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East Sussex

Countryfile visits East Sussex, where Sean Fletcher meets the family with a passion for poultry.

Countryfile visits East Sussex, where Sean Fletcher meets the family who have a passion for poultry.

Ellie Harrison discovers the life and work of a little-known British landscape artist Eric Slater and she also meets the woman keeping the age-old craft of trug making alive.

It is an emotional day for Adam Henson as he tests his cattle for TB, plus, on this very special Armistice Day, John Craven is in the village of Rotherfield honouring the parish's war dead, 100 years on.

And Tom Heap investigates the outbreak of a mystery disease that could take the UK's hare population to the brink of extinction.

55 minutes

Last on

Tue 20 Nov 2018 02:15

Chicken Run

Chicken Run

Sean is in the village of Ditchling to meet a family responsible for 72,000 free range organic hens. 

We meet Susie Macmillan, one of three siblings who all have farms locally and who together supply more than 15,000 eggs a day. 

Welfare is at the heart of everything they do and Sean discovers just what it takes to run a farm of this size.


The Sussex Trug

The Sussex Trug

Ellie meets Sarah Page, one of the country’s very last trug makers. 

She rolls up her sleeves to discover how the willow and chestnut found in abundance here in East Sussex are bent and moulded to create these traditional baskets. 

First made in the area back in the 1850s, trugs are a traditional craft Sarah is keen to keep alive.

Hare Deaths

Hare Deaths
Tom is investigating whether a mystery illness is responsible for hare deaths across the UK.
He meets myxomatosis expert Diana Bell, from the University of East Anglia, who fears the rabbit disease may now be affecting brown hares.
Tom travels across the area to meet landowners, farmers and conservationists to see if he can get to the bottom of this mystery...

Eric Slater

Eric Slater

Ellie’s on a mission to find out more about one of the most enigmatic 'lost’ British artists of the 20th Century - Eric Slater. 

He was a master of oriental woodcut art, who loved the East Sussex landscape. But he was a solitary man who died in total obscurity in 1963. 

Ellie meets James Trollope, an author and authority on Slater to discover the little that is known about this extraordinary artist. 

She’ll also meet modern-day woodcut artist Helen Brown to see the tricky  print techniques Slater mastered. 

Lest We Forget

Lest We Forget

John visits the village of Rotherfield which has unveiled a new memorial to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War. 

He meets local military historian Simon Blackwell, who is researching the lives of the 93 men from the village who fought in the war but never returned. 

He also meets David Peacock a local artist who’s created silent soldier silhouettes to stand proud around the village. 

And John will talk to the school children who have created their own tributes to place at the homes of the fallen.  

Chicken Run 2

Chicken Run 2

Sean is back at the Macmillan's farm to see the hen hospital where the birds at the bottom of the pecking order come to get the care they deserve. 

Re-homing hens for a life beyond the farm is also a huge part of what the Macmillan family do. 

Sean meets Caroline and Sue from the organisation ‘Fresh start for Hens’ as they collect a couple hens ready for their new home.

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Sean Fletcher
Presenter Ellie Harrison
Presenter Adam Henson
Presenter John Craven
Presenter Tom Heap
Executive Producer William Lyons
Series Producer Joanna Brame

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