Norfolk One Man and His Campervan


Norfolk

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Transcript


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'Today I take the campervan trail along the north Norfolk coast.'

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The landscapes are just flat and big and wide with these most enormous skies.

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'I show you the best way to break open a crab without all of the fancy tools.

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'I have a go at a roadside roulette...

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Here's one, let's go, let's see what they've got.

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'..cooking food only from roadside stalls.

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'A campervan gadget saves the day.'

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Pretty warm.

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'And I do battle with the finger snapping main course.'

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Look at the size of those claws, they're amazing.

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Ow, ow, ow! Have I got a pot that's big enough?

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For the next leg in my campervan adventure, I said goodbye

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to the New Forest and drove 230 miles northeast,

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heading for the tip of Norfolk,

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and as my trusted van sped merrily along at 50 mph,

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it wasn't just the landscape that was changing.

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Hey fantastic, from the New Forest ponies to the North Norfolk cobs.

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The hedgerows are absolutely bursting with flowers.

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There are really lovely crimson poppies, there's all sorts

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of purple flowers in there,

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but because I'm not travelling at massive speed,

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I'm able to take it in and enjoy it a bit more than I would be

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if I was travelling at 100 mph down the motorway.

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As it's the easternmost county in Britain,

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no-one passes through Norfolk en route to anywhere else.

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This isolation gives it a much slower pace of life.

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It's ideal for pootling along, exploring in a campervan.

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The villages are kind of picture postcard perfect almost,

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and the landscapes are just flat and big and wide

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with these most enormous skies.

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And reflecting the vast sky is the North Sea,

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home to some of the best seafood around.

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This part of Norfolk is world-famous for crab,

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and something else that I'm going to go and look for today.

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If there was one thing that you could eat that would say,

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"that is the sea", it's this plant.

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I pick it in Devon where it is known as samphire,

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here, they tell me it's called sampher.

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Samphire, sampher, who cares really?

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It's absolutely lovely and I'm going to go and get some.

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Samphire can be found in July and August growing on Norfolk's salt marshes.

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Luckily this part of the coast is full of them so I was hoping to find some for my dinner.

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The thing about samphire picking is that more than likely I'm going to

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get a little bit muddy,

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so it could be a good opportunity to try out my solar shower.

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The basic idea is fill up this great big bag with water.

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Hopefully when you get back,

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you've got yourself some nice warm water to wash in.

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Here we go, all I've got to do is leave it in a sunny spot

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for a few hours and, bingo, hot water.

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So I wandered across this wide open space to find the first part

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of tonight's crab and samphire menu.

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This kind of foraging trip is filled with hazards.

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The salt marshes are only exposed at low tide so as the tide comes in,

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the muddy channels and creeks are hidden in the flat landscape.

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Checking the tide for the window of opportunity is vital,

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one wrong step could spell disaster.

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It helps to have some local knowledge so I've arranged to meet Lawrence.

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-Hello.

-Hello.

-Hi, how are you doing?

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Now I understand the samphire grows all round here but is there an area

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that's better than another area?

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Yes, there is some areas where there's better than others.

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Do you think there might be some places where I can get just enough for a meal for one?

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I would probably think I can put you in the right place for that.

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I was in luck. Lawrence has been a daily visitor to these marshes

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for a staggering 70 years.

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Now that's what I call local knowledge.

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So the best bits, you reckon, are in these creeks?

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-At the moment they are.

-OK.

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'Now samphire picking is not as easy as it might sound.

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'Incoming tides are one danger,

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'but so too are the crabs that live in these creeks.

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'Step on one of them hidden in the mud...'

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Is that a crab? Let's have a look...

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'..and they'll give you a nip you won't forget in a hurry.'

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Not really big enough to eat, he's a little feisty common crab

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by the looks of things and he's trying to take a nip of my fingers.

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Feeling a bit more relaxed about the potential crab danger,

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we carried on looking for the samphire I was hoping to use

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for tonight's dinner.

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What do you think of that, this stuff here looks lovely, doesn't it?

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Yes, there, and over there. That's good enough to pick.

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This looks fantastic, really, really succulent.

