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Countryfile (1988) Season 37 Episode 47 - Somerset Levels
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FunTranscript
00:00The way it makes you feel.
00:03It looks incredible.
00:30Honestly, this landscape never ceases to amaze me. Derwent Water, so beautiful, John.
00:50Isn't it? If you haven't already guessed, we're in the spectacular Lake District.
00:55We are, and this year marks the 250th anniversary of one of Britain's most influential painters of all time,
01:01JMW Turner, and I will be following in the great artist's footsteps.
01:05You, lucky thing. Everybody loves a Turner, don't they?
01:09And I'll be exploring the living landscapes that inspired his brushwork.
01:20The lakes are the jewels in Cumbria's rugged crown,
01:24while Vic heads from Derwent Water to Crummock Water.
01:27I'll be on the hillsides of Grasmere.
01:33That's quite a sight, isn't it?
01:38Everywhere you look amongst these lakes and ancient fells
01:42are sights that take your breath away.
01:45Wow.
01:47I know.
01:48That's lovely.
01:49Look at this.
01:51Oh, Amy.
01:53Behold.
01:54Beautiful Buttermere.
01:57What's going on here, then?
02:00Artist at work.
02:01How does your process compare?
02:02Not very well.
02:03Yeah, I'm now in position and awaiting a find.
02:08She's equivalent to at least having 20 people out there searching.
02:12Good girl.
02:13Excuse me, sheep.
02:14Also, Adam takes centre stage at the BBC Food and Farming Awards,
02:28as he reveals Countryfile's Young Countryside Champion for 2025.
02:33Now, the venue is filling up.
02:36There's a buzz of excitement, so I'd better go and join in.
03:03Over 200 years ago, this landscape helped spark a creative revolution,
03:08one of the most defining periods in art, literature and poetry,
03:12the Romantic movement.
03:16While the Napoleonic Wars were raging across Europe,
03:19the usual grand tours of France and Italy
03:22were off the cards for British high society.
03:25So, instead, they flocked to the countryside.
03:29You could call it a staycation.
03:32Standing here by the lake with the Cumbrian Mountains behind me,
03:38it's easy to see why this place inspired one of Britain's most famous artists,
03:43J.M.W. Turner, known as the Painter of Light.
03:49To find out how his work still resonates 250 years after his birth,
03:54I'm meeting Manton Senior Curator of Historic British Art at Tate,
03:58Dr. Amy Concanon.
04:00Her latest project is a new landmark exhibition featuring many original works by Turner
04:06on public display at Tate Britain.
04:10Amy, it's absolutely incredible to be here,
04:12walking in the footsteps of the great.
04:14I mean, what sort of landscape was Turner stepping into when he came here to Derwent Water?
04:19Well, he chose a really good spot because this was the gateway to some of the most exciting scenery in the Lake District.
04:27It had become a really popular tourist destination,
04:30and so he was looking for those kinds of scenes that would sell well,
04:35that people would recognise but would also excite people.
04:37And this was around 1790?
04:40Yes, he came here for the first time in 1797 when he was just 22.
04:44He was born in the heart of London, in Covent Garden.
04:47This was his first experience in big mountainous scenery.
04:51He'd never seen mountains like this before,
04:53and I really think it opened up his eyes to something more dramatic and something more exciting.
04:58So it really thrilled him.
04:59As such a young artist, what was it that he was trying to prove?
05:02What was he trying to get down on that paper?
05:04Ah, he was trying to prove everything.
05:05He'd got off to a really good start.
05:07He was quite a fast-rising star.
05:10He was recognised as very skilled, you know, technically very talented,
05:14quite inventive, very clever, and so he was on a really good streak,
05:19and he was seeking to capitalise on that,
05:21so by literally going large in the Lake District.
05:24During his tours of the lakes, Turner followed Derwent Water to the east,
05:33settling at Fryer's Crag.
05:35Amy and I are retracing his steps.
05:41Oh, wow.
05:42I know.
05:43It's lovely.
05:44Look at this.
05:49It's just so stunning.
05:54Look at that light.
05:55The light and the way it makes you feel.
06:00It looks incredible.
06:01I love everything about Turner,
06:04but I think my favourite thing is his use of light,
06:07how he evokes that atmosphere.
06:10How does he do it?
06:11What was his process?
06:13Well, you know, Turner was very efficient when it came to process,
06:18particularly when he was touring.
06:20He often felt that it would take him too much time to use colour on the spot.
06:25By and large, it was pencil in a sketchbook.
06:28For him, they were a really valuable resource.
06:31There are close to 300 sketchbooks in the Tate collection,
06:36and Turner kept them all throughout his life as a kind of library,
06:39because he would want to refer back to certain places.
06:42He labelled them very carefully.
06:44So this is taken from close to where we're sitting.
06:46Right here.
06:47Exactly.
06:48Exactly.
06:49So we've got before us the end of Derwent Water.
06:52That's the lake.
06:53And then this sweep of the jaws of Borredale.
06:57But what I love about this sketch is that, you know,
07:00it shows us that sense of economy and efficiency,
07:03because he's sketched the scene very carefully.
07:06He uses his pencil to very carefully delineate the outline of these mountains
07:10to make sure that he's getting the precise shapes.
07:13He doesn't always do that.
07:15Later on in his career, when he becomes much more confident in his own status,
07:20he plays a little bit more or makes faster sketches
07:24that aren't quite so careful as this.
07:26But then, over the top of his pencil,
07:29he's used watercolour to show us where the light falls
07:32and how shade and light interact.
07:34It's very precise, but there was a lot at stake for him at this point.
07:38Oh, and this is the same view, but more.
07:43It is.
07:44So this one, this is fully coloured.
07:46It shows us that, clearly, he was quite invested in this view
07:49and he wanted to either come back to it
07:52or have another go at getting a sense of the atmosphere.
07:55What I love is that light bouncing out of that valley there.
08:02Even in the time that we've been sat here,
08:04the light has changed that's coming through the clouds
08:06and it's changed the entire vista.
