0:00:15 > 0:00:18Beaches, boats and bicycles?
0:00:18 > 0:00:20I must be in Denmark.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29This stunning, windswept coast is apparently home
0:00:29 > 0:00:31to the happiest people on earth,
0:00:31 > 0:00:35and now we're here to meet them, our North Sea neighbours.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06We've crossed the North Sea to embark on a great Danish journey.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08I'm travelling down the coast of Jutland
0:01:08 > 0:01:11heading for the Isle of Fano in the south,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14starting as far north as you can go, Skagen.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26'This is the tip of the top of Denmark,
0:01:26 > 0:01:30'where two great bodies of water meet.'
0:01:32 > 0:01:37Look at this, Denmark is a country that actually comes to a point!
0:01:37 > 0:01:41A few steps this way, I'll be in the North Sea, headed towards home.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45A few steps this way and I'll be in the Baltic, headed towards Russia.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Now this is my kind of coast-to coast-walk!
0:01:51 > 0:01:53'And I'm not the only one.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56'Crowds of Danes come here to witness the eternal battle
0:01:56 > 0:01:58'between the twin seas.'
0:02:01 > 0:02:05It's captivating to watch opposing currents collide
0:02:05 > 0:02:07as two waters wrestle for control.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Many Danes make something of a pilgrimage
0:02:17 > 0:02:20to this picturesque province of Skagen.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Why does the heart and soul of a nation seem to lie
0:02:24 > 0:02:26at its most northerly tip?
0:02:34 > 0:02:40'I'm hoping Skagen Museum Director, Lisette Vind Ebbensen can shed some light.'
0:02:40 > 0:02:43Oh, yeah. It's so flat, and the sea on either side,
0:02:43 > 0:02:45it just feels like the sea could take it.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47Yes, take it all, yeah.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51British people are fond of saying that they are a sea-going island race.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55Do Danes have this connection to the sea?
0:02:55 > 0:02:59I think it is. yes, and it probably goes back to the Vikings.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02We're still proud of the Vikings, I suppose,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05and the coast, and the sea does mean a lot.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09And, I mean, in Denmark you're always close to the sea,
0:03:09 > 0:03:14and especially here in Skagen where you have two different seas.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19I've heard, that the Danish are the happiest people in the world.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21Can that be true?
0:03:21 > 0:03:25Well, I've heard that as well, and I guess the Danes are very happy.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30- Why?- There's only like 5.5 million people here
0:03:30 > 0:03:34and Danish people are happy people, they're warm,
0:03:34 > 0:03:36they have a lot of hygge.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40- Hygge? - Hygge is really hard to translate to any language in the world.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45It's a very Danish work, and I suppose it means friendly or cosy.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48We can have a hyggely time.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51A hyggely time? You're making this up.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56- No.- Is this just something that Danish people say to foreigners to make them go away?
0:03:56 > 0:04:01# Oh, the good life
0:04:03 > 0:04:05# Full of fun
0:04:05 > 0:04:08# Seems to be the ideal... #
0:04:10 > 0:04:14'For my first lesson in this uniquely Danish concept of hygge,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17'I've got to get on my bike, like everyone else here.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19'Am I having hygge?
0:04:19 > 0:04:23'Maybe. Something tells me I need to investigate further.'
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Every summer in Skagen they celebrate the longest day
0:04:31 > 0:04:36with a giant bonfire and whole lot of hygge down on the beach.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Sankt Hans is all about hygge.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42Sankt Hans is all about hygge.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47Sankt Hans, St John's eve,
0:04:47 > 0:04:52is a festival of light from the earliest times.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55The celebration of Sankt Hans is a very old tradition
0:04:55 > 0:04:59started by the Vikings or years before Vikings.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04You put the witch on the fire,
0:05:04 > 0:05:10then you light the fire sending the bad spirits away.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12You come dressed as you are,
0:05:12 > 0:05:14you don't have to dress up to come and hyggesheim.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16You'll go and sit on the beach,
0:05:16 > 0:05:21and you have some wine and it will all be hygge.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25And people will have a beer and just walk around, and have some small talk with each other.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27It's very romantic.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41All the students come down here to the bonfire
0:05:41 > 0:05:46and they want to throw their notes just before the fire is getting started.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48as a sign of "we don't need them any longer".