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The important thing I'm doing here is I'm snipping it,

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not pulling it up by the roots, and I'm only taking what I need.

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And I'm also only taking from a small area.

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That's right. If everybody done that, we'd be all right.

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'I could have left it there but as the old saying goes,

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'the samphire always looks greener on the other side of the creek.'

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Oh, that looks...quite deep!

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'I'd spotted an even better looking patch.'

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That's not unpleasant,

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between the toes.

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Success, this is why I've come here.

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This is the point, this is a fantastic succulent green samphire

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that people pay a fortune for

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in restaurants, and we're out and about in the campervan,

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pick it up for free.

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Well, because this stuff is just young enough, it's the beginning

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of the season and is just about ready, you can eat it

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straight from the bank. The taste of the sea is just...

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It really is divine.

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-Well, you're not wrong, this is the best stuff.

-It is.

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'This spot was perfect for samphire but down in the mud it was also home

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'to a family of rather angry crabs.'

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That's the good stuff. Hey whoa, that was...!

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There's something eating my foot, I'm pretty sure,

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so I'm going to get out of here now.

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I've got just enough for a really good feed.

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This type of foraging, it really is just about getting down and dirty

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and having fun, but it's going to taste good too.

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Now I'm going to go and look for something else to eat with this, maybe some of the famous seafood.

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The samphire was free but I'd paid a price.

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Salt marsh mud is oily and smelly

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and I wasn't sure my solar-powered shower would be up to the job.

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Let's have a feel.

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Oh, well it's not exactly... Whoa!

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No, actually that is...pretty warm.

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I might have to set it up,

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leave it out for a little bit longer,

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go for the full thing

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another day.

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Getting muddy and getting messy is all part of it really.

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All a bit sanitised at home so it's good to get some mud

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between your toes and feel it squelching.

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Bitten by the odd crab.

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That's better.

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With my first ingredient on board, it was time to head

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to the local quayside for tonight's main attraction.

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Well, now I've got the samphire, the tide should be on the way in

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and that means if I'm lucky I might be able to catch some fishermen

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and pick up some fresh crabs.

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The best way to get the freshest seafood possible

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is to stand on the quayside and wait for the boats to come in,

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and see if they'll sell you your dinner straight from their haul.

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After a short wait, a boat chugged into the quay at Brancaster Staithe.

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Hello, how are you doing?

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Good day? Not bad.

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The waters around the north Norfolk coast are famous

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for producing some of the best brown crab in Europe.

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-So what type of crabs are these then?

-These are brown crabs.

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Brown crabs, they're the edible crabs?

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-Yes, that's right.

-Fantastic.

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Peter Lewis and Andy Frery spend most of the summer catching

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the brown crab, which only emerge from hibernation

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in the warmer months.

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Today they've landed about 800.

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This looks pretty deadly, one of his mates has got hold of his foot.

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Get off, get off, look there's a whole pile of them.

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Look at the size of those claws, they're amazing.

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I really, really wouldn't fancy getting pinched by

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this big fellow.

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I wonder if...

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he's one for the pot.

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The male crabs, or jacks, are the prize catch

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as their bigger claws mean more white meat.

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So it's the jacks that are the tasty ones.

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They say the small ones are sweet, I don't eat them myself.

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'Hang on, what is he just say?'

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So you're a crab fishermen?

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-Yes.

-And you don't eat crab?

-No.

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What's your favourite food?

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-Anything really.

-Except crab?

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-I don't eat a lot of fish.

-Right, OK.

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-That's odd, isn't it?

-No, my father he's a mussel fisherman.

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-He's 67 and he's never even eaten mussels.

-Really?

-Yes.

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Peter was clearly not the one to turn to for crab cooking advice.

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Luckily, Andy was a crab fisherman who actually ate crab.

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Bring it up to the boil and boil it for about 18-20 minutes,

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then that'll be cooked then.

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What's your favourite way of eating crab?

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Just basically as it is really with a piece of bread and butter,

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-the old-fashioned way.

-The old-fashioned way?

-Yes.

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I've got some lovely samphire,

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should be pretty good with that I would have thought.

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That'll be lovely with that, yes.

