It's summer and the shepherds of the Cheviot Hills are shearing their sheep. Dave Baxter takes his dogs to compete in the local sheepdog trials.

The origins of the shepherd, one of the oldest known professions, date back more than 5000 years, beginning in Asia Minor, where the breeding and keeping of sheep for their milk, meat and wool required someone to protect them from wild animal attacks and theft. In Britain, shepherding (here deriving from the Old English 'sceaphierde' meaning 'sceap' for sheep and 'heirde' for herder') started during the Neolithic period, when ancient forests were cleared to make way for farmland and grazing, mainly of cattle and pigs. As a useful animal, it wasn't until the Bronze Age that sheep became an important staple, mainly for its wool, which was the first textile material to be spun and woven into clothing. By the time of the Doomsday survey in the late 11th century, sheep were recorded as being the most dominant farm animal, something that didn't change for several centuries. The life of the shepherd has always been hard, with the shepherd often living apart from society and both downtrodden and disrespected. For this reason, it was in the Bible that the shepherds were visited by angels with the news of the birth of Christ being 'the lowliest of all men'.The traditional image of the shepherd is someone with a Shepherd's Crooks used to help capture sheep, and the sheep dog. As a breed, the Old English Sheepdog first emerged during the 18th century, being breed as 'drover dogs' used to help drive livestock to market. The relationship between shepherd and dog grew, and in October 1873 the first sheep dog trials were held in a field near Bala in Wales, to test the skills both of man and dog.

A captivating glimpse of a fading era, this series follows Dave, Stewart and wife Gwen as they tend their flocks on the rugged Cheviot Hills in Northumberland. Dave, who's keen on preserving the customs of the past, has worked on the same farm for 40 years. He carves his own walking sticks, makes his own sheepdog whistles from pieces of tin and enjoys nothing more than a night of music and memories at a shepherds' get-together on a winter's night. Inspirational and evocative, this fascinating look at shepherding traditions chronicles a way of life that is destined to become a distant memory.