0:00:05 > 0:00:10In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.
0:00:10 > 0:00:17His name was George Bradshaw and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
0:00:17 > 0:00:24Stop by stop, he told them where to travel, what to see, and where to stay.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29Now, 170 years later, I'm making a series of journeys across the length
0:00:29 > 0:00:35and breadth of the country to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00For the Victorian tourist, travelling by train
0:01:00 > 0:01:04was more than just a way of getting from one place to another.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06Particularly for those people who lived in industrial cities,
0:01:06 > 0:01:12watching a rural idyll drifting past the carriage window would be an education
0:01:12 > 0:01:18and the experience would be all the more improving if the tourist referred to his Bradshaw's Guide.
0:01:21 > 0:01:26As I venture deeper into Kent, I'm appreciating my Bradshaw's more than ever.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31A modern guidebook can point the way to historic artefacts but one a century-and-a-half-old
0:01:31 > 0:01:38unwittingly reveals the values of a society which modern Britons both mock and revere.
0:01:38 > 0:01:45Today I'm heading for Romney marsh, where the railways helped ensure the success of a special breed of sheep.
0:01:45 > 0:01:51It was quite an important route for my family. It was the closest station from where they lived.
0:01:51 > 0:01:57I'll be finding out why my guidebook compared Kent to the French Champagne region.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59That south-facing slopes that we see on the North Downs,
0:01:59 > 0:02:03that Bradshaw would have seen, is perfect terroir for Champagne.
0:02:03 > 0:02:09And discovering how the railways led Victorian Britain into the grip of fern fever.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13The nurseries would use the railways to send the plants to the customers.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18- So this amazing craze was helped on by the railways. - Oh, yes, definitely.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27I'm almost at the end of my journey from London, travelling 175 miles
0:02:27 > 0:02:32in a circuit through Kent, enjoying the county's rich history.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Having followed the coastline to Folkestone,
0:02:35 > 0:02:40now I'm making my way west, just over the border into Sussex.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45The final stretch starts in Westenhanger before
0:02:45 > 0:02:49passing through Ashford and ending at the seaside resort of Hastings.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00In the 19th century, the railway line snaking along the coast
0:03:00 > 0:03:07allowed hundreds of city dwellers to discover the rural villages of Kent.
0:03:07 > 0:03:13I'm alighting at Westenhanger, not much more than a tiny hamlet in Bradshaw's day.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21Having travelled around Kent, I feel like one of those Victorian
0:03:21 > 0:03:24urban tourists myself, because I've always lived in the metropolis.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29Of course, I have visited Kent, but I've never given it a proper tour, and I've found that it's not only
0:03:29 > 0:03:34a county of great natural beauty but fundamentally important to British history.
0:03:35 > 0:03:41Westenhanger is just my gateway to a remarkable English ecology,
0:03:41 > 0:03:47a windswept landscape of salt flats and shingle, Romney Marsh.
0:03:47 > 0:03:54Since the 11th century, settlers have attempted to tame this wild terrain.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57This spectacular panorama is Romney Marsh
0:03:57 > 0:04:03and Bradshaw says that it extends along the coast for 20 miles, including about 60,000 acres,
0:04:03 > 0:04:09which within the last few years have been successfully drained and cultivated.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14In fact, the land and sea have battled over this terrain for hundreds of years
0:04:14 > 0:04:21but now, with the provision of a sea wall and with constant drainage, the marsh is stable.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Reputedly a fearsome climate.
0:04:27 > 0:04:34In the 1700s, the marsh was shared between smugglers and malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Life expectancy was a mere 35 years.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44But the Victorians finally built sea walls strong enough to keep the waters at bay.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48The marsh may never have welcomed human life but a more hardy animal
0:04:48 > 0:04:50has thrived here, Romney Marsh sheep.
0:04:50 > 0:04:56Paul Boulden's family has been rearing them since the 1880s.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00- Paul.- Morning.- What a fantastic vista over the marsh, isn't it?
