0:00:06 > 0:00:1250 miles from London, I'm heading into the southwest of England
0:00:12 > 0:00:15to tell the story of a road.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18A humble road, you may think.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20But it's a surprising road.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23It's called the A303.
0:00:25 > 0:00:31The A303 is famous as the road that passes Stonehenge on the way to Cornwall.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35And infamous for its traffic jams and bank holiday bottlenecks.
0:00:35 > 0:00:41I've used it for years to take me to the rivers where I love to fish.
0:00:41 > 0:00:47But like everyone else speeding up and down it each day, I never gave it a thought.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52Then it struck me that the road was more than just a means to an end,
0:00:52 > 0:00:54a way to have some fun,
0:00:54 > 0:00:57that it was an entity in its own right.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04I realised that the road could lead me into the past...
0:01:04 > 0:01:08Alfred the Great, where are you?!
0:01:10 > 0:01:11It shows up blue.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13I'm looking at a Roman fish!
0:01:15 > 0:01:19..but it could also bring me back to the present.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22It's fresh. It is warm!
0:01:22 > 0:01:24I kid you not,
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Margaret Thatcher was on her hands and knees with me, poring over maps.
0:01:28 > 0:01:35The A303 catapults us through the stories of a thousand lifetimes.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Horns, boys, horns!
0:01:39 > 0:01:42Most of the time we just keep driving.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45But on this journey, I intend to stop.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53Because the A303 isn't just a piece of tarmac.
0:01:54 > 0:01:59It's helped shape an ancient landscape at the heart of England...
0:02:00 > 0:02:03..and to satisfy our restlessness,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06the urge within us to explore the next horizon.
0:02:18 > 0:02:24The A303 starts round about here, just outside Basingstoke,
0:02:24 > 0:02:28on a sweeping slip road off the M3.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31It's the start of a 100 miles or so
0:02:31 > 0:02:35reaching into the heart of deepest Devon.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42It's only been called the A303 for about 80 years.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45But it's been around a lot longer than that
0:02:45 > 0:02:48as the prehistoric Harrow Way, or the Roman Fosse Way.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53In the 19th century, it was known as the New Direct Road,
0:02:53 > 0:02:57running all the way from London to Exeter.
0:02:59 > 0:03:05Much of the modern A303 makes use of the old 19th-century road.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10Occasionally, you come across some interesting relics of that past.
0:03:10 > 0:03:15Such as a hedge, a surprising hedge, right down the middle of the road.
0:03:15 > 0:03:21Now, on the whole, the modern road has no pretentions to beauty.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25The central reservation is just concrete and scrubby grass.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29But here, for several miles at Micheldever,
0:03:29 > 0:03:34extends this neat and tidy hedge, which is quite clearly left over
0:03:34 > 0:03:39from when the road was a single carriageway affair.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44And here ahead, an oak tree, a fine oak tree
0:03:44 > 0:03:48left in glorious isolation in between these two carriageways,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51giving a touch of class, if I may say so.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56It's unnoticed history, isn't it?
0:03:56 > 0:03:59I mean it's been here for... Who knows?
0:04:06 > 0:04:10The Edwardian man of letters Hilaire Belloc described roads
0:04:10 > 0:04:13as "one of the primal things which move us."
0:04:13 > 0:04:19"Like fire, a roof above us, or two voices in the night."
0:04:20 > 0:04:25"The road", he said, "is the most imperative and the first of our necessities."
0:04:34 > 0:04:36In the case of the A303,
0:04:36 > 0:04:41that imperative has become ever bigger, bolder and more urgent.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54This is Picket Twenty, which is a nice, quaint sort of name
0:04:54 > 0:04:58for what used to be a quiet hamlet on the outskirts of Andover -
0:04:58 > 0:05:03the first big town on the A303, heading west from Basingstoke.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08And, as you can see, I'm under a bridge.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13The 1960s road didn't have much time for Picket Twenty,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16or any other hamlet, for that matter.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20It couldn't quite bring itself to obliterate the place completely.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23But it did rise up and over it.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26Modern Britain needed modern roads.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29Never again would speeding drivers see
0:05:29 > 0:05:32the whites of Picket Twenty's eyes.
0:05:34 > 0:05:42On September 11th 1969, the white heat of technology came calling.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46That phrase summed up the much-trumpeted ambition
0:05:46 > 0:05:50of Harold Wilson's Labour Government, to transform Britain
0:05:50 > 0:05:56into a thrusting, dynamic society fit for the late-20th century.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Key to that was a massive road improvement programme.
0:06:00 > 0:06:05Now we could all go somewhere in our shiny new cars.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10For every five people in Britain today there is now one car or lorry on the roads.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13There are 200,000 miles of public highway.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18The old A303 at Picket Twenty was, like so many others,
0:06:18 > 0:06:20a product of the Victorian age.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24Not any more.
0:06:24 > 0:06:32I have here the front page of the Andover Advertiser for Friday 12 September, 1969.
0:06:32 > 0:06:38And the main photo is of the junior minister of transport, Mr Bob Brown,
0:06:38 > 0:06:43standing probably not very far from where I am now, with a pair of scissors in his hand,
0:06:43 > 0:06:48cutting the tape that declares the Andover Bypass open.
0:06:53 > 0:06:58For Andover, the bypass was a chance to compete with close rival Basingstoke
0:06:58 > 0:07:03which was calling itself "The Space Age Town Of The South".
0:07:05 > 0:07:08But to the men from the ministry, there was a bigger dream,
0:07:08 > 0:07:10to upgrade 200 miles of the old road
0:07:10 > 0:07:14into a super highway, all the way to the beaches of Cornwall.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20The dream already had a name - The London-Penzance Trunk Road.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25It began with the Andover Bypass.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27And at Hampshire's county records office
0:07:27 > 0:07:30you can still see the original masterplan.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34Book number seven. Here we are. Picket Twenty Interchange.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39And it's conveniently marked on the masterplan in pink.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42If I turn the page of this,
0:07:42 > 0:07:48I think maybe you can get an idea of the quite extraordinary complexity
0:07:48 > 0:07:52and detail, and actually sort of beauty, of these drawings.
