Episode 20 Landward

Hello and a very warm welcome to Landward, bringing you the best of

life from the Scottish countryside. In a moment, Sarah will be finding

out why hunting, shooting and fishing are not just for the landed

gentry. But first, here's what else is coming up on the programme.

Securing the future of mackerel stocks.

We know as Scottish fishermen that the out-take from the stock can't

go on indefinitely without having an effect and that's extremely

worrying. Milling flour the old- fashioned way. How does it look?

looks not bad. I'm quite happy with it. Very sweet. Yes. You can't get

better than that. And on Armistice Day, we tell the story of the 51st

Highland Division. The warfare in the trenches, the deprivation, it

is hard to envisage just how horrid the First World War was.

Scottish country sports are amongst the most famous in the world, but

sometimes they are seen as elitist and expensive. Last year an

initiative was set up to change this perception. Sarah donned her

plus-fours to find out just how easy it is to go hunting, shooting

High up in the Perthshire Hills a rather strange animal has made

itself at home and is one that might just be here to stay. These

cardboard creatures might just become a more common sight in the

Scottish hills as it's hoped they of the answer to retaining an

industry worth an estimated �200 Pull. Country sports are big

business for Scotland's economy, but unless participants are

encouraged to come forward, there are concerns that some of these

long-standing traditions may die out. That's the thinking behind the

Scottish Country Sports Experience, a series of courses aimed at

complete beginners. The Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group

developed the Scottish Country Sports Experience as part of their

remit to introduce newcomers to country sports. It's aimed purely

at beginners, so we're trying to encourage newcomers into the sport.

They are taster sessions, fun taster sessions that cost just �50.

So it's a very cheap way to actually come along and have a go

and try out the experience, whether After their classroom session, the

novice deerstalkers are taken up into the hills in search of deer,

or in this case, deer with a difference. Do you want to take

that stick? That's lovely. Thank you. I've closed the rifle on an

empty chamber and I applied the safety catch. Never done anything

like this before, so very excited. What about you, Fraser? Some clay

pigeon shooting in the past, but this is a first for out on the

range. What we've done is we've glassed this area and we've

identified there's a couple of deer out on the hill. So what I want you

to do now is have a look through and see which one's the male, which

one's female. Laura and Fraser are in the capable hands of Kenny, an

experienced stalker and gamekeeper. Stalking is not just about going

for a walk in the woods. There is a lot of field craft involved.

There's a lot of knowledge that the stalker themselves have to gain and

that comes with time and spending time in the woods. Anything that's

in front and directly in line with the wind from us now, they are

going to spook and they are going to head off. The perception is that

it is an elitist sport, it's wealthy people that do it, but is

that always the case? No, no. I think anybody can do this sport,

which can start of at around about �50. But yes, there is the top end

as well. Shut the bolt. Do I have a volunteer? With a whole new range

of skills under their belts, the session ends with a chance for

Fraser and Laura to test their skills on the firing range with a

real rifle. Once you are comfortable on the targets, take a

couple of good breaths, second one just half way out. OK. Did I hit

her? I don't know. Fraser and Laura both get several shots at the

target, but they won't know how they've got on until they go down

and take a look. How rewarding is it to see people going away with

smiles on their faces? Well I wouldn't be sitting out here in the

rain with you today if I didn't think it was important. Of course

it's very important. Very often it's the only wy that people can

get into a sport. So it's these kinds of opportunities that are

very important. OK, guys. How did you get on. Better than expected,

actually. Let's see, Fraser. That is almost a bull's eye. Look at

that. What about you, Laura? Not as good as Fraser, unfortunately. A

little bit of practice and I might get there. You were in the square

though. Exactly. At least I managed to get some near. So how much have

you enjoy today? It's been excellent. Really, really good fun.

Just so different from what I expected. I learned so much today.

It's been absolutely fantastic. I just want to do it all again!

far, this course has been a big success and there are already plans

to start a similar one in the Cairngorms next year. Hopefully

schemes like this are the answer to keeping interest in uur country

sports alive. Today is Armistice Day and this

Sunday at 11 o'clock the nation's focus will be on the Cenotaph in

London as we remember the soldiers who lost their lives in two world

wars. The regiments of Scotland, past and present, have lost

thousands of men in battle and this week we'll be finding out about the

contribution made by the 51st The image of Scottish regiments

marching to victory playing their pipes is an enduring symbol of

British military might. When allies fought their way into Germany in

1945, the 51st Highland Division The division deployed to join the

British expeditionary force and found itself almost immediately in

action. It is hard to envisage just how horrid the First World War was.