0:05:00 > 0:05:04- It is, it is.- It looks today like quite a gentle place,
0:05:04 > 0:05:07but it has a bit of a reputation, doesn't it, for being a bit spooky?
0:05:07 > 0:05:12Yes, most definitely. The mist comes in very quickly, just a run across the field.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16It looks quite eerie. The superstitious type would think it's full of spirits!
0:05:16 > 0:05:19This leads down to the sea and it's completely flat.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21It's all been reclaimed at one time?
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Yes, predominantly.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Everything you can see here's been reclaimed over past centuries.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30And what sort of a soil has that given us down there?
0:05:30 > 0:05:33It's a rich, alluvial silt, really.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35- Pretty fertile?- Yes, very fertile.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40Hence the amount of crops down there now, not so much grass.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Have you any idea how long the Romney Marsh sheep has been here?
0:05:43 > 0:05:46It's been on the marsh for over 1,000 years.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49I believe the Romans probably brought them in initially.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53As time's gone on, they've evolved, really, to what they are today.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57- Good for wool and for meat? - Yes, a dual purpose breed.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02Being resistant to disease and able to feed on the boggy pasture,
0:06:02 > 0:06:06these sheep are well adapted to the damp, harsh conditions.
0:06:06 > 0:06:11Their meat is particularly sought after as it picks up a salty flavour from the marsh.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15The railway arrived at Smeeth in 1852.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19By the 1890s, Paul's family was using it on a weekly basis.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23It was quite an important route for my family.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25It was the closest station
0:06:25 > 0:06:27from where they lived.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31They were living on the end of the marsh and from there on to the marsh.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36Paul preserves a Victorian farming diary kept by his great grandfather.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39It's just sort of day-to-day jobs of what they were doing on the farm.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44But there's references, which are very apt, to the railway station nearby.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48This one here, Jan 14th 1895.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52"100 trusses straw to Smeeth station for a Mr Hook."
0:06:52 > 0:06:56There's one here, "31st January, 1894.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59"One horse to Smeeth station for coals."
0:06:59 > 0:07:03It really shows sheep farming has been going on here quite a while,
0:07:03 > 0:07:08but the farmers were adapting pretty well to using the railway to keep themselves supplied?
0:07:08 > 0:07:14Very much so. They cut a lot miles, I suspect.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18Trains could carry sheep to markets all over the country.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23By the second half of the 19th century, the breed had become
0:07:23 > 0:07:27so popular that it was exported to most of the world's continents.
0:07:27 > 0:07:33Today, 70% of New Zealand sheep are descended from Romney Marsh specimens.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36What are their main physical attributes?
0:07:36 > 0:07:38They're are a strong-bodied sheep, strong on the legs.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43They've got good, sound feet. That's one of the main characteristics coming off the Romney Marsh.
0:07:43 > 0:07:51It's a traditionally wet landscape, so they've got good tolerance to foot rot, living in wet mud, really.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Your family's been farming sheep here for a long time.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Would your great-great grandfather recognise these sheep?
0:07:57 > 0:08:01Yes, very much so. They've probably got a bit less wool on their head.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05They'd have been more woolly 140 years ago or so.
0:08:05 > 0:08:12In Bradshaw's day, Romney Marsh had an unusual system of freelance shepherds called "lookers".
0:08:12 > 0:08:18They lived out on the marsh in tiny brick huts for weeks at a time, keeping a close eye on the flock.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22These days, Paul checks on the sheep himself.
0:08:22 > 0:08:27- Catch a good one, one that's... - I recommend you catch a small one!
0:08:27 > 0:08:30If I can get near it! They're going to be a bit lively!
0:08:30 > 0:08:32Oh, Lord!
0:08:34 > 0:08:37- So, first catch yourself a sheep. - Yes.
