Sean Fletcher looks back at 2020 – a difficult year for all of us as we faced a pandemic but a year when the countryside became a lifeline for unprecedented numbers; when wildlife came out to play and also made their homes in curious places during lockdown. Sean also catches up with some of the inspiring young people at the forefront of the battle to protect the environment, and there's a timely reminder of how we can all do our bit to safeguard our countryside.

After the turmoil of 2020 and as a new year gets underway, how do we plan to make the countryside a bigger part of our lives? Matt Baker wants to get fitter and tries his hand at canicross, Anita Rani straps on her walking boots, Margherita Taylor heads for the woods, Helen Skelton wants to buy local, Tom Heap discovers the joys of “blue” therapy, and Adam Henson gets creative with clay.

Ellie Harrison and Tom Heap are in the Mendips looking at how this stunning but fragile area is being protected from the invasion of visitors. Ellie scales Cheddar Gorge and discovers the damage cars are wreaking on narrow, winding roads. She also learns how white-clawed freshwater crayfish are being saved from voracious invaders. Tom finds out how the countryside can help transform lives and investigates if the government’s new green subsidy scheme can really deliver for farmers and the environment. Meanwhile, Adam meets one of his heroes, international rugby ref turned farmer Nigel Owens, who is facing his herd’s first TB test.

Matt Baker is staying close to home, exploring the Chilterns landscape and the people and skills that have shaped this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. He discovers some hidden historical gems revealed by a revolutionary new mapping technique, heads deep into the woods to learn about the ancient art of bodging and rolls his sleeves up to help clean up ponds which are so desperately needed by wildlife. Joe Crowley investigates if large-scale schemes such as HS2 tally with the government’s pledge to go green, and on the farm, Adam calls in a horse whisperer to help with a nervous Exmoor pony.

Ellie Harrison is in Gloucestershire, finding out how communities on her home turf are pulling together to support each other in these tough times. She meets the producers on a mission to get everyone eating local and healthy meals at affordable prices, finds out why gardening is on prescription and helps out with Britain’s favourite mammal, the hedgehog, which is facing a precarious future. Wildlife film-maker Jack Perks gets up close to dippers, Adam sizes up a new boar for his pigs, and Charlotte investigates what future trade deals could mean for the food on our plates.

Helen Skelton is on Crompton Moor in the Pennines, braving all weathers to discover what makes this site of biological interest such a special place. Battered by rain, wind and snow, she helps install ‘leaky dams,’ discovers how a plant with superpowers is helping to restore these uplands and meets the community coming together to bring wildlife back to the hills. Adam Henson tries out a new app to show how contented his animals are, wildlife film-maker Richard Taylor-Jones shows you how to spot wonderful wildlife on your doorstep, and Tom Heap investigates the rural mental health crisis.

Whilst visiting Kentish Town City Farm to lend a helping hand, Margherita Taylor takes a look back through the Countryfile archives to celebrate some winter heroes - the farmers toughing it out in all weathers; wildlife rescue volunteers risking their lives to save one of our most majestic animals; and the community working together to save the heart of their village. Margherita also catches up with one of her childhood winter heroes, Eddie the Eagle. And we couldn’t forget our Children in Need ramblers, as we reveal the astonishing amount our viewers have raised.

Tom Heap explores Northamptonshire’s Nene Valley, discovering how a farmer fighting flooding has embraced wetland wildlife to make his land pay. Tom also meets a sheepdog turned search-and-rescue hero and gets hands-on with a project that has unearthed evidence of riverside residents dating back to Neolithic times. Adam is hoping for good news from his ewes as, thanks to scanning, he discovers how many are in lamb. Charlotte Smith investigates whether Brexit is delivering all it promised for the UK’s fishing industry, and ecologist Josh Styles reveals the secret world inside a prehistoric plant.

This week Anita Rani is on her home turf in London, showing that you don’t need to go far for a healthy dose of green. Anita is taken on an enchanting tour of one of London’s 'magnificent seven' cemeteries, as she discovers a trove of treasures right on her doorstep and sets out to crack the mystery of a non-native bird. Adam Henson shows us how he concocts a super-meal for his animals during the winter months, and Tom Heap investigates a controversial decision that allows UK farmers to use a banned pesticide on their fields.

