Pembrokeshire Back to the Land with Kate Humble


Pembrokeshire

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In Britain's beautiful landscapes,

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traditional farming is battling to survive.

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Making a living here has its challenges,

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but those challenges are being met head-on

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with invention, energy and passion.

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A new breed of trailblazing entrepreneurs

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are turning back to the land

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to reinvent old trades and set up modern rural businesses.

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Latest figures show that as many as 100,000 people

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are leaving our cities and moving to the countryside every year.

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I've seen first-hand,

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having started my own rural business in Monmouthshire,

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the grit and determination needed to take that leap.

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And joining me is award-winning organic restaurateur

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Geetie Singh-Watson, who'll bring her knowledge and passion.

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I am really, really impressed.

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We're going to be meeting some of the modern countryside pioneers...

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Come on!

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..whose love, skill and tenacity

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are at the heart of this rural revolution.

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Woo-ha!

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This is a passion. I'm doing it because I believe in the product.

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WHISTLE

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Every region and every season present new challenges,

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and tonight, we're in Pembrokeshire,

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following six innovative businesses through spring,

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summer and autumn as they take on big investments...

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-You really need to believe in this.

-It better be right!

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..against all odds...

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-It's pretty risky.

-Yes.

-I like a little gamble.

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..doing their bit to reinvigorate our great British countryside.

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We wanted something that would keep us going on the farm.

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We had no idea what we had stumbled onto.

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SEABIRDS CALL

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It's hard not to come here and be blown away by

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this dramatic shoreline.

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It is Britain's only coastal national park.

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But it's wild, rugged,

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and remote, and making a living here can be a challenge.

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It's spring, and I'm heading out towards Fishguard

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in North Pembrokeshire.

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To a 700-acre dairy farm

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where one enterprising farmer is diversifying

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the family business to generate a new income.

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Despite the fact that most of us start our mornings

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with milk in our tea and butter on our toast,

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the dairy industry in Britain is in crisis.

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70% of dairy farms in Wales have already closed

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and one in five are expected to close this year.

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Projecting the downturn, third-generation dairy farmer Will

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has taken a brave leap to breed Japanese cattle called Wagyu.

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He's hooked into the growing food trend for Wagyu steak,

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selling his meat to high-end restaurants

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and stores across the UK.

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MOOING

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These are nice quiet beasts, aren't they?

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-Kate, nice to see you.

-How do you do? Will Pritchard.

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Very, very good to see you. So youngsters here.

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Yeah, they are. These are about 15 months.

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-15 months!

-These are about 15 months of age, yeah.

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I don't want to be rude, Will, but they seem very tiny for beef cattle.

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Because usually, when you see beef cattle in a field, they are big,

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muscular, chunky things, the Limousins, the Charolais.

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Yeah, they're a very special breed, the Wagyu.

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The value in the meat is actually from the marbling,

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which is the intramuscular fat that you get in your steaks.

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This marbling is what gives Wagyu

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a distinctive melt-in-the-mouth flavour.

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But to get a Japanese breed of cattle

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grazing on a Pembrokeshire farm isn't simple.

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We have four or five heifers in Australia that are some of

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the best-quality cattle money can buy over there.

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You can't buy the bull. But you can buy some of the semen from the bull

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and to be able to buy the very best cattle in the world at the moment

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is costing us around about £1,500 for one dose of semen.

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Wow! OK.

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'That's currently the most expensive bull sperm in the world.'

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And then you'll do artificial insemination on the cows here?

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-In Australia.

-Oh, in Australia?

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And we will bring the embryos back

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and then implant them in our cattle here in the UK.

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-Really?

-And they'll be born here as Welsh cattle.

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But it's a hell of a process.

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I mean, very scientific. You're not leaving anything to chance.

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And it's a long-term investment as well.

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The investment in those genetics made today,

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that meat won't be on the plate for maybe six to seven years.

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So you really need to believe in this?

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It better be right!

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He says, nervously!

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Come on, come on.

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'So far, they've invested half a million pounds into the venture.'

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Go on, don't look at me like that!

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-Through the gate, up on the left?

-Yeah, up on the left, Kate.

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'Will's Wagyu are grass-fed.'

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I'll get round the back of these ones, Will. Come on, girls.

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'Which should give their meat a sharper, beefier taste.'

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Me and the scrappy one, bringing up the rear.

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There's always one at the back, Kate, yes!

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Oh, look at that. Feasting.

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Yeah, this is one of my favourite, favourite jobs, really,

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moving cattle from one paddock into the next.

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And on that note, can we go and eat some?

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Don't tell the cattle!

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Will's steaks can sell for up to £50 a kilo,

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compared to just £30 a kilo for standard beef.

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This would be a Wagyu ribeye steak.

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You can see the marbling coming through in the meat.

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Now, you see, I have to say, because I'm not used to that,

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I would look at that and go,

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"Ooh, it looks sort of fatty and unappealing, to be honest."

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Yeah, well, here's an interesting...

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Here's a piece of steak from a commercial supermarkets.

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As you can see, that's what I think the consumer

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has been sort of trained to want to purchase - no fat whatsoever.

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-Yeah.

-The fat you're getting in Wagyu is a polyunsaturated fat.

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-It's a healthy fat.

-It is. It's good meat to eat.

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So can we do a bit of a taste test?

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Yeah, yeah. We'll give it a go.

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Don't you just love a barbecue in Pembrokeshire?

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It's really, really, really good!

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How have you gone about marketing this?

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There actually is quite a recognition for Wagyu beef

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in the country and certainly where we are selling most of our meat

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-is London.

-Right.

-It's naturally growing in popularity.

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-Yeah.

-And the best advert we can give it is to get people to try it

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so we do quite a bit of tasting when we go to London.

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Garnish and everything! Look at that. OK.

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So we've got... That's our supermarket.

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-Yeah.

-That's our premium ribeye.

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-And that's the Wagyu.

-That's the Wagyu.

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I'll do the honours.

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'It's only in the last 12 months

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'that they've been able to guarantee to slaughter two animals a week

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'and sell them to a major retailer.'

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Well, let's try that one first.

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It tastes all right. And this one.

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That's a grainier texture.

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-Yeah.

-More flavour.

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The moment of truth.

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Oh, my God!

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It's extraordinary.

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It's got a softness and sweetness to the meat

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that neither of the other two have.

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It's a completely different eating experience.

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Is that what people say?

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It's very, very, very good.

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I take it we are going to finish the Wagyu ribeye off?

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I don't think there's going to be any "we" about it!

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Yeah, this one's for me!

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Will is taking quite a risk.

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To rear calves that he hopes

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in a few years' time will produce top quality beef

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for a pretty niche market.

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They say that fortune favours the brave, and he is certainly brave.

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But will that be enough to save his family farm?

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And it won't be until this year's calves are born in the autumn

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that we find out if Will's big investment is starting to pay off.

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Geetie Singh-Watson set up the UK's first organic gastro pub

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in her twenties, so knows all too well

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the challenges of running a company based on new ways of working.

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She's heading just over the border to Llanboidy,

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a small village nestled in the South Welsh hills,

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where from a caravan in his mum's back garden...

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..one rookie chocolatier has blended the region's organic milk

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with cocoa from Madagascar.

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I'm intrigued to see in this sparse coastal landscape of Pembrokeshire

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how a chocolate company is going to find its way into the market.

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Nom Nom is headed up by 23-year-old Liam with a 14-strong team...

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..who hand-make and wrap over 5,000 bars a week.

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-Hello.

-Nice to meet you. I'm Liam.

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-Great to meet you. Look at this place.

-Welcome to the cow shed.

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It's extraordinary. It's like kind of San Francisco

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in the middle of the Welsh hills.

