The day the BBC Countryfile team came down to our farm.
When you live on a farm no two days are the same, especially when the BBC rock up! As a keen photographer I was eager to see the behind the scenes, so made sure I was around. My imagination had them turning up in one or two clearly defined BBC vehicles, with lots of people, mostly with clipboards, someone to do hair and make-up and for them to be very intimidating........how wrong was I!
Two normal cars turned up and 4 normal people got out! Surreal. There were 2 camera operatives, a sound recordist and the interviewer/presenter of Countryfile - Charlotte Smith. They were all lovely. They'd travelled from London, Bristol, Cornwall & Taunton by cars and train to arrive on the farm by 9am. It was a damp morning and so discussion took place as to where to do the filming. John was very keen to avoid filming in the barns so he and his wife Rachael had spent the previous evening cleaning their house - to provide "the farmhouse kitchen" vibe, but in the end we collectively voted for "in the field" with the Dexter cattle.
Again, my preconceived ideas were so wrong. I imagined the cameras coming out, a quick 5-minute interview recorded, pack everything back in the car and then they'd be gone...it would be a full 2 hours before they left.
First John rushed off to get wellies for one of the group and an essential prop 'a bale of hay'. Then off to the chosen field. There they took an age to prepare......so much kit.....so many bits to put together. Gimbles, tripods, stands, battery packs......and they were all substantial. By the time they had their cameras on the solid tripods they were incredibly heavy - to be a camera/sound person you need to be made of tough stuff - respect. Whist they were busy preparing Charlotte made John (& me) feel very at ease, lots of banter, lots of gentle questioning - she genuinely has so much interest in farming and the lives of farming families.
John doesn't normally feed his Dexter's small bale hay - but it helped to 'set the scene'. Firstly, it gave him something to carry whilst walking out into the field - sort of giving the shot a purpose. Then when clear of "Yonder View" and a suitable backdrop chosen, John called over the cattle and bribed them to stay put by putting out the hay. This gave the technicians time to adjust their kit and place the cameras on the enormous tripods.
Normally the Countryfile team only travel with one camera person which means the whole operation takes twice as long. Firstly they'd fix on one person and then go through the whole interview again whilst filming the other person.....it had never occurred to me. So we were very lucky to have two, and therefore only needing to do the interview once. The cattle were wonderful, quietly munching away on the sweet hay until they'd had enough and felt as if they needed a little attention - nibbling and nudging John & Charlotte's coats/legs....so there were some entertaining interruptions that will doubtless be cut from the final edit.
It was a great morning, no coffee and home-made biscuits as they had to move on to interview another farmer in Wiltshire, or was it Dorset.....somewhere east! Both these interviews were loosely based on the recent inheritance tax changes brought in in the budget, and the Farmer's March in London.
It will be interesting to see once all the footage has gone through the editing process and is either cut or reduced to a 30 second soundbite.....tonight (Sunday 1st December 2024) 5.20pm BBC1. Countryfile....we'll be watching.