Clarkson’s Farm Arrives at the Manor! (well, sort of…)

🏡 Welcome to Mapperton, Englands’ Finest Manor House! Join us, Luke and Julie, for an enchanting 5-night retreat hosted by us at one of England’s majestic estates. Experience the perfect blend of history and luxury. Discover more on our website: Grand Historic Tours: https://www.grandhistorictours.com

🌟 Join our Community! Thank you for being an integral part of our journey. Enhance your experience by becoming a member of our exclusive Patron community. Enjoy perks like behind-the-scenes content, live Q&As, and special gifts, all while supporting the preservation of our cherished historic estate. Join here: https://patreon.com/mappertonlive

🏛️ Can’t come visit us in person! No problem! How about a Virtual Tour of Mapperton House & Gardens! Explore the beauty of the English countryside through stunning 360-degree imagery, videos, and ambient sounds in our immersive virtual tour. Start your tour at: https://buymeacoffee.com/mapperton

🌍 Explore More with Us! Visit our sister channel: American Viscountess on YouTube (https://youtube.com/americanviscountess) and Julie’s NEW channel: Julie in Italy, Authentic Italy Delivered to your Doorstep on YouTube (https://youtube.com/julieinitaly)

Help support the restoration of our 18th-century Grade II* listed eagles at (https://www.gofundme.com/mappertoneagles).

Shop for the latest Gilded Age American Heiress merchandise at the American Viscountess Shop https://www.americanviscountess.com/shop

📚 Discover Julie’s Best-Selling Books! Did you know Julie is a best-selling author on health and wellbeing? Check out her good for you recipe books and more:

– Superfoods Superfast, 100 Energising Recipes to Make in 20 Minutes or Less: https://www.amazon.com/Superfoods-Superfast-Energizing-Recipes-Minutes/dp/1849497869

– Superfoods, The Flexible Approach to Eating More Superfood: https://www.amazon.com/Superfoods-Flexible-Approach-Eating-More/dp/1849496668

– Eat Real Foods, Simple Rules for Health Happiness and Unstoppable Energy https://www.amazon.com/Eat-Real-Food-Happiness-Unstoppable-ebook/dp/B017DOB1EO

– Recharge: A Year of Self-Care to Focus on You https://www.amazon.com/Recharge-Year-Self-Care-Focus-You/dp/0349418144

📬 Stay Informed! Subscribe to our monthly newsletter for the latest updates and events at Mapperton. Sign up here: https://mailchi.mp/mapperton/mapperton-mail

📅 Visit and Contribute to Mapperton! Book your ticket now at https://mapperton.com to explore our Historic House, Award-wnning Gardens and Mapperton Wildlands, England’s Most Spectacular Rewilding Project plus our new Gilded Age American Heiress exhibition. Contribute to our exhibition and archive materials at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/juliejmontagu – A contribution of three cups of coffee or more grants you a virtual tour of the exhibition, led by Julie. Plan your visit and contribute here: (https://www.mapperton.com/tickets