The warfare in the trenches, the deprivation, the gruesome hand-to-

Despite the deprivation and uncertainty of the trenches the

soldiers of the 51st soon created a unique identity, which would stay

with them when they were called upon to serve in the Second World

War. The 51st Highland identity was a particularly strong one. So much

so that during the Second World War in North Africa the 51st Highland

Division identity almost transcended that of the individual

regiments - the Black Watch, the Argylls, the Cameron Seaforths and

Gordons. It became very much the pride to be part of the fighting

51st. The 51st Highland Division complete the full cycle of a

magnificent battle career. From the heroic losing fight of St Valery in

1940, they have fought their way to this triumphal march. I suppose you

could say that as far as Scotland and the Highlanders are concerned,

the 51st Highland Division became and is a symbol of victory. But it

was victory at a price and the 51st Highland Division paid dearly. The

51st Highland Division, from El Alamein all the way through to the

end of the war, lost over 15,000 officers and men, either dead or

For nearly three centuries, the Highland regiments have been a

constant threat which has been central to the history of Scotland.

Today, they have been disbanded, but the traditions of the 51st live

on in the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The Highlanders have been

important to the British Army as a whole through history. It even

survives to the present day in some of the names of The battalions of

the Royal Regiment of Scotland. We still have three regular battalions

and a territorial battalion that maintain that Highland link within

their names even, within the new regiment and indeed the 51 Scottish

Brigade that I'm part of, that takes its name back to the 51st

Brigade and indeed the 51st Highland Division, who fought with

Montgomerie in the battle of El Alamein. And young men will still

join battalions that look back within the Royal Regiment of

Scotland that look back to the old Highland regiments. Young men find

it very much easier to look to a regiment or a battalion to give

that their strength and loyalty because they see it as looking

The Highland soldier who we have demonstrated fought so well

throughout the first and second world wars is simply be forebearers

of those who fight today. The Royal Regiment of Scotland, the Highland

battalions, the territorial soldiers are all the same people,

whether they are in Afghanistan or Iraq, who fought on the Somme or in

North Africa. It is absolutely a central part of the Highland

fighting tradition that we produce Still to come - we go apple picking

with a Dumfries and Galloway cider maker. We realise that there was no

commercial craft cider maker within the county. People had apple trees,

weren't using them and still buying apples from supermarkets. And the

bread maker still milling his flower the old- fashioned way.

That's the final product. You can see the wholemeal. This is

The British seem to be having a love affair with a mackerel. It's

widely regarded as an extremely healthy food source and despite

recent European wrangling over how much fish can be caught, the

mackerel fishing fleet is hugely important to the whole industry, as

Peterhead, one of the busiest fishing ports in Europe and home to

the UK's pelagic sector, fish like The market for mackerel took off

after the herring industry crashed in the 1970s. An enterprising group

of fishermen took advantage of this new market and set about

modernising the fleet. These elegant, multi-million-pound

vessels are symbolic of their success. There are only 27 in the

Scottish fleet, but with nets up to a mile long, their catches are huge.

Very impressive, isn't it? Wow, look at this! I'm going to sit in

the captain's chair, definitely. In order to catch their agreed quota,

the mackerel fishermen need only go out to sea for a few weeks each

year. This well-managed fishery has provided over 20 years of

sustainable stock and proved the most valuable assets to the

Scottish industry. But there's trouble brewing. In recent years,

Icelandic and Faroes Ways fishermen have substantially increased their

catches way beyond any agreement. In fact, they are catching so much

just now, they're tipping the scales on what scientists say is

sustainable. The situation is completely out of hand as far as

we're concerned and the ironic thing is the pelagic fleets in both

of those countries have not benefited from this. When the fish

is at its best quality is when stock is in our waters. So in

economic terms for them, they are fishing stock when it's a very poor,

the fish are soft, they're full of oil and it's a very limited market.

We are not saying that Iceland and Faroes shouldn't have a share in

fishery. The absolute opposite. They should have a share in fishery,

but it's at what level? Mackerel is the lifeblood of the Scottish

pelagic fleet. This fishery provides 90% of its income and it's

not just the catching sector that benefits. A whole network of

support industries and processers, like this one at Peterhead, all

In recent years, have you seen In recent years, have you seen

mackerel increasing in popularity? They is a tremendous demand for

seafood in general, particularly for mackerel.

