Most television bores me. I say this without pride, for it is not a virtue to be bored by anything. But I struggle to engage. So much it of it seems to contribute no enduring richness to life, to offer no sustenance for the journey.

So I am surprised to have discovered a happy exception to my general disenchantment in the BBC series, This Farming Life. It follows a handful of Scottish farmers through the highs and lows of animal and land husbandry. Their working lives are set in some of the most stunning landscapes of the United Kingdom, but the real draw of the programme is the love these farmers have for a life that is economically insecure and unrelentingly hard.