Dufftown to Aviemore Great British Railway Journeys


Dufftown to Aviemore

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In 1840, one man transformed travel in the British Isles.

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His name was George Bradshaw,

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and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.

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Stop by stop, he told them where to travel,

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what to see and where to stay.

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Now, 170 years later, I'm making a series of journeys across the length

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and breadth of these isles to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

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At the halfway point,

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my Scottish journey has brought me to the Highlands.

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Here in the rural county of Moray, small-scale industries

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based on high-quality local resources

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were transformed by the railways,

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and are now brand names sought out by connoisseurs across the globe.

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'Today, I learn how Victorian whisky trains were raided by robbers.'

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Do you think anyone's spotted us yet?

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I don't think so. I'll keep an eye out.

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'I traverse one of Scotland's most impressive viaducts.'

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Really is a spectacular piece of architecture and engineering.

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'And I discover that life isn't always sweet

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'on a shortbread production line.'

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Stop the conveyor belt! I want to get off!

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Using my 1880s Bradshaw's, this trip started in Stirling,

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passed through Perthshire, moved on to the granite city of Aberdeen

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and is now taking me west to Banffshire,

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thence to the classic lochs of the Highlands,

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to finish at John O'Groats.

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Today's leg begins in Dufftown, in north-eastern Scotland,

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indulges my sweet tooth in Aberlour,

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samples some luxury in Elgin,

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and, via Inverness, ends in mountainous Aviemore.

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My Bradshaw's has guided me onto these tracks

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which are carrying me towards Dufftown, of which my book says that

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"It is situated on the River Spey at the foot of a range of hills,

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"the principal and centre of which is Ben Rinnes.

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"A little further south lies Glenlivet."

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There's the clue. I'm travelling on the most northerly heritage railway

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in Britain - the Keith and Dufftown, also known as the Whisky Line.

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'Although its castle, Balvenie, dates back to the 13th century,

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'Dufftown was founded only in 1817, when James Duff, 4th Earl of Fife,

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'decided to create a new town,

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'where, following the Napoleonic wars,

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'local people could find work.'

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'Dufftown attracted a cluster of distilleries

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'for some of the most famous names in Scotch whisky.'

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'And I'm meeting senior guide Jennifer Proctor at one of them,

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'Glenfiddich, to find out why.'

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-Jennifer, hello.

-Hello, nice to meet you.

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Good to see you. What a stunning place.

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Beautiful setting in the hills.

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Why is it that great whisky is made here?

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Well, pretty much from what you can see, the surrounding countryside

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helps supply us with the barley that we need for the malt.

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It also gives us the water that we need,

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so the vital ingredients for making whisky.

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Originally, this area was perfect, as well,

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because of the transport links,

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so there's a great deal of railways in the area

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that could transport things that we didn't have here onto the site,

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but it also meant that we could take the finished product

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of the whisky off and then eventually transport it

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all around Scotland.

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And it's not just an historic thing. You're still making it today.

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Yes, we are.

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In 1886, founder William Grant set out to fulfil a lifelong ambition

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of creating the best dram in the valley.

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With the help of his seven sons and two daughters,

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William built his distillery in a single year.

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Their hard work was rewarded on Christmas Day 1887,

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when the first drop of spirit flowed.

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William named his distillery Glenfiddich,

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Gaelic for Valley of the Deer.

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What actually is distilling?

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Well, basically what we're trying to do is refine a beer-like liquid

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into a spirit that we can go on to put through the maturation process

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and eventually that will become whisky.

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Malted barley, water and yeast are the ingredients.

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Scotch malt whisky is produced from a natural chemical alteration

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of wort, a sugary liquid which is fermented in vats,

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then distilled in copper stills and finally matured in wooden casks.

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Would this be recognisable to a Victorian?

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Yeah. I mean, it's certainly larger in terms of its scale,

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but the process hasn't really changed a great deal over the years.

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The railways, then. What difference did they make?

