Episode 21 Landward

Hello and a very warm welcome to Landward, the programme that's got

the whole Scottish countryside covered. In a moment I'll be

helping some bees prepare for winter but first, here's what else

is coming up on Landward. Nick finds a tasty use for leftover

roasts. How about roast beef toad- in-the-hole? It sounds good. Euan

enters a traditional singing contest. And the craft of the

stonemason, preserving Orkney's historic cathedral. The sandstone

here is very difficult to work. The only reason I don't mind is because

As the nights draw in, the temperature drops and the rain

starts to persist, we're not the only ones looking for a warm, cosy

place to spend the winter. The beekeepers at Heather Hills Honey

are moving their hives from uplands to lower ground and with over 1,000

hives to move, they certainly have The expression as busy as a bee is

thought to originate from Chaucer's Wherever it comes from it is well-

founded because to make one jar of honey a bee would have to make 10

million foraging trips. But as the leaves turn to russet, the bees

return to the hive and huddle Heather Hills Farm has 1,300 hives

Every autumn, they all have to be moved to lower ground to give them

a better chance of weathering the winter storms. Today, I'm giving

the team a hand with the flit. So tell me, what are we going to do

today? We are going to be moving our hives from the heather, where

we have been collecting the Scottish heather honey. They have

settled down for winter so we will put them down to more sheltered

winter sites for the next few months. What is the reason for

moving them? Up here there is nothing for them to eat and it is

cold and they will die off, I suppose. If we put them into a nice,

sheltered spot it gives them a better chance and we can feed them

and deal with them over winter. have to say this location is

absolutely brilliant. What a fantastic place to come to work.

is fantastic. It's why we do it. And at heather time we get to see

lots of sights like this, it is pretty good. The first job is to

stop up the doors of the hives so the bees stay in during the journey.

See you later. I'm going in. OK, there we go. We make sure there is

no gaps, there is a bee coming out. Simply that. Do you want to put it

in? You have the big gloves. Not that I'm a jessie or anything!

Everything's nice and steady and gentle. Plenty of smoke. OK, good.

OK. Little puff. I am fine with Breathing slightly heavily for no

apparent reason. That wasn't hard physically but difficult

With the bees slightly sedated and hopefully locked in we load the

I have to say I'm very glad you put the doors on. Yeah. So far, nothing

has come out. I still don't like it though. The sooner this is done,

the better. Finally, the hives are secured and we can get on the road.

Keep the windows shut on the Land The honey is being packaged up. But

this year the honey crop is very poor. It has been awful! It has

been the worst year that I have known. For most beekeepers it has

been the worst year ever. We have only had one or two days of summer

and we've only got a three-month production window, so it has been a

disaster. And mainly down to the weather? It is completely down to

the weather, yeah. In terms of production what are you down on a

normal year? Farmers complain about wheat crops being down 10 per cent.

We are down 80 per cent on our normal production. A huge amount.

It is about stock control. If you have three good years you don't

sell it all. Stocks are low. It is going to be a struggle to get

through the rest of the year. let's hope the bees enjoy their

more sheltered winter spot after the terrible summer. So this

morning we are near Glenshee. We have come almost to Dundee. Why

here for the winter? We have put the bees here because it is

sheltered from the winter, to keep the north winds away. We are south-

facing. We get the best of the sun in the Scottish winter. It keeps

the bees happy. We take them out here and put them here for their

winter beds. Will they be angry? They have been in the back for a

while. Yes, they will be stirred up. They will come out to say hello and

see what is going on. Let's put Right, we will take the doors out.

You've got the smoker. Give it a little bit. No problem. Don't panic.

Don't panic, OK. Nice and calm. There we go. I can hear them now.

They were angrier. What a noise. That's a good one. That's a good

one. My God. I've been stung. The back of my leg. Stung in the leg.

So we've just moved 600,000 bees from their summer home to their

winter home. Here's me helping them out and one decides to sting me on

the ankle. Bless it! Or blast it, Still to come, will Euan's bothy

ballad appeal to the experts? people stand out in the expression,

real expression. You've got to live the part. And the stonemason

protecting St Magnus Cathedral from the elements. As a building it is

almost 900 years old. You can never Whenever we have a Sunday roast

invariably there is some meat left over on the Monday. Yes, you can

eat it cold but there are many simple and tasty options to make

the most of your weekly joint. As Here in Scotland we are lucky

enough to have access to some of the best beef and lamb in the world

thanks to the efforts of our farmers. And today I'm joining John

Scott and his family on their Easter Ross Farm. How long has your

family been here? The family has been here for over 100 years. I'm

the fourth generation to farm here and hopefully one of the kids will

become one of the fifth. What size family have you got? Four. A lot of

mouths to feed. A lot of mouths, two boys and two girls. We try to

feed them our own produce. It is satisfying to eat what you have

produced on the farm. Tell me about your stock. We have beef shorthorns.

