This episode is in Pembrokeshire, following six rural businesses through the key events of their seasonal year. Entrepreneur Geetie Singh-Watson, who set up the UK's first organic gastro-pub, is with young rookie chocolatiers who are trying to take on the big boys from an old cow shed in west Wales. She also finds out how a Californian radio host and a Welsh farmer have created probiotic goats' milk products that are turning them a big profit from a tiny amount of land.
In the foodie county of South Devon, Back To The Land shows just how much graft, love, tenacity and skill lies behind every rural business as we follow six of them through the seasons. Kate Humble is with a cider and drink makers who are trying to reverse the trend of Devon's apple orchard decline as they plough a six-figure sum into a new orchard on their land.
The presenter follows innovative businesses in the Lake District through Spring, Summer and Autumn, painting portrait of the rugged landscape and gaining an insight the challenges they face. Kate Humble helps with lambing at a fifth generation farm who have invented the world's only wool compost, so they can keep their farming traditions alive. She also goes foraging for wild food, which went to waste until one woman realised she could turn it into unique jams and preserves that are now sold nationwide.
For the first episode, Kate is in Cornwall meeting seaweed entrepreneurs Tim and Caro, who run the only company in the UK who free dive to pick their seaweed. After a tough first few years living in caravans, Kate meets them at their most crucial point of expansion - they are about to move to a new premises, are embarking on cultivating their own seaweed for the first time and Caro is pregnant with her second child.Kate also gets stuck in on a duck farm where one couple traded in a haulage company to start rearing a unique breed of ducks for the restaurant trade. We also meet best friends whose home grown British flowers are taking the high-end wedding market by storm. Plus, we get inspired by one man's mission to turn his passion for foraging and home brewing into a thriving craft beer business.
The show is in Yorkshire, where Kate gets stuck in with Mangalitza pig farmers Lisa and Tim. When arable farmer Tim met former hairdresser Lisa she was not content to be 'just a farmer's wife', she was on a mission to introduce animals back to the farm. Tim agreed to purchasing three rare breed Mangalitza pigs, but they couldn't be 'freeloaders' - Lisa's pigs need to turn a profit and to do that she needs to get the 450kg beasts to breed - which is easier said than done. Kate gets on board with 69-year-old ex-submariner Bob, who upon retirement bought a boat and set about catching lobsters off the beautiful Yorkshire coastline, with a passion to sell the bountiful local catch and sway the public from buying imported lobster. We also meet a sustainable game-keeper who sells what he hunts directly to the public serving his customers deer and game birds as well as cuts of meat, such as venison haunch. Plus, we meet an award-winning glass blowing business based in the heart of the Yorkshire Moors founded by a husband and wife team, drawing inspiration from the beauty of their rural surroundings.
A visit to the counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire, and the first stop is Herefordshire meeting arable farmer John and his wife Julie. They made a chance decision to take on male billy goats and raise them for meat, after realising their ultimate fate as bi-product of the escalating goat dairy industry. Kate joins them at a pivotal point as they embark on the huge challenge to change the perception, and taste buds of the nation and launch their goat meat to a wider market. As wine becomes one of the fastest-growing agricultural products in the UK, Kate meets one family embracing the trend and making their very own award-winning British wine. Plus, a Herefordshire botanist turns his passion for plant power and provenance into an organic skincare range, selling to markets worldwide. And a carpenter is producing beautifully crafted chopping boards and knives out of locally sourced wood.
This episode takes us back to Cornwall meeting rural pioneer Giel, who six years ago came home from college to find his family's dairy farm up for sale - his parents had hit financial difficulty and were being forced to sell up. With farming in his blood he couldn't bear to see their passion fail, so decided to turn his grandmother's gouda cheese recipe into a business. Kate joins Giel at a crucial point of expansion which if successful could save the family farm and double production to take this business mainstream. Kate also meets with a couple who swapped Plymouth for the Cornish countryside, setting up one of the few alpaca farms in the UK that breeds them not just for wool, but for meat. We meet Tarquin who, aged 24, set up his own distillery using traditional methods to make gin. And finally, we meet a husband and wife team in Port Isaac who don't just catch crab and lobster for their customers, they cook it for them the very same day in their unique cafe.
Back to the Land is in Yorkshire meeting a father and son team who own the first and only caviar farm in the UK that harvests sturgeon eggs ethically and humanely. After dad John invested his entire pension pot in the business - Kate is with them at a crucial point of egg harvest and as they embark on their own breeding programme which, if successful, could be the make or break of the business. Kate also meets a family that have diversified into growing hemp on an industrial scale and even built their farm house with it, showing that hemp can be a sustainable and effective building material. We join two ex Londoners who moved to the country to farm rare breed pigs and created an honest sausage company using only the best cuts of their pigs which are all raised outdoors and have over double the life span of commercially farmed pigs. Plus we meet a lady who crafts the famous Whitby jet in its raw form then polishes, shapes and works it into silver and gold jewellery which she smiths herself. The solid black gem was once mined and a major part of the local economy throughout the Victorian era.
