Countryfile Season 37 Episode 40

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Transcript

00:00This is the weirdest looking machine, isn't it?

00:04Yeah, so...

00:04Oh, my goodness!

00:08There is not an apple left! That is genius!

00:30Can you believe just how many apples there are in this orchard?

00:44They're really beautiful, aren't they?

00:45Although they are a bit small.

00:47Yeah, and that's down to the weather.

00:48Of course, for a lot of farmers across the UK,

00:51the hot, dry weather has caused serious problems for them.

00:53But for cider producers, despite having small apples,

00:57it could be a bumper year for them.

01:00With an early and very big crop.

01:02What does it take, then, to turn all these apples into cider?

01:06And what does their production mean for our countryside

01:09and the wildlife that calls it home?

01:11Well, today, we're visiting two Herefordshire cider producers,

01:15one large and one small,

01:17with our very own tale of two ciders.

01:19See you later.

01:20Yeah, don't drink too much.

01:21Trust me.

01:24Herefordshire is at the heart of the UK's cider country.

01:27I'll be at the large-scale, family-run Western Cider to the east,

01:33while Adam heads west to meet the small-batch producers at Artistraw.

01:38Whatever the scale of production...

01:44My word, what a contraption!

01:48..there's one element crucial to any fine cider.

01:52Satisfying bubbles!

01:54Don't squash them.

01:55We want to squash them in the press and make some cider.

01:57That's your year's work, though.

02:01Just...

02:01I know.

02:02..dumped in a second.

02:04How do you like them apples?

02:06Have a taste of that one, is it you think?

02:08Oh, no.

02:10You're setting me up, aren't you, here?

02:11I am a little bit.

02:12I'm regretting it now.

02:13Meanwhile, off the east coast of Scotland,

02:18with big plans to expand offshore wind power,

02:22Tom investigates what impact that could have

02:24on wildlife and coastal communities.

02:27The changes may be very small and very subtle,

02:31and one wind farm, two wind farms, who cares?

02:33But we are going to put in hundreds of wind farms.

02:36The UK is the world's leading consumer of cider,

02:47with 342 million pints sold in the last year alone.

02:54In Herefordshire, cider production isn't just a tradition,

02:58it's a major rural industry.

03:01And one of the British businesses at the forefront

03:04is Western Cider.

03:06A family firm pressing 40,000 tonnes of local apples a year.

03:12Founded in 1880 by Henry Weston,

03:15this large-scale operation is now managed

03:17by his great-granddaughter, Helen.

03:20Helen, good morning.

03:21Hi, Charlotte. Lovely to meet you.

03:23What a fantastic smell.

03:25When was cider first made here, then?

03:27Well, Henry Weston came here in 1878 as a young married man.

03:32And he's a tenant farmer,

03:33and most farmers in those days made their own ciders.

03:37And he made a particularly good cider,

03:39so his neighbours encouraged him to make it for them as well.

03:42He started making cider commercially in 1880,

03:45so we've been in existence now 145 years.

03:49Is that all?

03:50I know.

03:51I lived here as a child.

03:53I grew up here in this house.

03:54Wow.

03:54And so we were always on call.

03:56If the lorry got back late at night,

03:58then we'd unload the lorry and load it up again.

04:01And then, during the holidays,

04:02I used to help out in the factory.

04:04And then, in the autumn this time of year,

04:06I would have been picking up cider apples,

04:08you know, into a bucket, into a sack,

04:11and then they would get picked up and put onto a trailer.

04:13I mean, that's proper family business, isn't it?

04:15Yes, yes.

04:15If you're around, you'll be helping out.

04:17Absolutely, yes.

04:19You'd have knots on the door,

04:20and people would come up and say,

04:21can we buy some cider?

04:23And, yeah, we'd say, of course, you know,

04:24and go out and serve them.

04:26And it got to the stage where, you know,

04:27so lunchtimes, we'd have people calling.

04:29So we thought, well, let's have a proper shop.

04:31This is how the idea of having a shop here was born.

04:34We're using the same apples that we had

04:37when Henry Weston was here,

04:38although we've put new orchards in.

04:40It's a work in progress.

04:41Still, after 100-and-something years.

04:46From humble origins,

04:48the cider business has supersized,

04:50and it all starts with the apples.

04:54It's the job of farm manager Tom Churchill

04:56to look after these orchards.

05:00Here's a bush orchard.

05:01We've got roughly around 200 acres.

05:03So is this a bush?

05:04This is a bush orchard, yes.

05:05And then the standards, which we farm organically,

05:08we've got about 50 acres.

05:09It is a bit of a monoculture, though, isn't it,

05:11if you compare it with old orchards,

05:13which have had loads of different types of apples

05:15ripening at all different times of the year.

05:17Yeah, so basically it's for ease for us.

05:19We want to be able to come in here

05:20and pick the apples when they're ripe.

05:21So if we have a load of varieties in one orchard, say,

05:24we've got to keep coming in different times

05:26to pick them at the right time.

05:27So it's about practicality,

05:29but you do then lose out, don't you,

05:30on biodiversity and so on?

05:32It's all for efficiency.

05:33We want to get as many apples as we can.

05:35But, yeah, we do have a number of different varieties

05:37on the farm.

05:38So in here we've just got the Michelin and the Dabonet.

05:40We have the two varieties in here for cross-pollination.

05:42So we'll leave areas of wild

05:44all the way around the headlands of the field,

05:46wherever we can, really.

05:47We've got a big patch over there,

05:49which is about two acres,

05:50which we've just put a late summer blend in.

05:53We do have beehives over in that patch as well.

05:57Beneficial insects are very important to us.

05:59So what are beneficial insects?

06:00Which ones are we talking about?

06:02So the beneficial insects are the insects

06:04that will come and eat any of the pests,

06:06anything from, like, ladybirds, earwigs even.

06:09They're quite good.

06:10We will try and limit our insect size sprays.

06:13So if we can encourage beneficial insects in

06:15and do our job for us,

06:17hopefully we help them and they'll help us.

06:19Let's talk a bit about the apples.

06:22Can you just use, in the nicest way,

06:24any old apple?

06:25Because you're just going to squish it and make juice.

06:27Or does it have to be special?

06:29To make cider, they want a bittersweet apple.

06:31So there are a number of varieties,

06:32but, yeah, like an eaten apple,

06:34they do make cider from them, but not here.

06:36I'm going to try one.

06:37Let's just...

06:40You're looking at me like I'm a bit foolish.

06:43Is this not a good idea?

06:44No, you might want a glass of water after,

06:46but you'll be...

06:47Oh, yeah.

06:52Start off will be sweet and then it gets very dry.

06:54I'm regretting it now.

06:56I should have listened, shouldn't I?

06:59How do you harvest these, then?

07:01I'm assuming you don't go through and pick them individually.

07:03No, we don't, no.

07:04We'll come through with a shaker to start with.

07:06A shaker?

07:07Yes, so the machine will clamp the tree.

07:09It's got weights and chain-driven.

07:10It's a purpose-built machine.

07:12There isn't actually too many of them about.

07:13Yeah, it's very good for what we do.

07:15And with the mill getting bigger

07:16and a lot more apples, quantity of apples going in,

07:19we've had to look at our system on the farm.

07:23The orchard team have been busy harvesting this morning,

07:26but there's more left to do.

07:29This is the weirdest-looking machine, isn't it?

07:32Yeah, so...

07:32Oh, my goodness!

07:37There is not an apple left!

07:39That is genius!

07:41And this, I suppose, is the big difference, isn't it,

07:43between cider apples and eating apples?

07:45Yeah.

07:45Cos you don't mind if they're bruised?

07:47No, we can be a bit harder on the apple with cider apples.

07:49Obviously, eating apples, everything's picked by hand.

