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Forty years ago National Parks were first set up. Outside those areas Britain's countryside has mainly been given over to farming and improvement grants offered by the government have led to a loss of natural habitats and an over production of food. We open with views of the Lake District including the ferry at Bowness on Lake Windermere. The introduction also includes views of wet land being drained to provide more farm land and comments from Adrian Phillips who is the director general of the Countryside Commission about government support of farmers.
We then see views of the Peak District National Park. John Lomas who is farm liaison officer for the park is seen visiting the farm of Bill Gregory in Derbyshire (at Blackwell?) Gregory is interviewed about his land which includes archaeological remains. We see conservation volunteers working on his land and a dry stone wall being repaired. John Lomas and Bill Gregory talk about the grants that are available to farmers. Adrian Phillips talks about the lack of co-ordination within the wide system of grants. A new single grant is now available to farmers who work on an ESA (Environmentally Sensitive Area). We then visit the north Derbyshire land of sheep farmer, Peter Atkins. He talks about the ESA grant and how it works on his moorland farm. Interview with Graham Manning who was visiting the area about outsiders paying to access the land.
Next in the Clun Valley in Shropshire we visit another ESA area. After shots of lambing we hear the views of farmer John Yeorward on the effectiveness of the scheme and another local farmer, Hugh Jones who suggests a guaranteed price for their produce rather than grants. The theme continues with a visit to the farm of John Lampitt who has 350 acres in Warwickshire. We see views of his land and he talks about the changes he has seen in the area. He points out that farms used to have a variety of produce but now they all specialise on either arable or dairy. There are further interviews about the possibility of given subsidies to organic farmers before the programme considers the government plan of 'set aside' in which farmers are paid to leave some land fallow to combat the grain mountain. Finally we return to Bill Gregory in Derbyshire where we see that he has diversified with a small caravan park on his land and his wife is making lemon curd in the farm kitchen.
Commentary: Andy Craig
Cameraman: Bob Bolt
Sound Recordist: Frank Minton
Dubbing Editor: Ian Wilkinson
Dubbing Mixer: Robin Ward
Graphics: Stuart Kettle
Production Secretary: Anne Clarke
Production Assistant: Sylvia Ellis
Research: Kate Newington
Film Editor: Chris Christophe
Producer: Ashley Bruce
Director: John Thornicroft
Production number 4182/89.