Three families ditch 9-5 for farming life in Snowdonia in new BBC series

An upcoming BBC television series will see three families from across the UK ditch their 9 'till 5 jobs in search for a better work-life balance in the countryside.

'Family Farm' is set in the mountains of Snowdonia, and the three families will gain the help of hill farmer Gareth Wyn Jones and wildlife presenter Kate Humble.

The four-part series will see the Morgan’s from Tenby, the Burton’s from Manchester and the McNulty family from Glasgow be taken out of their comfort zones to Gareth Wyn Jones' family hill farm.

The families will have their regular daily farm chores and will live on site in a special tented village. At the same time they will be given a set of challenges, designed to show how food gets from gate to plate.

Each week their efforts will be judged by experts with Gareth and Kate choosing one exceptional individual to receive a shepherd’s crook for their good work.

The families will gain hands-on experience and see the realities of rural life, and face tough decisions about the animals in their care.

'Warts and all'

Farmer Gareth Wyn Jones was keen for them to experience the hard work that goes into running a farm and realise what it takes to produce the food we eat.

Gareth says: “I don’t want it to be this perfect, pretty rural idyll. I want it to be warts and all - and to give them a real sense of what it takes to be a farmer and to produce food today.

“There is a cost to food production: not just financially, but emotionally, physically and mentally. This programme will give them the chance to be part of that.”

BBC Wales Head of Commissioning Nick Andrews says: “Family Farm is a brilliant piece of television that taps into the one thing we all crave right now - the chance to spend quality time together as a family working and living together in a beautiful part of the world.

“But at the same time in allowing three families to live the dream it’s able to show the reality of modern rural Welsh life, the highs the lows and what it takes to try and make a living by putting food on the country’s plates.”

Family Farm starts Sunday May 13, BBC One Wales, 6pm. Also on BBC Two, from Wednesday June 20, 8pm