

There's 800 cows on this dairy farm in Dorset

but they don't have to walk back to the farm buildings to be milked,

because their dairy parlour is on wheels.

And tonight's the night that the final 12 pictures

in our photographic competition will be revealed.

John will be joined by Bill Bailey and Charlotte Uhlenbroek.

I thought this was a poster for an '80s metal band.

Look at that. That could be a publicity shot for Motley Crue.

They'll be choosing the photos for the 2015 Countryfile calendar,

and then you'll have the chance to pick your favourites.

Now, we fight it out.

I think they all say animal magic to me.

Every single one.

The Staffordshire Roaches.

A landscape of millstone, grit and moor.

Mystical, magical, where myths hang heavy in the air

and legend courses through every stream.

And if this land could talk, what stories it would tell.

I'm going to take a walk around the Roaches, a rocky outcrop that

dominates the skyline just a few miles from Stoke on Trent.

Park ranger Sarah knows these stories better than most.

Sarah, the landscape changes really dramatically

when you get down here off the moor, doesn't it?

It does, it's such a diverse area,

we're very lucky in this part of the Peak District.

But what is it about this region that really lends itself

to creating all of these myths and legends?

I think when you're actually in the area you can feel the trees

and the rocks talking to you, nearly.

There's so much history and the stories are amazing.

Now, here we have Caster's Cottage.

There isn't a lot of it left.

-What's the story?

-The story is, there used to be cannibals here.

-Really?

They lived here and then a traveller would come past here

and couldn't actually make it to where he was going to that night,

so he decided to actually stay here.

He has got himself settled in and then all of a sudden,

he hears one of the children say, "What big hands you've got,

"what lovely pies they'll make."

He was a little disturbed by this, so decided to make a run for it.

They followed him with hounds.

So he actually jumped into the brook to lose them.

When it was safe, he went to the nearest town and reported it.

The officers of the law then came back and found bones

-and gold from many other travellers.

-Do you think it's true?

Who's to know? It's in quite a lot of books, though.

If it were, that beautiful old beech tree presumably would have seen

-and heard the whole lot.

-I think it probably did.

If only trees could talk, they might tell us of brigands, outlaws.

There is a place of all the places in this magical landscape

that inspires true awe.

A stunning gouge in the land where myths drip

and chill air stops the heart.

Easy to miss,

Lud's Church is well hidden deep in the Staffordshire woodland.

This subterranean cavern is said to have been used by many,

including Robin Hood and Bonnie Prince Charlie.

The perfect hiding place.

Wow, look at this sort of corridor, it's fabulous, isn't it?

No wonder you kept this till the end!

It does feel like another world.

-Does it go down there?

-Yes.

HE LAUGHS Amazing!

I mean, whoever called it Lud's Church really underestimated it.

This is more of a stone cathedral.

It's beautiful, isn't it? It has a microclimate all of its own.

You can feel the temperature drop as you walk in.

It's very cool in here now, isn't it?

'Lud's Church has inspired many a legend,

'among them the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

'One of the most famous of all medieval tales,

'it tells of a barbaric challenge thrown down by the mysterious

'Green Knight to Sir Gawain, King Arthur's courageous nephew.

'One year and one day later,

'the Green Knight demands his turn to exact revenge on Sir Gawain.

'They meet one dank and dreary winter's day,

'right here in Lud's Church.

'The immortal Green Knight's home.

'Many say he still lives here.'

You get to the top, and look back, can you see him sleeping?

-Oh, that face there, yeah.

-Don't wake him up, though.

-Let's tiptoe out of here before we do.

-Let's!

And so we let the Green Knight sleep in wait

for some other unwary traveller to stir him from his slumber.

This year you sent in over 30,000 entries for the Countryfile

photographic competition

and tonight we are going to reveal the 12 winning pictures

that are going to make it into the Countryfile calendar for 2015,

and asking you to help us pick the overall winner.

But first, it's over to John, the chair of our judging panel,

to get us started.

Our annual photographic competition is

one of the highlights of the Countryfile year,

revealing the extraordinary camera skills of you, our viewers.

This year, our theme is animal magic.

And whether they were on a farm or in the wild, we wanted your pictures

of birds and bugs and beasts,

like these beautiful fallow deer.

And you didn't disappoint us -

your cameras conjured up more than 32,000 entries.

Finding the 12 outstanding images that will fill

the Countryfile calendar for 2015 is going to be a mammoth task.

To get us started, we have come to Sheepdrove Organic Farm

in Berkshire, where we have enlisted some uniquely qualified helpers.

This top team of previous winners and finalists has the daunting job

of checking every single entry and compiling a short list of 3,000.

