0:00:04 > 0:00:07Coast is home.
0:00:07 > 0:00:12And we're exploring the most endlessly fascinating shoreline
0:00:12 > 0:00:14in the world -
0:00:14 > 0:00:16our own.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24The quest to discover surprising, secret stories from around
0:00:24 > 0:00:27the British Isles continues.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34This is Coast.
0:01:01 > 0:01:08The British Isles are ringed with a necklace of extraordinary beauty,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12and the pearls of our coast?
0:01:14 > 0:01:16Its magnificent beaches.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24Every one of them is different.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26Each of our beaches has a unique character.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30Some of them are sandy, and others, well...
0:01:32 > 0:01:35..they're a little more unexpected.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50Whether they're pebble-strewn and wild, or soft and inviting,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53they all have amazing tales to tell.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05We're on a journey to reveal the secret life of beaches.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21I'm here to unpick the secrets of one of our island's most
0:02:21 > 0:02:23extraordinary beaches.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29Dungeness is home to over 600 types of plant,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32including one that's nuclear.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37But it's what lies beneath my feet that I find so fascinating.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41It feels like I'm all at sea,
0:02:41 > 0:02:46on the most remarkable ocean of pebbles in Britain.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52But if pebbles aren't your thing...
0:02:52 > 0:02:55our coast has a wonderful variety of delights
0:02:55 > 0:02:58to match anywhere in the world.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02'Britain's beaches don't begin and end with sand.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04'They're made from all manner of wonderful stuff,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08'but that's one of the best-kept secrets of our coast,
0:03:08 > 0:03:12'because you never see our beaches all together to compare them.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14'Until now!
0:03:14 > 0:03:17'I'm making a unique map.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21'Each bucket and bag contains a different beach.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24'The real sand and stones of our coast,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28'collected by volunteers from every compass point in Britain.'
0:03:31 > 0:03:35This livid red sand is what we enjoy on the beaches
0:03:35 > 0:03:39of the English Riviera, down here in Devon,
0:03:39 > 0:03:43and it's red because it was created 380 million years ago when Britain
0:03:43 > 0:03:48was part of a red hot dessert on a super continent down at the equator.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57Up here in the Outer Hebrides the sand is almost silver,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01and that's because it's loaded with fragments of seashells.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10This is the classic golden sand you find on beaches the length
0:04:10 > 0:04:15and breadth of Britain from the vast expanses here in Lancashire,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18to the long, thin, curving beaches of north Norfolk.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27These are flint pebbles from the coast of Suffolk.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32They were washed out of chalk 70 or 80 million years old.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34There's flint also here on the beach in Dungeness.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42This sparkly stuff is schist - metamorphic rock -
0:04:42 > 0:04:45formed under intense pressure half a billion years ago
0:04:45 > 0:04:47beneath mountain ranges.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51It's created incredible beaches on the east coast of Scotland.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56This is slate - it's fantastic skimming stones.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00You can find it on the beaches in west Wales.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Look at this beautiful sparking Cornish granite.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10It's the quartz in this granite that gets washed out
0:05:10 > 0:05:13and creates the lovely beaches in Cornwall.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16'Our necklace of sand and stone tells an extraordinary
0:05:16 > 0:05:20'story of the birth of Britain over millions of years.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24'But our shoreline isn't stuck in the past.
0:05:28 > 0:05:34'On the sea's edge you can also experience the future being forged.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40'The huge beach at Dungeness was built one pebble at a time.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45'Now it's around 15 square miles... and counting.
0:05:47 > 0:05:52The best guess is that there are five million, million pebbles here,
0:05:52 > 0:05:56that's 5 trillion, and it's a number that's growing all the time.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03What's feeding this beast of a beach, and re-drawing the map?
0:06:03 > 0:06:08To discover how the sea keeps our margin on the move
0:06:08 > 0:06:11I'm meeting geologist Jan Zalasiewicz.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15Jan, how are these vast expanses of pebble beach created?
