Episode 12 Landward

Hello and a very warm welcome to Landward, celebrating the Scottish

countryside. In a moment, as we enter the festival season, I will

be meeting the farmer who plays host to tens of thousands of music

fans. But first, here is what else is on the programme this week.

Young farmers face the reality of farming life in one of Africa's

poorest countries. The quite taken aback by how

different farming life is. There is no machinery, just manpower.

loss-making farm transformed into a tourism success story. Our visitors

are creating a financial impact on the local economy. And Euan sails

into the pretty and historic harbour of Portsoy. It was built as

a trading harbour and traded as far as Africa.

There is just three weeks to go until one of the highlights of the

Scottish summer, the T in the Park Music Festival. For a whole weekend,

Balado in Perthshire becomes a mecca for music fans. I have been

to meet the farmer who plays host to the revellers.

For almost an entire year, these slippy fields enjoy the peace and

tranquillity of Kinross-shire. That is until one weekend in July when

tranquillity is replaced with mayhem. 85,000 music-lovers and

4000 staff descend upon the site, turning it into the 5th largest

town in Scotland and the biggest city centre. It has been held here

for the last 14 years thanks to the smart thinking of one father.

family has been here for nearly 100 years. But in the late '80s,

farming was not in the best state of health and I looked round and

thought what can we offer the public? We have got great location,

a motorway, two A roads. There was a piece on Reporting Scotland in

1996 saying that Strathclyde Park would be giving up T in the Park

because of a supermarket development. So I just did some

sleuthing, sent a letter, would you like to come and play? And the rest

is history. We are not selling the family silver. It is not a golf

course, it is not a housing estate it is not a quarry. It is land we

can plough tomorrow. The festival is seen as an opportunity and the

benefits spread far and wide. the park gives us an essential

amount of money every year to spend helping community projects. The

Rotary Club operates a burger bar. The rugby club operates showers and

food kitchens. It is a wide benefit to the community. At the centre of

Douglas at's Farm lies a disused airfield. During the festival, the

concrete base becomes home it to a giant funfair. Each year, the roads

need repairing. This year, engineers from the army are

carrying out the task as a training exercise. We have clear at concrete

slabs that are damaged, done some maintenance. We have a contract

system with the landowner. We get training value out of it. It is a

win-win situation. Do you get tickets for T in the park for doing

it? I have not asked that yet, that is my next question! This is the

sight of the main stage where many big names have entertained the

masses. But a huge amount of building work has still to be done.

And just three weeks to go. There is a lot of stuff to get in here in

a short amount of time. We cannot run late. The date of the show is

the date of the show. Has your ever forgotten anything? Not that I have

managed to pull out at the back of the last minute. For the rest of

the year, the Alexander family reap another unusual harvest. Some's it

Jamie's business takes off. always had a passion for flight us

as a young age. With T in the Park to being here for one week in the

year, with about six weeks in total involved, it is a great opportunity

with all this grass. We have a spare higher here that was not

being utilised. It is the largest A bird's eye view of the bands will

not be permitted during the festival. As all the tickets have

been sold out, you will have to settle for the next best thing, an

Over the last three weeks, Nick Nairn has faced some challenging

eating experiences in the woods. This week, he faces the final

challenge and his own version of bush-tucker trial.

The woodland in spring is full of wild food. So far, we have prepared

a while to woodland salad, and on that and a tasty trout. On Look

menu today is wood pigeon. This is Britain's largest and most common

pigeon. They can do a tremendous amount of damage to farmer's crops

and their populations are controlled, normally by shooting.

What will be serving with the pigeon? Stinging nettles. We will

pluck them and strip the tops off and smoke them in the heat of the

fire. That will destroy the needle and give flavour. Smoker metal.

That is a new one on me. -- smoked metal. You just placket from the

bottom. We are just interested in the top part. It is covered in

stemming bit. That is it ready for the fire. Why use nettles? The and

a good soul food. They are good for the body. They have of vitamins,

minerals. They are a good food source. What are we doing here?

them gently over that blame. That will kill off listings. It will

also soft and them. How will we prepare and cook their pigeon?

Slice the breast finely first of all. Add some garlic belief, or at

the men a leaf and place them in the hot ashes. -- wrap them in a

large Leith. And this is a bed for the pigeon? Then they are ready to

drive. Exit through with the herbs. Cooked pigeon infused with garlic

and smoked a metal. What is the other thing you put him? Hedge

garlic. Smells good. Very tasty. I like that. I like that a lot

actually. I am a very hard to judge. You are being very generous. Really

excellent. We have been on an amazing colour the Lecht --

culinary journey. There have been Still to come, tackling famine

through agricultural education. are teaching and number of

different things, clearing the land, planting seed, caring for the crop.

