MATT BAKER
THE COUNTRYFILE PRESENTER GOES BEHIND THE SCENES ON HIS SHOWS AND FAMILY FARM
Fun as Countryfile Live travels north.
For a long time, I’ve wanted to take our summer festival Countryfile Live up north. This year, I was over the moon as my family and I packed up our camper van and headed to Castle Howard in North Yorkshire. This venue has everything needed to cater for what I love about this interactive experience – where you get to do what you see us doing every week on Countryfile.
I have spent my childhood summers at local fairs, livestock displays and – the highlight of our school summer holiday – a family day out at the Great Yorkshire Show. Over the years, through trial and error, we have created at Countryfile Live a show that is different to anything out there, as it brings together the best of all of the above.
It is no mean feat to move a spectacle such as Countryfile Live from Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire – the place where it was conceived – up to North Yorkshire. But from what I witnessed this August, those of you who came seemed incredibly grateful for the effort that was made to achieve that move. I doff my flat cap to the fantastic team who make it possible for so many families to have a super day out and experience things they may never have thought of doing.
So I love what Countryfile Live has become and, aside from meeting so many passionate fans of all ages, it’s a joy to spend so much time with my fellow presenters and their families. That precious and quality time simply doesn’t exist with our usual filming schedule. We all bring our relatives to the festival and it always has the vibe of such a happy get-together. My children are always excited to catch up and hear what their Uncles John, Adam and Tom and Aunties Ellie, Charlotte and Anita have been up to!
CELEBRATING RAIN
The rain-shy would say that the weather was against us on the Friday but, true to form, my fellow Northerners were celebrating a day out, not at all deterred by how much water was falling. It was tremendous – in fact, that soggy Friday was my favourite of all the four days we were there. As I always say (please keep it in mind this autumn), it’s the weather that makes the best memories; just wear the right gear so you can create them.
It was a delight to meet so many of you this summer. Thank you if you came to hear what my fellow presenters and I had to say – some of which was a real eye-opener, even for me. Because we weren’t broadcasting, we told stories we would never dream of saying on telly or in print. Sorry, I’m not spilling the beans here; you’ll have to come next year if you want to find out what I mean!
“It’s a joy to spend so much time with fellow presenters and their families”