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Matt Baker is at the University of Oxford’s Wytham Woods learning about how they use their thousand acre living laboratory to measure the lifecycle of the woodland. He meets research manager Dr Alan Jones from Earthwatch who shows Matt what happens to the forest in autumn and how they measure these changes using technology. Finally they climb the 25 metre high tower to see the way science is revealing how the woodland ‘breathes’ throughout the year.

Ellie Harrison discovers that, for many rural communities throughout the UK, autumn is the season of the ploughing match, a tradition marking the beginning of the farmer’s growing year. She travels to Somerset to experience the sights and sounds of the Mendip Ploughing Society’s 156th competition, meeting some of the competitors along the way. Bryony Gill shows Ellie the ropes as she takes charge of Shire horses Bravelad and Angel, then vintage enthusiast Roy Hill gives Ellie a hand ploughing a furrow on his World War Two tractor.

Tom Heap and John Hammond travel to the Wye Valley in Herefordshire to experience the Autumn Equinox – when night and day are the same length. They set off downstream in a canoe to find out how changing temperatures at this time of year affect the lifecycle of the river and John illustrates autumn’s arrival with scientific experiments. At the end of their voyage they get stuck into a spot of fishing, set up camp around the fire and pitch tents for the night, ready for the ‘mists and mellow fruitfulness’ of an autumn morning.

Ellie meets Michelin Star chef Raymond Blanc to discover the plentiful bounty of autumn. Ellie and Raymond forage for a range of wild foods that can be found across a variety of habitats, from fairy tale woodland areas to open meadows. Back at his beautiful vegetable garden at Le Manoir, Raymond reveals how to turn humble hedgerow fruits into an autumnal heart-warming desert.

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Matt explores Wytham Woods in Oxfordshire where he meets Dr Kate Lewthwaite of the Woodland Trust. She explains how their Nature’s Calendar project uses citizen science to collect data about the arrival of autumn around the UK. Matt is joined by local children from Fritwell Church of England Primary School who help him hunt for typical signs of autumn around the woodland.

We explore the inspiration and artwork of Simon Gudegon whose Sculpture by the Lakes project sensuously captures the serenity and warming colours of autumn. We also see how his newest creation adds to the magic of his 26 acres of land that he has turned into a sculpture park.

Matt gets into the spirit of autumn with a traditional game of conkers at Wytham Woods in Oxfordshire, where he is joined by Dr Michael Pocock and Dr Darren Evans from the Conker Tree Science project. He discovers that all is not well with our horse chestnut trees, which are being blighted by the invading leaf miner moth. It doesn’t stop him and schoolchildren from Fritwell Primary from having their conker competition in the woods. But who will walk away with the coveted Countryfile Conker Champion trophy?

Wildlife cameraman Richard Taylor-Jones takes a trip to Skomer Island off the west Wales coast to capture a lesser known sign that autumn has arrived.ÌýGrey seals begin their pupping season in Great Britain in the south west during the mild autumn months and Richard finds a perfect place to film them from. At first it's a scene of serenity with the little white pups under the protection of their grey-speckled mothers. But when anÌýadolescentÌýmake seal turns up, the mums are far from pleasedÌý–Ìýand the peaceful scene is shattered.