08:08Yeah.
08:09And he manages to somehow recreate that movement.
08:13Yeah.
08:14It looks like he had ever so slightly more visibility than us.
08:17I think so.
08:18Just from these mountains here.
08:19I think so.
08:20There's also a tiny bit of blue sky.
08:22Yeah.
08:23But being able to get that depth is such a skill.
08:26I think it's such an honour to get to have a look at his process in this way.
08:30From Derwent Water, Turner journeyed further into the Lake District
08:43in search of inspiration.
08:48So, Amy, as Turner travelled through the lakes,
08:51how was his style starting to change?
08:54Well, I think coming into contact and being, you know,
08:58here amongst the mountains, his style had to change.
09:01He had to think about how to frame bigger vistas, bigger views
09:06and how to work with light and shadow.
09:10And he was always looking for something that was new,
09:13something that was novel.
09:15So, yes, the Lake District was a very touristy place
09:19and paintings of it were already popular.
09:22And so it was a safe bet to choose to come here to make some pictures.
09:27But he would have been wanting to go slightly off the beaten track
09:31to make sure that his views were offering something slightly different.
09:36He went and found views that weren't necessarily the classic views
09:41that everybody went to.
09:42And the view from up here doesn't disappoint.
09:56Oh, Amy, behold, beautiful Buttermere.
10:03What is the significance of this view?
10:06This was a really important place for Turner.
10:09Out of all the sketches that he gathered on his two-week trip to the Lake District,
10:13he chose only two views to make into large, finished oil paintings.
10:18And this spot was one of them.
10:20This was the moment when he was thinking,
10:22what can I do to really, you know, capitalise on this trip that I've done
10:26and make his work stand out from the crowd?
10:29And he does that with a very moody, very dramatic depiction of this spot.
10:33I recognise this painting, but he injects such drama into this vast landscape.
10:41He does. I think when he made his first sketch here,
10:45he found this place on a very gloomy day, maybe as the light was fading.
10:50And so that gave him the kind of idea to really lean into that gloom and drama.
10:57His painting is very, very dark, very, very atmospheric.
11:01And one of the things I love about it is that he cuts through the very dark sky with a rainbow
11:06and really makes your eye kind of take in the whole of the composition and then look to the lake.
11:12It feels like the start of something huge for him.
11:16Now, the Lake District was his first way to experiment with the sublime,
11:20with those high drama, those almost terrifying landscapes
11:24where there's foreboding and there's almost a sense of fear in the atmosphere.
11:30And he really pushes that throughout his career
11:32and keeps on going until we get to that late period
11:35when he produces some of the most dramatic, almost terrifying,
11:39you know, really energetic paintings that Britain has ever seen.
11:43I think some of my favourites are the sea skates.
11:45Yeah.
11:46Because you really get that sense of foreboding.
11:48Yeah.
11:49I remember looking at them when I was about 15 and being a convert.
11:53I loved Turner.
11:54And to think that this was sort of where it all began is kind of amazing.
11:58Absolutely.
11:59And how do you think Turner changed the way that we see landscapes?
12:03Because I know personally, he genuinely did.
12:06Mm.
12:07I think it's all about feeling.
12:08Mm.
12:09And, you know, he was part of that romantic movement,
12:11but he was living in a fast-changing world.
12:14So much of what he painted still resonates with us today.
12:17You know, the way in which he paints those violent seas churned up,
12:21you know, gives a sense of that restlessness and what life was like then.
12:25And I think many of those feelings in his paintings still speak to us today.
12:29Mm.
12:30The feelings that we have and to be able to evoke them with colour the way that he did
12:33was just formative, wasn't it?
12:35Absolutely.
12:36He's, you know, painting the human experience and that endures.
12:40.
13:07Vic and Amy are following in the footsteps of artistic greatness.
13:12But this isn't just a backdrop for artists and visitors.
13:17It's a landscape shaped by the people who work it.
13:22The Lake District that Turner painted wasn't a wilderness.
13:27It was a workplace, and it still is to this day.
13:30Now, this is the lakes on a classic late autumn day.
13:34It's rain-swept, it's moody, it's misty.
13:38It's quite magnificent.
13:41And it's farming that continues to give this dramatic scenery its character.
13:47Around 95% of the world's Herdwick sheep roam these Cumbrian fells,
13:53much as they did in Turner's time.
13:56They're what's known as hefted sheep,
13:58born on the fell and bound to it for life.
14:01There's no need for fences up here,
14:04because they all know their patch and never stray from it.
14:07Their knowledge passed down through generations of the flock.
14:12For most of the year, the sheep fend for themselves.
14:16But it's shepherds like Bobsy Tyson and Peter Bland
14:19who keep the hefting tradition and the landscape alive.
14:25As neighbours, they often lend each other a hand.
14:27Bobsy's a relative newcomer,
14:30while Peter's family have farmed in the area for four generations.
14:37Well, it's lovely weather you've laid on for me, guys.
14:40It's November, so you can expect this for a month or two now.
14:45And how many sheep have you got?
14:47We've struggled to get to that number yet,
14:48because every time I start, I fall asleep.
14:50There's that many?
14:52Yeah, just a few.
14:54Right.
14:54And how do you work together?
14:56I mean, you've got neighbouring farms, haven't you?
14:58Yeah, we are farming on the other side of the valley to Bobsy here.
15:01Classing myself as an older generation,
15:04and Bobsy's just got the tenancy of Townhead Farm last year.
15:09He was a contract shepherd that did a lot of gathering.
15:12He has good dogs.
15:14We are very lucky.
15:15We've known him since he's grown up,
15:17and he's a real asset,
15:18because if we are wanting to gather,
15:20we'll let him know on our side of the valley,
15:23and then we'll repay the favour,
15:25and we'll come and help him.
15:26And what's the plan today, then?
15:28We're drafting them now,
15:29so we're going to get them in,
15:31go through them,
15:32and get the oldest sheep on the farm out to sell.
15:35Well, we'll let you get on with it, Bobsy.