07:51They don't want any markings on the apple,

07:53whereas we can be a bit rougher.

07:56It's so satisfying.

07:58And that's just the start of it.

07:59Tom's job collecting the apples is equally as impressive.

08:05These modern machines are capable of harvesting

08:08a whopping 75 tonnes of apples in a day.

08:11Trailer full to the brim, it's back to the mill.

08:30So, how many tonnes do you reckon you've got from your orchard?

08:40Roughly 7.5 tonnes on that trailer.

08:42Which sounds like a lot,

08:43but we've seen much, much bigger lorries, haven't they?

08:45Yeah, no, in comparison to the bulkers, yeah,

08:47it is still quite small.

08:48The bulk will hold about 28, 29 tonnes.

08:50And how much is coming through the Weybridge at this time of year?

08:53In a day, they're looking for about 600 tonnes.

08:56A day?

08:56A day, yeah.

08:57That's nuts!

08:58That's your year's work, though.

09:05Just...

09:05I know.

09:06..jumped in a second.

09:08So, how long till we can drink them?

09:12That's cider on a grand scale, efficient and built for volume.

09:17But at the other end of the spectrum,

09:19small makers take a very different approach.

09:2120 miles west of Western's large-scale operation,

09:34a pair of first-generation cider makers

09:36are embracing traditional methods.

09:39Husband and wife Lydia Crimp and Tom Tibbetts

09:42left their jobs in renewable energy and costume design

09:45more than five years ago

09:47to venture into the world of cider making.

09:49Tom and Lydia.

09:54Hi.

09:54Good morning.

09:55Hi.

09:55Today, they're collecting apples

09:57from the ancient and long-abandoned Dufferin Orchard

10:00in Herefordshire.

10:01What a lovely orchard.

10:03Stunning.

10:04Fancy gear.

10:05Yeah.

10:06Do you want to, er...

10:07Do you want to...

10:08I'm not allowed the hat.

10:09You're not allowed the hat.

10:10You do want to wear that.

10:11You do want to wear that.

10:11Do you want to don the uniform?

10:14Yeah, I love it, yeah.

10:16So what on earth got you both into this?

10:18It's a hobby got out of control, if I'm honest.

10:20A shared love of the planet

10:22and good quality booze

10:23kind of led us to this point, I think.

10:26Do you want the hat?

10:27Yes, I do.

10:29Yeah, that way.

10:30I haven't had the training.

10:31Yeah, it's complicated stuff, apple picking.

10:34Got it?

10:35Grab a bucket.

10:36Yes.

10:37And that's what we'll use to collect up the fruit.

10:40Off the tree or off the ground?

10:41Off the ground.

10:42All off the ground.

10:42The tree knows when the fruit's ripe

10:44so we wait for everything to drop

10:45which means that we can end up visiting

10:47the same tree

10:48kind of eight or nine times during a harvest

10:50so we really get to know these trees very well.

10:52They're like old friends.

10:53I'm quite excited for having a go at this.

10:55Let's get picking, shall we?

10:56Yeah, let's do it.

10:56Absolutely.

10:56This particular orchard's got a whole range

11:07of really unusual and rare varieties in it

11:09which are great for cider-making

11:12but aren't widely grown today commercially

11:14because of the suitability of the trees

11:17and the fruit for commercial productions.

11:19So this is a red fox whelp.

11:21Lovely, that's a lovely name, isn't it?

11:22It is a lovely name.

11:23Have a taste of that one.

11:24Oh, no.

11:25Is it what?

11:25You're setting me up, aren't you, here?

11:28I am a little bit, but...

11:29Oh, my word, that's so dry, isn't it?

11:35The inside of my mouth has just gone...

11:37They're very, very high acid.

11:39But it's still a sweetness.

11:40Yeah, absolutely, so you do get a sweetness.

11:42What's incredible about these is

11:44once you've pressed them

11:45the juice will pour out of the press hot pink.

11:48It's really, really bright pink.

11:49Really lovely, gorgeous.

11:50And how many varieties in the orchard in total?

11:53In this one it's probably about 24.

11:55Have we counted them up?

11:56Maybe more.

11:57Most commercial orchards these days have four main varieties,

12:00so it's a much kind of wider range.

12:02So do you own this?

12:03Sadly not.

12:04So when we first started doing this,

12:06we knew we needed to find some apples, obviously.

12:08So we started driving around the countryside,

12:10peering over hedges,

12:11looking for trees that needed some love,

12:13and then banging on doors and asking if we could use the fruit.

12:15And most of the time people were like,

12:16yeah, nobody's picked here for 30, 40 years,

12:18go on, crack on,

12:19and in payment for that we either offer money

12:22or we prune and replant the orchards.

12:25For the landlord,

12:26you're regenerating something of beauty, aren't you?

12:29Absolutely, yeah.

12:29Bringing it back to life.

12:30Yeah, I'm keeping the heritage alive as well.

12:32While most commercial orchards are in full harvest mode,

12:37in Dufferin, Lydia and Tom have waited patiently

12:40for their first apple drop.

12:44Watch where you're stepping.

12:45Oh, yes.

12:46What are these, then?

12:48So these are knotted kernels,

12:49so this is the only tree of this variety in this orchard,

12:52and we're very, very fond of them.

12:54Very rare variety.

12:55Wow.

12:56So you literally do have to be careful where you're stepping

12:58because these are precious.

13:00Absolutely.

13:01Yeah, don't squash them.

13:02We want to squash them in the press and make some cider.

13:05Yeah, yeah.

13:06They're quite little, aren't they?

13:08These are actually big for this year.

13:10On a cool year, these are about half the size and dry,

13:13but this is one variety that we've really noticed

13:15is sort of responding well to climate change.

13:18So these are actually juicier than they normally are,

13:21so you can see why they were never really planted commercially.

13:24Sure.

13:24But we love them because they've got an incredible flavour

13:26and very, very high sugars.

13:29And those sugar levels, then,

13:30does that have a huge impact on the cider?

13:33Absolutely, yes.

13:34The sugar is fermented by the yeast into alcohol,

13:37and the higher the sugar in the apple,

13:38obviously, the more alcohol you can get out of your juice.

13:41So this particular variety,

13:43that level of sugar in the juice will yield a drink,

13:46if it was fermented pure juice to dry,

13:49of about 10% alcohol by volume,

13:51which is more like a wine than a cider.

13:53Yeah.

13:53So a lot of other makers would just water it down.

13:55OK.

13:56But we're far too purist to want to do that,

13:58so we'll blend this with something else,

14:00so hopefully bring the alcohol down.

14:02We do do single varieties from trees,

14:05and it might just be that we produce 40 bottles,

14:07but I think that is the most exciting thing ever.

14:0940 people will get to taste the product of that tree

14:12on that particular year,

14:13because, of course, it's not the same every year either,

14:16because there's different types of rain,

14:18different types of sun,

14:19so, yeah, we're never making the same thing twice.

14:21Would you describe yourself as artisan?

14:24Yeah, I think artisan is a good word in this instance,

14:27because it is a craft.

14:28Yes, you can apply science,

14:30absolutely, I do apply science,

14:31but there's also a feeling and a rhythm

14:34and a kind of a nature to it.

14:37This natural windfall harvesting

14:40means the apples are at peak ripeness,

14:43but it's a lot of hard graft.

14:47We're doing more talking than picking,

14:50but how much volume will you pick in a day normally?

14:54Anywhere up to about 50 sacks a day,

14:57which is about 120 buckets a day.

14:59Once we get further into the season,

15:01the apples will be falling much more.

15:02We'll get us big carpets of fruit.

15:04That's a lot of hard work, isn't it?

15:06Yes.

15:07It takes about two or three months

15:10to pick 14 tonnes between us.

