Matt Baker returns to screens this evening, October 13, with a fresh series called Matt Baker: Our Barn in the Dales, which follows the presenter and his family as they convert an old building next to his parents' farmhouse into their own home. In the opening episode, Matt and his wife Nicola start clearing out decades of accumulated possessions and construct a new pathway following a fall by Matt's father, Mike.
Family Farm Life Continues
However, with additional complications involving sheep to address, the daily requirements of farm life cannot be postponed. During Matt's childhood, his parents purchased a farm to the west of Durham, where they settled and carried out renovations.
Since then, Matt has endeavoured to ease the workload on the farm for his elderly parents, including his mother Janice, who experienced a devastating accident in 2021. Janice was knocked down and trampled while herding sheep, resulting in numerous injuries.
Parents' Current Status
Both of Matt's parents, Mike and Janice, appear in the new series. At the beginning of October, Matt posted on Instagram sharing footage of himself alongside his wife and parents as they revealed the news. In the accompanying message, he wrote: "We're back with a new series but with quite the twist...We're calling it Our Barn in the Dales as Nicola and I are converting the barn, stable and granary at the end of the courtyard into a cottage."
He continued by explaining that the two-season series will feature "all the things you loved in the previous series with the animals, mum, dad and not forgetting his classic car - spoiler, we finally finished it!" Both his parents took part in the video, with his father, who was filmed holding a walking stick, disclosing that the most frequent question he receives is whether his car had been completed.
Janice appeared in excellent spirits as she mentioned that people regularly enquire about whether a new series would be commissioned. In February, she marked her 70th birthday, with Matt posting a tribute to his mother on Instagram.
Career Change and Family Support
Matt was born in County Durham, specifically Easington, where his father operated a newsagent's and his parents maintained a smallholding in the village. The presenter, who has one sister and two half-sisters, relocated to Durham aged 10 when his parents made the decision to sell up and start an organic sheep farm.
Matt has previously revealed that his mother, Janice, had been the driving force behind the move to the countryside, explaining: "She was adopted and doesn't know much about her background, but she was drawn to the countryside. Before we moved, she said 'This is the time'. It's a beautiful part of the world."
Matt assumed responsibility for running his parents' farm following Janice's accident on the property. In 2025, the star discussed on The Mid Point podcast the discussions he had with his parents after the incident.
He explained: "My dad, who's not incredibly mobile now, was in a right state and what have you. Straight away we were like, we're going to come back and just assess the situation. And we got back, we'd been waiting for a long time for something to go wrong."
"It gets very nerve-wracking when you get to this phase in your life and your parents are getting older and you know what they're doing is really practical and quite full on as a lifestyle."
"They never wanted to leave the farm, but it was getting very demanding, but you try and have a conversations, but parents being parents...and then this event happened and it was quite obvious to my mum straight away that things needed to change and so we decided to change the farm up."
Matt Baker: Our Barn in the Dales starts on More4 on October 13 at 9pm.