15:37Right, I'll get going.
15:38I'll see you later.
15:38Yeah, see you later.
15:42Drafting simply means sorting into different groups,
15:45but the task of gathering the Herdwick's is far from simple.
15:49For Bobsy, often with miles of rough, uneven ground to cross
15:53to bring the flock together,
15:55it's a skill that relies on intuition and plenty of practice.
16:02So, do you do this no matter what the weather?
16:18Yeah.
16:18Come rain or shine?
16:19Mist's a big thing in the lakes.
16:21If the mist comes down and stops you being able to see hay out,
16:26and you can't see where you're going,
16:28that will stop you.
16:29But generally, if you can see the sheep,
16:31we'll go and try and get them, yeah.
16:33And how long do you reckon it will take you more together?
16:35It won't be way long.
16:36Not a good day for it, though, is it, really?
16:38It's a murky old day, innit?
16:42The sheep know exactly where they're going.
16:45They've done it time and time again.
16:47But because Herdwick's are so independent-minded,
16:50you know, they can look after themselves,
16:51do they resent being moved around?
16:53Aye, they don't.
16:55They know who's the boss.
16:58Bobsy'll have good dogs.
16:59Once you get them enclosed in a flock,
17:02if he's got a hundred there,
17:04they feel safe.
17:05Yeah.
17:05And they're good to work.
17:07You'll see what happens.
17:08And how do you get the sheep back on the fells again?
17:11Do you have to shoo them back?
17:12No, most definitely not.
17:14They're not to shoo.
17:15They'll know when you're setting them off back
17:18to go on the fell.
17:19The Herdwick's will go to their heft where they live,
17:23but they can do it faster than we would walk.
17:25And we're talking miles away,
17:26not just a few hundred yards.
17:28They'll go for miles.
17:29Roost.
17:30Root.
17:31Root.
17:32Root.
17:33Root.
17:37Root.
17:39Have a loop.
17:41Bite there.
17:46Root.
17:49I mean, how important is it
17:56to keep sheep on these fells?
18:00Well, it's vital in our eyes.
18:02And all that we see in the lakes,
18:04it's due to farming and shepherding
18:07and sheep grazing.
18:09There is an argument, isn't there,
18:10that there are too many sheep,
18:12that the fells have been overgrazed.
18:15There is, and that's coming all over the lakes now.
18:19But in my eyes, the sheep go,
18:22the shepherds will go,
18:23the farmers will go,
18:24and the lake district will be a worse place for it.
18:27They would soon get overgrown.
18:29It won't happen overnight,
18:30but the lakes will start to look different.
18:33We've got Bob Zika coming now.
18:34He's a young man just starting out in his farming career,
18:37which is brilliant.
18:39But if we lose people like him coming in,
18:42it's going to be harder and harder.
18:44As long as we can keep doing what we're doing,
18:47as shepherds, we'll be happy,
18:48because that's when we're our happiest.
18:51We're working with sheep
18:52and doing what we've done for generations.
18:56In what seems like no time at all,
18:59Bob Zika has safely gathered
19:01the 100-plus flock of herdwicks.
19:05They're very attractive-looking sheep, aren't they?
19:08Handsome sheep, really.
19:09Very distinctive.
19:10They are the herdwicks.
19:12They are unique.
19:13See, it's a horrible wet day,
19:15and they're couldn't butt an eyelid.
19:16Well, they look very calm.
19:18So, shall we let them through?
19:19That's quite a sight, isn't it?
19:27Lovely.
19:29You know where they're going.
19:42Well.
19:42All right.
19:43Bob Zika, I must say,
19:44you made that look pretty easy.
19:45I know it's not.
19:47No, no, it went quite well.
19:48The sheep behaved and the dogs did as they were told,
19:50so they came in quite nicely there.
19:52Does it ever go wrong?
19:53Yeah, quite often,
19:54but we don't let anybody know.
19:58Because the Lake District has stayed the same
20:01since Turner was painting it 200-odd years ago.
20:05That's why you would paint it,
20:06because it's farmed landscape,
20:08and the majority of it will have been farmed
20:10with herdwicks sheep for generations.
20:12And that's why it looks like it does.
20:16That's why we all love it today, isn't it?
20:18Well, these hefted sheep know exactly
20:21where they want to be on the fells.
20:23They're happy to be back up home on the hills.
20:27Do you feel the same?
20:28Are you hefted?
20:30Oh, yeah.
20:30If you put us anywhere else,
20:31the pair of us would sulk.
20:33So, we'd be very miserable.
20:35We're hefted with them.
20:36They're like our family.
20:38And the thing is,
20:39when we say about them,
20:40once they're gone,
20:41they're gone forever.
20:41And that's why we like doing it,
20:43and we do what we do,
20:44and we carry on.
20:45We call them the guardian of the fells,
20:47and that is because they're protecting it
20:49and keeping it as the way we love it today.
20:51And you're guardians of the fells as well.
20:54Well, we're the guardian of the sheep.
20:55Yeah.
20:56We're protecting them,
20:57and they're hoping they stop forever.
20:59Well, thank you for letting me
21:01see your gathering today.
21:03Fascinating.
21:04And all the very best for the future.
21:06Bye.
21:06See you now.
21:07See you.
21:08Excuse me, sheep.
21:20Bubsy is proof that
21:21a new, younger generation
21:23coming into farming
21:24is vital for keeping the industry alive.
21:27And a few weeks ago,
21:29we met three inspiring young people
21:31making a real difference
21:33in their communities
21:34and in the countryside.
21:37Now it's time for Adam
21:38to reveal which one
21:39will take home the title
21:41of this year's countryfile
21:43Young Countryside Champion.
21:46I'm in Bristol
21:47for the BBC Food and Farming Awards,
21:50and it brings together
21:51so many brilliant people
21:53who make food, farming
21:54and rural life what it is.
21:56Now the venue is filling up.
22:00There's a buzz of excitement,
22:01so I'd better go and join in.
