A Year of Seasons with Country Living

Field Notes

Location: A smallholding in the Yorkshire countryside.

Season: A full year of seasons, from frosty mornings and spring blossom to overflowing vegetable gardens and crisp autumn afternoons.

Favourite Moment: Sitting around Sally's kitchen table after a morning of filming, chatting over tea while the rain tapped gently against the windows. Sometimes the conversations became just as memorable as the photographs.

What We Packed: Our Sony cameras, a handful of favourite lenses, waterproof jackets, muddy boots and the curiosity to follow whatever the day had in store.

One Thing We Learnt: The most meaningful stories rarely need directing. They simply ask you to slow down, pay attention and appreciate the beauty that's already there.

Some projects come with tight deadlines, busy call sheets and fast turnarounds. Others invite you to slow down. Our work with Country Living was very much the latter, and without doubt one of the most rewarding projects we've ever had the privilege of being part of.

Over the course of a year, we worked alongside writer and smallholder Sally Coulthard, documenting the changing seasons on her Yorkshire smallholding for The New Good Life series. Together, we created both photography and film that followed the natural rhythm of life on the land, from crisp winter mornings to the abundance of summer gardens and everything in between.

Learning to slow down

As photographers/filmakers, it's easy to become obsessed with chasing the next destination. This project reminded us that some of the most beautiful stories can be found in the same place, simply by returning throughout the year. Watching the landscape transform with each season was incredibly special. A familiar path would feel completely different a few months later. Trees we'd filmed covered in frost would become bursting with blossom. Vegetable patches slowly filled with colour. Lambs became sheep. Gardens flourished before quietly returning to the earth again. The pace of the project mirrored the pace of nature. There was never any rush. And we think the work is better because of it.

Working with Sally

One of the biggest highlights was getting to work with Sally herself. From the very beginning, she welcomed us into her world with such warmth and generosity. Spending time together on the smallholding never really felt like work. Conversations naturally drifted between wildlife, gardening, storytelling and the simple joy of noticing the seasons changing around us. Sally has a wonderful way of seeing beauty in ordinary moments. That perspective rubbed off on us. We left every shoot feeling calmer than when we'd arrived, and carrying a little more appreciation for slowing down and paying attention. As storytellers, you couldn't ask for a better environment to work in.

A different way of producing

Unlike many commercial productions, these shoots weren't built around large crews or complex logistics. It was often just us, our cameras and whatever the weather decided to give us. Some mornings began before sunrise, wandering through fields covered in dew while the rest of the world was still asleep. Other days were spent tucked inside cosy kitchens as rain tapped gently against the windows. Rather than directing every frame, we found ourselves observing.

The best moments were rarely planned. A chicken wandering into frame. Steam rising from a mug of tea. Sally laughing at something completely unexpected. Those tiny moments often became our favourite images. It reminded us that storytelling doesn't always need to be complicated. Sometimes it simply means being present.

Seeing it in print

As photographers, there's something incredibly special about holding your work in your hands.

We're so used to seeing images live on screens for a few seconds before they're scrolled past.

A magazine is different. Watching these photographs become part of the pages of Country Living was a real pinch us moment. Seeing an image we'd captured months earlier printed beautifully alongside Sally's words never seemed to lose its magic. It's one thing creating photographs. It's another seeing them become part of someone else's story. Those are the moments that stay with you.

Why this project will always mean so much

Working with Country Living and Sally taught us that the strongest stories don't always come from extraordinary places. Sometimes they come from returning to the same place, again and again, and simply paying attention. We're incredibly grateful to have been trusted with telling that story, and it's a project we'll always look back on with a huge smile.

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