15:12And through your beliefs and your ethos,

15:14do you feel that you're restricting yourself?

15:17Oh, yeah, completely.

15:18I mean, it's a completely mad way to try and make cider.

15:21But it's...

15:22I think I'd lose interest very quickly

15:25if we were trying to sort of make this

15:26into, you know, just another kind of big cider company.

15:30There's no joy in that for me.

15:32Like, this is...

15:33I'm learning every day doing this,

15:34and we get to spend time in beautiful places like this.

15:37It's still, it's quiet, we can hear the birdsong.

15:39Yeah, it is lovely, absolutely.

15:41There you go, well done.

15:57Tom and Lydia's passion for these ancient orchards

15:59is just infectious.

16:01They're supporting tradition and biodiversity

16:03and celebrating craft cider.

16:06But with all the hard graft, low yields and small batches,

16:11can they really scale up without diluting their vision?

16:16Next up, I'll see how their dedication

16:18to slow and traditional translates into processing.

16:22Here in Herefordshire, tradition runs deep in the orchards.

16:38But off Scotland's east coast,

16:40it's all about the future and Britain's race to net zero.

16:44We are a world leader in offshore wind power

16:47with some of the biggest wind farms on the planet.

16:50But what's the cost to our seas and coastal communities?

16:55Tom has been given exclusive access

16:57to a groundbreaking research trip that's trying to find out.

17:04The UK government says it wants 95% of Britain's electricity

17:09to come from clean energy sources by 2030.

17:13And offshore wind is leading the charge.

17:16With plans to quadruple production,

17:18the number of wind farms out at sea all around the UK

17:22could soar from 45 to over 120,

17:28thanks to 84 new projects in the pipeline.

17:32But what about the cost to nature?

17:34And is all this happening too quickly?

17:37We know about the climate change benefits of wind farms,

17:41but scientists say we know relatively little

17:44about the long-term impacts on wildlife and the sea.

17:51There's this trade-off between biodiversity,

17:53food security and energy security.

17:56There's so much we don't know.

17:58For the last decade,

17:59Professor Beth Scott from the University of Aberdeen

18:02has been studying how wind power affects marine life.

18:05Wind farms can actually change how the oceans mix.

18:09So which means they can change the temperatures in the ocean,

18:13the amount of plankton,

18:14they can change how much oxygen actually comes from the surface down to the bottom.

18:18And these are really important things.

18:20What's going to happen to our plankton?

18:22When our planktons change, our fish might change.

18:24If our fish change, our seabirds will change.

18:27Our fishing will change.

18:28Our mammals will move.

18:29Changes may be very small and very subtle.

18:32And one wind farm, two wind farms, who cares?

18:34But we are going to put in hundreds of wind farms.

18:39Offshore wind developers have to carry out assessments

18:42before new turbines can be built

18:44to work out how they will affect the environment around them.

18:49But Beth believes with gaps in our knowledge,

18:52those assessments are falling short

18:54of being able to measure the full impact.

18:57The biggest one, usually, that people think about

18:59is collision risk for seabirds.

19:01The other big thing, noise.

19:03When the construction is going on, that really affects mammals.

19:06And then the big way that people are looking at this

19:09is impacts by looking at each layer.

19:12But they don't think about how those things interact.

19:14So there's a lot of gaps in what actually is going to happen

19:17with all these things happening together.

19:19But if you're saying this is a problem, you know,

19:21surely this suggests that things haven't been done quite right in the past.

19:24What we're saying is it hasn't been looked at.

19:27So what has been missed off that agenda

19:29is what happens in the water column.

19:32And I was saying the analogy is like farming.

19:34It's like thinking about the soil, the mammals and the birds

19:38and never talking about the crops.

19:40Right.

19:40So what's happened is we don't know what's going to happen

19:43when we put these wind farms in.

19:46But our limited knowledge may be about to change.

19:49Countryfile has been given exclusive access to the RRS Discovery

19:54as it sails from Aberdeen on a research expedition.

19:59The ship is part of a government-funded project

20:02aiming to speed up our understanding

20:04of the environmental effects of offshore wind farms.

20:07Professor Jonathan Sharples leads this work.

20:12So you can just see over there,

20:14there's a floating offshore wind farm at King Coindon.

20:17And who's on board, apart from your good self?

20:19So we've got physicists, chemists, biologists.

20:21We've got people from my University of Liverpool,

20:24people from Southampton University,

20:25Scottish Association for Marine Science.

20:27When you're trying to pull all these different disciplines together,

20:30you've got to get a pretty wide variety of people.

20:32And all these people are focused on the same question, are they, really?

20:35What is the environmental impact of these things in the sea?

20:38Yeah, so different aspects of it.

20:40So some are looking at the physics,

20:41some are looking at the chemistry of the nutrients,

20:43some are looking at the biology of the plankton.

20:45So what is this bit of kit going to tell us?

20:47We lower it from the sea surface all the way down to the bottom.

20:50It tells us the temperature,

20:51so it tells us about those different layers in the ocean.

20:54And it also shows us where the biology is.

20:56While many effects of offshore wind turbines remain uncertain,

21:03their impact on birds is among the most studied and has raised concerns.

21:09More than 100,000 seabirds from razorbills to puffins

21:13call Falshugh Nature Reserve near Stonehaven their home.

21:17But they are about to have a new neighbour.

21:21Berwick Bank is due to be built roughly 30 miles from here,

21:24With up to 307 turbines,

21:28it could become one of the world's largest offshore wind farms

21:31and several wildlife groups, including RSPB Scotland,

21:35have criticised the Scottish government's decision to approve the scheme.

21:40I'm meeting their head of policy, Aidan Smith.

21:45We know that the projections show that tens of thousands of seabirds

21:49potentially could be killed from some of the worst projects

21:51which are coming forward at the moment.

21:52That's a big number. How do they die?

21:55There's two or three main ways that they die.

21:57One, they could be hit by them.

21:59Second mechanism is that they spot them and wisely stay away from them

22:02in a kind of scarecrow effect.

22:04But if that's an important place for those seabirds to be feeding

22:06and they can no longer use it, then they may starve.

22:08And then the kind of third impact is that if they're placed between where the seabirds nest

22:12and where they feed, then they've got to go longer round

22:14and they're living right on the edge of what's viable already

22:17and that means they can no longer survive.

22:18There are a bunch of potential wider, longer term implications from wind farms

22:22that we don't yet know about.

22:24I mean, in many ways, there's a bit of an experiment underway

22:26because we've just not really built structures like this

22:29in that type of natural environment before anywhere in the world yet.

22:32We've seen some really big declines in some seabird populations,

22:35so they're already under huge pressure.

22:37But one of those drivers that the seabird declines is climate change.

22:40Maybe, you know, a few birds in peril is a price we have to pay for halting climate change.

22:45Absolutely.

22:46But, of course, for that very reason, we need to do it whilst minimising impacts on seabirds as well.

22:50And we can do that.

22:51We don't need to be building projects in the most sensitive places.

22:53And we need to be moving to deeper water

22:55where typically you get fewer seabirds and so fewer conflicts.

22:59The Scottish Government said it comprehensively examines

23:03offshore wind applications before deciding whether to approve them.

23:07They added that they

23:08will continue to take account of the evolving evidence base

23:11as part of

23:12a robust decision-making process

23:15considering the need for development

23:17alongside potential impacts to the marine environment

23:20and other sea users.

23:23It's not only some wildlife groups are unhappy

23:26about a massive expansion of offshore wind farms,

23:28the fishing industry has serious concerns too.

23:33I've come to Peterhead, one of Europe's largest fishing ports

23:37where some 265 million pounds worth of fish was landed last year.

23:41It is a huge business, and one that fishers are worried could be damaged by wind turbines.