-There's rather a lot there, Geoff.

-We'll get there.

-Yeah.

Then making the final choice will be comedian Bill Bailey,

zoologist Doctor Charlotte Uhlenbroek, and me.

So, what are these eagle-eyed shortlisters

looking for amongst these piles of pictures?

The subject is animal magic so I am going to be looking for the magic.

Looking for something dynamic, something moving.

Great light, a great subject in a great background.

Something that when you pick up is going to make you smile.

Well, with so many entries to go through, there's no time to lose.

Working in pairs,

our first team of skilful snappers is Cheryl Surrey and Jerome Murray.

Cheryl was a winner in 2009 with Snowy Squirrel,

and When Feathers Fly made Jerome a finalist in last year's competition.

This one, for me, absolutely stood out.

The lighting is perfect, you feel like you could rub your hand

over it and you could feel the texture of the ponies.

That is probably my best photo so far.

Team two is Rosy Burke, the judges' favourite in 2005 with

Fun In The Waves, and Geoff Hill, a 2009 finalist with Say Cheese!

Look at this. This is absolutely amazing. Wiggies.

They are all looking at the photographer.

-It is animal magic, this one.

-I think this is a terrific shot.

The colour of the gold of the owl and this marvellous

green of the bark, there's even woodworm holes in the wood.

Beautiful, beautiful shot for a month on your wall.

Those two know exactly what they're looking for

and they've set their standards high.

Our third pair of sharp-eyed selectors are Jennifer Duncan

and Andy Colbourne.

Huffing Puffin made Jennifer a winner in 2010

and Andy was one of the chosen few last year with Feeding Frenzy.

I came across this picture of a snake which I think is really excellent,

it's technically a very good picture, it's really sharp,

good depth of field and a different subject matter.

-Snakes are not my thing.

-No?

But that is a stunning photograph, it's absolutely pin sharp,

it really is beautiful.

In our final team, 2011 finalist, Mark Blake,

who impressed the judges with his Winter Weasel,

and Jean Burwood, judges' favourite in 2012 with Rainbow's End.

A picture's got to tell a story, but with this one it actually

makes you want to be there, because look at that.

That is absolutely stunning,

it could actually go on a holiday brochure, to be fair.

It's been a long day of sifting and scrutinising, but thanks to

the hard work of our former finalists,

we've got a short list of 3,000.

And now it's over to Charlotte, Bill and me to find

the 12 really outstanding photographs that will each have

a page on the Countryfile calendar for 2015.

And this is where we're going to choose our winners,

in the stately surroundings of Petworth House in Sussex.

So please join us later for the final judging.

ELLIE: We are in Staffordshire

and I'm on a very special farm run by a remarkable lady.

This is a tale which has its origins in a unique brigade.

They fought in the fields. Their weapons - ploughs and pitchforks.

They were the unsung heroines of the Second World War.

They were the Women's Land Army,

and without their efforts we would have starved.

They dug the fields and grew the food that kept us going

during and after the war.

Now, at last, their efforts are being recognised.

There's to be a statue to the Land Girls right here

at the National Memorial Arboretum.

A few weeks ago, I told the story of the beginnings of the movement

and today I'm meeting a remarkable woman,

one of the last surviving Land Girls.

Mary Wright is 84.

She grew up in the Black Country in Walsall before signing up to join

the Women's Land Army at just 17 years of age.

Mary, why did you decide to join the Land Army?

Well, really when I left school I didn't know what I wanted to do.

I saw this advert in the paper.

And thought, "I think this is for me, yes."

When I first went, I had no idea of doing anything.

At my interview with the colonel, he asked me,

can you milk, can you drive a tractor, can you do this,

can you do that? And I kept saying, "No, no, sorry, no."

And he said, "I'd like you to start on Saturday."

That must have been a surprise!

The colonel clearly saw something in Mary,

and she threw herself wholeheartedly into the work.

What can you remember were the hardest parts?

Probably carrying the hay and straw on our backs.

-That was probably the heaviest job.

-What were your favourite bits?

Looking after the animals. I have always loved animals. Always.

-And you've carried on farming.

-Yes. Yes.

Do you think you would've gone into farming

if you hadn't been a Land Girl?

Oh, no. I wouldn't...

I...

To be quite honest, I have no idea what else I would have done.

But not only have you carried on farming,

-you've got a very successful farm.

-Yes, yes.

I am very fortunate that my son and granddaughter

and grandson are following in Granny's footsteps!

I am sure they are very inspired by you.

Oh, yes. Well, I hope they are.

Mary's 23-year-old granddaughter Izzy takes care of

the 500-strong herd of Jersey cows.