Charlotte Smith visits the Colne Valley Regional Park, a landscape of forest, fields and waterways on the edge of west London. She does battle with an invasive species, gets up close with tiny creatures that show the health of the park’s rivers, meets a savvy septuagenarian saving her farm from development, and helps secure a future for one of our most endangered mammals, the water vole. Tom Heap asks whether eco-education should be at the heart of our school system, Adam Henson introduces new boar George II to his sows, and wildlife cameraman Jack Perks gets up close with otters.

In this special episode, Ellie joins Adam and his team for 48 hours of hectic lambing action. She may be the rookie in Adam’s lambing shed, but Ellie quickly gets to grips with multiple births, touch and go adoptions and the emotions of the life-or-death decisions faced each day during this busiest of spring seasons on the farm. Tom Heap is on the case to find out why mountains of wool, historically the nation's most valuable sheep product, are now piling up in warehouses across the country. In Cumbria, Hannah Jackson – The Red Shepherdess - meets young upland farmers bringing new ideas to this traditional form of sheep farming. Plus how to count sheep using an almost forgotten Celtic language system.

Ellie Harrison celebrates the arrival of spring on her home turf in the Cotswolds. From the millions of snowdrops in Painswick’s Rococo Gardens to discovering some old folklore, finding out about a scheme to enable wheelchair users to enjoy tougher terrain in the great outdoors and meeting the cattle that encourage wildflowers, Ellie also raids the Countryfile archive. There’s the time she went on dolphin watch in Cardigan Bay, Matt Baker's visit to tulip fields in Lincolnshire and the day Adam Henson went to North Yorkshire to catch his supper.

Joe Crowley discovers how science is helping better understand nature on Bedfordshire’s Greensand Ridge. He gets up close with avian giants, finding out how the world’s longest-running bird survey helps monitor heron numbers. He gets on his bike to help map the amount of plastics polluting our rural landscape, and is out on toad patrol, helping create a new national DNA database to discover why these amphibians are in trouble. As spring appears, Adam finds out if his farming gambles are paying off, Tom investigates whether the UK’s environmental ambitions will change the face of our national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty, and naturalist Dan Rouse captures the seasonal spectacle of thousands of oystercatchers on the Gower Peninsula.

Ellie Harrison visits the 'golden triangle' in Gloucestershire to find out why the area is so famous for the wild daffodil. She takes a trip down memory lane with villagers who recall picking the daffs as children and how the flowers were sent by rail on the daffodil line to cities across the country. She discovers the difference between wild and cultivated daffodils and witnesses some of the finest medieval wall paintings in England. We also meet the Meanwells - a mother and son fulfilling their dreams of farming in the Cumbrian hills - and Charlotte Smith investigates the challenges facing our rural churches and the communities they serve.

Tom Heap and Margherita Taylor look at the impact of canals on the past, present and future of our countryside. In the Midlands, Tom is on the UK’s longest canal – the Grand Union - discovering the engineering triumphs that helped traverse our rugged landscape and how they could now play their part in a 21st-century green tech revolution. Meanwhile, Margherita celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Regent’s Canal, finding out how this once commercial route now brings a slice of countryside to the city, benefitting both residents and wildlife. Tom also investigates what’s going into our public sector meals, wildlife film-maker Jack Perks dons his wetsuit to get up close to some frisky frogs, and we pay our first visit to Brookvale Farm in Northern Ireland, where we will be following the fortunes of a family staking their future on the success of hi-tech farming.

Sean Fletcher goes wild in the Hambleden Valley in Buckinghamshire with a whistlestop trike tour of a chocolate box landscape that has been the beautiful backdrop for many TV dramas and films. But how can we breathe new life into the area? Sean finds out how the old cottage industry of lace-making is poised for a comeback, and he saddles up to meet a couple opening up their farm to enable safer riding in this corner of the countryside. Adam Henson is busy with some new arrivals, and as picking season dawns, Charlotte Smith investigates whether UK farmers can cover any shortfall in the number of seasonal farm workers needed to gather their harvests.