We look forward to welcoming you to Mapperton soon! 🤗

Warm regards,
Luke & Julie
Viscount and Viscountess Hinchingbrooke 👑👑

[Music]
so it is that time of year again spring
has sprung even though it doesn’t feel
like it with all the rain and
spring means one thing in particular to
CLA and that is it’s lamming time it’s
lamming time so Claire how’s it going
the lamming what do what do we got how
many pregnant ‘s how many lambs uh so
we’ve got 17 hopefully pregnant yous um
sorry 16 cuz we started off quite badly
we lost one she aborted you lost the
lamb the second one aborted no we lost
the U we lost the U yeah so edua she’s
gone edua was one of your favorites she
was was she yeah so we’ve got three
Lambs so we’ve just got three male Lambs
yes and people may remember from last
year we CLA had a particular land that
was rejected by its mother called theo3
spots and theo3 spots became a bit of a
YouTube sensation he did he was a CER
alas he didn’t make it because he was
rejected by his mom and we did
everything we could and you were the
best possible mom uh in the
circumstances um but this year how how
are the Lambs so his mom had a lamb so
thankfully she only had a single um and
he’s doing really really well he’s just
there he’s just over there yeah by
himself fantastic then we’ve got twins
up by the fence so those are the three
MPP and lambs and unless we get a really
attractive ulam I don’t think we’ll be
keeping any of them this year we’ll
either sell them for for as stores or
the the odds of getting a boy or a girl
are roughly 50/50 really yes and given
that we still got 14 pregnant you or
something like that that that probably
means around seven girls which might
mean that we can name seven girls so
ahead of that let us know if you’d like
to name a mapan lamb she must be female
and she hasn’t arrived yet now I am
feeling like Father Christmas with my
sack because I brought some food yeah
they have not been fed for a few days
they not been fed for a few days now I
know this works with pigs because I’ve
done it you give it a good shape in the
bucket and they come running oh look at
this
here are the ladies I have to say these
ladies are looking quite round aren they
some of them are absolutely enormous so
here’s Ted coming up on your left this
is Ted Ted can barely
walk she is absolutely she is bit of a
barrel she is a bit of a barrel right
right here we go ladies come
on come on ladies come on ladies oh
they’re they’re much F of me than they
were last year look at that here we go
are they going to hand feed oh yes look
at that there we
go oh yes it’s uh no F oh look I’ve got
everybody I’m so popular with the ladies
today it’s quite something oh not that
one here we go oh Luke maybe
um sort of dribble out in a line dribble
it out inine I thought you might say
that I’m quite enjoying hand feeding CLA
oh look who’s this one
Claire um
she’s she’s probably really close to
lamming now do you is what about all of
this or just some of it um just some of
it just we don’t want them getting too
over fat just before lamming just before
lamming okay okay I’m going to make a
little a little Mound over there there
we go that’s going to be popular I could
tell that and I’ll do a little Mound
over here come on ladies so Blue Bell is
just just coming there with you now Luke
so that’s Blue Bell in front of you this
is Blue Bell here
so lce Hand Rd her two three two years
ago right um which is why she’s so
friendly so she’s friendly she she’s not
worried about me at all no no right
because of that you get special treat B
there you go here you
goell oh there we
go yeah you see she’s not greedy either
no she’s not she’s just having a slow
nibble know there we go
there we
go yeah but we don’t want you getting
too fat just before
laming so I have to say this is a lot
less threatening than feeding a pig
where I sometimes worry that my hand
won’t be coming back as I remove my
arm um there you go look they’re all on
the ground down here there look at that
there we go any more car or do you think
I’ve done enough I think that’s enough
I’ll do one more sprinkle just for luck
there you go right okay there we go we
have contributed to the welfare of these
lovely ladies we have helped fatten them
up we might even have made their day and
we thank them for all the lamming they
have done and are about to do yeah and
of course what arrives subsequently in
the Deep free hey blue
[Music]
right well we are here at the gallops at
mapon this is our big 40 acre field and
I’m here with Ben who is the Ranger here
at mapon and Ben is here to give me some
instruction because there are some
things I’m quite good at and there are
some things I’ve never done in my life
before and one of those things is I’ve
never driven a car with a trailer I hear
