Sean Fletcher looks back at 2020 – a difficult year for all of us as we faced a pandemic but a year when the countryside became a lifeline for unprecedented numbers; when wildlife came out to play and also made their homes in curious places during lockdown. Sean also catches up with some of the inspiring young people at the forefront of the battle to protect the environment, and there's a timely reminder of how we can all do our bit to safeguard our countryside. Air Date : 3rd-Jan-2021  Read More

After the turmoil of 2020 and as a new year gets underway, how do we plan to make the countryside a bigger part of our lives? Matt Baker wants to get fitter and tries his hand at canicross, Anita Rani straps on her walking boots, Margherita Taylor heads for the woods, Helen Skelton wants to buy local, Tom Heap discovers the joys of 'blue' therapy, and Adam Henson gets creative with clay. Air Date : 10th-Jan-2021  Read More

Ellie Harrison and Tom Heap are in the Mendips looking at how this stunning but fragile area is being protected from the invasion of visitors. Ellie scales Cheddar Gorge and discovers the damage cars are wreaking on narrow, winding roads. She also learns how white-clawed freshwater crayfish are being saved from voracious invaders. Tom finds out how the countryside can help transform lives and investigates if the government’s new green subsidy scheme can really deliver for farmers and the environment. Meanwhile, Adam meets one of his heroes, international rugby ref turned farmer Nigel Owens, who is facing his herd’s first TB test. Air Date : 17th-Jan-2021  Read More

Matt Baker is staying close to home, exploring the Chilterns landscape and the people and skills that have shaped this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. He discovers some hidden historical gems revealed by a revolutionary new mapping technique, heads deep into the woods to learn about the ancient art of bodging and rolls his sleeves up to help clean up ponds which are so desperately needed by wildlife. Joe Crowley investigates if large-scale schemes such as HS2 tally with the government’s pledge to go green, and on the farm, Adam calls in a horse whisperer to help with a nervous Exmoor pony. Air Date : 24th-Jan-2021  Read More

Ellie Harrison is in Gloucestershire, finding out how communities on her home turf are pulling together to support each other in these tough times. She meets the producers on a mission to get everyone eating local and healthy meals at affordable prices, finds out why gardening is on prescription and helps out with Britain’s favourite mammal, the hedgehog, which is facing a precarious future. Wildlife film-maker Jack Perks gets up close to dippers, Adam sizes up a new boar for his pigs, and Charlotte investigates what future trade deals could mean for the food on our plates. Air Date : 31st-Jan-2021  Read More

Helen Skelton is on Crompton Moor in the Pennines, braving all weathers to discover what makes this site of biological interest such a special place. Battered by rain, wind and snow, she helps install ‘leaky dams,’ discovers how a plant with superpowers is helping to restore these uplands and meets the community coming together to bring wildlife back to the hills. Adam Henson tries out a new app to show how contented his animals are, wildlife film-maker Richard Taylor-Jones shows you how to spot wonderful wildlife on your doorstep, and Tom Heap investigates the rural mental health crisis. Air Date : 7th-Feb-2021  Read More

Whilst visiting Kentish Town City Farm to lend a helping hand, Margherita Taylor takes a look back through the Countryfile archives to celebrate some winter heroes - the farmers toughing it out in all weathers; wildlife rescue volunteers risking their lives to save one of our most majestic animals; and the community working together to save the heart of their village. Margherita also catches up with one of her childhood winter heroes, Eddie the Eagle. And we couldn’t forget our Children in Need ramblers, as we reveal the astonishing amount our viewers have raised. Air Date : 14th-Feb-2021  Read More

Tom Heap explores Northamptonshire’s Nene Valley, discovering how a farmer fighting flooding has embraced wetland wildlife to make his land pay. Tom also meets a sheepdog turned search-and-rescue hero and gets hands-on with a project that has unearthed evidence of riverside residents dating back to Neolithic times. Adam is hoping for good news from his ewes as, thanks to scanning, he discovers how many are in lamb. Charlotte Smith investigates whether Brexit is delivering all it promised for the UK’s fishing industry, and ecologist Josh Styles reveals the secret world inside a prehistoric plant. Air Date : 21st-Feb-2021  Read More

This week Anita Rani is on her home turf in London, showing that you don’t need to go far for a healthy dose of green. Anita is taken on an enchanting tour of one of London’s 'magnificent seven' cemeteries, as she discovers a trove of treasures right on her doorstep and sets out to crack the mystery of a non-native bird. Adam Henson shows us how he concocts a super-meal for his animals during the winter months, and Tom Heap investigates a controversial decision that allows UK farmers to use a banned pesticide on their fields. Air Date : 28th-Feb-2021  Read More

