Countryfile

The Lake District (26x6)

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The Countryfile team is in the Lake District, looking in detail at some of the locations featured in the opening titles of the programme. Matt Baker visits the beach the horses race across, meeting the riders and their steeds. Matt is also at Blea Tarn, where the wild swimming was filmed. He meets a wild swimmer who takes to the water even in February. Helen Skelton recreates the rock-climbing scene and meets the family who pioneered the sport in the area. Ellie Harrison is also in the Lake District, meeting world-renowned graphic artist Russell Mills. She hears the extraordinary story of Russell's inspiration, Kurt Schwitters, his journey to Cumbria from Nazi Germany and his life and work in the Lake District. Ellie also explores some of the landscapes which inspired one of our most famous poets, William Wordsworth, and sees the link between the poet and a unique gingerbread made in the area. Tom Heap is in Yorkshire, looking at the damage that winter storms have done to the British coastline. He begins at Spurn Point, where, despite the use of tonnes of concrete and rock, this thin spit of land was breached and the road was washed away. With predictions of more frequent and severe storms, Tom asks what's the best way to protect our shores in the future. Adam Henson is in Kent, visiting one of the finest, record-breakingly expensive bulls in the world.