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Badlands To Gladlands

Where most people saw an ugly scar, David Cooper saw potential. Now he and wife Cora are successfully farming sheep and raising a family on 5,000 acres of Ayrshire.

At 17, David Cooper moved alone to a derelict farm blighted by a huge coal opencast site. But he had a vision... and 22 years later he and his wife Cora have 5,000 acres of productive land, and 3,000 sheep. They’ve restored the opencast, bought a swathe of hill ground, and carried out a huge peatland restoration project. Yet they still have all the time in the world for their three young children, who are at the centre of their lives. So how are they doing it? Richard Baynes has been to Tardoes Farm, in East Ayrshire to find out.

Presented and produced by Richard Baynes

Release date:

22 minutes

On radio

Sunday06:35

Broadcast

  • Sunday06:35