0:07:53 > 0:08:01Now this is the position that I was occupying, looking down on that roaring maelstrom of traffic.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07Down here there is a list of everything they show.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10Lamp posts, every lamp post, fire hydrants...
0:08:11 > 0:08:18The quality of the draftsmanship, all obviously pre-computer, is quite phenomenal.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22Not merely is there a reference to "tree to remain",
0:08:22 > 0:08:25but there's actually a drawing of the tree.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29What is fascinating, in a way, is that they're completely divorced
0:08:29 > 0:08:33from the extremely messy reality.
0:08:33 > 0:08:40And you get some idea here of the devastation to previously peaceful countryside.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44The surface just torn away. You can't get away from it.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48It's an ugly scar across the Hampshire countryside.
0:08:55 > 0:09:00To speeding drivers though, the Andover bypass IS the landscape.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Never mind all the stuff either side.
0:09:03 > 0:09:08Here, it slices through one of England's ancient woodlands, Harewood Forest.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21A long time ago, this forest formed part of the ancient kingdom of Wessex.
0:09:21 > 0:09:28Within touching distance of the road, is the scene of a 1,000-year-old crime,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31that involved lust, betrayal, and violence.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38At the centre of it, was the King of England, Edgar.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41Rather misleadingly known as Edgar the Peaceful.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49Edgar, so the story goes, was about to marry.
0:09:49 > 0:09:50His bride to be, Elfrida,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53was said to be ravishingly beautiful.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58But the King had never actually seen her.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01So, just to make sure, he sent one of his Earls, Aethelwold,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04to check her out.
0:10:04 > 0:10:10Aethelwold found that Elfrida was indeed a corker.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12In fact, so bewitching was she,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15that Aethelwold promptly married her himself.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21So, the treacherous Aethelwold went back to Edgar.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23"Well", says the King,
0:10:23 > 0:10:24"What's she like?"
0:10:24 > 0:10:29"I'm sorry, your majesty - a base, commonplace girl.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31"Not really worthy of your attention,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34"certainly not worthy to be your Queen."
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Aethelwold was playing with fire.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41And here, within shouting distance of the A303,
0:10:41 > 0:10:45he was about to get his comeuppance.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50The King was no fool and he soon found out that his old friend
0:10:50 > 0:10:55had made a monkey out of him, which was not a good idea.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58And here or just about here,
0:10:58 > 0:11:03the King killed him, stuck a javelin right through his middle.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11This is where the deed was done. It's called Dead Man's Plack,
0:11:11 > 0:11:15a monument erected in the 19th century by local land owner,
0:11:15 > 0:11:16William Iremonger.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22"Upon this spot, Edgar, King of England,
0:11:22 > 0:11:27"in the ardour of love and indignation,
0:11:27 > 0:11:29"did slew with his own hand,
0:11:29 > 0:11:34"the base and treacherous Earl Aethelwold."
0:11:40 > 0:11:42I really like this place.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46I like the fact that this cross is hidden among the trees.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51I like the idea of the romantically inclined local land owner.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55Colonel William Iremonger, veteran of the Peninsula War,
0:11:55 > 0:12:00200 years ago, went to the trouble and expense of putting this up
0:12:00 > 0:12:04and yet nobody comes here any more, it's virtually neglected.
0:12:04 > 0:12:11I like the fact that down there is the A303.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13You can hear it but you can't see it.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Dead Man's Plack is hard to find,
0:12:22 > 0:12:27but it's not the only piece of history round here that's receded quietly into the landscape.
0:12:38 > 0:12:46A few miles west, a web of old pathways converges on the old A303.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00One of them was more than just a local track.
0:13:00 > 0:13:01Known as the Harrow Way,
0:13:01 > 0:13:07it ran from Dover across southern England to the Devon coast.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10And it could've been around even before humans arrived.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14There is a theory, I put it no more strongly than that,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17that the track I've just been walking down
0:13:17 > 0:13:20was first walked by, believe it or not, reindeer,
0:13:20 > 0:13:23tens, tens of thousands of years ago,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26from somewhere in the frozen north of Europe
0:13:26 > 0:13:30when we were still joined to Europe by the hip across what is now the Channel.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33Be that as it may, they were tracks. They were certainly tracks,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37they were certainly locally used, and this is certainly one of them,
0:13:37 > 0:13:39and one of the most important ones.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47After the animals, reindeer or otherwise,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50the tracks and roads were adopted by human feet,
0:13:50 > 0:13:56turning this part of England into an intricate transport hub.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58It's still a transport hub today.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02And not far from where the Harrow Way meets the A303,
0:14:02 > 0:14:04they're building a new track.
0:14:06 > 0:14:07I like these trees. Look.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09HE LAUGHS
0:14:16 > 0:14:19They call this the Great Shed,
0:14:19 > 0:14:21for obvious reasons,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23and its size, well...
0:14:23 > 0:14:26I read somewhere, 20 football pitches
0:14:26 > 0:14:29and the height of four double decker buses.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32The building is a quarter of a mile long,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36and designed to handle 100 lorries an hour.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40It's a food distribution warehouse owned by the Co-op.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45Yet it's also a mysterious place.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48To drivers passing just yards away,
0:14:48 > 0:14:53the shed presents itself as a huge expanse of windowless steel,
0:14:53 > 0:14:57a building which offers no apparent clue as to its purpose.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04But feeding the nation wasn't always like this.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07Nearby, in the village of Weyhill,
0:15:07 > 0:15:12the road once helped move our next meal around in a very different way.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19This is what I've come upstairs to show you.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23This is a painting recreating the events that made Weyhill,
0:15:23 > 0:15:28in its time, the most important agricultural fair in the country,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32one of the commercial hubs of southern England.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37The earliest record of the fair dates from 1126,
0:15:37 > 0:15:42when Henry II ordered some pigs for five shillings.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47And it also gets a mention in the 14th century epic poem, Piers Plowman.
