Episode 23 Landward

Hello and a very warm welcome to Landward, as we wave goodbye to

autumn and prepare to welcome the first of the winter months. In a

moment, I'll be finding out about the Stirlingshire fishery that

exported trout to every corner of the globe. But first, here's what

else is coming up on the programme... The butchers battling

to save the Orkney beef brand. We're known worldwide, it's a great

selling point.And the farmers work hard to make a good product for us

as well. They put a lot of effort into supplying good beef and we

want be able to do it here, to cull it, Orkney beef as well. Sarah

learns how to think like a pony. The reason we rub the horse is to

give them a feel, so it's actually quite nice. So that touch is

actually something a horse understands more than giving it a

right pat. And I drink some beer. Believe me when I say I will be

taking this job very, very Since the 1880s, Howietoun Fishery

near Stirling sent fish around the globe, stocking the lakes and

fishponds in the far reaches of the Empire. These days, it's owned by

Stirling University. And as I found out, it started as an experiment by

This is Sir James Ramsay Gibson Maitland. In the early 1870s, he

started experimenting with fish breeding. 10 years later, he

founded Howietoun Fishery on his father's estate near Stirling. It

was to become, in the language of the day, the largest pesky cultural

establishment in the world. But the road to success was a bumpy one.

had hatching houses that washed away in the floods, that froze up

solid with severe weather in the winter. He lost fish through

various things and he did make the comment in his book, you have to be

prepared for all these disasters to learn something. And learn, he did.

Soon Howietoun was sending fish around the world, as the extensive

archive at the University of Stirling shows. We had researchers

over from Newfoundland. They were able to pick out the exact shipment

of eggs that went out. That was the first eggs, trout eggs, introduced

into Newfoundland. Where in the world were they sending eggs to

then? Everywhere where the tentacles of the British Empire

spread. Senior people in a management role were looking at a

beautiful stream tumbling out of the hills and mountainside and

saying, why are there no trout here? Send them to the UK for trout

eggs. That is the legacy that we have. Maitland was an Evangelist

for fish breeding. He was disappointed that his passion for

it was not shared by his peers. Saying, "I have again and again

marvelled at the utterly neglected possibilities that present

themselves for the formation of fisheries". He wrote in the history

of Howietoun to try and convince estate owners to set up their own

fisheries. Would you say that this is a blueprint or became a

blueprint? Very much so. There's various chapters and experiments he

wrote up in great detail. In this particular chapter, he is referring

to the specialist churns used for transporting live fish. In the

conical section in the neck, he had a perforated insert. He'd put

crushed ice in the top, water slopped up through the perforated

section and the water dripped down as a fine spray. That was a very

primitave but very effective means of oxygenating the water when it

was cold, of replacing the oxygen. Not only do we have the history

here, but he made sure when he was sending things out that things were

done properly. Absolutely. We have even got the detail here about how

to turn out young fish. In the first line, "be sure that the carps

to convey the young fish are ready. It is better the horses should wait

an hour than the fish wait." This is a sort of detail that the man

was famous for. In many ways, Sir James Maitland was a classic

Victorian gentleman scientist. He was rigorous in his quest to

perfect the best way to breed and transport fish. But he also ruled

his little empire with a rod of He refers to introducing in 1800,

Loch Leven brown trout and in the autumn of that year, taking the

fish back out and recounting them and finding there was a deficit of

50 or 60. And he quotes "Steps were taken in this direction with a

heavy six shooter. The troubles ceased thereafter." Obviously very

much a man of principle. Anybody who had the audacity to steal fish

from him was not going to come off best. Not to be crossed with.

to be crossed with. Today, Stirling University still runs Howietoun as

a commercial fishery. At this time of year, Ian is stripping eggs from

the brown trout hens, which are then fertilised and transferred to

the hatchery. Is that similar to what would have been happening in

Maitland's time? Very much so. The procedure is very much the same. He

recognised hygeine is very critical. He makes the observation that he

would never employ men in the hatchery, only women. Basically

because he viewed women as more fastidious when it came to keeping

the place clean and tidy and better at record-keeping. Men were only

Is there still an international demand for Howietoun trout? Yes,

there is. We got an enquiry for eggs to go to Bhutan of all places,

which is in the foothills of the Himalayas. So, forget about the

book Salmon Fishing in Yemen. Here, it is all about brown trout in

Over the past few years, our resident bushcraft expert Patrick

MacGlincey has taken us foraging for food in some of Scotland's

wildest places. In the next few weeks he will be demonstrating some

An old woodman once told me there's no such thing as bad weather, only

bad choice of clothing. Our ancestors were provided with many

things from the woodland. They gave them fire, food, shelter, medicines

and raw materials to create everyday objects and utensils. So

That's the shelter up. Now for some fire. We're going to create this

fire using the bow drill. We have the half board. The bearing block,

the spindle and the bow. This technique is all about speed and

pressure. We have the kindling in place. Now we go to the tinders.

