Countryfile – A Picture of Britain: A Stunning Collection of Viewers’ Photography

By John Craven and Matt Baker

Published In Aid of BBC Children in Need *

The Countryfile Calendar has brought nature into our homes for nearly three decades, and now this comprehensive collection captures the essence of each season, bringing together viewers’ photographs of the British countryside throughout the year.

The Countryfile Calendar is an institution, raising millions for BBC Children in Need and celebrating the glorious range of British nature photography. Now nearly three decades of stunning images taken by Countryfile viewers have been brought together for the first time in a unique, all-encompassing view of rural Britain, offering a month-by-month guide to the natural world around us.

John Craven, who has chaired the judging panel from the start, introduces this treasury of images, and he is joined by Matt Baker in picking out their personal favourites, as well as describing what is going on in each month. Illustrated with beautiful colour photographs throughout, this book brings the beauty of the countryside to you – whether you are at the southern tip of the Scilly Isles or in the far north of the Shetland Islands, and everywhere in between.

* At least £30,000 from the sales of this book will go to BBC Children in Need (charity number 802052 in England & Wales and SC039557 in Scotland)

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Oct 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9780008254995

Book preview

Copyright

William Collins

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WilliamCollinsBooks.com

This eBook edition published by William Collins in 2020

All photography and Countryfile Calendar artwork and caption text © BBC

Text and book design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

By arrangement with the BBC

The BBC logo is a trademark of the British Broadcasting

Corporation and is used under licence

BBC logo © BBC 2014

BBC Children in need, Pudsey Bear and Blush are trademarks of the BBC and are used under licence. © BBC 2007 Reg. charity England & Wales no. 802052 and Scotland no. SC039557

John Craven and Matt Baker assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Cover image Happy Hedgehog photographed by Ben Andrew. © BBC

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this eBook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

Source ISBN: 9780008254988

Ebook Edition © September 2020 ISBN: 9780008254995

Version: 2022-08-08

June 2020 – Dune Drifter, Luskentyre Beach, Isle of Harris.Judges’ Favourite. (David Brown)

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

INTRODUCTION John Craven

JANUARY John Craven

FEBRUARY Matt Baker

MARCH John Craven

APRIL Matt Baker

MAY Matt Baker

JUNE John Craven

JULY Matt Baker

AUGUST John Craven

SEPTEMBER Matt Baker

OCTOBER John Craven

NOVEMBER Matt Baker

DECEMBER John Craven

COUNTRYFILE Calendars (2003–20)

About the Author

About the Publisher

May 2008 Shetland Puffin. (George Turnbull)

INTRODUCTION

JOHN CRAVEN

What’s not to love about heading out into the countryside with camera at the ready hoping to capture an image that will forever remind you of how fortunate we are to live in, or close by, the rich and diverse rural landscapes of the United Kingdom? For several hundred people the satisfaction of actually doing that was then topped – when their special photograph was selected to appear in one of the nation’s best-loved calendars and helped raise millions of pounds for a children’s charity.

The calendar in question is the one that has been compiled for more than 20 years by the BBC’s Countryfile programme from pictures submitted by viewers who enter our annual photographic competition. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that Countryfile is the UK’s leading rural affairs programme and goes out every Sunday evening of the year on BBC One. Its family of presenters cover everything from farming issues to wildlife, country crafts to social isolation and it is regularly the most popular weekly factual show on UK television.

When Countryfile first invited its viewers to take part in a competition that would showcase the best of our countryside, it attracted just a few thousand entries. For the 2020 calendar the judges faced the daunting task of choosing from more than 40,000 – a staggering response! That calendar raised £2.5 million for the BBC’s Children in Need appeal and the grand total has now reached around £20 million.

Countryfile calendars brighten countless kitchen and office walls with their kaleidoscope of rural images taken across every season and in every weather condition. But, because of their very purpose, come the end of December they get taken down and often binned to be replaced by another collection of stunning pictures.

Judging 2003 Patrick Lichfield, Radio Times editor Gill Hudson and I sift through entries in Patrick’s London studio. (BBC Countryfile)

Yet surely those winning photos are just too good to be forgotten – so why not give them a new lease of life and let them raise even more money for BBC Children in Need? That is the reasoning behind this book. For the very first time, pictures from the past two decades have been gathered together. Hopefully, they will now have a much longer life than in a calendar and be a lasting tribute to the skills and patience of the amateur photographers who take up Countryfile’s challenge.

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