Chester Terry and Mason's Great Food Trip

-Oh, Mason.

-Ah...

-"Constant and faithful." Look at that.

-Yeah.

And yours says, "The ancient arms."

They got the ancient bit right!

THEY LAUGH

It's taken 50 years in broadcasting, but I've finally cracked it.

TERRY LAUGHS

'A chance to meander around the country, see the sights,

-'meet the people...'

-THEY LAUGH

'And, ah, yes, eat and drink.'

Is melt in the mouth a suitable phrase?

I've hailed a cab with one of London's finest cabbies,

Mason McQueen,

to steer me around Britain's highways and byways.

I'm looking forward to a decent meal, are you?

Oh, I'm starving, I can't wait, Tel.

Our route has been mapped out by an adventurous gourmand,

Samuel Chamberlain,

in his book, British Bouquet.

'Almost 60 years later, we're following in his footsteps...'

I'll do all the work, Tel!

'..to seek out weird and wonderful regional British cuisine

'and discover how our tastes have changed over the years.'

Do it right, son.

WHOOPING AND LAUGHTER

-Look at you.

-Fantastic.

-You were born for this, son.

-Similar faces.

-He's a spoiled actor, you know.

Our motoring tour around these fair isles

has brought us to the ancient city of Chester,

close to the Welsh border.

History lurks around every corner of this magnificent place,

and so, I hear, a feast of gastronomic delights,

so it's up to me and Mason to seek them out.

I'm looking forward to Chester.

-Yeah.

-I've heard a lot of good things about it.

You know old Sam Chamberlain?

He said, "We promise you that the touring epicure

"will find a few notable shrines of food and wine."

Well, that's part of our endless search, our brave efforts,

to try and lift the British cuisine...

-Yes.

-..into the higher echelon.

Yes, our voyage of discovery, Terrence.

Do you know, I wish I'd said that.

As well as being a dedicated foodie,

old Chamberlain was also a bit of an amateur historian.

And Chester, with its Roman walls, Norman cathedral and Tudor streets,

was meat and drink to him.

The architecture's great here, I love it.

And the balconies that you see everywhere...

-Yeah.

-It's like a Mediterranean town.

-Yeah?

Mediterranean town with, with Tudor pretensions.

Hello, Terry!

-You all right?

-Lovely.

-Thank you.

-GENTLE LAUGHTER

Are you sure about this?

-There goes your street cred.

-There.

Chester is one of the largest cities in Cheshire,

a county famous for its cheese of the same name,

which is defined by its crumbly texture and mild, salty taste.

Smoked Staffordshire? We don't want that. Double Gloucester?

Cheshire we're after, isn't it?

-Let's get in there and get some Cheshire.

-OK, come on.

It also happens to be one of the oldest named cheeses in the land.

What more excuse do we possibly need?

-Hello there.

-Hello.

-You're Carol.

-Welcome to the shop.

-Nice to meet you. Mason.

-Carol.

-Hello.

-Have you got enough cheese here?

-Er, a little.

-"Drunken Burt."

-Yes.

-He used to be in charge of the BBC.

MASON AND CAROL LAUGH

No, it's a different, it's a different Burt.

There are over 150 varieties of cheese here,

and five types of the long-established Cheshire cheese.

So, these are the old, traditional ones.

-"Bourne's cloth-bound Cheshire."

-Mm.

-Lovely, creamy cheese.

-It is, it's beautiful.

Would you say that's the defined flavour of Cheshire?

What would you say is the absolute...?

Well, this one, definitely.

-Definitely.

-It's home pasteurised...

-The Cheshire cheese?

-Yes, yes.

This one here is pasteurised,

because some people think unpasteurised is going to kill you,

-but it won't.

-THEY LAUGH

It's extraordinary the things people get into their heads, isn't it?

It's funny when some Americans come in and taste it

and I say it's unpasteurised, their faces, they go, "Agh!"

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

-You're not going to make it back on the plane.