22:13I've got the great honour
22:14of presenting
22:15Countryfile's
22:15Young Countryside Champion Award,
22:18celebrating young people
22:19who are inspiring others,
22:21caring for the environment
22:22and showing that the countryside's
22:23got a bright future.
22:25Now our three finalists are here.
22:26They're looking quite excited,
22:27although a little bit nervous.
22:29So here's a reminder
22:30why they were nominated.
22:3522-year-old David Pett
22:37is on a mission
22:38to keep whales buzzing.
22:41Inspired by his grandad,
22:43he's passionate
22:44about protecting pollinators
22:45and sharing his love
22:47for beekeeping
22:47with others.
22:49My grandfather first got me
22:51into beekeeping
22:52when I was 11 years old.
22:54First of all,
22:55it was one day a weekend,
22:56and then we ended up
22:57spending the whole weekend
22:58together doing the beekeeping.
23:01And from that time,
23:02I completely fell in love with it.
23:03In 2017,
23:07unfortunately,
23:08he passed away.
23:09It was an emotional time.
23:11Nobody else in the family
23:12had ever been interested
23:13in the bees.
23:14So if I didn't take them on
23:16at 14 years of age,
23:17they would have been abandoned,
23:19and that's not what
23:19my grandfather would have wanted.
23:22I knew that having those bees
23:23as well as making
23:24a positive impact
23:25to our ecosystem,
23:26it made me feel
23:28really proud.
23:29Here we are.
23:30Thanks.
23:30I think the average age
23:34for beekeeping is 65.
23:36A couple of years ago,
23:37I launched an initiative
23:38to get more young people
23:40into beekeeping
23:41using social media.
23:43I'm a trustee
23:45for Bridgendon District
23:46Beekeepers Association,
23:47and as part of our charity,
23:49we provide courses
23:51to aspiring beekeepers.
23:54Carrying my grandfather's legacy
23:56on is really important.
23:58Without the guidance
24:00of my grandfather,
24:00there's no way
24:01I'd have the business
24:03that I have now
24:04and also outside
24:06of beekeeping,
24:07the stuff he's told me
24:08is, you know,
24:09he'll stay with me for life.
24:12Our next finalist
24:14is 22-year-old Paula Gilroy
24:16from County Fermanagh
24:17in Northern Ireland.
24:21Hill farming
24:22up on bog and limestone
24:24doesn't come much tougher.
24:25But Paula's proving
24:29the future of farming here
24:30is in young,
24:31determined hands.
24:34Working alongside her family,
24:36Paula's helping her rural community
24:38stay strong and connected.
24:39I'm a member of the Aberdeen Angus
24:52Youth Development Programme.
24:54I'm a member of the Aberdeen Angus
24:55Youth Development Programme.
24:55We, at the minute, have around 70 cows,
24:59a pedigree Angus herd,
25:00and then we have Angus cross with short hoard.
25:02We're improving the herd.
25:03We're improving the herd.
25:04We're trying to produce better cattle
25:06with the same genetics
25:07as the older heritage Aberdeen Angus.
25:08What is fit to walk and thrive up here?
25:12Our farmers are the same
25:13and the same genetics
25:14as the older heritage Aberdeen Angus.
25:17How's it going to benefit them?
25:18I'm a member of the Aberdeen Angus
25:21Youth Development Programme.
25:23We, at the minute, have around 70 cows,
25:25a pedigree Angus herd,
25:26and then we have Angus cross with short hoard.
25:28We're improving the herd.
25:30Farming can be quite isolating.
25:33What do you say, princess?
25:35I'm a public relations officer in the Young Farmers.
25:39I run the social media.
25:42I'm organising a coffee morning,
25:44and we're raising money for type 1 diabetes,
25:46as it is close to my heart as a type 1 diabetic.
25:52Well, up here, it's one in a million.
25:56You can farm it all you want,
25:58but if you don't love it through and throughout,
26:01you'll never be fit to thrive and do well up here with it.
26:05Our third finalist
26:06for this year's Young Countryside Champion is Samuel Brown.
26:12At just 22,
26:13he's helping shape the landscape of Denbyshire, North Wales,
26:17growing rare native trees with the local council team
26:20and inspiring others to care for the land they love.
26:24This year, I managed to produce about 9,000 trees.
26:30It gives me so much joy.
26:33They'll do loads for biodiversity, but they'll also do loads for people.
26:40Nature has taught me a lot of things about myself.
26:43Being dyspraxic meant that I really struggled with processes.
26:47It also made things like physical activity more difficult.
26:53Probably in my last year of college, I felt truly confident in nature.
26:57Suddenly, looking at every species and naming it,
27:02because that's something I was never able to do in school.
27:06And it was then and there that I decided I wanted to work with woodlands for the rest of my life.
27:11I find it really satisfying when the volunteers come here for tree planting day
27:17and it makes you really happy to see other people learning.
27:25When you have passionate people, you have a passionate community.
27:28And when you have a passionate community, you're able to solve problems much better.
27:33There we go.
27:35And I think that's why young people matter in this,
27:37because we can use our passion and we can use our enjoyment of life
27:42and our optimism to fight all of these problems that we face.
27:46So those are our three finalists, each showing real passion, creativity and commitment to rural life.
27:58But there can only be one winner.
27:59And now it's my turn to go and announce who that is.
28:05Three people working in a rural environment in very different ways,
28:09all brilliant in their own right, and that's very warming and encouraging.
28:13So it's now my great honour to announce the winner.
28:16The winner of the Countryfile Young Countryside Champion is...
28:22David Pett.
28:29David, congratulations.
28:32You took on the beekeeping business from your grandfather when he sadly passed away.
28:35What does this award mean to you and do you think he might be looking down?
28:39He always pushed me to do whatever I can.
28:42And also assured me of how important bees are in our ecosystem.
28:46So it's absolutely massive.
28:48And I think he'd be really proud of what I've done.
28:50So where does it go from here?
28:51Really, I need to push not only the importance of bees to our ecosystem,
28:56get more young beekeepers, but also as well share the importance of eating quality honey.