0:08:37 > 0:08:42You're rather good at catching sheep because you would get the sheep like this to shear?
0:08:42 > 0:08:47- Something like this. - And you shear a sheep, where's that wool destined for?
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Well, all our wool goes through
0:08:50 > 0:08:54the British Wool Marketing Board, it goes into the local wool growers
0:08:54 > 0:09:00in Ashford, and then it's graded there and then it's sold on the wool exchange at Bradford.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03But Romney Marsh wool, still pretty highly regarded?
0:09:03 > 0:09:06Yeah, for its versatility, really.
0:09:06 > 0:09:11Although the historic exchange is no longer used for trading,
0:09:11 > 0:09:14the wool is still regularly auctioned in Bradford.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19And just as in Bradshaw's day, it's mainly used in carpets and clothes.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22This sheep is destined for quite a nice life.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Once a year, it's got to put up with the indignity of being sheared,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27got to produce a fair number of lambs, but that's it.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30- That's not too bad, is it? - No, that's right.
0:09:30 > 0:09:36We'd like to try to rear 1.5 lambs from the sheep,
0:09:36 > 0:09:41- although on average it's 1.3. - Per year?- Per year.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44Are you ready to have 1.3 lambs?
0:09:44 > 0:09:47- Yeah, I think she's all set. - Good, good.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53It's time for me to bid farewell to these distinguished sheep
0:09:53 > 0:09:57and return to Westenhanger Station to catch my next train.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00I was hoping to see a Eurostar rush by on the special tracks
0:10:00 > 0:10:05on the other side of this barbed wire fence, but none has passed.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08I shall be moving closer to Victorian speed.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12I'm travelling 11 miles to Ashford.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19The line runs parallel to the high speed route to the continent, but a century-and-a-half
0:10:19 > 0:10:25before the channel tunnel was built, my guidebook was already reminded of France.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28Bradshaw's describes this part of the line, between Ashford and the
0:10:28 > 0:10:36coast, as "swerving slightly to the south east and having on each side a delightful Champagne country."
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Now, it must be because it reminded him of Champagne
0:10:39 > 0:10:45in France, because as far as I know, in Victorian times, they didn't grow grapes here for sparkling wine.
0:10:45 > 0:10:51But now they do, so Bradshaw's was clairvoyant. Spooky.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Although vines have been grown in England since Roman times, Britain
0:10:58 > 0:11:04last attempted wine-making on a commercial scale in Bradshaw's era.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Wealthy Victorians returned from their rail tours of Europe
0:11:07 > 0:11:10inspired by continental viniculture to try their hand.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14'We will shortly be arriving at Ashford International.'
0:11:14 > 0:11:19But their efforts fizzled out before World War I and only in the 1950s
0:11:19 > 0:11:22did a successful British wine industry emerge.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25I'm come to the most beautiful setting of a vineyard.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30I suppose it could be France but the treeline is entirely English.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35Wine producer Fraser Thompson is just weeks away from harvesting this year's growth.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38- What a very beautiful place. - Thank you.
0:11:38 > 0:11:45My Bradshaw's guide compares this terrain to Champagne, but I guess
0:11:45 > 0:11:50there were probably no vineyards around when that was written in the 1860s.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55Very few. In fact, English wine's really gone through something of
0:11:55 > 0:11:57a revolution in last 30 to 40 years.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01Is there anything about the terrain to remind a Victorian of Champagne?
0:12:01 > 0:12:06Very much so. The first thing you see, of course, when you come into England is this great mass of chalk.
0:12:06 > 0:12:12And to a Frenchman arriving, thinking about champagne, chalk, well that's manna, that's terroir for champagne.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16And of course, this great seam of chalk goes up through the North
0:12:16 > 0:12:20Downs, and it turns to be facing broadly southwards, and south facing
0:12:20 > 0:12:25slopes that we see on the North Downs, that Bradshaw would have seen, is perfect terroir for Champagne.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33Kent is just 220 miles away from Champagne in France, so it's not
0:12:33 > 0:12:36so surprising that there are similarities between the regions.
