Episode 4 The River

The Scottish Borders. A land steeped in history...

-..and rivalry...

-Pass the ball!

-..with its own unique customs.

-Yay!

Where men are men and sheep are afraid.

And twisting through these lands for 97 miles...

The world-famous Tweed.

In my view, it's the best salmon fishing river in Scotland.

Over eight months, we followed the river guardians.

I kind of look as if I've been arrested!

We learn of old traditions...

Every morning, I love getting up to go and shoe horses.

-..and embrace the new...

-It's just another part of life here.

Three, two, one, go!

Come on, Adrian!

..as the modern Borders redefines its identity.

Welcome to life along The River.

In Berwick-upon-Tweed,

River bailiffs Eddie and Alan are heading out on the river to scout

some poaching hot spots.

We're just coming to the estuary, the Tweed Estuary.

High tide is just about now. So we will go

up the estuary a wee bit to see what's showing up there.

All right, Al.

Illegal poaching of highly valuable Tweed salmon is a problem the Tweed

Commission has worked on for years, to help protect the fish.

I've just called on Kenny and Cal, so they will be on land

if we need someone on land to go and have a look at something.

Eddie plans to enter a poacher's den from the river and land.

You get right along here, once you're at the woods,

there are places where they can throw nets in.

PHONE RINGS

Kenny. We're just coming up to the top edge of the wood now.

I can see your Jeep, I think. Can you hear us?

We're just coming up round the top part of the wood.

Let's have a wee look.

In the woods, the bailiffs inspect the den.

Unless they've built another one somewhere,

but they've had a lot of debris shoved over

where we used to go out of, there.

Yes, it's just, they used to set nets off here.

Not that long ago, actually.

And this is just all that's left of it.

Last time I saw this, it had a roof and everything on it.

You can see all the strings where they've had the stuff fixed onto.

-You never know.

-Yeah, OK.

We'll probably go and have a quick look up the coast.

-Have a look on your way back, Kenny.

-Right, that'll do fine.

We've got a couple of bits to check on the way home.

That's fine. OK, mate. Good.

A dead end. Time to look elsewhere.

Eight miles from Kelso, one man helping

with river conservation is farmer Robert Wilson.

We try and do quite a lot of conservation work on the farm.

The big worry just now is diffuse pollution.

Flood damage and Robert's cattle have been damaging the river banks.

This is a spawning river. Quite a lot of salmon come up here.

So, we're fencing it off now.

It'll help hold the bank in place

and keep the gravel beds where they should be...

..for the salmon to spawn.

-All right?

-How you getting on?

-Not too bad.

-How's this going?

-Eh...hopefully tomorrow.

Yeah, well, any bits you can do while you're here would be super.

I've no doubt, with cattle grazing it and knocking bits of soil off,

that's not helped hold it in place.

You know, a bit of flooding as well,

but you add erosion to it, then you've got a problem.

Having a salmon river run through his land

is something Robert wants to protect.

People have different ideas about why there are less fish

coming up the river. So anything we can do to help,

you know, I think it's of benefit.

I think it's our duty, almost, to do that.

In the Ednam House Hotel in Kelso, staff are gearing up for one of

their busiest wedding weekends of the year.

How we doing? Do we know if we've checked all the chairs, Leonie?

Just because I've brought some up from Eshott

and they were a bit dusty in the back of the car.

Manager Margaret Livingstone-Evans will be at the heart

of a triple wedding weekend to remember.

We've got a church wedding today, so when they arrive, that's it,

whereas our bride tomorrow is a civil wedding.

She is going to be arriving today. She gets married here.

And then our wedding the following day is another church wedding.

If it had been three civils, there's a lot of work involved in it.

Housekeeping duo Hilda and Jo need to prepare the bridal suites

for tomorrow and today's brides.

So when's today's bride leaving room three?

Erm, not until after the wedding. She's not wanting to go into it...

When's tomorrow's bride arriving?

-Two o'clock.

-Whoops!

-I know.

A bridal suite conundrum. Jo and Hilda have their work cut out.

-Can you manage that one?

-I think so!

-THEY LAUGH

# This is the way we strip the bed, strip the bed, strip the bed... #

When you've got, like, eight and ten rooms to do, after your, like,

fourth duvet, your arms are breaking.

We've got muscles like Superwoman. Look!

-You nearly blinked and missed that one!

