To be fed up of celebrities claiming bits of the countryside...

[Longcovid21]

My Cornwall with fern Britton
Kate (not so) Humble's coastal Britain...

Anyone else fed up with this?

Only on a par with Sarah Beanys house renovation programme. And those ones that own a farm and want to tell us all about how rural they are....

I find much more annoying celebrities like Ed Sheeran who have announced they are going to buy every piece of farmland they can to rewild, often vastly outbidding local farmers.

Not only are they putting local farmers out of business, they are threatening the food security of the country.

I'm no farmer or Clarkson fan but I do think he's given a (more) honest portrayal of farming - for people who don't know about farming.

I used to quite like Sarah Beeney's home diy programme (can't remember what it was called) but her new show is bloody awful. It's a bit 'oh we've got loads of money, all our kids are in private schools but we're going to pretend we're normal'. It's embarrassing. And the narrator is awful. It's like a pastiche of Grand Designs goes bad.

@elbea

I find much more annoying celebrities like Ed Sheeran who have announced they are going to buy every piece of farmland they can to rewild, often vastly outbidding local farmers.

Not only are they putting local farmers out of business, they are threatening the food security of the country.

He's the rock star I mentioned... I live in the next village!

@Elderflower14 I don’t know what locals think about it but putting local people out of business and threatening food security so that you can always offset the carbon from your private jet is gross.

[quote elbea]@Grendalsmum why does it? As somebody who works in agriculture, Jeremy Clarkson has portrayed a realistic view of farming. Yes, he wasn’t born into it (nor was I), but he’s shown the realities of farming pretty accurately. Much more so than Countryfile or Springwatch.[/quote]
I agree with this. I married into a generational farming family and by default became a farmer. Jeremy Clarkson has been pretty accurate about farming, warts and all, and has done more for farming and getting public support and respect for farmers than anyone else on the TV. Yes, he's cashed in massively with his Diddly Squat Farm shop and he can afford to make financial mistakes the rest of us can't, but he's got the brutal truth out there.

Farming is brutal and hard and has a massive mental health crisis amongst farmers with one of the highest suicide rates by profession.

Countryfile is not about farming, it's sanitised and pretty anti farming at times and Adam Henson is a patronising twat who minces about with a lot of money raising rare breeds in a farm park trying to make out he's hard done by with his 20+ staff and a farm manager.

Yanbu. It especially fucks me off they skip the reality and imply every rural dweller is a jammy bastard living the dream in a holiday destination. When firstly not all rural areas are holiday destinations, and secondly if you were born and raised in one, the negatives rarely compensate for the positives.
Oddly enough they never seem to mention any of the issues caused by successive governments chronically neglecting rural areas.

I don't like clarkson, and several farmers I know feel the same. But despite watching with a view to criticise in all fairness it is more realistic. Meanwhile Ed Sheeran's behaviour is even worse than his music.

@Elderflower14
I thank my lucky stars I don't live in an area that attracts tourists or celebrities. The worst we have is the common or garden variety bog standard townie wanting the countryside to conform to their unrealistic image.

The whole celebrity culture of claiming the countryside is so annoying. They are essentially Townies that are smug enough to financially afford the best of both worlds and a TV channel gives them money to brag about it. I live in the countryside and CountryFile just annoys me too, as it such a glossy image of what it’s life. Clarkson’s Farm is the first entertaining show that shows how little people know about farming and proves how hard it is to work on a farm. I totally feel your pain.

@elbea

I find much more annoying celebrities like Ed Sheeran who have announced they are going to buy every piece of farmland they can to rewild, often vastly outbidding local farmers.

Not only are they putting local farmers out of business, they are threatening the food security of the country.

But possibly saving the planet in the process. *I should add I don't know anything about what Ed Sheeran's doing, but I am a farmer who's been involved in conservation farming for over a decade. Rewilding really is needed if we're going to reverse climate change.

@Ashmonster no, not saving the planet in the process. If he wanted to save the planet really he’d give up his private jet. I have worked managing 100,000 acres for a very large conservation charity. Rewilding every bit of land you can buy up ‘to plant trees’ isn’t going to save the planet but will threaten rural livelihoods and the food security of the nation.