23:48Elspeth MacDonald is from the Scottish Fishermen's Federation.

23:52They're going to conflict with a lot of our very important fishing grounds.

23:56We're very worried just about the displacement of fishing from those areas.

24:01We really have no idea what the environmental effect of them is going to be

24:05on our fish and shellfish stocks.

24:06Well, you say that.

24:07Isn't an exclusion for fishing actually very good for fish?

24:11Well, not if we can't go and fish them somewhere else.

24:14If that's a really important fishing ground

24:16and the grounds that have been proven to be productive for many decades

24:19continue to be productive

24:20and where we've got good, sustainable, renewable stocks,

24:23then it is a problem.

24:24Do you accept that climate change is a threat?

24:26Offshore wind farms are a big part of the solution.

24:29We know we can't continue to have an energy system based on fossil fuels,

24:33but betting the house on offshore wind when we know so little about it

24:37just feels to us like a high-risk strategy.

24:40We believe that putting them in places

24:42that don't cause the same conflicts of fishing is the solution.

24:46Scotland, Britain leading the world in offshore wind,

24:48a source of pride for them, perhaps not for you.

24:52Well, I think you can be a global leader,

24:54but I'm also worried that we're going to be a global guinea pig.

24:56So, how does the wind industry respond to these concerns?

25:02Renewable UK is the trade association

25:05representing Britain's renewable energy sector.

25:09Catroot Stephens is their head of environment and consents.

25:13Overall, do you acknowledge that wind farms are, well, bad for wildlife?

25:17Well, no, actually.

25:19So, the developers, they're always looking at ways

25:22that they can make sure these projects integrate in the environment.

25:27And we're actually trialling lots of new innovations,

25:32which we call nature-friendly engineering or nature-inclusive design.

25:36And this involves putting special textures and crevices

25:39into, say, like the foundations on wind turbines,

25:42so they can be colonised by seaweed and crustaceans,

25:45which then bring in fish into that area.

25:50And then there's an overall net benefit in biodiversity

25:53around these offshore wind farms.

25:55What about the impact on fishing?

25:57I mean, representatives from the industry have said

25:58the growth in wind farms could be catastrophic.

26:01We understand the sea is becoming a busier space,

26:04so we're looking at how we can all work together to share that space.

26:07So, each developer and each project

26:09will have a dedicated fisheries liaison officer

26:12who's often come from the fishing sector,

26:15so they understand it really well.

26:17Given what we're learning

26:18about the potential environmental impact of these things,

26:20are we rolling them out too fast?

26:23I don't think we are, actually, Tom.

26:25I think we're in a climate emergency,

26:27so we need to move really quickly

26:29to a renewables-based energy system.

26:33The UK government told Countryfile

26:36that they're making sure our seabed

26:38is sustainably unlocked for offshore wind,

26:41avoiding the most environmentally sensitive areas

26:44and minimising impact on fishing and marine life.

26:48They have also promised £360 million

26:51to support the next generation of fishers

26:54and, say they're bringing thousands of skilled jobs

26:57to coastal towns through offshore wind projects.

27:02Back on board the RRS Discovery

27:04and its voyage to investigate the environmental impact

27:07of offshore wind farms,

27:09the samples from the sea are now coming in.

27:12So, how do we get this to the microscope?

27:14I'm going to get you to rinse everything off the mesh.

27:18With this? Yep.

27:19So, that's just filtered seawater

27:20and it's all going to go through the funnel

27:21into the sample pot.

27:24Louise Gow is from the Scottish Association for Marine Science.

27:28You can see here that we've got arrow worms,

27:32these sort of bean sprout-looking things going across.

27:36Oh, they all move.

27:37Yeah, yeah, they're all alive, all moving.

27:40We've got some polychaetes,

27:41these sort of feather-like-looking ones.

27:44And then we've also got these copepods.

27:47You see the pigmentation on all of them?

27:49Yeah.

27:49So, these are crustaceans.

27:51And they suddenly flick and move.

27:52Yeah, yeah, yeah.

27:53They have a lot of energy.

27:54These plankton pack a punch.

27:57They're the foundation of the ocean food chain

28:00and pump out about half the oxygen we breathe.

28:03Why do these tiny, kind of microscopic things matter

28:06in our story, you know,

28:07when it comes to epic, huge wind turbines?

28:10So, we think these wind turbines

28:12might increase the growth of these.

28:14At the moment, our understanding of how the climate's changing

28:17is that the biological productivity

28:19of a place like the North Sea is likely to drop.

28:22So, the wind turbines might actually be operating

28:24against that and helping us maintain the productivity.

28:27And you have to have these.

28:28If you don't have these, you don't have fish.

28:34This major discovery of how wind turbines

28:36could change plankton numbers,

28:39along with other findings by the research teams,

28:42is being used to develop accurate modelling,

28:44which aims to show the effects, good and bad,

28:47of offshore wind farms,

28:48not just on seabirds and the fishing industry,

28:51but impacts for the whole ecosystem.

28:54And it won't just look at today.

28:57It'll show us what might happen over the next 25 years.

29:02Should we slow down the deployment of wind

29:04until we know some of the answers?

29:05I would say climate change is just too, too much of a problem.

29:09We should know the answers.

29:10We're working directly with the big developers

29:12and with the fishing industry,

29:14and we're really trying to come up with solutions

29:16that speed things up, don't slow things down.

29:19From harvesting the wind to harvesting apples,

29:32I'm inside a country.

29:34This traditional orchard is right on the edge of the western site,

29:40and obviously it's important because it provides apples.

29:44But these old orchards are much more important than that.

29:47In fact, they're critical to the local wildlife.

29:49One such orchard lies in Boddenham Nature Reserve,

29:56around 10 miles north of Hereford.

29:58Here, Toby Fountain,

30:00the nature recovery officer for Herefordshire Wildlife Trust,

30:03has a very important job to do.

30:06We're at the traditional orchard section

30:09of Boddenham Lake Nature Reserve.

30:12It's famous for the wetland,

30:14where you can see things like otters and wetland birds,

30:17but we've also got arguably Herefordshire's flagship habitat,

30:20which is traditional orchard.

30:22It's only really been recognised in the last 20 years or so

30:26that orchards, despite being man-made

30:28and despite being agricultural,

30:29are in fact one of the most biodiverse habitats

30:31we have in Britain.

30:32So I'm here today to see

30:34if this lovely traditional orchard here

30:36meets the standard to be a protected site for wildlife.

30:43So this fallen fruit to some people might look like a waste,

30:46but this is one of the reasons why orchards,

30:48unlike most habitats,

30:49are actually really vibrant and come alive this time of year,

30:52because this is a fantastic food source

30:54for a variety of wildlife.

30:57Insects like bees and butterflies

30:59feed on the rotting fruit,

31:01which in turn attracts mammals and birds.

31:04So this is very much a period of transition in terms of birds.

31:08We've got some of the iconic breeding species

31:10associated with orchards, like redstarts.

31:13One of my favourite birds,

31:14I think possibly the most beautiful songbird in Britain,

31:17lovely red tail,

31:19black face mask,

31:20ashy grey head.

31:22And if I had to name a county bird of Herefordshire,

31:24that would be the one.

31:25But coming in a new cast of species is arriving from colder places,

31:32so we're getting field fair and redwing,

31:35which are two types of thrush,

31:37which love to feed on this rotting fruit.

31:40Over the winter,

31:41a fantastic food source.

31:43That's actually quite a rare butterfly.

31:46One second.

31:48I'm not actually joking.

31:49So this is a clouded yellow.

31:51This is a migratory butterfly,

31:52first one I've seen this year, actually.

31:54Typically, clouded yellows first appear in the UK

31:57each year around May.

32:00Butterflies are quite common in orchards

32:02at this time of year.