-We're Superwomen!

It is tough for them.

I think people think they just magically turn it round

in a few minutes, and it takes hours.

But they're doing good. They're doing very good.

To keep Hilda and Jo on schedule,

Margaret checks that bride Gillian heads off to the church on time.

Done. Room three, ready for my bride-to-be!

One bridal suite ready, there's just enough time

for Jo and Hilda to see bride Gillian safely off to church.

Enjoy it, we'll see you soon.

-It makes it worthwhile, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

Nearly away, and then they'll be back,

I think they're due back around three o'clock.

Yeah, about half three.

Bride away, it's action stations.

-Tomorrow's bride is due in just 20 minutes.

-Right, action stations!

Have you seen that 60 Minute Makeover on the television?

This is Ednam House.

-We can do this!

-Right, come on.

In Peebles, UK world chocolate master Ruth Hinks has been tasked

with making an extra large batch of chocolate brownies

for a charity campaign.

We have to get our baking gloves on!

There's just 5,000 plus brownies for Ruth and Zoe to make.

Here we are, 217 postal boxes.

5,160 brownies by Monday, Tuesday?

I suppose I'm a sucker for it, because I like a challenge.

You know? Otherwise you just do your day-to-day job and it's boring,

isn't it, Zo? Zoe just likes her world to be, you know, easy-oasy.

Eh? Then you get this crazy lady that likes a challenge.

It's nice to be pushed out of your comfort zone.

-Isn't it?

-Yeah!

Ruth's parents live in Australia. And to reward her for her hard work,

husband David is planning something special.

Ruth's mother is coming across.

She's making a surprise visit that Ruth doesn't know about,

so she's due to arrive next Tuesday, unbeknown to Ruth.

She's a bit of a worker as well. Be good to get her involved!

Brownie war, game on!

All for one and one for yourself in this joint, isn't it?

Just three days to get 1,000 eggs,

100 kilos of sugar and 250,000 chocolate buttons turned into

scrumptious chocolate brownies.

So, we have to do this 30 times today.

So no going home, Zoe, until you're finished.

The quicker you work today, the quicker you get home.

I've brought my sleeping bag, it's OK!

Oh, buns? Happy days!

Oh, eh?!

David Trouten and his team at Floors stud

are in the midst of a hectic summer.

The team's now been bolstered. We're up to five now.

Frank's come to help us.

It'll be nice to have five today.

And today they have some important visitors.

We've got Todd Watt, who's a auctioneer from Tattersalls.

Tattersalls will be selling all the horses here at Newmarket.

He'll look at each horse and decide

which sale he thinks it should go into.

Could have done without this!

20 years at the stud, Peter Henderson knows the importance

of getting the horses into the right book sale category.

It's when you are five foot five, it's no' easy!

You have Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4.

In theory, the Book 1's the cream,

and that's where you get all your international buyers here.

Everybody comes to the Book 1 at Newmarket.

They reckon it'll turn over millions and millions of pounds.

That's good for me, thank you. The invincible spirit, Scarborough Fair.

Auctioneer Todd Watt will work with the Duke of Roxburghe and David

to determine which book the horses will go in.

-He's just sort of gone... You know he's going to go like that.

-Yeah.

We're trying to judge, really,

what they're going to look like in October.

So when they've had a really rough winter

and a wet spring like we've had,

and it's been cold, they're behind the game,

so it's very hard to tell what they are going to be in October.

With millions of pounds at stake, making the right decision is vital.

This is the Frankel.

Sired by Superstar racehorse Frankel,

this is one horse carrying huge expectations.

We dinnae need to bring him out the stables today

because we ken he's a Book 1 horse.

Well, just because he's by a champion, out of a champion.

There will no' be many better bred horses at the sales than this.

He'll sell himself, like, you ken?

He's just one of they special horses.

-HILDA:

-I think we've got a problem, Auntie Jo.

-Why?

At the Ednam House Hotel,

Jo and Hilda are running out of time in the bridal suite.

We're not going to do it in 20 minutes.

-We're going to do it as quick as we can, obviously.

-Quick as we can!

They're almost finished but bride Nikki has just arrived to check in.

What you see is what you get.

Like I says to hubby, "You cannae get a refund now, hun!"

The MOT's well out of date.

Before the room is ready, reception are sending over the wedding party -

a cardinal sin for housekeeping.