0:15:47 > 0:15:53Daniel Defoe, the indefatigable traveller and chronicler of England
0:15:53 > 0:15:55at the beginning of the 18th Century,
0:15:55 > 0:16:00he was told that they sold 500,000 sheep in the week.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04Well, even allowing for a bit of local exaggeration, the numbers were enormous.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10In the bar downstairs, local historian Tony Raper
0:16:10 > 0:16:13has a map of the fairground from 1683.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19Basically, the whole area would've been full of sheep, horses,
0:16:19 > 0:16:21geese, cattle, everything.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23And this would've been the auction area,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26so you've got the cheese fair here, in the rectangle.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28We've got a joiners fair down here.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31If you look closely, there's wooden prams,
0:16:31 > 0:16:35there's chairs and armchairs, all kinds of things.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39Leather sellers fair, with all the skins and everything.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41This is the horse fair in this area.
0:16:41 > 0:16:46And this along here is the old A303, before they built the bypass?
0:16:46 > 0:16:48That's right. This is the Andover side,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51and here we are travelling towards Amesbury.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57They say you could even sell your wife at the Weyhill fair.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02There's record of a girl called Betty Duck being sold in these parts for half a crown.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06There was a funfair, too, with boxing booths and freak shows.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10One year, a woman billed as a mermaid was put on display.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13She'd been fished out of Southampton water.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18And there was drinking, lots of drinking,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22including a Weyhill tradition that turned boys into men.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27They called it the horning of the colts.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32These are the genuine horns of an old-fashioned breed of sheep.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35That's right. On here, there'd be a receptacle full of beer,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39and the whole thing would've been balanced on the head
0:17:39 > 0:17:43and whilst they were in the room, he would've been joggled
0:17:43 > 0:17:46and jostled, and they would've been singing him a song all the time.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49It was basically, "Horns, boys, horns,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53"horns, boys, horns, and sing like his daddy with a large pair of horns."
0:17:53 > 0:17:56Horns, boys, horns. Horns, boys, horns, sing like...
0:17:56 > 0:17:59# Horns, boys, ho-o-o-orns! #
0:17:59 > 0:18:01I think that's enough of that!
0:18:04 > 0:18:09The song goes on, "So swiftly runs the hare, so keen runs the fox,
0:18:09 > 0:18:14"why shouldn't this young colt grow up to be an ox?"
0:18:14 > 0:18:18They haven't sung it round here for decades.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21# It's I have been to Weyhill fair
0:18:21 > 0:18:23# And, oh, what sights I did see there
0:18:23 > 0:18:26# To tell my tale would make you stare
0:18:26 > 0:18:28# And see the horses showing
0:18:28 > 0:18:30# They come from east They come from west
0:18:30 > 0:18:34# They bring their worst They bring their best
0:18:34 > 0:18:37# And some they lead And they drive the rest
0:18:37 > 0:18:40# Unto the fair at Weyhill. #
0:18:40 > 0:18:43In the end, two things killed the Weyhill Fair -
0:18:43 > 0:18:46tough rules on testing for TB,
0:18:46 > 0:18:50and the new era of railway and motorised transport.
0:18:52 > 0:18:58Shepherding your flock long distances to market just wasn't worth it anymore,
0:18:58 > 0:19:06and in 1959, after almost 1,000 years, the Weyhill fair sold its last sheep.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11It's not easy to imagine this place as it once was,
0:19:11 > 0:19:15thronged with beasts and shepherds and cattlemen
0:19:15 > 0:19:20in a dry autumn with the dust rising in a huge cloud over here.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25But it's also nice to report that the place hasn't been completely wiped away.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30But rather, a history lives on.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33The Weyhill fair is not entirely dead.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45Beyond Weyhill, Hampshire soon turns into Wiltshire,
0:19:45 > 0:19:49the second of five counties the A303 cuts through on its way west.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55The road beneath me is late 20th century vintage.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00But the landscape around it has a much older story to tell.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05Here we are, just turning off. Oh!
0:20:05 > 0:20:12Oh! Not an easy manoeuvre in a Morris Traveller from the old days.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16Here we go. I hope the suspension can take it.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30'This is one of my favourite places along this road -
0:20:30 > 0:20:31'Beacon Hill.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39'There's a tremendous view of the landscape falling away to the south.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41'The A303 is just below,
0:20:41 > 0:20:45'but our impact on this part of the world goes back much further.'
0:20:47 > 0:20:52From where I'm standing, in all directions dotted around the place
0:20:52 > 0:20:58are ancient prehistoric burial mounds, tumuli, barrows.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03Some of them disappeared under the plough or under buildings.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Many of them still visible.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11And when you drive along the A303, through this part of the world,
0:21:11 > 0:21:15you're in fact driving through a prehistoric graveyard.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25'Who were the people who first lived and died on the Neolithic 303?
0:21:27 > 0:21:30'Drive a mile further on to the Solstice Business Park,
0:21:30 > 0:21:34'and you can, in a manner of speaking, get to meet one of them.'
0:21:40 > 0:21:41Here he is.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51'He's called the Ancestor,
0:21:51 > 0:21:55'and he was made from welded steel by two local sculptors.'
0:22:00 > 0:22:04As we can see from his prognathous forehead
0:22:04 > 0:22:06and wide nose and sunken eyes,
0:22:06 > 0:22:10he's ancient. "Ancient man", says the text here, on his knees,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13head thrown back,
0:22:13 > 0:22:16arms open wide, reaching up to the skies.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22Rooted into the moon. Protected by three magical hairs.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Unfortunately, the magical hairs seem to have hopped off.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37I like to think of him as one of the first travellers round here,
0:22:37 > 0:22:42and I like to think of him maybe one day getting up off his knees
0:22:42 > 0:22:45and having a look round at the Holiday Inn behind
0:22:45 > 0:22:47and the A303 up there.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51Maybe the Harvester pub round the corner,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54and Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01'Of course, the Ancestor's a product of someone's imagination.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04'But the real thing is closer than you think.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13'This is the Amesbury Archer, an early Bronze Age traveller
0:23:13 > 0:23:16'from the Alpine region of Central Europe who was buried
0:23:16 > 0:23:19'within a stone's throw of the A303.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26'Hidden for over four millennia, his grave was disturbed
0:23:26 > 0:23:27'by builders in 2002.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32'This wasn't just a pile of old bones -
0:23:32 > 0:23:36'it was the richest Bronze Age burial site ever found in Britain.