Helen Skelton is in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in North Yorkshire, helping prepare for the return of both animals and visitors to the hills. She joins a team keeping track of adders emerging from hibernation, to find out why numbers are falling. She also joins in with efforts to help save essential woodland and its wildlife, and discovers hidden wonders as she heads into the depths of How Stean Gorge. On his Cotswold farm, Adam Henson is struggling with the unpredictable spring weather. Tom Heap investigates how a rise in pet ownership is fuelling dog thefts and wildlife film-maker Jack Perks celebrates one of our most colourful but overlooked freshwater fish – the grayling.

As John Craven celebrates 50 years as a BBC presenter, on this – his 1,250th episode for Countryfile - he opens up a treasure trove of memories of some of his favourite parts of Britain. Each location evokes aspects of his life, his career and his passions: discovering a hidden treasure he never knew existed on his childhood doorstep in Yorkshire; indulging his love of verse with a trip to Cambridgeshire to find out more about John Clare, the peasant poet; and revealing his love of history on an ancient Scottish battlefield. And he has never forgotten the time he was roped up to the heady heights of the dark hedges in Northern Ireland.

Matt Baker and Ellie Harrison uncover the wonders past and present of Cranborne Chase. Matt unravels a puzzling piece of the area’s past as he explores a 900-year-old mediaeval ‘miz maze’ hidden in the woods, before crossing the Chase to help tend to Britain’s biggest modern day maze on the Longleat Estate. Ellie joins the UK’s only ‘supercluster’ of farmers working together to encourage wildlife on their land. She also heads to the River Ebble to disccover what makes this chalk stream so special and how it’s helping to give rural teenagers a sense of purpose. Steve Brown is in for some special stargazing in the Chase - the UK’s first designated dark sky reserve. Tom Heap investigates plans to launch a new space race from the heart of our countryside – but at what cost to the environment? And Adam Henson has a nervous wait on his hands as his rare-breed Suffolk Punch Lexi goes to the maternity unit.

Matt Baker and Charlotte Smith head to the Peak District to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the UK's first National Park. Matt joins a pioneering scheme to restore ruined farm buildings and meets 'legend' of the Peak District Gordon Miller, one of the area's early rangers and a last link to those who brought about the National Park. Charlotte channels her inner artist to help create a giant anniversary art mural and records the special sounds of the park's waterways. Sean Fletcher meets a 'tyre runner' using the Peak District's hills to help his mental health. Meanwhile, as some of his traditional crops fail, Adam takes a glimpse at what the farming of tomorrow might look like and Joe Crowley investigates new pollution laws causing controversy in the countryside.

Plant Britain is all about encouraging community gardens and planting wildflowers in a two-year initiative to help combat climate change, help wildlife and pollinators and transform our own wellbeing. Matt Baker and Margherita Taylor help Bristol locals to create a community garden, and Charlotte Smith visits a project in Glasgow that is blooming. Sean Fletcher is in Northern Ireland with primary school children to find out about their field-to-fork project. Helen Skelton is with a young botanist who is on a mission to save our native wildflowers, while Joe Crowley discovers the secret life hidden in a special meadow in north Wales. The Natural History Museum do some cutting-edge soil and pond DNA forensics, and John Craven finds out how to do your bit no matter how small a space you have - from a pot on a windowsill to a balcony planter. Also, look out for special messages from some well-known faces.

Matt Baker and Margherita Taylor visit the stunning Llyn Peninsula in north Wales, known as 'Snowdonia’s arm'. Margherita finds out about plans for a major blue energy project. While harnessing the power of the tide might cure energy issues, what do residents make of it all? And what will the impact be on wildlife and fishing? Matt dons his wetsuit, wading into the sea to help check the health of a critical crop of carbon-capturing sea grass, and also helps launch new research into mountain goats. Joe Crowley is hoping for a close encounter with angel sharks to find out why they are appearing more and more frequently in Welsh waters. Adam Henson celebrates the success of the rare breeds revival, and Tom Heap investigates planning loopholes that could see park holiday homes become permanent residences and threaten some of the most beautiful parts of our countryside.