29:02If possible, buy local.
29:03Congratulations.
29:05Three fantastic finalists and one very deserving winner.
29:14And I have to say it's been an absolute joy meeting such passionate young people
29:19who care so deeply about the future of our countryside.
29:22And if tonight's anything to go by, I really feel that that future is in safe hands.
29:28In Cumbria, I've been discovering how Turner's evocative brushstrokes helped define the way we imagine the Lake District,
29:49a landscape that now attracts around 18 million visitors each year.
29:55But while these fells look picture perfect, they can be perilous too.
30:00Weather rolls in fast and with little or no phone signal, help can be hours away.
30:06From Penrith Mountain Rescue Team, Matt Nightingale and his dog Morag are a lifeline on the fells,
30:17dedicated to keeping people safe.
30:20Morag, say hello.
30:22Say hello.
30:23There, that'll do.
30:28So today we're up in a very mountainous environment with large hills, steep hills,
30:35places where people can easily get lost.
30:38There's no phone communication where we are.
30:41So if I was out here now and I fell over and broke my leg,
30:44it could take some time to get the message out that I'd fallen over and broken my leg.
30:49It could then take time for help to get here.
30:52On a mountain, Morag can be as useful as having 20 rescuers out searching for a missing person.
31:01The fact that she uses her nose rather than trying to use eyes means she'll work whatever the weather.
31:07It doesn't matter if it's dark.
31:09Scents can drift in the air around corners so she can pick them up.
31:12We've known each other for about 11 years and we met because she was at an animal refuge near Carlisle.
31:27She'd run away from her last home and they didn't want her back.
31:30Before I met Morag, I'd never trained a dog in my life.
31:35Typically training an air scenting mountain rescue search dog like Morag is would take two to three years.
31:42Signs that were a little bit concerning maybe about her making it as a mountain search dog was that she wasn't house trained.
31:53She didn't know her own name. She didn't know any commands. We had to start from scratch.
31:58Dog Matt. Dog Matt from Body Rick.
32:02Matt, go ahead. Over.
32:04Yeah, I'm now in position and awaiting a find.
32:07Rick from Matt. We're setting off now so hopefully see you soon.
32:11Today we're doing a fairly standard training exercise for the qualified dogs where we'll simply get one of our volunteer dog's bodies to hide somewhere on the mountain side.
32:27I might not know where they are. Morag won't know where they are.
32:32When Morag finds them, then she should indicate at them by barking.
32:39Despite us doing this for several years now, on every training exercise, there's always the anxiety of, is she going to find this person?
32:59Good girl, Morag.
33:01Good girl.
33:11Hey.
33:12Yeah.
33:13Good girl, Morag.
33:15Good girl.
33:17Well, that was a good sequence that, Matt. Are you happy with that?
33:21Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, she did really well.
33:23How many call outs has she been on in that time?
33:25I would suspect between, probably around about 70 call outs over the years, all times of day and night, all kinds of weather.
33:35She's still got it, hasn't she?
33:36Yeah, yeah.
33:37So Morag isn't motivated by altruism.
33:47Good girl.
33:48She's just out there to go and get her reward that she's been trained for, which is a toy. Ideally, a squeaky toy.
34:00Recently, Morag got a Make a Difference Award in the animal category through BBC Radio Cumbria, because of her, well, for going out and helping find missing people.
34:12Morag is now 12 and a half years old, so she's older than some search dogs have been when they've retired.
34:25She's at that point where she might retire in any day.
34:29As long as she's happy to keep working and she can still work reliably, then I'm happy for her to stay working.
34:38It'd be a shame to cut her off while she can still do a good job.
34:43She's just a really good pet to have.
34:47To find out more about BBC Radio's Make a Difference Awards, go to bbc.co.uk forward slash make a difference.
35:08From Turner's era to the present day, Cumbria's landscape has been defined by features that weave across the ridges and wind through valleys, tracing the boundaries of fields and farms.
35:29Many of these structures were first laid more than two centuries ago and stand as works of art in their own right.
35:38It's hard to imagine this landscape without these dry stone walls.
35:43They stretch for hundreds of miles along the contours of the fells and each stone has been lifted and placed by hand.
35:52It's real craftsmanship and it's lusted for many generations.
35:58Though they seem timeless, these walls are often damaged and they need constant upkeep.
36:04Hello Miriam.
36:05Will.
36:07Here in Borrowdale, National Trust Rangers Miriam Abbas and Will Veach work year round to survey, repair and preserve these walls.
36:16So various things knock the walls down, sometimes a branch might come off a tree, sometimes the sheep climb on the walls.
36:24There's a bit of wool on the wire here so it might have been that a sheep had got in and they try and force the way down behind the wall top netting.
36:33So how do you go about rebuilding the wall then?
36:35So most walls like this they're made of two skins of walling stone so we'll separate that out so that's all sort of the bigger stone that we've got piled up.
36:44And then on the inside we've got all this smaller stuff.
36:47We call it fill and people call it heartings as well and that just makes everything nice and stable when we build the two sides of the wall.
36:53Well this stone is a whopper isn't it?
36:56Yeah it is. So this is a through stone and we try and put these in about every metre along the wall and it just ties the two sides of the wall together and gives it a lot of strength.
37:04Pretty hard work isn't it?
37:05Yeah definitely, especially when you're moving the foundations around sometimes they're huge stones and you need a few people on bars to move them.
37:12It will become a really strong wall and hopefully it will last quite a long time.
37:17Starting with the big foundation stones, Miriam and Will have rebuilt the wall from the ground up.
37:24They've already wrestled the biggest stones into place, hopefully they'll trust me with some of the smaller ones.
37:31It's a job that works best in pairs, one on each side, fitting the stones together.
37:40So I suppose it's a bit like a jigsaw puzzle is it, putting it back again and it takes I suppose a lot of experience before you know just which ones go where.
37:48Yeah there's like a certain way of stacking the stone up. What we're trying to do is place stones in courses but have them overlapping joints so it's a little bit like building a brick wall.