0:05:48 > 0:05:51So it has become a tradition
0:05:51 > 0:05:55that they all do that for Sankt Hans evening now.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03It's a big bonfire, you can feel it,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06we're standing 50 metres away,
0:06:06 > 0:06:11suddenly the heat is there and it's an incredible heat.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27It was a lovely evening,
0:06:27 > 0:06:31we had some good food and a very hyggely evening.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36It may be 11 at night, but the sun's yet to set
0:06:36 > 0:06:42and there's a lot more hygge to be had before dawn.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48My journey continues south along the shore of Jutland.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50This is a protected stretch of beach,
0:06:50 > 0:06:52and you won't find many houses,
0:06:52 > 0:06:56but strangely, you can park right on the sand.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59No pay and display here,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03but take local advice, tourists regularly get stuck,
0:07:03 > 0:07:07and getting caught out by the tide costs more than a parking ticket.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17Just behind the dunes, Miranda's seeking some residents
0:07:17 > 0:07:21who've happily parked themselves in a very protected spot.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28It's just after dawn, and I've come here to find some animals you don't
0:07:28 > 0:07:33normally expect to be living by the sea, and that's red deer.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51WHISPERING: This is great. I'm at the edge of the forest, using the forest as cover.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53The deer are feeding out on this open grassland.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57You can just see the dunes, and obviously there's the sea just behind me.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03He's just put his head down, but I think that the deer
0:08:03 > 0:08:08feeding behind us is probably a young male, just had tiny antlers.
0:08:08 > 0:08:14'It's hard to get close to them. These shy creatures are easily spooked.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17'But the serenity of the scene isn't quite as it appears.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21'These red deer have rather noisy neighbours.'
0:08:24 > 0:08:26They share their home with the Danish army.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32This is a restricted zone,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34off limits to everyone not driving a tank.
0:08:36 > 0:08:42Oddly, this unusual relationship between wildlife and warfare seems to work.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50'I want to see it from the military perspective.'
0:08:50 > 0:08:55Fritz, tell me how long the Danish army has lived side-by-side with the red deer here.
0:08:55 > 0:09:00We have actually being living together since 1928-29
0:09:00 > 0:09:05approximately, so we know each other quite well, I have to say.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08We have a little bit of a strange neighbourship because
0:09:08 > 0:09:11when we are outside of our vehicles they are gone,
0:09:11 > 0:09:15but when we're inside our vehicles we have no problems,
0:09:15 > 0:09:17they can stay just beside the vehicle,
0:09:17 > 0:09:22and it means they feel, if we are starting shooting and so on,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25they just slowly disappear from the area.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28All around the shooting area there is a big forest
0:09:28 > 0:09:30so the deer can go into the forest
0:09:30 > 0:09:34and stay there for a long period and come out again if we are finished.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37- And do you like having them around, is it nice?- Very nice, yeah.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42'Despite the disruptions, the deer love being beside the sea.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47'There's tasty heather and shelter in the dunes from the constant wind.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54'It's early autumn and the rutting season has begun.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59'Ole Daugaard-Petersen is head of the deer reserve.'
0:09:59 > 0:10:03There's interesting activity going on in the group down there.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06There's a large number of hinds and there's that big stag
0:10:06 > 0:10:10that's constantly patrolling, looking after that group of females.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Just now the mature stags are rounding up the hinds and
0:10:14 > 0:10:17the point is he wants to mate with all of them.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20He wants to keep his competitors away,
0:10:20 > 0:10:23and you will see the young stags
0:10:23 > 0:10:25circling around the herd,
0:10:25 > 0:10:29hoping to get the chance to get a go with the hinds,
0:10:29 > 0:10:32and the mature stag, he will keep them away.
0:10:32 > 0:10:38So he can keep going for two, three weeks rutting, no eat, no nothing,
0:10:38 > 0:10:39and then you will see the stag,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42suddenly he will be lying sleeping for a few minutes,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46up again and so he carries on for three weeks,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49and then it's done and he leaves his hinds.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52He might have lost 30-40 kilos during those three weeks,
0:10:52 > 0:10:56so he's really busy, you know?
0:10:59 > 0:11:02'Three weeks of rutting with barely a break,
0:11:02 > 0:11:06'these majestic stags have got some serious stamina.'
0:11:18 > 0:11:23We've reached Denmark's most westerly point, Blavandshuk.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28A top spot for a great view.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Just three miles or so off the coast here is the most notorious reef
0:11:36 > 0:11:38in the whole of the North Sea.
0:11:38 > 0:11:45In the days of sail it was known to the skippers as Duyvels Horn. The Devil's Horn.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48'Once the graveyard of countless ships,
0:11:48 > 0:11:52'today, Horns Reef is helping to save the planet.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56'It's home to one of the world's largest off-shore wind farms.'
0:11:56 > 0:12:01This is a site that's set to be increasingly familiar off our shores,
0:12:01 > 0:12:05but what you don't often see is how these big beasts get built.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13At the port of Esbjerg, engineer and green enthusiast, Dick Strawbridge,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16is about to discover how the pieces fit together.
0:12:19 > 0:12:25They assemble what bits they can on the quayside before shipping them out to sea.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Bolting the blades on is job number one.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34The bloke in charge is Siemens's technical wizard, Jesper Moeller.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38- It's huge!- This is a 45-metre blade made out fibreglass.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40It's just literally fibreglass?