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Well, essentially, all distilleries at that time

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pretty much had their own sidings

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and there was a lot more train lines, railway lines put in

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specifically for transporting goods like whisky,

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so really it was fundamental to the distilleries

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that these lines were put in place.

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Was there any downside to having the railways?

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There were a few, yeah.

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I mean, the most noticeable would have been the theft they found

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that happened from the trains themselves.

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Distillers, they kind of accounted for a certain amount of loss,

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but the trains often were very slow,

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and they would take a day or two to get from somewhere like Dufftown

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down to Glasgow, where the whisky was actually going to be going to.

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During that time, a lot of the time would be spent

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in very remote sidings, so they were unprotected.

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It was very easy for people to go and siphon off

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a little bit of whisky and take it home.

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Oh, I see. So they weren't taking a whole barrel,

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which would be quite challenging.

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No, they were just siphoning it off a cask,

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usually only a very small amount,

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enough for themselves, or maybe them and their friends.

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It wasn't huge quantities people were taking.

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I'm intrigued by these Victorian whisky thefts, and wonder whether

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Ian Macdonald, Glenfiddich's master cooper, can show me how it was done.

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Ian.

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Hello, Michael. How are you doing?

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-Very well.

-Nice to meet you.

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This is a first for me.

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I don't think I've ever met a cooper before.

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That's what you are, isn't it?

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Yes. I'm what they term a Master Cooper.

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I served a five year apprenticeship to become a craftsman.

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Ian, I'm thinking about my retirement,

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and I was thinking of turning to a little whisky theft in my old days,

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and I've been hearing a bit about it.

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How would I set about it then?

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We'll remove a hoop, we'll bore a hole and remove a bung

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and hopefully we can extract some of the good old whisky that way.

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Great. I can't wait.

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-Right, well.

-Right.

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OK, so what we'll do is just use a boring brace.

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Would you like to have a shot?

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Yep, let me have a shot at that.

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Put a wee bit of pressure on and twist it round at the same time.

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That's it.

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American oak is quite a hard oak, so you do need a really sharp bit.

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Do you think anyone's spotted us yet?

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No, I don't think so. I'll keep an eye out. You're OK.

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I can see the shavings of wood coming out.

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That's right.

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Whoa, we're through.

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We'll create a vacuum.

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Not too noisy.

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Whoa, there she flows!

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OK, here we go! Tilt her back.

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Oh, that is magnificent!

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You're spilling a bit there, Ian,

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but it doesn't matter as long as we get our bottle full.

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Are you paying?

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OK, up you go.

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Right, what do we do now to cover our crime?

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Oh, no problem.

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We'll just plug the hole.

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Look at that.

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So we'll just replace the hoop.

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That's it back on. Never know.

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It's as good as new, isn't it?

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It's just as well you work for the forces of law and order!

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Well, I'll just give you a wee souvenir.

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Thank you.

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Tastes all the better for being purloined.

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Good.

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Feeling both warm and mischievous,

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I'm proceeding by road to my next destination,

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the Speyside village of Aberlour.

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Thomas Telford, the renowned civil engineer,

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designed Craigellachie Bridge,

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spanning the River Spey about two miles north,

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but I'm in Aberlour for a different reason.

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Bradshaw's tells me that at Craigellachie,

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"the rail system divides into two, one of which runs along Strathspey,

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"the valley which gives its name to a highland dance,

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"passing in its route the station of Aberlour."

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Well, the station no longer has any trains.

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Nowadays, it's a cafe, feeding

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hungry Strathspey tourists taking a short break with shortbread.

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In 1898, Joseph Walker, a baker with a passion for shortbread,

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borrowed £50 and opened a shop.

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More than a century later, his shortbread,

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a blend of flour, butter, sugar and salt, is sold in 80 countries

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and its factory produces 500 million shortbreads a year.

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Joseph's grandson Jim is a joint managing director.

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-Hello, Michael.

-Hello, Jim.

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-Welcome to Walker's, welcome.

