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00:02This time I'm heading to a stunning home from home. Welcome to Lambert.
00:28I'm heading into the heart of Glencoe, an area famous for its towering mountains and dark
00:35history. It's a hub for outdoor enthusiasts, photographers, and even the odd film crew.
00:42Later I'll be dropping in on a man who 30 years ago dropped everything to move to Scotland
00:47and he's been welcoming people here ever since. Here's what else is coming up.
00:53Cammie goes all poetic.
00:55Loud deep and lang, the thunder bellowed.
00:59Oh my word, this place is incredible.
01:02Hello. Rosie gets her nose to the grindstone
01:06and Liana is looking and listening for toads.
01:16First up, Lambert is 50 years old and to celebrate our anniversary, we are picking out some gems
01:24from our vast archive.
01:27In 1979, Arthur Andersen investigated the lack of farm tenancies in the Highlands.
01:34Under present fiscal legislation, tenanted land is not treated as a landowner's business,
01:39so there are no tax advantages, and let farms become an unattractive investment.
01:44Grouse, red deer, and tourism in an area of great beauty offer better financial returns
01:49for our lairds, it seems, than beef or lamb production.
01:52Of course, this is wrong, but it's sheer economics.
01:56One farmer, unable to secure a farm in the Highlands, was Alec Murray.
02:02He moved south and took a tenancy near Aberfeldy.
02:07Now, 50 years later, Arlene is returning to Pethshire to meet the family and find out if they're still tenants.
02:20Lurgan Farm, Alec Murray's adopted home.
02:24Nearly 3,000 hectares of hill ground, ideal for the black-faced sheep flock
02:29he'd spend his life building alongside his son, Dave.
02:36Landward was here in 1979 to talk to your dad about the issues around tenancy farming.
02:42I guess that was quite a big problem then.
02:45I don't know if it's improved any.
02:47I'm not sure it has.
02:48I think it's as hard as it's ever been.
02:51Not just the case of trying to get a farm,
02:53it's also the capital cost you need to stock it and to buy the machinery.
03:02ALEC died in 2022, but Dave is no longer a tenant farmer.
03:08The farm was bought outright back in 2013,
03:11but being owner brings its own challenges.
03:15With retirement looming, how could Dave ensure that the legacy
03:18of what he and his father created was looked after?
03:22I had to make a decision because none of the kids wanted to take it on.
03:27And the last thing I wanted to do was to keep going until I wasn't fit enough to run the
03:32place.
03:33If we sold it in the open market, we'd no control over what might happen.
03:37You know, it could be put under trees.
03:39I would spend a long time building it up, and we didn't want to just see it go.
03:46So things have come full circle, and 50 years after his dad started renting Lurgan Farm,
03:52Dave decided to look for a tenant.
03:56We hoped that, you know, the right young couple would come along,
04:00because we know how difficult it is for young families to get a place.
04:05So that was our priority.
04:08It couldn't have been a better outcome.
04:11Gert van Dijk is one half of that right young couple.
04:15He and his wife Anne had a dream to run a sheep farm,
04:19and moved here from Belgium in 2020 to pursue it.
04:23I was a project manager in Belgium.
04:25So I've got a master's in engineering,
04:27but, yeah, it's not just money that you need to think about in life.
04:32So I changed everything a wee bit.
04:34We both managed to make a living of what we love most in life,
04:37and she's a vet, I'm a farmer now.
04:40Perfect combination, I would say.
04:44The couple picked up experience on another farm
04:47before grabbing the tenancy here in 2025.
04:51And if you put the lamb down, then walk back.
04:55And making sure his ewes bond with their lambs back on the hill
04:58is taking up Gert's time right now.
05:02Mother nature usually does his thing.
05:05So tense.
05:08And that's them we'll sit up now.
05:11I feel like a happy ending.
05:14And it certainly feels like a happy outcome for Dave as well.
05:17He created a legacy here with his father,
05:20and that now has the chance to continue with the Van Dykes.
05:26And Gert won't let him down.
05:29The work that Dave and his dad, Alec, have done over the years
05:34is pretty amazing.
05:36Like, it's taken decades to build up a flock to this standard.
05:40If you want to build that up from scratch at the moment,
05:43that'll, yeah, basically would take me my lifetime as a sheep farmer, probably.
05:48So being able to take down and, yeah, hopefully pass down to someone else at some stage
05:56feels like, yeah, a very rare and amazing opportunity.