Charlotte Smith visits the Colne Valley Regional Park, a landscape of forest, fields and waterways on the edge of west London. She does battle with an invasive species, gets up close with tiny creatures that show the health of the park’s rivers, meets a savvy septuagenarian saving her farm from development, and helps secure a future for one of our most endangered mammals, the water vole. Tom Heap asks whether eco-education should be at the heart of our school system, Adam Henson introduces new boar George II to his sows, and wildlife cameraman Jack Perks gets up close with otters. Air Date : 7th-Mar-2021  Read More

In this special episode, Ellie joins Adam and his team for 48 hours of hectic lambing action. She may be the rookie in Adam’s lambing shed, but Ellie quickly gets to grips with multiple births, touch-and-go adoptions and the emotions of the life-or-death decisions faced each day during this busiest of spring seasons on the farm. Tom Heap finds out why mountains of wool, historically the nation's most valuable sheep product, are now piling up in warehouses across the country. In Cumbria, Hannah Jackson – the Red Shepherdess - meets young upland farmers bringing new ideas to this traditional form of sheep farming. Plus how to count sheep using an almost forgotten Celtic language system. Air Date : 14th-Mar-2021  Read More

Ellie Harrison celebrates the arrival of spring on her home turf in the Cotswolds. From the millions of snowdrops in Painswick’s Rococo Gardens to discovering some old folklore, finding out about a scheme to enable wheelchair users to enjoy tougher terrain in the great outdoors and meeting the cattle that encourage wildflowers, Ellie also raids the Countryfile archive. There’s the time she went on dolphin watch in Cardigan Bay, Matt Baker's visit to tulip fields in Lincolnshire and the day Adam Henson went to North Yorkshire to catch his supper. Air Date : 21st-Mar-2021  Read More

Joe Crowley discovers how science is helping better understand nature on Bedfordshire’s Greensand Ridge. He gets up close with avian giants, finding out how the world’s longest-running bird survey helps monitor heron numbers. He gets on his bike to help map the amount of plastics polluting our rural landscape, and is out on toad patrol, helping create a new national DNA database to discover why these amphibians are in trouble. As spring appears, Adam finds out if his farming gambles are paying off, Tom investigates whether the UK’s environmental ambitions will change the face of our national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty, and naturalist Dan Rouse captures the seasonal spectacle of thousands of oystercatchers on the Gower Peninsula. Air Date : 28th-Mar-2021  Read More

Ellie Harrison visits the 'golden triangle' in Gloucestershire to find out why the area is so famous for the wild daffodil. She takes a trip down memory lane with villagers who recall picking the daffs as children and how the flowers were sent by rail on the daffodil line to cities across the country. She discovers the difference between wild and cultivated daffodils and witnesses some of the finest medieval wall paintings in England. We also meet the Meanwells - a mother and son fulfilling their dreams of farming in the Cumbrian hills - and Charlotte Smith investigates the challenges facing our rural churches and the communities they serve. Air Date : 4th-Apr-2021  Read More

Tom Heap and Margherita Taylor look at the impact of canals on the past, present and future of our countryside. In the Midlands, Tom is on the UK’s longest canal – the Grand Union - discovering the engineering triumphs that helped traverse our rugged landscape and how they could now play their part in a 21st-century green tech revolution. Meanwhile, Margherita celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Regent’s Canal, finding out how this once commercial route now brings a slice of countryside to the city, benefitting both residents and wildlife. Tom also investigates what’s going into our public sector meals, wildlife film-maker Jack Perks dons his wetsuit to get up close to some frisky frogs, and we pay our first visit to Brookvale Farm in Northern Ireland, where we will be following the fortunes of a family staking their future on the success of hi-tech farming. Air Date : 11th-Apr-2021  Read More

Sean Fletcher goes wild in the Hambleden Valley in Buckinghamshire with a whistlestop trike tour of a chocolate box landscape that has been the beautiful backdrop for many TV dramas and films. But how can we breathe new life into the area? Sean finds out how the old cottage industry of lace-making is poised for a comeback, and he saddles up to meet a couple opening up their farm to enable safer riding in this corner of the countryside. Adam Henson is busy with some new arrivals, and as picking season dawns, Charlotte Smith investigates whether UK farmers can cover any shortfall in the number of seasonal farm workers needed to gather their harvests. Air Date : 18th-Apr-2021  Read More

Helen Skelton is in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in North Yorkshire, helping prepare for the return of both animals and visitors to the hills. She joins a team keeping track of adders emerging from hibernation, to find out why numbers are falling. She also joins in with efforts to help save essential woodland and its wildlife, and discovers hidden wonders as she heads into the depths of How Stean Gorge. On his Cotswold farm, Adam Henson is struggling with the unpredictable spring weather. Tom Heap investigates how a rise in pet ownership is fuelling dog thefts and wildlife film-maker Jack Perks celebrates one of our most colourful but overlooked freshwater fish – the grayling. Air Date : 25th-Apr-2021  Read More

