A young shepherdess from the Appleby area played a leading role in the BBC’s flagship Countryfile programme on Christmas Eve.
Carlisle College student Katie Laidlow (left), aged 16, has already appeared in several previous episodes since her first time on the show in April, 2021.
This time, presenters Sammi Kinghorn and Joe Crowley joined in with Katie’s festive family traditions to celebrate Christmas on the farm at Dufton Wood. Katie showed Sammi how busy the farm is during the holiday season, checking up on livestock and tackling daily maintenance. Sammi also discovered how Katie gets the perfect photo for her family’s Christmas card — of her Herdwick sheep.
Additionally, Joe helped Katie and her mum Kirsten harvest apples for brewing hot mulled cider, while Sammi went on the hunt for a Christmas jumper from a local knitwear specialist who uses wool from nearby farms.
Katie said: “The filming was lots of fun and the weather was perfect. I’m super excited to see how it comes out on TV and the fact it’s Christmas Eve makes it even more special.”
What came through on the programme, as seen in previous episodes, is Katie’s love for farming in the Eden Valley.
She moved from Sandford, near Warcop, to Dufton in 2011 with her family — parents Kirsten and Andrew and older brothers Jack and Samuel — when they took on a farm tenancy at Dufton Wood.
From having just a few sheep, they gradually built things up and now have a flock of 175 head, half of which are Katie’s. Around 30 of these are Herdwicks, the traditional breed of the Lake District fells, with the rest being a cross between the Lleyn, a versatile Welsh type, and the Texel, which is popular for producing meaty lambs.
She also has two cows — Angela, an Aberdeen Angus, and her calf Albert, and Heather, a Hereford, with her calf Herbert — and is hoping to increase her herd. As if her farming activities were not enough to keep her busy, Katie is also doing a media course at Carlisle College — and has a number of media commitments.
These have included writing this year for the RSPB magazine, doing a video link with pop star Ed Sheeran and featuring in a Radio 4 interview with Nick Robinson — alongside George Eustice, then Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. She also has a slot roughly once every two weeks on BBC Radio Cumbria.
Mum Kirsten added that her daughter had got on particularly well with presenter Sammi Kinghorn. “Sammi is from a farming family and she and Katie spent a lot of time talking about how to look after sheep,” she said.
The Countryfile programme aired on BBC1 on Sunday at 6pm and can be viewed on the iPlayer..