0:06:15 > 0:06:17Well, first you have to make the material
0:06:17 > 0:06:20and they're formed by the erosion of the land surface
0:06:20 > 0:06:23and most of these have been washed out of the chalk, you know,
0:06:23 > 0:06:24as the ultimate survivor.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Flint is harder than almost everything else.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30And then the waves which here mainly come from the west,
0:06:30 > 0:06:34you can show with these arrows we have here,
0:06:34 > 0:06:37come from the west and move the material along the beach,
0:06:37 > 0:06:42so it will gradually move along here.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45And what's happening here, what's special here at Dungeness,
0:06:45 > 0:06:49is it's building up and building out because we have another set of waves
0:06:49 > 0:06:52which come from the Channel, and you have a set of ridges
0:06:52 > 0:06:57which are formed you know into this wonderful beach-shaped structure
0:06:57 > 0:06:58of Dungeness.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03Conveyor belts of opposing sea currents push the pebbles forward.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07Over centuries the shingles has piled up...and up,
0:07:07 > 0:07:10creating a massive stone nose.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13And it's remarkable, it's still growing, it's still building
0:07:13 > 0:07:17and it will build until it reaches some kind of equilibrium here.
0:07:20 > 0:07:26This beach is full of surprises, but so are many others.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32The east coast of Scotland.
0:07:35 > 0:07:41The gorgeous sandy face of this shore has a firm foundation.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45A rock-hard skeleton holds the soft skin in place.
0:07:45 > 0:07:50The stony backbone of the beaches formed millions of years ago.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53Locals put that timeless stone to work,
0:07:53 > 0:07:58many of its secrets lost in the harbour walls.
0:08:00 > 0:08:06But in a few precious places, age-old stories do survive.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09We've reached St Andrews.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19Some scour the nearby beaches
0:08:19 > 0:08:23for golf balls they mislaid just moments before,
0:08:23 > 0:08:27while others play a game of seek on the sand
0:08:27 > 0:08:32that goes way back to the beginnings of life on earth.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36I'm Martin White.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39I'm a palaeontologist and I study fossils.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43I'm particularly fond of this bit of coast
0:08:43 > 0:08:49because in 2002, I found trackways of a giant creature here
0:08:49 > 0:08:54in the lower carboniferous rocks, dated about 330 million years ago,
0:08:54 > 0:08:59which is about 100 million years before the earliest dinosaurs.
0:09:01 > 0:09:06When these rocks formed, Britain lay close to the equator,
0:09:06 > 0:09:08so it was a tropical climate,
0:09:08 > 0:09:12and the area was covered with a lush vegetation.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21Here is the stump of one of the giant club mosses.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24These trees would grow into maybe something like 60 metres.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29At this time also oxygen levels in the atmosphere were higher,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32and this allowed some creatures to grow much larger.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35And so this area was literally crawling with giants.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45This is what I've come to see - the tracks of a giant water scorpion.
0:09:52 > 0:09:59Down here you can see curved footprints in a line,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03so this animal had three legs on each side of the body,
0:10:03 > 0:10:09and in the centre of the trackway there's this double groove feature
0:10:09 > 0:10:11which was formed by the tail of the animal.
0:10:13 > 0:10:19I have a cut-out to show you what this giant animal looked like,
0:10:19 > 0:10:23and this matches to the features of the track way
0:10:23 > 0:10:28with the footprints on either side,
0:10:28 > 0:10:34and with the large tail drag mark down the centre of the track way.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38I would love to have met one of these things
0:10:38 > 0:10:41and been able to see it 330 million years ago.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52I've got some great footage here of horseshoe crabs,
0:10:52 > 0:10:58which are the closest living relatives to the water scorpions.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01You can see how they're moving slowly in the same way
0:11:01 > 0:11:06as the giant water scorpion, dragging its tail behind it.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10Because the trackway is very vulnerable to erosion,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13some way needed to be found of preserving it,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16and that's where my friends Dave and Dee became involved,
0:11:16 > 0:11:22because they're experts in moulding and casting of fossils,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25and they made a one-piece mould
0:11:25 > 0:11:28of the seven metre length of this track way.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31It took them six days to make it.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35As a result, casts have now been placed in a museum
0:11:35 > 0:11:37and the trackway is effectively preserved.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44It's wonderful to be able to come here and to touch the same sand
0:11:44 > 0:11:49as was touched by an animal which lived a hundred million years before the first dinosaurs
0:11:49 > 0:11:53and to see evidence of past life.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03We're in search of secrets
0:12:03 > 0:12:08from the beaches surrounding the British Isles.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12Landlubbers are used to mysterious messages suddenly appearing.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19But, recently, they've also started to crop up on the coast.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24Beaches are becoming art installations,
0:12:24 > 0:12:26as they know on Jersey.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37Hermione is on the island to discover the secrets
0:12:37 > 0:12:41of creating spectacular statements in sand.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47Some see these wide open spaces as
0:12:47 > 0:12:52inspiration for art on a truly massive scale.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56This is a blank canvas, just waiting to be brought to life.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00MUSIC: "Firework" by Katy Perry
0:13:01 > 0:13:06I'm here for the World Beach Art Championships.