-Is that pretty much you all...?

-That's pretty much us.

Is there anything else we can do for yous?

-I don't think so.

-Enjoy yourself.

-Thank you!

-You're more than welcome.

The timing was a little bit out.

Yes. If they'd just given us another ten minutes...

Another ten minutes would have done us.

Sat here and had a drink until we sort of cleared up.

But we've done the best we can in the time we had.

-BAGPIPES PLAY

-Oh, that's them back.

Just made it.

As this morning's bride returns,

Margaret waits in reception to congratulate today's happy couple.

Fab car, isn't it?

-Congratulations!

-Thank you.

-Well done, well done.

-Thank you very much.

-Enjoy your day.

Just have a great day. We're just here to look after you.

In her Peebles chocolate factory,

Ruth has been wading through chocolate brownies.

We managed to make them all,

we finished late on Friday night making them.

We got out of here... What time did we get out, Zoe?

Half past eight? Nine o'clock?

And this was a godsend, because we need to get 48 out of a tray,

-so we just...

-SHE WHISTLES

Because it's much quicker doing it this way

than getting a ruler and marking it all.

Over 5,000 brownies made.

It's been a long, hard chocolate slog for Ruth.

It's going to a good cause, you know,

so you just get down and do it.

It's like running an enduro race. You just keep going until you stop.

So there we are. So they're all finished.

They're all boxed up now.

My job's done. My job's done.

I might be able to get a day off this week, I'm hoping,

if the girls let me have a day off.

Will you let me have a day off, Sarah?

-You can have this afternoon off.

-This afternoon!

At Floors stud, an anxious David,

Peter and team are hoping to impress auctioneer Todd Watt.

Next up, the Dubawi,

sired by one of the world's best-known stallions.

So again, the likes of Frankel, this horse is the same,

he's a special horse,

because his full brother made 1.4 million two years ago.

Be nice if he makes as much as his brother.

We're hoping he does rather better than his full brother.

HE CHUCKLES

-You don't see too many of these now.

-No, no, no.

I could stay here all day and have a look at him.

You could, you could.

Seems to give a bit of a wow factor when he comes out.

It's the stallion everyone wants, really, at the moment.

There might be another photo of you in the office, Peter.

Walking round that ring. Thank you.

With the sales four months away,

Todd is impressed with this year's group.

-They are some bunch, aren't they? Best bunch I've seen.

-Yeah.

Six horses have been selected for the Book 1 sales.

Peter, thank you. Thank you very much.

When you breed yourself, as His Grace does,

you know, you normally get legs that aren't quite correct

and various other issues.

To get a bunch like this is...exceptional.

Ten miles from Berwick-upon-Tweed,

Superintendent Bailiff Eddie Weatherly is responding to a report

that poachers are active in his area.

The river's now starting to fill up with fish,

so one or two of the locals will trip out our premises later on

under cover of darkness with a can of White Lightning

and armed with a gillnet, probably.

Eddie rendezvouses with the bailiff team to plan the night ahead.

-How do you do?

-What time was it you seen them last night?

Erm...9.47. It had just gone dark.

-You'd ken them?

-I could recognise them for definite, aye.

Right, if you know them, get approached into them and just

-hands on, bang, done.

-Right.

Team briefed, time to get into position.

Could all be done and dusted very quickly.

You can get lucky and two or three turn out all the nets.

Just depends. It's one of these things.

You just don't know. It might be a night nobody shows up,

but we'll see.

With Eddie's team in strategic positions, the stakeout is on.

They just appear,

and you'll see them

go and recover a net off the beach which they've set earlier and then

they'll come back or they'll sit back on the dunes and wait.

GULLS CRY

It's just a waiting game. It's like cat and mouse.

-MARGARET:

-Yeah, we just keep on keeping on.

TRADITIONAL MUSIC PLAYS As the sun sets on another day on the river,

at the Ednam House Hotel in Kelso,

the wedding celebrations are drawing to a close.

And Margaret is in full swing.

-Come on, Alan! No, I'm only joking.

-Oh, Margaret!

-Sorry!

THEY LAUGH

So I'm cracking on with the turnaround.

Really starting to think about tomorrow.

Tomorrow's another day.

It's one o'clock in the morning, so the staff need to quietly

turn around the ballroom ready for tomorrow.

Obviously, there's still a few people kicking about.