it’s a piece of cake but Ben what do you
reckon it’s all just takes time when you
when you when youve done it a lot then
you know exactly how to do it and you
just you just you can just sort of do it
without thinking um but yeah just doing
it the first couple times especially
revers thing it’s it’s pretty just just
get just getting knowing which way
you’re going is is the hardest part it’s
the opposite is it it’s all opposites
yeah oppos how am I going to get that
I’m so used to reversing I turn that way
and I go that way and no it’s not like
that not like that especially with that
full of people as well and you got a lot
more pressure then oh God pressure so we
have got
a Land Rover on the left and a trailer
on the right and this trailer is a new
piece of kit at mapon it’s a really
important new piece of Kit because we
are going to be using it for two reasons
one is to get people around who are
coming to visit mapon wildlands um so
the tours that we do to see all of the
wildlife all of the rewilding project
and the second reason is that we’ve got
lots of lovely volunteers who come to
maon who help working out on the estate
and and they get to go in that
unfortunately nobody’s been able to go
anywhere because the weather’s been so
awful and wet so it’s all starting now
it’s all starting now now as now as
everything’s drying out it seems a bit
safer to take people around in the back
of it now isn’t it yeah yeah I think so
um so um so Ben where to I guess I guess
we have to begin with hooking the thing
up yeah if we if we uh if you hop in the
discovery hook it up and then we’ll go
through hooking it up and then once it’s
hooked up we’ll go for a bit of a spin
well we’ll go for a spin all right let’s
let’s get going perfect I’ll see you
back to the trailer
[Music]
[Applause]
not far
out how’s that Miles Away what miles
away miles away yeah may you hang
on no it’s not it’s not too bad you
can’t say miles way but you’re
instructing me and you sort of show me
this and you say stop which makes me
think I’m right there I’ve got no camera
to look at it that’s not miles away to
be fair it did it did shoot forward as
well when you got out put the handbrake
on and just sort of roll forward so what
we’ll do is we’ll just can we just can
we just lift it over yeah we’ll um I’ll
take the handbrake off the trailer do
you think we
can we’ll be able to just to drag it a
little bit cuz all we’ll just do is
we’ll just sort of drag and
shove
oh yeah that’s good and then we’ll start
come on get
the it’s not really going anywhere Ben
no I mean I’m able to sort of wiggle it
a bit yeah that’s fine if you if you
that’s what we got over enough if we
start if we start dropping it down and
it should just it should just hook on
the lip do you think it should be no no
no oh right if you if you wiggle it down
wiggle it okay start pulling it down
with the jocky wheel how do I do this on
my own the Jo it down the jockey wheel I
don’t know what the jockey wheel is
that’s the jockey how would I know
that’s a jockey wheel looks nothing like
a jockey and then you got your brakeway
cable okay then that that goes around
like that this is turning into one of
those really useful explainer YouTube
videos it’s like a beginner’s guide it
is isn’t it a mapon beginner’s guide
yeah if you want to learn anything about
agricultural
Machinery tractors we got a tractor over
there right okay and then lights oh
lights yeah I forgot about them yeah you
need them obviously will be right we are
but so lights lights there go into there
that goes round spin twist perfect and
we’re in your handbrake yeah when it’s
on it’s like when it’s on it’s like that
right so hand up you can tell you can
tell that the brakeway cable’s going to
be looser as well I see and then when
you put your handbrake on then you can
see the brakeway cable tightens up wa
wait the handbrake is on or off now
that’s off off right got on is up down
is off okay great we’re making real
progress here well you say that I did
bring some cones with us you brought
some cones right I thought he might have
some cones looks like a man with cones
if if we do if we do a bit of a uh bit
of a drive round and then what I do is
I’ll set up the cones like a parking Bay
and see if you can reverse the trail I
can reverse into the park back into the
park
[Music]
okay so I’m not sure Ben has really
given me all that much
instruction except to say everything is
in opposite
world and uh that of course isn’t true
as I go forward it’s just true as I go
backwards so we here we are heading
across the field with our
trailer and Ben has set me the challenge
of
reversing into this
spot so there is a
problem yeah he’s already got the
problem is that I’m facing the wrong way
so I’ve given myself an extra challenge
of a threep point