-No.

Chester used to be a shipping centre.

Yeah?

Sailing craft used to call from all the ports of Europe

and the River Dee...

clogged up with silt

and the prestige of the Port of Chester passed to

a little fishing village a little further up, called Liverpool.

Called Liverpool, yeah.

-Liverpool.

-Wow.

Although Chester is no longer a trading port,

at an old converted warehouse just outside the city,

there's an exciting new venture,

where people meet to buy and sell food on a weekly basis.

That is a tasty meat pie.

Oh, my God. That's lovely, Tel.

It looks like a usual farmers' market,

but it's actually something called a food assembly.

Customers buy local food online directly from regional producers

and turn up at a venue to collect,

sample, and meet the people who make it.

It's like supermarket click and collect,

but you've got real food, real producers,

and you can meet the people

and talk to the people who produce the food you're going to be eating.

-I like this little... This is a nice, for a lunch or something...

-Yeah.

Isn't it, Tel? It's...bijou.

-TERRY MUMBLES

-Bijou...

Bijou... STALLHOLDER LAUGHS

We whet our thirst with a little local juice,

made from some of Chester's finest apples...

Prosit!

-Ah!

-Ah!

Salut!

..before something more substantial catches our eye.

We've got traditional breakfast or we can go for pork and chilli.

-Give me a pork and chilli.

-Pork and chilli.

-I want to live.

We're using natural land casings.

These are the best casings that you can buy.

A lot of people are using synthetic skins,

which at the end of the day, is a man-made product.

We want to leave that

and go back to the original way of producing sausages.

-You're not telling porkies, can I have a traditional one?

-Course you can, of course you can!

After the savoury, comes the sweet.

Oh...

That's the best brownie I've ever tasted in my life.

Really tasty, Tel.

-And I'm not a big fan of brownies...

-Really?

-That's terrific.

I'm going to have to lie down.

Have we had enough?

Do you want to go round again?

-Do you know, I would.

-You would! So would I!

-I would,

-but I feel we've had an elegant sufficiency.

-I think so.

Having filled our little bellies,

I think it's time to get a little better acquainted

with the history of this fine town.

The four main streets in Chester

are lined with galleried walkways, known as The Rows.

Basically, the medieval version of a covered shopping mall.

There's a lady I want you to meet here. I know you're,

you're keen to meet women.

-I have Liz here for you.

-Hello, Liz.

-Hello, nice to meet you...

-And you too.

-..welcome to Chester.

-Liz.

-Lovely to meet you.

It's a pleasure.

-And I think it's terrific.

-It is, it's...

-Really lovely.

It's something I've not seen before.

You can have a stroll and not get wet and you're looking in the shops.

-It's perfect...

-Everyone's a winner.

-..we can move all around town

and the best thing is, back in the Middle Ages, the ladies,

remember in their long dresses?

You know what the filth was like in the street?

What did they do with all their rubbish back then?

-SHE MAKES WHOOSHING NOISE

-And when I say rubbish, I am being polite.

It included the contents of the chamber pots, literally anything.

-A little bit too much information.

-Too much information, I do apologise!

Let's walk The Rows.

Is that a fashionable thing to do, two gentlemen in Chester?

Listen, a lady with her dress would've promenaded

with a gentleman on her arm. It was the fashion.

Well, you've got... Do you mind sharing?

I haven't got a dress on, but we'll try.

-Well, neither have I, but never mind.

-Let's walk The Rows.

-Indeed.

This is a bit of all right, isn't it, Algernon?

MASON AND LIZ LAUGH

My stomach is telling me, it's time to eat again.

We've had some magnificent fare so far in Chester.

But sometimes, all you want is some good old comfort food.

-Look at this place.

-A little fast food joint.

Who's this fella? Look. Kenneth Williams, isn't it?

Got some Roman nose there, hasn't he?

See up there? It says, "Come and see our Roman remains inside."

That's not very...

