Our day at CountryFile with the BBC

Imagine my surprise when I got a call which went like this....

Hi, can I speak to Tina please
Yes speaking
Hi, my names Katy and I'm a researcher from the Countryfile programme at the BBC, and I've been looking at your yarn bombing on the internet
Really??
Yes really
What the BBC?
Yes, the BBC....

So once I actually picked myself up off the floor, Katy asked me if I would like to be involved in the Countryfile Summer Show being filmed at the Cotswold Show in Cirencester

Of course I said Yes (please!!)

Over the following two weeks, the requirements changed from 'making pom poms with the public and decorating a tree' to knitting something for the presenters to wear during a cricket match, knitting squares with the public and spinning a newly shorn fleece into a tea cosy!! All we could do was promise to try to get everything done, but due to the smelliness of a newly shorn fleece, we decided to take a back up of our own clean sheep fleece, a kind of plan b!!

The day arrived and we excitedly drove to Cirencester. When we told the parking attendants we were with the BBC, we were ushered into a little private parking area (no parking with the masses for us!!) and were quickly met by Katy who was as lovely person as she was on the phone and shown our area for the day. We set up camp, and were totally surprised by the friendliness and hospitality of the BBC crew - several came up and introduced themselves including the producer and director (who to our delight said they too had decided the sheep fleece would be too smelly to spin - phew!). Everyone was interested in what we were doing, and throughout the day we were looked after, even though they were all so very busy. Such a fabulous team of people.

During the day we sat and knitted and spun, and chatted to so many members of the public about knitting and yarn and stuff - it was great to get to chat to such a variety of people. The spinning wheel was the draw for the day, my mum is surely a YouTube sensation by now as she was filmed so many times. We had samples from raw fleece to spun hanks of yarn, and so were able to describe the process from start to finish and I think maybe there might be a few people now interested in spinning. Success!! All this while sat amongst the crew and presenters while they were filming the show. Not only very enjoyable, but also very interesting watching how a show like Countryfile is filmed - we said hello to Matt Baker five times on camera due to them having to retake the 'scene', it will be interesting to see the show all edited and put together having seen it so disjointed and 'bitty'....

Highlights of the day....

Making a cup of tea in the 'green room' next to John Craven 

Having my photo taken and chatting to the lovely Matt Baker (I was a little bit starstruck!!)

And knitting with John Hammond who was a very good knitter! 

 
All in all we had a brilliant day. The show will be aired on 10th August - we're not sure how much of us will be in the programme (if any) but we had such a lovely day, we dont mind!! If we're not shown, I'm hoping that my Cricket Jumper Tea Cosy will be as it was used for the High Tea scene after the cricket match!!

A huge thankyou to the Countryfile Team (especially Katy, she was fab) for making us part of their team for the day....I've already told them we are free for the next one :-)

If you watch Countryfile, I hope you enjoy the show and maybe spot a little bit of us

Lots of love

Tina xxxx