32:03They're stocking up on the sugar from these fallen fruit.

32:05So things like red admirals,

32:07peacocks, comma,

32:08and a lovely clouded yellow.

32:11I actually don't remember a time

32:13where I wasn't obsessed with nature.

32:16It all began, really,

32:17in my childhood garden

32:18and just being stood by a buddlier bush

32:20watching all the peacocks and red admirals.

32:22What a magical little experience, you know.

32:24Even those little experiences in your garden

32:26can really go a long way.

32:34Ooh.

32:36Sparrowhawk.

32:38Death on wings.

32:41This is probably the most exciting

32:43and interesting feature of this habitat

32:45and this orchard has an abundance of it

32:48and that is standing deadwood.

32:52And the reason why standing deadwood

32:54is so exceptional for wildlife

32:56is that it's exploited

32:57by wood-boring invertebrates.

33:00You can see the tunnels

33:01of what are probably beetle larvae

33:03in the wood.

33:05Now, deadwood is much softer

33:07and therefore more accessible

33:08to animals that feed

33:10on wood-boring invertebrates.

33:12And one of these

33:13is what I think

33:14is the most interesting

33:15and mysterious breeding bird in Britain

33:17and that is

33:18the lesser-spotted woodpecker.

33:21I've only ever seen three in my life

33:24and I was absolutely shocked

33:25the first time I saw one.

33:27They are teeny tiny,

33:28the size of a sparrow,

33:30much smaller than the common

33:31great-spotted woodpecker.

33:33And because of their tiny size,

33:35they are less able to bore

33:36into harder livewood

33:38and therefore need an abundance

33:39of this soft, crumbly deadwood

33:42where they can access

33:43the wood-boring invertebrate food source

33:45that they need.

33:46So this is a beetle larvae

33:48which is living inside the tree,

33:50feeding on decaying organic matter,

33:52which is very inaccessible

33:53to most birds,

33:55which is why woodpeckers

33:56have evolved this ingenious niche

33:58to exploit this very,

34:00very valuable food source.

34:05So as of today,

34:06on the basis of the survey

34:08that I've conducted

34:09and the evidence I've collected,

34:10this site will officially be

34:12a separate traditional orchard

34:15local wildlife site.

34:16Despite the fact that it's part

34:18of an existing nature reserve,

34:19this will recognise

34:20the unique ecological attributes

34:22that this special habitat provides.

34:24It obliges that whoever owns

34:27this orchard in the future

34:28has to maintain it

34:29as this special habitat

34:30and that it cannot be built on.

34:32So this will hopefully ensure

34:34the integrity and character

34:36of this fantastic habitat.

34:40I feel immensely privileged

34:41to be doing this for a living

34:42because I feel like

34:44on a small level

34:45I'm securing the future

34:46of some extremely

34:47important habitats

34:48and I hope that people

34:50like the four-year-old self

34:51that I used to be

34:52who was curious and naive

34:53and wanted to know everything

34:54about the natural world

34:55can come to places like this

34:57and recognise

34:57why they're so valuable,

34:59why they're so interesting

35:00for many, many years to come.

35:03And this week is BBC Nature Week.

35:06So what better time

35:07to explore the wild outdoors

35:09near you?

35:10To find more outdoor inspiration

35:12go to bbc.co.uk

35:14forward slash nature week.

35:26A few weeks ago,

35:28John, Hamza

35:29and guest judge

35:30Dame Maggie Adairin-Pocock

35:32had the mammoth task

35:34of sifting through

35:35thousands of entries

35:37to our annual photography competition.

35:40This is going to be a tough job.

35:42And, you know,

35:43each year they get better.

35:45Each one hoping for a place

35:46in this year's Countryfile calendar.

35:49And the wait is over.

35:51It's finally time to reveal

35:52the winner of the Countryfile

35:54photographic competition

35:55and also unveil the Countryfile calendar

35:58for 2026,

36:00which we sell

36:01in order of BBC Children in Need.

36:03And I have the first one here

36:05with the winner's photo

36:06on the cover.

36:07It's hot off the press.

36:08This year's theme

36:11was Wild Encounters

36:13and we had

36:14an incredible response.

36:17More than 17,000 images

36:19were sent in

36:20capturing the beauty

36:22of our countryside.

36:24From rugged landscapes

36:25to whimsical wildlife,

36:29your photos truly impressed

36:31and inspired us.

36:34As always,

36:35narrowing them down

36:36to just 12 for the calendar

36:38and choosing a judge's favourite

36:41was no easy task.

36:43And then we asked you

36:44to vote for the one

36:45that you like best.

36:48And when the votes were in,

36:50there was no doubt.

36:51One photo swept the board.

36:53It was both the judge's choice

36:55and it won the viewer's vote.

36:57And this is it.

36:59Aurora Arborealis

37:01by John Ray

37:02from Stirlingshire in Scotland.

37:04A lone tree

37:05against the Northern Lights.

37:09John's photograph

37:10will not only appear

37:11on the cover

37:12of the 2026 Countryfile calendar

37:14and feature

37:15as the image for December,

37:17but he'll also receive

37:19a £1,500 gift card

37:21towards photographic equipment

37:23for winning

37:24both the public vote

37:25as well as for being

37:26the judge's favourite.

37:30Hello, John.

37:31Nice to meet you.

37:32And you.

37:33And congratulations.

37:34Thank you very much.

37:35You're a double winner.

37:36Thank you very much.

37:36You must be very proud.

37:37Very honoured, yeah.

37:38And I hear you almost

37:39didn't take it.

37:40That's correct, yes.

37:41It was my eldest son, Stephen,

37:44who's also into his photography.

37:47He called me one night

37:47and I was in bed.

37:48He has this app

37:49that shows you

37:50when there's going to be

37:51activity with Aurora

37:52and he said,

37:53look, I'm going to go out, Dad.

37:54Do you want to come with me?

37:55And we'd tried before

37:56without any success.

37:58And then I thought,

37:59can't be bothered, you know,

38:00just go out

38:01and let me know

38:02how you get on.

38:02So I put the phone down

38:03and then I suddenly thought,

38:05if he goes out

38:06and gets some good images,

38:07I'm going to be

38:08really cross with myself.

38:09It turned out

38:09to be very special,

38:10your photo.

38:11And in fact,

38:12I have it here.

38:13Wow.

38:13In this envelope,

38:15if you'd like to open it

38:16and be the first person,

38:17including me,

38:18ever to see

38:19the 2026 calendar.

38:21Oh, my goodness.

38:22OK.

38:24Wow.

38:25Ah-ha.

38:25Wow.

38:26How about that?

38:28That's special.

38:28That's the first time

38:29I've seen it in print.

38:30Well, lone tree

38:31is a very favourite subject

38:33for lots of our photographers,

38:34but to have

38:35the northern lights

38:36behind that one

38:37is so spectacular,

38:39isn't it?

38:39Yeah, thank you.

38:40Yeah, it came out really well.

38:41Any tips for viewers

38:42who might be thinking

38:43about entering next year?

38:44Just have a go.

38:46I mean,

38:46don't overthink things.

38:47If you see something

38:48and you think

38:49that looks nice,

38:50take a photograph

38:51and go for it.

38:52Well, congratulations to you.

38:53Thanks very much.

38:54Just one last thing.

38:55Yeah.

38:55Can I get a quick snap

38:56before you go?

38:57Well, this is an honour.

38:58Just there,

38:59John, would be fine.

38:59OK.

39:00That's superb.

39:00Holding the calendar.

39:02That's perfect there.

39:03How's that?

39:04Ha-ha.

39:08Well,

39:09every photo

39:10in the calendar

39:10was taken by viewers

39:12like John,

39:12so thank you so much

39:14to everybody

39:15who took part

39:16in the competition.

