BBC Countryfile films the Wild Ennerdale project

Ellie with Gareth Browning

A film crew from the popular BBC One television programme Countryfile has visited the Lake District for an upcoming programme.

Presenter Ellie Harrison, and her camera crew, visited the Wild Ennerdale project in the North West of the national park on Thursday, February 2.

They took advantage of the clear sunny weather to film five stories in the valley. These included visiting the former home of Tom Rawling, an Ennerdale poet who wrote about the area; setting up a remote camera which will record the next big flood event on the River Liza, one of Englands most natural rivers; meeting a local orienteering club who have set up a course in the valley; getting an update on a special herd of cattle and also meeting volunteers who are planting juniper in Ennerdale.

Ellie said: “This is my first visit to Ennerdale and I think that the Wild Ennerdale project is excellent. The area is breath-takingly beautiful. I would love to be able to keep it to myself because it is really really spectacular.”

Because the Wild Ennerdale project is about people as well as improving the environment for wildlife, Ellie spoke to the West Cumberland Orienteering Club about their use of the valley as a venue for their sport.

Ellie interviewing members of the West Cumberland Orienteering Club

Joyce Woffindin, 49, of Eaglesfield, and who is chairman of the club, said: “Ellie was very relaxed and she helps make you relaxed on camera. I hope that the programme helps to give more exposure to our sport, which takes us to all the nicest places in Britain, including Ennerdale.”

Other club members Katrina Hemingway, 15, of Eaglesfield, John Slater, 40, of Whitehaven, and Roger Taylor of Seaton, were also filmed by the Countryfile crew.

Richard Maxwell, a farmer who has introduced a herd of 18 Galloway cows into the valley as part of Wild Ennerdale, gave an update on the herd, which was first filmed by the programme two years ago.

He said: “We have thousands of people who come through the valley each year on the coast to coast walk and this will help explain what the cows are here to do. They are environmental cows because they help prepare the ground for new vegetation to grow.”

Gareth Browning, Forestry Commission Area Forester, who is leading the work of the Wild Ennerdale Partnership, showed Countryfile around the valley and was filmed setting up the camera on the River Liza.

He said: “It is great that Countryfile has come back to film the work of Wild Ennerdale again after their last visit two years ago. They have said they are very interested in the work we are doing here to make the valley a wilder landscape for the benefit of people and wildlife now and in the future. This is Countryfile’s third visit to the valley and its great that they want to follow Wild Ennerdale as a long running story.”

Planting Juniper on Bowness Knott

The programme will be broadcast on Sunday, February 19.

More information about the Wild Ennerdale project is available by visiting www.wildennerdale.co.uk