0:12:36 > 0:12:42The cooler English climate actually works in the wine grower's favour,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45producing sharper, refreshing, less-alcoholic wines
0:12:45 > 0:12:49to suit tastes which have evolved since Bradshaw's day.
0:12:49 > 0:12:55Back in the Victorian era and perhaps earlier in the 20th century,
0:12:55 > 0:12:59we'd have been experiencing and wanting bigger, warmer, fleshier,
0:12:59 > 0:13:03more alcoholic wines, with different flavour profiles, different sweetnesses.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Now, of course, people want acidity, freshness
0:13:06 > 0:13:09and low-alcohol, and that's exactly what English wines can provide.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13- These grapes here, what are they? - This is chardonnay, grown in England.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17It'll go towards making great blanc de blancs sparkling wine.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21Do you want to try one? At this stage, what you'll get is mainly acids.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24You can get some other fruit in there, though.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28That acidity is what is going to make your mouth water.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31That's what we're going to need to make great sparkling wine.
0:13:31 > 0:13:37That's the very wine in fact that England's won one of world's greatest wines for.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39- Blanc de blancs?- Yeah.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44In fact, one of our competitors did a fantastic job and produced
0:13:44 > 0:13:47a blanc de blancs sparkling wine in 2006,
0:13:47 > 0:13:52and it's beaten all competition from all over the world to make the best sparkling wine in the world.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56- Including French? - Including French, New Zealand, everywhere else in the world.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00Hopefully, if Bradshaw was to write a book in 200 years' time,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04he'll say perhaps compare somewhere else to the great vineyards of south-east England.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06It would be wonderful.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11What distinguishes champagne and other sparkling wine is that it's fermented twice -
0:14:11 > 0:14:16once in the vat and again in the bottle, which creates the bubbles.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Dom Perignon is often credited with inventing the process.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23In fact it was first documented in the 1660s
0:14:23 > 0:14:28by an Englishman, Christopher Merrit, in a paper for the Royal Society.
0:14:28 > 0:14:34So the wine's arrived here, the final part of the journey for a bottle of sparkling wine.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39It has arrived here upside-down, as the French call it, sur pointe.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43At sur pointe, all the yeast used to make the bubbles and the extra
0:14:43 > 0:14:49alcohol used to make the sparkling wine is condensed into a little crust at the bottom of the bottle.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51So it's upside down and, by the time we enter the machine here,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55it comes off the other end a perfect bottle of sparkling wine.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01Corked and caged, the wine bottles are then cleaned and labelled,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04and I'm curious to know what remains to be done.
0:15:04 > 0:15:10- How long after that before you can actually drink it?- Straightaway.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13The moment it comes off this machine behind you it's drinkable.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17There's some debate about whether a month or two of cork age will do it
0:15:17 > 0:15:24any good, but essentially it's very drinkable - very, very drinkable - the moment it comes off this machine.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Very drinkable, you say. Shall we put it to the test?
0:15:28 > 0:15:31More sparkling wine is sold here than in France and, for the first
0:15:31 > 0:15:37time, England is competing seriously in the international wine stakes.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40That's what I call a picnic basket!
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Well, let's hope you like the contents. Cheers.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Cheers.
0:15:46 > 0:15:51Wow! Powerful taste of fruits. Mmm.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53It's a bang-on mouthful of flavour.
0:15:53 > 0:15:54Yeah. What am I getting?
0:15:54 > 0:15:57- Apple certainly. - You're probably getting some apple.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02You're almost certainly getting some wild strawberries and maybe even a little bit of shortcake.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06I don't think my sample was quite big enough for me to get all the flavours.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08Shall we just top you up with a little bit more?
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Thank you.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13I even like the noise.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Cheers again!