We don't want them to feel as though we're...we're booting them out.

The guys know that there's residents and guests above here.

It's got to be done as quietly as possible.

Alan? They're scraping a bit and banging a bit.

Can you just tell them to move gently?

Could you try and do it a bit quieter?

Here comes Georgie!

So we know how many tables we need for tomorrow,

so the ones that we don't need are now being put away.

Are we going to get it clothed tonight?

-It'll be done tonight.

-You're getting everything done.

-Yeah, yeah, it'll be done.

-Get them re-clothed. Put them into position.

Start all over again!

Goodnight, see you in the morning!

-Goodnight.

-Goodnight!

With eyes on the river,

Eddie receives a call from Alan that the poachers are on the move.

Yeah, they're on the beach.

There's two boys with nets on the beach in front of Alan.

Hidden in the sand dunes,

the river bailiffs are waiting to see if the suspected poachers

are actively netting fish.

(We need to see them committing the offence.

(It's no good to just rush in here and find nothing.)

I'm going to go around to that side so I can come in that way.

Out of the blue, they make a move.

Bailiff Tom calls for backup.

-Is that Tom shouting?

-Is that Tom shouting?

-You never seen me touch nothing!

-But you were!

-I wasn't touching nowt!

-But you were!

What was I touching?

Tommy has caught one suspected poacher, but one has got away.

There was one fishing this net,

I don't know if they've got another net.

That's one.

That's one net here.

There's another... I think it's two nets further up.

One fish seized in this one,

and the boy was carrying a bagging net.

-That's him away, is it?

-Aye, he's away, I've done him.

Right, Kenny, let's see the others there.

With Kenny successful in the raid,

the bailiffs have so far caught two poachers.

He's known to us. He's been done several times before.

And the person detained at the other end of the beach is one of

his brothers, so they'll be going to court.

What's your full name?

I've told yous before.

What is it? I wasn't here.

You know him? Your pal will tell you.

Right, OK, the police can come and take your name.

-You're coming to the car park with us.

-Up to the car park...

Deary me.

The police will come and identify him, whoever he may be,

and then we'll do it, we'll just go back to base with this stuff.

Two out of three. Not bad.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

Police have identified the suspect for the bailiffs.

Not too bad, I suppose.

-Three nets and two bodies.

-It's a deterrent as well, you know?

If they know we're out and about.

They'll go, they'll get their wrists slapped at court, but, yeah,

a good result. And you can see the result with the team.

The team are happy. If they're happy, I'm happy.

In the pens of Cowbog Farm, it's a crucial time for Robert's herd.

It's a very worrying day.

Yeah.

If it goes wrong today it can affect our whole year.

CATTLE BELLOW

Vet David Allen is here to vaccinate the herd and, most worryingly,

test the cattle for TB.

We are also pregnancy checking the cows

to make sure that they are in calf.

Probably not a good way to start the day, with poo on your head.

If the TB test fails, Robert's herd will be on lockdown for four months,

meaning he won't be able to showcase

his prized Hereford cows at the Kelso show.

There's a lot of worry involved in farming.

That's not just people's dogs.

Yeah, she is pregnant. That's the calf, there.

I make that two months, two months in calf.

To help him through the day,

Robert is assisted by daughter Lottie and father Ron.

This herd was started in 1955 by my father.

It's all the bloodlines in the family.

It's all a challenge to get the daughter better than the mother.

That's a goer. You don't need to PD that one.

-Good job you told me!

-THEY LAUGH

That's always a test for the vet.

495...

Last year, Lottie joined Robert at the Kelso show.

She has a special interest in one of the heifers.

Lottie's got a heifer that she showed last year for the first time.

It's being pregnancy checked today.

They are all hoping Lottie's heifer is in calf.

Moment of truth for your heifer.

Nervous.

This is Lottie's heifer...

who's called Julia, which is my sister's name.

She's a bit awkward.

My sister, that is, not the heifer!

CATTLE BELLOW

-She's in calf!

-Yay!

-Not twins, is it?

-I get pocket money!

-You reckon? You've got to sell it first.

If you sell it, I could get pocket money.

Don't believe everything I say.

I need my table plan. I'm forgetting where people are sitting.

We have our bride for today, which is wonderful.

Very often we set up ourselves, but some brides like to be involved.

-I'd just like a big enough table...

