Rhod himself was great, very easy and willing to have a go at anything and the 3 crew members were considerate and charming and they were all very good company. Rhod & the crew stayed here on the farm in the cottage & farmhouse which was good as it meant they were able to continue filming in the evenings and after supper, going out to see the cattle in the sheds at night, which is always a lovely thing to do, very calm & warm with contented sleepy cows lying quietly chewing the cud and making happy little groaning noises.
The brief was that once Rhod was kitted out in proper farmer's gear, wellies & boiler suit, having arrived in smart townie inappropriate clothing, he be taught a variety of farming skills. He then had to get on with things in his own.
Well....he learnt to drive tractor (a much bigger one than in the pictures here!) reasonably competently but could not master reversing a trailer no matter how hard he tried (I can't do it either!) and he milked the cows, and attempted to work with Molly the sheepdog causing much hilarity & learned the important skill of plucking pheasants.
The Farmer & he did all the daily chores together, feeding cattle, bedding down etc. and then some essential job such as repairing fencing.
On the second day we all went to Carmarthen market for Rhod to
to see a cattle auction and to auction a cow to a crowd of somewhat bemused farmers.
I spent much of my time cooking vast meals (but no award winning mince-pies!) which were received with much appreciation and having occasionally to do my bit to the camera (!) such as having the results of my culinary efforts filmed when the table was set for meals.
As always with filming everything takes an age to do with every shot & angle being done twice or more & dialogue having to be repeated which makes spontaneous ad-libbing quite hard, but the whole three days went very well & happily for everyone.
The end result is be broadcast in March, I will let you know when !
great blog!
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