They are winter hardy, great mothers, they milk well and they

produce excellent Scottish beef. Well, I'm going to let you do the

farming and I'm going to head indoors into the warmth and do the

I've come in from the cold of the outside to the warmth of the

farmhouse kitchen and I'm going to do a bit of cooking, assisted by

John's wife, Fiona. I'm going to cook with some leftovers. Leftovers,

do they feature in your life? You have a family of six. Sometimes

after a Sunday lunch there is a bit of beef left over. What kind of

things do you tend to do that? Sandwiches. Sandwiches. Or cottage

pie, something like that. How about roast beef toad-in-the-hole?

sounds good. I'm going to make the batter. Do you want to chop up the

leftovers? If you would not mind doing that. I am going to make up

the batter to a time-honoured recipe, equal volumes of eggs,

flour and milk. All you need is a measuring cup to do that. So start

off with the eggs. That was five, so it's a eggs and flour first.

Whisk the flour and the eggs before you add the milk. That way you get

the lumps out. If you like mustard, do you like mustard? Especially

with beef. A fairly generous amount of salt and black pepper. Toad-in-

the-hole, do you think this will grab their attention? They love

Yorkshire puddings. Spring onions? A final thing for the batter is

milk. I'm going to use half milk, half water. Whisk it together. If

you can let it stand for ten minutes, the gluten in the flour,

the flour starts to activate and it is all to the better. Put a muffin

tin in the oven earlier on to warm it through, then a bit of oil in.

This is rapeseed oil, a local one, I think. Take a little bit of the

roast beef and spring onions, not quite as much as that. Put a couple

of bits in each hole. The important thing with the batter is not to

overfill them, so it flows over. It will not rise up cleanly. Put them

back in the top of the hot oven. It smells like they are ready.

Let's have a look. What have we got here? These look rather good. Put

them down there. So, what we really need are some professional tasters

to help us. Do you know anybody? know some. What is your name?

Do you want to try one? OK. What is your name? Lexie. Do you want to

try one? And you are? James. Do you want to try one? Yes, please.

manners. And you are? Archie. you like one? No. I like your

honesty. Mum. I'd love one, yes, thank you. I'll leave it there,

Archie, in case you change your mind. What do you reckon? Good.

Thumbs-up, thumbs up. So, four hungry kids can't be wrong and if

you would like to check out the recipes they are on the website,

Bothy ballads of traditional narrative songs for the north-east

of Scotland. Many of them are hundreds of years old but they

still hold regular competitions to see who is the best ballad singer.

Landward's very own king of Karaoke Bothy ballads are stories about

farming life in the north-east. They were traditionally sung by the

unmarried men who stayed on the farm, either in a room known as a

charmer or a bothy. Times and farming may have changed but the

themes of these songs are something I think we would all recognise.

Appalling weather, mean bosses, doomed romance is and drunken

parties. In fact - all human life. This is Turriff. I live five miles

up the road from here and it's at the heart of bothy ballad country.

Tomorrow night I will be competing in the annual ballot competition.

The songs are all sung in the local dialect here. I've lived in Turriff

for most of my adult life but I wasn't born here, so I can

understand the dialect but fluent I'm not. I think I need some advice,

and who better to speak to them Joe Aitken? Joe has won numerous

competitions and has been Bothy Ballad Champion of Champions many

times. What about the performance, is it judged just on the song or a

whole act? I suppose the performance is the most important

thing but it's the song and how you put it across and how you are

contacting with your audience. A song is a story you are singing.

For I'm singing, you sort of see the picture in your mind. Give me

an example. Well done. You've put me off

singing now! Back at home with Joe's advice in mind, I've been

thinking about what song to perform. I've been looking for inspiration

and I've come across this - the famous white Turra Coo. Regular

viewers to Landward will have seen this very beast being cast in an

earlier programme, so I know the back story to this animal. It's a

great song. All I need now is a great performance. Good evening,

ladies and gentlemen, and welcome along to the very heart of

Aberdeenshire to this annual bothy ballad competition. It's always a

great night. Please welcome Hector Riddell.

The band hall is full but there is some strong competition, including

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 42 seconds

HE SINGS 'THE MOSS O' BURRELDALE'. I was feeling pretty cocky

yesterday but I feel sick. I'm terrified. It seemed like a good

idea. Confident but wrong. Judging me tonight will be Jock Duncan.

What are you looking for when you are judging? Well, somebody who's

got expression, real expression. They are living the part. That's

what I'm looking for. Have you got any tips? Nae really, just do your

best. Have you done this before? Would you please give a very

special welcome, from BBC Landward, it's Euan McIlwraith. All too soon

HE SINGS 'THE FAR FAMED FITE TURRA Well, I tried my best but it wasn't

First prize. But I did gain one new fan. He put on a great show all the

same. I tell you this, he's got a gob on him. They were cracking

songs here today. If he keeps going, If you have a comment about

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

with us, please drop us an e-mail to [email protected]. The weather

here at Falkland is absolutely chucking it down, miserable, you

might say. But what about the prospects for this weekend and

beyond? Here's the Landward weather This weekend is not looking too bad.