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-In Llanboidy!

-It's wonderful.

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So this used to be home to about 60 cows.

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And now it's home to 14 chocolate-making rascals.

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So over what period have you gone from

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-just you in a caravan to 14 people here?

-Three years.

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-That's incredible.

-Yeah.

-How precarious are you?

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Cos that is rapid expansion and that's quite dangerous, isn't it?

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Constantly precarious. No,

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I don't know how we've managed it, but it's going really well.

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We just keep on making the chocolate bars.

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I want to look around this amazing place.

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Every year, 160 16- to 24-year-olds leave Wales and move to England.

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So over here, they're wrapping.

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All the team that work here are under 25 and want to stay.

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This is where all the figures happen.

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-This is the office.

-Excellent.

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And then this is my mum. Hello.

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Mum wrapped the first 50,000 chocolate bars.

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What do you turn over?

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So we went from a £3,000 loan

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to half a million in, like, three years,

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which is quite a lot of chocolate bars.

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So this is the chocolate room.

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Oh, this looks amazing.

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-Do I get to have a go?

-I reckon you should definitely have a go.

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Last year alone in the UK, we spent over £3 billion on chocolate.

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You must have invested a hell of a lot in this building.

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These machines cost about £10,000, these tempering machines.

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They keep the cocoa butter crystals at the right kind of formation

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so it gets that shine and the snap.

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Making chocolate by hand like this is a labour-intensive process.

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-Don't be scared.

-No, I'm not.

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It will be fine.

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One person makes three bars every minute.

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-Tip it like that.

-Tip it like that.

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This is our super salted caramel.

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It's about 25% butter.

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-Nice.

-Very good butter from Calon Wen.

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Well, the butter bit's good. It's the sugar bit that's bad, isn't it?

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Well... We don't talk about sugar being bad here.

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-Do we not?

-Sugar is very good!

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We like sugar a lot!

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Can I have a go? And are you using organic butter?

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So this is Calon Wen organic, so it's a local co-operative.

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The dairy got shut down but they got together a load of farmers

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and they rebuilt the daily.

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One of my big motives with setting up the pub,

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it was absolutely a prime motive

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was that I wanted to buy directly off farmers

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who were doing really interesting things.

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Currently, they have ten chocolate varieties on the go,

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two of them changing every four months,

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seasonally inspired by the local produce.

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At the moment, we're working on vodka and raspberry bar,

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so these are fresh organic raspberries from Roz the raspberry

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-in Hay on Wye.

-Nice.

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So we're going to put that with some beautiful Welsh vodka

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from the Penderyn distillery.

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BELL CLANGS

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And strong ethical values

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are also at the heart of how the company is run.

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Do you all eat, have lunch together every day?

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I think it's very important.

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It's a good time to communicate with everyone.

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We review everything that happens in our day, if we had any problems,

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how we can stop that from happening next time.

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The fact that you've set it as part of your culture

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will mean that you'll always engage with it.

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It's really extraordinary.

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I am really, really impressed.

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Our mission is certainly to be able to say, "Well, no, actually, like, you can stay.

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"There are these opportunities and we can build these great places

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"and employ all of these people in an ex-dairy farming community

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"which has kind of been ripped away."

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Where did you grow up?

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Tenby, Pembrokeshire.

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Liam is hoping to expand his business

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and its values on a much bigger scale.

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I like that old Dutch barn.

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This is the weirdest place.

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In the next six months,

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they plan to move into this abandoned farm

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and set up a community of young makers and producers.

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How much have you got to spend here?

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So we're talking about raising £1 million in the next two years.

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Is this going to risk Nom Nom, moving your business in this way?

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Absolutely, yeah. It could. You know, in six months' time,

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we might be having a very different conversation.

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Well, I really hope not.

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Me too!

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Nom Nom is a fascinating business,

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and Liam's running it in a really innovative way,

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supporting local people in rural Pembrokeshire.

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Expansion is a risky time,

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and I really hope it works out well for him.

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It will be fascinating to see what progress they make

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over the coming months.

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I'm heading to the heart of the region,

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to the Eastern shore of the Cleddau estuary, where five years ago,

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Annette and Nick set up 50 hives in this ancient woodland

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hoping to make a new life for their family in a place they love.

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Many people, myself included,

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have started keeping bees

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in an effort to boost honeybee populations.

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But can beekeeping really be a viable business?

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As a nation, we eat 25,000 tonnes of honey a year

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but just 1,500 tonnes of that comes from British hives.

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Nick and Annette currently have 90 hives,

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producing an average of three and a half tonnes of honey,

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and in the winter months,

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they make over 4,000 jars of citrus fruit marmalade.

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-Hi, Nick.

-Hello.

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Not very clever beekeeping weather, is it?

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No, it's a little bit wet.

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Oh, they won't like it very much.

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Hello, girls.

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You could try a little bit of honey, if you like.

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I'd love to.

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Thank you. Sorry, girls.

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Wow! That's so floral, isn't it?

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Incredibly fresh, as well.

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Incredibly fresh!

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When will you start harvesting, do you think,

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or does it absolutely depend on the weather?

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So, typically, we take the bulk of the honey off at the end of July.

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But you're at the mercy of...

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Yeah, and so it's blended by the bees through the season.

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-Well, that's not bad.

-Which is why it tastes different every year.

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A good crop is totally reliant on the weather,

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which means honey producing is a risky business.

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To boost the yearly income,

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Nick has capitalised on another of his skills.

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He breeds and sells over 400 queens each season.

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So this is a breeder hive there.

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-Right.

-This queen, she was born in 2013

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-and I bred from her last year as well.

-Yeah.

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So it really is like having a great breeding bitch, for a dog,

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getting good puppies. I mean, you get a queen

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with the characteristics that you're absolutely looking for

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and they become your sort of main breeding female.

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Absolutely. We are looking to take larvae

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when it's about 24 hours old, which is about two millimetres long.

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Crikey, Nick! It's an incredibly intricate operation.

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'Selling queens to other honey beekeepers

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'can pull in over £6,000 a year.'

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We'll take it indoors.

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-OK.

-And we can sit inside in the dry and graft some queen cells.

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OK.

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Gosh, it's a hive of activity in here. Hello!

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'Nick, Annette, and their daughters do everything they can

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'to secure the life they've built for themselves here

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'by making marmalade to supplement the honey income.'

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-So it's a real family business.

-It is, yeah.

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When was it that you decided that bees were going to be the thing

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that were able to keep you here and keep your lovely family?

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I guess there came a stage when we thought,

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it's a beautiful place to live and we could manage to grow the business

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-and...

-We could employ friends.

-Yeah.

-Family.

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To be able to live from this area is quite unusual, you know.

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There are so few things that you can survive doing.

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And I knew nothing of bees, or about bees, but I've learnt an awful lot.

0:19:050:19:08

It was watching his father tending the family hives where Nick mastered

0:19:110:19:15

his traditional beekeeping skills,

0:19:150:19:17

and the intricate process of breeding queens.

0:19:170:19:20

So these are some wax cell cups which we made and we're going to

0:19:200:19:24

graft the 24-hour-old larvae into the bottom of each of these cups.

0:19:240:19:29

I'm fascinated by this.

0:19:290:19:31

'Nick can sell the larvae at two stages.'

0:19:340:19:38

-See the larvae on the end there?

-There it is! Yeah!

0:19:380:19:41

'Once successfully transferred, and fed for seven days in the hive,

0:19:410:19:46

'they can fetch £10 each.'

0:19:460:19:48

Shall I have a go and see if I can...?

0:19:480:19:50

-Would you like to?

-Yeah.