-Thank you very much.

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Come in, come in.

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The changing room second on your left,

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and we'll get togged up to go into the factory.

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Jim, Scotland really is

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enormously associated with shortbread, isn't it?

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Why do you think that is?

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Well, shortbread is one of those foods

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that is synonymous with Scotland, Michael.

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Scots can readily claim to have invented shortbread,

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and it's really always been part of Scotland,

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it's part of the heritage.

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The distances here are huge, aren't they?

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Yes, indeed. It seems a long way. The ovens are 60 metres long.

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And does the heat vary at different places in the oven?

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Yes, indeed. The heat varies right through the oven,

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so we end up at the end with a nice flash of hotter temperature

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to make the shortbread a nice golden brown,

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because that's exactly how it should be.

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-I'm going to introduce you to Pauline.

-Pauline, hello.

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-Hello. Pleased to meet you.

-You too.

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May I have a pair of gloves and then I can join in your work?

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Indeed, yes.

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-If you take two of the trays.

-Two trays.

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And then place three thistles in each of the compartments.

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Two, three.

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Two, three.

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One, two, three.

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This is like waltzing, isn't it? One, two, three.

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We got an empty one there, whoa!

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Sometimes its easier to do two at a time.

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-Oh, is it? Right. What, left hand, right hand?

-Exactly.

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OK. Let's try the double-handed approach.

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-One, two...

-Do it simultaneously.

-..three.

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One, two...

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..three.

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They go past pretty fast, don't they, Pauline?

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They do, really.

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You'll be a natural.

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This is a merciless process!

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Stop the conveyor belt! I want to get off!

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Shortbread has been attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots,

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who, in the mid-16th century,

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was said to be very fond of Petticoat Tails,

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a thin, crisp, buttery shortbread

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originally flavoured with caraway seeds.

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My next task is to feed 21st century shortbread

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into its wrapping machine.

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The two-handed technique.

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They're coming pretty fast and furious just at the moment.

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Get in there! Get in there!

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-You've really got to keep your wits about you, haven't you?

-You do.

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They're coming...

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You've got to be one step ahead the whole time.

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I'm going to have to leave a gap there. I missed a few there.

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It's like that nightmare in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, isn't it,

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where you unleash forces that you cannot control

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and they descend relentlessly upon you.

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The demands of mechanisation cannot be assuaged.

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Is there anyone to take over?

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Phew, what a relief. Thank you very much.

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Hello.

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Now this looks to me like the ultimate raw deal.

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Oh!

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Got to be pretty nimble.

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Ah!

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Thank you very much.

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Oh, no!

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This is definitely the worst ordeal I've been set today.

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This is...

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Help! Somebody, help!

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Well, Jim, I really enjoyed that,

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and I've done a lot of factory visits,

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and I'm not trying to butter you up,

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but this one really took the biscuit.

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Well, that's what we're all about, Michael. Thank you.

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'I've had a busy time learning about two of Scotland's

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'finest Victorian products,

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'and I'm hoping that at my final stop of the day

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'I can sample them both.'

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Ah, good evening.

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Hi, there.

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I see your pub's called The Mash Tun. What does that mean?

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That's correct. Well, a Mash Tun is a large receptacle used

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in the whisky-making industry.

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It's somewhere that they used to mix up all the ingredients,

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hence a good name for a pub.

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And I see that you stand just behind the railway station.

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Any connection with the railways?

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Yeah. This used to be the station refreshment rooms, initially,

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and then, obviously, once the railway station closed down in '65,

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it was then renamed The Mash Tun.

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After the day that I've had, could I have a glass

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of your local malt whisky and a stick of shortbread, please.

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Certainly.

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Thank you.

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There we are.

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Now, do not try this at home.

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Ah!

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A rush of sugar, butter and alcohol.

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'Refreshed and ready for the day ahead,

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'I'm continuing my journey by train from my nearest station, Keith.'

