Adam Henson - Countryfile: Adams Farm: My Life on the Land

This book is a searchingly honest account of the highs and lows of a year of life on the farm.

It begins with the joy of new life lambs in March. But the constant battle against TB is always at the forefront of Adams mind a positive test could mean the slaughter of his animals and financial disaster. And as a promising spring turns into a wet summer, Adam falls behind with his harvest and the year begins to look more grim.

Adam inherited not just the farm from his father, Joe, but also his passion for farming. Imagination is essential for the farms survival and Adam has many an entertaining tale as he explores new sources of income. He explains his commitment to rescuing breeds from extinction, the aspect of the farm that is perhaps closest to his heart, as well as the money-spinning work of hiring oxen out to film directors and training pigs to sit on Hollywood stars.

Life on the land is unpredictable, emotional and varied, but never dull, and in this frank book, Adam shows us what a farmers life is really like.

Adam Henson presents Adams Farm on Countryfile from his 650-hectare farm. Adam took over Bemborough Farm from his father and he manages commercial sheep, wheat, spring barley and oilseed rape. The farm is also home to Adams collection of rare breeds at the Cotswold Farm Park (www.cotswoldfarmpark.co.uk), many of which have starred in films and in advertisements, and which attracts more than 70,000 visitors a year.

Adam is now also one of BBC2s Coast team, presents Lambing Live with Kate Humble, writes for Countryfile magazine and has appeared on Radio 4s On Your Farm and Farming Today. Adam Henson is the best-known farmer in the UK. After 8 years as a roving presenter on Britains most watched countryside show, Countryfile, he now presents his own section of the programme from his farm every Sunday. But after the TV crews leave, Adam returns to the job he loves most working the land and looking after his livestock.

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Version 1.0

Epub ISBN 9781409071549

www.randomhouse.co.uk

This book is published to accompany the television series entitled Countryfile, first broadcast on BBC1.

Executive editor: Andrew Thorman
Series producer: Teresa Bogan
Producers: Andrew Tomlinson, Andrea Buffery and Barbara Lewis
Production manager: Hilary Jones

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Published in 2011 by BBC Books, an imprint of Ebury Publishing.
A Random House Group Company

Copyright Adam Henson 2011

Photography Cotswold Farm Park 2010, except for plate 1: page 2 (bottom right) and page 8 (top) Charles Sainsbury-Plaice Woodlands Books Ltd 2010; page 3 (top right) by Sean Malyon BBC Countryfile Magazine; page 4 (top) BBC and plate 2: page 2 (top) Charles Sainsbury-Plaice Woodlands Books Ltd 2010; pages 6-7 Binky Nixon.

Adam Henson has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 849 90070 6

Commissioning editor: Muna Reyal
Project editor: Laura Higginson
Copy editor: Bernice Davison
Production: Helen Everson

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Life doesnt get much better than this. Im standing on one of the highest points of my farm on the top of the Cotswold hills, roughly 900 feet above sea level, the first rays of spring sunshine beating down on me. The field is empty save for half a dozen of some of my favourite sheep the black-faced Norfolk Horn and the shaggy Cotswold Lion. At my feet is Maude, my top sheepdog and a constant companion for 11 years. I love working with Maude, but shes getting a bit long in the tooth now. The old Border collie is slowing up and gets tired quickly. She deserves a good retirement but that would leave me with a gap in my team of working dogs. My other main dog, Ronnie, isnt what you expect from a British sheepdog. Sleek and almost yellow in colour, shes an Australian kelpie, a favourite among shepherds the world over. Some claim that, due to their appearance, the kelpie is related to the dingo, but breeders believe that they are actually descendants of the English North Country collie. Whatever their origin, kelpies make brilliant sheepdogs, full of boundless energy and capable of working in the harshest of conditions. Ronnies a great little worker, who can bark on command and moves both sheep and cattle well, but even she would struggle to handle all of our 600 sheep by herself. Maude does have a daughter Pearl but shes no help. Sadly, Pearl was run over when she was still a puppy and has never taken to training very well. Id given Pearl to my daughter, Ella, to encourage Ella to work with sheepdogs and she was understandably devastated when the accident happened. In any other situation I would have put down Pearl, but that would have been the last straw as far as Ella was concerned. Instead, we spent a fortune on operations to insert pins and rods to rebuild Pearls legs and she recovered well, although, if Im honest, she is a bit rubbish when it comes to being a sheepdog. But I am extremely fond of her.

So the time has come to introduce a new working dog to my motley band. Thats why Ive come up here this afternoon. Straining on the leash and eager to get to work is Millie, a 14-month-old dog who is three-quarters collie and one-quarter kelpie. Shes a sweet little dog with a beautiful tri-colour coat black and white with a ginger tinge to her legs and eyebrows. She also has a lovely nature, and my first attempts at training her have gone well.

But today, our training session will be observed by the man who taught me just about everything I know about working dogs. My dad, Joe Henson, is perched on the drystone wall behind me, wearing his trademark cloth cap and leaning on his walking stick, taking in everything.

It was dad who took over the tenancy of Bemborough Farm, back in 1962. The place, which was originally owned by Corpus Christi College, Oxford, was just 400 acres. Nearly 40 years later, it has grown into a 1600-acre estate, a testament to dads vision. Even though he looks every inch the farmer today, dad didnt come from an agricultural background. His family would have been more comfortable on stage rather than on a farm. My grandfather, Leslie Henson, was a famous comedian on the West End stage in the 1920s and 1930s. He spent the whole of the Second World War entertaining troops all over the world in ENSA the Entertainments National Service Association before returning to the West End theatre. Dad grew up as a child with stars visiting the house Stanley Holloway, Heather Thatcher, Dickie Hearne, Nan Kenway and Douglas Young but whereas dads brother, my uncle Nicky, followed in Leslies footsteps, dads heart wasnt in the glitz and glamour of show business, but in the countryside. The bug had bitten him when he was a young lad. His mum used to take him to a farm up the road run along traditional lines. The 30 cows were hand-milked, the hens all free-range, while all the work in the fields was done by carthorses. He instantly fell in love with farming and every sixpence he could save was spent on a collection of lead animals. Hes always quick to joke that if he still had these now highly collectable toys, theyd probably be worth much more than many of their real-life counterparts.