This lovely documentary series lollops about the south west, hopping from farm to beach, calling in on the shop keepers and picking apples with the cider makers in a glorious celebration of Devon and Cornwall.
Focusing on the daily lives of those who live and work in the area, each episode interviews locals on sea and on land, uncovering what it’s like for those for whom the clotted cream coast is more than just a holiday destination.
Don’t get us wrong, the series definitely looks at the home of the pasty through rose tinted glasses – or Rattler retinas – and the realities of living in a county that relies on tourism for its income isn’t always as easy as these episodes might make out. But by leaving out these trickier topics, the producers have made the ultimate countryside comfort watch, and a pretty great ad for Devon and Cornwall’s tourism boards, too.
In an otherwise scathing article about over idealised Cornwall docs, Tanya Gold argues that whilst this programme is “hopelessly romanticised,” it’s “fascinating,” and “much better than [Rick] Stein or [Julia] Bradbury’s travelogues.” Her words, not ours. However, when it first aired on Channel 4 in 2020 it was one of their most popular factual shows of the year.
First shown April 2019.