0:13:06 > 0:13:13The challenge is to produce colossal creations, best seen from the sky.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20The competitors have come from far and wide.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24Meet French artist Sam Dougados,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28British artist Andy Coutanche,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31and American artist Andres Amador.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Andres believes the beach itself tells him what to draw,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44so what are the sands of Jersey saying to him?
0:13:45 > 0:13:49I see this cave that looks like a big mouth,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51like it's shouting something.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54I see all these rocks and little passageways.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58Doesn't it feel like something is coming out of this?
0:13:58 > 0:13:59Do you feel that?
0:13:59 > 0:14:00HE LAUGHS
0:14:00 > 0:14:04You see, as a geologist, I'm thinking in totally reverse actually!
0:14:04 > 0:14:05- It's going in.- Ah, interesting.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09Andres has certainly got a grand vision,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12but, just now, I'm struggling to see it myself.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21Time to catch up with our French contender.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24Is he planning his design ahead of time, like Andres?
0:14:24 > 0:14:27Honestly, not really.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31I had an idea, but I'm not sure.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34Just before, I had a look at the area,
0:14:34 > 0:14:38but I think it will be lot of improvisation.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44Two times on three, I come on the beach without knowing what I will do
0:14:44 > 0:14:47because the beach is always different.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50You almost don't have any limits. It's a perfect place.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53So Sam's going freeform.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55For local artist Andy Coutanche,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58it's his tools that do the talking.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05So, tell me about the rake.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Anything special about the way you use it or this particular rake?
0:15:08 > 0:15:11This rake was my great-grandfather's rake,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13which is just a normal garden rake, I believe.
0:15:13 > 0:15:14I think it's about 100 years old.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17- But that's it, just you and your great-grandfather's rake?- Yeah.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20- To create something like this. - Yes. Yeah.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Now the competition's in full swing,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28they've just two hours before the tide washes their work away.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Well, can I have a go? Can you show me how to do it?
0:15:33 > 0:15:34Yeah, yeah. Sure.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40I can just about handle Andy's low-tech approach.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47But on the next beach, Andres is more precise.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52With his 21st-century rake, he stencils shapes into the sand,
0:15:52 > 0:15:56a template of his detailed plan to make this cave creation.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00Now you're getting privy to the design,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03the design elements anyway.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07All over Jersey,
0:16:07 > 0:16:12the beaches are coming alive in this huge pop-up art exhibition.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Do you ever rub anything out and start again?
0:16:14 > 0:16:17Sometimes, yeah. Yeah, you can just go like that.
0:16:17 > 0:16:18SHE LAUGHS
0:16:18 > 0:16:20I'm not sure about that one!
0:16:22 > 0:16:25As the tide rolls in, their time's nearly up.
0:16:25 > 0:16:30To really see the spectacle, I need to go skywards.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40From up here, the secret stencils come together.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44Now, Andres' cave creation finally makes beautiful sense.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48Wow!
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Gosh, from up here, you just get the most fantastic view.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54You can see the most beautiful patterns that he's done,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58and, particularly, he's used the cave as he said he would,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01with the art emerging out of the mouth of the cave.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09- Is that him actually standing...? - He's in one...- Yes, that's it!
