A CELEBRATED TV presenter is exploring the hidden secrets of Meirionnydd.

Acclaimed wildlife expert Kate Humble has visited remote communities all over the world but recently she’s started questioning herself – why travel to far-flung destinations looking for authentic, intact communities when they exist right on her doorstep in Wales?

In Kate Humble: Off the Beaten Track, broadcasting on Friday, 8 December on BBC One Wales at 8.30pm, the celebrity engages with people and places in some of Wales’ least explored places.

Scott and Ruth Roe and their daughter Chenoe moved to Bron yr Aur farm near Machynlleth eight years ago with one ambition in mind – to live a green, zero-impact life without giving up on their mod cons. In this edition of the show, viewers witness how the family harnesses all of the elements that Wales can throw at them – just to turn on their lights.

Once the place where Led Zeppelin created their third album, their home is now an off grid living experiment. It sounds idyllic but their commitment to generating their own power is often hard work.

In the woods of Coed y Brenin near Dolgellau, the true king of the land is the fallow deer.

There’s a population of up to 400 here but their presence can be troublesome – munching on saplings, destroying habitat for other creatures and causing as many as 10 car crashes a year.

Kate joins wildlife ranger Iori Jones to see how he keeps the population size under control.

She also joins a family of farmers on Cader Idris as they keep alive a centuries’ old tradition of driving cattle up the mountain for the summer. It’s a popular spot for walkers but for the inhabitants it is very much a working landscape. Walking uphill in the driving rain for four miles behind 40 pregnant cows certainly convinces Kate of the impact the Welsh weather has on a working day.

In the Dyfi Valley, Kate finds how a distillery uses local botanicals to make gin, and just south of there she visits the Plumlumon Massif. To the untrained eye it’s a boggy, unproductive landscape – but there is more to the landscape than meets the eye.