06:02And, yeah, I can only be grateful for the chance that we're getting.
06:16They do say home is where the heart is.
06:19And I'm off to meet a man who fell in love with the Scottish countryside 30 years ago,
06:24and he's been welcoming people here ever since.
06:31You're only at 742 metres,
06:34but you have an amazing view of the whole landscape.
06:38Thomas Jansen is the warden at Glencoe Youth Hostel.
06:43It's a popular base for walkers to explore the many mountains that surround it.
06:50Will I dry?
06:51That would be great. That would be a great help.
06:54Thomas is originally from Germany,
06:56but for the last three decades, he's lived and worked in Scotland.
07:01So tell me about your first experience of hostelling in Scotland.
07:05First experience of hostelling in Scotland was when I was staying at the Hossean Youth Hostel
07:10during my honeymoon a long time ago in 1992,
07:14and I fell in love with the idea, with the ethos of youth hostelling
07:18and the social aspect of it, and it never really left me.
07:26Created to provide cheap accommodation, allowing access for anyone to Scotland's countryside,
07:33the Scottish Youth Hostels Association charity opened their first hostel in 1931.
07:45Hostel management is a bit different these days, but hostelling Scotland, as it's now called,
07:51has 28 hostels across the country.
07:54And it was Thomas and his wife Marianne's experience at Loch Ossian that persuaded the couple to up sticks and
08:02come to Scotland.
08:04That's me being a hostel warden, or a hostel manager, as they call us these days, for 30 years.
08:10And that makes him Scotland's longest serving.
08:13People spend the time, which is their most precious time, their time off,
08:19and I want to make it as nice as possible, because I experienced that during my holidays,
08:25so I want to give something back, and I'm giving back for 30 years now.
08:29He's worked in five other hostels before coming to Glencoe in 2008.
08:35And on a day like today, it's hard to see why you'd want to be anywhere else,
08:40even when there's work to be done.
08:42So what job are you doing today?
08:44We're brushing the decking of the pot, because there's a lot of, like, leaves and whatnot on it.
08:49Thomas is thoroughly settled here, both his daughters growing up in Glencoe.
08:55So what was it like bringing up a family in the youth hostel?
08:59I think it's a really good idea, because they get to know people from different countries.
09:07I mean, from every corner of the world we get guests,
09:11and that is the nice thing about this job,
09:14is that you have people that, like, come to spend the holidays here,
09:19first time in Scotland, and it's so nice.
09:24I mean, it would be boring if they would all come from one country.
09:28I love the way you say Scotland. It's great.
09:31All these years of living here as well.
09:33Yeah, I still kept my German accent, but Scotland is just, you know,
09:37that's what people like to hear, and it comes naturally, you know.
09:40It's like, yeah, it's fantastic.
09:43A hostel upbringing must have something about it,
09:46as both of his daughters are now working with Hostelling Scotland.
09:51And, rather sweetly, one of them works at Loch Ossian.
09:55But for Thomas, Glencoe is home.
10:00It's a pretty special place.
10:01This Glen is spectacular.
10:03It is, it is an amazing place, and I'm so grateful that the hostel is exactly where it is.
10:10So, what is it about this place, then, that you love so much?
10:13It is just everything.
10:14It is, again, it's the building.
10:17It creaks and it moans, because it's a completely wooden structure.
10:21But it's also the location.
10:23I mean, going to work and seeing this at your doorstep, it's just amazing.
10:28The people in the village are absolutely lovely.
10:31It's a really nice, close-knit community, and they welcomed us.
10:36And I can't imagine living anywhere else.
10:45From a home in a highland hostel to the home of our national bard,
10:50we sent Burns fan Cammie to Dumfreeshire to find out how the farm that inspired him
10:56is being protected for the future.
11:02I fell in love with Burns after I read Tam O'Shanter.
11:07I can do it by heart.
11:08Like me, he was a son of Ayrshire, and a farmer.
11:14In 1788, when he was 29, he moved to Ellesland and farmed near Dumfrees for three years.
11:25Burns described his farm here, on the banks of the River Nith, as sweet, poetic ground.
11:31And his time here was one of the most creative periods of his life.
11:38The wind blew as twad blod its last.
11:41The rattling showers rose on the blast.
11:43The speedy gleams the darkness swallowed.
11:45Loud deep and lang, the thunder bellowed.
11:49That night, a child met on her stone.
11:52The deal had business on his own.
11:56Burns wrote his masterpiece, Tam O'Shanter, here.