37:58You're going to try and want to put a stone across these joints here and then you also want a really nice face so ideally quite a nice flat face and if you can try and get length into the wall because that's what makes it really strong.
38:10So you don't want little tippy stones that will kind of fall off.
38:17If you look at this stone that is the good face of the stone.
38:20Yeah.
38:21Yeah so then you'll try and position that one so it crosses a join and the flat face is in line with the rest of the wall.
38:28Yeah.
38:29Now then what about that one?
38:31Yeah that one looks good.
38:32Is that flat enough for you?
38:33This is quite a good face yeah.
38:34So if you try and pull that back into the wall a little bit.
38:38Yeah.
38:39Perfect.
38:40Yeah like that and then see now it's touching its neighbour and it's sat on both of these and it's crossing a join which is exactly what you want.
38:45That's a nice fit.
38:46Yeah.
38:47Yeah.
38:48And then normally what we do because if you put a stone on like this it can tend to be a little bit wobbly.
38:52Yeah.
38:53So what you want to do is get some of this small stuff the fill and kind of prop it up behind just to make it a bit more solid.
38:58And wedge it in.
38:59So we've got a bucket there that we can use.
39:02These days they're very much a kind of tourist attraction aren't they?
39:05Yeah.
39:06People love to come here and see all the walls.
39:08Yeah exactly.
39:09They're just part of the kind of cultural heritage around here really and they're actually really good boundaries for us because unlike a fence they'll last a really long time.
39:16A well-built wall can last hundreds and hundreds of years so when we go and fix wall gaps up on the fells we don't need to carry any materials up with us.
39:23All the stones already there we just need to put it back in the gap really.
39:26That's good.
39:27So that's quite handy.
39:28Yeah.
39:29Saves us lugging loads of fence posts up the hill.
39:30Yeah and loads of stones.
39:31Yeah exactly.
39:32Yeah.
39:33I had a stone wall round my garden.
39:36Oh yeah.
39:37And it collapsed.
39:38I cheated a bit because I put some mortar in the centre.
39:42Yeah.
39:43Yeah.
39:44To strengthen the wall.
39:45Why don't you do that?
39:47Not allowed?
39:48Well not in a dry stone wall really.
39:50I mean in some areas they do put mortar on their coping stones and things but it's just impractical when you're building such a long length of wall in such a remote place sometimes to actually be mixing the mortar.
40:04It's not necessary to use mortar because the structure of the wall provides its own strength.
40:17It's actually really satisfying isn't it?
40:19It is definitely.
40:20Yeah.
40:21It is yeah.
40:22Yeah.
40:23It is.
40:24These walls don't just mark the edges of farms.
40:28They also help to safeguard one of the late district's greatest treasures,
40:34the Borrordale rainforest.
40:37Ancient temperate rainforests are some of the rarest habitats on Earth,
40:42and the rain-soaked woods of Borrordale are one of the last remaining examples in Britain.
40:48Relatively undisturbed for centuries,
40:51they're full of globally rare mosses and lichens.
40:54Our team tends to focus more on the woodland boundaries.
41:00This is part of the NNR, which is the National Nature Reserve,
41:03and that's basically to protect the Borrordale temperate rainforest.
41:07So the sheep we try not to let in the NNR at all,
41:10just because when they get in, they'll graze everything.
41:13So all the little saplings, all the regen,
41:15they are really good at just eating everything.
41:19There's some more. Smaller ones.
41:22Right.
41:24And I suppose as well as serving a very practical purpose,
41:29these walls are a haven for all kinds of wildlife, aren't they?
41:32Yeah, absolutely.
41:33They provide quite a good habitat for toads.
41:36We get little voles and mice in there as well,
41:38and also just for lichens and bryophytes.
41:40So we've got lots of mosses like this growing on the walls.
41:43Yes, yes.
41:43Often when we're taking a wall gap apart,
41:46we might find a little frog in it or something,
41:48and you see wrens flying into the wall.
41:50And I suppose the beauty of these walls is that they're so resilient.
41:56Yes, they are, definitely.
41:57Rain, snow, wind, these walls are really solid,
42:00and they don't really fall over very easily.
42:03In comparison, when we do fences, like wooden posts,
42:07they'll have a lifespan of about 15 or 20 years,
42:10just getting hammered by rain and frost and stuff.
42:12So these walls will last, hopefully, 100 years.
42:14Yeah, centuries.
42:15Yeah.
42:16It's looking good, though.
42:18Yeah.
42:18Not far off.
42:20Like that.
42:21Oh, that fits in quite nice.
42:22It's a bit wobbly.
42:23Yeah, might just need to get some filling behind it.
42:25All right, yeah.
42:26Put a wedge under it.
42:27That's fine, that.
42:28Perfect.
42:28Yeah.
42:29Almost there.
42:42When we get to the top,
42:44we use these sort of stones that are called cams or coping stones.
42:49And again, they want to cross the wall and tie the two skins together.
42:55Also, putting the packing in really nice and tight
42:58is really important for the strength and structure of the wall as well.
43:02I'm really impressed with what you've managed to do in such a short time, really.
43:06Fantastic.
43:07On to the next one, then.
43:08Yeah.
43:08But I'll leave you to it.
43:09I'm sure you can cope without me.
43:12Thanks for having me.
43:13Bye.
43:13See you.
43:14Bye.
43:26Well, dry stone walls, as we've been hearing,
43:29are built to withstand any kind of weather,
43:32which is just as well,
43:33because here in the Lake District, it can certainly rain.
43:36And what's the weather going to be like right across the UK in the week ahead?
43:40Let's find out with the Countryfile forecast.
43:50Hello there.
43:51It's been a lovely day in the Lake District today in the sunshine,
43:55but tomorrow is going to be very,
43:56very different because we've got rain on the way.
43:59And it's across these western areas, particularly over the hills,
44:02that overnight and tomorrow we will see some heavy rain that could bring with it some disruption
44:07and some flooding.