0:19:500:19:52

It's almost when it's too small to see,

0:19:520:19:54

-then it's the right size to graft.

-OK.

0:19:540:19:56

It's really, really difficult.

0:20:000:20:02

-It is a trick, isn't it?

-Yeah.

0:20:020:20:04

I think I've annihilated it.

0:20:040:20:06

I've murdered a future queen of England and Wales!

0:20:090:20:13

'Left to grow into a fully fledged mated queen,

0:20:130:20:16

'this larva could be worth £55.'

0:20:160:20:20

And why do people want to buy queens?

0:20:200:20:24

-What's the market?

-If you're wanting to produce lots of honey,

0:20:240:20:28

it becomes necessary sometimes to replace an old or failing queen.

0:20:280:20:31

-Right.

-And we can post queens and send them by Royal Mail

0:20:310:20:36

-all over the British Isles.

-How very appropriate!

-Yeah!

0:20:360:20:40

Relying on honey for your income is precarious.

0:20:460:20:50

The weather has a direct impact on bees and on honey production

0:20:500:20:56

and as we all know, we can't control the weather.

0:20:560:21:00

But if Pembrokeshire doesn't give them a good summer,

0:21:000:21:03

there could be lean times ahead.

0:21:030:21:05

Summer has arrived on the Welsh coast,

0:21:150:21:17

along with the region's four million visiting tourists.

0:21:170:21:21

I'm taking a trip out to Freshwater West on the wild Atlantic sea.

0:21:280:21:34

The fishing industry here today is worth £8 million

0:21:340:21:38

to the county's economy and this beach is a well-known spot

0:21:380:21:41

for catching fish such as bass and pollock.

0:21:410:21:45

But this coast provided another valuable resource - seaweed.

0:21:450:21:49

For centuries, it was harvested and eaten,

0:21:490:21:52

but then that tradition was lost until recently.

0:21:520:21:56

Now, it's seeing something of a resurgence

0:21:560:21:58

with a whole new generation of rural entrepreneurs picking it,

0:21:580:22:03

processing it, and selling it.

0:22:030:22:05

Four years ago, Jonathan walked out on his office job

0:22:120:22:16

with £2,000 and a dream he could build a business

0:22:160:22:19

from this shoreline's many riches.

0:22:190:22:22

He now picks local seaweed that he sells in his gourmet beach shack

0:22:250:22:30

and produces seven varieties of dried seaweed-inspired products,

0:22:300:22:34

stocked in over 600 retailers globally.

0:22:340:22:37

But most days still start here on the beach at five in the morning.

0:22:390:22:43

Good morning!

0:22:450:22:46

-Good morning, how are you doing?

-Good, thank you.

0:22:460:22:49

Wow! What a beautiful place.

0:22:490:22:50

It's gorgeous, isn't it? I love it down here.

0:22:500:22:52

What are you picking this morning?

0:22:540:22:56

Basically, I'm picking this kind of black

0:22:560:22:59

kind of thin film we call laver seaweed.

0:22:590:23:01

This is the delicacy of Wales.

0:23:030:23:05

Laver bread is the sort of staple, isn't it,

0:23:050:23:09

of every good Welsh breakfast?

0:23:090:23:10

Yes. Basically, you boil that for about ten to 12 hours,

0:23:100:23:14

you mince it and it goes a lovely kind of greeney-blacky...

0:23:140:23:18

I won't say lovely, because it doesn't look the best.

0:23:180:23:20

And it's been used for hundreds and hundreds of years.

0:23:200:23:24

Laver bread gets its name from the bread-like kneading process,

0:23:240:23:27

which gives it a mashed-up spinach consistency.

0:23:270:23:31

-Is your whole business dependent on this seaweed?

-Yes, yes.

0:23:330:23:36

-So...

-So it's pretty risky.

0:23:360:23:38

-Yes.

-I like a little gamble.

0:23:380:23:39

-You grew up in Pembrokeshire, didn't you?

-Yeah, yeah.

0:23:410:23:44

But you didn't grow up and then say,

0:23:440:23:46

"Right, I'm going to make a business out of laver seaweed"?

0:23:460:23:49

No. I did a lot of travelling.

0:23:490:23:51

And ended up in Swindon.

0:23:510:23:52

Got a proper job. Straight into that kind of nine to five.

0:23:520:23:55

You're sitting there on a sunny day, inside, and you're thinking,

0:23:550:23:58

you know, this is not for me.

0:23:580:24:00

I remember I had one particularly bad day.

0:24:000:24:02

Just going back home to the flat, and going, "I need to sort this out.

0:24:020:24:05

"Write down everything you love in life."

0:24:050:24:07

You know, and the top three was Pembrokeshire -

0:24:070:24:09

there's food, beach and family - and, you know, it was obvious then.

0:24:090:24:12

If you could build a business around those things,

0:24:120:24:14

then you're onto a winner.

0:24:140:24:16

His decision was bang on trend.

0:24:190:24:21

Seaweed's superfood properties

0:24:250:24:27

have meant 125% growth in UK sales last year.

0:24:270:24:32

-Oh, that's nice. The sun's just come up.

-I know.

0:24:360:24:40

Now, getting up at 4.30 in the morning

0:24:400:24:43

-and coming down here is no hardship.

-Yeah, it's lovely.

0:24:430:24:46

It's beautiful. In the winter,

0:24:460:24:48

-I can imagine it's absolutely brutal.

-No, stunning!

0:24:480:24:51

I love it in the winter.

0:24:510:24:53

In the winter, you can be here...

0:24:550:24:57

You can have the whole beach to yourself.

0:24:570:24:59

There will be no-one here. It kind of makes you feel alive.

0:24:590:25:02

Whilst anyone can come and forage for their own supply,

0:25:020:25:05

Jonathan has a commercial licence, and picks two tonnes a year.

0:25:050:25:10

As his orders from shops and supermarkets have escalated,

0:25:150:25:19

processing the crop has required ever more investment.

0:25:190:25:23

This is the HQ.

0:25:230:25:24

This is where the magic happens.

0:25:240:25:26

And we keep on expanding and filling, which is all good.

0:25:260:25:31

Meet our new seaweed washer.

0:25:310:25:33

In essence, it's just a big bucket with a Jacuzzi in it.

0:25:330:25:38

When it arrived, I'd got my measurements wrong,

0:25:410:25:43

so had to speak to my landlord. We had to knock a hole in the wall.

0:25:430:25:46

So luckily, I've got an understanding landlord!

0:25:460:25:49

'And with limited fridge space to store all the fresh seaweed,

0:25:510:25:55

'Jonathan came up with an alternative solution.

0:25:550:25:58

'Drying it.' So by doing this dehydration process,

0:26:000:26:03

it shrinks it down and it protects your production line...

0:26:030:26:08

-Yes, yes.

-..through the year.

0:26:080:26:09

It's now their biggest selling product - dried and toasted flakes

0:26:110:26:15

they call Welsh man's caviar.

0:26:150:26:18

And in the summer months,

0:26:180:26:20

25% of turnover comes from his original solar-powered beach shack.

0:26:200:26:25

-So this is your empire.

-This is my little pride and joy.

0:26:250:26:28

This is the tester. This is where we try and get all the locals

0:26:280:26:30

and all the tourists to try different things.

0:26:300:26:33

'All the ingredients served here are of Pembrokeshire origin.'

0:26:330:26:36

-Can I go crab?

-Crab?

0:26:360:26:37

We got crab?

0:26:370:26:39

'With fresh laver-bread seaweed as the cornerstone of every dish.

0:26:390:26:43

'But what's driving their half a million pound turnover

0:26:440:26:46

'through the whole year is the dried stuff.'

0:26:460:26:49

We mainly use it as a condiment.