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Nicely stimulated by my glass of English fizz, I'm ready to
0:16:21 > 0:16:25find a hotel for the night, and my guidebook has a suggestion.
0:16:25 > 0:16:30Time for bed and, thanks to my Bradshaw's, I can continue the champagne life.
0:16:30 > 0:16:38He recommends Eastwell Park, this fantastic pile, which was the seat of the Earl of Winchilsea.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42He tells me it's the place where Richard Plantagenet, the last
0:16:42 > 0:16:46descendant of that royal household, breathed his last.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51The story is that the boy was told by his father, Richard III, just before
0:16:51 > 0:16:57his death at the Battle of Bosworth, to keep his identity a secret, so that he wouldn't face persecution.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01Bradshaw tells me that Richard Plantagenet
0:17:01 > 0:17:08"died in obscurity as a bricklayer to the family who lived here in 1550".
0:17:08 > 0:17:10Well, it's a good story.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14This may or may not be the last resting place
0:17:14 > 0:17:19of Richard III's illegitimate son, but it'll do splendidly as a resting place for me.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22- Good evening.- Mr Portillo. Welcome to Eastwell Manor.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24Very good to see you. Have you got a room for me?
0:17:24 > 0:17:26Indeed. We have Broderick for you.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29I was hoping for Plantagenet.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34- It's a much nicer room on the grounds side of the manor. - Thank you.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39Oh, yes! Suitably grand...
0:17:44 > 0:17:48And a vista over the formal gardens.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51One of the prettiest views in Kent.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04The next morning I'm moving on to the last leg of my journey.
0:18:04 > 0:18:10So it's back to Ashford to catch my final train.
0:18:10 > 0:18:16For the first time since I began my trip, I am on a diesel, not electric, train.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20I'm quitting Kent for Sussex, headed for one of the best known
0:18:20 > 0:18:27places on the British coast, Hastings, famous for 1066 and all that.
0:18:29 > 0:18:35I'm heading about 25 miles along the line towards the sea.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37'Now approaching Hastings.'
0:18:49 > 0:18:54Hastings. This was one of the first towns, along with Eastbourne and Ramsgate,
0:18:54 > 0:19:01to offer a service early on a Monday morning, so that London workers could get back to their offices.
0:19:01 > 0:19:06That gave rise to a new kind of holiday, from Saturday to Monday morning.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11It wasn't until 1870 that the Oxford dictionary recognised
0:19:11 > 0:19:17a new phenomenon, and entered for the first time the word "weekend".
0:19:18 > 0:19:21In the second half of the 19th century,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25weekend breaks by train became popular with middle-class Victorians.
0:19:25 > 0:19:31Hastings grew from a small fishing town to a lively seaside resort.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34"The openness of the coast" says Bradshaw, "and the smoothness
0:19:34 > 0:19:38"of the beach have long made Hastings a favourite resort.
0:19:38 > 0:19:44"The water's almost limpid and of that beautiful sea-green hue so inviting to bathers.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47"A very efficient substitute for a trip to Madeira."
0:19:47 > 0:19:51So scrap the package holiday and buy a train ticket.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55The railways didn't boost tourism alone.
0:19:55 > 0:20:02In the 1860s, as trains conveyed fresh herring to London, fishing flourished too.
0:20:02 > 0:20:09I'm heading to a famous area of the Hastings beach called The Stade to meet fisherman Budd White.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13- Hello, Budd!- Hello, there.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15- Not interrupting?- No, not at all.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19I go around using this 19th-century railway guide book.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Your great-grandfather, your grandfather - do you think they
0:20:22 > 0:20:25were using the railways to send their fish elsewhere?
0:20:25 > 0:20:28They certainly were.