44:07But there is one part that could get the worst of it,
44:10and we'll focus on that in just a moment.
44:12But you can see how quickly the weather is changing in from the Atlantic.
44:15The cloud is already streaming in, starting to bring some rain into western areas.
44:19Head of that cloud, though,
44:21we've still got some clearer skies across some easternmost parts of England.
44:24So it will get quite chilly here for a while, and then those temperatures will rise.
44:28And that's because the cloud is going to continue to stream its way eastwards.
44:32Rain will set in across much of the country,
44:35and at the same time the winds will strengthen as well.
44:38And so temperatures come the end of the night are going to be nearer 8 to 10 degrees.
44:42But the rain is going to be an issue as we head through tomorrow,
44:46particularly across this part of Wales, South Wales,
44:48where we've got this amber rain warning from the Met Office.
44:51There could be over 100 millimetres of rain over the hills.
44:54That is more likely to bring some disruption and some flooding.
44:57But you can see it's pretty wet across other western areas into the southwest of Scotland.
45:01The rain not amounting to much towards the southeast, East Anglia,
45:04and away from the south of Scotland.
45:05It could turn drier through much of the day in Scotland,
45:08and some drier weather for Northern Ireland before we get some heavy rain later on in the day.
45:13It's going to be windy for England and Wales,
45:14less so for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
45:16But a mild start to December, temperatures 13 and 14 degrees.
45:20That wet weather continues into the evening before that weather front then sweeps its way eastwards.
45:25And then we're going to be left as we head into Tuesday,
45:27with low pressure sitting to the northwest of the UK,
45:29bringing some slightly cooler air.
45:31Nothing desperately cold though, really, over the week ahead.
45:33And there'll be some sunshine around on Tuesday.
45:36There'll be some showers as well.
45:37Most of these in the south and southwest,
45:40pushing into Wales, the odd shower perhaps, towards the far northwest.
45:43But for many eastern areas, it may well be a dry day with some sunshine.
45:47Temperature's not quite as high, but still not bad, around 9 to 11 degrees.
45:52And that area of low pressure just sort of fills, sits there and doesn't really do anything.
45:56And we await another weather front to come in from the Atlantic.
45:59But before that arrives, again, we'll see some sunshine on Wednesday and some showers.
46:05But a drier day in the south of England and across south Wales.
46:08Most of the showers through the Irish Sea, further north into the northwest of Scotland too.
46:13And those temperatures on Wednesday, again, 9, 10, perhaps 11 in the far southeast.
46:20And then we've got that weather front then coming in from the Atlantic.
46:22Here it is overnight, sweeping northwards and eastwards.
46:25This rain doesn't look as bad as the rain we're going to get overnight tonight and into tomorrow.
46:31But we will see some rain moving northwards and eastwards.
46:34And that will be followed by some sunshine and a few showers towards the far southwest as well.
46:39Those temperatures on Thursday, not changing a great deal, around 8 to 10 Celsius.
46:45But as you can see, all our weather is coming in from the Atlantic.
46:48That weather front, bringing some rain during the day, will then weaken overnight.
46:52And then we've got another area of low pressure.
46:54This one is a bigger one, but it's moving a little more slowly.
46:58And ahead of that, with some lighter winds, we could have some mist, fog and some low cloud on Friday
47:02before we get some sunshine breaking through that.
47:05And then we start to see the winds picking up in the southwest, beginning to bring some rain in here as well.
47:10We end the week with temperatures around 7 to 10 Celsius.
47:13After a wet start to the week, the rest of the week doesn't look too bad.
47:18Goodbye.
47:18We're in the Lake District, following in the footsteps of J.M.W. Turner.
47:35Oh, wow.
47:36It's just so stunning.
47:38It's no wonder this breathtaking scenery inspired his work.
47:43This is taken from close to where we're sitting.
47:45Right here.
47:45Exactly.
47:47But these farmed hillsides with their dry stone walls give this living landscape its enduring character.
47:55I suppose the beauty of these walls is that they're so resilient.
47:59Yes, they are definitely.
48:01These walls will last hopefully 100 years.
48:02Yeah, centuries.
48:03Yeah.
48:03I've always admired Turner.
48:21He didn't just paint what he saw, but he painted how it felt.
48:25The way he's as depth and colour and light to build up this emotion is just masterful to me.
48:32It's exquisite.
48:37I can lose myself in Turner's paintings, just trying to work out how he's managed to build up all of that movement and atmosphere on a flat bit of paper.
48:47And he's actually inspired me to pick up the watercolors as well.
48:50Since I was about 15, I've been obsessed with his work and I really wanted to try and recreate something as emotional and as beautiful.
48:59I'll admit the results don't quite match up, but it makes me feel really good.
49:04It's therapeutic.
49:05The beauty of the Lake District has long stirred the imagination of artists.
49:14Celebrated local painter Stefan Orlowski draws his inspiration from the very same landscapes that once captivated Turner.
49:22Artists at work.
49:27Hello.
49:27Stefan.
49:28You all right?
49:29Mind if I join you?
49:30You can, yeah.
49:31This is fantastic.
49:33Thank you very much.
49:33I love the movement in it.
49:35I love the moodiness and the drama of this.
49:38That's it, yeah, the brooding drama.
49:39I mean, it has been quite bad weather up here at one point, but I think it accounts for quite a lot of the movement in the painting.
49:47That kind of energy is what I'm after, really.
49:50Stefan, if, like, it's now very calm, if you're moving through several different tempestuous climes of the same landscape, are you putting it all on the page as it changes?
50:02Yeah, that's it.
50:03It's a kind of collection of moments, really, that take place over about three or four weeks.
50:06And I try and build in as much richness of marks and of patterning and of rhythms as I can, and hopefully they work.
50:13The brush strokes here.
50:16They're so evocative.
50:17Yeah, I mean, I like to scratch through the paint with the back of a brush.
50:22I like to try and treat oil paint as I would treat watercolour.
