Ellilsand will feature on BBC Scotland’s Landward this week, as the programme explores how life there shaped Robert Burns, and how the farm is being protected for the future.
The episode follows farmer, broadcaster and social media star Cammy Wilson, better known to his audience as The Sheep Game, as he makes a pilgrimage to Ellisland, the home Burns designed, built and lived in between 1788 and 1791, and where he wrote Auld Lang Syne and Tam o Shanter. With more than a million followers across his social media channels, and one of the most-watched performances of Tam o Shanter on YouTube, Cammy is a passionate Burns enthusiast as well as a working farmer.
During his visit, Cammy spoke with Ellisland’s Project Curator, Adam Dickson, about Robert Burns the farmer, including how the recent discoveries of historic records reveal the cutting-edge agricultural practices Burns was using as he established his farm at Ellisland.
He also met Project Director Joan McAlpine to hear about the Saving the Home of Auld Lang Syne campaign, the major effort now underway to restore and secure the future of one of the most important sites in Scottish literary history.
Joan McAlpine, Project Director at the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust, said:
“It was fantastic to have Cammy here to speak about Burns. Hearing his rich Ayrshire tones recite lines of Tam o Shanter on the very path where it was written was so exciting, so much so that we’ve invited him back to perform the whole poem.”
Landward airs on this week on BBC Scotland, and will be available afterwards on BBC iPlayer. Scheduled broadcasts are as follows:
– Thursday 28 May 8:30pm on BBC Scotland
– Friday 29 May 7pm on BBC One Scotland
– Monday 1 June 3pm on BBC Scotland
– Sunday 7 June 9am on BBC Two
We’ll add a link to the episode on BBC iPlayer as soon as it’s available. Meanwhile, you can watch Cammy’s performance of Tam o Shanter on the link below.