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Keep it simple, just going to boil the samphire

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maybe with a bit of butter,

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boil this up and I'm going to have a little lemon risotto with it.

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Should be lovely, I can't wait.

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-Thank you so much.

-You're welcome.

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So finally I had my crab and was ready to cook my dinner.

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After all that excitement on the quayside, I hardly even noticed

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that the weather's cleared up again.

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That should make for a great evening eating my lovely fresh crab.

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But whilst crab and freshly picked samphire

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were a pretty good base for tonight's meal,

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the joy of campervan living means there's always the opportunity

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to pick up a few extras on the way home.

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There's loads of stuff growing here,

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I might have something that would go really superbly. Yes, there it is.

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Just as I thought,

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wild fennel. It's the beautiful aniseed smell, it goes fantastically

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with fish and seafood, so I'll pick some of that and save it for later.

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So I got my crab, I got my samphire, all the ingredients of a great meal.

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All I need to do now is camp up for the night.

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Unfortunately on this part of north Norfolk

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you can't just park anywhere, but I have heard about

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a really great campsite and that's where I'm headed now.

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The High Creek Sands campsite at Stiffkey is perched on top

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of a picturesque hill, but that can create problems.

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One of the things about having a great view, sometimes you don't get the flattest pitch,

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so I'm just going to chock up.

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What the chocks do is you drive up onto them and it

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brings the van level so that your pots and pans don't slide around all over the cooker when you're cooking.

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It's quite important actually because it's really difficult to cook on a slope.

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With a level van, I could start prepping what was going to be one of

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my more adventurous campervan dinners,

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fresh crab with a lemon risotto and samphire.

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First I had to make a tasty stock,

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then I gently softened some onions and garlic in butter as a base to go with my risotto rice.

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OK, so this is my stock I'm about to add, some of that wild fennel,

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garlic and basil,

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and a vegetable stock cube, very simple,

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much, much better than just a stock cube with hot water.

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So just adding the stock to the risotto, letting that bubble away,

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and let the rice take on those

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lovely flavours of the fennel and the garlic and the bay in that stock.

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Then I'm going to add the lemon and the lemon zest.

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However, more importantly, the water's on for the crab.

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I hope the pot's big enough.

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I've never done this in a campervan before so let's see what happens.

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Leave him there for 20 minutes,

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time...for a chill.

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I couldn't totally relax however as I still had to keep topping

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the risotto up with stock

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and keep an eye on the ever-changing weather.

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But 20 minutes later, it was time for the main event.

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My crab was ready, all I had to do next

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was get through its formidable defences.

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Pull the claws off, oh, you can see that crab meat already.

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Mmm...that really is fantastic.

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I'm just using the tea towel on this because it's still a little bit hot.

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Here we go...

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Wow, look at that.

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So what we're going to do,

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get all these lovely bits

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of flesh here.

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As you can see, there's all this absolutely wonderful

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crabmeat in there, that's the brown meat.

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All the different parts of the crab

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taste different.

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They've all got their own special

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little taste. There are few more pleasurable things in life

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than doing this,

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picking apart a crab that's so fresh it's bursting

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with flavour, knowing that in just a very few minutes

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I'm going to be tucking into this.

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'But I spoke too soon,

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'these Jack crab claws were far too big to break with my bare hands.'

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That's a bit more difficult than I thought.

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'Then I remembered a tip from our fisherman, just use the back

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'of a spoon, anything heavier and you'll ruin the meat

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'with splintered shell.'

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That's the stuff we want to get out.

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Ha-ha, can you tell that I really adore fresh crab?

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Does it show because I'm feeling slightly

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in love with

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the whole campervan living thing right now?

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This is what it's all about.

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Right, I'm ready to plate up.

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No point in being fussy, great ingredients speak for themselves.

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First of all,

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that gorgeous risotto, lovely and creamy

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with the beautiful wild fennel in there.

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Next some wonderful,

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fresh Norfolk crab.

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Finally, my boiled samphire foraged from the local salt marshes earlier.

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That's something really special you wouldn't get in a supermarket.

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A bit of zest.

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Last thing...

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a little bit of wild fennel from the side of the road,

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you'll never get that in any supermarket, and my friend the crab.