As John Craven celebrates 50 years as a BBC presenter, on this – his 1,250th episode for Countryfile - he opens up a treasure trove of memories of some of his favourite parts of Britain. Each location evokes aspects of his life, his career and his passions: discovering a hidden treasure he never knew existed on his childhood doorstep in Yorkshire; indulging his love of verse with a trip to Cambridgeshire to find out more about John Clare, the peasant poet; and revealing his love of history on an ancient Scottish battlefield. And he has never forgotten the time he was roped up to the heady heights of the dark hedges in Northern Ireland. Air Date : 2nd-May-2021  Read More

Matt Baker and Ellie Harrison uncover the wonders past and present of Cranborne Chase. Matt unravels a puzzling piece of the area’s past as he explores a 900-year-old mediaeval ‘miz maze’ hidden in the woods, before crossing the Chase to help tend to Britain’s biggest modern day maze on the Longleat Estate. Ellie joins the UK’s only ‘supercluster’ of farmers working together to encourage wildlife on their land. She also heads to the River Ebble to disccover what makes this chalk stream so special and how it’s helping to give rural teenagers a sense of purpose. Steve Brown is in for some special stargazing in the Chase - the UK’s first designated dark sky reserve. Tom Heap investigates plans to launch a new space race from the heart of our countryside – but at what cost to the environment? And Adam Henson has a nervous wait on his hands as his rare-breed Suffolk Punch Lexi goes to the maternity unit. Air Date : 9th-May-2021  Read More

Matt Baker and Charlotte Smith head to the Peak District to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the UK's first national park. Matt joins a pioneering scheme to restore ruined farm buildings and meets 'legend' of the Peak District Gordon Miller, one of the area's early rangers and a last link to those who brought about the national park. Charlotte channels her inner artist to help create a giant anniversary art mural and records the special sounds of the park's waterways. Sean Fletcher meets a 'tyre runner' using the Peak District's hills to help his mental health. Meanwhile, as some of his traditional crops fail, Adam takes a glimpse at what the farming of tomorrow might look like, and Joe Crowley investigates new pollution laws causing controversy in the countryside. Air Date : 16th-May-2021  Read More

Plant Britain is all about encouraging community gardens and planting wildflowers in a two-year initiative to help combat climate change, help wildlife and pollinators and transform our own wellbeing. Matt Baker and Margherita Taylor help Bristol locals to create a community garden, and Charlotte Smith visits a project in Glasgow that is blooming. Sean Fletcher is in Northern Ireland with primary school children to find out about their field-to-fork project. Helen Skelton is with a young botanist who is on a mission to save our native wildflowers, while Joe Crowley discovers the secret life hidden in a special meadow in north Wales. The Natural History Museum do some cutting-edge soil and pond DNA forensics, and John Craven finds out how to do your bit no matter how small a space you have - from a pot on a windowsill to a balcony planter. Also, look out for special messages from some well-known faces. Air Date : 23rd-May-2021  Read More

Matt Baker and Margherita Taylor visit the stunning Llyn Peninsula in north Wales, known as 'Snowdonia’s arm'. Margherita finds out about plans for a major blue energy project. While harnessing the power of the tide might cure energy issues, what do residents make of it all? And what will the impact be on wildlife and fishing? Matt dons his wetsuit, wading into the sea to help check the health of a critical crop of carbon-capturing sea grass, and also helps launch new research into mountain goats. Joe Crowley is hoping for a close encounter with angel sharks to find out why they are appearing more and more frequently in Welsh waters. Adam Henson celebrates the success of the rare breeds revival, and Tom Heap investigates planning loopholes that could see park holiday homes become permanent residences and threaten some of the most beautiful parts of our countryside. Air Date : 30th-May-2021  Read More

It’s a tale of transformations as Matt Baker and Charlotte Smith head to the Norfolk-Suffolk border. Matt gets his fingers dirty gardening and feels the heat of the forge at a social enterprise that is harnessing the healing power of the rural landscape and training homeless people in traditional skills to give them a fresh start. Charlotte heads into the surrounding countryside to meet farmers making Britain’s only raw brie, and she sets sail with a lady fisherman who swapped a job in logistics for lobsters and whelks. Adam Henson looks at how science is using biobanks to secure the future of rare breeds. Air Date : 6th-Jun-2021  Read More

Matt Baker and Anita Rani head to County Down in Northern Ireland to catch up with the dairy farming Lilburn family and their quest to diversify. Matt jumps into a tractor to help cut grass to feed the cows, and he discovers how ‘zero grazing’ works. Anita helps check the calves’ health with a cattle nutritionist, before seeing how the farm’s milk is being turned into ice cream ready for the summer months ahead. Elsewhere, Adam Henson discovers how science is helping to save rare breeds, Charlotte Smith investigates a ‘shadow pandemic’ of rural domestic violence, and John Craven launches the thirtieth Countryfile Photographic Competition. Air Date : 13th-Jun-2021  Read More