39:17And if you'd like

39:18to buy one of these calendars

39:19for 2026,

39:21here's how you do it.

39:22It costs £11.99,

39:26which includes UK delivery.

39:29You can go to our website,

39:31bbc.co.uk forward slash countryfile,

39:34where you'll find a link

39:35to the online order page.

39:38Or you can call

39:400330 333 4564

39:44to place your order by phone.

39:47Standard geographic charges

39:49will apply to both landlines

39:51and mobiles.

39:53The phone line will be available

39:55from Monday to Friday,

39:579am to 5pm,

39:59and Saturdays

40:00from 10am to 4pm.

40:03If you prefer to order by post,

40:06then send your name,

40:07address,

40:07and a check

40:08to BBC countryfile calendar,

40:11PO Box 25,

40:13Melton Mowbray,

40:14LE13 1ZG.

40:18And please make your checks payable

40:19to BBC countryfile calendar.

40:22A minimum of £5.50

40:25from the sale of each calendar

40:27will be donated

40:28to BBC children in need.

40:31Over the years,

40:33your support has helped

40:34the countryfile calendar

40:35raise more than £33 million

40:37for BBC children in need.

40:40The photographs taken by viewers

40:42not only brighten up our homes,

40:44but they help to change the lives

40:46of countless families

40:48right across the UK.

40:50So thank you.

41:00Well, it's a glorious autumnal day

41:03here in Herefordshire,

41:04but I wonder what the weather's

41:05going to have in store for us

41:06for the week ahead.

41:07Here's the countryfile forecast.

41:12It certainly has been glorious

41:18across many parts of the country,

41:19but also some of us

41:20have been stuck underneath the cloud

41:22with a big area of high pressure

41:24over us right now.

41:26And the barometer's pointing

41:27to little change in the week ahead.

41:30It's going to be mostly dry,

41:31areas of cloud,

41:32some sunny spells,

41:34and mist and fog is expected

41:35in prone locations.

41:37And here's a picture

41:38from earlier this morning

41:39on Sunday,

41:40a fog bow

41:41with mist and fog

41:42close to the ground.

41:44You've got the clearer

41:44blue skies above.

41:46Now, this satellite picture

41:47shows how the cloud

41:48is swirling within the centre

41:49of the high pressure.

41:51It's from the last few days or so.

41:52And high pressures usually mean

41:54that the atmosphere

41:55is stuck over us right now.

41:57It's not really changing

41:58an awful lot

41:59and the wind's blowing

42:00around like so.

42:01So if you're in the centre

42:02of the high,

42:02that's where you tend

42:03to get the light winds

42:04and the clear skies.

42:05And it's all part

42:06of a bigger pattern

42:07you can see in the atmosphere.

42:08This is the jet stream

42:09when you have two areas

42:10of low pressure

42:11either side of the high pressure.

42:12This is called an omega block.

42:14You don't get much change.

42:15That high pressure sticks around.

42:17And that, of course,

42:18means we don't get

42:18any weather fronts

42:19heading our way,

42:19which means it is going to be dry.

42:21And this is the rainfall

42:22for the next few days.

42:23All the rain is being deflected

42:25towards the north,

42:26towards Norway.

42:27So the forecast then

42:28for the rest of Sunday

42:29and into Monday,

42:30the centre of the high pressure

42:31is clear and calm here.

42:33But where we have

42:34clear and calm weather,

42:35we also have mist and fog.

42:36So there could be

42:37some in the lowlands,

42:38perhaps Northern Ireland

42:38around the lakes

42:39and further south.

42:40But almost anywhere

42:41with clearer skies

42:42could see some mist and fog.

42:44But it doesn't last

42:45for very long.

42:46It does tend to lift

42:47and clear to those clear blue skies.

42:49So glorious weather

42:50for some of us.

42:51But this part of the country,

42:52in fact, many areas of England

42:53could be stuck

42:54underneath the cloud

42:55from around about Lincolnshire

42:57and the Midlands southwards.

42:58But despite that,

43:00the temperatures

43:00will still reach around 17

43:02or 18 Celsius

43:03in the warmer spots.

43:04But it probably won't feel like it

43:06because of the thick cloud,

43:08the lack of sunshine.

43:09Here's Tuesday,

43:09more or less the same.

43:10The centre of the high

43:11is still around

43:12about the Irish Sea.

43:13This is where we have

43:13the best of the weather

43:14and sort of the edges

43:15of the high pressure

43:16tend to be rather

43:17on the cloudy side.

43:19So the high is still with us

43:20Tuesday and also into Wednesday.

43:23One thing that's worth mentioning

43:24is that it's not going to be

43:26particularly frosty this week.

43:27Of course, this time of the year

43:28when we tend to have cold highs

43:30and this is not

43:30a particularly cold high.

43:32Well, we do get the frosts,

43:33but not on this occasion.

43:34It's going to be relatively mild

43:36both by night and by day.

43:38And again, on Wednesday,

43:39you can see these values

43:40around 14 to 16 Celsius.

43:42There will be a tendency

43:43for the temperatures

43:43to perhaps drop a little bit

43:45as we go through

43:46the course of the week.

43:47And that's because

43:47not everybody's getting

43:48the sunshine,

43:49so that sun's not

43:50heating up the land.

43:51But the high pressure

43:51changes shape a little bit

43:53on Thursday.

43:54It doesn't mean

43:55that the weather's going

43:56to change an awful lot.

43:57It just means that

43:58some areas will have

43:59more sunshine than others

44:00and vice versa.

44:01Some areas could be

44:01a little more cloudy.

44:03Again, with the atmosphere blocked,

44:05we're not seeing

44:06any changes of air mass.

44:07So that means that

44:08the temperatures are

44:09about the same.

44:10But then things do tend

44:12to change a little bit

44:13from around about

44:14Saturday onwards.

44:14Look at this.

44:15This area of low pressure

44:16approaches the UK,

44:17but it sinks southwards

44:18and yet another area

44:19of high pressure

44:20establishes itself

44:21across the UK.

44:24And that, of course,

44:24means more dry weather.

44:25So this is the outlook

44:27for this coming Friday,

44:29the weekend

44:29and the following week.

44:30I think the uncertainty

44:31is from around

44:33about Sunday onwards.

44:34So what happens

44:35in the following week?

44:36Bit of a question mark.

44:37We do need the rainfall

44:38because, of course,

44:39some parts of the country

44:40are still in drought.

44:42Bye bye.

44:52We're in Herefordshire

44:53for a tale of two-siders.

44:55Small batch makers

44:57price character

44:58and tradition.

45:00What a contraption.

45:02But hand crafting

45:04always comes

45:05with a premium price tag.

45:07Big producers

45:08keep supermarket shelves full

45:10and prices down.

45:12There is not an apple left!

45:14Though some may argue

45:16large scale

45:17lacks the soul

45:18of traditional cider making.

45:19Our haul of apples

45:25has arrived

45:26at the Western Cider Mill.

45:29Process team lead

45:30Jack Berry

45:31is giving me

45:32exclusive access

45:33into the heart

45:34of the operation

45:35starting with

45:36the traditional oak vats.

45:38You don't appreciate,

45:40do you,

45:40just how big they are?

45:42These are massive!

45:43Yeah, these are quite small

45:44compared to the biggest

45:45one we've got

45:45around the corner.

45:47So Squeak's the biggest

45:48and these three here,

45:50Hereford, Gloucester

45:50and Worcester

45:51are the original three

45:52that hang with us in.

45:53Really?

45:54Yeah.

45:54So they're really old.

45:56Yeah.

45:56And still used?

45:57Oh yeah, still used, yeah.

45:58Still used today.

46:00Oh, the smell is lovely

46:02as you get round this corner.