0:23:43 > 0:23:48'16 barbed flint arrowheads, knives, wrist guards
0:23:48 > 0:23:52'and metalworking tools suggest he was a craftsman
0:23:52 > 0:23:57'who was also useful with a bow. But that wasn't all they found.'
0:24:01 > 0:24:07I'm holding in my hand the two oldest gold objects
0:24:07 > 0:24:10ever found in Britain, and to be honest,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12I'm a bit terrified - they're so fragile.
0:24:12 > 0:24:19These are believed to be ornaments for the Archer's hair,
0:24:19 > 0:24:25and how extraordinary it is to think that, 4,300 years ago,
0:24:25 > 0:24:27when these were made,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30that they were thinking of decoration in those terms.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35It raises the question - who was the Archer,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38and what was he doing here?
0:24:44 > 0:24:47One of the critical things that we know about him is that
0:24:47 > 0:24:48he was a metalworker.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50He knew how to transform metal into objects,
0:24:50 > 0:24:52and this would have been an amazing process.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55And the locals here didn't have that, did they?
0:24:55 > 0:24:57Absolutely - it was a new technology.
0:24:57 > 0:24:58So he was a man on a mission,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01a man who may have been on a pilgrimage
0:25:01 > 0:25:03to show other people how to work metal.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07But he was obviously a person of some importance,
0:25:07 > 0:25:11and the gold ornaments we looked at earlier indicate this.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14Absolutely, because the gold was very unusual,
0:25:14 > 0:25:15there probably was no-one else
0:25:15 > 0:25:17who would have had objects like that,
0:25:17 > 0:25:21And very few people would have owned objects made from copper.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23And one of the really unusual things about this burial
0:25:23 > 0:25:27is that he was found with five pottery beakers.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Hardly any burials of this period have been found with so many.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33The average beaker burial would be one beaker -
0:25:33 > 0:25:34this chap had five.
0:25:34 > 0:25:35So he was five beaker man,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37whereas you and I might have been...
0:25:37 > 0:25:40We probably wouldn't even have been one beaker.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Suffering from a slight attack of beaker envy,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52I'm leaving the Archer behind.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55He was a man who would have known the Neolithic 303
0:25:55 > 0:25:58like the back of his hand.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00But did he come all that way across Europe
0:26:00 > 0:26:03just to impress the locals with his metalworking skills?
0:26:03 > 0:26:08Or did he have a more specific reason for coming here?
0:26:08 > 0:26:10I suspect he did.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14And that's because of what lies over the hill ahead.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19OK, whoa, this is going to cause trouble.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25CAR HORN BEEPS
0:26:26 > 0:26:29Well, here she is, let's get out and have a look.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39It's the A303's most famous landmark -
0:26:39 > 0:26:40Stonehenge.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44We're quite a distance away,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48and the stones look rather small, don't they?
0:26:50 > 0:26:54From here, they're also overwhelmed by the traffic.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00But, step to one side, and you'll see why I've stopped here.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06They do look small,
0:27:06 > 0:27:10but what you get from here is a sense of their context,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13of where they stand in the landscape.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15The great open sky,
0:27:15 > 0:27:19the wide open spaces, the rolling grassland,
0:27:19 > 0:27:21and the monument in the middle of it...
0:27:23 > 0:27:27..and I know English Heritage will hate me for saying this,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30but, actually, we're just close to the road,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33it's not a bad place to be stuck in a traffic jam,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37because it'll give you perhaps the best view of Stonehenge there is.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46A proper car, a real car.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49What do you think of it?
0:27:49 > 0:27:50I think she's beautiful.
0:27:50 > 0:27:51- "She", I like it.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53She has to be.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Robert Key grew up in Wiltshire.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59In 1983, he became the local MP.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01MP for Stonehenge, you might call him.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06The A303 runs right through his old constituency.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08This must have been one of the first cars
0:28:08 > 0:28:12that has flashing orange indicator lights instead of flippers.
0:28:12 > 0:28:13Oh, instead of those things!
0:28:17 > 0:28:21Today, Stonehenge is a World Heritage Site,
0:28:21 > 0:28:26which, loosely translated, means, "Interfere with it at your peril."
0:28:29 > 0:28:32But we weren't always so protective of it.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34During and after the First World War...
0:28:34 > 0:28:37The Flying Corps were based here.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42And the military were allowed to do pretty much as they wanted.
0:28:43 > 0:28:48I've seen a photograph of an army Land Rover perched on top
0:28:48 > 0:28:51of the stones, brought here in the middle of the night
0:28:51 > 0:28:54after a particularly good evening in the officers' mess over in Larkhill,
0:28:54 > 0:28:57which is only a couple of miles,
0:28:57 > 0:28:59and goodness knows how they got it up there, but they did.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02They wouldn't get away with it today.
0:29:02 > 0:29:03They certainly wouldn't, no.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09But would they get away with this today?
0:29:09 > 0:29:13In the 1950s, cranes were brought in to rearrange the stones -
0:29:13 > 0:29:15sacrilege, some said.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20These are the stones that were, as it were, re-erected,
0:29:20 > 0:29:22- these massive ones. - Yeah, absolutely.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25And the smaller ones, they were OK?
0:29:25 > 0:29:29Some of them were tilted, so they were straightened up a bit.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31You can see on that stone there,
0:29:31 > 0:29:33there's a great big wodge of concrete holding it up,
0:29:33 > 0:29:37which people don't really think about when they go past the stones.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40- Were they at an angle, were they lying down?- Yes.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42Leaning how far?