It’s a tale of transformations as Matt Baker and Charlotte Smith head to the Norfolk-Suffolk border. Matt gets his fingers dirty gardening and feels the heat of the forge at a social enterprise that is harnessing the healing power of the rural landscape and training homeless people in traditional skills to give them a fresh start. Charlotte heads into the surrounding countryside to meet farmers making Britain’s only raw brie, and she sets sail with a lady fisherman who swapped a job in logistics for lobsters and whelks. Adam Henson looks at how science is using biobanks to secure the future of rare breeds.

Matt Baker and Anita Rani head to County Down in Northern Ireland to catch up with the dairy farming Lilburn family and their quest to diversify. Matt jumps into a tractor to help cut grass to feed the cows, and he discovers how ‘zero grazing’ works. Anita helps check the calves’ health with a cattle nutritionist, before seeing how the farm’s milk is being turned into ice cream ready for the summer months ahead. Elsewhere, Adam Henson discovers how science is helping to save rare breeds, Charlotte Smith investigates a ‘shadow pandemic’ of rural domestic violence, and John Craven launches the thirtieth Countryfile Photographic Competition.

Ellie Harrison is in Gloucestershire at Nature in Art, the world’s first museum and art gallery dedicated to art inspired by nature, as she goes in search of her inner muse. Under the expert eye of award-winning wildlife artist Jackie Cox, Ellie picks up some top tips including how old make-up can do just as good a job as fancy pencils. Ellie also takes a look through the archives to find out how the countryside has been an abiding influence, from early man to modern-day artists braving the extremes to capture a landscape or using wildlife itself to create a picture.

Steve Brown is on the Isle of Mull in the hope of realising a life-time ambition to see white-tailed eagles in the wild. They are Britain’s largest bird of prey, and not the only wild wonders he might encounter. Steve also delves into the Countryfile archives to celebrate wild Britain, including the memorable moments when Anita visited the Northern Ireland's Causeway Coast, Margherita explored how nature has taken over ancient mines in the Forest of Dean, and Charlotte investigated wild flavours for chocolate-making in Scotland.

In this 75-minute special, the Countryfile Ramble for BBC Children in Need heads out on a tour of the UK in the company of some truly inspirational youngsters. Matt Baker takes on a challenge in the Lake District with Alfie and his family, all of whom were helped by Hope House Children’s Hospice after Alfie had his leg amputated following cancer treatment. Steve Brown heads to the Mendips with sports-mad eight-year-old liver transplant patient Violet, on a ramble with a high-octane finish; Margherita Taylor walks the vast open sands of the Norfolk coast with 17-year-old Chloe, who shares how therapy sessions have helped her with anxiety and other issues; Ellie Harrison is in County Down, hearing how the Children in Need-funded charity Women’s Aid helps children caught up in domestic abuse; and, for her first Countryfile Ramble, Charlotte Smith is on a memory-filled stroll along Scotland’s stunning east coast with brother and sister Finn and Ailsa, whose dad passed away during lockdown. At the same time as our presenters are rambling, hundreds of viewers are putting on their own sponsored rambles across the length and breadth of the UK, and John Craven is on hand to catch up virtually with some of them.

Joe Crowley and Ellie Harrison are in Cornwall, exploring the fishing port of Newlyn with a remarkable secret history. Joe also discovers the fishy equivalent of ‘nose to tail’ eating, while Ellie finds out how the area is reeling from the 2021 Staycation Invasion. As global climate change talks get underway, Tom Heap investigates the threat posed by rising sea levels here in the UK. And on his farm, Adam Henson has some new arrivals - but will they all be delivered safely?

Countryfile’s Plant Britain autumn special celebrates the magic of trees and hedgerows in combatting climate change, boosting wildlife and our own wellbeing. We also look at the future guardians of our planet as Charlotte Smith finds out about green careers and Matt Baker meets a six-year-old environmentalist with big ambitions. Tom Heap joins the front line in the fight against tree disease, John Craven is at Westonbirt Arboretum to discover what our future forests could look like, and Joe Crowley is busy learning how to collect and sow seeds. Margherita Taylor pops into a Bristol community garden to help them get ready for winter, and there are some special messages from well-known faces to encourage us all to plant Britain.