-Do you think we'll find some Roman remains in the potatoes?

-I don't know, let's find out.

Spudulike has been flogging the humble baked potato

as fast food for over 40 years.

But here in Chester, they not only sell them, they grow them.

So, what came first with you?

Growing the potatoes or saying,

"I've got a spud you like, and I must grow potatoes"?

Certainly the growing potatoes came first.

Been growing potatoes for 30 years on our farm,

so we know quite a bit about it

and we thought, we will diversify into this.

What sort of a potato is it that's best for a Spudulike?

There's a lot of different sorts. We find estima are very good.

-Estima?

-Estima. Have you heard of those ones?

-What about a Maris Piper?

-Maris Piper are good.

-See?

-Yeah...

-You know your potatoes.

-I'm the one who said it.

-King Edwards?

King Edwards can be used, yeah.

What are you having?

Cheese and beans for me.

My friend, he has caviar, normally with yours. Or foie gras, don't you?

I'll tell you what I'm going to have, though,

tuna and sweetcorn mayonnaise.

-That's a good choice, very good choice.

-Thank you.

Just what the doctor ordered.

This, would you believe it, is 1,800 years old, down here?

It seems only fitting that a food with a long pedigree

is eaten in historic surroundings.

It is called a hypocaust, which is, basically, old underfloor heating.

-Fantastic.

-This ain't how you cook the potatoes, Dave, is it?

We don't cook the potatoes down here, no.

They're not cooked down here.

A maximus decimus spudulike-us.

Commanders of the potatoes of the North.

I bet the Romans would eat a lot of this.

Of the tuna fish with the...

-Jacket potato.

-Yeah.

And a bit of mayonnaise...

A bit of Roman mayonnaise and some sweetcorn.

It is a shock though, Tel, cos we were in a modern shop

a minute ago and now we're down here with this...

How old did he say this was?

Oh, it's only 1,800 years old.

But the Romans were slightly ahead of their time, weren't they?

-Oh, just a little bit.

-Underfloor heating?

-Yeah.

We think it's quite a modern thing.

Per ardua ad astra.

Oh, yeah.

Jacket potato, see you later.

Cave canem.

And that one.

Chester started life as a Roman camp,

called Castrum Deva,

and some portions of the ancient fortifications are still intact.

The old walls, eh? Look.

-Look at that drop there.

-Look at it, mate.

-Goodness sake.

What a good view of Chester here, Tel.

Yes.

These are the old Roman walls.

The old Roman ones.

Let's take a stroll around here.

From this lofty vantage point,

I feel like an ancient Roman nobleman out for a walk

with his slave.

Look, there's shops here. There is even a cafe, look. "Tea on the Wall."

-Nice cup of tea?

-Oh, you've...

A dish of Rosy Lee, while on the Roman wall.

Lovely. You have twisted my arm. After you, sir.

Doug is the chef at Tea on the Wall

and a born and bred Cestrian,

as Chester folk are known,

so he knows all the best stories.

Just adjacent from us, outside,

we have a thing called the Bridge of Sighs,

which is, sadly, where convicts were taken over the bridge

to be given their last rites before they were...

popped off the bridge and said goodbye to.

-They just threw them off the bridge?

-If they were lucky,

if not, you're taken and beheaded somewhere else.

-Depending what the crime was.

-Oh, there was no rope involved?

No rope, no. They weren't that kind.

Throw them off. Let the wolves eat them.

Straight over the wall and that was it.

-Are you asked to serve strange stuff here...

-We are. Lots of things.

-..because of your strange location?

-That is it.

Especially things like our Chester tart.

Mmm.

Oh, a nice tart from Chester.

Yeah. Sadly, only one little, depressing slice left, but...

-It is a popular choice, obviously.

-It is indeed.

I would be happy to take someone in the back

if they feel like making one for me.

-Would you?

-I would indeed.

-Will you excuse me? Because I don't think you're quite up to this.

-OK.

