Johnny Kingdom's 2007 Visits to Aigas

Johnny Kingdom and his wife Julie visited Aigas with a film crew from Available Light Productions to film some sequences for Johnny's next series. They were here from Tuesday 30th January to Sunday 4th February, here's what they got up to....

Tuesday 30th January

Wednesday 31st January

Johnny Kingdom and his wife Julie arrive at Inverness airport at lunch time and they are greeted by Wendy and Ruth and their cameraman Rupert and soundman Tony. The team film Johnny and Julie arriving in the Highlands. They have never been this far North in Scotland before and are excited at the prospect of the days ahead. They make their way back to Aigas for lunch in the main hall where Johnny and Julie meet Aigas staff. We show Johnny and Julie their accommodation for the next few days – the Affric Room in the main house.

Thursday 1st February

This was the big day for the beaver hide construction. Our friends, local joiners Billy Horne and son (young Billy) were foremen – they had designed the hide and made it in sections. We started at 08.30am sharp, and towed the trailer bearing the sections up to the loch where we found 5 whooper swans swimming on the water. Johnny of course couldn’t pass up the opportunity of filming the group which contained three adults and two cygnets. They were very obliging and even flew a few laps of the loch for us.

Billy and Bill finally got us back to work and supervised us as we loaded the sections onto our rowing boats ready to ship them across the loch. We managed to persuade Johnny to captain the first load and he was accompanied by John. Once aboard, the precious cargo (along with precariously balanced Johnny and John) was towed across the loch by our estate maintenance guru, Hugh, and designated rower, Peter, in another boat. With Johnny (looking slightly worried) at the helm the cargo made its way steadily towards the new hide site. We all helped offload Johnny and the goods and started piling the sections up on to the platform prepared. In three trips we had shipped all the sections across with Johnny either helping or keeping us laughing with wild Devonshire tales and funny quips. We managed to put Johnny on the softest loch-side edge and nearly lost him into the water on several occasions. Despite the very mild winter a dip in the loch at this time of year is not advisable! There was much laughter and fun, all on camera.

In the middle of the day JLK and JK walked round the loch looking at beaver habitat. JK and the film crew were astonished to see how industrious the beavers have been. We showed them the beaver-felled trees, the wood chips, canals and various feeding stations.

Friday 2nd February

We returned to see the beaver hide. The team were still working on it, putting some finishing touches to it and starting work on the seats inside. They enjoyed a visit from JK before he headed off to film deer in a neighbouring glen. IE, JLK and JK found a number of stags and hinds, and stalked two stags up into the heather on camera. The weather was dry, sunny and mild and the snow capped mountains provided the perfect back drop. We could not have asked for better filming conditions nor better views of deer. After lunch we did another wetland habitat walk at the loch on camera with JLK to discuss ecosystem and case for reintroduction of beavers. Then we filmed the beaver lodge (where the beavers live) from land and from a boat. JLK rowed Johnny to the lodge and got tangled up in some overhanging branches, sending Johnny sprawling into the bottom of the boat – all on camera. The film crew were laughing so much the footage is likely to be wobbly! We finished off with a final return to the now almost finished beaver hide and filmed JK in the hide for the first time. 

At 7.30pm 20 guests consisting of Aigas staff, wives, the Horne family and the production team arrived for a celebration dinner in the House of Aigas for the Kingdoms, hosted by John and Lucy Lister-Kaye. The theme was ‘Something Tartan’ - Johnny Kingdom wore a borrowed kilt and jacket and joined in the traditional Highland evening with great gusto. Celebrated fiddle player Duncan Chisholm was the guest performer with his guitarist Mark Clements. During dinner they played a range of Highland music – reels, ballads and dance tunes. After dinner Johnyy presented signed copies of his latest book "A Wild Life on Exmoor" to all of the staff who had helped during his visit.  The whole evening was a great success and was all filmed by the crew. We think Johnny suits a kilt, and he enjoyed wearing it despite complaining about the draught to start with. Perhaps he'll ditch the camouflage gear in favour of tartan!?

Saturday 3rd February

8.00am JK and crew took off to the Cairngorms to film reindeer. They returned to Aigas after lunch and spent the afternoon filming in the gardens. In the evening we returned to the loch to see if we could see a beaver and catch it on film. Rupert Smith, the cameraman, sat in the marsh with an infrared camera from 5.00 until 10.00pm and did eventually manage to film a beaver coming to feed. JLK took Johnny Kingdom to the dipping platform and sat for two hours. It was cold, but dry. At 7.30pm at last a beaver arrived and came swimming across the surface towards us. We pinpointed it in searchlights at about 30 yards range. It stopped, looked puzzled but not alarmed and slowly swam away again, but Johnny had fulfilled an ambition – he had seen a wild beaver in the Highlands, which was what he came for! Late dinner in the hall.

Sunday 4th February