Countryfile presenter Adam Henson has shared a poignant full-circle moment at his farm, introducing viewers to two new White Park cows, Guinevere and Lara, on his Cotswold Farm Park Channel. The 60-year-old revealed that one of the cows traces back to a bloodline his late father, Joe Henson, sold more than two decades ago.
A Genetic Link to the Past
While presenting the cows, Adam explained that Guinevere is closely related to a cow his father sold to the owner of the herd he bought from. He described the connection as a fitting story, noting that the farm had only two White Park cows left and he wanted to boost female numbers.
"She's a great, great, great, great, great, granddaughter of a Pembroke cow, a cow that came from us," he said. "So that's a nice fitting story really, buying back some of the genetics that we sold all those years ago and they're a great example of the breed."
Updates on Farm Life
Adam also provided updates on the Jacob sheep, donkey foals, and a litter of Gloucestershire Old Spot piglets at the farm.
The Countryfile presenter and his business partner, Duncan Andrews, took over the lease of Bemborough Farm, home of the Cotswold Farm Park, from his father in 1999. Joe, who passed away in 2015, founded the Cotswold Farm Park in 1971 to preserve and promote rare livestock breeds.
Remembering His Father
Reflecting on his father's death, Adam wrote in his book Like Farmer, Like Son about the close relationship they shared. He described Joe as his "rock, my mentor, my hero" and credited him with teaching him nearly everything he knows about farming and television.
Joe received a cancer diagnosis at age 82. Adam recalled his father's positive response, sharing that Joe told him he had lived an amazing life and was ready to go. "He told me he wasn't frightened of dying. He was a religious man, but also, as a farmer, you learn to be philosophical about life and death because you are confronted by it all the time," Adam said.
Adam added: "Today I run the farm that Dad nurtured for nearly 40 years and its centrepiece remains the farm park. I've also been lucky enough to follow him into television. But my little footsteps will never fill his great big ones." Countryfile airs today at 5.40pm on BBC One.
