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Matt Baker is in Coverack where they celebrate Christmas in a big way. For fifty years they’ve decked the village out in style - there’s festive bunting strung across narrow streets, tinsel in the shop windows and colourful lights all along the harbour front. The whole community chips in and there’s a buzz of excitement in the air because this is the day the tree arrives.  So, to make sure that no one is disappointed, Matt joins the Christmas tree committee to hunt down the perfect specimen. Then, once the tree is decorated, everyone gets together for the big switch on!

There can be few creatures more emblematic of the festive season than the humble Robin.  Its little red breast can be the only splash of colour in bare winter branches.  For some people they are more than just a mark of the season.  Ellie Harrison meets 82 year old Pat Rowe and her tame robin, Bob. He flies into the house, eats some of the crumbs Pat puts down and serenades Pat by trilling along to carols on the radio.  Ellie sees this remarkable relationship for herself and decides to give Bob an extra special Christmas treat:  A Christmas wreath – with a difference.  With some help from Rosie Kelsall of the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust Ellie learns how to make a festive and useful treat for wild birds. And it’s something Ellie encourages the viewers at home to have a go at.

Tom Heap travels to Emsworth in Hampshire to see the lights turned on, on a rather unusual Christmas tree. Two local fishermen in the town lost their stock of lobster pots when they were destroyed during stormy weather. Without the pots, they have lost a vital source of income. But the locals in Emsworth have rallied round to create a special Christmas tree - from lobster pots that they have bought and donated themselves. Once Christmas is over, the pots will then be used for fishing and the first lobster in each pot goes to the local who donated it.  

The most famous carol service of them all is The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols - a festive favourite broadcast many times from Cambridge.  But it really began in Cornwall, at Truro Cathedral as John Craven discovers when he visits that magnificent building to meet Director of Music, Christopher Gray. John discovers the carol singing traditions go much further back than Victorian times. They’ve always sung `curls’ in Cornwall and many of the carols we know and love today had their origins in these traditional Cornish songs. In fishing villages and on isolated farmsteads people would come together to sing and spread good cheer. John meets The Fisherman’s Friends - the famous choir of Cornishmen who are keeping these old tunes alive. 

Sean Fletcher is in the fishing town of Padstow, where Rick Stein and his son Jack are putting a modern twist on the traditional Christmas feast. Sean learns that Hake, a fish full of flavour, is on the menu and is tasked with collecting some seasonal vegetables to complete the dish. When it comes to unusual, local, seasonal produce there is only one place to go: Padstow Kitchen Garden. Run by Ross Geach, the fields are full of edible greenery including some more unusual items like kale-ette. Sean gathers items for a winter salad before returning to the kitchen to help Rick and Jack put the finishing touches to the dish.

Scroll down to see the seasonal hake recipe

Whilst most of us are tucking into the turkey and Christmas pudding, for farmers up and down the country the festive season is still a time of work. Adam Henson’s travels inland to the village of Chapel Amble near Wadebridge to find out why, for one farming family in Cornwall, Christmas will be busier than most.

As much a staple of Christmas as holly or fairy lights, baubles have been adorning our trees since Victorian times.  But the baubles Ellie Harrison are after are artisan, so if she wants to get her hands on some she’ll have to make them herself. Ellie visits the studio of Glass Artist, Malcolm Sutcliffe in Penryn. Malcolm draws inspiration for his creations from the countryside around him.  There are baubles of all shades of and colours, reflecting the seas, the sky, and the land.  Malcolm shows Ellie the painstaking process of turning a blob of molten glass into a glittering Christmas decoration.  Now, has she remembered how it’s done? 

Ingredients (serves 6)

7 medium-sized beetroot, peeled
Pinch caster sugar
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1 pared strip lime zest 
1 pared strip lemon zest
2 cloves
2.5cm (1 inch) piece cinnamon stick
100g (3½ oz) red cabbage, finely shredded 
100g (3½ oz) green winter cabbage, such as hipse, finely shredded 
100g (3½ oz) white cabbage, finely shredded 
50g (1¾ oz) kale or cavolo nero, finely shredded 
1 tbsp sea purslane leaves (optional) 
Small bunch of sea beet leaves, finely shredded (optional)
Small bunch chives, chopped 
Small handful fennel fronds 
4 x 100g (3 ½ oz) pieces unskinned hake fillet 
25g (1 oz) butter 
50ml (2 fl oz) dry white wine 
100ml (3 ½ fl oz) fish stock 
Sea salt flakes

For the dressing
1 tbsp cider vinegar 
1 tbsp rapeseed oil 
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½ pomegranate, seeds only, to serve

Method

Place two of the beetroot into a small pan with the sugar, a good pinch of salt, the lime and lemon zest, cloves and cinnamon. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil, lower the heat and leave to simmer very gently for one hour or until tender when pierced through to the centre with a fine skewer. Remove the cooked beetroot and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, roughly chop four of the remaining beetroot and blend in a food processor to a smooth purée. Tip the purée into a sieve set over a bowl and press out all the liquid with the back of a spoon or spatula. You should yield about 75ml / 2 ½ fl oz of liquid. Set this aside for the dressing.

Cut the remaining beetroot into thin slices, then slice into fine matchsticks. Mix the shredded cabbages, sea purslane, sea beet, chives, fennel fronds and beetroot matchsticks together in a large bowl. Set aside. Season the hake on both sides with salt and set aside for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, for the dressing, whisk the beetroot juice with the vinegar, oil and some salt, to taste. Set aside. To cook the hake, melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan large enough to sit the fish comfortably side by side. Pat the hake dry with kitchen paper, add to the pan 
skin-side down and cook for 1 - 2 minutes over a medium-high heat, or until pale golden-brown. Turn the pieces over, add the white wine and fish stock to the pan, cover and cook for 2 - 3 minutes, or until cooked through. Keep warm.

To finish the dressing, whisk 2 tablespoons of the cooking liquid from the fish pan into the beetroot dressing and season, to taste, with salt. Add four tablespoons of the dressing to the cabbage salad and mix until well combined. Season, to taste, with sea salt flakes. To serve, thinly slice the cooked beetroot and overlap the slices to create a disc in the centre of each of four serving plates.

Place a 10 - 12cm/4 - 5in cooking ring into the centre of the beetroot slices and fill with the salad mixture. Carefully lift off and repeat for each of the remaining plates. Stir the pomegranate seeds into the remaining dressing. Place a piece of fish on top of the salad and spoon the dressing and pomegranate seeds around the outside of the plate.