Countryfile — Season 29

Aired 3 January 2016 • 60 min

Ellie Harrison is at the Cotswold Water Park looking back at some of Countryfile's encounters with winter wildlife, and spotting some of her own.

Aired 10 January 2016 • 60 min

Countryfile is in Hertfordshire, where Matt Baker meets a farming family who are turning oilseed rape into liquid gold - oil.

Aired 17 January 2016 • 60 min

Countryfile is in Gloucestershire, where Matt gives the trees at Batsford Arboretum a health check using a clever bit of x-ray kit to look for decay.

Aired 24 January 2016 • 60 min

Ellie Harrison and Matt Baker are in north Devon, where Matt finds out what life is like for the residents once the tourists have gone.

Aired 31 January 2016 • 60 min

The team pull on their thermals for a walk on the wild side of winter. Adam heads to North Ronaldsay, where their rare seaweed-eating sheep are under threat.

Aired 7 February 2016 • 60 min

Matt Baker visits a country park near Newcastle that was once the site of a coalmine, and Ellie Harrison looks at the restoration of Roker Lighthouse near Sunderland.

Aired 14 February 2016 • 60 min

Matt Baker joins student gamekeepers at work, while Ellie Harrison reveals how cranes have returned to Norfolk after an absence of 400 years.

Aired 21 February 2016 • 60 min

Matt Baker and Ellie Harrison are in Staffordshire. Matt visits a school with farming at the heart of the curriculum. Ellie meets a couple who own a nature reserve.

Aired 28 February 2016 • 60 min

Matt Baker and Shauna Lowry are near Colchester on the Essex coast. Matt ventures to Mersea Island to meet an oyster fisherman, and Shauna Lowry goes to the River Colne.

Aired 6 March 2016 • 60 min

Exploring the beauty of Northern Ireland, John Craven finds out about Rathlin Island's kelp industry. Anita Rani meets a farmer whose animals are now TV stars.

Aired 13 March 2016 • 60 min

Countryfile is in Aberystwyth, where Adam Henson visits the town's university to meet the youngsters working towards a career in farming.

Aired 20 March 2016 • 60 min

Matt Baker and Ellie Harrison are in Sussex exploring Ashdown Forest, the inspiration for the Hundred Acre Wood in AA Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories. Matt also visits a farm belonging to the Countryside Restoration Trust, which promotes wildlife-friendly farming. Ellie is on the hunt for woodpeckers - easy to hear, but harder to spot! John Craven is at West Rise, the state junior school with a difference: it has a bronze-age settlement and buffalo roaming its marshlands. Tom Heap is in Scotland where there's fresh concern about the impact that wind farms could have on birdlife. But how much of a threat do turbines really pose? And Adam Henson meets the farmer opening his farm to help refugees.

Aired 27 March 2016 • 60 min

The team explore the three counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire and meet some of the local crafts people keeping rural skills alive.

Aired 3 April 2016 • 60 min

Matt Baker, Anita Rani and Helen Skelton tell the story of cattle in this themed programme. Matt spends the day with a young beef farmer.

Aired 10 April 2016 • 60 min

John Craven marks the 40th anniversary of LS Lowry's death by following in the artist's footsteps. Ellie Harrison learns about how to conserve moorland.

Aired 17 April 2016 • 60 min

Joe Crowley meets a woman who looks after a herd of Belted Galloway cattle. Anita Rani joins photographer Keith Kirk after dark, looking for wildlife.

Aired 24 April 2016 • 60 min

To mark 400 years since Shakespeare's death, Countryfile travels the length and breadth of the country in search of the landscapes that inspired his works.

Aired 1 May 2016 • 60 min

Ellie Harrison visits the South Haven Peninsula in Dorset to tell the story of conservation's unsung hero Captain Cyril Diver.

Aired 8 May 2016 • 60 min

Matt Baker explores the Dartington estate in south Devon to discover the history of the place and meet the farmers who are turning their goats' milk into ice cream.

Aired 15 May 2016 • 60 min

A snapshot of spring, including dolphins in Cardigan Bay, one of the UK's last remaining hay meadows, a Roman fort in Alderney, and a large vegetated shingle spit.

Aired 22 May 2016 • 60 min

A snapshot of spring, including dolphins in Cardigan Bay, one of the UK's last remaining hay meadows, a Roman fort in Alderney, and a large vegetated shingle spit.

Aired 29 May 2016 • 60 min

John Craven races a hill runner to the summit of Snowdon and meets the volunteers protecting the area's ospreys.

Aired 5 June 2016 • 60 min

Matt Baker and Anita Rani are at the stunning Montrose Basin in Angus in Scotland, and Tom Heap asks what the EU referendum may mean for Britain's fisheries.

Aired 15 June 2016 • 60 min

To celebrate British Flowers Week, Charlotte Smith and Anita Rani look at the resurgence of British flowers. Charlotte finds out why the smell of flowers is so popular.