-Right. I think the one

that was there yesterday's probably going to be the right size.

With two brides in the hotel at the same time,

it requires meticulous planning.

A lot of our guests from yesterday's wedding are enjoying breakfast which

is where I've just dragged Bill out of,

but, of course, Nikki is keen to get set up in the room as well,

so it's just really making sure that the guests we had yesterday enjoy

the end of their stay, but also ensure that,

you know, the bride gets what she wants, and rightly so.

And at this moment, a table is the request.

-Nikki?

-Uh-huh?

-OK?

-Is this going to be wide enough?

-Yeah, that's perfect.

-Good.

-Thank you.

-No problem.

-DAVID:

-Today we've got Ruth's parents flying in from Tasmania.

So it's been quite tough keeping it secret,

so trying to find an excuse has been quite tricky.

It's nice to be able to put on

a surprise after ten years of marriage.

To keep Ruth occupied,

David has asked her to make even more brownies.

He came in and he went,

"Eh, we need more brownies, can you do another eight boxes?"

So that's another four trays.

I don't really want to see another brownie.

Long journey.

David secures the precious cargo.

Richard has good reason to surprise his daughter.

She once surprised me. The rest of the family knew,

I did not know, and she arrived home for Christmas one year.

I was so annoyed because I was robbed of the anticipation

of waiting for her to come. I said to her,

"My girl, one day I am going to get you."

-And today is the day! I can't wait to see her face.

-HE CHUCKLES

On Cowbog Farm, the TB test is coming to an end.

I never like it when the vet takes a long time.

Robert is waiting to see if his herd have the all-clear.

Don't take too long. I'm on tenterhooks here.

-All clear.

-Excellent.

-That's the last one.

TB-free, and that's us for another four years.

Unless anything goes wrong with any cattle we buy, or...

or anything we sell,

that's it!

It's a huge relief. So...

You know, the fact we only do this once every four years,

you get complacent about it.

Robert and Lottie can now start planning for the Kelso show.

I'd like to start off with...

I'll have a pint tonight, just to get over the relief.

I've not slept much in the last couple of nights

just worrying about it.

Now we can get on planning our summer.

You know, Kelso show, it's obviously a good local show

to support and we're keen to get to that,

and certainly my daughter heading out with another calf this summer,

hopefully. So it's good, so...

It's the moment of truth for bride, Nikki.

It's so pretty!

You go from a very empty ballroom to something which is beautiful.

It's so pretty! I love it!

-See, I dinnae ken what you were worrying about!

-I ken, I love it.

-Right, where does it gang?

-It looks really good.

It's right in the middle. Would you say that's in the middle?

-Yeah.

-Yeah. Aye, aye, aye!

-Aye, aye!

Just a final role for Margaret as house photographer.

-OK, ladies?

-It's one happy bridal party...

Smile!

..and a nervous groom.

This is probably THE biggest part of the day for us.

We're all set up and ready to go.

And the bride's happy with the room, so that's even better.

# Tell me, tell me that you want me

# And I'll be yours completely

# For better or for worse

# I know we'll have our disagreements

# Be fighting for no reason

# I wouldn't change it for the world

-# Cos I know... #

-(It's lovely.)

-# The first day that I met you... #

-(There's so much emotion.

(And then the music starts. Then... I'm gone!)

Right, here we are, we're just turning in.

-This is it, darling.

-Here we go.

-Ha-ha-ha!

-Payback time.

-Payback time. You're absolutely right there, yeah.

-Hello.

-Hello, there.

Right, when do you want me to stop?

What are you doing here?!

Well, you told us on Skype the other day you need us.

-Who bloody knew about this?!

-THEY LAUGH

I told you I'd get you back that time, remember?

How did you keep that a secret for so long?

-Quite hard. Quite hard.

-Oh, my God!

Well, put an apron on, we've got more brownies to make!

Bloody hell! I see what you mean!

It was the best day of my life.

Ha-ha!

Remember I said I'd get you back?

A well-executed surprise. Brownie points for David.

Ready? Back together again.

Next time on The River...

Common Riding fever grips the Borders...

farriers are stuck in the mud...

This happens every single year. I say to him,

"Don't bring the van down," and he continues to bring the van down!

..and Lottie welcomes a new calf into the world.

When they stand up, if they have a stretch, it's always good.

It means they're feeling quite healthy.