Episode 2 Pembrokeshire: Coastal Lives

The Pembrokeshire Coast Path.

For 186 miles it winds its way through secret coves,

past majestic beaches and over awe-inspiring cliffs.

It regenerates our batteries.

You can get out of the rat race and you can just walk.

God's own country here. I'm very lucky.

Even on a winter day, when it is cold and miserable,

this still looks beautiful.

Throughout the hot summer of 2013

we've followed the lives of the locals

who live, work and play in the Welsh paradise.

She is doing fine.

That is the first lobster we have seen.

Thank you!

This is their summer. This is their story.

Coming up - a local legend celebrates a special birthday...

I haven't drank much, have I?

..a business is at risk from the sea...

Might be a floating ice cream van!

..and a pigeon race becomes a pigeon battle!

The hot summer of 2013 has brought the coastal path into bloom.

Up north in the tiny hamlet of Llanwnda

it's been a peaceful start to the season for the Knapp-Fishers

and their informal stop-off for walkers, The Fairy Cafe.

But the tranquillity is about to be shattered.

Sculptor and recycling guru Buzz Knapp-Fisher is busy

erecting his latest invention.

Wow! That is brilliant!

Yes, because we have had the cafe, we have two questions, basically.

The first question is, "Where is the coast path?"

Which is sort of in that direction. That is quite an easy one.

The second question is, "Have you got a toilet?"

Especially if they have just had a cup of tea.

And the answer is, "No, we haven't."

Local planning laws dictate that Buzz can't have a

permanent toilet outside, but, ever inventive,

Buzz has come up with a way around this.

So here is the toilet, which is on wheels.

We can then move it around the village.

So we can park it in various locations.

And because of the long picture window, here,

which is made from a Ford Escort Mk I window,

we are sort of thinking, perhaps, loo with a view.

The thing about when you re-use stuff,

things don't always fit the way you would like them to fit.

So then you spend a lot of time adjusting it.

Just, literally, spontaneously putting things together,

seeing how it works.

It will have a compost toilet,

which we will be using to collect waste for methane.

There is the ventilation system. So, here is the battery.

And we thought we would have a two-speed switch.

So we've got, one, that is the fan going there.

And then number two, is the faster fan, which extracts the air quicker.

Then, what we thought we would do is we would have smelly or very smelly.

If it is very quiet and there is nobody about,

we have actually got an outside toilet,

which we're building at the moment, or I am building.

It will have a bucket in here, so it will be pretty simple.

That closes over, that closes up.

So, for fun, more than anything else,

you can then open that and then, sit, out in the open.

How many will use that? I am not actually certain!

No time to sit around and enjoy the view though.

As Buzz continues his build,

Park Warden Ozzy Duffy-Morris is also hard at work

as part of the dedicated team

that maintain the Pembrokeshire Coast Path.

I mustn't bend this saw now. They cost a lot of money!

But today, Ozzy has more than work on his mind. Pigeons!

As with every Friday night, Ozzy is off to Milford Haven FC

to meet up with the rest of his pigeon racing mates -

Ditchy, Boggle and Ferret.

Yes, it seems that a good nickname is essential

to being a top pigeon racer.

He is good on old birds. We were good on young birds, last season.

But he is having a better season, this season, on young birds.

Tomorrow, the boys will send their young birds

into their first big race and everyone wants to bag a win.

It is usually pigeons on a Friday night.

And we usually leave here about 3am in the morning!

-We'll talk at the top of my street for half an hour.

-Where did he go?

He slept in the shed. He had carpet wrapped around him...

before a race, last year.

The next morning, and Ozzy, Ditchy, Boggle

and Ferret are at the Milford Haven Pigeon Racers HQ.

This is the marking station.

-They register in those booths for this race.

-Cook. 99. 115.

Each bird has been lovingly hand-reared and now,

at just six months old, they are ready to compete.

But with a price tag of around £40 for a good racing bird

and reputation at stake, the rivalry between Boggle and Ozzy is fierce.

-These are Boggle's.

-Just be careful the fleas don't bite!

-You're not supposed to handle your own birds, are you?

-He cheats!

Keep an eye on him! He is a bit shifty!

The entries are in and Ozzy and Boggle

decide to have a little flutter of their own.

-I am 108. See that bird fly!

-Number? 50.

-There you go. Now then, boys.

Money, and all honours.

All bets are on!

May the worst man win!

The lorry arrives to take the birds to the race start

124 miles away in England.

This will be the first time that the Milford Racers' young birds

have crossed the border, and some may not make it home.

Crucial race, this. Very crucial race.

Can be an awful race, the first race.

It was only 86 miles, we lost a lot of birds.

So I am hoping for everybody to return, especially myself, like.

There we are, boys. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

See you tomorrow. I hope!