50:26Now, that sounds counterintuitive because they're so different, but actually there are a lot of similarities.
50:30If you thin the paint out initially and you can start to move it and maintain the initial drag marks through the final layers.
50:37And I love that you can see the pencil underneath it as well.
50:39Yeah, exactly.
50:41How much influence would you say you take from Turner?
50:48Well, I used to look a lot at his work when I was a young man.
50:51And I think the main thing that still resonates is the complexity with which he arrived at his late visual style.
50:58And his kind of real instinct for paint, watercolour and oil.
51:01So it just emerged as being a very revolutionary kind of moment, really, in painting history.
51:07How does your process compare?
51:09Not very well.
51:13There are similarities.
51:14I mean, I try to maintain as much energy in the initial sort of impulsive steps of making a painting.
51:21I think that's key.
51:22You go to a place and you try to arrest or at least pin down something that maybe caught you out of the corner of your eyes being shockingly beautiful.
51:33And then once you've arrested that moment, you then have to go back to the place and return to that place and build that richness in through observation.
51:43That's it.
51:43That's what I've always felt with Turner's art.
51:45It was just how ephemeral it was.
51:47It was working out how.
51:49How is this movement happening?
51:50How is, yeah, how is the magic happening?
51:53Yeah.
51:53You're painting outside now, but how does it compare to when you're in your studio?
51:57I mean, I much prefer being outside.
51:59In the studio, it's a more controlled environment, more precision, less impulse, I would say.
52:09Born and raised in Cumbria, Stefan is known as one of the most talented artists, exploring the meeting point between classical and contemporary painting,
52:19working in the UK, working in the UK today.
52:21So, I like the difference between the work in the studio and the work outside.
52:30It prevents things from becoming too stale.
52:31I need to be able to get close, undisturbed, and work out very fine moments of detailing in certain areas, just to make them kind of pop.
52:40And I find that the studio is a better place for doing that than being sort of battered around by the wind outside, which is quite common in Cumbria, obviously.
52:49I cut my teeth on portraiture and figurative painting.
52:55I still paint a lot of people in domestic interiors, so my work is a kind of trade-off between landscape painting and the painting of people, really.
53:06I like to include figures in these large kind of composite landscapes because they're usually to do with people looking or feeling maybe slightly encumbered or beleaguered by the weather.
53:17Of course, I'm my hardest critic.
53:23There are periods where I very much doubt what I'm doing, of course.
53:26In fact, moments where I just want to just throw the towel in on some works.
53:31This painting has taken about two months, maybe longer, and there's been periods where I haven't worked on it for weeks, you know,
53:37and then I'll come back to it and I'll see it with fresh eyes and the feeling of despondency maybe has gone and the optimism has come back.
53:45I think I'm getting close.
53:49It doesn't take much for a bad day to become a good day in the studio.
53:53Yeah, it's come together well, I think.
53:56Something about painting outside and painting the landscape actually particularly, I think it encourages you to really consider the natural world.
54:23Yeah, I mean, painting, it's a way of sort of tripping out the mental chatter.
54:30Yeah, I recently had a baby, but for the sort of final couple of months when I was quite, quite big, I was just painting so much because it made me feel so relaxed.
54:39Yes.
54:39And since having the baby, not had a chance to paint since, so any opportunity to is so, so welcome and you just can't wait to make a mark on the page.
54:48I mean, it feels great.
54:49If there's one thing painting does better than anything else, it allows a person to be in the present and that's also a big driver for me.
54:57Yeah.
54:58Stefan, what would you say is Turner's lasting impact on the art world?
55:03I think in the development of his late great style, it was the collision of ideas and his intuition with paint that allowed him to develop that very radical style where he broke apart the formal elements of painting,
55:18of light, of light, colour and form and allowed future painters to view the world of landscape painting in a very new light, which is why painters that came after him, the impressionists and even abstract painters are really indebted to him.
55:33What a picture-perfect view and there are plenty of those in our Countryfile calendar.
55:57To get your copy, here's John with all the details.
56:00It costs £11.99, which includes UK delivery.
56:07You can go to our website, bbc.co.uk forward slash Countryfile, where you'll find a link to the online order page.
56:16Or you can call 0330-333-4564 to place your order by phone.
56:25Standard geographic charges will apply to both landlines and mobiles.
56:30The phone line will be available from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and Saturdays from 10am to 4pm.
56:39If you prefer to order by post, then send your name, address and a cheque to BBC Countryfile Calendar, PO Box 25, Melton Mowbray, LE131ZG.
56:55And please make your cheques payable to BBC Countryfile Calendar.
56:59A minimum of £5.50 from the sale of each calendar will be donated to BBC Children in Neal.
57:07You never get bored of looking at that view, do you, John?
57:15No, it's always glorious, isn't it?
57:17No matter what the weather.
57:18Truly inspiring.
57:20So has it inspired you today to keep on painting?
57:24You know what?
57:25I think it has either that or build a wall.
57:28That looked great.
57:28It was, but it's much harder work than painting.
57:31Maybe I'll stick to painting then.
57:33Well, that's it from us for this week.
57:35Next week, Matt and Sammy will be exploring the power of water at Benaybrochenyok.
57:40That's good.
57:41Oh, we've got something good.
57:42Straight away, what have we got there?
57:44That is a stonefly, and this is a good indicator of good water quality.
57:49If you want to grab hold of this rope...
57:52Just pull it.
57:53And pull it up.
57:54There we go.
57:56And that will start the water wheel.
57:59It's quite a quirky feeling, isn't it?
58:02Dropping down into the darkness.
58:04Oh my gosh, look down there.
58:07It's like there's a thunderstorm going on.
58:09That's next Sunday on BBC One at 4.55.
58:13So, until then, goodbye.
58:15Bye.
58:15A master and a mystery.
58:23Press red for a glance inside the mind of an artistic genius in Turner, the secret sketchbooks.
58:28And it's hard to narrow it down.
58:29Discover the marooned music of choice with the iconic Desert Island Discs on BBC Sounds.
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