11:59And also, Aethon Kiss and Auld Lang Syne.
12:05When he moved here from Ayrshire in 1788, there was a lot to do.
12:10Today, Ellesland is a museum.
12:13And on hand to tell me more is curator Adam Dixon.
12:17When Robert Burns first moves here, the land in Dumfreeshire as a whole is what we would call pre-improved.
12:23So, it's quite inefficient and it doesn't yield as much crop or any productivity, really.
12:30So, Burns is commissioned by his landlord to come and improve this farm said.
12:34And he set the fields out this way?
12:36Exactly, yeah.
12:36170 acres, exactly as Burns laid it out.
12:39Was there livestock on here as well?
12:40I'm actually really glad you asked that because apparently he was the first person to introduce Ayrshire cattle into Dumfreeshire.
12:46More yield and things like that.
12:47What a wise man. He knew where the good stock was.
12:50But Burns was also kept busy with the small matter of where to live.
12:55So, he was given £300 by his landlord to build that house, to build the enclosing courtyard as well.
13:02So, those three buildings, farmhouse, barn and a buyer, all laid out in that U shape.
13:08And it was what Burns saw out here that inspired his work inside.
13:15So, this poem here, Burns' hand, actually touched this paper.
13:19Yes, yeah, exactly. It's in his handwriting.
13:21You can tell it's Burns' handwriting the way he writes his F's, his T's and also the colour of the
13:26ink as well.
13:27So, it's very distinctly Burns.
13:29You know, his handwriting's fantastic.
13:30It says here, on seeing a fellow wound a hair with a shot, April 1789.
13:36It's actually one of the first anti-blood sports poems ever written.
13:41Burns is out in the field at Ellisland and he sees the kind of son of a neighbouring farmer shoot
13:46and injure a hair.
13:47And he's devastated. But he's not only devastated, he's raging.
13:50I suppose Burns is a great champion of what we're seeing more of these days is farming and nature working
13:56together hand in hand.
13:57I think it's really important to note, like, Burns is connected to nature, not through a kind of touristic gaze.
14:03He's really ingrained. It's been brought up with him throughout his life and he's very much connected to nature and
14:10he's part of it as well.
14:11And that kind of reflects in his poems.
14:16Burns left Ellisland in 1791 because of rising agricultural rents.
14:21In the early 1920s, the farm was bought for the nation by a devoted Burns enthusiast.
14:27But for the tenant who followed, there were many unannounced visitors.
14:33It was running in a very unusual way.
14:36The tenant still lived in the house and was supposed to open their doors to Burns Pilgrims.
14:43Eventually, Ellisland ceased to be a home.
14:46And today, Joan McAlpine is the person in charge of making sure the museum lasts for future generations of Burns
14:53Pilgrims.
14:54She's currently raising funds to restore the farm buildings.
14:58One of the reasons for that is that the modern paints that were used in the 20th century locked in
15:04dampness.
15:05Same with the modern mortars.
15:08And that's causing the timbers to rot.
15:10And if you look at some of the computer-generated images of what it looked like after it's finished,
15:16it won't look that different because we don't want it to look different.
15:19No, of course, of course.
15:20The glimpse that you get of Burns' farm as you approach will remain what he saw over 200 years ago.
15:31Ellisland is more than just a home or a farm.
15:34It's a place of inspiration and creativity.
15:37A place where Burns penned words that will be remembered for the next 200 years.
15:42Words that often make us pause and reflect for auld lang syne.
15:46And that's why the work being done here to restore this national heritage site is so important.
15:57Liana's only a few miles south of Cammy now, on the banks of the Saltway Firth.
16:02She's on the trail of one of our most uncommon and overlooked creatures.
16:08Now, I know toads aren't everyone's cup of tea, but hear me out.
16:11The natterjack is our rarest amphibian species in the UK, so surely they deserve a little bit of our love.
16:24In Scotland, natterjacks are found in a few locations on the Solway coast.
16:29I've come to one of them, Mersehead Nature Reserve, to meet Liam Templeton.
16:34He's from Species on the Edge, a partnership of charities striving to save our most threatened coastal wildlife.
16:42This place is stunning. It's just so vast. It's beautiful.
16:46And so, right, let's have a natter about the natterjack toad.
16:50I know it's rare, but how rare is it exactly?
16:53It was classified as endangered in the United Kingdom about five years ago,
16:58and as a result has retreated to a handful of strongholds, such as at the reserve here at Mersehead.