Why is that, do you think? Well, it's healthy, and I think the

markets have developed a lot in the last 20 years.

More and more people are aware of the health benefits of mackerel.

And what are your markets? The main markets are Eastern

Europeans, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Spain - there's not a

country in the world which buys mackerel that doesn't have Scottish

fish. You can see the quality of the

fishing vessels, they are a very high standard of vessel, which

obviously demands a very high standard product. So, we have

developed over the years a very good reputation for Scottish

For Scotland to continue providing first-class mackerel to the world,

it needs to know if it's fish stocks are secure. In an attempt to

settle the dispute over quotas, all the relevant parties met in London

a few weeks ago. But, as yet, no agreement is on the horizon. If we

look at the situation with blue whiting, it was exactly the same -

a migratory and international stock and fishery, the same situation,

disputes over shares. And it actually took - somebody

told me, I was not involved at the time - but somewhere in the region

of 30 meetings to resolve that one, and I think we are that 12 with

mackerel, so this may run a while yet. The one thing we have in our

favour is that the stock is very healthy, but we know, as Scottish

fishermen, that the outtake from the stock from what is going on in

Iceland and the Faroes can't go on indefinitely without having an

effect, and that's extremely If you have a comment about

anything you see on the programme or have a wonderful story to share

with us, drop us an e-mail. Now, the weather here at Castle

Campbell is absolutely glorious. What about the prospect for this

weekend and beyond? To find out, here is the Landward weather

Good evening. We have seen some unseasonably mild weather over the

last few days and it is said to continue during this weekend.

Tomorrow will be largely dry but some bright and sunny spells. We

have a band of rain pushing across the country over right tonight, but

it will clear quite quickly. Tomorrow morning at the rain will

be largely confined to Shetland. Starting off quite cloudy with

scattered showers around the north- west, these will die out through

the day. For the large part it will be a dry day with some bright and

sunny spells. Temperature wise, highs will be around 11 or 12

Celsius, a little cooler than today. The exception is the north-east

where we will see the best of the sunshine and temperatures, around

14 Celsius, and there has not been that much sunshine over the last

few days or so. Towards the east of the country, temperatures on the

summits will be around five Celsius, largely dry with winds 30-35 mph in

a south-westerly direction. Towards the south-west, again around five

Celsius, largely dry with some showers around the Argyll hills and

Lucky Bar. -- Lochaber. Winds will tend to ease down during

the second part of the day. Tonight and tomorrow night it will

be largely dry, a little colder and it has been over the last few

nights lows around three or four Celsius and a chance of frost.

We have high pressure firmly in charge dragging mild air from the

south-east, which means Sunday will be a mild day, highs of 16 or 17

Celsius in the north-west, very mild for the time of year. That is

the theme for the next few days, mild with some bright and sunny

spells. In the new week, we still have high pressure in charge so it

will be largely settled with dry weather and bright and sunny spells.

However, winds will ease on Monday so it will be a little cooler than

it has been, highs closer to 10 or 11 Celsius for most. End to Tuesday,

we still have the area of high pressure building above us, are

largely dry and settled with sunny spells, but a little cooler because

the winds will not be quite as strong. That is the theme for much

of next week, too. Into Wednesday, largely dry but sunny spells, a

little cooler, around ten Celsius, still above average for this time

On Landward, we love to celebrate great Scottish food producers, and

the rolling hills of Dumfries & Galloway have a rich history of

producing quality food, from Galloway beef to wonderful dairy

produce. Over the next few weeks, Sarah will be finding out how the

region plans to build on that tradition by adding to the range of

With a relatively mild climate, high rainfall and lush pasture, it

is little wonder that Dumfries & Galloway has a reputation for

But this area is also home to some innovative food and drinks

producers, and over the next few And what better place to start than

Chris Harrison produces cider purely from unwanted apples he

collects from gardens and orchards collects from gardens and orchards

in Dumfries & Galloway. Most ciders are made from imported apple

Chris, two bags, we are ready to go. Is there a technique to apple

picking? Yes, there is. We don't want to

damage the tree, so from where the truss is, if you put your thumb

there, you snip it away from there. OK, I'll give it a go.