turn which uh which I suppose should be
doable
so let’s let’s see if we can do a
three-point turn
and yeah you keep forgetting that you’ve
got a trailer on the back
um oh no oh oh go forward straighten up
okay I think that’s the first rule is
straighten up right and now I got to
start the
reverse oh down that’s it oh
oh it’s oh God it’s going the wrong way
the left hand down now you’re going too
far the other way I think I can bring it
back I can bring it
back
okay this is actually this is not
looking too
bad and I think Ben is going to be it’s
not bad for his first
attempt wait oh no wrong way wrong way
wrong way wait wait wait
oh yeah he’s too far the other way but
yeah straighten up straighten up we’re
coming around we’re coming
around we are coming
round oh what do I do
now thinking about it no no
no do I do this oh no oh oh oh
no oh God
completely oh no I mean if there was a
car parked here I mean probably probably
nicked it by
now wait wait wait we’re just
straightening up a bit we’re just
straightening up I think we can forgive
ourselves that we made we made it more
complicated than it needed to be right
here we go
this
[Music]
is when it really counts look at that
look how straight that
is look how straight that
is only problem is I don’t know when to
stop
there we go he’s giv me the thumbs up
he’s given me the thumbs up and look try
harder I
reckon I think I’m going to get some
criticism for the first part but uh
overall it’s not bad what do you think
yeah I mean definitely n nine nine n n
out of 10 I reckon nine out of 10 yeah I
mean you sort of nearly towards the end
you nearly sort of like jacknifed it but
you you’ve sort of yeah I realized that
exactly then you went forward I saw that
there was a problem how close was I to
Jack knifing it at that oh you you
you’re probably a good meter but and
when you do jack knife how bad is it
quite bad breaks yeah you got sort of
well it will be plastic so it sort just
just make a mess just make a mess yeah
but that last bit that was very smooth
wasn’t it that felt that felt good good
very now now that I think I have gained
my trailer driving license yeah we need
like a little paper certificate now
don’t we we do who need
aate I thought that you might both like
to come on a little Jaun in the trailer
we’re in the back of the trailer in the
you think do you think you trust me what
do you reckon Chris yeah we’re going
we’re going somewhere really special I’m
not going to tell you where yeah but
there’s a surprise at the end all right
and it’s worth it
I think that if there was an advanced
course for
trailering I just aced it but um we’ll
have to see what uh what the expert
thinks Ben yeah that was that was pretty
good to be fair to be fair for for your
second second attempt second attemp
I mean you know look how well aligned
these wheels are on the track
[Music]
here look at what awaits us there is
what can only be
described and has been described as a
carpet of blue
bells it’s um it’s one of the great
sites of the
spring and um
and of course here we’ve got various
other things going on which is why we’ve
got all this uh this track you’ve been
cassing so taking down bits of
Hazel um which is going to it’s going to
improve everything in the long run
anyway cuz it’s getting everything that
light that extra light so the blue barrs
hopefully next year should be even more
should be even better yeah the moment
we’re we’re obviously using this area
but as we start to walk off over
here um towards these seedar
look at
this it’s uh it’s just an absolute
Wonder of
lilac it’s such a strong color isn’t it
m and we’ve also got the wild garlic
coming
through which is um which is this stuff
which hopefully will be made into soup I
think they’ve already started doing it
at the kitchen what was your best wild
garlic recipe haven’t done anything with
wild garlic yet you haven’t done
anything I know Ben I’ve been
busy you’ve been busy that that is fair
enough um anyway I think um do you think
I can bring the trailer around here then
and sort of do a whole Loop uh it’s a
bit wetter in places in the in the wood
it’s still drying out I mean I don’t
really want to you’re going to walk home
I might walk home and then I’ll let
youis you going to come with me Chris
will come CH yeah he needs a bit of
excitement in his life okay
[Music]
I am at Marsh farm with Tom Gregory and
uh Tom as everybody knows is part of the
Maan wider team Farming Farming Marsh
farm and in particular looking after the
White Park cattle that are part of our
rewilding project and these cattle have
just been brought in for a very
important moment in their lives is that
right Tom oh yeah and for us and for us
yeah this is oh oh that one’s getting
quite frisky um uh what’s what are we
doing yes so we’ve got I don’t know if