Was it your grandmother that inspired you to keep going with the farming?

Erm, Nanny is a very inspirational person to everybody

and she began the business for us and gave me

the opportunity to be able to come into the business as well.

-Do you get lots of stories from your grandma?

-Oh, hundreds.

-Do you?

-Any that are particularly memorable?

-There's... I think...

Well, she's never told us the funny stories,

she's always told us how hard they worked!

-About the hard graft!

-Yeah.

Why do you think it is so important that the Land Girls are marked

with this memorial?

It's the work they did, isn't it?

Why shouldn't they be remembered for what they did?

They did as much as the Army did, really,

and the men did, because if it wasn't for them,

they kept the farms going, they kept the country fed.

So they deserve it.

And it's none other than Izzy who has been chosen

as the model for the Land Girls statue.

The design is based on the original poster and her friend Sarah is posing

alongside her as a lumberjill, the women who worked in the Timber Corps.

But at the foot of the statue, there is something you might not expect.

A pesky little addition at that.

One all too prominent feature of the Land Girls' lives - brown rats.

There wasn't a grain store or hay loft or barn

that wasn't plagued by them.

And in the days before modern pest control,

they were a serious threat to the nation's food stores.

The Land Girls called them "Hitler's little helpers"

because of all the damage they did.

So around 1,000 girls were trained specifically to tackle the problem.

And this memorial marks something of a truce.

Sculptor Denise Dutton has been working on the statue for months.

-Denise, how are you doing?

-Hello.

-This looks amazing. Is this Izzy?

-Yes, it is.

-Wow. I can see the family resemblance actually.

Remarkable.

-Is this life-sized then?

-It's life and a quarter.

So, bigger than life size.

It gives them that image as something you are in awe of

when they're slightly bigger than they ought to be.

Slightly bigger, yes, because they are going to be in an open area,

they can be diminished in size when they are put up against a big sky.

So they need that sort of grandeur when you're looking up at them.

It's absolutely fabulous.

I've been tasked with helping create the rat

for the foot of the statue.

Even such a tiny section of the sculpture involves an incredible

amount of work. From a clay model, we're creating a wax cast.

So we're using the negative and we are creating a positive with the wax.

That's right.

-That's great.

-I don't want to miss a bit.

Next, the wax rat gets dipped into ceramic to make a mould.

All leading up to the most exciting moment for me - pouring the metal.

But first, I need to get kitted out.

In here is the mould, or the shell as it's called, of our rat

and it's buried in this sandy-looking stuff called molochite,

which is used to keep it steady and keep the heat in,

and over here is the bronze, which is heated to 1,120 degrees.

And the heat is burning me even from here. Whoa, look at that!

'My job is to steady the bronze as it's poured.'

Ready when you are.

-I just keep steady, don't I?

-Yes.

'It's a delicate process.

'And if it's not done quickly enough, the bronze will start to set.'

That was amazing. I loved that.

That was incredible.

I'm sweating buckets here!

'20 minutes later, the rat is cool enough to come out of its shell.'

Oh, yeah, look at the detail! That is brilliant.

'A once-over with the sandblaster to clean it up

'and it's ready for the finishing touches.

'Spraying an acid onto it to give it that rich colour.'

-Just cover it all over?

-Yep.

-Nice.

-OK.

-What's next?

And then we just rub it back a bit

and you'll really see the bronze coming through, so just use that.

-A little rough.

-And just... You can be quite fierce with it.

-Oh, yeah.

-Pick out the real detail.

-So now the bronze shines through.

I never thought I'd see such beauty in a dead rat, but there it is.

There we have it, the finished rat.

I feel really quite proud to have been part of something that is

going to be a permanent memorial to the Women's Land Army.

The Women's Land Army sculpture, complete with Ratty,

will be unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in October.

-JOHN:

-The hour is upon us. The moment has arrived.

It's time to find those 12 outstanding photographs

that will grace the Countryfile calendar for 2015.

Our team of past winners and finalists has whittled down

the 32,000 entries you've sent in to a slightly less daunting 3,000.

And now, it's time for the final judging.

To do that, we've come here to the spectacular Petworth House estate

in Sussex, to select what we hope is going to be

an equally spectacular final dozen.

And later we will be asking you to choose the overall winner,

our calendar cover star.

Petworth's grounds were landscaped in the 18th century

by Capability Brown.

Among the 700 acres of rolling parkland here,

nearly 1,000 deer roam, as they have for hundreds of years.

In this magnificent scene there's more than 100 fallow deer bucks

gathered together on that hillside. Well, it fits in perfectly

with our theme for the competition this year, which is animal magic.