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That looks fantastic and I can't wait to dig in.

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I'm really hoping it tastes as good as it looks.

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Let's go.

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OK, preparing the crab had taken slightly longer than I'd anticipated

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and it was nearly midnight by the time I'd got it all ready.

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But sitting by the van, lit by the pale moonlight,

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this was a campervan meal to remember.

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This honestly, seriously, I have to say,

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this is one of the tastiest meals I think I have ever cooked.

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Never mind in a field!

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It's just these ingredients, fantastic.

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So simple and the only things I brought with me,

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an onion and some risotto rice, the rest is from out there.

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And do you know what,

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anyone can do it.

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'Still to come, I show you how to brighten up the journey

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'with a campervan game when I try to create a meal

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'with food picked up only from roadside stalls.'

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Thank you! See ya!

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'And I try my luck with a recipe from the Australian outback.

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'Next morning, it was time to pack up the van

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'before my adventure in Norfolk continued.'

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One of the things

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about living in a camper

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is organising the space.

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When you've got the bed out,

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all the stuff that normally lives in the boot has to go in the front.

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It's OK with only one of you but when there's a whole family in here,

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it can be a ballet or it can be a car crash.

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My little tip, square storage boxes, you can get more in.

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Having clocked up a few hundred miles on the trip,

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I'd already exhausted my CD collection,

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so now I was back on the open road, I decided to make my own entertainment.

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It might be a good time to play roadside roulette.

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In case you've never heard of roadside roulette, here's how it goes.

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You nominate a chef and the next time you stop

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at one of those roadside stalls that sells fresh produce,

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slam on the anchors, grab what you can and cook anything

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as long as you use just those ingredients.

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So the game was on.

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Oh, here's one, let's go, let's see what they've got!

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Let's have a look.

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'Now remember, whatever they have on sale, I had to cook.'

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It seems they sell free-range eggs,

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but they've run out and they sell something else as well.

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To be honest with you, I don't fancy eating that.

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So it was back to the van to find another roadside stall.

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Before I could play another round of roadside roulette,

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I found myself once again at the head of a long queue of traffic,

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but then the opportunity for a small personal triumph presented itself.

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Do you know what, for the first time on this trip,

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I'm about to be not the one at the front of the queue.

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This could be a momentous moment,

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my first overtaking manoeuvre.

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'Sad I know, but that makes me a very happy man. Back to the game.'

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Once you start looking for roadside stalls, you start to see them everywhere.

0:19:530:19:57

Now I've heard that round here at this time of year,

0:19:570:20:00

the broad beans are the thing to go for.

0:20:000:20:02

It's a sunny day, I've got some wine vinegar in the back,

0:20:020:20:05

I've got some fresh herbs, it might be nice to make something,

0:20:050:20:10

a really zingy fresh broad bean salad.

0:20:100:20:12

The thing about roadside roulette, if you can't think of anything to cook,

0:20:120:20:16

you're just going to go hungry.

0:20:160:20:19

This looks like a likely candidate.

0:20:200:20:23

'The next roadside stall looked a bit more promising.'

0:20:230:20:26

Hello, how are you doing?

0:20:290:20:31

Wow, I've come to see what I can find. OK, lovely fresh spuds.

0:20:310:20:35

Well, here we go, this is what I was looking for, fresh broad beans.

0:20:350:20:39

Do you mind if I pop one of these and have a look?

0:20:390:20:42

No, that's all right.

0:20:420:20:44

Oh, they look fantastic,

0:20:440:20:46

so sweet and fresh.

0:20:480:20:50

I'm going to take a load of these. I'll take a massive handful.

0:20:500:20:53

I might look greedy but actually you may not get that many out of this.

0:20:530:20:58

£2.50. 'I bought the broad beans and a punnet of strawberries.

0:20:580:21:02

'Now I had to work out a recipe for tonight.'

0:21:020:21:05

You're very kind, excellent.

0:21:050:21:07

Thank you! See ya!

0:21:070:21:10

That's lovely.

0:21:140:21:16

'I still didn't have a recipe but I'd organised my camping spot for the night.

0:21:160:21:20

'I'd be cooking and camping in an orchard, part of a cider business.