Barely dry and bright with some sunshine, but it will be cold and

there will be showers working in from the West. The showers more

frequent across the Highlands and Islands, but even one or two

further south. Generally dry and bright for southern parts of the

country and sunshine developing. It will be feeling cold in comparison

with the last few days. Towards the middle of the afternoon, at

temperatures up to seven or eight degrees. It is Argyle, the

Highlands and the Hebrides that will see the showers in any number,

and wintry over the higher ground as well. Through Angus,

Aberdeenshire and Moray, generally dry and bright. If you are out and

about across the western ranges, those showers will be frequent. The

winds would be increasing from a westerly direction. If you are

caught in any of those showers, we could see almost blizzard like

conditions. Across the eastern Rangers, generally dry but one or

two wintery showers towards the latter part of the afternoon. If

you are out and about on the inshore waters of the south-west,

It will be rough seas across Shetland and the winds here are

south-westerly force four to force five. Into the evening, holding on

to those showers in the north-west. Elsewhere is dry but cold. A

widespread frost and there will be icy stretches on the roads as well.

Sunday, well, it's a brief window of dry, bright weather. Sunday is

almost a re-run of Saturday, although the temperatures down a

degree or so. Showers likely in the West, wintery over the high ground,

dry and bright in southern and eastern parts of the country. On

Monday, an early warning for heavy rain across the south-west, windy,

too. To start the new working week it will be wet and windy. Gales for

a time, particularly across the south-west, but notice the

temperatures. They are slightly up but it won't be feeling

particularly warm. Tuesday and Wednesday, staying unsettled.

Continuing to see those strong winds at times. Outbreaks of rain

almost anywhere across the country. The temperatures coming back down a

touch, close to average. Even by Wednesday we are seeing the strong

winds and outbreaks of rain at times. The heaviest rain and strong

gust winds will be overnight Sunday The Orkney Islands are home to a

creative industry with hundreds of artists and craftspeople, producing

a huge variety of different works. This week we are meeting the

stonemason who looks after St Magnus Cathedral is Britain's

most northerly cathedral. Founded in the 12th century, it is also one

of the oldest. The cathedral is made from two different colours of

local sandstone. Sadly, 900 years of being battered by harsh Orkney

winds has finally taken their toll. Colin Watson has been the

stonemason at the cathedral for the last 15 years. How bad is the

stonework, what sort of condition is it in? The stonework isn't too

bad. I know that to the Orkney people, they feel like just looking

at the stone that it looks very eroded. I would say that it is worn

but secure, worn but stable. That is as far as I want to go on that

because with a building that's almost 900 years old, you can never

say, "Yeah, it's fine." You are just asking for trouble when you do

that. The sandstone, particularly the red stuff, is very difficult to

work. The only reason I don't mind is I sat my apprenticeship on it.

Tell me what are the big projects within the cathedral you've been

involved in? Relatively recently we've replaced the Rose Window. We

think it was sandstone from Midlothian. It was very soft, very

pliable stuff. We decided it would need replacing with the local red

sandstone, which is a lot more durable, a lot harder. So hopefully

that will be it for another 700-800 years. A building of this size and

stature... I am, yes, a stonemason, but I have to maintain other stuff

which could be wood work, replacing the odd slipped slate. I work with

a stained glass artist who has refurbished the windows. A wide

variation of tasks I have to do. hear one of your duties is to wind

up the clock. Oh, yes. You are a master timekeeper. I can make time

stand still. Yes, I wind the clock once every working day. Every day?

Every day, Monday to Friday. It is These duties may take up the

majority of Colin's day, but he still manages to to find time for

more decorative work. It's fascinating to see what you've done

here, but I see another piece over here. Tell me about this. This is a

seat that time made for Children in Need. I spoke to the local radio

station about Children in Need. The back of it is based on the Scar

Plaque, which is the two dragon heads facing in. The Scar Plaque,

the original was found on the island of Sanday, it's called Scar.

The Scar Plaque. The dragons on the arms are freehand drawings of my

own, they make up the whole seat. Fantastic. So you have kindly

donated this to Children in Need? Yes. Well done. If you would like

to be the proud owner of Colin's seat and help Children in Need in

the process then you can, but you have to get your bids in before

midnight tonight. Get bidding. I'm going to try it out for size - can

I? Yes. Perfect! And next week we'll meet a young

craftsman who makes traditional Orkney chairs. And here's what else

is happening on that programme. Aspiring farmers get a helping hand.

You have to want to do it. If you are half-hearted about it then I

guarantee it's not for you. celebrate the origins of the world

famous Aberdeen Angus cattle. quite extraordinary to think in

1860 they were created and now they are in Australia, New Zealand,

South America, America and Canada - all over the world! And Nick has

another recipe for leftover roast. This is a very quick curry to use