Joining me on the judging panel

are comedian and keen bird-watcher Bill Bailey

and zoologist and primate expert Dr Charlotte Uhlenbroek.

'And in honour of their judging debut, we thought they should be

'transported in a manner befitting this elegant estate.'

Well, talk about arriving in style!

I know! I'd like to arrive like this at all times if you can arrange it.

-I could definitely get used to that.

-How was the journey?

Wonderful! Wonderful. On a day like this as well, perfect.

A bit of traffic on the A3, but, you know.

There's no cup-holders either!

-It's a lovely vehicle, isn't it, a Landau, I think.

-It is a Landau.

-Anyway, we have work to do.

-Thank you.

'And it's straight into Petworth's magnificent marble hall

'to start judging.'

Charlotte, what are you hoping is really going to catch your eye?

More than anything, I love to see a bit of a photographer in there -

I want bit of emotion, I want to see that they are telling a story.

-We don't really want sort of standard pictures, do we?

-No.

It's got to be something which leaps out at you, or you see

the animal in a different light perhaps, and there's something about

the character of the animal which is brought out by the picture.

'Well, with 3,000 to consider, we better get cracking.'

I don't think we have meerkats in the British countryside, do we?

-BILL LAUGHS

-Er, no.

-Look at that. A barn owl, that's one for you.

-Oh, my barn owl!

-There's foam and eyes.

-Ah, yes!

How about that? A sky full of linnets.

That's great. Getting quite a lot of these.

Album cover sheep!

That could be like a Pink Floyd album cover from sort of mid-'70s.

Magical pony time!

Ah, yes!

It's quite bizarre, isn't it?

I'll see your backlit ears and I'll raise you.

THEY LAUGH

'After a few hours of judging, I think it's time for a tea break

'and a chance for me to explore this amazing house.'

There has been a house on this estate for 800 years

but this immense structure was built at the end of the 1600s

and it's still the family home of Lord and Lady Egremont.

Petworth House has the largest single collection of art

in the care of the National Trust, some 300 paintings, 100 sculptures

and countless historic pieces of furniture and precious objects.

It's an artistic treasure trove.

And not all the paintings are in frames.

There are these huge murals on the walls of what is aptly called

the grand staircase.

But there are some very special paintings here

by one of Britain's most famous and respected artists which were

inspired by Petworth's landscape and the creatures that lived in it.

And they're paintings which perfectly capture

our theme of animal magic.

Well!

This is quite a room, isn't it, Andrew? Good to see you.

Hi, John. The room's called the Carved Room for obvious reasons.

And it features some of the finest carvings by the great English

woodcarver of the 17th century, Grinling Gibbons.

That makes it very unusual, this room, doesn't it?

And also the paintings here of the man who was

inspired by the landscape.

Very much so. The great JMW Turner.

This is one of two views of the park in the Carved Room.

-There's the lake.

-There's the lake.

And on the far shore, the great hero of this room and of this house.

-Just there?

-Yes. We think this is probably George O'Brien Wyndham,

the third Earl of Egremont.

Who was a great patron of the English art in the early 19th century

and a great patron of Turner's, but also a terrific lover of animals.

The other one is down at the other end.

This is the second view of the park which is a more general view,

and of course includes the deer herd

which we can still see in the park today.

And the paintings are actually very low on the wall, aren't they?

Yes, and that's for a reason.

When the third earl redeveloped this room as a great dining room

in the 1790s, for much of the time there was a very large

dining table in here, so the idea was that the people sitting at the table

-could get a perfect view of the Turners.

-Right.

So if you couldn't see the real view,

-you could see Mr Turner's view.

-That's right, yes, absolutely.

-Not a bad deal.

-Not a bad deal at all.

So, have Bill and Charlotte managed to find any images

that give Turner a run for his money?

-Have I missed any works of art while I've been away?

-Oh, yeah.

Some Impressionist cows. As if Monet had painted cows instead of lilies.

Which would look better on a wall?

On a wall, you're right, the left-hand one.

But in a coffee table book, I would definitely go for that one.

I thought this was a poster for an '80s metal band. Look at that.

That could be a publicity shot for Motley Crue.

-AMERICAN ACCENT:

-We're just runnin' in the wind, man!

See, this one looks like he's holding a flower like a microphone.

-He's in a band as well, is he?

-Yes!

THEY LAUGH

'Well, we're getting through them but we've still a long way

'to go yet, so no more distractions. These need our full attention.'

I like the toad. If it had a caption for that, it would just be, "What?!"

"I'm a toad, all right, just deal with it."

Join us later when we'll be fighting it out for our favourites

'and then handing it over to you to pick the overall winner.'