0:26:490:26:52

That is absolutely delicious. It's almost like using a salt.

0:26:520:26:56

There's a sort of iron-y spinach-y taste to it.

0:26:560:26:59

And that is the seaweed that we picked this morning?

0:26:590:27:02

-That's the same stuff?

-Yes.

-And they're being sold where?

0:27:020:27:05

Just exported to Scandinavia, America, Czech Republic,

0:27:050:27:09

and now Japan in October so we're super excited about that.

0:27:090:27:12

We're standing here on quite a remote part of the Welsh coast

0:27:120:27:17

and yet you're talking about exporting your stuff to Japan

0:27:170:27:20

in a couple of months. It feels such a contrast.

0:27:200:27:23

I can't quite believe that it works.

0:27:230:27:25

No, no, neither can I, really. I don't think about it.

0:27:250:27:28

I just do it and then, I think one day, when things slow down...

0:27:280:27:31

Just so busy, you know,

0:27:310:27:32

you don't really have time to think about it too much.

0:27:320:27:34

But if anyone can break into

0:27:360:27:37

the multi-billion pound Japanese seaweed market

0:27:370:27:41

by selling Welsh laver bread, I think I'd take a risk on Jonathan.

0:27:410:27:45

We'll catch up with him in the autumn to find out.

0:27:450:27:49

He has taken an old Pembrokeshire tradition

0:27:490:27:53

and dragged it into the modern era

0:27:530:27:56

and made it work.

0:27:560:27:58

And I love the fact that the whole business

0:27:580:28:01

started with a list of the things that he loved.

0:28:010:28:05

What better way to start anything?

0:28:070:28:09

I'm going to try this crab sandwich

0:28:100:28:12

and if it's not the best crab sandwich in the world,

0:28:120:28:14

I'm going to have to eat all of my words.

0:28:140:28:16

That is the taste of the sea in a bun.

0:28:210:28:25

July brings the region's late potato crop,

0:28:360:28:38

and for generations on these southerly banks,

0:28:380:28:42

it was a staple industry for small family farms.

0:28:420:28:45

Today, the only way to turn a profit

0:28:490:28:51

with most traditional farming practices is scale,

0:28:510:28:55

and investing in industrial-sized processing is a matter of survival.

0:28:550:29:00

The assumption is that modern farms need hundreds of acres to succeed,

0:29:040:29:09

but forward-thinking people are realising

0:29:090:29:11

it's not how much land you have but what you do with it.

0:29:110:29:16

Geetie is visiting a family with a surprising solution to keep their

0:29:180:29:22

25-acre farm alive in Brynhoffnant, north of Cardigan.

0:29:220:29:27

On a seemingly unprofitable acreage,

0:29:310:29:34

Shann and Rich turn over £600,000 using milk

0:29:340:29:37

from their small herd of goats.

0:29:370:29:40

Hey, hey, hey, girls!

0:29:400:29:42

Come on, beautiful ladies. Out you go. Come on.

0:29:420:29:45

Come on!

0:29:450:29:46

Good to meet you.

0:29:460:29:48

-How are you?

-I'm all right.

0:29:480:29:50

What's going on here?

0:29:500:29:51

We're just getting the goats out for the day.

0:29:510:29:54

They're gorgeous. How many have you got here?

0:29:540:29:56

-In total, we've got about 70.

-Wow!

0:29:560:30:00

'After leaving her city-girl lifestyle behind in San Francisco

0:30:000:30:03

'eight years ago...'

0:30:030:30:05

Hello, hi!

0:30:050:30:07

'..Shann met Rich and set up home on Rich's then-struggling sheep farm.'

0:30:070:30:11

How did you come across your first goat to begin this first project?

0:30:110:30:15

Our son Benji had eczema and I said, "Rich, what are we going to do?"

0:30:150:30:18

and he said, "We need to get a goat."

0:30:180:30:20

And I thought, "Well, why? I've just told you our son is ill!"

0:30:200:30:24

But apparently in the Welsh tradition,

0:30:240:30:26

they know that goat's milk is really good for eczema, asthma,

0:30:260:30:29

bronchial conditions and so on,

0:30:290:30:31

so we got one goat and started milking her,

0:30:310:30:33

and then we had too much goat's milk

0:30:330:30:35

so I started making this handmade soap

0:30:350:30:38

and skin cream with the goat's milk in it and later on,

0:30:380:30:40

we put a probiotic in it as well, and it works a treat.

0:30:400:30:43

Sounds fantastic.

0:30:430:30:44

We were just looking for a solution to our family problems.

0:30:440:30:47

We really weren't looking to start a business,

0:30:470:30:49

although we wanted something that would keep us going on the farm.

0:30:490:30:52

We had no idea what we had stumbled onto.

0:30:520:30:54

'Sales of their goat's milk drink and skincare products

0:30:560:30:59

'have grown by over 1,000% in the past year.

0:30:590:31:04

'So they've invested in new on-site facilities and now employ 12 staff.'

0:31:040:31:08

Thank you very much.

0:31:080:31:10

'Originating from Russia,

0:31:100:31:12

'kefir grains are the key ingredient in all their products.'

0:31:120:31:16

Now this is what the kefir grains look like.

0:31:160:31:20

-It looks like cottage cheese.

-It does, and it smells a bit like...

0:31:200:31:23

-Can I sniff?

-Yeah, of course you can.

0:31:230:31:25

Mmm... So it's similar to yoghurt and sourdough.

0:31:250:31:29

Yes, a live, living culture that replicates itself.

0:31:290:31:33

'Kefir grains,

0:31:330:31:34

'like probiotic yoghurts are believed to help restore

0:31:340:31:37

'the balance of good bacteria in your gut.'

0:31:370:31:40

So after that ferments for three days,

0:31:400:31:42

we'll strain that out and that is what gets bottled.

0:31:420:31:45

How much do you sell this for?

0:31:450:31:48

So a 21-day course goes for £39.95.

0:31:480:31:51

We are turning over about £600,000 a year now.

0:31:510:31:54

That's pretty impressive.

0:31:540:31:56

-That's quite terrifying.

-It's terrifying!

0:31:560:31:59

We've really got a tiger by the tail.

0:31:590:32:02

We had no idea there was so much demand, and now we're just trying to

0:32:020:32:06

figure out how to hang on for the ride.

0:32:060:32:09

So now we're going to go up to the soapery.

0:32:100:32:13

'Their 70 goats are just about keeping up with production.

0:32:150:32:18

'Shann is making around 1,000 litres of the kefir drink a week.'

0:32:180:32:22

So, just up here to the left.

0:32:220:32:25

'And the mixture is also used

0:32:250:32:27

'as a basis for her soaps and skin lotions.'

0:32:270:32:30

Again, it has our kefir in it.

0:32:300:32:33

-It's delicious. Whoops!

-Basically,

0:32:330:32:35

it's olive oil and oat oil and rice grain oil.

0:32:350:32:39

This is a soap-maker that Rich made out of an old piano.

0:32:410:32:45

-OK, so I'm just going to pull it down?

-Yeah, straight down.

0:32:450:32:48

Oh! That's gorgeous.

0:32:500:32:51

Rich is a bit of an expert at finding and reusing things,

0:32:510:32:54

so none of this could happen without him.

0:32:540:32:57

-Ooh!

-You're hired!

0:32:570:33:00

SHANN LAUGHS

0:33:000:33:02

-Do you put these in shops? Are they stocked?

-We do not.

0:33:020:33:05

But do you want to expand this part of it,

0:33:050:33:07

because it appears to me that this is the easier part?

0:33:070:33:10

This is where the growth edge is.

0:33:100:33:11

I can't see why you wouldn't have this anywhere.

