Hefted! Upland Farming Heritage in the Cheviots is a podcast series about hill farming heritage in the Cheviot Hills. This episode provides an overview of the history of the Cheviot Hills and the people who live and farm there. How have people used the land at different times, and how have these land uses changed the landscape over the ages?

The title of this episode is taken from an anonymous poem about the Cheviots, available at the Bellingham Heritage Centre.

This series was produced by Olivia Oldham-Dorrington, in partnership with Durham University and with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant AH/Z507520/1).

The music was composed and performed by Alistair Anderson, and our series artwork is by Anthea Wood. Thank you also to Caroline Smith for her help with research, and to Chris Dalglish and Chris Gerrard for their contributions.

Links and resources

• The Hills Far Out By, Anonymous Poem
• Northumberland National Park

Hefted! Upland Farming Heritage in the Cheviots is a podcast series about hill farming heritage in the Cheviot Hills. This episode takes us on a tour through a shepherd’s year, sharing important shepherding practices in the Cheviots as well as some of the key moments in a shepherd’s calendar. How have these practices and rhythms changed over time? And how might they continue to change going forward?

This series was produced by Olivia Oldham-Dorrington, in partnership with Durham University and with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant AH/Z507520/1).

The music was composed and performed by Alistair Anderson, and our series artwork is by Anthea Wood. Thank you also to Caroline Smith for her help with research, and to Chris Dalglish and Chris Gerrard for their contributions.

Hefted! Upland Farming Heritage in the Cheviots is a podcast series about hill farming heritage in the Cheviot Hills. In this episode, we learn about the animals who play such an important role in hill farming in the Cheviots—and have done for millennia. While the most iconic of these animals is, of course, the sheep, we also learn about the place and cattle and dogs in these hills, which have also changed over time.

This series was produced by Olivia Oldham-Dorrington, in partnership with Durham University and with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant AH/Z507520/1).

The music was composed and performed by Alistair Anderson, and our series artwork is by Anthea Wood. Thank you also to Caroline Smith for her help with research, and to Chris Dalglish and Chris Gerrard for their contributions

Hefted! Upland Farming Heritage in the Cheviots is a podcast series about hill farming heritage in the Cheviot Hills. This episode delves into the role of technology in shaping hill farming heritage in the Cheviots. From drones and no-fence collars, to scythes and shepherds’ crooks, this episode takes a broad view of technology, exploring how people over time have always invented new tools and techniques to allow them to achieve different goals.

This series was produced by Olivia Oldham-Dorrington, in partnership with Durham University and with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant AH/Z507520/1).

The music was composed and performed by Alistair Anderson, and our series artwork is by Anthea Wood. Thank you also to Caroline Smith for her help with research, and to Chris Dalglish and Chris Gerrard for their contributions.

Links and resources

• An evidence review update on the effects of managed burning on upland peatland biodiversity, carbon and water. Natural England, 2025.
• Prescribed Heather Burning on Peatlands: A Review of Ten Key Claims Made About Heather Management Impacts and Implications for Future UK Policy. Heinemeyer et al, 2025.
• Effects of Moorland Burning on the Ecohydrology of River Basins. Brown, LE, Holden, J and Palmer SM, 2014.

Hefted! Upland Farming Heritage in the Cheviots is a podcast series about hill farming heritage in the Cheviot Hills. This episode shares more about how farming work in the hills is done, and who does it. We explore the collective ways of working that were very common until relatively recently, as well as more individual practices that have emerged from the social, political economic, and technological changes of the 20th century.

Over this period, the number of young people starting their careers as shepherds and hill farmers has declined. But in this episode we hear about the many different ways in which younger people are adapting to new circumstances, developing creative new ways of managing the land and learning the skills they need.

This series was produced by Olivia Oldham-Dorrington, in partnership with Durham University and with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant AH/Z507520/1).

The music was composed and performed by ⁠Alistair Anderson⁠, and our series artwork is by ⁠Anthea Wood⁠. Thank you also to Caroline Smith for her help with research, and to Chris Dalglish and Chris Gerrard for their contributions.

Links and resources

• “Breaking the Grass Ceiling”: Challenges Women Experience in the Local Agriculture Sector. Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland Assembly, 2022.
• Agricultural workforce in England at 1 June, 2025. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2025.
• How Can Storytelling Help Restore Mires? Applying Place-lore Fieldwork Methodology in Ecological Restoration. Päll, L and Pungas-Kohv, P, 2024.

Hefted! Upland Farming Heritage in the Cheviots is a podcast series about hill farming heritage in the Cheviot Hills. In this episode, we learn more about the broader hill farming way of life, and how this has changed over time. From subsistence farming and self-provisioning, to the use of peat for fuel; from the role of women on farms to the social lives of those who live in the hills, to the rise of recreational access by visitors, this episode unpacks the heritage of life beyond farming in the Cheviot Hills.

This episode’s title is taken from William Wordsworth’s 1810 travel guide for the Lake District, which we thought also suited the Cheviots. 

This series was produced by Olivia Oldham-Dorrington, in partnership with Durham University and with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant AH/Z507520/1).

The music was composed and performed by ⁠Alistair Anderson⁠, and our series artwork is by ⁠Anthea Wood⁠. Thank you also to Caroline Smith for her help with research, and to Chris Dalglish and Chris Gerrard for their contributions.

Links and resources

• Data sinks, carbon services: Waste, storage and energy cultures on Ireland’s peat bogs. Bresnihan, P and Brodie, P, 2023.
• Guide to the Lakes. William Wordsworth, 1810.

Hefted! Upland Farming Heritage in the Cheviots is a podcast series about hill farming heritage in the Cheviot Hills. This episode explores the central question of why. Why do people farm in the hills? For what purpose is this land used and managed? We explore the many different ways that different people have answered this question over time: to make a living and provide for themselves and their families, to produce food for others, to make money, and even to intentionally alter and restore the environment.

This series was produced by Olivia Oldham-Dorrington, in partnership with Durham University and with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant AH/Z507520/1).

The music was composed and performed by ⁠Alistair Anderson⁠, and our series artwork is by ⁠Anthea Wood⁠. Thank you also to Caroline Smith for her help with research, and to Chris Dalglish and Chris Gerrard for their contributions.

Hefted! Upland Farming Heritage in the Cheviots is a podcast series about hill farming heritage in the Cheviot Hills. In this final episode, we dive into a question that underpins much of the rest of the series: what have been the impacts of farming in the Cheviots on the environment? What effects has the environment of the Cheviots—and environmental and climate change—had on farming there? And, finally, what approaches to land management—whether drawing on inherited practices which could be revived, or looking to new tools and practices—are being developed to mitigate future ecological damage and adapt to environmental changes?

Environmental conditions will change. Our societies and economies will change. Farming practices will change, too. The question is, what changes do we want to see in our upland landscapes and beyond? And what role might our living heritage have to play in helping us to make sure those changes are positive ones?

This series was produced by Olivia Oldham-Dorrington, in partnership with Durham University and with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant AH/Z507520/1).

The music was composed and performed by ⁠Alistair Anderson⁠, and our series artwork is by ⁠Anthea Wood⁠. Thank you also to Caroline Smith for her help with research, and to Chris Dalglish and Chris Gerrard for their contributions.