Here we have birch bark. Incredible material. It burns even in the wet.

Some grass and some fine material to grow the ember. This is from the

seed heads of the cattail, light And it is important that we build

up speed. At this stage we are warming the wood up. Creating a

That's the fire taken care of. We just let that burn away. I'm off

now to gather three sticks and I'll The length of cord should not be

cut. I'm going to bind it all around. This can be dismantled

easily when we're finished. The woodlands are an amazing place.

They provide us with bark that we make containers from and it also

provides us with acorns. Once a valuable crop, but these can be

peeled, ground down, and roasted to make acorn coffee. Let's have a

brew. Granules in the coffee. Now for some hot water. Smells quite

Now for the tasting. Absolutely wonderful. That's it for this week,

folks. Next week, we'll be back in the Woodlands to see what else they

Still to come, Sarah tries a unique way to get rid of her fear of

horses. Walk on. And I visit the first of three beer producers. You

get a really nice multi-smell coming off that. It looks like

runny porridge but it smells lovely. In a recent years, many abattoirs

have gone out of business. Earlier this year, the Orkney Meat Company

said they would be closing their abattoir because of difficult

trading conditions -- trading conditions. Sarah has visited a

consortium of butchers that have stopped abattoirs closing to

protect the Orkney Branch. -- brand. They have got one of the highest

densities of cattle in Europe. The industry has worked hard to create

a successful Ireland brand. All that came under threat. That was

when the abattoir closed. Orkney has got a high volume of cattle and

a great reputation and demand is high. Why did it close? The simple

reason is that the overheads were very difficult. They had not got

enough going. It must have been quite disappointing for the morale

of the community. Absolutely. We knew it was not doing as well as it

should be. We did not expect it to close as suddenly as it did. And it

was not just the farmers affected. The butchers were also hit hard.

was huge. We have heard rumours for a while at something might be

happening. But we thought it would be OK. It was got smacking. We

could not believe it. With the abattoir closed, the nearest

facility was a ferry journey away on the mainland. This has major

implications for the Orkney brand. They let us call it the Orkney beef

but it should not be called that because it was not processed it. We

can call it a meat from a Orkney but not the rich macro beef.

long has it taken to build up his brand? -- Orkney beef. It is a

great selling point and the farmers work hard and put in a lot of

effort into supplying good beef and we want to process it here as well.

It's with this Orkney brand in jeopardy, a consortium of local

butchers got together and decided to do something about it. When we

heard it Orkney was closing it was a major effect for us. We had

spoken about it already and we had spoken to the landlords and it got

us thinking. We thought we could get something together with some of

the boys and get things going again. That later helped us out as well.

The new one day a week arrangement means that they only have to travel

a couple of hundred metres down the How likely is it that the abattoir

could reopen on a full-time basis? A very important part of people

associating really good beef. Transporting cattle causes them at

stress, and I assume it stresses bad for the meat. The meat tenses,

it is not good for the beef. It goes dark. The new system it is a

major step forward, but the abattoir is still only open one day

How likely is it that the abattoir could reopen on a full-time basis?

Not sure yet. It is something we have spoken about. Are you hope we

can maintain the service? I hope so. We get a lot of backing from the

farmers. It is something we are keen to do. Ultimately, it keeps

the Orkney brand alive and well. Yes. That is very important for us.

It is too important for all of us to lose.

If you have a comment about anything you see on a programme or

have a wonderful story to share It is raining here. But what about

the prospects for this weekend and beyond? Here it is Christopher with

. It will be another couple of cold and frosty days. If we take a look

at the pressure charge, we can see exactly why. A widespread frost to

start Saturday and icy stretches on the roads as well. One or two

showers across the north coast of the mainland. This could be wintry.

Many areas, though, dry and bright. But still cold. Temperatures inland

up to three or four Celsius. The west coast is a little bit milder,

but across the north, we will see the bulk of those showers. And

across the north coast as well. If you are out and about, you could

see wintry showers. Areas further south, though, it generally dry.

The winds coming from the north or north-west. And across the East, a

similar story. Further south, once again, dry and bright. So, if you

are out and about, it we are expecting a north-westerly force 4-

54 stop the chance of one or two and rain showers working their way

in through the day. Her moderate seas, good visibility, and plenty

of sunshine. Across Shetland, frequent, wintry showers here.

Moderate seas and good visibility. Saturday night, it will probably be

the coldest night we have seen so far - a widespread, sharp frost and

temperatures for many in minus temperatures. Sunday, high pressure,

so another cold, frosty day, but cloud will start to stream in. And

that rain will stay in until after dusk. Temperatures not far off

freezing. That rain is connected with milder conditions coming a

wave. The weather front crosses the country from west to east. The rain

with the milder air working its way in. Monday, milder conditions.