Ellie Harrison is in Gloucestershire at Nature in Art, the world’s first museum and art gallery dedicated to art inspired by nature, as she goes in search of her inner muse. Under the expert eye of award-winning wildlife artist Jackie Cox, Ellie picks up some top tips including how old make-up can do just as good a job as fancy pencils. Air Date : 20th-Jun-2021  Read More

Adam Henson and Charlotte Smith are in the stunning Cumbrian Hills as we catch up with the formidable mother and son farming duo Andrea and Hector Meanwell. We first met them in early Spring, but Adam is rolling up his sleeves to discover what life is like on the farm as summer beckons. We also see how the Meanwells are diversifying to make ends meet. Charlotte meets their neighbours to find out how they are working to protect this beautiful landscape and the animals which call it home. We also head to Northern Ireland to catch up with award-winning author Dara - one of Countryfile’s young naturalists - as he takes a group of young eco warriors out on a nature adventure. Meanwhile, Joe Crowley investigates the worrying rise in attacks on livestock by dogs off the leash. Air Date : 27th-Jun-2021  Read More

Matt Baker and Ellie Harrison explore Wimbledon Common to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Matt saddles up with one of the UK’s only mounted rangers, finding out how horseback patrols have been enforcing the common’s 57 bylaws for the past seven decades. Ellie goes on the hunt for miraculous but often maligned moths, discovering how these winged wonders can be creatures of beauty and are more prolific pollinators than bees. And Matt and Ellie join together to celebrate the common’s most famous ‘residents’, the Wombles, meeting the daughter of their creator and seeing how these original eco warriors are still inspiring others today. Elsewhere, Adam Henson has a busy day on the farm as some new bulls are introduced to the herd; Tom Heap investigates whether efforts to protect the world’s oceans are delivering for UK waters; and, in the first of a four part series, explorer Dwayne Fields leads four youngsters at a crossroads in their lives on an expedition into the Welsh wilderness. Air Date : 4th-Jul-2021  Read More

Matt Baker and Margherita Taylor are in Dorset, on the stunning Isle of Purbeck, looking at the importance of its diverse landscape and the changes the coastline has gone through over the centuries. Matt goes on safari to look at the wildlife that call this habitat home, and Margherita discovers what used to live along these shores millions of years ago. We catch up with Dwayne Fields and his gallant team of explorers on the second part of their Snowdonia adventure, and Tom Heap investigates the damage that is being caused to the countryside and coast by an influx of visitors and holidaymakers. Air Date : 11th-Jul-2021  Read More

Anita Rani and Tom Heap head to Yorkshire’s Flamborough Head. Anita visits England’s largest onshore seabird colony at Bempton Cliffs, where she helps to track breeding numbers and witnesses a very special arrival as a rare albatross pays a visit. Below the cliffs, Tom explores some of the coast’s chalk caves, discovering the rare life they support, and Tom and Anita are joined by local youngsters as they go on a rockpool safari to take stock of the marine life washed up at low tide. Charlotte Smith investigates the environmental impact that increases in offshore windfarms are having both on land and at sea. Adam Henson visits an project that gives teenagers a step on to the farming ladder, and in the third of our four-part series with explorer Dwyane Fields, our four youngsters overcome their fear of heights, getting to grips with climbing a rockface - but things take an unexpected turn when one of the team has to leave the challenge early. Air Date : 18th-Jul-2021  Read More

As more and more of us yearn for a life in the country, Matt Baker and Charlotte Smith roll up their sleeves on a community farm in Herefordshire. Matt helps to save a bee colony and harvests fruits from their walled garden. Charlotte hand milks Snowdrop, one of the community’s dairy cows, before making her own butter. It’s the final challenge for Dwayne Fields and his gallant team of adventurers as they set out to climb Wales’s biggest mountain, Snowdon. Tom Heap investigates why some plant-based products on supermarket shelves may not be as good for us as we might think. Air Date : 25th-Jul-2021  Read More

Joe Crowley meets chef Romy Gill to celebrate the glories of seasonal food at Chew Magna Community Farm. From pickles and preserves to a feast making the most of fabulous produce, Joe also delves into the world of no-dig farming and rolls up his sleeves to help pack orders with a thriving veg box business. He calls into Hartcliffe Community Garden, which Countryfile helped to establish as part of our Plant Britain initiative, to check in on the venture and join school children as they harvest vegetables they have grown in the garden. He also delves into the archives to celebrate the best of British food and drink, like the time Anita met a highland beef farmer, Matt visited a 200-year-old cider orchard, and Steve found out how surplus produce can be ‘gleaned’ to reduce food waste. Air Date : 1st-Aug-2021  Read More