0:33:110:33:13

I do think it's really, really nicely branded

0:33:130:33:16

and it looks absolutely delicious.

0:33:160:33:18

'With such a rapid growth,

0:33:180:33:20

'deciding what to do next is perhaps the biggest challenge they face.'

0:33:200:33:25

Could you produce more from this venue here?

0:33:250:33:28

I'm American. I want to grow it.

0:33:280:33:30

Rich is Welsh. He wants to keep it contained.

0:33:300:33:32

We don't want to be in an industrial estate in Swansea.

0:33:320:33:36

We want to stay here so that kind of tension of how we grow the business

0:33:360:33:40

but keep it sustainable and small enough to live with,

0:33:400:33:44

that's the constant question.

0:33:440:33:46

GOATS BLEAT

0:33:460:33:48

It's fascinating to see how far Shann and Rich

0:33:480:33:52

have come in such a short period of time.

0:33:520:33:55

But the next step is perhaps the hardest.

0:33:550:33:57

How do you expand your business

0:33:570:33:59

without damaging the lifestyle you've learned to love?

0:33:590:34:03

And as the year unfolds,

0:34:030:34:05

we'll discover which path they lean towards.

0:34:050:34:08

For Pembrokeshire's remote rural businesses,

0:34:150:34:18

reaching the customer is one of the biggest challenges.

0:34:180:34:22

For start-up chocolatier Liam,

0:34:220:34:24

internet marketing has been the company's lifeblood.

0:34:240:34:27

But with grand expansion plans afoot,

0:34:330:34:36

Liam has set up a stall at the fine food and drink fair

0:34:360:34:39

at London's Olympia...

0:34:390:34:41

..to compete for sales with over 800 other artisan food producers.

0:34:420:34:47

There's so many chocolate products out there.

0:34:470:34:50

It's like, you come to a place like this, and you find out, like,

0:34:500:34:53

ten chocolate bars that you didn't even know existed.

0:34:530:34:56

It is really important that you grab the retailers' attention.

0:34:560:34:59

You know, staying enthusiastic about it and getting the story across.

0:34:590:35:03

But with little experience and around 11,000 buyers here

0:35:030:35:07

on the lookout for new, innovative products,

0:35:070:35:10

advice from other food entrepreneurs is crucial.

0:35:100:35:13

How have you worked this show?

0:35:130:35:15

We've been letting people try the chocolate,

0:35:150:35:17

-asking them where they're from.

-And you've taken all their details down?

0:35:170:35:21

We're just two kids from West Wales, clearly out of our depth.

0:35:210:35:26

You have to keep going for a yes or a no.

0:35:260:35:28

If it's a no, it's a no for now.

0:35:280:35:31

It's not a no for ever.

0:35:310:35:33

With plans to move to new premises and invest in a fully automated

0:35:330:35:37

production line, they need to raise £1 million in the next two years,

0:35:370:35:41

so securing a deal with a distributor here

0:35:410:35:44

could be the first step to make that a reality.

0:35:440:35:47

-Hi.

-Hi.

-Liam, is it?

-Liam.

-Hi. Nice to meet you.

0:35:470:35:50

We're NOMNOM. We're a small team of about 14 rascals,

0:35:500:35:53

basically a cow shed down in West Wales.

0:35:530:35:56

-The product itself...

-Yeah?

-Why did you go with that size?

0:35:560:35:58

It's just the perfect size for a chocolate bar.

0:35:580:36:01

In, like, three to five years, do you know where you're going to be?

0:36:010:36:03

Yeah, absolutely.

0:36:030:36:05

We want to make the best chocolate bars in the world.

0:36:050:36:07

-In the world?

-In the world.

0:36:070:36:09

So if we were to say a starting order of 200 cases a week

0:36:090:36:12

and build from there - is that scalable now? Or...

0:36:120:36:15

Yeah, we can build up to that, no problem.

0:36:150:36:17

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-OK, so build up.

0:36:170:36:18

What's the kind of timeframe?

0:36:180:36:20

We'll take on some people and we'll make the chocolate

0:36:200:36:23

and it'll be fine.

0:36:230:36:24

If you've got the sales before you've bought the kit, bingo,

0:36:240:36:27

because then you can go to people and say, "We've got the orders,

0:36:270:36:29

"we just need to buy the kit."

0:36:290:36:31

Have we got everything we wanted?

0:36:310:36:33

-Yes.

-There we go.

0:36:330:36:34

-Can we go home now?

-Yes.

0:36:340:36:36

OK. Thank God for that!

0:36:360:36:38

The end of summer is approaching and the season's stunning wildflowers

0:36:490:36:54

have begun to turn to seed.

0:36:540:36:57

Beautiful meadows like this

0:36:570:36:59

were once a common sight in Pembrokeshire,

0:36:590:37:01

but during the 20th century,

0:37:010:37:03

around 90% of Welsh lowland meadows

0:37:030:37:06

were lost to re-use or redevelopment.

0:37:060:37:09

Meadows are enormously important to the biodiversity of our countryside,

0:37:130:37:17

but they have a value that goes beyond looking beautiful

0:37:170:37:19

and supporting a huge range of different species,

0:37:190:37:23

as one family in Pembrokeshire has discovered.

0:37:230:37:26

I've come to meet the Sutton family on their 87-acre farm

0:37:310:37:35

not far from Pembroke on the south coast.

0:37:350:37:39

Former conservation officer Matt and his partner Vicky took on

0:37:410:37:45

what was a beef farm ten years ago.

0:37:450:37:48

The business focus now

0:37:480:37:50

is on the rich grazing land itself.

0:37:500:37:53

They harvest traditional wildflower seed from their meadows

0:37:530:37:57

and sell it online.

0:37:570:37:59

-I'm Kate.

-Hello, Kate.

-Lovely to meet you.

0:38:020:38:05

-I'm Matt. How are you doing?

-Isn't this absolutely fantastic?

0:38:050:38:08

It's normally a little quieter than this.

0:38:080:38:11

Normally you just hear skylarks and grasshoppers.

0:38:110:38:14

This is one of the rare days when we bring a machine into the meadows.

0:38:140:38:16

I see you've got everybody in the car.

0:38:160:38:18

-Hi, guys!

-I've got my partner Vicky and my two boys, Noah and Derry.

0:38:180:38:22

-They come along on the job.

-So, for you,

0:38:220:38:24

this is a proper family business,

0:38:240:38:26

-and the whole family are very much entrenched in it?

-Absolutely, yeah.

0:38:260:38:30

I think it's an important thing to make them realise that there is

0:38:300:38:33

a future in this kind of old land, that they don't have to...

0:38:330:38:35

as Noah once said to me, they don't have to plough it up

0:38:350:38:39

and turn it into something else.

0:38:390:38:41

'Last year, Matt and Vicky harvested seed from this protected farm,

0:38:420:38:47

'alongside six other local sites.

0:38:470:38:50

'In this meadow alone, there are 25 varieties of native wildflower.'

0:38:520:38:57

I've come to have a look at your bounty.

0:38:570:39:01

Oh, look at...

0:39:010:39:03

My goodness, that smell. Isn't that just wonderful?

0:39:030:39:06

Yeah, nothing like the smell of a ripe hay meadow.

0:39:060:39:09

Oh... Beautiful.

0:39:090:39:10

Gosh, that is the smell of summer, right there, isn't it?

0:39:100:39:14

Sweet vernal-grass. It's got a substance in it called coumarin,

0:39:140:39:17

which has got that kind of coconut-y smell...

0:39:170:39:20

Yeah. It's absolutely lovely.

0:39:200:39:22

'The meadows supply a rich source of food for Matt and Vicky's small herd

0:39:240:39:28

'of cattle and their native bees,

0:39:280:39:31

'and the seeds are processed with as minimal a cost as possible.'

0:39:310:39:35

It's a pretty rough-and-ready low-tech solution

0:39:350:39:38

we have to sorting our seed. We've just got a couple of old crates...

0:39:380:39:41

-Yeah?

-Just grab a handful or two of this.

0:39:410:39:44

So, this is what has come out of the machine?

0:39:440:39:46

This came out of the machine, done yesterday.

0:39:460:39:49

And then we just give it a quick riddle. The seed drops out.

0:39:490:39:53

It's a little bit of stalk... and leaf,

0:39:530:39:56

which just goes out to dry and we'll add that into the hay crop.

0:39:560:40:00

It does look like you've got an enormous variety here.

0:40:050:40:08

Yeah, this is from a lovely farm up in north Pembrokeshire

0:40:080:40:13

and it's full of yellow rattle and red clover.

0:40:130:40:15

We offer a cut of our proceeds to the people who are kind enough

0:40:150:40:18

to let us harvest from their meadows.

0:40:180:40:21

It's a small payment that provides some recognition for the fact that

0:40:210:40:24

they're treasuring these meadows and keeping them going into the future.

0:40:240:40:29

'This isn't a business run for huge profits.

0:40:290:40:32

'It turns over just a few thousand pounds a year,

0:40:320:40:34

'which they top up by selling their honey and meat boxes,

0:40:340:40:38

'and from Matt's part-time work as an eco-consultant.'

0:40:380:40:42

I'm sure the big seed companies would laugh at us.

0:40:420:40:44

I'm sure there are bits of kit that would do all this sort of thing

0:40:440:40:48

a lot more efficiently, perhaps.

0:40:480:40:50

Being here, I'm falling in love with the idyll of it.

0:40:500:40:55

I'm sure it's not all rural idyll...

0:40:550:40:58

Come back in winter, it wouldn't be so easy, would it?

0:40:580:41:00

Money is certainly not everything. We earn enough to get by.

0:41:000:41:05

But as you can see, we live in an absolutely beautiful location

0:41:050:41:09

and we have other riches in our life.

0:41:090:41:12

Not just money.

0:41:120:41:14

It's hard to argue with that.

0:41:160:41:19

The seeds are bagged up in the packing barn,

0:41:220:41:24

a beautiful structure self-built by Matt.

0:41:240:41:27

-Oh, this isn't a bad office, is it?

-No, it's all right, isn't it?

0:41:350:41:38

It's lovely. So, this is the bagging operation.

0:41:380:41:41

-Yeah.

-Are these a reused sack of some sort?

0:41:410:41:43

They originated from coffee sacks.

0:41:430:41:46

And I spend my winter nights making them.

0:41:460:41:48

Vicky, you are amazing.

0:41:480:41:50

OK, so what do you put in each one?

0:41:500:41:53

-Er, 250g go into that.

-OK.

0:41:530:41:56

My concern is, if you're selling seed

0:41:560:41:59

and people try it and it doesn't work,

0:41:590:42:02

that you lose your customer base straightaway.

0:42:020:42:06

We do provide free advice, along with the seed, when we sell it.

0:42:060:42:10

It's a sort of, buy this and we'll help you create a meadow.

0:42:100:42:15

-Yes, absolutely.

-That's very clever. I bet you'd do it for free.

0:42:150:42:18

Yeah.

0:42:190:42:20

I love the fact that you're so uncommercial,

0:42:200:42:23

but I also slightly feel that maybe

0:42:230:42:25

you should be a little bit more commercial!

0:42:250:42:28

Right, here you are. Put your label on.

0:42:280:42:31

Not every business has to be global, not every business has to be big,

0:42:340:42:39

not every business has to bring in pots and pots of money.

0:42:390:42:43

They have a wonderful partnership with their land and, for them,

0:42:430:42:48

I think that's where they get their richness.

0:42:480:42:51

They sum up the satisfaction of how life can be

0:42:510:42:54

really, really good when you are on the land.

0:42:540:42:59

It's mid-August and I'm heading out to the Preseli Hills

0:43:160:43:20

in the north of the county to catch up with honey-maker Nick.

0:43:200:43:24

Summer is a crucial time of year for the business,

0:43:240:43:27

as they start to harvest the crop

0:43:270:43:29

and predict exactly how much honey the bees have made.

0:43:290:43:33

-Morning, Nick.

-Hello.

0:43:350:43:37

What are you doing up here? You're miles away from home!

0:43:370:43:41

What a beautiful place, though.

0:43:410:43:42

-Isn't it spectacular?

-Amazing, yeah.

0:43:420:43:45

'By taking the bees to these hills,

0:43:450:43:47

'Nick can increase his honey-producing season

0:43:470:43:49

'with the late-flowering heather.'

0:43:490:43:52

When I was last here, it was miserable, wasn't it?

0:43:520:43:54

It was absolutely pouring with rain and quite cold.

0:43:540:43:57

How's it been in the intervening weeks since I've seen you?

0:43:570:44:01

Yeah, we've been having a run of poor seasons, to be honest.

0:44:010:44:05

-June and July, it was quite cool and wet.

-Yeah.

0:44:050:44:08

'Every year, the business' success or failure is at the mercy

0:44:080:44:12

'of the unpredictable Welsh climate.'

0:44:120:44:15

The bees need at least 12 degrees to fly, and they don't fly in the rain

0:44:150:44:19

-either.

-And if they're not flying,

0:44:190:44:21

they're not collecting pollen and they're not collecting nectar and

0:44:210:44:24

they're not making honey. With all the hives that you've got,

0:44:240:44:27

what would you expect to get? What would your total be?

0:44:270:44:31

In a bumper crop, in a really good year, we can achieve eight tonnes.

0:44:310:44:35

-Eight tonnes?!

-Yeah.

-And this year, what are you thinking?

0:44:350:44:38

I think it's going to be an under-a-tonne year.

0:44:380:44:40

-Do you?

-Absolutely.

-Do you?

0:44:400:44:42

-Oh, Nick. Shall we get these...

-Take these boxes off, yeah.

-Yeah.

0:44:420:44:47

'Nick single-handedly moves the frames back to his processing barn.'

0:44:510:44:56

We'll soon see how heavy this is.

0:44:560:44:58

SHE LAUGHS

0:44:580:45:00

-It must be stuck there!

-It must be stuck.

-I'll help you.

0:45:000:45:03

-It's sticky stuff, honey.

-OK.

-Back to base.

-Right.

0:45:030:45:07

'And to collect frames from all his hives can take around four weeks.'

0:45:090:45:13

It's like revealing your own personal gold mine.

0:45:160:45:20

Pure gold.

0:45:200:45:22

'But under a tonne of wholesale honey

0:45:230:45:27

'will only bring in around £16,000.'

0:45:270:45:29

-You can see it coming out now.

-Oh, yeah, you can!

0:45:290:45:32

'So just to break even this year,

0:45:320:45:34

'the family will need to rely on their winter marmalade-making

0:45:340:45:38

'and selling Nick's queens.'

0:45:380:45:40

So the only way you can keep your business robust is to have...

0:45:400:45:44

Have more strings to the fiddle.

0:45:440:45:46

It's good to be versatile and flexible,

0:45:460:45:48

and that's exactly what we have to do.

0:45:480:45:50

When this jar is ready,

0:45:500:45:52

how much do you sell it for?

0:45:520:45:54

I think it should be worth a bottle of good wine.

0:45:540:45:57

Over £10, certainly.

0:45:570:45:58

Yeah. Because it's so rare and special?

0:45:580:46:01

It's taken us a whole year...or a whole season to produce our crop.

0:46:010:46:05

But it's always the same amount of work involved in gaining it.

0:46:050:46:09

Well, I think that beautiful jar

0:46:090:46:13

is really a pot of gold.

0:46:130:46:16

Nick, it's been a real delight to meet you.

0:46:160:46:18

-It's been a pleasure.

-Thank you very much.

0:46:180:46:20

And I hope August is sunny and the heather honey crop is a good one.

0:46:200:46:24

'I have nothing but absolute admiration for Nick, his skill,

0:46:240:46:29

'tenacity and commitment to making a beautiful,

0:46:290:46:32

'authentic British honey against the odds

0:46:320:46:35

'in a place he and his family love and treasure.

0:46:350:46:39

'Back in the summer, Geetie met Shann and Rich,

0:47:020:47:05

'whose determination to make a living from just 25 acres

0:47:050:47:09

'and a herd of just 70 goats...'

0:47:090:47:11

-Hello.

-Hiya!

0:47:110:47:12

'..meant their successful probiotic milk products

0:47:120:47:15

'were outstripping demand.'

0:47:150:47:18

Just gorgeous out here, isn't it?

0:47:180:47:20

-It's nice, isn't it?

-The autumn leaves are just amazing.

0:47:200:47:23

I love it at this time of year.

0:47:230:47:25

It's spectacular.

0:47:250:47:26

How's the last however many months been for you?

0:47:260:47:31

It's been crazy.

0:47:310:47:32

It has been a great year, but we've also had some real ups and downs.

0:47:320:47:36

We bought a pasteuriser, which imploded.

0:47:360:47:39

And so, you know, £6,000 later,

0:47:390:47:41

we're out of a pasteuriser and that money is gone.

0:47:410:47:44

You were dependent on that one piece of equipment

0:47:440:47:46

-for all of your pasteurisation.

-Yes! Yeah, we were.

0:47:460:47:49

We were devastated by that.

0:47:490:47:51

That was a very bad experience for us.

0:47:510:47:53

So when I saw you last time,

0:47:530:47:54

you were talking about expansion and whether or not you did or didn't.

0:47:540:47:58

We can expand further, we can make more skincare, for example.

0:47:580:48:02

So we're going to do that, but we're going to be right here on the farm.

0:48:020:48:05

Could you rent land, if you can't buy it, to have more goats?

0:48:050:48:08

We could maybe purchase more fields, not immediately around this farm,

0:48:080:48:12

but we could expand out.

0:48:120:48:14

I'm also very interested in having some other suppliers,

0:48:140:48:17

so people who are maybe milking cows

0:48:170:48:19

and having trouble with the economics of that,

0:48:190:48:22

it's very difficult, could switch to milking goats.

0:48:220:48:24

We can't run 2,000 goats here.

0:48:240:48:26

It would be beautiful, 2,000 goats here, wouldn't it?

0:48:260:48:28

You reckon? You come and milk them! You try milking 2,000 goats!

0:48:280:48:32

-That would be gorgeous.

-Night and day, that would be.

0:48:320:48:34

I can tell that this is really satisfying you in your life.

0:48:340:48:38

It's an exciting place to be.

0:48:380:48:39

I wake up every morning and I'm exactly where I want to be.

0:48:390:48:42

That's wonderful.

0:48:420:48:43

-It is wonderful.

-And I hope you inspire other people.

0:48:430:48:46

Cos it's extraordinary.

0:48:460:48:48

Oh, well, thank you.

0:48:480:48:49

-Bye.

-Bye-bye.

0:48:490:48:51

'When I met dairy farmer Will Prichard back in spring,

0:49:040:49:08

'his diversification to produce Japanese wagyu beef...

0:49:080:49:12

'..was a brave and innovative idea

0:49:140:49:16

'to support his traditional family farm.'

0:49:160:49:19

Autumn is an important time of year for Will and his Wagyu herd,

0:49:190:49:23

but first thing in the morning,

0:49:230:49:25

it's his dairy herd that takes precedence.

0:49:250:49:28

'Sadly, in the past six months,

0:49:290:49:31

'17 Welsh dairy farmers have gone out of business.

0:49:310:49:35

'And for Will, too,

0:49:350:49:37

'the past year has seen a half-a-million-pound loss

0:49:370:49:40

'to the dairy side of his business.'

0:49:400:49:42

Oh, look at these!

0:49:420:49:44

Aren't they delightful?

0:49:440:49:47

'But for the Wagyu side of his business,

0:49:480:49:50

'there's huge growth potential.'

0:49:500:49:53

So how old are all of these?

0:49:530:49:55

These will all be about ten days to two weeks old.

0:49:550:49:58

So you've got a mixture here of Friesians and Wagyu.

0:49:580:50:01

Yeah, indeed. We've got some fresh ones in the pen over here.

0:50:010:50:04

OK. These are real youngsters?

0:50:040:50:06

-Yes, they're only a couple of days old.

-Oh, look at you!

0:50:060:50:10

'It's taken Will the best part of seven years to get the

0:50:100:50:12

'genetics behind these calves right.'

0:50:120:50:15

Look how tiny this one is.

0:50:150:50:17

-You can look after that one, Kate.

-It's like a little thorn.

0:50:170:50:20

It was born premature.

0:50:200:50:22

-Oh, really?

-That is actually two weeks old.

-Oh, my goodness.

0:50:220:50:25

-So...

-Come on, you need to feed up.

0:50:250:50:28

'They're the end result of the fertilised Wagyu embryos

0:50:280:50:31

'Will implanted into his cows back in the winter.'

0:50:310:50:35

You have to be patient in this business, don't you?

0:50:350:50:38

Each calf is not going to give you

0:50:400:50:42

any sort of return for a minimum of two or three years.

0:50:420:50:45

Every day these animals need looking after,

0:50:450:50:48

every day somebody has to come and tend to them

0:50:480:50:50

and make sure they're well and healthy,

0:50:500:50:52

so it's a lot of investment.

0:50:520:50:54

So will these all go for meat,

0:50:540:50:56

or will you keep some of them for breeding?

0:50:560:50:59

-No, all these will end up on a plate, yeah.

-Yeah.

0:50:590:51:02

Next year, we would hope to have

0:51:020:51:03

-three to four a week available to us.

-Right.

0:51:030:51:06

We'd like to get to eight to ten a week,

0:51:060:51:08

I think that's probably the maximum for this farm and this business.

0:51:080:51:11

-Right. What a lovely morning.

-Yeah.

0:51:110:51:14

'It's been a huge financial and personal investment

0:51:170:51:21

'to get just this far for Will and his wife Alex.'

0:51:210:51:24

There must be times when you kind of lie awake at night, going,

0:51:270:51:30

"Are we doing the right thing?"

0:51:300:51:32

Yeah. Yeah, there are days like that,

0:51:320:51:35

but I think, certainly in the future,

0:51:350:51:36

it'd be very exciting to see it get bigger and bigger.

0:51:360:51:39

To grow it any further, we'll have to get more farmers on board.

0:51:390:51:42

And that's the next step, really.

0:51:420:51:44

You can be, effectively, a kind of Wagyu hub

0:51:440:51:47

-for other farmers producing.

-Actually, now having the confidence

0:51:470:51:50

to go out and talk to your neighbours,

0:51:500:51:53

I'll say, "I've got a good idea.

0:51:530:51:54

"I think we can both make a few pound out of this,"

0:51:540:51:57

and I really do believe it.

0:51:570:51:59

Yeah. And what about for you, Alex?

0:51:590:52:01

Do you see this as something that is a kind of rock-solid future

0:52:010:52:06

for your next generation?

