Countryfile

Dumfries House (29x41)

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Anita Rani and Matt Baker are at Dumfries House in East Ayrshire, one of Scotland's grandest country houses and now an important centre for training and education. Matt is given a tour of its fine rooms and Chippendale furniture and hears how it was His Royal Highness Prince Charles's intervention that saved it for the nation. Matt meets house butler Lauren Dalziel, just one of many local people who've found employment at Dumfries House. He also spends time on the estate's farms, seeing how rare breed cattle are giving local schoolchildren a taste of the farming life. Anita meets the apprentices learning traditional craft skills that they are putting to the test on restoration projects on the estate, and she gets her hands dirty with the schoolchildren pulling up vegetables in the walled gardens before joining them in a seasonal feast. And we hear from Prince Charles himself, who talks to Adam about why he stepped in to save Dumfries House, and of his vision of how it can be used to help the local community. Charlotte Smith's looking at where all the extra electricity will come from to power the millions of electric cars that could take to our roads over the next 20 years and finding out the impact it could have on our countryside. And, down on his farm, Adam Henson's checking all is well with his pregnant sheep and cows.