Countryfile

Cheshire (27x41)

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Matt Baker and Helen Skelton are in Cheshire, where Matt is at the magnificent Lyme Park, hoping for a glimpse of one of nature's most exciting spectacles - the annual red deer rut. He joins photographer Gary Lomas at dawn, and together they try to capture this magnificent event. Matt also meets a former TV actor who gave up the limelight for a life in the country as a trainee National Trust ranger. Helen is out at dusk with the conservationists on a bat hunt at Tatton Park - and if she's lucky, she might just see one of the rarest bats ever sighted in the UK. Helen also looks at the rising popularity of gin and meets the family firm making bespoke gin from plants they forage in the woods. James Wong is at Norton Priory - home to the National Quince Collection. He learns of the important work being done to preserve one of our oldest fruits and tries his hand at making quince jelly. Also in this programme, Adam heads to Devon to look at Dartmoor sheep and ponies, and Tom Heap looks at the reasons why mental health issues such as depression are a particular problem in the farming community.