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'This small area of Scotland is known as the golden triangle,

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'because of the pure local water which allows companies to flourish

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'despite their remote location.

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'Today, I'll visit another industry that also benefited greatly

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'from the arrival of the railways.'

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My first destination today is Elgin, which my Bradshaw's tells me is

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"a borough five miles from the sea on the River Lossie.

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"It contains five chapels, a prison, a library, assembly rooms,

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"literary and horticultural societies, breweries,

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"gas and water works, woollen factory,

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"grammar school and free school."

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Now, amongst those, I know that the woollen factory still exists,

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so no material change there.

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'Elgin was a favourite hunting ground of early Scottish monarchs.

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'With its ancient cathedral

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'and lying either side of the River Lossie,

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'it grew steadily throughout the medieval period,

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'until by the 17th century it boasted fine buildings

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'that reflected the prosperity of its merchants.

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'When the railways arrived in the 1850s, business in the town boomed,

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'and firms like cloth manufacturers Johnstons of Elgin blossomed.

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'James Sugden is a director.'

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-James, hello.

-Good morning.

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Michael, good to see you.

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You're lost in your archives, I can see, which is not surprising

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because your company goes all the way back to 1797.

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Why was it that the woollen industry took off in this particular place,

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quite a remote place?

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We had a local supply of fibre from our sheep,

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and we had, also, that very important ingredient - water.

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Soft, Scottish water.

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During the 19th century, what were the developments in the business?

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James Johnston made tweed for the local market.

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As time went on, he moved into finer fibres, and with the advent of

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Queen Victoria, we moved into design fabrics, particularly tartans,

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and then the local estate tweeds.

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Because Queen Victoria actually rescues the tartan

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from being a, kind of, banned thing

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to being a fashion item in a short period of time.

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Yes, she made it very fashionable,

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and we produced a lot of tartan and still do, but the other thing

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that her advent to this district brought

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was this estate tweed business,

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making bespoke design fabrics for the upper class.

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This is what the servants wore indoors,

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but I suppose what they wore on the moors, as well?

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The ghillies, the keepers, the stalkers,

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they wanted camouflage,

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but then they also wanted fabrics that were distinctive

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and so, often, the wives of the laird would insist on

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little quirky over-checks and colourings

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that were perhaps not just camouflage,

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but were their own idiosyncratic designs.

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When did you get your railway here?

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1852, and that's when our export business really took off.

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I think in the next 40 years, our turnover went up by eight times

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and it was all based on the export business,

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but export in those days could have been considered London.

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And does that impact of the railways show up in your archives?

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This was 1859, and here's a customer in London still in existence,

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A Gagniere & Company, who are cloth merchants,

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and there's a lovely entry here which says "by rail all the way",

0:17:370:17:41

so that cloth came off the mill here, was taken to Elgin station

0:17:410:17:45

and went all the way to London, probably within a couple of days.

0:17:450:17:48

1859.

0:17:480:17:50

1859. Great.

0:17:500:17:52

James Johnston seized the opportunities afforded

0:17:520:17:56

by the railway, and also expanded his business

0:17:560:17:59

by negotiating a supply of a fine thread first made popular in Europe

0:17:590:18:04

some years earlier, by Napoleon Bonaparte.

0:18:040:18:07

What's this book showing us?

0:18:070:18:09

This ledger here shows us the first purchase of cashmere fibre...

0:18:090:18:13

Ah!

0:18:130:18:14

..which was really James Johnston's first venture

0:18:140:18:18

into exotic soft handling fibres,

0:18:180:18:20

and this was in 1850 from a company called A Buxton in London.

0:18:200:18:25

And cashmere, this is a goat?

0:18:260:18:30

It's a goat, largely bred in Mongolia,

0:18:300:18:34

and it's the soft underfleece of the animal,

0:18:340:18:37

so when the fleece comes off the animal, 50%, 60% is coarse hair

0:18:370:18:43

and the down is what we extract

0:18:430:18:45

to make, obviously, what people know as cashmere today.

