Home Ground returns to BBC 1

Enjoying some time out in the County Down countryside are BBC Northern Irelands Home Ground presenters, from left, reporter Ruth Sanderson, with Jo Scott and Gavin Andrews.
The rural affairs series returns to BBC One Northern Ireland on Monday 20 March at 7.30pmPicture by Darren Kidd / Press Eye. — Enjoying some time out in the County Down countryside are BBC Northern Irelands Home Ground presenters, from left, reporter Ruth Sanderson, with Jo Scott and Gavin Andrews. The rural affairs series returns to BBC One Northern Ireland on Monday 20 March at 7.30pmPicture by Darren Kidd / Press Eye.

Following on from the success of the first series, Home Ground is back on Monday 20 March at 7.30pm.

Produced by Below the Radar for BBC Northern Ireland, the series sees the return of presenters Jo Scott, Gavin Andrews and reporter Ruth Sanderson out and about right across Northern Ireland, celebrating the richness of rural life.

The Home Ground team will be looking at subjects that help define our sense of place and our relationship with the land on which we live.

In the first programme, Jo Scott helps get the National Trust’s Castle Crom estate ready for visitors. There are many abandoned mines scattered throughout Northern Ireland and Gavin Andrews descends into one outside Mallusk to learn more about its history – and its current residents! He also travels to the Ballinderry River outside Cookstown to discover why the freshwater pearl mussel is so important to the health of the river. Meanwhile, Ruth Sanderson goes to Kilkeel in County Down - one of the busiest harbours in the British Isles to find out their plans for the future. Other topics featured in the four-part series will include social farming, calving, taxidermy, migrant workers, tulip planting, horse ploughing and issues around sea plastic.