Aired 19 June 2016 • 60 min

Matt Baker takes to the Trent in a kayak and finds out about the effort to clean up the river. In Rutland, Helen Skelton is an apprentice in a windmill.

Aired 26 June 2016 • 60 min

A look back at the long hot summer of 1976 with TV weatherman John Hammon, plus a rerun of some of Countryfile's best weather-related stories.

Aired 3 July 2016 • 60 min

John Craven takes to the water in Pembrokeshire to find out about the area's boating heritage, painting boats and learning sea shanties along the way.

Aired 10 July 2016 • 60 min

It is tennis season and Countryfile is visiting Kent, where Matt Baker finds out about Wimbledon strawberries and gets to grips with the harvest.

Aired 17 July 2016 • 60 min

The Countryfile team explore meadows, from the wildlife that makes the meadow its home to the plants that thrive there. Matt Baker discovers the art of scything.

Aired 24 July 2016 • 60 min

The team visit Cumbria, looking at the places which inspired Beatrix Potter, a farm run using horses and steam power, and Lakeland sports, including Cumberland wrestling.

Aired 31 July 2016 • 60 min

A special edition of Countryfile celebrating the Great British summer. Matt Baker travels along the south Wales coast, while Naomi Wilkinson punts along the River Cam in Cambridge.

Aired 7 August 2016 • 60 min

Anita heads to the tiny Scottish island of Kerrera, where she joins the postmaster on her daily round and helps the shepherd round up her sheep.

Aired 14 August 2016 • 60 min

Countryfile marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme. Joe heads to the Scottish Highlands to meet a team taking part in five-day challenge.

Aired 21 August 2016 • 60 min

Matt Baker mingles with exhibitors and visitors at the first ever Countryfile Live, which took place in the magnificent grounds of Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.

Aired 28 August 2016 • 60 min

Countryfile has been given access to an excavation at the Stonehenge World Heritage site, and Joe Crowley meets the team who have found strange items buried in the soil.

Aired 4 September 2016 • 60 min

It is harvest time, and the countryside is buzzing with activity. The Countryfile team are getting stuck in as crops are brought in across the country.

Aired 11 September 2016 • 60 min

Anita Rani explores Anglesey, off the north west coast of Wales. She navigates the notorious Menai Strait and meets the fisherman who bought an island.

Aired 18 September 2016 • 60 min

Countryfile marks the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl's birth by discovering his passion for the outdoors and how it inspired his writing.

Aired 25 September 2016 • 60 min

Matt Baker and Anita Rani preside over proceedings as the best shepherds and their dogs from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland battle it out for the trophy.

Aired 2 October 2016 • 60 min

Anita Rani travels to Surrey to explore the revival of interest in growing hops there. Adam Henson is hoping for the right conditions to get the last of his wheat harvest in.

Aired 9 October 2016 • 60 min

Matt meets a writer who draws inspiration from the Thames Estuary and its people, and Naomi meets a photographer captivated by the waterfall at Lydford Gorge.

Aired 16 October 2016 • 60 min

Matt and Anita explore the Isle of Wight. Matt abseils down the walls of Carisbrooke Castle, while Anita is on Ventnor Downs helping to round up feral goats.

Aired 23 October 2016 • 60 min

To celebrate nature's final flourish before the slow descent into winter, the team pulls on its wellies, kicks through the crisp leaves and explores the fruits of our forests.

Aired 30 October 2016 • 60 min

Matt looks at Herefordshire's historic perry-making industry and helps out with the pear harvest. He starts out at Weston's, the world's biggest producers of perry.

Aired 6 November 2016 • 60 min

In this extended edition of Countryfile, the team head out into some of the nation's most beautiful landscapes for the Countryfile Ramble for BBC Children in Need.

Aired 13 November 2016 • 60 min

Helen Skelton is on a special cycle ride across northern France to commemorate 100 years since the Battle of the Somme.

Aired 20 November 2016 • 60 min

In West Yorkshire, Matt Baker meets the youngsters who have become RSPB rangers. Anita Rani meets an author who immerses himself in the landscape.

Aired 27 November 2016 • 60 min

The team explores the Brecon Beacons. Matt Baker discovers geocaching, a treasure hunt with a modern twist, and meets an artist whose canvas is the night sky.

Aired 4 December 2016 • 60 min

The team are in Lincolnshire, where it's all go in the vast fields of winter veg. John Craven learns about the kalette, a cross between kale and a brussels sprout.

Aired 11 December 2016 • 60 min

The team are in Aberdeenshire, where Helen visits the only village on mainland Britain where cars can't go. Plus a turkey farm where the guard dogs are alpacas.

Aired 18 December 2016 • 60 min

Countryfile celebrates Christmas at Bamburgh Castle on the Northumbrian coast. John Craven learns what the first Christmases on Lindisfarne would have been like.

Aired 26 December 2016 • 60 min

Ellie Harrison visits Thirsk to celebrate the centenary of vet Alf Wight, known to the world as James Herriot, and speaks to his children.