So, myself and "le chef" are off to have a bit of a go.

-You sit down and do what you're told.

-OK. See you soon, guys.

-So, what have we got?

-So, here, we have our meringue.

To start with, we make ourselves a basic shortcrust pastry case.

-Shortcrust...

-BOTH: Pastry case.

And we fill that with a lemon and almond jam.

So, now we need to whisk our meringue up...

-You need a very strong left arm for this.

-We do.

A good wrist action is what you need.

A good wrist action, you'd make a nice golfer.

So, now we've given that a good whisk.

If you'd like to do the honours.

Tip away, cover the top...

and we'll put them in the oven.

Notice the skill with which I am able to evenly spread...

..this mixture.

The tart takes around 35 minutes to cook

and looks very like a lemon meringue pie to me.

Now then, Mason.

-Oh, there he is.

-Look at me when I'm talking to you.

I have here...

Terry's Chester pie.

Or, if you like, Terry's Chester tart.

Made with my own fair hands.

You made this?

Of course I made this. Who else?

Where's Doug gone?

-Have you disposed of Doug?

-He took the day off.

He said, "I leave it to you, Ter."

-And I did.

-So, why is it a Chester pie?

Because this is Chester...

-and I've made a pie.

-That's it, is it?

Or, if you like, a tart.

Anyone else want a slice?

ALL: Yes.

You're out of luck.

Myself and Mason are going to force this down.

It's a very historic town, Chester.

Of course, there is the Cathedral of St Werburgh.

Who was she? I've never heard of her.

I can make a list of saints...

as long as your arm that you have never heard of.

Have you ever heard of St Athanasius?

-No, you've got me there.

-You see,

-that's another one.

-I've heard of St Trinian's.

THEY LAUGH

Of all the monuments in Chester, the noblest by far,

in the words of our Sam Chamberlain,

was the cathedral.

The earliest parts of which

are the remains of the Benedictine Abbey of St Werburgh -

the female patron saint of Chester.

The Normans were a tough crowd,

but they built a lot of wonderful cathedrals.

The detail, though.

Isn't it something extraordinary?

But you do get a sense of age and time.

ORCHESTRAL CHOIR MUSIC

-It's a restful place to come, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-It's a place to come and reflect.

-Yeah.

And think back on, you know...

Of all the sins I have done.

I didn't mean to cut that driver up.

Sorry, I don't want to go south of the river.

St Werburgh achieved her sainthood

after performing a rather unusual miracle.

There she is. St Werburgh.

Smaller than I thought, but...

Nick, how are you?

-How do you do, Terry?

-Tell us all.

A remarkable saint?

A martyr, no?

No, she was a healing saint, really.

She was actually a Mercian princess

who gave up her royal status to become a nun.

A very holy lady during her life, performed various miracles,

but the big miracle, the big showstopper,

was that she brought a goose back to life.

-A proud boast.

-Indeed.

-Not many can say it.

-With just the placing of the hands?

Or was it mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?

Restored to full life, plumage, the whole bit.

Do you mind if I say, I don't believe a word of it?

It's symbolic. I think that is the point we take from it.

It's symbolic. Yeah.

The best preserved part of the original abbey

is the original refectory,

now a popular restaurant.

-Isn't this extraordinary?

-Fantastic.

It's an ecclesiastic refectory.

-A what?

-Yeah.

-A canteen, yeah?

-It's a holy canteen.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-How you doing?

I'm OK. How are you doing?

And is this a traditional Chester dish?

A local Cheshire speciality?

Well, what we're doing is...

We call it a St Werburgh special.

-I see.

-So, we have goose ragout.

St Werburgh, of course, brought the goose back to life,

and you have brought it into a pasta dish.

Yes.

That's again...

A reference to the goose.

It's known as St Werburgh's toast.

-Grazie.

-Grazie.

-So, you don't often get a goose bolognese.

-No.

It's very nice.

-What do you reckon, Tel?

-This is very good.