0:18:450:18:48

This is cashmere?

0:18:480:18:49

That's pure cashmere from Mongolia, this is our raw material today.

0:18:490:18:52

Most of our raw material comes from that area.

0:18:520:18:55

Hmm, it is very, very soft.

0:18:550:18:56

And is that the finest thing you do now?

0:18:560:18:59

No, we do have one other fibre called Vicuna,

0:18:590:19:02

which I'll show you a sample of.

0:19:020:19:03

That's lovely soft stuff.

0:19:060:19:07

Is that more expensive than the cashmere?

0:19:070:19:09

Yes, it's ten times the price of cashmere.

0:19:090:19:12

Ten times.

0:19:120:19:13

And cashmere's ten times the price of wool.

0:19:130:19:16

Lovely.

0:19:160:19:17

Your company clearly has an amazing history,

0:19:170:19:19

but also, I think, a present and future,

0:19:190:19:21

and I'm going to go and look at your factory. Thank you so much.

0:19:210:19:23

-Thank you for coming, Michael.

-Bye.

0:19:230:19:25

'As with many companies,

0:19:280:19:29

'its success relies on the stability and loyalty of its workforce.'

0:19:290:19:33

'Generations of the same families

0:19:350:19:37

'have trodden the floors of this factory.

0:19:370:19:39

'They've taken raw fibre

0:19:400:19:42

'through every stage of the production process

0:19:420:19:44

'from design to weaving, to dyeing, to hand-crafted finishing.

0:19:440:19:50

'Yarn Manager Mike Matheson is from such a family.'

0:19:550:19:58

-Hello.

-Hello.

0:20:010:20:03

-You have the most wonderful colours here.

-Yes.

0:20:030:20:06

Beautiful dyes. Have you been in the business very long?

0:20:060:20:09

Yes, I've worked here since I left school, since I was 16,

0:20:090:20:12

served my apprenticeship here,

0:20:120:20:15

for 36 years I've been with Johnstons.

0:20:150:20:18

Congratulations. Were you an Elgin man, born and bred?

0:20:180:20:21

Yes, born and bred just up the road near Elgin.

0:20:210:20:24

My family are all Elginners, come from Elgin.

0:20:270:20:29

Any of them in the business before you?

0:20:290:20:31

Erm, yes, my great-auntie was here in the '50s, and then my mother,

0:20:330:20:36

she started here in the '60s and I started here mid '70s.

0:20:360:20:39

Will it go on through your family, do you think?

0:20:390:20:42

Yes, my daughter, my younger daughter, she's 24

0:20:420:20:45

and she works in the dye house,

0:20:450:20:47

so we're following on a sort of a family tradition,

0:20:470:20:49

of one of us being in Johnstons.

0:20:490:20:51

Well, let's hope it goes on for a long time yet.

0:20:510:20:53

-Thank you.

-Bye, now.

-Bye.

0:20:530:20:55

I wonder whether, even in a state-of-the-art textile house,

0:20:560:21:00

fine knitwear requires a human touch,

0:21:000:21:02

in its design and its finishing.

0:21:020:21:05

Marketing assistant Kirsty Cunningham should know.

0:21:050:21:07

During the 19th century,

0:21:090:21:11

the company was having to adapt to new tastes and demands.

0:21:110:21:14

Is it the same today?

0:21:140:21:16

Absolutely. We're very fortunate to have a big team of designers

0:21:160:21:20

based here in Elgin, woven designers, and we also have

0:21:200:21:23

a set of designers in our knitwear factory in Hawick

0:21:230:21:26

and both teams work really hard to keep up with

0:21:260:21:30

the fashions of today, but at the same time they're very fortunate,

0:21:300:21:33

especially the designers here in Elgin,

0:21:330:21:35

as they have fantastic resources like our archive room

0:21:350:21:38

where they can look through manuscripts

0:21:380:21:41

or swatches of fabric that date back to the 1800s.

