Newtonmore family and unusual friends to appear in popular BBC series
A Newtonmore family and their unusual friends are set to feature in the BBC’s ‘This Farming Life’ when the sixth series starts this Monday night (August 28).
Jenni MacDonell and partner Robert Mackenzie, of Lochbuie Croft, will give viewers a glimpse into the daily running of their croft and their recent surprise additions as they diversify the business.
They are not the first familiar faces from the strath to appear in the popular show.
Start-up farmers Lynn Cassells and Sandra Baer were showcased on the programme in 2019 as they learned the ropes at Lynbreck Croft near Grantown.
Jenni told the Strathy: “We’d obviously seen the show before but those keen have to apply for it and to be honest we didn’t expect to be in it.
“It was to promote the alpaca diversification side of things. I thought that would be really good and that we may as well give it a shot and see what happens. That must have been a year ago.”
They were one of five families selected after going through a series of auditions including interviews and sharing home footage of the farm.
Jenni said: “Robert was quite sceptical to begin with but nowadays it’s all about social media and having an online presence and it didn’t take a lot to convince him.
“He spoke to some people that had done the show before and they said it would be great for the business.”
The family started filming in September, last year, and completed their time in front of the cameras just a few weeks ago.
Jenni revealed: “There are 12 episodes and we open the very first one and we are in most of them.”
In the series opener, the Autumn sales are over and preparations are being made for winter.
In Newtonmore, Robert and Jenni need to gather in all his pregnant cows back down to the croft for pregnancy testing.
The BBC promo says that the costs of feed and fertiliser has shot up this year so if not enough are in calf then it may be time to stop farming cattle.
The alpacas are kept in reserve for the show later on.
Jenni commented: “Nothing is mentioned about our alpacas at first. The show starts off just about the croft, Lochbuie, and talking about the cows.
“It speaks about our story as it were, about how the price of everything is going up and how we then started the alpaca trekking business as a way to diversify.
“The series features a good mixture of both the croft and the alpaca trekking.”
Jenni admits to being a little nervous ahead of the first episode airing: “I think we are obviously a bit anxious just because we have not seen it yet”
“It is our life that is going out to people that we don’t know and for people to judge and pass comments on. So we are a little apprehensive.”
‘This Farming Life’ returns on Monday on BBC Scotland, 8pm–9pm.