0:20:28 > 0:20:34I'm not certain of the dates - probably late 1800s - directly the rails were
0:20:34 > 0:20:36up and running to London
0:20:36 > 0:20:39they could get their mackerel from here to London
0:20:39 > 0:20:43early enough to get to market - I presume Billingsgate -
0:20:43 > 0:20:46and they got a much better price for several years.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50My great-grandfather did very well indeed.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55There's no harbour here so, on their return from fishing, the boats must be hauled onto the beach.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00From necessity, they tend to be smaller than elsewhere, as are their catches.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03People these days are very worried about sustainability.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07So your small catches presumably mean you're quite respectful of the fish stocks.
0:21:07 > 0:21:14Absolutely. Over the years, you're brought up with the fact that all the small fish is your future,
0:21:14 > 0:21:16so you get it back in the sea as quickly as possible.
0:21:16 > 0:21:23All the fish we return to the sea, with the exception of a very small percentage, is alive and survives.
0:21:23 > 0:21:29Your boats on the beach are part of what makes Hastings distinctive -
0:21:29 > 0:21:31picturesque.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34The other thing are the net lofts behind. Tell me about those.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38They were used originally for drying nets.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41When the likes of my great-grandfather and grandfather
0:21:41 > 0:21:48were fishing, for each type of fish they were catching, herrings, sprats, there was a different size mesh.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53They used to use the different floors of the sheds for particular nets.
0:21:53 > 0:21:59They'd have mackerel nets on the first floor, herring nets on the next floor, sprat nets on the next floor,
0:21:59 > 0:22:03because it wasn't that easy to tell one net from the other.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08These days, wider mesh nets are used to catch only mature fish.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13That's earned Hastings a sustainable fishing certificate from the Marine Stewardship Council.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18- Hello, there!- Hello, Michael! - What lovely-looking fish.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20- Thank you very much. - What's local, then?
0:22:20 > 0:22:22Skate, plaice fillets, whiting...
0:22:22 > 0:22:25- All local?- All local, yeah.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27Tell me about public taste.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30- Is there a change in public taste over the years?- Definitely, yes.
0:22:30 > 0:22:31What are they into now?
0:22:31 > 0:22:38When I came and worked here with my mum and dad at 16, it was cod, haddock, plaice.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40That was the majority of it.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43Now, with people travelling so much,
0:22:43 > 0:22:47they see different things abroad, and they realise they can get it here in the UK.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50They realise that, see it on the counter,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54and are willing to try it, so we sell more and more of that stuff.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57Would you say Hastings was a pretty good place to buy and eat fish?
0:22:57 > 0:23:04Definitely. Yeah. A shop like ours - ten paces from the boat that caught a lot of this stuff.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09Hastings has a lot to offer fish-wise. We get such a variety down here.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15Before I leave Hastings, I'm setting out along the cliffs to
0:23:15 > 0:23:20a place that became hugely popular with the Victorians, Fairlight Glen.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24It inspired a lyrical description in my guidebook.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27I wish I had more time here.
0:23:27 > 0:23:34Bradshaw says, "A week may be delightfully spent exploring the fairy-like nooks around Fairlight
0:23:34 > 0:23:40"Glen, situated in a sweet umbrageous spot, down which, by narrow, winding
0:23:40 > 0:23:46"steps, hewn out of the solid rock, one only can descend at a time."
0:23:46 > 0:23:48I'm here to discover
0:23:48 > 0:23:52a Victorian craze.
0:23:52 > 0:23:57My guidebook displays symptoms of fern fever, an obsession with
0:23:57 > 0:24:01feathery green plants that gripped the Victorians for several decades.
0:24:01 > 0:24:08Fairlight Glen, with its secret forests and abundant ferns, captured the Victorian imagination.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13I'm meeting garden historian Dr Sarah Whittingham to discover why.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15Sarah, hello!
0:24:15 > 0:24:19- Hello!- Why did the Victorians have such a passion for ferns?
0:24:19 > 0:24:22It was the heyday of natural history.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27If they weren't hunting for ferns, they were out tapping rocks with hammers, trying to find fossils,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30or catching butterflies or looking into rock pools, that sort of thing.