0:21:200:21:24

'Cider in Norfolk?

0:21:240:21:26

'Time to find out more.'

0:21:260:21:28

I didn't know that Norfolk was famous for ciders.

0:21:280:21:32

We planted the orchard back in 1994 so it's 16 years old now.

0:21:320:21:37

We wanted to plant West Country cider apples, proper bitter cider apples,

0:21:370:21:42

so the cider has body and a bit of bite to it.

0:21:420:21:45

I live in Devon. Maybe a taste of home.

0:21:450:21:47

Have you got any I can try?

0:21:470:21:49

This is more Devon-like.

0:21:490:21:51

I was going to say, it looks like a scrumpy to me.

0:21:510:21:54

Oh, that's lovely. Unfortunately, I'm driving.

0:21:550:21:59

So with my cider drinking on hold,

0:21:590:22:01

I went off to find my pitch for the night.

0:22:010:22:04

Now this is what I call a camping spot!

0:22:040:22:08

These trees produce some of the best cider you'll ever drink.

0:22:080:22:11

But Peter and Jim, the orchard's owners,

0:22:110:22:14

were joining me for dinner in an hour and I only had broad beans

0:22:140:22:17

from my earlier roadside roulette game and a random packet of halloumi cheese in my cooler.

0:22:170:22:24

But of course, I had a plan.

0:22:240:22:27

I was going to make a damper bread on open fire.

0:22:270:22:30

It's an Australian recipe, it's one of those recipes

0:22:320:22:35

that just uses your staples, flour, sugar, salt, the kind of things that

0:22:350:22:41

the men of the outback would be able to carry with them.

0:22:410:22:44

I'm going to make it in a Dutch oven,

0:22:440:22:46

which is a really exciting piece of camping equipment

0:22:460:22:50

that goes straight on the fire.

0:22:500:22:52

With my apple wood burning down nicely, it was time to knead the dough.

0:22:530:22:58

What I've got to do now

0:22:580:23:00

is make that into a little loaf,

0:23:000:23:02

like so.

0:23:020:23:05

'The dough was ready,

0:23:050:23:07

'the Dutch oven was greased to stop the bread from sticking.

0:23:070:23:11

'It was time for some baking.

0:23:110:23:12

'My coals were really hot by now and just to be sure the oven reached

0:23:120:23:16

'a good temperature, I heaped more on the purpose-built lid.

0:23:160:23:21

'With my bread in the oven, it was time to sit back,

0:23:210:23:23

'enjoy the surroundings and finish shelling my broad beans.

0:23:230:23:27

'Campervan cooking is a piece of cake, what could possibly go wrong?'

0:23:270:23:33

Beautiful fresh broad beans from the side of the road,

0:23:330:23:37

deliciously sweet and tender.

0:23:370:23:39

'Hmm, black smoke is not supposed to bellow from my oven

0:23:410:23:45

'just 10 minutes after I put the dough in!'

0:23:450:23:48

HE LAUGHS

0:23:480:23:50

It's a bit overcooked. Let's get it out.

0:23:520:23:56

'The oven must have got much too hot,

0:23:560:23:58

'burning the outside of the bread without cooking it through.'

0:23:580:24:03

We'll give it another go.

0:24:030:24:05

'It turned out the answer to the problem was all in the name.

0:24:090:24:12

'The most important thing was the temperature.'

0:24:120:24:15

Of course, there is a very good reason it's called damper bread,

0:24:150:24:19

you dampen the fire before you put the bread on.

0:24:210:24:25

I had just enough dough and time to make another batch before my guests arrived.

0:24:270:24:32

Half an hour.

0:24:320:24:34

Time to use my lovely broad beans to make a summer salad with mint vinaigrette,

0:24:340:24:38

and use those hot coals to cook another campervan favourite of mine.

0:24:380:24:42

A little extra special something,

0:24:420:24:44

some grilled halloumi.

0:24:460:24:48

Just then, Peter and Jim arrived with a selection of ciders

0:24:490:24:53

from apples grown in this very orchard.

0:24:530:24:55

So nice of you to come, take a seat.

