THIS Sunday’s BBC Countryfile is set in the North York Moors National Park.
The programme highlights the One Man and his Dog competition, which this year is being held at Byland Abbey.
Presenter Helen Skelton, with help from Tricia Hutchinson from Real Staithes, dyed a local fleece pink using brambles picked at Carr House Farm Wood in Ampleforth and looked at other plants used to create natural dyes.
The North York Moors and Yorkshire Coast have an historic link to textiles as the alum industry was once prevalent along the coast. Alum was used as a fixative for dyes.
Helen’s pink fleece is now adorning a ‘sheep’ in the Byland Abbey area. During filming, she also visited other pink sheep created as part of the North York Moors Tourism Network’s Lost Sheep in Pink Jerseys campaign which ran during the summer months.
Although the competition has now closed, pink sheep ‘owners’ have agreed to leave their creations out until mid-October so that people can search them out for fun, including Helen’s sheep.
The programme also explores Byland Abbey’s links with the wool trade and pays a visit to Ampleforth Abbey.
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