0:24:30 > 0:24:35It was first time you got the middle classes, who had villas
0:24:35 > 0:24:41and houses in the centre of town with a small garden they wanted to fill with plants and flowers.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46Ferns were seen as magical plants with, some believed, the power to make you invisible.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51Books identifying almost 2,000 varieties were published
0:24:51 > 0:24:53to aid the fern-mad Victorians.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57The craze even had a name, pteridomania.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59The railways enabled amateur collectors to widen
0:24:59 > 0:25:04their hunt for specimens and a fern by mail order business developed.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07The light really is pretty and I can just imagine Victorians
0:25:07 > 0:25:11getting on the railways and coming to remote-ish spots like this, looking for their ferns.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14That's right, but they didn't have to come out to these places.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17They could just buy their ferns from nurseries.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20The nurseries would use the railways to send plants to the customers.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24So the middle classes could buy whatever they needed for their gardens?
0:25:24 > 0:25:30They could. They could buy ferns from a professional fern tout, and they certainly used the railways.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34They would come out to places like this. They'd ransack the countryside.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39They'd send up huge amounts of ferns in hampers, up to the towns.
0:25:39 > 0:25:45They'd follow them up and then tout them door-to-door or sell them on street corners.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50- So this amazing craze was helped on by the railways.- Oh, yes.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54- Definitely.- But all those Victorians hoping to recreate a slice of
0:25:54 > 0:25:58country life in their urban houses found it to be harder they thought.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03So when Victorians take all their ferns back to their gardens, do they thrive
0:26:03 > 0:26:06- in the city? - No - that was the major problem.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Of course Victorian cities were very polluted.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13Luckily, a doctor in the east end of London, Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, who
0:26:13 > 0:26:18was a very keen fern grower, found a way of successfully growing ferns.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22He invented the Wardian case.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Which was what? A little kind of conservatory?
0:26:26 > 0:26:30That's right. Like the terrariums popular in the in the 1960s and '70s.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34They came in all shapes and styles, all sizes.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38It became the thing to have in your drawing room in the 1850s.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42Fern fever took root, and feathery leaves made their
0:26:42 > 0:26:46appearance on wallpaper, tea cups and chamber pots.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50Even in architecture they adorned columns and railings.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57It's now time for me to leave the enchanted forest and Hastings.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00I've reached the end of the line for this journey and
0:27:00 > 0:27:05my trusty guidebook supplies me with a suitable way to say goodbye.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09Bradshaw's commends the view "reaching from Beachy Head
0:27:09 > 0:27:16"to Dover Cliffs, between 70 and 80 miles apart, and stretching out to the heights of Boulogne.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20"The best time for seeing it is in the afternoon.
0:27:20 > 0:27:26"Upon favourable atmospheric influences, it is a view never to be forgotten."
0:27:26 > 0:27:31As I look back on my journey, I thank George Bradshaw for guiding
0:27:31 > 0:27:35me from the heart of London to the cliff's edge,
0:27:35 > 0:27:39from the nation's capital to the end of England.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42On my next journey, I'll be travelling up the West
0:27:42 > 0:27:47Coast of Scotland on a railway voted the world's most scenic.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49Along the way, I'll be discovering how the
0:27:49 > 0:27:54Victorians built a weather station atop Britain 's highest mountain.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57People having to go up there and take the readings?
0:27:57 > 0:27:59They didn't have to go up there, they had to live up there.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03Finding out how the railways spread the word about whisky...
0:28:03 > 0:28:07This is from pretty much the exact time the railways arrived in Oban.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11I can see the railway here. Here's the station, here's a train puffing along.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16And crossing a pioneering viaduct, one of Britain's most spectacular.
0:28:16 > 0:28:23Somehow the wheels gripping the wet rails and now we're on the wonderful Glenfinnan viaduct.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35Subtitles by Red Bee Media