17:06So this is a really important site then?
17:08Absolutely.
17:09Living on the coast means the natterjacks are increasingly at the mercy of climate change.
17:15With rising sea levels, extreme weather events and erosion, their habitats are disappearing.
17:21The clock is ticking for the toads, and Liam is working with others to fight for their survival.
17:27We are responsible for the national natterjack monitoring programme,
17:31and we also work closely with landowners and land managers to try and prescribe sustainable land management practices
17:39and to implement habitat restoration in the broader landscape of the Scottish Solway coast.
17:46The combination of dunes, salt marshes and shallow pools at Mersehead provides the ideal home for natterjacks.
17:54Reserve ranger Rowena Chambers is showing me signs they're around.
17:59So what would we be looking for along here?
18:01So we're looking along the edge of the water for toad spawn.
18:06So they do lay the spawn strings in warm, shallow water,
18:10so looking along the edge of the pool is a really good place to look.
18:14How many do they lay at a time?
18:15So each spawn string might have around 7,000 eggs.
18:197,000.
18:21And like many amphibians, they produce hundreds of thousands of eggs.
18:25Because with each spawn string, only about 1% might go on to become adult toads.
18:30Safety in numbers.
18:37Like all species, toad numbers fluctuate.
18:40In 2018, they counted more than 300 adult toads at Mersehead.
18:45Last year, only 72.
18:48But that figure rebounded, and in 2026, the count was 157.
18:55And if I want to see adult toads, I'll have to wait a few hours.
19:08Natterjacks are mainly nocturnal,
19:10so the best chance of seeing them is at night.
19:14The toads and their habitats are legally protected against disturbance,
19:18so Rowena needs a special licence to monitor them.
19:23As the daylight dims, out come the bats.
19:27And the natterjacks.
19:31It does help if you cup your hands over your ears.
19:35As well as being the rarest amphibia in the UK,
19:38they're also the loudest.
19:42It's just amazing.
19:43Such a unique call.
19:44You'd think only birds could make a song like that.
19:49That's the breeding call of the male natterjack.
19:52It's said on still nights, you can hear their chorus a mile away.
19:56And Rowena has located one of the sources of all that noise.
20:02They're very delicate compared to the common toads.
20:04They're quite a bit smaller than the common toads.
20:07And I can see he's got quite specific markings on his back.
20:12Each adult toad has a unique pattern of dorsal warts along its back.
20:16Like a fingerprint.
20:17Amazing.
20:18To understand whether they're male or female, we can just gently flip them over.
20:23And you can see that this is a male because he's got a very blue, bruised appearance to the throat.
20:29And that's the vertical sac that's deflated.
20:32On a female, the throat will be a very kind of pure, brilliant white with little black dots.
20:39So sweet.
20:40He's quite lively as well.
20:42Yes.
20:42So when we're out, we'll just give them a really quick measure in millimetres.
20:46And it helps us to understand the age demographics.
20:49So we know that they have been breeding successfully.
20:52Thanks to the work that's being done here,
20:55Murshead is one of the most sustainable populations of natterjacks in the UK.
21:00And it's been a privilege for me to see them up close.
21:04OK, so we should probably get this guy back into the water.
21:09But hearing that toad chorus has been incredible too.
21:13It's a magical sound and one that we don't want to lose.
21:23Back to the grindstone now, quite literally.
21:28Rosie's in East Lothian to see an historic building that's become more than just a photo opportunity.
21:39Preston Mill on the banks of the River Tyne near East Linton is as pretty as a picture.
21:47There's been a mill here for at least 400 years, perhaps even 800.
21:52And up until 1987, it was still regularly grinding grain.
21:57And then it ground to a halt.
22:01But now, after decades of silence, the mill has started milling once more.
22:07And if it looks familiar, that's no mistake.
22:12Its local stone and conical pantile roof have made it the perfect backdrop for movies and TV shows.
22:20Often you see people doing their selfies so they can show their friends that they've been at the same place
22:24where Jamie was.
22:26There must be something stuck under the sluice.
22:29I'm going to have to go down, see if I can pry it loose.
22:32Jamie Fraser, that is.
22:34A character in the worldwide streaming hit Outlander.
22:38I've placed you bell to serve decent vannocks in my wake.
22:41Fraser MacDonald from the National Trust for Scotland, who look after the property, has become something of an expert since
22:48the mill featured in the series.
22:50How many people come to see the mill from having seen it on the telly?