0:21:410:21:45

And when you are exporting, do you think that it's helpful

0:21:450:21:47

not only that you're Scottish, but that it's a rural Scottish industry?

0:21:470:21:51

Yeah, I think definitely.

0:21:510:21:53

I think buyers today look for authenticity of product

0:21:530:21:56

and I think we're very lucky in that our product is 100% made in Scotland

0:21:560:21:59

and it has been for 215 years.

0:21:590:22:02

So, in spite of all these fantastic machines

0:22:020:22:05

we have in the factory nowadays, Michael,

0:22:050:22:08

one thing that is very special to Johnstons of Elgin

0:22:080:22:11

-is the teasel head.

-The teasel?

-Yes.

0:22:110:22:15

Now, we use these teasels to raise the pile of the cashmere

0:22:150:22:18

during the finishing process.

0:22:180:22:21

Now, if you look, you'll see there's very small little hooks

0:22:210:22:23

-on the end of the teasel.

-Yeah.

0:22:230:22:25

And it's those hooks that lift up the pile of the fabric,

0:22:250:22:28

and create that lovely rippled effect,

0:22:280:22:30

so if you look at this piece of cashmere here,

0:22:300:22:32

-you'll notice there's almost a ripple...

-Yes.

0:22:320:22:35

..and a shine, and that comes from the teasel.

0:22:350:22:37

And you've found nothing better?

0:22:370:22:39

Nothing that will replace the teasel.

0:22:390:22:41

And where do you get these things?

0:22:410:22:42

We buy these from Spain.

0:22:420:22:44

So in the land of the Scottish thistle

0:22:440:22:46

-you need the help of the Spanish teasel?

-Indeed.

0:22:460:22:49

'Cutting it fine, I'm bound now for Inverness

0:22:540:22:57

'where I'll change trains.

0:22:570:22:59

'I'm now directed south to the winter resort of Aviemore

0:23:080:23:11

'along one of the most picturesque lines in Scotland.'

0:23:110:23:14

Hi, I'm Michael, pleased to meet you.

0:23:180:23:20

This main line from Inverness down to Edinburgh hadn't been built

0:23:240:23:28

when my Bradshaw's was published,

0:23:280:23:29

and my guidebook gives me a clue as to why.

0:23:290:23:32

It says of Inverness-shire that

0:23:320:23:34

"The surface is, in general, extremely rugged and uneven,

0:23:340:23:38

"consisting of vast ranges of mountains separated from each other

0:23:380:23:42

"by narrow and deep valleys."

0:23:420:23:45

So no wonder the railway was constructed so late,

0:23:450:23:48

and there's no better place to get an idea of the challenge

0:23:480:23:52

presented to the railway engineer by this terrain

0:23:520:23:56

than in the driver's cab.

0:23:560:23:57

I'm riding the famous Inverness to Aviemore direct line.

0:24:020:24:05

It was opened in the 1890s to cut journey times south from Inverness.

0:24:050:24:10

And with two major rivers to cross

0:24:100:24:13

and a mountain pass of 1,315 feet to conquer,

0:24:130:24:17

building it was no mean feat.

0:24:170:24:19

Gordon, I can hear the train wearying

0:24:200:24:23

as it goes up this steep gradient.

0:24:230:24:26

Do you ever think about what it must have been like

0:24:260:24:28

for the engineers planning and building this line?

0:24:280:24:30

I couldn't imagine the work that must have gone into this.

0:24:300:24:33

It's a beautiful line, I must say.

0:24:330:24:35

At the moment, luckily, we're not seeing snow,

0:24:350:24:37

we're seeing some beautiful heather.

0:24:370:24:39

We're just at the right time of year now

0:24:390:24:40

to be seeing the heather coming out.

0:24:400:24:42

In winter, sometimes, its like a toboggan run,

0:24:420:24:45

just made for the train, because the snow is cleared for the train,

0:24:450:24:49

but on either side there's maybe three, four or five feet of snow.