Improving in the West. But look at the temperatures - up to seven

Celsius. Tuesday, this weather front bringing outbreaks of rain.

Areas further south and South East drier and brighter. Again, look at

the temperatures - up to six or seven Celsius. Wednesday, a return

to colder conditions. It looks When you think of Scottish peer,

one or two brands spring to mind. But across the country, there are

dozens of producers creating a range of uniquely flavoured ales.

In 2009, it there were 41 independent breweries in Scotland.

As of September, there were 64. And the last 12 months, a dozen new

breweries have opened. So if you love your real ales, there are

plenty to choose from. Over the next three weeks, I would have the

difficult and challenging task of sampling three beers from across

the country. I will be travelling from the Black Isle to the Isle of

Arran in search of the perfect pint. And I will be taking this job very,

very seriously. This week, I am starting at we are brothers brewery.

I am trying a bare flavoured with seaweed. The aim is to recreate a

historic barley flavour. The coast of farmers would take sea weed out

of the sea and put it over there grounder to fertilise it. We would

reproduce what the Bali tasted like. Seaweed works in the same way as

soul to. When you sort of your food, say if you have potatoes and do not

put salt on them, they taste different. It lifts things. Like

other beer, the seaweed at one starts off with malted barley and

water. A really nice smell coming of that. Looks like runny porridge,

but smells lovely. Once the malt and water have been mixed together,

the seaweed can be added. Oh, yes! It seems very odd, putting see we

don't bear, but, you know, these guys seem to think it works. So who

am I to argue? Of course, there really is only one way to test the

Very nice. A kind of chocolate thing going on there, or toffee on

the top, and saltiness. I like that a lot to! And next week, I will be

tasting another craft ale from a different part of the country. In

the meantime, I think I will finish this. Cheers!

Sampling beer - be greater job working here. Sometimes, we have to

overcome our fears, though. Sarah has been to Aberdeenshire to see if

the horsemanship techniques taught by the think like the Pony Club

will help her overcome her fears of courses.

Hello! Learning to ride is supposed to be every goal's dream, but I

have been very nervous around horses. Today, I am facing my fears

and learning how to think like a pony. Sandra it is a top western

ride an instructor. This is a new club set up to teach children

horsemanship skills. It is getting children and adults to think and

look through the eyes of a horse and not think likely human. So, you

are looking at the physical horse, the Mentor horse, and the emotional

side. The reason I'm here today is because I have a here a -- fare of

horses. I am very keen to learn to ride. Can anyone learn? Definitely.

If you start to understand why horses behave the way they do, what

is important to them, things like leadership, you need to understand

the control of space around them. Once you can develop that, you then

build your confidence in handling any horse, basically. Come and meet

silver. I wanted to walk up to the side of her and rub her. I don't

pack horses. The reason we packhorse is to give them a feel.

This is what they do. They have this rubbing they do. That touch is

something a horse understands more than giving it a pat. The horse

that is the herd leader is the one that controls space. They also

control speed and direction of the other horses. The first thing, in

order to keep anyone safe, is the fact you will be in control of the

space. Your body language and your intention has to be quite positive.

Okay? Sown now, walk a little bit faster. And she has speeded up. She

is reading your body language. Ask her to stop. Turn to face her and

then ask her to back out of your space. Back up! Good girl. That was

really nice. One of Sandra's star pupils is five-year-old ceilidh.

She wasn't always like that. She always loved ponies, but did not

have the confidence she has got now. How rewarding is it for you? To see

her enjoying it is really rewarding. To see her doing all the things you

never thought she would do and what I wanted to as a child but never

I understand that learning to communicate with a horse is the key

to becoming more confident. But the big test for me will be getting in

the saddle. You should not be riding in wellies, but you will be

led today. Give her a little bump if she does not listen. Both legs.

Let us have a little walk, and then I will get her into a trot. You

just sit there. Not too soon to trot. Shall I not have at least 10

lessons?! If you are happy to trot, Lovely. And then just take your

shoulders back. And she has already come back to walk. I saw your

shoulders come back slightly. minute, isn't it? To that is what

people don't get some times, is there also has a very sensitive

animals. That slight shift in weight is enough to get her to

respond. Thank you. Spending some time trying to think like a pony

has taught me there is more to good horsemanship and just riding.

Learning to communicate is the key to unlocking my fear, anybody's

fare. Don't tell anyone - I have actually quite enjoyed myself!

Serra, who has overcome her fear and has a telepathic relationship

with horses now. Now, tied me to predict on what is coming up next

week. Dog-walkers but in livestock at risk. The problem we have is

that some dog-walkers do not control their dogs. They don't pay

attention to the requirement to clear-up after their dog. And we go

back to the woods with Patrick and his bush craft skills. This is what