46:03The smell of the oak.

46:03Yeah.

46:05Jack, wherever you look

46:06there are pipes.

46:08Here, above us.

46:10Do you know where

46:11everything's going?

46:12Most of them.

46:14Each filter's got

46:14its own transfer line.

46:16So there's two juice lines

46:17that come from press floor.

46:18Right.

46:18And they fly over our heads

46:20and they come out

46:20the other side of the building

46:21before going down

46:23to a bottom tank farm.

46:24The stainless steel vats.

46:26To turn this apple juice

46:28into apple cider

46:29it needs industrial levels

46:32of yeast.

46:33Oh!

46:34That is surreal.

46:36How much in here?

46:37That's ten kilos, that one.

46:38Ten kilos.

46:39Yeah.

46:39Yeah, it's not quite what I use

46:41when I'm making bread, is it?

46:43That's it.

46:43Just bang it on there.

46:46Oh, that's quite good.

46:47Break it all up, yeah.

46:48Gradually pour it in.

46:49Gradually?

46:50Yeah.

46:50And you'll see the apple juice

46:51sort of change

46:52to the milky colour as well

46:53as the yeast goes.

46:54How mad will you be

46:55if I drop it in?

46:56It wouldn't be the first person

46:57to do it.

46:58Really?

47:01Satisfying bubbles.

47:02Yeah, let's go in there.

47:04All done.

47:05There you are, see?

47:06Natural.

47:08From here,

47:09the juice travels out

47:10to the huge vats

47:11where it ferments

47:12and matures.

47:13and six months later,

47:15cider is pumped

47:16all the way back again

47:18to be filtered.

47:19This is our cross-flow filtration,

47:21so we've got four of these.

47:23So what you can see down there

47:24is the cider coming in,

47:25so this is from the vats.

47:26Yeah, that there.

47:28Wow, that's kind of milky looking.

47:30Yeah, so that's got the haze,

47:31that's got the cloudiness of it,

47:32so if you like a cloudiness,

47:34that's the sort of cider

47:35you'll be drinking.

47:35Okay.

47:36It then goes through the modules.

47:37All of them?

47:38Yeah, from the bottom to the top.

47:40So the filtered side

47:41will come through the outside.

47:42Yeah.

47:42And then the unfiltered stuff

47:44will go back through the system,

47:45basically.

47:46Right.

47:46And then the filtered product

47:47you can see in this sight glass up here.

47:49Magically clear.

47:50Magically clear.

47:51And how long does this whole process take?

47:53So we can do about 10,000 litres an hour.

47:55Crikey, that's really fast.

47:56Quite a quick process, yeah.

47:57I think drinking the cloudier stuff,

47:59I think that makes me look sophisticated.

48:01No, I'd prefer the clear,

48:02the clear side is for myself, yeah.

48:05The juice of the apples

48:06I harvested earlier

48:08will need at least six months in the vats.

48:11But last year's crop

48:12is now ready

48:13for the next part of the process.

48:16Master cider maker Guy Lawrence

48:18is in charge of what's surely

48:19the best stage of all,

48:21the blending.

48:23So welcome to the lab.

48:25This is where we do

48:26all our wet analysis.

48:28This is what you start with,

48:29is it the juice?

48:29Yep, this has just been pressed today.

48:31Would you like to try it?

48:32So that's dark, isn't it,

48:34for an apple juice?

48:36But we want it to be dark

48:37because it gives it colour.

48:38Oh, right.

48:39So when we get to this stage

48:40when it's finished fermenting

48:41and it's at the point

48:42where we're ready to use it,

48:43the darker the better.

48:45It gives it more

48:46the straw colour

48:46that you would expect

48:47with a cider.

48:48Well, that's really nice, actually.

48:49I was expecting it

48:50to be a bit tarter than that

48:51because of cider apples,

48:52but that's very nice.

48:53So we use bittersweet apples.

48:54Bittersweet tend to be

48:55high in tanning

48:56and low in acidity.

48:58It's easier to blend,

48:59it's easier to design ciders.

49:01If it's a high acidity,

49:02you're only limited

49:03to what you can do.

49:03I have a treat today,

49:07mixing up my own blend

49:09of cider in the lab,

49:10aiming for a 4% cider-ish.

49:13We'll try the BCO2,

49:15which is what we're going

49:16to use today

49:16to make your cider.

49:17Right.

49:18So that's at the beginning

49:18of it all?

49:19Yes.

49:19Yeah.

49:20So this is fermented

49:21to 10.5%.

49:24So it's flat?

49:25It's flat, yes.

49:26Nice.

49:26So this is a base cider.

49:27So this is what goes

49:27into making our products.

49:29So when it comes down

49:30to making the product,

49:31we water it down

49:31to the alcohol strength

49:32we want.

49:33We then add sugar

49:34to give it the sweetness back

49:36and then we add malic acid

49:37to balance it out

49:38to get the acidity right.

49:43It's quite whiny.

49:46I mean, it's quite tart,

49:49shall we say.

49:49Yeah.

49:51So when you water that down,

49:52you'll lose that.

49:53And this is where

49:53an artisan person

49:55wouldn't have any of this.

49:56They might tinker with it.

49:57But if you want a cider

49:59that's going to be

50:00roughly the same

50:01every time I drink it,

50:01even if I drink it

50:02in different pubs,

50:03you've got to control it more.

50:05Yes, exactly.

50:06OK.

50:06Isn't there a tension here,

50:08though, between what

50:08you're sort of selling,

50:10which is a picture

50:11of a Victorian man

50:12on a traditional bottle,

50:14and what's actually happening,

50:15which is lots of people

50:16in white coats in a lab?

50:17Yeah, we do it.

50:18Exactly the same way

50:19as Henry Weston did

50:19back in 1880.

50:20Well, he wasn't mucking around

50:21with acid and all this.

50:22Because he didn't have

50:22a chance to, did he?

50:23We just have modern techniques.

50:25You know, he would have used

50:26a leg of lamb as a nutrient

50:27where we used

50:29diamonium phosphate.

50:30I'm glad that bit's changed.

50:31So am I.

50:33We're going to make

50:33two litres up.

50:34What could possibly go wrong?

50:36Nothing.

50:42Spot on.

50:43Look at that.

50:46Now, the next step

50:47is to measure out

50:48the liquid sugar.

50:4943 mils.

50:51Whoa!

50:52That was a good start.

50:53Very well done.

50:54Do you know that's about right?

51:05And then mix?

51:06And then give it a good mix

51:07to make it up to two litres.

51:08OK.

51:17OK.

51:17It's yours as mine.

51:20So, slightly cloudy.

51:22Yeah.

51:23It's more dry than medium dry.

51:25Yeah, good.

51:26And it should be balanced.

51:31How's that?

51:32That's actually quite good,

51:32isn't it?

51:33It is.

51:33Do you want a job?

51:34Yeah, you're on.

51:36Cheers.

51:36All the best.

51:37Cheers.

51:38Cheers.

51:40Mmm.

51:41Very good.

51:53For cider makers,

51:55flavour is key.

51:56For big producers,

51:57consistency is vital.

51:59Or for Tom and Lydia,

52:01it's variety.

52:03Well, this is where

52:04Lydia and Tom

52:04press their apples.

52:05And their ethos

52:07is rooted in

52:08low intervention methods

52:10and honouring

52:11cider making's

52:11traditional past.

52:13This certainly looks like

52:14it comes from the past.

52:15In fact, I don't want to be rude,

52:16but it looks like

52:16something out of

52:17Wallace and Gromit.

52:18Hello, guys.

52:19Hello.

52:19How are you doing?

52:20Very well.

52:20Look at this.

52:22Hello.

52:23What a contraption.

52:24Where's this come from?