you can see just here one with a collar
on um which we use just to identify
where they are yeah but we’re going to
put 20 more colors on so all the
grown-up animals are going to have one
so we can actually put a perimeter fence
using the collars and locate where each
one is and it’s going to make it’s going
to make the management much easier
so so this is a special kind of collar
that goes on each of the animals it’s
called a no fence collar and it does a
couple of things it it has a GPS on it
so it can tell us exactly where the
animals are but it also through the
collar will give the animals a very
slight electric shock if they stray
beyond the boundary we can create the
boundary on our phone so it’s like
creating a virtual fence and in fact
most of the time they don’t get a shock
at all they get a a no that warns them
that they’re getting close to the edge
and then they turn around and this is
groundbreaking because it means that we
do not have to have fixed fences
everywhere we can keep the cattle in an
area without fencing and that makes your
life a lot easier but it does something
more than that it can also intelligently
work out if there might be something
wrong with any of the animals yes so
it’ll look at movement and it can
monitor you might might monitor say the
whole herd bar one has moved over here
this one’s on its own what’s going
on and it’ll it’ll highlight that that
there might be something going there
well there is a what’s what what are
they doing to I they just interpret for
[Music]
us this is only the second time they’ve
been in this Barn so they’re just um
reorganizing themselves as well their
hierarchy yeah and so who’s who where’s
what yeah who’s in charge who’s in
charge it’s always about who’s in charge
and we’ve got I think there’s a new
matriarch which is one of the ones that
we’ve penned off right which I think is
why some of these are getting a bit
angry I see okay does that mean we ought
to get going quickly so they don’t get
too feisty that’s a good idea that is a
good
idea so this is Arabella who you may
remember was a cal born at mapon she’s
lived at M all her life and she looks
like she might be the first candidate
for a colar if I come this way it might
encourage her to yeah to head forward
come on um should I give her a gentle
Pat yeah you might have to do it from
from behind around the other side to
make a move that way
yeah
um I don’t really want to get too close
to those no but Arabella no no no no no
no she says not a chance no well I’ll
jump in you can do the
Yol right
right right this is the challenge it’s
uh persuading these animals to um wait
to get into the craft so we can put the
collar
[Music]
on come on come
on and you got to really go for it
success hi Arabella you’re keeping very
calm
oh hopefully with her we won’t need to
put the scoop she’s she’s really quite
calm isn’t she she’s quite cool she’s
always the first one
in
[Music]
right I don’t want to I you know
so what that needs clicking in and then
just needs clicking in it’s on right so
we do that now so here are the colars
this is this is the no fence device it’s
got a battery and uh I think we do that
and it’s
on so from here we’ve now got the
challenge of getting it onto
her
this all right
[Music]
just mind my stomach
your thank
you there we go well done Arabella
Fantastic look at that and um are we
ready to let her out no what we’ll do is
we’ll I’ll get one up behind and then
they’ll they’ll just follow through I
see cuz it makes it easier for the next
one to go to go
[Music]
right well so so far so good we’ve got a
couple of the collars on um they’ve been
a bit frisky but um Tom what do you
reckon yeah no the with this new proper
horn cattle crush just the way they
follow through just so it’s so much
easier isn’t it so easy and they’re much
calmer yeah before we were really
struggling because the the old Crush was
so narrow they couldn’t they couldn’t
get their horns around and now they just
wand on yeah and very soon they will be
back up at CLE enjoying themselves in
the Lush Countryside which is really
where they belong so we better get this
done as quickly as we
[Music]
can so one of the clever things about
these is that for the Rew Wilding
project they allow us to do what’s
called targeted grazing so it means that
we can choose which areas of the
wildlands we want to graze because we
can create a small area and keep the
cattle there and this is particularly
helpful if we’ve got areas that have
been overg grazed or we know that at
certain times of the year we want to
have additional grazing so uh they’re
really very very clever devices
[Music]
thank you for watching mapon live and
please join us again next week if you’d
like to find out more about becoming a
patron please go to
patreon.com mapon live
[Music]