St Werburgh wouldn't have liked this

because she was all for bringing geese back to life.

She wouldn't have brought this one back to life, Tel, would she?

I don't think even Paul Daniels...

would bring that goose back to life.

You know old Sam Chamberlain?

-Yes.

-Our strong right arm.

"If you wish to enjoy Cheshire," he says,

"it's necessary to get off the main highways," which we're doing.

-But it is very rural, isn't it?

-Oh, yeah.

You're in safe hands, Tel, enjoy the scenery.

I've been sitting in the back of this cab for weeks,

I know the kind of hands I'm in.

The next stage of this Chester food trip

takes us on a journey five miles east of the city,

to the village of Waverton.

There's been a watermill on this site since 1200

and this latest edifice has been rebuilt brick by brick

in what can only be described as a labour of love.

We were just admiring your wheel.

Well, we bought this farm in '97

and there has been a mill...

Well, it was a ruin, it was mostly a pile of rubble really...

..so, we thought, "Why not rebuild the mill?" So...

Just a minute.

"Why not rebuild the mill?!"

Yeah, we just thought it'd be a good idea.

But that is an enormous project.

Well, we didn't think it was going to be quite as enormous as it is.

-As it was.

-I can't believe that.

You've refurbed it and

now you actually make the bread as well, yeah?

Well, Caroline makes the bread.

I make the bread, he doesn't make the bread.

-He is the miller.

-I'm the miller.

He's banished to the mill.

-So, it is teamwork, though, Caroline?

-Absolutely, yeah.

There isn't much to making bread, though, is there?

-Oh, no, no. You just leave it to prove, don't you?

-That's it, yes.

Walk Mill is the first watermill

to be constructed in 150 years.

Those of you who love a bit of old machinery

might like to know that it's got a 14-foot Poncelet wheel.

What is a Poncelet?

It's the style of the waterwheel.

So, the water comes in under pressure slightly higher up,

it fills the buckets and takes it.

So, it's a bit different from an undershot wheel...

-It is, of course.

-I was going to say it looks slightly different

from an undershot wheel.

It's more efficient, you see.

-Cogs of industry, eh?

-Oh, look at this.

Yeah, I know a cog wheel when I see one.

So, that's pounding something into...?

Well, the waterwheel's turning all the gears,

which turns the millstones upstairs.

The flour falls into the hot brewer there and round into the...

through the sifter, into the sacks.

As a person who's never really done

a hand's turn of work in his life, I'm astounded.

What makes you decide to do something like this as a hobby?

And then it turned into a grand old business for you.

Can we see some finished product?

So, here's some of our wholemeal flour...

-A-ha, the finished product!

-..freshly milled.

-Nice and soft. It's stone-ground.

-It is.

And then I take it and bake it in the bakery to make...

And that's rather relevant, seeing you've got one in the oven, right?

Well, absolutely, yeah.

There's one baking there!

Always baking.

It takes a good one to get past you!

-LAUGHTER

-I'll tell you what...

Sparing all of our blushes, I take Mason outside

where the miller and his wife

have generously furnished us

with a delicious picnic.

This is the old bread, which looks very good, I'm bound to say.

Good cheese.

-Health-giving bread.

-Yeah?

-Couldn't get any fresher, Tel, could you, really?

-No.

CARNIVAL DRUMS BEAT

Chester is famous for a special event

that takes place in the city every year.

The Midsummer Watch Parade

is one of Britain's oldest festivals.

This year's event was bigger and better attended than ever.

Unfortunately, Mason took a wrong turn off the M1,

so, we got here a day late and missed it...

..but luckily, the artistic visionaries behind the event

have invited us to their headquarters

for a privileged peep at the puppets.

-Look at that.

-Wow.

-Morning.

-Good morning.

-Good morning.

-Good morning to you.

-Good to see you.

-The raven!

Raven. MASON SQUAWKS

Do you make these all yourself, here?

They are all made here, yeah.