With its beautiful lily ponds, the tiny village of Bosherston

is a honey pot for walkers and holidaymakers.

But the scenery isn't the only attraction.

Here you'll find a local legend.

Here's your tea for four.

For over 60 years, Vai Weston, or Auntie Vai as she is known,

has run Ye Olde Worlde Cafe in Bosherston.

Nearly had a fall on my bottom then!

This is my husband's grandad,

who had an MBE for his work in the War Office.

He was a Londoner, you know? I didn't hold it against him!

That is my brother. He was lovely. That was taken in America,

when he was training to be a Spitfire pilot.

That was when I went to the Palace. That is my medal.

Not everybody can say that, can they?

Customers say to me, "Why did you have your MBE?"

I said, "For chatting so much!"

In just a few days' time, Auntie Vai will celebrate

her 92nd birthday.

But for now, there are hundreds of hungry holidaymakers to feed.

Cheese on toast. That is our big seller.

Isn't it nice, to see the sunshine?

This is what I call the pavilion.

That cost my father and mother £40 in 1932.

It reminds me of a cricket pavilion

when you're having tea, you know, at half-time?

That's £1 and £1.70. £2.70, please.

-Are you enjoying this nice day?

-Yes!

Over the years, Auntie Vai's cafe and small shop

have attracted many famous visitors.

Russell Crowe came, you know? He was filming at Freshwater West

and he had chosen five packets of Rowntree's pastilles.

He gave a £2 coin, and I pushed back over the counter £1.50.

And he said, "Oh, put that for your charity, as well."

Wasn't that good of him?

One green tea, one milky coffee.

I've been doing this all my life.

53 years with my husband, and ten years after he died,

and 20 years before that helping my mother.

For generations, Auntie Vai has been employing the local girls

to help serve hungry tourists.

But they have to match up to Vai's high standards.

I'm not very fond of very low-cut things

cos I always think, for the older customer,

they might not like anything falling out.

In the north of the county, near Strumble Head,

Pembrokeshire National Park ranger Ian Meopham is busy at work.

The park looks after about 800 miles of path.

It's a phenomenal amount of footpaths and bridle ways

and coast paths to look after, and...

it does need ongoing management, so...

..it's a bit of a non-stop job.

Just when you think you've got it all sorted out...

..another bit of coast path falls away,

or a stile falls apart, or whatever, and off you go again.

Post in place, it's time for Ian's next mission -

to take the Monday Club on a trip to Abereiddy Beach.

You're going to back up that way.

-I'm not going that way.

-Yes, you are. Go. Get up there.

-No, I'm not.

-No, no, no, no.

Famous for its blue lagoon

and the quarry community that dug it 100 years ago.

And some of the Monday Club have direct links

to the area's quarrying past.

My grandmother brought her children up here, number four, and...

then a flood came in and they all had to leave the street.

A storm from the sea.

That was in 1938, but now history could be about to repeat itself.

The sea has reclaimed most of the retaining wall

and is rapidly changing the landscape at Abereiddy.

The county council are going to re-use those rocks to rebuild

a sea wall, just to protect that end of the car park,

but all of this area here is going to be allowed to wash back.

Quite a lot of this is going to disappear.

And one local stands to lose more than just the car park.

Businesswoman Rachel Jenkins is on her way down to Abereiddy to

sell ice creams from her van.

Double cone with a flake. Strawberries. Yep, coming up.

We've run this business here, the ice cream business,

for the last 11 years and it's absolutely brilliant.

You get in the ice cream van, you drive along,

and people just smile at you.

-Look!

-Check that out.

Rachel's family own a lot of the surrounding land,

including the majority of the beach car park.

I've really gained a close connection with Abereiddy.

It's quite amazing. A lot of people are so passionate about down here

because they've got so many memories that are connected with here.

But now, with the sea retaining wall reduced,

her ice cream van and livelihood are at risk.

There are some interesting challenges that this

county is going to be facing.

There are parts of Pembrokeshire which will not

exist in years to come, and these are populated areas.

So I don't know what the longevity

of this business is going to be. It might be a floating ice cream van!

She's been a star, really,

because she's so directly affected.

I mean, the bigger the car park is here,

the more sustainable her business is,

and the car park is disappearing.

You hear a lot about global warming and climate change

and all of that kind of stuff,

and this where it's happening for real, I suppose.

Current estimates are that sea levels are going to

rise by about half a metre in the next 100 years

and that's kind of a conservative estimate.

If you are living in somewhere like Cardiff...

then you do really need to be thinking, don't you?

Cos you're not very far above sea level now

and there are hundreds of thousands of homes there to protect.

So... Yeah.

It's not just the Pembrokeshire coast or the coast path that

we're going to have to be thinking about.

Back in Llanwnda, and Buzz is making progress on his loo with a view.

Time to insert the second of the two inside composting eco toilets.