ELLIE: Normally, dairy cows have to walk

to and from the milking shed twice a day.

However, this week Adam is visiting a farm where their milking method

is a little unconventional.

But first, Adam is getting back to basics to remind us

of the traditional way.

There's a good girl.

This is one of my lovely Gloucester cows

and they're famous for milk production.

For making single and double Gloucester cheese.

And of course to produce milk, as a mammal,

they have to give birth, so she calved just a few days ago

and now I'll see if I can show you how to hand-milk her.

So, a cow has got four teats, four quarters in her udder.

And imagine that's her teat and this is the udder.

To hand-milk her, you have to use your thumb

and your forefinger to trap the milk so it doesn't go back up into

the udder, and then down and the milk comes out the other end of the teat.

Of course, it wasn't very long ago when cows were milked like this,

by hand, up and down the country on the farms in cow stalls,

with people sitting on stools pouring the milk into churns.

Really hard work.

You'd have forearms like Popeye, I'd imagine!

We've milked cows by hand for centuries.

But in the early 20th century, during the era of industrialisation,

machines were developed to take over from the hand

and change the industry for ever.

So today, a typical dairy farm has, at its centre,

the milking parlour, it's in a fixed location.

But I'm on my way to meet up with

two young, very entrepreneurial farmers who do it very differently.

-Morning, gents. I'm Adam.

-I'm Neil.

-Hi, Neil.

-Hi, I'm Tom.

-Hi, Tom. Good to see you.

-Welcome to the farm.

-Thank you.

Goodness me, is that where you milk the cows down there, is it?

Yep, that's our two milking parlours

out in a field, the cows are kindly walking in for milking.

-How many have you got out here?

-We've got 800 cows here.

I've never seen anything like it, extraordinary!

Neil Grigg and Tom Foot had a dream to get into dairy farming.

So two years ago, they rented this 900-acre farm in the heart of Dorset.

Incredibly, they now have a herd of more than 700 dairy cows

and they have a rather unusual way of milking them.

They built a mobile parlour that they take to the cows in the field.

So you've got all the cows in and this is your mobile parlour -

it's extraordinary. Neil, where's all the power come from?

We've got a generator in the shipping container

which is where we get the electricity from.

In there we've got the vacuum pumps. We've got the hot water tank,

basically everything you'd find in a normal dairy, except it's on wheels.

-And you are about to start up?

-We are.

-Let's go have a closer look.

Goodness me, Tom, this is the first time

I've ever stepped into a parlour and stood on grass.

-Yes, it's pretty unusual, isn't it?

-Incredible.

This is pretty unusual, milking cows in the middle of a field?

Yeah, it certainly is.

I guess we got the farm, got the number of cows, and thought,

"Right, we need a milking parlour capable of doing this."

I copied a friends milking parlour which was static,

and then put wheels on it.

So, you literally just built all the elements together just like a...

Yep, we got some 5mm plates, 20mm bit of pipe,

60mm pipe, 50mm box and it's simple to me, it's my language.

The first unit cost us £70,000 to build, the second...

By the time we've done it once,

we're able to do it a lot cheaper, £20,000 cheaper.

And what about working out here in all the elements,

does that bother you?

It is actually relatively pleasant.

We wear sun cream when it's hot, and waterproofs when it's wet,

and thermals when it's cold.

And the cows are outdoors anyway, so it's no difference to them.

They're bred to live outside all year round.

-How often are you milking?

-We are only milking once a day.

Most people are on twice a day, if not three times.

All our milk goes for cheese. If you milk once a day you get more

butterfat and protein in your milk, more like a Jersey cow.

-That's good for cheese production.

-And what about output, then?

We're doing about 2,700 litres a cow, per year.

But we get a high milk price for that 2,700 litres.

-A big indoor wholesaler will produce 10-14,000?

-Yes.

-Tiny in comparison.

-It is, it's hard to compare it,

there's no right or wrong way to do the job.

But this is the way we're doing it.

While Tom carries on milking, I've gone to the top of the field

with Neil to get a clear idea of how the system works.

We move the parlour every day, so if you can see down here,

that's where we milked yesterday.

And yesterday afternoon

we moved the parlours into the site that it is situated now.

The cows would have grazed this paddock yesterday for 24 hours,

and now they're going into the next paddock where they'll stay today,

and then the parlour will be moved,

-and they'll move again tomorrow.

-Why?

Cos we're mad.

No, I guess we had a wonderful opportunity here three years ago

where we were able to take the tenancy for what was

an arable farm.

I guess it was a short-term tenancy, an initial five years.

We thought, "How can we milk cows on this farm?",

and that's when we stared thinking about how we can do it differently,

but without investing huge amounts of money into concrete and sheds.

Which, in the short term, wouldn't make any sense at all.

And if the tenancy does come to an end after five years,

you can just pack it up and go.

Exactly, drive it all out the yard.

It seems like it's a really great system. What are the disadvantages?

Actually, the logistics of the operation.

There's nothing simpler than going into a milking parlour

and pressing the "On" button and carry on milking,

but from our point of view, we have to move the parlours every day,

we have to manage that every day,

and it takes a lot to make it all happen

before you press the button and start milking.

It's very simple-sounding, but it's actually quite complicated.

The milking has finished now,

and Tom and Neil are breaking down the whole parlour,

lifting it on the hydraulic legs, getting it on the tractors,

ready to be moved up to the next field

where these cows will be milked tomorrow.

And this is the tanker with all the fresh milk in it,

it will go up the road and meet a bulk tanker lorry

that will take it to the parlour.

Tom, Neil and their team have got this down to a fine art.

It only takes about an hour to de-rig, move,

and set up the dairy for the next day.

It's a remarkable, low-cost, totally mobile system.

It's remarkable that milking's now finished down there,

and the whole parlour's on the move.

Yeah, that's right, and the milk is heading to the factory,

which is just two miles over there.

So the milking tomorrow will happen here?

It will, that's right.

We'll just get the second parlour in place and put all the stands down,

and plug all the pipes in, and we'll be ready to go, like this morning.

So, if you could live it all again, Tom,

would you invest in a permanent site?

Or are you happy with what you've got?

It's been a question I've been reluctant to answer.

I think, now, two and a half years in, we've really got it right.

There's a few finishing touches, but I can't see why we would

invest in a permanent site on this property, from now on.

How about you, Neil?

Well, I know it's a question of "never say never",

but if we had a significant amount to capital to invest,

I certainly think we'd invest in livestock rather than concrete.

-Put it into cows.

-Definitely, they are going to generate income,

where concrete's not.

-It's been fascinating to meet you. Thank you so much.

-Cheers.

We're at the magnificent Petworth House in West Sussex for the

final judging of our Countryfile Photographic Competition.

And, after much deliberation and debate,

we've managed to whittle down the remaining 3,000 photos to about 100.

Now comes the hardest part as we try to agree on our final 12.

So, Bill, what you going to sacrifice?

I'm going to find it very hard to let go of my '80s horses.

I do think, with black and white

they have to be very simple, bold, light and shade.

I think that's really appealing, and to have got that moment,

to have captured that moment when it popped its head through...

Yes.

That is absolutely quality, isn't it? In every way.

There's hardly any duff photos here at all.

All are of a very high standard.

We've got to make some tough decisions, because these photos

will be the stars of our calendar,

which we sell in aid of BBC Children In Need.

The current calendar sold 300,000 copies,

raising more than £1.4 million.

So we've got a lot to live up to.

Now, we fight it out.

I'm going to put this one in first, my butterfly.

Anyone else got a nice butterfly?

I'll see your butterfly, and I'll raise it... I love this.

I'm slightly concerned whether it's absolutely pin-sharp enough.

Unfortunately, I don't think that is

the right-shape photograph for the calendar.

I like... But I don't know what they are.

This, I think, as a winter shot is stunning, it's got movement,

it's simple.

This is another wintry one, which I like -

they're both white photographs, but I love that rabbit.

-Are you rejecting mine, then?

-No, I'm going to hold those up in a minute.

Oh, dear.

Well, our task is over when we've selected the final 12.

Then it's your job to vote for the overall winner,

who will receive £1,000 worth of photographic equipment,

and their winning image will feature on the front of the calendar.

Now, for us, it's the moment of truth.

That's a flipping calendar shot, isn't it, if ever there was one?

-Obviously, I like mine best.

-It's difficult.

I mean, I love mine, because of the colours and the composition of it.

-Well, I think I might go for yours, Charlotte.

-The hare?

-Yes.

It's a very happy photo.

-You couldn't not look at that and smile, could you?

-Good.

In.

If you see that and think, "what on earth is that?"

it would certainly be a talking point.

-It would, wouldn't it?

-I'll concede. That can go through.

-OK.

-This is beautiful, just in its composition, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Yes, it is.

-He's cute.

-Shall we go for this one?

-Yes, you edge it on the cute there, so...

-Happy with that?

-Yep.

-Good.

-OK.

-So that's it, then.

We've got our final 12.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-How have you enjoyed it?

-First-time judges.

-Well, really hard.

The standard is so good and the diversity is fantastic.

It had to be animal magic,

and we've got some pretty magical photographs there.

-I think they all say "animal magic" to me.

-Yep.

-Every single one.

I'm just sad that my magical pony didn't make it in.

-HE SINGS:

-# Magical pony! Magical pony!

# Where will you take me on your magical journey? #

So, from more than 32,000 photos sent in, here is the final 12.

In a moment I'll give you the phone numbers to vote for your favourite.

Calls cost 10p from a BT landline, other operators may vary,

and calls from a mobile will be higher.

But don't vote yet as your call won't be registered.

You can also vote online, on our website.

You'll have to create a BBC web ID, and then you can choose your

favourite picture by clicking on "Vote now",

and that way of voting is completely free.

So here are those final dozen, with the all-important numbers.

The lines will close at midnight on September 7th,

and the online vote closes at the same time.

Please don't call after that date as your vote won't be counted,

and you may be charged.

We'll show all the photos, with the details of how to vote,

again at the end of the programme.

And we'll be revealing the overall winner,

together with the judges' favourite, on Countryfile in October.

All that remains for me to do now

is to say a really big thank you to everybody who sent in their photos.

We just couldn't do it without you.

The Peak District in Staffordshire.

Perennially popular with walkers, climbers,

and hikers who descend on the area to soak up its natural beauty.

This is stunning.

It's hard to imagine that this could be scene of a tragedy

that still echoes 50 years on.

Saturday March 14th, 1964, dawned bright and crisp.

Around 240 scouts were taking part in a gruelling test of endurance,

a 50-mile hike through some of the toughest terrain,

and then the weather closed in.

Bob Rogerson was a 22-year-old Rover Scout

who took part in the walk that day.

The rain was absolutely pelting down, and just horrible,

and you could look over

and in the mist you could see odd groups of other walkers.

And I often wonder, to this day, if some of those walkers

had took the wrong route and eventually ended up in trouble.

You just think, and hope, you're going to survive.

As soon as we got to the checkpoint, we decided we could call it a day.

We'd had enough.

So that's what we did.

It was... Well, it was terrible...terrible.

The walk was supposed to take less than 24 hours,

but on Saturday night several scouts were still missing.

And as the rain turned to snow, the search had to be abandoned.

The following day a massive search got under way

with more than 500 volunteers scouring the moor.

Tragically, that afternoon, the rescuers found a body -

and there were still two more scouts missing.

Robin Knott was one of the volunteers

who set out on Monday morning.

We all turned up on Monday, got time off work,

and we searched in two foot of snow up the Alport Valley.

Just before four o'clock in the afternoon the guy in charge

decided that was enough,

and everybody should return to the road and go home.

The group I was in decided that we were

so far up the valley

we would go round the next corner and have a look.

And we found another body.

Three days after the scouts first set out,

the chances of finding anybody else alive were fading.

Very shortly on Tuesday morning a report came through

that the last body had been found,

and, obviously, he was recovered and everybody stood down.

-Goodness.

-End of the job.

But there was some small comfort.

Against all odds, several scouts were found alive.

It was these events, 50 years ago, that led to the formation

of the Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation.

Robin was among the first to sign up, and is still involved today.

In those early days they received around 30 call-outs a year.

Today they get around 300.

And the equipment has come a long way, too.

As well as having all that kit, the team have got an amazing

mobile office which allows them to cover a wide area.

-Hi, Carney, How you doing?

-Yeah, great. How are you?

Good, thanks. So what goes on in here, then?

This is our mobile command centre.

Primarily we use it for searches, so we can use it to deploy people

and then we come back and set up control.

Taking a missing person's last known location as a starting point,

the team calculate a search radius.

You think, "Where might they have gone?"

And that's where members in the team know about the region,

and certain areas that are more likely for someone to go to.

So, as well as all of this hi tech kit you have,

one of the most important things is local knowledge.

Yes. Absolutely.

'But how good is their local knowledge?

'We'll be finding out when Jules plays our damsel in distress.'

We're in Staffordshire, a landscape of myth and magic, mountain and moor.

Beautiful, but challenging, too.

I'm with the Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation, 50 years old this year.

These guys have got all the toys. GPS, satnav, the lot.

But there's one thing they reckon is more important than all of it

put together - local knowledge.

Understanding their patch and the lie of the land.

But how good is their knowledge? Jules, it's over to you.

Hi. I need you to put this on.

Jules has unwittingly agreed to be missing out on the moor.

-If you can just stick that on.

-This is Ben, our producer, by the way. Full of surprises.

So I'm going to guide you for a bit of a walk that you won't know.

-You'll be lost, OK?

-I'm lost right now.

With Jules and his crew en route to a mystery location,

I get down to business with mountain rescue guide Carney.