[quote elbea]@Ashmonster no, not saving the planet in the process. If he wanted to save the planet really he’d give up his private jet. I have worked managing 100,000 acres for a very large conservation charity. Rewilding every bit of land you can buy up ‘to plant trees’ isn’t going to save the planet but will threaten rural livelihoods and the food security of the nation.[/quote]
Sorry but I think we're going to have to agree to disagree. Not about Ed Sheeran et al, but on the effects that rewilding has.

@Ashmonster but how are you going to feed all the people in this country? I’m not saying intensive farming is the way forward but planting trees on arable land isn’t sustainable. Or are you betting on importing food from other parts of the world that intensively farm fresh produce. All that does is cause drought and famine in the developing world while we plant trees to ease our conscious.

*conscience

I think everyone was expecting Jeremy Clarkson doing farming to be a bit of guilty pleasure viewing but everyone I've spoken to have gone you know what he's nailed if.

[quote elbea]@Ashmonster but how are you going to feed all the people in this country? I’m not saying intensive farming is the way forward but planting trees on arable land isn’t sustainable. Or are you betting on importing food from other parts of the world that intensively farm fresh produce. All that does is cause drought and famine in the developing world while we plant trees to ease our conscious.[/quote]
As I said, agree to disagree as this really isn't the thread for this discussion.
My final thoughts to you are: What's not sustainable is for the farming community (of which I'm a part of and depend on for my livelihood) to continue as we are. There is so much innovation and new best practices being trialed. The landscape needs to change and fast and I am happy to take part in that and become part of the solution.

To be honest if JC was saving drowning kittens and re-planting the rainforests he's still get my goat but l'm happy to be corrected about the farming thing - l've only watched about three minutes of it, so l bow to anyone who could stick a whole episode!

Clarkson's Farm was a brilliant bit of telly, so glad they're making a second series. Superb.

They should be more like Michael Portillo, whizzing about the country by train (in pink trousers and lemon blazer) having a whistle stop tour of various towns and villages, and then hopping back on the train once more (changing into a peacock blazer and orange trousers) to continue his explorations.

@Grendalsmum
Honestly it is hilarious and thought provoking and enlightening all in one. It really brings home the issues farmers are facing but is hugely entertaining into the bargain. I also thinks it shows a v different side to Jeremy as he shows his mistakes and is not afraid to laugh at himself when he completely cocks it up. It is worth watching just to see him put in his place by the wonderful Kaleb who is a marvel of nature all on his own.
Really stick it out . You wont regret it !

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

YANBU they can fuck off

Hahahaha!!!! Hilarious!!

flapjackfairy l'm glad everyone's enjoying it! I live in the back of beyond, surrounded by a sea of mud with the occasional pheasant covert/damp and grumpy horse for variety and half my family are either actual farmers, working for farmers or selling stuff to farmers so in my down time l tend to watch escapist stuff rather than country living type programmes ( even ones without the dreaded Clarkinator ) just for a change of pace!

@Grendalsmum
Ah fair enough. He would be teaching you to suck eggs anyway then
And escapism is always good !

Clarksons Farm has brilliantly highlighted how hard life is for farmers… yes ok, in Jeremys annoying jokey, blokey way..and as he admits on screen, he’ll be ok , as he of course earns a salary from Amazon.. but it’s heartbreaking at times to think of an ordinary farmer standing in his fields holding up that little moisture measuring device , and realizing that his crop is still too damp to harvest , while watching the rain clouds roll in. Tell you what , it made my kids think about food waste and how we routinely let veg rot and chuck it in the bin after a week. When you see the pain that goes into producing that food it makes you stop and think.

Yanbu…I don’t watch any of them

Doesn't bother me. And I've always thought Clarkson was a pig but I've changed my mind after watching his program - I thought it was great and highlights all the issues farmers face. And he totally admitted he was a twat and had more money than sense!
I like Sarah Beeny but do not understand building a fake old house. Those kids rooms - ugh!

Why does Cornwall belong to Fern Britton. Why did they go to Restormal castle to learn cornish. But didn’t look at the castle….why why why?