0:29:42 > 0:29:44Mostly lying down.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48Some, the tops of the stones had disappeared,
0:29:48 > 0:29:50so they put them back on top,
0:29:50 > 0:29:53and it was a major reconstruction, really.
0:29:53 > 0:29:58I think over the years, something like 23 stones have been re-erected,
0:29:58 > 0:30:00with the lintels put back on top.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07In the early days of motoring, the A303 was a mere slip of a thing
0:30:07 > 0:30:09which didn't trouble the stones at all.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12How things change.
0:30:16 > 0:30:22Today, the road's a scourge - noisy, dirty and often gridlocked.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25There have been many plans to re-route it - over 50, in fact -
0:30:25 > 0:30:30including one to bury the A303 in a tunnel.
0:30:30 > 0:30:35All fell by the wayside, despite Robert's best efforts.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38In the '90s, he struggled to find a solution
0:30:38 > 0:30:42as competing government departments, public pressure groups
0:30:42 > 0:30:45and even the druids locked horns.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52I thought there's only one thing to do - go to the Prime Minister.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56I kid you not, Margaret Thatcher was on her hands and knees with me
0:30:56 > 0:30:58in her room in the House of Commons,
0:30:58 > 0:31:02poring over maps of all the possible routes around,
0:31:02 > 0:31:04discussing which land belonged to the Ministry of Defence,
0:31:04 > 0:31:07which was National Trust, which was English Heritage.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09She was really engaged on it.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12Even Margaret Thatcher was defeated by Stonehenge.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14Even Margaret Thatcher!
0:31:14 > 0:31:18John Major, bless him, did the same.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22Pored over the maps but then absolutely nothing happened.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24Now at least everyone can shut up about it.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29Oh, no. This problem's never going to go away. The A303's going nowhere.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46Apart from the monument itself,
0:31:46 > 0:31:51the place that's paid the heaviest price for the Stonehenge stalemate
0:31:51 > 0:31:54is the next village along, Winterbourne Stoke.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57Every rescue plan for Stonehenge
0:31:57 > 0:32:00included a bypass for Winterbourne Stoke.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02It was promised a thousand times.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04It never came.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08Weep for Winterbourne Stoke,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11the village that the bypass forgot.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19A couple of miles further on, the A303 has been improved.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22No bypass, but new dual carriageway.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28After Amesbury, the road develops a slightly split personality.
0:32:28 > 0:32:33One minute, superhighway, the next, super bottleneck.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48I wouldn't like to do that too often.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53They'll all be very pissed off.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00This delightful spot
0:33:00 > 0:33:01could be...
0:33:01 > 0:33:05the oldest crossroads in this country,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09quite possibly one of the oldest crossroads in the world.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11Today, the A303
0:33:11 > 0:33:16crosses the A350 Blandford-Devizes road.
0:33:16 > 0:33:21But if you scrolled back 4,000-5,000 years,
0:33:21 > 0:33:24two paths crossed here.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27One north-south...
0:33:28 > 0:33:32..known now as the Great Ridgeway,
0:33:32 > 0:33:38and going east-west the Harrow Way, which we bumped into before.
0:33:40 > 0:33:433,000 years after the Amesbury Archer,
0:33:43 > 0:33:46I might have met another European traveller here.
0:33:46 > 0:33:51This time, however, he would have been no wandering metal worker.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54This man would have been a warrior from Denmark
0:33:54 > 0:33:57with plunder and slaughter on his mind.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03A couple of miles north of the road,
0:34:03 > 0:34:07I've come to pay my respects to the man who, I like to think,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11would have done his best to save me from the bloodthirsty Dane.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18Is that not an amazing sight?
0:34:23 > 0:34:28This 18th century folly was built to honour King Alfred,
0:34:28 > 0:34:32the only one of our kings we still call "The Great".
0:34:33 > 0:34:37It was completed in the 1770s,
0:34:37 > 0:34:43cost £6,000 - three-quarters of a million, at today's prices -
0:34:43 > 0:34:47but that was a mere flea bite to Henry Hoare,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51the colossally wealthy banker who commissioned it.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55He'd already built Stourhead, the mansion down the hill,
0:34:55 > 0:34:57and the gardens around it.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01This tower was designed to complete his vision.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07The Danish invaders swept all before them
0:35:07 > 0:35:10until they had a go at Alfred's Wessex.
0:35:13 > 0:35:18And it was here, or round about here, in AD879
0:35:18 > 0:35:21that he gathered his men
0:35:21 > 0:35:24to march north
0:35:24 > 0:35:27to the edge of Salisbury Plain,
0:35:27 > 0:35:31where he inflicted a devastating defeat on the invader
0:35:31 > 0:35:36and brought peace to this country for more than 100 years.
0:35:41 > 0:35:46It's 160 feet to the top, 205 steps.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57That is a staggering sight.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06Below me, the woods of Stourhead,
0:36:06 > 0:36:10silvered with frost, waving in the breeze.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14Well done, Henry Hoare.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24Where I'm standing here, I'm pretty much astride
0:36:24 > 0:36:29a geological fault line that marks a complete transformation
0:36:29 > 0:36:32in the landscape along the A303.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37Away to the east - you can't see it on a day like this,
0:36:37 > 0:36:39but you can take my word for it -
0:36:39 > 0:36:42is Salisbury Plain and the chalk downland.
0:36:42 > 0:36:47Just about here, the chalk gives way to greensand.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50From here on, the fields are smaller,
0:36:50 > 0:36:54greener, lusher, defined by hedges.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57The stone is browner. The land has a more intimate,
0:36:57 > 0:36:59more friendly feel, if you like.
0:37:01 > 0:37:07Alfred The Great! Where are you?
0:37:16 > 0:37:19The Danes weren't the only invaders
0:37:19 > 0:37:23to send a chill down the spine of the A303.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31Long before them,
0:37:31 > 0:37:35the greatest empire builders of them all were here.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47At Ham Hill, just across the county border in Somerset,
0:37:47 > 0:37:50I've come to see if I can find them.
