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28/10/2012

The Countryfile team explore Anglesey, Wales's largest island. Matt Baker and Julia Bradbury get together for an epic seasonal battle sailing pumpkins in the Menai Straits.

The Countryfile team explore Anglesey, Wales's largest island. Historically the island earned fame as 'Mam Cymru' the mother of Wales, a place so fertile it could feed a nation. Matt Baker gets to grips with some of the more exotic crops grown there and finds out how a brisk coastal walk inspired an award-winning business harvesting salt from the sea.

Julia Bradbury feels the wind in her hair on a race-track proud of its eco-credentials and finds out why the Fog House on North Stack, which once sounded the warning to keep vessels safe in bad weather, is up for sale.

Julia and Matt get together for an epic seasonal battle sailing pumpkins in the Menai Straits. Adam Henson travels the length and breadth of Britain in search of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ's Farmer of the Year for 2012, visiting three finalists.

50 minutes

Last on

Sat 10 Nov 2012 01:15

Matt, Julia And The Giant Pumpkin

Matt, Julia And The Giant Pumpkin

If there was a vegetable Olympics then Anglesey’s Medwyn Williams would top the medal table. As Matt discovers, Medwyn goes for gold every time with his giant produce – from runner beans as long as your arm to onions the size of footballs. Following in the family footsteps, Medwyn’s son Alwyn has now got a passion for giant pumpkins. Matt learns how to split and harvest valuable seeds from a 400lb beauty whose pumpkin family tree goes back years. But Alwyn has big ambitions for his orange beasts. He hopes to grow a pumpkin big enough to hollow out and sail across the Menai Strait. Sadly, this year’s weather hasn’t been good enough to produce a champion pumpkin craft, but Matt has an idea, and challenges Julia to an unusual race.

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Farmer Of The Year

Farmer Of The Year

This week, Adam Henson's travelling the length and breadth of the country in search of the 2012 Farmer of the Year, which is part of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ's Food and Farming Awards. There are three candidates. Guy Watson has grown his organic veggie box business from 30 boxes a week to 50,000. Henry Edmunds (pictured here with Adam and the crew), who farms every last square metre of his land with wildlife in mind. And last but not least - Tom Rawson who has come up with a radical business model that is set to shake up the dairy industry. Being a judge for the second year, Adam's certainly got his work cut out in finding a winner. The champion will be announced on the 28th November at the NEC in Birmingham and if you want to be part of the audience, click on the link below.

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Fog, Art And Gunfire

Fog, Art And Gunfire

Julia Bradbury takes a bumpy ride over Holyhead Mountain, to a rocky headland called North Stack. This remote spot is now home to artist Philippa Jacobs who paints in the old Fog House perched on the cliffs. It seems like the edge of the world, but Philippa says that here she feels connected to the globe and gets inspiration for her art. Of course, it wasn’t always so peaceful. Before the days of GPS, automatic foghorns in the signal station warned ships away from the treacherous rocks – and before that guns were fired. Julia meets one of the last men to fire them, and discovers an old picture of his days at North Stack.

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IMAGE: Philippa, with director Pete Taylor on his last ever Countryfile shoot!

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Salt From The Strait

Offer Matt Baker a bag of chips and he’s a happy man. But this week he’s learning how to make the salt that goes with them. David Lea-Wilson shows him how to create sea salt straight from the Menai Strait. It comes from seawater, filtered by a sand bank and mussel beds before being piped directly into evaporation tanks. Today David has a thriving business, but he first cooked up the idea by putting a pan of seawater on his stove at home. With Matt he goes back to basics, showing him how it works in a simple beachside experiment. The results are shiny white crystals, but will they taste as good as they look?

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An Island Paradise

An Island Paradise

In the heart of Anglesey Matt discovers a village called Carreglefn, which holds an exotic secret. Kathryn Selfe’s passion for tropical and unusual plants has taken over her kitchen, her garage and two vast polytunnels - where husband Keith was planning to restore his boat. But instead of going ‘bananas’ at losing his boathouse, Keith now helps to grow them, alongside oranges, lemons, figs and more. The mild climate means they can also grow kiwi fruit. But, as the weather turns colder they need to come indoors. So Matt helps keep the kiwi plants cosy for the winter and gives them a dose of seaweed fertiliser. Finally, as payment for his hard work, he gets to taste Kathryn’s award winning fruit preserves.

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Motor Racing By The Sea

Motor Racing By The Sea

From a slow journey over a rough track at Holyhead Mountain, Julia changes gear and samples a ride on the wild side. Anglesey Circuit at Ty Croes is a modern racetrack with its origins in military history. Guided missiles used to be launched here and fired over the Irish Sea, in fact one of the bends is called ‘Rocket’! Julia helps out on a motorbike track day and faces the challenges of the circuit herself as she races around under the watchful eye of former racing driver, now coach, Mark Hales. Can they give Top Gear a run for its money?Ìý

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Matt Baker
Presenter Matt Baker
Presenter Julia Bradbury
Presenter Julia Bradbury
Presenter Adam Henson
Presenter Adam Henson
Series Producer Teresa Bogan
Series Producer Teresa Bogan

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