0:24:550:24:59

I've got some...some of this

0:24:590:25:03

damper bread that I've been trying out.

0:25:030:25:06

With my second attempt at damper bread still not ready,

0:25:060:25:08

I stalled them by suggesting some cider tasting.

0:25:080:25:11

First up, one of their more discerning single apple varieties.

0:25:110:25:15

What's so special about this one?

0:25:150:25:17

It's got almost no tannin, it's a nice easy drink for the summer.

0:25:170:25:21

Right. Wow! Look at the colour of that.

0:25:210:25:24

That's wonderful, isn't it?

0:25:240:25:25

It's a nice change for us to sit and taste our own cider.

0:25:290:25:32

That's all right, isn't it?

0:25:320:25:34

What about alcohol content? Is that up to you?

0:25:340:25:36

-That depends a lot on the weather.

-OK.

0:25:360:25:38

A hot summer, not much rain, lots of alcohol.

0:25:380:25:42

Whereas if you get a wet dull summer, it doesn't produce as much sugar in the apples, so less alcohol.

0:25:420:25:47

This is the least alcoholic of our ciders.

0:25:470:25:50

-The LEAST alcoholic?

-Yes.

0:25:500:25:52

I'm really glad I'm here and not driving now!

0:25:520:25:55

'For some reason I was beginning to feel a bit lightheaded.

0:25:570:26:00

'Must have been the fumes from my campfire.

0:26:000:26:02

'Time to serve up while I was still capable.'

0:26:020:26:05

Tomatoes and red onions?

0:26:050:26:07

Eat anything.

0:26:070:26:09

I hope you like broad beans.

0:26:100:26:12

I certainly do, grow them myself.

0:26:120:26:14

Next up, our fantastic griddled halloumi.

0:26:140:26:17

Cheesy salad, which then goes with our piece de resistance, the bread.

0:26:190:26:25

Now the moment of truth. There wouldn't be time

0:26:250:26:27

to make another loaf if this one was burned as well.

0:26:270:26:30

Wow! That, I would argue, is perfect.

0:26:300:26:36

It's still a bit hot but...

0:26:380:26:41

how about that for a bit of bread cooked over an open fire?

0:26:410:26:44

-Looks good.

-I'm not going to cut this, I'm going to break it.

0:26:440:26:47

So there it was, still warm damper bread with onion and tomato salad,

0:26:520:26:55

griddled halloumi, and local broad beans with a mint vinaigrette.

0:26:550:27:00

It looked delicious, but what would my guests think?

0:27:000:27:04

-It's lovely.

-Is it still warm?

-Mmm.

0:27:040:27:07

-No yeast in them?

-No yeast.

0:27:070:27:09

-That's amazing.

-Self-raising flour.

-It's lovely.

0:27:090:27:13

You can understand why it was so popular in Australia

0:27:130:27:16

because you just take a few really simple ingredients with you

0:27:160:27:19

and you're in the middle of the outback, all you need is a fire and you can cook it.

0:27:190:27:25

-A top-up?

-I could do with one, yes, thanks.

0:27:250:27:27

But who needs the Australian outback when you can sit in a Norfolk orchard

0:27:270:27:31

serenaded by evening birdsong, with plenty of cider to keep you company?

0:27:310:27:36

It's really special,

0:27:360:27:39

and it's another one of the brilliant tastes of Norfolk...

0:27:390:27:43

..that to be honest I never really expected.

0:27:440:27:47

Thank you for your campsite.

0:27:470:27:49

I hope the damper bread dampens your appetites.

0:27:490:27:53

Next time, my campervan tour around Britain

0:27:570:28:00

finds me in the beautiful county of Yorkshire,

0:28:000:28:03

home to a rather challenging landscape.

0:28:030:28:06

Here I find some rather unusual birds

0:28:060:28:09

with the biggest eggs I've ever seen.

0:28:090:28:11

Look at that!

0:28:110:28:13

A campervan accident leads to a hospital visit and threatens the entire trip.

0:28:130:28:18

Not allowed to drive!

0:28:180:28:20

And will I really be able to make an edible dish out of these huge eggs?

0:28:200:28:25

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0:28:480:28:50

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0:28:500:28:52

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