Back to the Land returns to Cornwall following innovative businesses through the busiest periods of the year and gaining an insight of the challenges they face. Kate meets rural cider entrepreneur Tom, who created a company out of a genuine passion for the alcoholic apple elixir, as he takes on a monumental harvest, the largest in the history of this seven-year-old business. Will it be the last time he will press the apples using traditional methods, or will Tom be forced to succumb to having machinery installed to meet demand and grow the business? Kate also gets hands on with Shonna and Ben who propagate their own herbs and flowers before distilling them into essential oils for the perfumery trade. Ex-city workers Richard and Fionagh yearned for a more rural life. The novices took on a 350-acre farm and a drove of pigs they needed to make money from - six years of struggle later they have a thriving artisan charcuterie business. And we meet a local carpenter capitalising on his passion for surfing and Cornwall's growing reputation for the sport, to produce bespoke hand-crafted surf boards using wood harvested sustainably in the UK.
Midlands-bound Back To The Land meets a husband and wife team, Will and Gillian, who after diversifying her family dairy farm to make ice cream 13 years ago are now diversifying again, to produce the first salt in the famous spa town of Droitwich in over 100 years. Kate joins them as Will has given up a steady salary to join the family business and launch the salt works, investing big cash in the hope it will become a vital part of the farm's future plans. And Kate gets her hands dirty with Ken the owner of a worm farm, who sells worms for composting food waste, fishing bait as well as a range of home wormeries to make peat free nutrient rich plant fertiliser. And we meet a local entrepreneur Adam, who with no farming experience decided he wanted to grow chillis - he now farms 400 chilli plants and creates recipes for his range of chilli jams, jellies and vinegars. We also visit Brad, a self-styled leather aficionado who produces a range of handcrafted and designed leather products sold all over the world tanned in his workshop in Shropshire.
Back to the Land is in the south east of England, meeting local wasabi entrepreneur Jon, who is the only commercial grower in the UK and Europe. Kate joins at a pivotal moment in the business as Jon embarks on a new venture to use the wasabi leaves to market as salad, something never seen before in the UK. Kate also goes in search of truffles as she teams up with business owner Zak and his trusty Labrador sourcing the best English bounty from deep within the New Forest. And we meet ex equity broker Charlie who swapped the city of London for a more natural life and created a company from his love of trout fishing creating a premium product that could outdo the mass-produced trout available in the UK. Plus, a woman hand making goats milk soap from her four goats. Teaching herself from scratch, the ancient cold process method, her range includes scents from lavender to oats and honey.
Back to the Land is in Yorkshire where Kate meets the proud producers of the UK's very first skyr, a cheese which has been a Scandinavian favourite since the Viking era. Dairy farmer's son Sam spotted the potential in this new food trend. On a whim he went to Reykjavik to learn how to make it, then convinced his dad to invest £250k against the family farm to start up. With nationwide success in his sights Kate follows Sam as his production reaches an epic scale. Kate meets city baker come forager Mina, who has set up the only 100% gluten-free bakery in Leeds using ingredients she has foraged locally. We also meet a former chartered surveyor who moved back to his native Yorkshire when the credit crunch hit, using his redundancy money he rented a piece of land and took a punt on producing herb-fed poultry. And we meet a mum and former tax accountant turned smithy who has hit upon traditional blacksmithing techniques to design and produce decorative items for the home and garden.
Back to the Land is in the south of the country, starting in Hampshire with ex-marketing manager Emma and her business partner and shepherdess Suzie, who have teamed up with the ambition to produce the best woolen yarn in the UK. With neither women having drawn a salary in seven years Kate joins them at a tricky point as they need to expand whilst staying true to their artisan roots. Also, Kate gets hands on with ex chef Richard, the largest exotic mushroom grower in his region, who grows his mushrooms in two shipping containers on the edge of the New Forest. We meet a husband and wife team farming in a way that staggers their harvest, allowing them to provide their vegetable boxes all year round on the Isle of Wight. And we visit a carpenter who uses wood sourced from the New Forest to produce rustic and natural looking furniture, processing the wood in a traditional way and leaving it with its rustic edges means each piece is unique.
Back to the Land is in the heart of England meeting partners Toby and Aly, whose passion for their local woodlands in Herefordshire and love for coppicing combined their talents to create a business making traditional, sustainable garden fencing and gates. Kate joins them at their busiest time of year, felling season. The pressure is on to fell enough trees and to deliver on orders to sustain the business and keep their staff employed all year round. Also, Kate joins a posh snack entrepreneur, who left his city job for the food market tapping into the growing popularity of air dried meat snacks, popular with the health crowd for their high protein and low-fat properties. And we meet a man who lives and breathes Gloucester, its produce and rural heritage and is working very hard to try to preserve it. He saved the Gloucester cow from extinction and invented the famous Stinking Bishop cheese! And we join a shepherdess and designer who produces cushions, throws and rugs out of wool sheared from her own flock of rare breed British sheep.
Back to the Land returns to catch up with a few of the familiar faces from the first series to find out how their businesses have fared over one year later. In Pembrokeshire we meet seaweed entrepreneur Jonathan as he launches a new beach shack, while Wagyu beef farmer Will Prichard's business - and family - is expanding with a new baby and a new business franchise. In the Lake District Kate meets up with Mandy Marshall to discover if her Herdwick bag business has finally had some good fortune and Kate has a tipple with Tash, Devon's cider farmer, and sets sight on the foundations of their new processing barn.
