Episode #102
Vintage tractors, Apprentice of the Year and a robot called Raggy
From a family tragedy that grew into a much-loved North Dorset tradition to a young woman who swapped plans for dentistry for a career with a paintbrush – and an autonomous robot prowling Dorset fields in search of poisonous weeds – August’s podcast is Dorset Life at its most eclectic. Jenny meets Suzanne Smith, the woman behind the North Dorset tractor runs. They began after Suzanne lost her father in 2010: his private passion was restoring vintage tractors, although Suzanne herself had never had the slightest desire to drive one. What started as a fundraising show for Salisbury Hospice has evolved into a thriving series of road runs, with vintage and modern tractors travelling routes through private farmland, fords and Dorset lanes. Now Suzanne’s children are involved, her five-year-old granddaughter is already showing an interest, and the illuminated Christmas tractor parades look set to become another local tradition. ‘Sadly, we lost him, and we turned something tragic into something really positive.’ Jenny also talks to 22-year-old Romilly Oliver, newly crowned Apprentice of the Year by the Painting and Decorating Association. Romilly left school intending to become a dentist, but a gap year made her question whether university was really where she belonged. Instead she joined the family painting and decorating business, working alongside her father – who spent 25 years teaching the trade – and discovered that the creativity she'd always pursued in her spare time could become her career. She talks about competition nerves, the opportunities available through apprenticeships and why Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven has become her unlikely secret weapon. ‘I’m only 22, and I genuinely enjoy just the simple waking up and going to work with my dad. We get to have a chat, have a laugh, listen to music.’ Then Jenny heads into a field near Blandford to meet Raggy, a 300kg autonomous ragwort-hunting robot being put through its paces on farmer George Hosford's land. Its creator, Jake Shaw Sutton of Robotrics, explains how cameras and AI allow Raggy to identify ragwort with around 94 per cent confidence before four serrated ‘trowels’ plunge into the ground, clamp around the root crown and twist it free. The prototype has survived heatwaves, torrential rain and lightning during its field trials – although Jake admits that one broken set of jaws was entirely his own fault. ‘Any time you hear, “Ah, here’s an autonomous robot that can do this job perfectly,” it’s like, “Okay, what about in reality, though?”’ The podcast starts with Laura’s editor’s letter launching Dorset Life’s investigation into Dorset’s housing crisis – asking how the county can accommodate more than 55,000 additional homes without equivalent plans for roads, schools, GP surgeries, sewage, water and public transport – while the anonymous Dorset Insider looks at the same issue from inside a parish council, where constantly changing housing targets and planning rules can make years of community work feel futile. This episode is based on stories from the August 2026 issue of Dorset Life (though they're the sort of conversations that remain interesting whenever you happen to find them), available to read freely online. Farming, skills, technology, community and the future of rural Dorset – all seen through a distinctly Dorset lens.