22:55Quite a lot.
22:56I think most people are here to see the mill.
22:59They might be aware of Outlander, so they've seen it that way.
23:03The BBC did on Agatha Christie here a few years ago as well.
23:06But we get Outlander tours coming through, people going from location to location and very grateful to have so many
23:12visitors coming and taking an interest in the place.
23:16Most water mills that still survive in Scotland date back to the 19th century.
23:20They're often on the site of an earlier mill, but they were completely replaced.
23:24Our one has bits which go back hundreds of years.
23:26The cowl and the kiln are probably the oldest part of the site and they date to the 1500s.
23:33Are we able to have a look inside? I'm dying to see it.
23:36Yeah, of course. Just head upstairs.
23:38The mill's Outlander connection has been worth its weight in gold.
23:43Fans have funded essential repairs and recently, a generous anonymous donation, as well as a grant, have restored the mill
23:51to full and spectacular working order.
23:56Oh, my word. This place is incredible.
24:00It's not bad, is it?
24:00The noise is actually quite melodic.
24:03Yes. Every mill has its own distinct sound.
24:06Every miller would know his mill by that sound.
24:08And if there's something not right with the machinery, he'll be able to identify it.
24:12Every mill needs a bit of finesse from the miller.
24:16There are interconnected machines and you just have to keep everything running right.
24:19How important would it have been to the locals at the time?
24:23It was the centre of the community.
24:25It provided employment. It processed the grain being grown in the local farms.
24:29If this mill wasn't here, that grain couldn't get ready for market and the farmer wouldn't be able to sell
24:34it on.
24:36While the water wheel has been able to turn over the last few decades,
24:40it's only recent repairs to the bearings and millstone that have allowed flour and meal to be produced again.
24:47So, what do we do?
24:49Well, we're putting barley into the hopper.
24:52It flows down out of the bottom of the hopper over a vibrating plate called a shoe
24:56and it trickles down through the French burr millstones.
25:01What sort of grains would they have been using at the time?
25:03The Preston mill is predominantly an oat mill.
25:07It has an oat drying kiln, which makes it a very distinctive and unusual building.
25:11But the miller wouldn't have turned away work if the farmer was growing barley or wheat.
25:16They can adjust the machinery and they can grind all different types of grain.
25:19It's quite a distinct smell as well.
25:21Yes, you get the toasting of the grain as it goes through the stones.
25:24The stones get hot from friction and if you're not careful, the grain can start to burn.
25:29So, you have to keep an eye on things.
25:31That's why you keep your nose to the grindstone.
25:33It's a sniff for burning grain.
25:34Is that right? Oh my goodness!
25:37Once the grain has gone through the millstones,
25:39it flows down through a chute to the floor below where it gets sieved.
25:44Okay, so this is where it all comes out?
25:47Yes, so that's a fine powder.
25:49Can I have a feel?
25:50Yes.
25:51Now, originally this would be sieved to divide it by size.
25:55Yeah, because there's bits of larger bits, but it is very fine, isn't it?
25:59Yeah, but the miller would judge the coarseness of the grain
26:02by doing exactly what you're doing, rubbing the grain between his thumb and forefinger.
26:06That's the rule of thumb.
26:07No.
26:08That's where the expression comes from.
26:10I'm learning a lot from you today.
26:12And how amazing is it for you to see this place up and running again?
26:16Oh, it's fantastic.
26:17For a long time, our visitors have been able to see the machinery working,
26:21but to have the grain flowing through the millstones,
26:24to smell the grain being processed,
26:27to hear the different sounds, it's a sensory overload, really.
26:31It is history in motion still.
26:33Oh yeah, the mill's come back to life.
26:43That brings us to the end of this programme.
26:46If you'd like to watch some episodes again and catch up with some gems from our archive,
26:51go to the BBC iPlayer and search for Landlord.
26:55Here's what's coming up next time.
26:56The farming new entrant getting a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
27:01It's unreal.
27:02You just don't get opportunities like this.
27:05We head to Ascent, where Rosie tracks down its amazing elms.
27:10Wow, that was worth a trek up.
27:12And Shabazz reaches its spectacular bone caves.
27:17Please join us for that and much, much more if you can.
27:21In the meantime, from all the Lambert teams around the country,
27:23and especially from me here in Glencoe,
27:26thank you so much for your company.
27:28Bye for now.
27:58We'll see you next time.
27:59Bye.
27:59Bye.
27:59Bye.
27:59Bye.
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