Luke Pavey, film-maker and former John Kyrle High School pupil, is one of the large team behind the new reality television series, The Family Farm.

Luke told the Ross Gazette that The Family Farm was an ambitious project, he said the idea was to take three families, with no experience of farming, to work and live on a traditional working hill farm for three weeks, and capture it all on camera.

After Luke graduated he started work at BBC Wales as a researcher and assistant producer. He worked on the observational documentary, The Hill Farmer for BBC Wales, for which he was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in Wales.

Farmer, Gareth Wyn Jones, has become a good friend and when it comes to farming he’s extremely passionate about his way of life. Gareth agreed to mentor the families on their farming adventure and will be helped by presenter Kate Humble, who made the move to the countryside herself a few years ago.

Over a hundred families applied to take part in the series and Luke said: “We ended up with three fantastic families from right across the UK. They left behind their homes and their jobs to find out if they had what it takes to work the land and move to the country. Along the way they would also learn more about where the food on their plates comes from and how farming is far more than an occupation.”

He said that the series was a huge team effort, and everyone worked extremely hard to capture the families’ experiences on the farm.

“There were a lot of early mornings and late nights, plenty of sunshine and more than enough rain. There’s a saying in TV about never working with children or animals, well we broke both those rules on The Family Farm and I think the series is great. I hope that people enjoy watching how the families get on and I know that their time on the farm has had a lasting impact on their lives.”

In the ambitious four-part series, the Morgan’s from Tenby, the Burton’s from Manchester and the McNulty family from Glasgow are taken out of their comfort zones and given regular daily farm chores. At the same time they will be given a set of challenges, designed to show how our food gets from gate to plate. Each week their efforts will be judged by experts with Gareth and Kate choosing one exceptional individual to receive a shepherd’s crook for their good work.

Farmer Gareth Wyn Jones was keen for them to experience the hard work that goes into running a farm and realise what it takes to produce the food we eat.

The Family Farm started on Sunday May 13th, BBC One Wales, 6pm. It will be broadcast on BBC Two, starting Wednesday, June 20th, 8pm.