And Euan reaches the end of his journey in the historic harbour of

Portsoy. We are very lucky, the Boat Festival seems to have

captured a growing area of interest, authentic crafts and skills. There

is a community in Perthshire that has united to turn a loss-making

farm into a successful eco-tourism business. Sarah went to Comrie

Croft to hear how the transformation has revitalised the

This farm was typical of a tired and run-down farm. But then it was

purchased by a group of enterprising people. It is now

called Comrie Croft and the name is not the only thing that has changed.

The new company has turned a loss making farm into a successful,

sustainable tourism business. Leading the buyout was the managing

director of the Comrie Croft. How would you describe what the Croft

does? The Ram and outdoors type of business. It is quite diversified.

We are keen to do things in a holistic way so that the

environment benefits from what we do and that people half year round

jobs. People are more specific about looking for a Greenock

destination. We have a green ethos. Investors are working together to

complete a successful eco destination. It must have been a

leap of faith? Why did you invest? The misty and age, when you can

invest in the shareholding plans, in pension plans and see your money

disappear, here, because it is local, we felt we had an input into

it and could see what was happening on a daily basis and on a personal

level, you do have to look with them at your own -- within your own

amorality. There is a strong The core of the business is a

hostel with 70 beds. It is regularly used by school and

community groups. This week, Selkirk High School are staying for

an outward bound week. We are building a picnic area. There are

some wonderful views here. I think the pupils will be clearing and the

area and setting up benches at to make it more accessible for people

to come and enjoy the views. They feel a great deal of pride in what

they have managed to do. In the years gone by, we have built

mountain-bike trails. Pupils come back and there remember what has

been done. They take pride in what other people from the school have

done. When we go away from here, we can realise what has been done.

They take a lot of pride away from Comrie Croft is all about the great

outdoors, and with the summer holidays around the corner,

businesses like this are cashing in on the growing demand. People seem

to like the idea of wild camping, but with hot showers and other

things we have available. I like the idea of that! This is a what?

It is like at TP tent, it is Swedish, it is better suited to the

Scottish climate. It has a stove so you can use it all year round. As

long as you keep the stove clean. It sleeps four people, up to six

people have it is a family, because it is one big bed area. It is

comfortable campaign. Selling the outdoor experience may be the core

business here at Comrie Croft, but bringing the benefit back to the

local community is at the heart of their venture. We are welcoming

over 10,000 visitors per year, and we are using visit Scotland for how

much people spent in the area, our visitors create about �1.6 million

or financial impact on the local economy. And you are surrounded by

all this wonderful nature. We try and leave it pretty much as God

created it. If you have a comment about anything you see on the

programme or have a story you like to share, send us an e-mail. Now,

the weather here in Dunfermline is warm but pretty changeable. What

about this weekend and beyond? Here is Christopher Blanchett with the

forecasts. forecasts.

A fairly wet and dull day across many parts of the country today.

There is more rain on the way this weekend. Tomorrow, rain across many

parts of Scotland. An area of low pressure over the top of loss. It

will bring the unsettled weather and rain. That we have a look at

the detail from the first thing, that wet weather creeping in,

further north we will see some dry conditions. But certainly by mid-

afternoon across the south of the country, it will be a fairly dull

and that day, at temperatures struggling, 13-15 Celsius at best.

The rain is sinking Southwood, so the further north you are, it will

start to dry out. We could see 17 degrees up near the North coast. If

you are out and about, the best of the weather will be in the North

West. Near Glencoe we could see temperatures up eight Celsius. The

wind will be coming from the east. The further east you are, that is

where we will start to hear -- have the heaviest rain. If you are out

on the water across the south-west, conditions forced three to force

five. Towards the east, similar conditions. Force for to force five.

For the rest of the afternoon and evening on Saturday, the rain

continues to move southwards. The rest of the country is starting to

dry out, seeing some clear skies. That will bring the temperature

down to around four Celsius overnight. Looking ahead to the

second half of the weekend, and the lower pressure will move away,

bringing some slightly better weather. The rain will start to

fizzle away. There will be some brightness and temperatures

starting to creep up. As we go forward, the next few days will be

fairly cloudy and damp. If we take a look at the pressure sure, we can

see not too much and the Whale frontal activity. This low pressure

down here will be influencing us. We will start to see some rain,

particularly in the North East. Further south will see some

brighter skies with temperatures around 15-16 Celsius. Tuesday, low

pressure over England, sinking southwards. We will see rain and

cloud the further north you are, will be drier brighter. By

Wednesday, a little uncertain of the detail, it could be a wet day,

but this could all change by Last week, UN visited Whitehills

harder to hear how the leisure industry has replaced the fishing

industry. This week, he sails into Last week, we were and white cells,

a fishing village that has turned to the ceiling Industry for its

future. Today I am heading for Portsoy, a village that is firmly

The old harbour was built in the 17th century. It is beautifully

preserved and has a unique history. How special is Portsoy? It is

special for a number of reasons. It was not built as a fishing harbour

but as a trading harbour. It traded as far afield as the Baltic, the

Low countries, even possibly Africa. It is that combination of unique

design and attractiveness with a slightly different history to the

other horrors on the coast. Many of them were fishing harbours. --

harbours on the coast. community is proud of its seafaring

heritage and once future generations to have a connection to

the sea as well. These local schoolchildren are building a boat,

that they will eventually learn to sail themselves. Although it is

unlikely they will sail quite as far as their ancestors. So what

were they trading? Trading really fell into two distinct areas. There

was legitimate trading, anything from timber to green, bone trade

and line trade. That was the legitimate business. Then, there

was, one suspects, the bigger illegitimate business, because it

was a great smuggling poor. What with the smuggling, whisky? Know.

It was wine, spirits, China, Crystal, glass. An amazing range of

staff. It was a good old trade. The whole thing came to an end with the

creation of the Customs and Excise. It was mainly the setting up of the

Excise officers in Banff that was the real killer. Another famous but

legitimate export was Portsoy marble. The stone was used in the

Palace of Versailles. And here in Scotland, it can be seen at Hoghton

These days, very little is exported from the old harbour. But all of

Portsoy's history is celebrated here annually at the Scottish

Traditional Boat Festival. Traditional boats from all round

the country descend on Portsoy. are very lucky, the Boat Festival

up seems to have captured an area of growing interest, authentic,

traditional crafts and skills, ranging from maritime skills, boat-

building and restoration, through to music, handicrafts and food.

all centred on the harbour. Yes. So, 2nd July and July 3rd, come along

to Portsoy. Portsoy is just another hidden treasure on this often

overlooked coastline. I hope you enjoyed the journey along it as

Earlier this year, we were contacted by team members of the

Scottish Association of Young Farmers' Clubs, who told us through

their charity work they had been chosen to visit a food and farming

project in the West African state of Benin. We gave the young farmers

a camera to film what they experienced in one of the poorest

regions of Africa. We are here in Africa, representing the Scottish

Association of Young Farmers' Clubs. Last year, the food for Life

project was are chosen charity. We have used over �28,000, and as a

result, the dairy has sponsored three young farmers who have been

actively involved in fund-raising to head out to Africa. And we are

the lucky three young farmers and we are delighted. This is a charity

which sends to hospital ships to some of the poorest countries in

the world. For many years, the charity treated the affects of

famine, but in 2009, the approach changed. Mercy ships decided to

start dealing with the calls -- cause of famine rather than just

the consequences. This led to the creation of a training project

called food for life. In collaboration with a non-

governmental organisation in Benin. They were looking for someone to

train them in agriculture, and we were looking for someone to train.

We worked together to build a training facility and from that

point, our goal is to train trainers. We are teaching and

number of different things. From clearing the land to planting the

seed to caring for the crop to the harvest. We have now added a pigs,

sheep, rabbits and chickens. We will teach something in the

classroom in theory, but immediately, we will then take it

out to the field. The food for Life project has trained three groups of

students since 2009. Pascale was one of the first people to benefit.

He had been none at able to grow anything on his land and his family

were in extreme poverty. The trainee he received changed his

life. Before the project, it was have at their -- miserable life I

was living with my children. After the training, I was given my first

cabbage seeds. The group into nice cabbages and when I saw them I was

able to send my children to school. This means my life has changed

through the project. I am very happy, in fact I am the happiest

person. The current intake of students is just as excited about a

life-changing possibilities of the food for Life project. I have come

here at the Food For Life Centre, I have been so interested in

agriculture and animal farming that I have decided stay as a learner.

After this training, I will go back to my village and teach my

grandparents and uncle and others about the new methods and

techniques I have learnt. I like agriculture because I have

discovered that without agriculture, you cannot run industries in our

country and I think when we do a lot of Agriculture, we can face the

famine issue. We will fight famine and it will no longer affect our

country. The project is making a difference in Benin to a small

number of people, but it is hoped in time, this approach to dealing

with famine will have a much greater impact across more of

Africa. The goal of the whole programme is really to develop a

network of white trained agriculturalists that will solve --

serve western Africa. It will raise the standard of living, bring

nutrition to the point where a lot of the health issues that we see as

the ship comes in Argon. -- are gone. After weeks spent with

students and former students at the project, our young farmers were

able to reflect on their experience. I was quite taken aback by how

different farming life in Africa is. There is no fancy machinery and it

is basically manpower. The sun is so warm underclothes are soaked in

sweat but they keep on working. is unbelievable, the students are

absolutely fantastic. Everybody seems just now like a family. It

has changed my life, I know that Well done to our young farmers in

Africa, some of the people on this programme are Anna worried about

their jobs! Next week will be the highlight of the year for at the