This orchard looks fantastic, but a lot of orchards are neglected, why

is that? Very much so. Basically, over the

years the commercial side of apple picking in the UK has declined

because of foreign imports, and that is basically down to back in

that is basically down to back in the 80s the supermarkets were

looking for a different type of apple, big and rosy, very similar

to one I've got here. Basically, if you compare the two apples that is

a vast difference. This is a supermarket apple.

Yes, and this is a Scottish grown apple.

And now you have decided to revive the traditional art of cider

making? We have in Dumfries & Galloway, basically because we

realised there is no commercial craft cider maker within the county.

People had apple trees, were not using them and were still buying

apples from supermarkets, so we decided there was a resource that

was going to waste that we could turn into a product.

So, do you think we have enough? Yes, we have enough here to make

some produce today, so we can take these back to the press.

Fantastic. Chris and I are going back to base and he is going to

make the cider, and hopefully I will get a taste. Of course you can.

Chris Mills the apples and then Then it is time to try last lear's

batch. -- last year's batch. It looks lovely. So, from picking

and pressing, 12 months to being cider.

Very dry, and the only cider I remember is from university and it

certainly did not taste as good as In days gone by, water mills were a

common sight across the countryside. The power of water was used to turn

huge millstones to grind wheat into flour. Nowadays, most bakers by the

flour from industrial-sized bags, but one Perthshire baker prefers

There has been a mill on this site since the 1590s, and it is one of

just 11 operational water mills The mill is run by Rami Cohen and

his wife. They use the mill to produce bread that is sold in the

tearoom during the tourist season, and at farmers' markets in the

winter. Rami is going to show me how the mill works, and the first

thing you need for a water mill is So, this is your dam? What have you

to do to make it work? Well, at the moment we have got

plenty of water in the river, but not much coming down through here.

This is blocked? Yes. We try to clear all the leaves

and whatever is stuck over there. All the way down and then lift it

This is obviously an ancient Scottish mill, but you are

obviously not Scottish. No, I'm not, you can get that from my accent,

probably. I am from Israel. I met my wife in

Australia, and, unfortunately, her father had a water mill, so we

ended up coming to help him for one year - 11 years ago. At the moment,

all of the wheat Rami mills is imported from England, but today we

are going to mill a batch of wheat We are having a scientific

experiment, and we are going to mill Scandinavian wheat that grew

around here. So, this was grown locally? Yes, it

It is Scandinavian wheat, and it has been growing above Pitlochry.

The idea is, instead of trying to bring in wheat from down south,

maybe we should bring it from the North.

The problem with UK milling wheat varieties is that they were

developed for the big farms in the south of England. They just don't

go well up North. It was the Orkney Institute of Agronomy that

approached Rami and the local farmer to try the Scandinavian

The North of Scotland has a very different growing season, growing

climate, to other parts of the UK, in particular temperatures are

lower during the growing season and lower during the growing season and

the growing season is shorter. North European cereal varieties

have been bred for a shorter and cooler growing season than more

southerly parts of Britain, and this means they tend to mature

earlier in the north of Scotland than our UK varieties, which makes

them better suited for certain So, we have heard about the science,

we have seen the wheat, it is time to fire her up.

This is fantastic. So this is the finished product?

Yes, that is the final product, 100% wholemeal.

I am quite happy with it. Very sweet.

Yes, you cannot get fresher than that.

Now what? Now the final proof we go and bake

with it. Let's bake.

The aim of all this experimentation is, of course, to create a tasty

local bread that is low in food It has not risen that much.

It could have done better, but it is not about volume, it is about

flavour, nutrition. Never mind how it looks. The only

real way to do it is to try it. It looks quite good. Very nice. I

am happy. And it is as simple as that. You

take a baker from Israel, a scientist from Orkney, wheat from

Scandinavia and bring it all together at a Scottish water mill.

And it is well worth it. Yes, wonderful to see old

technology still being used to produce great tasting bread. Now, I

have just time to tell you what is have just time to tell you what is

coming up on the menu next week. I will meet the unique ponies of

Rum... They're extremely hardy, so they

can live out in all conditions, we don't bring them in at night, they

don't get pampered or anything. We will meet the Argyll hill farmers

finding local markets for their lamb...

Because we are so far out in the sticks from the central belt, which

is the main market, it hadn't been done this way before.

And we hear about a revolution in the Galloway dairy industry.

Our neighbours think we are crazy, but now we've come to work it

through, it seems it might actually So, please join us for that and so