0:24:490:24:53

This line really is a railway connoisseur's delight,

0:24:530:24:58

because just outside of Inverness,

0:24:580:25:00

standing to the east of the famous Culloden battlefield,

0:25:000:25:04

the longest masonry viaduct in Scotland, measuring 544 metres,

0:25:040:25:10

spans the River Nairn.

0:25:100:25:11

This is a moment I've really been looking forward to.

0:25:140:25:16

The line is descending quite steeply towards the Culloden Viaduct,

0:25:160:25:20

and very often you don't get a good view of a viaduct when you're

0:25:200:25:24

actually on it, but fortunately, as we approach it now, I can see it

0:25:240:25:27

curving round to the right.

0:25:270:25:29

I'm getting a very, very good view of it,

0:25:290:25:31

and it really is a spectacular piece of architecture and engineering.

0:25:310:25:37

Built over five years, using local quarry stone and completed in 1898,

0:25:450:25:50

like the rest of the line,

0:25:500:25:52

the Culloden viaduct was engineered by Sir John Fowler

0:25:520:25:55

and Murdoch Paterson.

0:25:550:25:56

I'm now headed to Aviemore to meet Anne Mary Paterson,

0:25:590:26:03

who's written a biography of her great-grand-uncle.

0:26:030:26:06

Hello, Anne Mary.

0:26:080:26:09

Oh, hello.

0:26:100:26:12

Hello, good to see you.

0:26:120:26:13

So, here you are admiring your great-grand-uncle's railway line.

0:26:130:26:17

That's right, yes.

0:26:170:26:18

I came over that viaduct just now, and it's a great structure.

0:26:180:26:22

What did he think of it?

0:26:220:26:23

He thought it was his masterpiece, but by the time

0:26:230:26:27

it was nearing completion, he was ill,

0:26:270:26:33

because he was long past retiring age, in his early 70s,

0:26:330:26:37

and he had been out in all weathers and so on

0:26:380:26:41

without proper protective clothing.

0:26:410:26:43

Did he get to see the viaduct completed?

0:26:430:26:46

No, he didn't see it completed.

0:26:460:26:48

He was staying in the station master's house at Culloden

0:26:480:26:51

and he realised that he was never going to go on a train across it,

0:26:510:26:55

so he asked the railwaymen if they would push him across on a bogie

0:26:550:26:59

and he could look and see if everything was all right

0:26:590:27:02

and give them orders about what should be done.

0:27:020:27:05

So they pushed him across and back again

0:27:050:27:08

and then he went to the house and he just died shortly after.

0:27:080:27:11

You must be very proud of your ancestor.

0:27:110:27:14

Yes, I am.

0:27:140:27:15

That was why I decided that I was going to write about him.

0:27:150:27:20

-Thank you, Anne Mary, very much. Bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.

0:27:200:27:24

Small towns in northern Scotland are home to major industries

0:27:310:27:35

that grew rapidly once the railways reached them.

0:27:350:27:39

The worldwide fame that they've since acquired

0:27:390:27:42

hasn't gone to their head.

0:27:420:27:43

They remain proudly Scottish,

0:27:460:27:48

commercially independent, rooted in their historic communities

0:27:480:27:51

and reliant on the skills of local people.

0:27:510:27:54

'On the next leg of this journey, I ride a picturesque railway.'

0:27:550:27:59

I have no words, I'm out of superlatives.

0:28:000:28:03

'I visit Scotland's smallest station.'

0:28:030:28:06

Nearly everyone has joined the queue to get off at the single door

0:28:060:28:10

that opens on the incredibly short platform at Beauly.

0:28:100:28:13

'And I go on a spa break, Victorian-style.'

0:28:130:28:16

After you've been hosed down with warm, salty water,

0:28:170:28:21

your doctor will probably have prescribed you

0:28:210:28:23

a glass of sulphurous water.

0:28:230:28:25

And would I be cured?

0:28:250:28:27

You might well be.

0:28:270:28:28

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0:28:460:28:49

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