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Andres, I think, is actually standing in the centre of one of his motifs.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22So we're just going to fly down the west of the islands now,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25and we'll be able to see Andy Coutanche's work,
0:17:25 > 0:17:27and we'll be able to see whether
0:17:27 > 0:17:29the bits I did for Andy are visible or not.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31I hope they don't spoil it.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40It's interesting. It just... It really looks part of the beach.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43It almost looks like the trail of something,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45trailing around in the sands.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55But it seems making it up on the day
0:17:55 > 0:17:58hasn't held back French contender Sam.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01His circles may look modest from the sky,
0:18:01 > 0:18:05but the simplicity and precision has impressed the judges
0:18:05 > 0:18:07who've awarded him first place.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16Something rather ancient, mysterious and magical about this one.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19It really does look like that has survived many tides
0:18:19 > 0:18:22and yet it will just be washed away.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29For now, at least, Jersey's secret studios
0:18:29 > 0:18:33turn back to sand and stone,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36but the vision is one I'll always remember.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52To most of us, beaches are precious places of leisure.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57But coastal folk know the secret to a successful life out here
0:18:57 > 0:18:59is working with the landscape.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05Not everyone can trade on the beauty of our shore.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Making a living can mean a compromise between
0:19:08 > 0:19:11the picturesque and the practical.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17Development is a challenge all around our coast,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20nowhere more so than at Port Talbot.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33Welcome to a wilderness of remarkable natural splendour...
0:19:35 > 0:19:38..with a surprise in store for Tessa.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43There aren't many beaches like this in Britain.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45Behind me, it's deserted sands and wild sea.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48But in front of me it's big business,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51on an industrial scale!
0:19:59 > 0:20:04Millions of tons of steel a year roll out of this Port Talbot plant,
0:20:04 > 0:20:09a cathedral of industry, some 60 years in the making.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13It reinvented the rules of construction
0:20:13 > 0:20:17This mighty empire of steel is built on sand.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20With no firm foundations,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23it was an epic struggle to complete the plant.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29The port of Port Talbot makes sense of putting
0:20:29 > 0:20:32the steelworks on the shoreline.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Mountains of raw material arrive by sea,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39and the finished metal goes out the same way.
0:20:40 > 0:20:46But putting a building site on a beach defied long-established orthodoxy.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50The wisdom of old warns against constructing on sand.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55Open your Bible at Matthew chapter 7, verses 26 and 7.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59"A foolish man that built his house upon the sand,
0:20:59 > 0:21:03"and the rain fell and the floods came and the wind blew,
0:21:03 > 0:21:09"and they beat upon that house, and it fell and great was the fall."
0:21:09 > 0:21:12So how do you build a steelworks
0:21:12 > 0:21:17on something as soft and as shifting as this?
0:21:19 > 0:21:22'Engineer David French is going to let me in on the secret,
0:21:22 > 0:21:25'using bricks and sticks.'
0:21:25 > 0:21:28These blocks are representing the plant and the buildings
0:21:28 > 0:21:30and the heavy machinery.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33- Oh, I can see them sinking in already.- It is, yeah.
0:21:33 > 0:21:34You see, as it builds up,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37you're going to get settlement and, eventually, failure.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39- Oh, yeah. Total failure.- No good.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44Shifting sand wasn't the builder's only enemy.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48Below the surface lies soggy, unstable brown peat.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52So how do you get around this problem of building on soft sand and peat?
0:21:52 > 0:21:56Well, what we need are deep foundations called piles.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00What we're doing is pushing the pile through the sand
0:22:00 > 0:22:02and through the thick layer of peat,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06down into this secure founding stratum at the bottom.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08This is the clay, sticky bit.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11Yeah. This'll be a mixture of stiff clay, gravels and sand.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13And that's going to hold them still in place.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15- That's it. You've got it.- I see.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20So can we replicate what was once done here at Port Talbot now?
0:22:20 > 0:22:23- Well, hopefully we can.- OK, do it. Yeah, let's try...
0:22:23 > 0:22:26- Oh, I think I'm hitting some sticky clay!- Yeah.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28Right. Now, hopefully,
0:22:28 > 0:22:31we've got our stilts in and we can put our building on top.
0:22:31 > 0:22:32Oh, yeah!
0:22:32 > 0:22:35- Yeah, do you want to have a go?- I do, yes.
0:22:38 > 0:22:39And another one.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41So who says you can't build on sand?
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Ah, yes! It can be done.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47How many of these piles were driven into the site here at Port Talbot?
0:22:47 > 0:22:51Well, amazingly, 33,000 of these piles
0:22:51 > 0:22:53were installed across the site.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Work on the steel plant began in 1947,
0:22:58 > 0:23:01part of rebuilding Britain after the war.