0:52:060:52:08

Your grandfather was fairly revolutionary in his own time,

0:52:080:52:11

so it's quite nice to see that William's decided to throw

0:52:110:52:14

a bit of a curveball at what he's doing, as well.

0:52:140:52:17

I'm sure he'll be remembered for it, one way or another!

0:52:170:52:20

Let's hope it's for all the right reasons.

0:52:220:52:24

It's been such a pleasure to meet you both.

0:52:240:52:27

It really has. And I just... Yeah, I wish you enormous luck.

0:52:270:52:31

Hello. Hi.

0:52:460:52:48

'Just over the border in Llanboidy,

0:52:480:52:50

'23-year-old chocolate entrepreneur Liam had grand plans

0:52:500:52:53

'to raise £1 million...'

0:52:530:52:55

-Hello.

-Oh, hello, Geetie. How are you?

0:52:550:52:58

'..and make a brave move into new premises.'

0:52:580:53:01

-Nice to see you.

-In your office, looking very cosy.

0:53:010:53:03

My temporary office. I'm in exile.

0:53:030:53:05

It's a really exciting day today.

0:53:050:53:08

-Why?

-It's first day of us moving into the new factory.

0:53:080:53:11

How on earth have you funded it?

0:53:110:53:13

It's purely out of cash flow now.

0:53:130:53:15

So we haven't raised any money yet.

0:53:150:53:17

It's worked out that we can actually do it off our own back.

0:53:170:53:20

But you haven't bought it.

0:53:200:53:22

No, so we've got two years to raise the money to purchase the farm,

0:53:220:53:25

and in the meantime, we're leasing.

0:53:250:53:28

Aren't you terrified?

0:53:280:53:29

As long as nothing terrifying happens...

0:53:290:53:32

it'll be OK.

0:53:320:53:33

'The new premises are just over the road from the current factory

0:53:360:53:40

'in the old cow shed.'

0:53:400:53:42

-Am I going to see you over there?

-I'll meet you in there.

0:53:420:53:44

-Are you not going to jump on?

-No. I'm not, actually, no!

0:53:440:53:48

'The team have six weeks to move the office,

0:53:480:53:51

'their existing production line, and build a new automated one.'

0:53:510:53:56

They're completely mad!

0:53:570:53:59

'By regenerating the old farm buildings on the new 50-acre site,

0:53:590:54:04

'Liam hopes to create a community of small independent businesses

0:54:040:54:09

'and a space where they can all grow.'

0:54:090:54:12

We'll be back in a bit.

0:54:150:54:17

We'll come and help. Yeah.

0:54:170:54:19

How many makers or producers have you got coming in?

0:54:200:54:24

Four. To start with.

0:54:240:54:26

A leather worker,

0:54:260:54:28

natural plant dyes,

0:54:280:54:30

a potter and then these guys are going to kind of prove the model.

0:54:300:54:34

But it's so important that WE get stable and we generate the cash flow

0:54:340:54:37

to support it first.

0:54:370:54:39

How much money do you need at this point to begin?

0:54:390:54:42

50K to get us in.

0:54:420:54:44

And that gives you what?

0:54:440:54:46

That gets us into production,

0:54:460:54:47

so moving everything that we've currently got over,

0:54:470:54:50

and then a much better flow,

0:54:500:54:51

so we'll kind of be able to double production.

0:54:510:54:54

So it's quite a huge burden.

0:54:540:54:56

-It's a big deal, yeah.

-But it does keep you going, doesn't it?

0:54:560:54:59

Yeah. Although it might appear from the outside that, you know,

0:54:590:55:02

we're all having a great time and it's all chocolate factory,

0:55:020:55:05

eccentric and all that kind of stuff, it's not.

0:55:050:55:07

There is a really serious side to what we're doing.

0:55:070:55:10

It's the risk that makes everybody come together and work hard,

0:55:100:55:13

-because it matters.

-And does that make you a success?

0:55:130:55:17

What makes you a success?

0:55:170:55:18

Success is doing what you love doing and having a whole bunch of people

0:55:180:55:23

around you that you feel really excited to work with.

0:55:230:55:27

And I'm proud of all of those things.

0:55:270:55:29

'With winter approaching,

0:55:380:55:40

'seaweed producer Jonathan turns the business focus back

0:55:400:55:43

'to his range of deli products.'

0:55:430:55:45

My first day back in the office.

0:55:470:55:49

There'll be a tonne of stuff to catch up on, so...

0:55:490:55:52

I think it's been two weeks since I was last here.

0:55:520:55:55

'During the tourist season,

0:55:550:55:57

'the gourmet beach shack has been the testing ground

0:55:570:55:59

'for possible new product lines.'

0:55:590:56:01

We did seaweed ketchup with kelp all year.

0:56:010:56:05

It's gone down really, really well.

0:56:050:56:07

And the plan for this winter

0:56:070:56:09

is to develop the product ready for market.

0:56:090:56:11

'Jonathan is planning to get six new ranges out to his global retailers

0:56:110:56:16

'in the next six months.'

0:56:160:56:18

When you look at the menu, what we were doing three or four years ago,

0:56:180:56:21

it's completely changed since then.

0:56:210:56:23

I think we've gone another level and it's just keep on pushing,

0:56:230:56:25

being more imaginative. It's exciting, doing your own stuff.

0:56:250:56:28

I'll see you later.

0:56:280:56:30

Going to pick up the trailer, take it back,

0:56:350:56:37

get a few guys on it and strip it right down.

0:56:370:56:40

Just put it away for the winter.

0:56:400:56:42

'This season saw the beach shack

0:56:420:56:44

'sell a record 15,000 of those infamous seafood sandwiches.'

0:56:440:56:50

It's been a really, really hard year.

0:56:500:56:52

I've put in some huge weeks, especially over the summer,

0:56:520:56:56

you know? I'm off to Japan in four, five days, so, it's just...

0:56:560:56:59

It's been probably one of the best years we've ever had.

0:56:590:57:03

Always emotional on a final day.

0:57:050:57:08

'Jonathan's brave decision to follow his dream

0:57:080:57:11

'and leave his office job to sell seaweed has certainly paid off.'

0:57:110:57:15

This is my commute and this is my end point and, you know,

0:57:150:57:18

to come down here, this beach is just...

0:57:180:57:21

I think it's my favourite beach in the whole wide world.

0:57:210:57:24

It's never going to be easy to make a living

0:57:400:57:42

in Pembrokeshire's beautiful but rugged landscape.

0:57:420:57:45

But that challenge has driven real innovation

0:57:450:57:49

from the people we've met here.

0:57:490:57:51

Now, interestingly, they haven't turned their back on tradition.

0:57:510:57:54

In fact, tradition is at the heart of many of their business ideas.

0:57:540:57:58

Seaweed biscuits, grass-fed beef, probiotic milk.

0:57:580:58:02

But although those ideas may be influenced by the past,

0:58:020:58:06

they absolutely represent the future

0:58:060:58:10

and a new era of rural entrepreneurship

0:58:100:58:13

here in Wales's wild west.

0:58:130:58:15

'Next time, we're in South Devon's rolling hills...'

0:58:200:58:24

What a beautiful day!

0:58:240:58:26

'..meeting six new businesses trying to make a living...'

0:58:260:58:29

This is the best-smelling room

0:58:290:58:30

-you'll ever walk into in your entire life.

-Oh, wow.

0:58:300:58:33

That smell is incredible.

0:58:330:58:35

Mmm. That is delicious.

0:58:350:58:37

'..in this tourist friendly, food-rich region.'

0:58:370:58:40

I never know what the next phone call is going to be.

0:58:400:58:44

God, I have the best job in the world.

0:58:440:58:46

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