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‘The Country Of My Heart’
Matt Baker explores Nottinghamshire, the home of one of our most controversial writers - and a place he called the ‘country of my heart’. DH Lawrence was born the son of a coal miner and grew up in the small mining community of Eastwood. It’s here that Matt starts his journey, visiting Lawrence’s birthplace. Then, heading out to local farms and beauty spots, he goes in search of the people and places that inspired Lawrence to write his most famous novels; Sons and Lovers, Women in Love and the notorious Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Find out more about DH Lawrence in Nottinghamshire
IMAGE: Matt gets up close and personal with a carp in one of the settings for Lawrence’s novels -
The Badger Cull
In just a few weeks time two trial culls of badgers are expected to begin in the south of England, in an effort to control the spread of bovine TB. It’s a hugely controversial event and Tom Heap will be looking at both sides of the argument. Countryfile has been given exclusive access to one of the specially trained marksmen who will be carrying out the shooting – plus he’ll be finding out why so many farmers support it, from the NFU’s Peter Kendal. Then Tom finds out why others are so set against the cull. He’ll meet people who are vaccinating badgers instead of shooting them and hear from The Badger Trust’s Jack Reedy.
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Full Steam Ahead
John Craven visits Papplewick Pumping Station – an amazing feat of Victorian engineering built to provide clean water for the growing city of Nottingham. Opened in 1884, Papplewick was fully operational until 1969. Today it is the most elaborately decorated surviving and functional fresh-water pumping station in Britain. John learns how to stoke the huge boilers and start up the impressive steam-powered engines. He also takes an exciting trip underground into a dark and beautiful vaulted space that originally stored the water pumped from the station.
Find out more about Papplewick -
Adam And The Alps
This week Adam Henson is in Switzerland witnessing a very special tradition. High up in the Aletsch Alps in Valais more than 1,000 sheep are brought down off the mountainside every year. The homecoming of the sheep happens on the last weekend in August and the flock travel several miles across some difficult terrain. Many generations of farmers have managed to live here thanks to the hardy black-nosed sheep that can cope with life in the Alps – but how will Adam get on?
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Hard Work In The Idle Valley
After half a century of aggregates extraction the Idle Valley Nature Reserve has recently been developed into a wetland landscape. The size of 600 football pitches, it is one of the largest sites for nature conservation in the East Midlands. Ellie Harrison finds out how the former gravel extraction site has been transformed into a wildlife paradise. She meets the team and volunteers working on the Ecominds scheme – helping to improve mental health and well-being by giving people the chance to get involved in conservation tasks and rural crafts.
Find out more about the Ecominds project -
Pigeon Pride
People have lived with pigeons and doves as far back as Roman times. The people of Nottinghamshire have a particularly strong relationship with their feathered friends – more than 400 dovecotes can be found in the county. Ellie visits some of the county’s oldest and finest examples and gets her hands dirty helping to repair an ancient dovecote in a back garden. Bringing us back to the present day, Ellie meets nine-times national racing champion Gary Daykin to find out more about a sport where a single racing pigeon can cost up to a quarter of a million pounds. And to round it off, she challenges Matt to a race…
Find out more about pigeon racing
Credits
- Series Producer
- Teresa Bogan
- Presenter
- Matt Baker
- Presenter
- Ellie Harrison
- Presenter
- Tom Heap
- Presenter
- Adam Henson
Broadcasts
Summer of Wildlife
A special season celebrating the UK's unique and extraordinary wildlife.