0:38:01 > 0:38:02It's a terrific view from up here -
0:38:02 > 0:38:06some people might say slightly spoilt
0:38:06 > 0:38:09by having a road running slap bang through the middle of it.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13But it's a very special bit of road, this.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16It runs dead straight for miles.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20There's a clue for you.
0:38:20 > 0:38:25What we have down below me here is not just A303,
0:38:25 > 0:38:27but Roman 303.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34It's called the Fosse Way.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38Built soon after the Roman invasion of AD43,
0:38:38 > 0:38:43it runs diagonally across England between Exeter and Lincoln.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48The one thing every child knows about the Romans is their roads,
0:38:48 > 0:38:53that they built straight roads and it happens to be true.
0:38:56 > 0:39:02For part of its journey, the Fosse Way merges with the A303.
0:39:03 > 0:39:08So here we have the long, straight stretch of A303 Fosse Way,
0:39:08 > 0:39:09one and the same.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13Then at this point, the 303 deviates off to the right,
0:39:13 > 0:39:16and the Fosse Way continues in a dead straight line.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19I think we should go and see what lies down there.
0:39:20 > 0:39:24So we're going down this little turn here.
0:39:24 > 0:39:31If my calculations are right, we should come back onto the Fosse Way.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33Does that look like it?
0:39:33 > 0:39:38It's Tarmac now, but as recently as 250 years ago,
0:39:38 > 0:39:42remnants of the original Roman surface survived,
0:39:42 > 0:39:48described even then as tightly paved and looking like a wall on its side.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52I would guess this is probably about 14 or 15 feet wide
0:39:52 > 0:39:57and this would have been the width they needed for
0:39:57 > 0:40:01moving soldiers, carts and chariots and what have you.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06In places, the Fosse Way has cut
0:40:06 > 0:40:09what looks like a canyon into the ground.
0:40:13 > 0:40:18You can see the trees and banks absolutely soaring high above.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24Now the road runs along the very bottom of a very dark crevice
0:40:25 > 0:40:28..and ahead continues...
0:40:30 > 0:40:31..pretty much in a straight line.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39The Romans were here for almost four centuries, and having come
0:40:39 > 0:40:42all this way, their high-flyers and bigwigs
0:40:42 > 0:40:46would certainly have demanded a decent place to live
0:40:55 > 0:41:01Ten years ago at Lopen, half a mile from the Fosse Way, archaeologist Alan Graham
0:41:01 > 0:41:06helped unearth evidence of some very impressive accommodation.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11I thought you were planting your spuds but it can't be that.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13Too deep even for my potatoes.
0:41:13 > 0:41:20After digging it up, the extraordinary find was covered over again to preserve it.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24So you and I are going to kneel side by side. I have been given
0:41:24 > 0:41:26a very elegant implement.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28Just show me where we're going to start.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31Basically, pull the earth towards you
0:41:31 > 0:41:34and see what happens. Does it feel solid?
0:41:34 > 0:41:36It feels extremely solid.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38You've got red there, look.
0:41:38 > 0:41:45It's a mosaic approaching 2,000 years old and part of a once-palatial Roman villa.
0:41:47 > 0:41:52You have to think of it as a standing building with stones walls and stone-tile roofs.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57Today we're only revealing a small part of it.
0:41:57 > 0:42:02The whole thing measures 12 metres by six.
0:42:02 > 0:42:03That's the start of the next panel.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05- This is going to be the exciting one. - Right.
0:42:05 > 0:42:10Oh, look at that. Two magnificent worms side by side.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13I don't want to cut them in half. It would be unkind.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16Look at them. Beauties.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18We're revealing... What do you think it is?
0:42:18 > 0:42:22This is one of the designs in a panel.
0:42:22 > 0:42:27If I was asked to guess I would say some sort of water creature.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29- Am I getting warm?- Yes.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Scores of Roman villas have been found in Somerset, many of them
0:42:33 > 0:42:39two-storey buildings with luxurious bath houses and under-floor heating.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43The Roman invasion of this part of the world was led by Vespasian, was it not?
0:42:43 > 0:42:49- They say apparently he started his working life as a street cleaner in Rome.- So you've been told.
0:42:49 > 0:42:55Eventually when he got back, became Emperor, went back to Rome, built the Coliseum.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00All a bit murky and muddy at the moment.
0:43:03 > 0:43:08You can see how filthy it is, but already the paler ones are showing up paler.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13I'm lost for words! I'm looking at a Roman fish.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17Come and stand beside me and let's look down on.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20It looks so much better from up here.
0:43:20 > 0:43:21You get a great view of it.
0:43:21 > 0:43:26It's wonderful. It's there, just as it was.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31They certainly had a sense of style, did they not?
0:43:31 > 0:43:33I think they did.
0:43:33 > 0:43:35And the creature -
0:43:35 > 0:43:42dolphin, sea snake, marlin, whatever - looks fantastic.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46It's a tribute to the skill of the people who made it.
0:43:58 > 0:44:03Beautifully engineered roads like the Fosse Way were part of the Roman legacy.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07But for hundreds of years, we let them go to ruin.
0:44:09 > 0:44:14By the mid-1700s the A303, like so many other roads,
0:44:14 > 0:44:18was in such a bad state that the Government was forced to act.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20"Yes," they told the public.
0:44:20 > 0:44:24"You can have new roads but you'll have to pay for them."
0:44:25 > 0:44:29In return for filling in all the potholes and ruts,
0:44:29 > 0:44:33the local groups of business men and investors
0:44:33 > 0:44:37were told they could charge for the use of the roads.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40They could demand tolls, which was a bit of an outrage, really.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44Fancy having to pay to use the king's highway.