For Remembrance Sunday, Ellie Harrison visits the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire to help the Royal British Legion mark their centenary and to explore the diverse ways nature can offer healing and recovery. She also treks with llamas and discovers how an old pair of jeans are key to converting old Second World War pillboxes into new des res for bats. Adam Henson discovers why military veterans are armed with just the right skills to be the farmers of tomorrow, and Charlotte Smith investigates the true cost of protecting the countryside’s most historic landmarks and landscapes.

John Craven revisits the Gloucestershire village of Hillesley 50 years after he first reported on the local newspaper. He meets Hollywood screenwriter William Nicholson, who cut his teeth on the paper, catches up with today’s editor, meets three generations of farmers and pops into the pub that was saved by the community to discover what’s at the heart of village life. And he delves into the Countryfile archives for some of his favourite autumn moments across the years.

Ellie Harrison and Joe Crowley are at the Compton Verney estate in Warwickshire to mark 300 years since the death of Britain’s greatest master carver, Grinling Gibbons. Known as the Michelangelo of wood, Gibbons was influenced by nature, and Joe discovers how his legacy lives on today. Ellie explores Compton Verney’s 120 acres of parkland, shaped by 18th-century landscape architect Capability Brown, and finds out why it is now a haven for local wildlife, including orphaned badgers. Tom Heap investigates the crisis facing UK pig farmers, and Adam Henson is on Exmoor to help with the annual round-up of one of the UK’s rarest native pony breeds.

Matt Baker and Charlotte Smith are in Kielder in Northumberland to explore some of the 250 square miles of England’s largest forest. Charlotte discovers how this man-made landscape supplies a quarter of England’s timber - from the joists in your house to the chair you sit on - and heads to a ‘rock festival’ as Northumberland Wildlife Trust celebrates its 50th anniversary by revealing secrets going back millions of years that are hidden in the stones that shape this landscape. Matt finds out how the forest is managed for its wildlife, helping a team clean out osprey nests 65 feet high up and foraging for fungi that help the forest thrive. Adam Henson gets to grips with the latest entrants into the milk market - camels - and Joe Crowley investigates whether schemes to reduce the impact of big building projects on wildlife are working.

Matt Baker and Anita Rani explore the beauty of the Malvern Hills and discover how this area inspired writers such as JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis and composer Edward Elgar. Anita visits Malvern College, where Lewis studied and was visited by his friend Tolkien, and up on the hills she meets a group of young writers hoping to follow in the great masters’ footsteps. She also steps into Narnia as she meets the world’s only female gas light engineer, who repairs and maintains the famous lights that influenced CS Lewis. Matt is on the musical trail of Elgar and meets cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason for a special Countryfile recital. Adam Henson welcomes a very festive new arrival to his farm, and Tom Heap investigates the toxic risks being served up in our winter game.

Matt Baker and Charlotte Smith head to Christmas Common in Oxfordshire, home to one of the biggest Christmas tree farms in the country, to celebrate the festive season. Matt finds out why a dairy-farming family swapped cows for Christmas trees and how seasonal farming is a year-round business. Charlotte channels her inner elf, heading to the local market town of Watlington to help a butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker prepare their festive treats. The cattle are lowing as Adam Henson visits a Christmas cattle market in Rutland and also launches a cracker of a competition to design a bobble hat for Children in Need. Tom Heap gets gift wrapping with the countryside communities preparing a rural welcome for refugees. John Craven gets a Christmas present to remember as he meets the descendants of red kites he helped release nearly three decades ago, and wildlife cameraman Richard Taylor Jones goes on a white Christmas wildlife walk.

Charlotte Smith takes a look at some of our Christmas traditions. She visits historic Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire - the birthplace of photography in Britain - to discover how the Fox Talbot family celebrated the festive season in the run-up to New Year. She also finds out how to make the most of Christmas leftovers, learns about some intriguing, age-old cures to relieve festive overindulgence, and delves into the archives to revisit some special Countryfile Christmas moments from across the UK.