52:25This wonderful machine

52:26was obtained

52:27from northern France

52:28in the mid-'80s.

52:30So I've seen

52:30lots of apple presses,

52:32but I don't think

52:33I've ever seen it

52:33all in one

52:34machine like this.

52:36Yes, I think

52:36it is unusual.

52:37It was, I think,

52:38really designed

52:39to be a travelling press

52:40when it was built

52:40so it could trundle

52:41around the countryside

52:42and you could take it

52:43to various farms

52:44and press the fruit

52:45or whatever was there

52:46at the time.

52:46Wonderful.

52:47So how can I help?

52:48Well, we do need

52:50a third person to run it,

52:51Adam, so you've come

52:51at a good time.

52:52Perfect.

52:52You're going to help

52:53me build the cheese

52:54and Lydia will look

52:55after the fruit supply end.

52:56Right.

52:56Well, I'll let you

52:57fire her up.

52:58Off we go.

53:00No cheddar here.

53:02Tom's borrowed

53:02a cheese-making technique

53:04that extracts moisture

53:05from curd,

53:06or apples in this case.

53:11Here we go.

53:12Let's make some apple juice.

53:14Right, so now Lydia's

53:15going to feed in the apples.

53:16They're going to come up

53:17into here where they're

53:17going to be crushed

53:18into the hopper

53:20and away we go.

53:22Right.

53:23You need to get yourself

53:23a little bit of clop.

53:26There we go.

53:29And then we put the

53:30hauling in like that

53:32and then...

53:34Ready?

53:34Yep.

53:38There we go.

53:40And then this

53:40just distribute round.

53:46A little bit at a time,

53:47is it?

53:48Yeah, I don't want

53:48to overfill it.

53:49I don't want to

53:49overfill it.

53:50And I want to get it

53:51nice and flat and level.

53:52Yep.

53:53And I lift this off.

53:53You get one of those

53:54wooden rags.

53:56Perfect.

53:59So we're getting

53:59the hang of this.

54:01Slowly.

54:09All right, this is

54:10the last one.

54:10Okay.

54:11Now we have to

54:11put it under the press.

54:13Right back.

54:14All the way,

54:14a little bit further.

54:15That's good.

54:15Just like that.

54:16Perfect.

54:17So this is the

54:18moment of truth.

54:19Out comes the cork.

54:21In goes the juice.

54:22There it is.

54:22The golden neck, sir.

54:25Lovely.

54:26So now this really

54:27powerful ram is pushing

54:29the press down onto the

54:30cheeses.

54:31And the apple juice is

54:32just pouring out from

54:34this apple pulp into the

54:35bucket.

54:37It just feels really

54:38lovely, this sort of

54:39traditional slow way of

54:41making a high quality

54:43product from apple

54:44varieties that are now

54:45quite rare.

54:46Their cider takes from

54:5018 months to three

54:51years to ferment and

54:52bottle up.

54:54Thankfully, Lydia sets

54:56them aside for us to

54:57sample.

54:58Hello.

54:59Hello, hello.

55:00There we are.

55:00What a team we are.

55:01What a team.

55:02We deserve some cider.

55:03So what have we got

55:04here then, Lydia?

55:05So this is a 2023 cider

55:06made from the apple we

55:07picked this morning,

55:08the knotted kernel.

55:09Lovely.

55:09Who's going to do the

55:10honours?

55:10It has the delightful

55:11effect of making a

55:12lovely pop when you...

55:14Lovely.

55:15When you open it.

55:16And drank in a wine

55:17glass.

55:18Absolutely, yeah.

55:19I think this is a much

55:19more elegant way to drink

55:20something that has taken

55:21a long time to make.

55:23It's nothing but the fruit

55:24that we've hand-picked in

55:25here, so...

55:26Cheers.

55:26Wassail.

55:27Wassail.

55:27You have very good

55:28health.

55:33I can taste that

55:34beautiful apple in there,

55:36but so different to what

55:38you might get out of a tap

55:39in the pub.

55:40Absolutely.

55:41So tell me, you know,

55:42all this hard work,

55:44you've got these

55:44ancient machines,

55:46you're hand-picking,

55:47you're complete purists.

55:50You're trying to scale up,

55:51are you?

55:53I'm quite anti-growth.

55:55I don't really believe in

55:57trying to sort of conquer

55:58the world with this stuff.

55:59I mean, I don't want to

56:00compromise on the way

56:02that we do things,

56:02because this is truly

56:03an art for me.

56:04Yes.

56:04So the people that get

56:05to try are very small

56:07batch siders.

56:07It's lucky them.

56:08And, yeah.

56:10And this is where

56:10I beg to differ.

56:11You've quite like

56:13to make some money.

56:14We do, too.

56:15I mean, much as I love

56:16the current scale we're at,

56:17I'm very keen to build

56:18a larger facility

56:19that would allow us

56:21just to produce maybe

56:22twice as much

56:22as we currently do.

56:24That would get us

56:24into the next level

56:25and I hope also

56:26into the point where

56:27I could have something

56:28in the future known as,

56:29I think,

56:29it's called a pension.

56:31But where we agree

56:32is that we're never

56:32going to go beyond

56:33it being human scale,

56:34so we're always going

56:35to be doing stuff

56:35with our hands.

56:36Yes.

56:36Well, congratulations.

56:39Come back and help

56:39any time.

56:45Well, I've just stepped

56:46away from Tom and Lydia

56:48and I have to say

56:49I'm so impressed.

56:51Of course, it's small scale,

56:53it's niche,

56:54and they're never

56:55going to get rich,

56:56but what they've got

56:57is a whole connection

56:58to the earth

56:59and they're very happy

57:00and money can't buy happiness.

57:06Look at that.

57:13Oh, Charlotte.

57:15Hello.

57:16Hard at work as ever.

57:18I made that.

57:19Did you?

57:20Yeah, I blended that

57:21with, to be fair,

57:22quite a lot of help.

57:22But that is my cider.

57:25There you go.

57:25Well done.

57:26Congratulations.

57:27Have some.

57:27What do you think?

57:28Smells good.

57:29It's nice.

57:31That's very nice.

57:32And it's got no label on it.

57:34I know, we need a name

57:34and a label,

57:35don't we, really?

57:35But is your nickname Queenie?

57:37It is.

57:38Charlotte Victoria,

57:40two queens.

57:40We could call it

57:41Queenie Cider.

57:42Brilliant.

57:43Right, well,

57:43we come up with

57:44a business plan.

57:45Let's talk about

57:46next week here

57:46on Countryfile

57:47when we'll be in Kent

57:49visiting a landscape

57:50which could become

57:51the world's first

57:52UNESCO cross-channel

57:54geopark.

57:56I can't quite compute

57:58that I am

57:59touching something

58:00that is 100 million years old.

58:03It is magical, isn't it?

58:04It takes you back

58:04to being a kid again.

58:06You're not making

58:07life easy for yourself

58:08in your retirement,

58:09are you?

58:10I'm making wine

58:11and feeling fine.

58:12Good lad.

58:13That's fine.

58:14Would you like to release?

58:15Yeah.

58:19He's gone.

58:19He ends off.

58:21That's at 5.15

58:22next Sunday.

58:23Hope you can join us then.

58:25Bye-bye.

58:26Queenie Cider, eh?

58:27Mm-hmm.

58:28I think that's really good.

58:30So do I.

58:31Yeah.

58:35In a brand-new series,

58:36discover the wildlife

58:37hiding in plain sight.

58:39Hamza's Hidden Wild Isles

58:41starts next on BBC One.

58:43Exploring the heart

58:44of country music,

58:45Rob Brydon's

58:46honky-tonk road trip

58:47is a fun travelogue

58:48on iPlay now.

58:49To be continued...

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