0:44:47 > 0:44:52Toll roads, or turnpikes as they were known, sprang up everywhere,
0:44:52 > 0:44:56including here along the A303 near Ilminster,
0:44:56 > 0:45:01where you can still see the odd 19th century milestone.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03The section we're on now
0:45:03 > 0:45:09was probably a rather narrow lane that was heavily rutted.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12It was often said of pre-turnpike roads, the sloths
0:45:12 > 0:45:17that would fill with water would be so deep they could swallow a horse.
0:45:17 > 0:45:22Using income from tolls, rutted and waterlogged surfaces like this
0:45:22 > 0:45:27could now be upgraded to hi-tech engineering like this.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32The method was inspired by the Romans,
0:45:32 > 0:45:35but reinvented by a new breed of road-builders.
0:45:35 > 0:45:42Men like the Government's General Surveyor of Roads, John McAdam.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45McAdam realised that what you need were stones
0:45:45 > 0:45:48which were smaller than the width of the wheel.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51And they would lock together.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54I see. Who... It must have been a tremendous
0:45:54 > 0:45:59business, getting all these stones down cut to the right size?
0:45:59 > 0:46:03Well, it was the lowest form of manual labour, but it wasn't
0:46:03 > 0:46:06necessarily an unpopular form of labour.
0:46:06 > 0:46:08Because it was a kind of jobs that families could do.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11So the men would break the larger stones, and the women
0:46:11 > 0:46:13and children would sit by the side of the road,
0:46:13 > 0:46:17- breaking the stones. - Children!? Poor little children?
0:46:17 > 0:46:21Well, it's said the way they'd check the smallest stones had got to the
0:46:21 > 0:46:25right size was you would be able to get it in your mouth.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29- Whether it was the children's mouth or the surveyor's mouth is not clear. - Dear, oh, dear.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36The McAdam method transformed long-distance travel.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39But the new roads didn't come cheap.
0:46:39 > 0:46:41In the early 1800s,
0:46:41 > 0:46:46the Honiton Ilminster Turnpike charged one and six for each horse,
0:46:46 > 0:46:49almost as much as the average man earned in a day.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52Overall, in your view, the system worked?
0:46:52 > 0:46:55It had a very bad press towards the end.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58There were charges of local corruption and inefficiency,
0:46:58 > 0:47:00but I think if you take the broad view
0:47:00 > 0:47:03of it - the difference between what the road system was like
0:47:03 > 0:47:06before the Regency Period and by the middle of the Victorian Period,
0:47:06 > 0:47:08they made a significant improvement.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15The improvement didn't just happen at Ilminster.
0:47:15 > 0:47:20By the early 19th century, the entire A303 had been turnpiked,
0:47:20 > 0:47:21with incredible results.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29Before turnpikes, a journey from London to Exeter took four days.
0:47:31 > 0:47:36After turnpikes, it came down to 16 and a half hours.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42The Exeter London Royal Mail Coach, Quicksilver, led the pack,
0:47:42 > 0:47:47priding itself on the brevity of its rest stops.
0:47:47 > 0:47:52Ten minutes in Exeter, 13 minutes in Andover.
0:47:52 > 0:47:53And you were expected to eat
0:47:53 > 0:47:56your dinner in that time at 1.00 in the morning.
0:47:56 > 0:48:01And the necessary changes of horses were like Formula One pit-stops.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04Executed in a matter of seconds.
0:48:12 > 0:48:17At the Dillington Estate, close to the A303, William Hanning architect
0:48:17 > 0:48:20of the Honiton-Ilminster Turnpike Trust,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23basked in the glory of his achievement.
0:48:23 > 0:48:28But, for him, 16 and a half hours to London still wasn't fast enough.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32Which is why Hanning decided to invest in a new idea.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42Brainchild of the Victorian inventor Sir Goldsworthy Gurney,
0:48:42 > 0:48:46it was a stagecoach powered not by horses but by steam.
0:48:51 > 0:48:57To hear more, I'm meeting Dillington's present custodian and descendant of William Hanning.
0:48:59 > 0:49:06So, here we have Sir Goldsworthy Gurney's new steam carriage.
0:49:06 > 0:49:11Now, can you give me some idea of how this beast actually worked?
0:49:11 > 0:49:13It was this jet steam engine that
0:49:13 > 0:49:16was so much lighter than an ordinary steam engine.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19That was right at the back of the carriage.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23The big problem was that you had to ride on top of the actual boiler,
0:49:23 > 0:49:25and here's your chimneys.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28So I imagine a) it was quite dangerous
0:49:28 > 0:49:32and b) I suspect quite hot and probably dirty.
0:49:32 > 0:49:38Despite support from celebrities like the Duke of Wellington,
0:49:38 > 0:49:40seen here on a road test,
0:49:40 > 0:49:43the idea struggled to make a profit.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49The machine was targeted with sky-high toll charges
0:49:49 > 0:49:54and also on one occasion by an angry Luddite mob.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58Goldsworthy Gurney had blood coming from his head as a result
0:49:58 > 0:50:02of the attack, and they had to go and retire to an inn.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05Mind you, retiring to an inn was probably quite a good idea.
0:50:05 > 0:50:11Possibly this one where it says "good ales." That's what we need.
0:50:11 > 0:50:16The stagecoach managed to see off Gurney's steam carriage,
0:50:16 > 0:50:22but its own days were almost up, thanks to the coming of the railways.
0:50:22 > 0:50:27Toll roads were rapidly phased out, and the train reigned supreme.
0:50:30 > 0:50:36But when the age of motorised road transport finally dawned,
0:50:36 > 0:50:38the A303 was ready.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48This is the successor to Hanning's Turnpike.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55The modern A303 Ilminster bypass.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03With three lanes and no central reservation,
0:51:03 > 0:51:07it's one of the road's most notorious accident black spots.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11But it's not just drivers who are dicing with death.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20Joining me on the bypass is Arthur Boyt.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24I think that was a well-mashed badger, actually.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26Oh, really?
0:51:26 > 0:51:31Arthur is a man with a particular interest in the A303.