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Yes, it's fibreglass, fibreglass and balsa wood, and it's cast in one piece.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Hold on, say, "It's cast in one piece" again.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50There's an echo, it's long enough to give you an echo.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54The shape is developed over many years
0:12:54 > 0:12:58and it's actually consisting of different aircraft blade shapes.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03This is the tip, but you look at that, that's sharp.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07It's not quite straight.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11It has a slight curve, because when it's pointing up towards the wind
0:13:11 > 0:13:14- it has a slight bend towards the wind...- It flexes.
0:13:14 > 0:13:19It flexes, then when the wind pushes on it, it straightens out.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22Everything looks shiny and new right now, but out in the North Sea,
0:13:22 > 0:13:25these turbines are going to face a right battering.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30So why go to all the trouble of sticking them nearly ten miles offshore?
0:13:30 > 0:13:33Well, offshore has a lot of advantages.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36It has a very stable flow of wind.
0:13:36 > 0:13:37Lots of constant wind?
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Yes, and also higher wind compared to onshore locations.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47It's time for this landlubber to brave the North Sea and take a look.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52The installation vessel is already on its way, and I'm hot on its heels.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00Another good reason to build out here, no complaints from the neighbours.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04'But some people DO have to live near the turbines,
0:14:04 > 0:14:06'and the maintenance team need a house.'
0:14:08 > 0:14:12We're about 40 kilometres off the Danish coast.
0:14:12 > 0:14:17This is the accommodation platform, and we're in the middle of nowhere.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21'The engineers share the platform with an electrical sub-station.'
0:14:21 > 0:14:24There's lots of technology here,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28and that's not surprising as all the electricity from the wind turbines
0:14:28 > 0:14:30is sucked in here before being sent ashore,
0:14:30 > 0:14:35and when the wind blows, there's enough electricity to power 20 million light bulbs.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45This is a paradise for engineers.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49It may look like the turbines are in nice neat rows, but it's more complicated than that.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52The turbines aren't in a block, they're in a fan shape,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55which means when the wind blows from the west,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58any turbulence doesn't reduce the efficiency of the other turbines,
0:14:58 > 0:15:03so all the energy from the wind can be captured by the wind turbines and turned into electricity,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06and there's absolutely masses of it.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13The installation vessel is now in position,
0:15:13 > 0:15:17and they've started to erect turbine number 70.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19I'm on my way.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25Denmark's the land of Lego. This is the ultimate big piece of kit to put together.
0:15:25 > 0:15:31Seapower with its crane is going to assemble it all, good job.
0:15:31 > 0:15:32So, how do they do it?
0:15:32 > 0:15:34It's a really simple system.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39They drive a mono-pile into the sea bed about 20 metres, then put the yellow section on -
0:15:39 > 0:15:43actually the transition piece - and they make sure that's perfectly vertical.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45Then they've already added on one piece of tower,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48we're about to see a second piece of tower go on,
0:15:48 > 0:15:51then they'll shove the turbine on the top, then the blades and it's done.
0:15:54 > 0:15:59The engineers are battling to complete the job before the autumn storms hit.
0:15:59 > 0:16:00In calm weather,
0:16:00 > 0:16:07they can put up three turbines in 24 hours of non-stop effort.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09This thing is massive!
0:16:09 > 0:16:11Thank you.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21I've got to get myself one of these.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23It's awesome!
0:16:30 > 0:16:35This beauty is over 1.5 times taller then Nelson's Column,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38but the technology doesn't stand still.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41The ones planned for our seas will be even bigger than these guys.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44Look out for them coming to a coast near you.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58'I'm on the final leg of my journey.'
0:17:01 > 0:17:03In my quest for happiness Danish-style,
0:17:03 > 0:17:08I'm off to visit a very contented community on the island of Fano.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28'My destination, the Isle of Fano, Denmark's oldest holiday resort.
0:17:28 > 0:17:33'Life here's laid-back, the legacy of a privileged past.'
0:17:36 > 0:17:41In 1741, this canny community clubbed together
0:17:41 > 0:17:43and bought their island from the king,
0:17:43 > 0:17:48and soon the good times started to roll with a whole lot of happiness ever since.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56'Originally, the island's wealth was built on shipbuilding.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59'The money was put into bricks, mortar and thatch.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03'My quest to experience hygge in Denmark
0:18:03 > 0:18:05'has come to a cosy conclusion.'
0:18:06 > 0:18:10# It's the good life
0:18:10 > 0:18:16# To be free and explore the unknown... #
0:18:18 > 0:18:25For me, this place embodies what I understand of the Danish concept of hygge.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29If it's about finding contentment in comforting, cosy places,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32then there's definitely hygge here.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd