Behind the scenes: filming Ben Fogle’s ‘Make a New Life in the Country’ with Ceol Mor Highland Lodges

At the time of posting, episode 6 of Ben Fogle’s: Make a New Life in the Country is available to watch on My5 until 17 October 2025.

When we heard that one of our local businesses was featuring on Ben Fogle’s, Make a New Life in the Country we were incredibly excited to see what it was all about! Now, with thanks to owners Alan & Yvonne of Ceol Mor Highland Lodges, we get a sneak peek into behind the scenes of filming.

Alan and Yvonne, how did it all start?

Just 5 days before we got the keys to our new home in the North Highlands, we saw something on social media for participants in a new series of Make a New Life in the Country. After sending in an email they called us quickly for a really good chat.

Then 2 days later when we were heading north to get the keys – 650 miles away from our previous house! – they called again and asked to send a cameraman, so they could capture the event of us first seeing our new home in the flesh.

What was it like being part of filming?

Yvonne and I both enjoyed the process of filming. For both of us, it meant that we had some company when a camera person came to see us. With lockdowns going on and missing each other, it was good company and we got to know some of them well.

As an amateur photographer and videographer, I also found the process fascinating and educational. I would often have opportunity to input into some of the sequences. For example, while filming at Cassley Falls there were several scenes where I had input - helped by a fabulous rainbow that appeared during one set of filming.

Were there any learning curves?

When filming, we had to get ‘miked’ up, so we had to be careful to wear clothes that could hide the remote box – not always successfully though if you have seen the programme! Also, when going to the toilet, we needed to remember to turn the microphone off, otherwise there would have been undesired sound effects for sure.

We also had to be careful to try and wear unbranded clothing, although that was never completely possible - I was told to hide the branding on my North Face beanie a couple of times. And we had to always think ahead and consider key moments that were coming up so that someone could be sent to do some filming. This wasn’t always possible so quite often I did some filming myself – in fact much of the drone footage in our episode was filmed by me. That was cool, I had never envisioned that my video footage would be used on national TV.

How did it go towards the final reveal?

Just before Ben came to see us for the last time, there was a gargantuan effort to make at least one lodge presentable – they weren’t energised, and one was far from finished with the other having an incomplete bathroom. This was our opportunity to make them look as good as possible for TV, so we called in some help.

Someone came up from Inverness to build the furniture as there wasn’t time for us to do it. And we had friends come over to help clear up the outside spaces, moving rocks, building rubbish and pallets. Together we made everything look as good as it could – although we couldn’t move the dumper truck as you might have seen - and at 11pm, the night before filming, we had got as far as we needed.

What was it like working with Ben Fogle and the production team?

On that final day of filming, Ben walked into our kitchen and met Yvonne for the first time in the flesh which was amazing. He’s such a down to earth man and easily switches from a personal mode to professional on camera and vice versa.

The production company were super supportive all during the filming process and genuinely cared about our various plights whether on or off camera. They also gave us advice on managing our social media before and after the show aired to protect us. You’ll probably have noticed that our business name is only mentioned once during the programme and nothing of our branding is shown. Although we’re a business working directly with the public, they do this to protect our identities.

Now that the episode has aired, what next?

Well, despite our business name only being mentioned once we’ve had a lot of interest. How did people find us after having seen the programme? The Kyle of Sutherland was mentioned, and I suppose people did some searching online, finding us through our own website and the Venture North website. We had a few days with loads of enquiries coming through, Yvonne spent hours answering them!

In more recent weeks, things are a little calmer and we’ve had some good bookings coming through, including for the winter and long ones for Summer 2023, where people have remarked that they saw us on Ben Fogle. Our own website is leading the competition versus other well-known booking sites that we are also on, and Venture North links to our website, which is key to ensuring that people book directly with us.

As a keen photographer I’m still enjoying taking lots of shots of the area and you can see these on our Ceol Mor Highland Lodges socials, as well as through the Venture North socials where they share them. Being on TV has been great for our social media platforms with loads more people following us.

Going into winter, I personally reckon that the area is even more beautiful – often we have clear skies, crispy frosts, light snow and moody mists. It feels like a different planet in winter and it’s one of our goals to see more people enjoying this.

And that’s a wrap

Thank you Alan and Yvonne for sharing some of your exciting filming journey with us! If you’re feeling inspired to cosy up for a winter stay in the incredible Kyle of Sutherland then check out Ceol Mor Highland Lodges and enquire with them today.