We've been doing this for 600 years, just about.

-On and off.

-There's not a mark on you.

-Not a mark on me.

This is Cernunnos.

-This is the Celtic god of fruit and veg.

-Is it?

Woodland creatures.

Graeme Souness.

-Cernunnos.

-Oh, Cernunnos.

Oh, he moves!

He'll even shake your hand.

Put it there, Cernunnos.

Celtic god, eh? Bit like myself.

And of course, the old favourite is the devil.

The devil. Who is that man interfering with the devil?

HE LAUGHS

-I'm the devil himself.

-A-ha, good man.

-Oh, you're not going to get into it?

-Yes.

It's like a giant backpack.

So, I've done him for about four years

and I have to say,

I think the devil is the best thing in the parade.

OK, come to us.

So, what he does...

he's got clutching hands, so if children get in the way,

or passers-by, he can snatch and grab on to you with his hands.

The ever-enthusiastic Mason is keen to join in.

And I've found the perfect character for him.

Lord of Misrule is when the Lord of the Manor

-changed places with his top servant.

-Ahh!

So, the top servant

would get to sit at the main table

and order everybody about.

-Perhaps I'll be driving Mason from now on.

-Ah!

-Look at you.

-Fantastic.

You were born for this, son.

I think, as you're doing so well,

we could take this to the streets

-and you can run around a bit.

-Yeah?

Just mind your head on the way through.

There is no way of getting through that door, is there?

-No, I'll take it off.

-I'm not going to have anything to do with this.

DRUMBEAT

It may not have quite the impact of the day before,

but Mason still manages to make a spectacle of himself.

He's living the part.

So, I'm all done. Get me out of this thing.

I need refreshments.

No, look, if you wouldn't mind just entertaining

the good people of Chester while we all go off for a drink.

Terry, come back. Tel!

Right, I'm done now.

Leaving Mason to fend for himself,

I'm off to the pub where the team has disrobed

and are enjoying a well-earned drink

at one of the cities oldest hostelries

which has been feeding revellers for centuries.

Today, the chef is preparing some old Chester recipes

that would have featured in parades past.

-Is anybody in here called Chrissy Henshaw?

-Yes.

-Good man.

You're the very man I'm looking for.

I have got some hungry paraders outside.

-Fantastic.

-And...

What are you doing here?

This is the heart of the lamb.

So, it's stuffed lamb's heart wrapped in bacon -

it's stuffed with rosemary, mince, sausage meat, sage, onion -

which I'm about to just drop this in the pan here.

Drop it away.

I like the way it's sizzling already.

We've got a potage of lamb.

How do you like cooking in this old-fashioned way?

Oh, it is fantastic. It gives you a bit of a break from cooking normal,

run-of-the-mill, everyday food.

It's not that much different, is it?

-It's a stuffed loin of lamb, isn't it?

-It's very similar.

Very similar.

Chrissy has also got a beef stew on the go -

to be served in a brown bread trencher -

slipcoats of cheese, whatever they are,

pig's cheeks in a tomato sauce

and on the dessert trolley,

an old English fool.

Talking of which...

-Tasty.

-It's terrif.

There's potatoes, mushrooms...

but mainly...

good English meat.

-This is wonderful.

-It's got the devil's approval.

And of course, no feast would be complete

without the food that the town is so well-known for.

We've got to try the cheese.

Mmm.

How is it?

It's cheese on toast...

LAUGHTER

..with a little herb.

-Chin-chin.

-Chin-chin.

-Good health.

Here's to the great parade. Here's to Chester.

ALL: To Chester!

So, what did you think of the old food in Ye Olde King's Head?

Yeah, I'm not ready for civil war

and I'll be glad to see the back of him.

Yeah, the Lord of Misrule.

-You were a natural for that.

-Yeah.

Well done, my son.

Where to next?

I don't know. The safari of sustenance rolls on.

Hang on!

I think I can smell more food.

Let's go.