Normally, we get help from people like dog walkers or someone

that's seen them, so we start with the last known point.

So, where were they last?

We are looking at fitness,

and how fast someone can get overtime, weather conditions.

Those are our distance parameters, initially.

This is really disconcerting.

After a brisk 15-minute walk to a remote spot,

Jules removes his blindfold and is left to call for help.

-Here we go, it's calling.

-It's calling.

PHONE RINGS

Hello, you're through to Mountain Rescue, how can I help?

Hello, it's Jules from Countryfile, who am I speaking to?

-Hi, Jules, it's Neil.

-Hello, Neil.

I'm going to pass you over to Ellie, she's going to ask you questions,

we'll try and narrow down where you are, and get to you real soon.

That's very good, Neil. No, it's Ellie.

You sound far too jolly for a man in trouble.

Right then, what can you see?

I've got something of a sort of table top mountain,

a bit like Sugar Loaf Mountain, near Abergavenny, five miles or

-so away from me.

-Right.

Been brought up from Lud's Church, and it was about a 15-minute walk.

Any landmarks, any sort of major obvious signs?

You've got your Sugar Loaf there.

To my right, eastward, I've got a rounded hill,

and the whole lot feeds down into a river valley, and it is very wooded.

All right, well, Jules, you just relax there, don't get stressed out.

-All right, see you soon, I hope. Cheers, Ellie, bye.

-Bye!

Jules Hudson, far too much fun.

-There you go.

-Right. It's going off.

It's going off, so we've lost signal, really. That's the idea.

So that's it, I'm stuck,

I've got no way of communicating with the outside world, so...

I think the best thing I can do for the moment is get somewhere

where I'm a little more visible, Ben. What do you think?

We're a bit hidden here, if we go up there at least Ellie's got

half a chance of spotting me up there. What do you think?

-OK.

-Try that, team? Come on.

-OK.

Going on the information which Jules has given,

the team focus their search right down to within half a square mile,

and set off.

Where are we headed to then, Carney?

-The last known location is Lud's Church.

-Right.

We think he's gone up to high ground.

So we're going to head up to

a sort of vantage point on the ridge which will enable us

to walk along and be able to see down both sides of the ridge.

It is beautiful up here, though.

Even when the weather does catch you out as it has just done.

We're only a mile or so away from Jules,

and we couldn't have better conditions.

But the weather in the Peak District is notorious

and can turn in a moment.

I can only begin to imagine how hard it must be to find a missing person

in heavy fog and driving rain.

That's where these guys come into their own.

So I think that's what Jules was talking about, his table top.

-We'll start shouting for him up here.

-Oh, really?

He might be able to hear us.

Time is getting on - in about three hours or so it will be dark.

I really don't want to be stuck up here when that happens,

so fingers crossed they're on their way.

When there is no GPS and no mobile phone signal,

the team has to rely on finding people by sight and sound.

They split up to conduct a line search.

So we're calling his name now so as we're getting closer to where

we think he might be, out of the mist you'll hear a "Hello".

-They do shout back? Yeah, yes.

-They find the energy?

Hello!

-There he is.

-Hey!

-You made it!

-Well done.

-Are you glad to see us?

-I'm very glad to see you.

I bet you are.

And my slightly sketchy reference points obviously worked.

-Oh, go on, then. Even warmer now.

-How are you feeling?

-I'm OK.

-How long you been here, mate?

-About 45-50 minutes.

Feeling warm, feeling good? I'm all right, a bit damp.

-Not too hungry?

-I'm always hungry.

Lucky for you these chaps

and chapesses have got rucksacks full of chocolate...

-Brilliant.

-..Which we shall enjoy.

-Well, guys, it's a real pleasure.

-Thank you very much for coming to find me.

-Yes.

It was a pleasure to spend the day with you, amazing.

And I think that's it from us on the moors.

Next week, Matt Baker will be in the West Midlands exploring

one of the counties' greatest gardens.

And I'll be discovering the history

of the people who lived in rock houses.

We'll see you then, bye-bye.

-Right, chocolate.

-Where's the pub?

Different priorities.

But before we go,

here's John with a reminder of how to vote for your favourite

from the 12 finalists in this year's Countryfile Photographic Competition.

If Sunlit Sheep is your favourite, call...

Calls cost 10p from a BT landline.

Other operators may vary, and calls from a mobile will be higher.

You can also vote for free on our website...

The website also contains a full list of the photos and their phone

numbers together with the terms and conditions for the competition.

The lines are open until midnight next Sunday,

7th September, and the online vote closes at the same time.

Please don't call after that date as your vote won't be counted

and you may be charged.