Countryfile Winter Diaries

Jules Hudson and the Countryfile Diaries team travel the length and breadth of the UK to uncover the best winter stories. Jules is on the island of Anglesey, celebrating its winter landscape and wildlife. Keeley Donovan is on the trail of the puppy farmers in Ireland whose cruel trade is flooding the UK market. An undercover investigator reveals some of the horrors that he witnesses and how easy it is to be duped into buying a sick puppy. Keeley discovers how agencies and ferry operators are cracking down, and she gets the lowdown on what to look out for when buying a puppy. Paul Martin picks up some thrifty and clever ideas from wildlife saviour Kate McCrae on how to help winter garden visitors get through the season, with a little bit of know-how in the kitchen. From a whisk birdfeeder to a little sieve, a feeding station that defies raiding rats and squirrels, Paul also helps to make a pool from an old tyre to home amphibians or simply act as a winter watering hole.

Jules Hudson and the Countryfile Diaries team travel the length and breadth of the UK to uncover the best winter stories. In Buckinghamshire, Margherita Taylor meets a 71-year-old who has been without heating or hot water for three years because she's trapped in fuel poverty. It means surviving with minimal heat from an electric radiator, going without hot meals and wearing three layers of clothing every day, but Margherita discovers how people can all help loved ones stay warm and safe throughout the winter. Jules is at the Royal Welsh winter show, where the top farm animals in Wales are strutting their stuff. But this is more than just a beauty parade, as Jules finds out how the winners and losers in the show ring are dictated by changing tastes. In the New Forest, Paul Martin gets a bird's-eye view from the top of a mighty beech to do a health check on the trees.

Jules Hudson and the Countryfile Diaries team travel the length and breadth of the UK to uncover the best winter stories. Jules continues to reveal some of the best winter beauty spots on Anglesey, while Margherita Taylor is in the Peak District to discover why wellies are damaging people's feet in winter. Every week in Bakewell there is a queue of farmers looking for respite at the weekly pop-up clinic. Margherita finds out what wellies are best for which activity, be it a winter walk or making a splash at festivals. Jules meets his sailing hero, Ben Ainslie. The Olympic legend is taking on ocean plastics in the wake of predictions that suggest that there could soon be more plastic in the seas than fish. Ben is starting his crusade at his training pontoon in Portsmouth with a bin that could herald a revolution that could save the oceans and marine wildlife. Jules also finds out how plastic can be recycled and picks up a few tips on how changing shopping habits could help.

Jules Hudson and the Countryfile Diaries team travel the length and breadth of the UK to uncover the best winter stories. Paul Martin is at his Wiltshire smallholding and wants to find out how people with just a balcony or even a windowsill can grow vegetables in winter. From cut-and-come-again salads to veg grown in old wellies, a garden in a carton and herbs in old guttering, there is no shortage of clever, thrifty ideas to brighten up the smallest of spaces. Jules is in Milton Keynes finding out how dogs are being trained to detect cancer. With a sniffing prowess than can detect a teaspoon of sugar in somewhere the size of two Olympic swimming pools, these detectives on four legs are helping to push the boundaries of medical science. In the Lake District Ellie Harrison gets stuck in as she finds out how footpaths are kept open in the winter for people to enjoy some of the most breathtaking scenery in the UK.

Jules Hudson and the Countryfile Diaries team travel the length and breadth of the UK to uncover the best winter stories. Jules files his final reports from Anglesey, including the top signs that spring is finally on its way. He's also on the island of Llanddwyn, home to Wales's patron saint of love. Margherita Taylor meets the duo responsible for saving the world's cocoa crops, which are being decimated by bugs and disease. Beavering away in greenhouses in Reading, they are raising and nurturing disease-free cocoa plants. In Aberystwyth and Borth on the Welsh coast, Keeley Donovan battles the elements for the rockpooling expedition of a lifetime. The coast in this area is one of the most diverse in the UK, and tidal patterns reveal pools which are vital nurseries for sealife. Paul Martin unravels why his pigs might just hold the secret to a cure for the common cold.