It's Not Easy Being Green (2006)
It's Not Easy Being Green
2006It's Not Easy Being Green is a television series on BBC Two starring Dick Strawbridge and focusing on how to live an environmentally friendly, low impact life. To date there have been three series. Series one followed former Lieutenant-Colonel Dick Strawbridge, his wife Brigit, son James, and daughter Charlotte as they moved into Newhouse Farm, a 400-year-old listed building in Cornwall, England from Malvern, Worcestershire. The series documented the family's attempts to convert the building and garden into a comfortable yet entirely ecologically friendly place to live. The show was perhaps unique in that the family did not want great sacrifices in achieving their goal, and Dick Strawbridge said "I don't want to wear a hemp shirt and hairy knickers, I want a 21st-century lifestyle with a coffee machine". In the first series they received advice from permaculture expert Patrick Whitefield and green auditor Donnachadh McCarthy. They were also helped by friends Jim Milner and Anda Phillips as well as at points a small army of friends and relatives. A book entitled ‘It's Not Easy Being Green: One Family's Journey Towards Eco-Friendly Living’ ISBN 0-563-49346-1 by Dick Strawbridge was released to accompany the series and is still available to buy.
Seasons & Episode
:Newhouse Farm has the outbuildings re-roofed and there is a major investment as we get solar photovoltaics (PV) so when the sun shines we make electricity - a lot of it. We bought our system through the chaps at 'Plug into the Sun'. :James shares a special eco-tip that involves a lot of semi-naked footballers. :Lauren looks at green swimming pools. :We visit Chris and Jay in London - they have their own website with details of what they have been using at Ready Steady Eco. :Phil Tufnell has a wander around Newhouse Farm and we find out how green his lifestyle is.
Dick Strawbridge and son James team up with Lauren Laverne to find out more about living the green life. Dick tries to understand why honey bees are having a tough time at the moment. Lauren recycles and revamps antique furniture, and guest Alex James takes the eco test, with a surprising result. James builds a clay oven, and his mum Brigit makes a guest appearance to help him with a spot of gardening.
This week at Newhouse Farm we are dealing with the reality of eating bacon sandwiches and Christmas turkey. Apologies to vegans and vegetarians but we are embracing the ‘rear-your-own’ philosophy as well as the grow-your-own. So, it’s goodbye to our two Cornish black pigs and hello to our new turkeys.
This week at Newhouse Farm it’s homebrew moments fermenting away. The team collects bucket loads of local apples to make their very own cider and reinstate an old farm tradition.
Dick and his team get their rags oily building a ram pump. It is technical stuff - will it work? Lauren visits an eco-hotel in Norfolk and helps out behind the scenes weighing the leftover teas and coffees. Toby Sawday meets a young bride at a wedding fair and sets about trying to green-up her wedding and her honeymoon. Jon Kay looks at carbon offsetting.
It's Not Easy Being Green is a television series on BBC Two starring Dick Strawbridge and focusing on how to live an environmentally friendly, low impact life. To date there have been three series. Series one followed former Lieutenant-Colonel Dick Strawbridge, his wife Brigit, son James, and daughter Charlotte as they moved into Newhouse Farm, a 400-year-old listed building in Cornwall, England from Malvern, Worcestershire. The series documented the family's attempts to convert the building and garden into a comfortable yet entirely ecologically friendly place to live. The show was perhaps unique in that the family did not want great sacrifices in achieving their goal, and Dick Strawbridge said "I don't want to wear a hemp shirt and hairy knickers, I want a 21st-century lifestyle with a coffee machine". In the first series they received advice from permaculture expert Patrick Whitefield and green auditor Donnachadh McCarthy. They were also helped by friends Jim Milner and Anda Phillips as well as at points a small army of friends and relatives. A book entitled ‘It's Not Easy Being Green: One Family's Journey Towards Eco-Friendly Living’ ISBN 0-563-49346-1 by Dick Strawbridge was released to accompany the series and is still available to buy.