0:51:31 > 0:51:37It's my road of choice up to the London area.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40Partly because it's more direct than M4,
0:51:40 > 0:51:44but because there's always a lot of stuff to be found on it.
0:51:44 > 0:51:51I've picked up a lot of good dinners off the A303.
0:51:51 > 0:51:53A roe deer on one occasion.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56Look, look, look, look. We have a fox.
0:51:56 > 0:51:57A bit mashed up.
0:51:57 > 0:52:02There was a lovely badger right in the middle of the A303.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06And I knelt down in the middle of the road to photograph it
0:52:06 > 0:52:08as a lorry was coming the other way.
0:52:08 > 0:52:14I don't think he was sure what to do, but it made a beautiful picture.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18There's a badger! That's quite good condition.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22And this is very close to the spot where I picked one up,
0:52:22 > 0:52:24I would think, 15 years ago.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28And I took that home and ate it, yeah. Here's something coming up.
0:52:28 > 0:52:29What's this? That's a pheasant.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32Well, I think if we turn around somewhere here,
0:52:32 > 0:52:34maybe we can stop and investigate the pheasant.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45Where is the pheasant?
0:52:45 > 0:52:46Somewhere up here.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49Here it is here. Looks OK to me.
0:52:49 > 0:52:52The first thing is to get it out of the way.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55Pull it over here.
0:52:57 > 0:52:59Right, now, let's have a look.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01If I saw that, I'd say...
0:53:01 > 0:53:03It's a bit of all right.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05"A bit of all right," he says.
0:53:05 > 0:53:11It's had a bit of a wallop, but it's fresh. In fact, it is warm.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13It's still warm?
0:53:13 > 0:53:18It's been killed within the hour, I would say.
0:53:18 > 0:53:22No rigor mortis, see? It's had its head bashed a bit.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26It's a bit ironic that this bird has survived the shooting season
0:53:26 > 0:53:29and has now died on the road.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33But at least we can console ourselves with the thought
0:53:33 > 0:53:35that it has not died in vain.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38No, it's not going to be wasted.
0:53:38 > 0:53:43It'll probably get hung for a day or two, then I shall prepare it for a casserole.
0:53:43 > 0:53:48Can I ask you whether you'll be able to persuade your wife to share it with you?
0:53:48 > 0:53:50No. She's a vegetarian.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54And she doesn't really want to.
0:54:17 > 0:54:24This is it - the end of the last bit of dual carriageway on the A303 heading west.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27The last bit of big road.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29From now on,
0:54:29 > 0:54:34it turns into more of a country road.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38Bending and twisting its way into the Blackdown hills,
0:54:38 > 0:54:41and it's quite extraordinary
0:54:41 > 0:54:49how diminished it is from the grand highway that we remember back in the beginning.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53And we're now in Devon.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56The road is on its last legs, in a manner of speaking.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02For me, it's one final breakfast.
0:55:02 > 0:55:09Annie's Tea Bar is on the last lay-by, just yards from the end.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12Good morning, ladies.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14- Well, hello!- I need some breakfast.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16It's urgent.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18- Is it? - Nice morning, isn't it?
0:55:18 > 0:55:21It is. There we are. One large tea.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24Oh, look at that, eh? Brown sauce.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27You're a fine woman.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31We get asked now for cappuccinos and things like that.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34It's a truck stop, at the end of the day.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36That's what it is, you know.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38So if I came in and said, "Can I have a cafe latte?"
0:55:38 > 0:55:41- you'd just laugh at me. - I would, yeah.
0:55:43 > 0:55:48God bless Annie. The Highways Agency have taken her loos away,
0:55:48 > 0:55:50leaving her to install her own.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56The big chain diners have tried muscling in on her action.
0:55:56 > 0:56:00But she's a survivor.
0:56:00 > 0:56:01So, where you off to, Tom?
0:56:01 > 0:56:04Well, this is almost it. We're nearly at the end of the road.
0:56:26 > 0:56:3192 miles after I began, the A303 just ends.
0:56:33 > 0:56:38In a way, you could say it ends nowhere.
0:56:42 > 0:56:47No fanfare, no flourish, no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
0:56:49 > 0:56:54The A303 finishes just here,
0:56:54 > 0:56:59as the A30 comes in from the left,
0:56:59 > 0:57:04and the road west from now on is the A30.
0:57:04 > 0:57:05It's a cruel trick.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08Exeter is only 25 miles away,
0:57:08 > 0:57:13but the A303 is denied the glory of going all the way.
0:57:13 > 0:57:16I think there's something rather satisfying in a way,
0:57:16 > 0:57:22in this sudden ceasing to exist just at this point, at the whim
0:57:22 > 0:57:28of some highway engineer or the man who does the road signs.
0:57:31 > 0:57:37One thing I've learnt is that the bigger and faster the A303 gets,
0:57:37 > 0:57:39the less it reveals of itself.
0:57:42 > 0:57:43In 1969, at Andover,
0:57:43 > 0:57:48it was full of confidence in its present and its future.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54As I've travelled westwards, I've seen it narrowing,
0:57:54 > 0:57:59almost as if squeezed by a dawning uncertainty about itself.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02Frustrating for drivers, I know.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05But maybe not such a bad thing all round.
0:58:07 > 0:58:11Perhaps the A303 best serves its landscape
0:58:11 > 0:58:16not when shutting you off from it as you speed to the next horizon,
0:58:16 > 0:58:18but when it persuades you to slow down or stop,
0:58:18 > 0:58:22so you can revel in the horizon you've already reached.
0:58:23 > 0:58:29# You can find your way home on the 303
0:58:29 > 0:58:32# Let yourself go on the 303
0:58:35 > 0:58:37# Oh, on the 303
0:58:37 > 0:58:43# Well, hard times well, all I know is that
0:58:43 > 0:58:46# Dark times? Gotta let it go
0:58:46 > 0:58:49# Because I got my friends
0:58:49 > 0:58:50# And I love my friends
0:58:50 > 0:58:56# Got my friends, yeah right till the end. #