We use a bucket at home.

Although, actually, I have to say, this one came from a skip.

That's not poo. That is rust from metal that was in there,

just in case anybody was thinking.

Seriously, I just love doing it cos it is the future.

If we have a future, it's going to be down to...

Rather than getting waylaid by fame, fortune and money,

we're just guardians of a beautiful planet

and we're going to pass it on, but in better nick

and better state of health than we found it,

which we're not doing at the moment.

And I think that is something which needs to be changed,

and I think it will be changed,

and I think we've got the intelligence to do it.

But it's a learning curve,

which starts with things like this, I suppose.

Every inch of Buzz's new creation is made with recycled materials,

even down to the nails.

Nothing goes to waste.

Absolutely nothing.

Newspaper's brilliant.

Poo on it, wrap it and then you would tip it out into a composter.

Then just rinse the bucket out with vinegar...

and lemon juice to make it smell nice and that's it.

Simple as that.

I just love pooing on Margaret Thatcher, personally.

Especially with so many articles about her, I thought, "Ah."

Or Boris Johnson.

Or Tony Blair - another one it's always nice to poo on.

I think I may have to rush up to the house.

It's proving to be a busy summer for the James family.

Dad Les...

mum Cath...

daughter Nat...

fiance Dan...

and their little ones Evan and Annie-Mary.

Happy little girlie.

Together they run the farm, a charity, Farms For City Children,

in Treginnis near St David's.

OK. Ready? Let's get back to the gun shed then.

A school from Fulham in London has arrived for a chance to escape

the city and experience life in the beautiful Pembrokeshire countryside

as real farmers.

# Look at me

# I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree... #

The countryside in Wales is so beautiful.

It's unbelievable.

Lots of school children haven't got grass. They've got concrete,

so when they go round there they think it's Wembley.

Should we pull him hard? But he looks like he'll get angry!

They're going to be milked at six o'clock tonight.

But Nat has more on her mind than feeding the animals.

In just three weeks, she's getting married to fiance Dan.

She's found the wedding dress of her dreams

and today, she's off to get it fitted.

Sister Mel has come down from Cardiff for the occasion.

But Nat has had a last minute change of plan.

Yeah, if that's OK?

She went to a wedding at the weekend

and the girl's dress was a beautiful lace up.

If you want to go with lace up, that's not a problem.

-So that would be all right?

-Yeah, we can do that. Yeah.

-Are we cutting it fine for you?

-No, it's fine.

-Say no.

ALL LAUGH

-Did you get those shoes?

-Yeah.

Are we going to be blinging them up?

-Yeah.

-I've got pink diamantes,

which my friend is going to write "Mrs C" on the end there.

-So, they will go with the dress.

-They'll be fine.

-Eventually.

-You excited?

-Yeah.

Panicking!

ALL LAUGH

As the girls get to grips with finalising the dress design,

across town, Dan and the boys have arrived to get suited and booted.

-Breathe in or breathe out?

-Just relax.

-OK.

ALL LAUGH

But a summer of good Pembrokeshire living is causing a few problems.

A bit tight, is it?

There's no Tom Cruises here, is there?

Do I look...?

LAUGHTER

Back with the girls, and the lace up V non-lace up dilemma

has been resolved.

Time to reveal the dream dress.

Oh, yeah. That is absolutely fabulous.

ALL LAUGH/SHE SOBS

-What's happened to you, Mum?

-I know!

Bunch of idiots.

Yeah. That's fab. That is fab.

Oh, yeah, that is absolutely fabulous.

And I can tell by her face she is happy as Larry with this lace up.

Yeah, definitely.

And...like I say, if she's happy, I'm happy now.

So, now all Nat has to worry about is walking up the aisle.

ALL LAUGH

I think you need to practise walking, girl.

-You look like you're constipated.

-SHE SNORTS

Ooh!

But the worst thing is, I'm so clumsy.

I'll fall over or something stupid like that.

You've got to go up a load of steps.

-I can just see me...

-You'll be fine. You'll be fine.

-Oh, no!

It's 7.15am and race day has arrived for Ozzy and Ditchy.

They've had word that the pigeons have been

released from the race start in England.

Now the waiting game begins.

Where's them birds now, Alfie?

Where's them birds? Where's the birds?

Just six months after being hatched, Ozzy

and Ditchy's young birds will have to miraculously find

their way from the start 124 miles away, straight back to Ozzy's garden

in Milford Haven.

A load of people say it's magnetic field...

Obviously the homing instinct.

They've got a compass in their head.

They go by the polar things and...

the sun.

Even the tidal things.

People reckon they travel the roads to...the M4...

but... They've tried... Nobody knows.

It's just a homing instinct.

Pigeons are a bit special to me, like, and especially now with racing

when you think they travel X amount of miles just to come in this

garden is unbelievable.

It's a nervous time for Ozzy.

How can I put it? It's...

It's like butterflies in your stomach, like.

I drink a lot of coffee, I do, as well.

So, I've had two cups all ready this morning.

It's about ten o'clock now. Quarter past seven they were liberated.

Quarter past seven, quarter past eight, quarter past nine...

That's two and three quarter hours, isn't it?

I would be expecting to see these birds very shortly.

Just a few doors away, Ozzy's racing rival Boggle is also out

watching and waiting for his birds to come home.

I'm very nervous.

I'll be down there in a second,

if he comes.

Sometimes you can wait all day.

It isn't very often you get them all home.

I had a bird reported last week in Exeter.

It's still there.

But in Buzz's garden, something has been spotted.

HE WHISTLES

They'll be for Boggle, by the looks of it,

or it could be one for us. HE WHISTLES

Now they have to lure the birds back into the coop.

Come on then. Five past ten. We weren't far off then.

We said ten o'clock.

He's a bit nervous.

Come on. Come on.

Come on.

HE WHISTLES

Come on, then. Come on, then.

That's a good 'un, innit? Wants to go in the house.

A bit confused, I think.

I just wonder if that's ours.

There was me trying to get it in.

Damn!

Blast.

As the lost pigeon attempts to find its way home,

finally Ozzy and Ditchy's waiting game is over

and his first bird clocks in.

It's been a busy start to the summer for Auntie Vi

and her team of girls at Ye Olde Worlde Cafe in Bosherston.

But today, serving the customers is on hold for a very special occasion.

It's Auntie Vi's 92nd birthday and she plans to celebrate in style.

-Looking gorgeous.

-Oh, thank you.

-Auntie Vi, here's the postman.

-How you doing? Happy birthday.

I don't always get kissed by the postman.

Yeah, we can't do this every day.

Oh! This is wonderful.

Are we going to have a glass of something now?

Would you like a glass of sherry?

No, I'd like a glass of bubbly.

Oh, there you are then.

-Whoo!

-Only for special occasions.

Happy birthday, Auntie Vi. 92!

-92!

-Cheers!

-Cheers!

-Cheers!

-Oh!

-That is lovely!

That is gorgeous!

Smells nice.

This is my one and only glass. This is all I'll have.

I'm not a great one for intoxicants.

I'd rather a cup of tea, actually.

I had it about there two hours ago.

# Happy birthday to you... #

One of Vi's ex-waitresses has made a birthday cake in honour of Vi's

favourite place in Bosherston - St Michael & All Angels Church.

That's beautiful. Thank you so much.

-You're welcome.

-Wonderful.

We won't give you the bumps, Auntie Vi.

LAUGHTER

I haven't drank much, have I?

Boggle is holding fort at the con club in Milford.

It's time for the pigeon racers to gather

and get the results from today's big race.

With the wager riding on whose bird comes home first,

it's an anxious wait for Ozzy, Boggle and the boys.

Could be good, could be bad. I don't know anybody's time at all.

Nobody knows anybody's time but their own.

So it's all down to that computer now.

Nervous time now.

While Ferret takes it all in his stride, Boggle is feeling confident.

I think it'll be Duffy.

I never seen anything go down there before me anyway.

I had my eye open down there.

As Boggle contemplates his imminent victory,

he leaves Ferret in charge of capturing the timing printout

from his race clock.

The results are in.

In first place - Jamie Jenkins.

Neither Ozzy or Boggle have taken the race win.

Duffy Morris was eighth.

I am quite pleased with that.

There's only six minutes in between the winning birds.

Very pleased with that.

Ozzy wins the wager,

but that isn't the only bad news for Paul Boswell AKA Boggle.

We've opened Paul Boswell's clock and we haven't got a printout for it.

So you've got to get the clocks back out and see

if you can print them off.

While opening the clock, Boggle's timing has been accidentally wiped.

They won't do it now, cos they've been opened.

And with no way of recording his bird's times

it's all over for Boggle.

There's no such thing as 25 o'clock.

They've been null and void. They've been disqualified.

-BLEEP

-it, Ferret.

Scandalous!

We've lost it by default.

He walked out to have a fag.

His fag was more important than getting the results for his bird.

I resigned. I resign from the club.

That's my last race.

He's gutted. He's gutted, but give him an hour or two and he'll...

As they say, like, rash thinking...

He'll come round, like.

Put on 161 mile next week, so that's what we like.

-Watch this space, is it?

-Watch this space.

Next time...

..two Pembrokeshire rivals fight it out

in the biggest race of the year...

I shouldn't even be bloody speaking to you!

..Nat says goodbye to unmarried life...

Oh, my God!

..and the whole of Fishguard get knitting.

I'm struggling a bit, you know?

I did actually knit a scarf when I was ill in bed

when I was a very young little boy.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd