The making of Celebs on the Farm was quite a feat. Mixing 10 celebrities with animals and tractors, competing to be the best wannabe farmer – this was going to be interesting! Here’s a few snippets and insights into what went on behind the scenes of the first series of Celebs on the Farm.
From the March call coming in (“we need a farm that can entertain celebrities for 10 full days of farm-task filming”) to the May filming dates, we had our work cut out to find the ideal shoot locations, and to work through all the details – where can the celebs live? Can they work with pigs, sheep, cows, chicken, alpacas. Can they even milk a cow each? The list of ideas was huge. It was a brilliant project to work on – I had a field day. I found the 4 farm locations for the producers at Goowoo Media, worked with all the farmers closely to plan what could work, and then having helped set the plan in place, let the filming commence.
Lunsford Farm as the main shoot location
The chosen main location was Lunsford Farm one of our farms in Sussex. It offers a stunning setting on the Sussex coastline, has a very photogenic set of farm buildings, including the piece de resistance – an ancient Sussex barn, as well as a whole array of animals, and a friendly farmer, who was also happy to be filmed too! This time the farmer and I could not just hire out the location and leave the crew to it. We were integral in defining all the farm tasks for the celebs, providing all the animals, machinery, implements etc, and sourcing additional farms where needed. We needed a milking parlour, pigs and alpacas – these were not at Lunsford Farm. I sourced them separately: Badlesmere Farm for milking, Oldlands Farm for pig handling and Haguelands Farm for alpacas.
Setting up the Production
After several recces, the production arrived at Lunsford Farm 3 days prior to filming commenced.
The production office was based from a portacabin. What a view.
The art department worked out of the open cattle yard, creating signage and extra structures.
Where did the Celebs stay?
The celebs were asked to stay on Lunsford Farm, to properly integrate into farmlife. Motor homes were their base, and in the main, the celebs settled there. We won’t name who escaped up the road to a proper bed!
So did the Celebs on the farm really farm?
Every celeb had a go with every challenge.
Was it true to farmlife?
Yes, the main challenges were based on skills that farmers need to embrace and be adept at.
My favourite Farm tasks.
I have a few favourites but the ones that stick out for me are the milking challenge and the tractor driving challenge.
Another great task which impressed the celebrities was when lady shearer Jo demonstrated how to shear a sheep.
Only Jo shore the sheep that day, but the celebs were tasked with the support role, winding the wool.
The Finished Series for Celebs on the Farm
Take a look at the front-of-scenes finished work for Celebs on the Farm