0:23:01 > 0:23:07The mammoth task of driving over 30,000 piles over 50 feet down,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11into solid clay didn't just scar the landscape.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15The deafening noise still rings in the ears of Doug Hockin.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19The first memory I had was as a child sitting the 11-plus
0:23:19 > 0:23:23and the exams for the local secondary schools here.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25We were sitting the exams
0:23:25 > 0:23:28and you could hear the piles been driven outside.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34You weren't aware then
0:23:34 > 0:23:37that the biggest works in Europe were being built.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46Doug swapped school for a life in steel, like thousands of others.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52Boys have been forged into men here since the early 1950s,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55when steel first rolled out over the sand.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01To feed the relentless rolling mills, a steady stream of resources
0:24:01 > 0:24:03flowed into the plant.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06With cargo carriers getting bigger,
0:24:06 > 0:24:12in the mid 1960s, a new deep-water harbour began construction.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17Now coal comes halfway around the world from Australia to South Wales.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22The scale of this enterprise is staggering
0:24:22 > 0:24:26and building on a beach brought another benefit - room to grow.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32Rolling out sheet steel needs space and lots of it.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39The process starts off with a slab ten metres long,
0:24:39 > 0:24:45and that ten-metre slab ends up as a 1,000-metre length coil.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48The length of the mill from the furnaces to the coilers
0:24:48 > 0:24:50is approximately half a mile.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55For 60 years, a ribbon of steel
0:24:55 > 0:24:59has threaded through the community of Port Talbot.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01Like the cathedrals of old,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04this place is the life's work of generations,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07as foreman Steve Williams can testify.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12My grandfather started off in the steelworks,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15my father, obviously myself after my father,
0:25:15 > 0:25:18my daughter is working here now - she's in supplies -
0:25:18 > 0:25:21and my grandson has just started his apprenticeship here.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24- Your grandson as well?- My grandson. So that's five generations.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30At its peak, over 18,000 people were employed at the plant.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34New workers needed new homes.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42The houses were built where the dunes had once stood,
0:25:42 > 0:25:45and the estate was named Sandfields.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56The sea view sells itself,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59but heavy industry doesn't figure on the wish list
0:25:59 > 0:26:02for most people's ideal location.
0:26:02 > 0:26:03In bracing Welsh weather,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06I'm meeting the ladies who've lived with the steelworks
0:26:06 > 0:26:09since the good times started to roll.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13This place was known as Treasure Island because
0:26:13 > 0:26:17there was so much money being generated by the steelworks, yeah.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19I was earning £3 something
0:26:19 > 0:26:22and then I went to the steel company to earn about £8.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26That's some promotion, isn't it, more than doubling your salary?
0:26:26 > 0:26:29So many people came when the steel company was becoming bigger,
0:26:29 > 0:26:33and they came from Scotland and England and Ireland.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37And most of those people never went back to their roots.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39They stayed in Port Talbot.
0:26:39 > 0:26:45So, for me, Port Talbot people are Port Talbot, you know.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47Quite cosmopolitan, really!
0:26:47 > 0:26:49They're wonderful people, you know. I think.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52I think it's the best place in the world.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57People are proud of this mighty achievement,
0:26:57 > 0:26:59built on the swirling sands.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02It's something stronger than steel
0:27:02 > 0:27:05that binds the community in place here.
0:27:11 > 0:27:17The real secret is the spirit of generations who've grown up
0:27:17 > 0:27:20rock solid around the steelworks.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24To look at, the steel plant might not be everyone's cup of tea,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27but I've discovered that, here in Port Talbot,
0:27:27 > 0:27:29it's at the heart of the community.
0:27:29 > 0:27:30It means everything.
0:27:50 > 0:27:56Work, rest and play are all part of Britain's beach life.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08Whether you want to lounge on the sand
0:28:08 > 0:28:11or explore its secrets,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14our coast doesn't disappoint.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18We each have our favourite beach.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24For me, this landscape at Dungeness is special indeed.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27Bizarre certainly...
0:28:28 > 0:28:31..but with undeniable beauty.
0:28:32 > 0:28:37Dungeness is one of the strangest beaches I know,
0:28:37 > 0:28:41but they're all strange, quite unlike the rest of our island.
0:28:41 > 0:28:46They're open spaces, free spaces, without fences or walls.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Beaches are where we come to feel the coast,
0:28:49 > 0:28:51feel the ocean between our toes,
0:28:51 > 0:28:55and listen to stories that go back billions of years -
0:28:55 > 0:28:56our island stories.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd