0:00:20 > 0:00:24Today, I'm on a journey under the big skies of Kent.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26Starting in its most remote corner
0:00:26 > 0:00:30and finishing a little bit further to the north, in search of gorillas.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42I kick-off at Lydd, on the south-easterly tip of the UK,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45where I'll test my skills at go-karting.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Then, it's up to the Aeronautical Museum at Brenzett,
0:00:50 > 0:00:53where memories of the World War II, both in the air and on land,
0:00:53 > 0:00:55are very much alive.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57Somebody once said if it hadn't been for the Merchant Navy
0:00:57 > 0:01:00and the Land Army, England would have starved.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03Pressing northwards to Canterbury,
0:01:03 > 0:01:05I'll get my ears around a psychedelic sound
0:01:05 > 0:01:09that swept through the city in the Sixties.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12It's amazing that, 40 years later, it is still all happening,
0:01:12 > 0:01:14people are continuing that tradition.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17My journey comes to an end near Bekesbourne,
0:01:17 > 0:01:19among the animals,
0:01:19 > 0:01:21where I'll step very carefully into the territory
0:01:21 > 0:01:25'of a clouded leopard.' Now, look at that.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29One of the rarest cats in the world.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32And I'll be finding out how lowland guerrillas,
0:01:32 > 0:01:35born and bred in Kent, are going back to the wild.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37We are repopulating a part of Africa
0:01:37 > 0:01:39that hasn't seen gorillas for 200 years.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42And along the way, I'll be looking back at the very best
0:01:42 > 0:01:45of the BBC's rural programmes from this part of the world.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Welcome to Country Tracks.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55Despite being one of our more densely-populated counties,
0:01:55 > 0:01:59Kent boasts more than 1,000 square miles of open countryside
0:01:59 > 0:02:02and 350 miles of unspoilt coastline.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Having mainland Europe on the doorstep means Kent enjoys
0:02:08 > 0:02:10a warmer, drier climate than much of the UK.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13That in turn supports agriculture and, of course,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16it's renowned reputation as the Garden of England.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23When I think of Kent, I picture orchards,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26hops, meadows, white cliffs...but go-karts?
0:02:36 > 0:02:39There's been a track here for nearly 20 years,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42part of it made from reclaimed marshland.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45It sits within the boundaries of Dungeness, Bromley Marsh
0:02:45 > 0:02:48and the site of special scientific interest at Rye Bay.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51And, somehow, all that co-exists
0:02:51 > 0:02:54rather nicely with the local wildlife.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56You might think we're shattering the peace and quiet
0:02:56 > 0:02:59of the Kent countryside, but hold on to those assumptions
0:02:59 > 0:03:02because Lydd has never been a stranger to noise.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04In 1888, they tested high explosives here,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08which led to the invention of Lyddite, a deadly substance
0:03:08 > 0:03:10used to fill shells in World War One and the Boer War,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14and these days, its neighbours include two power stations,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16an army firing range you can just about hear...
0:03:16 > 0:03:18DISTANT GUNSHOTS
0:03:18 > 0:03:21and an airport, so a few go-karts are hardly noticed.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28The circuit was recently bought by property developer
0:03:28 > 0:03:30and well-known go-kart champ, Andy Scott,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33and all-round record-breaking racer, James Clark.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36Between them, they've won 140 trophies.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42I couldn't help but spot a few trophies.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44Where'd you buy all them?
0:03:44 > 0:03:45THEY LAUGH
0:03:45 > 0:03:47Local charity shop!
0:03:47 > 0:03:50You guys are pretty good at your sport, aren't you?
0:03:50 > 0:03:53You've both driven at a high level, is that right?
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Yeah, it's all down to just living and breathing it and passion.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01Andy, how big is go-karting in this country, is it very popular?
0:04:01 > 0:04:05It's very popular, it's the grass roots of motorsport.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10Ages from four years old can start, right up to 60, 70 years old.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13There is not a Formula One driver today that didn't start in karting.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19MUSIC: BBC Formula One theme
0:04:19 > 0:04:23So, it looks like I'm about to join the likes of Hamilton and Button.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37MUSIC: "Steptoe And Son" theme
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Gently round the corner.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45I think he's getting the hang of this.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48Yeah.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53He's got to be doing...15-20 mph?
0:04:53 > 0:04:54HE LAUGHS
0:04:55 > 0:04:57I think six out of ten for effort.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59Yeah.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09I think our trophies are safe.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Well, that felt absolutely brilliant, it's so fast,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19it's so low to the ground.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23My driving was a bit horrendous, really, but all great fun.
0:05:23 > 0:05:24Exhilarating experience.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29OK, so maybe I wasn't as fast as I thought.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32So, guys, first time, what do you think?
0:05:32 > 0:05:35First time novice, very good.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38Yeah, we only managed to boil one egg in that time.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41Look me in the eye and say that.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44Thanks, guys, very much.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47Yeah, whatever.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50Anyway, as much as I've enjoyed plodding around the track,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52it's not what I'd expect of rural Kent.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57Matt Baker explored a quieter and wilder part of the county.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02This is Dungeness.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07A bleak, remote wilderness
0:06:07 > 0:06:10clinging to the very edge of our island.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15Few other places can boast both a steam railway
0:06:15 > 0:06:17and a nuclear power station.
0:06:20 > 0:06:25Arriving here feels like stepping through the looking-glass.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32This is the largest pebble beach in Europe,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36and it is on the move - expanding out into the Channel
0:06:36 > 0:06:39at a rate of up to eight and a half feet a year.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44Dilapidated sheds and decaying boats dot the landscape.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Abandoned in a world of constantly-shifting shingle.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56This arid place is the closest thing we have in Britain to a desert.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00It rains as little here as it does on the Rock of Gibraltar.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05Ecologist Owen Leyshon is my guide to its harsh beauty.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10So, Owen it is an extraordinary landscape.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13It is very, very tough for any plants
0:07:13 > 0:07:16and humans to survive on Dungeness.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Cold in the winter, really hot and dry in the summer.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24- As close an environment as you can get to a desert?- Yes.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27So there's no soil or anything. How deep is the shingle?
0:07:27 > 0:07:30It's about 17 to 20 metres deep, the shingle.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36If it's that deep, then the plants are certainly determined.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41Their roots searching the shingle for every nutrient,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44every drop of salt-free moisture.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49There seemed to be a lot of these white-flowered plants here, Owen.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53- What have we got here? - This is sea kale.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56Nice good old tough seaside plant, nice juicy leaves,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00with a lovely big white pom-pom display of flowers on it.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04A characteristic seaside plant, but on Dungeness you could
0:08:04 > 0:08:08probably say the biggest collection of sea kale in this country.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14Look closer and more than one third of all the plant species in the UK
0:08:14 > 0:08:17manage to grow amongst these pebbles.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20But they're not the only form of life here.
0:08:20 > 0:08:21Further inland,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24fresh water collects in craters left by gravel extraction,
0:08:24 > 0:08:26and in the fresh water,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30live something that was once declared extinct in Britain.
0:08:32 > 0:08:33Oh, my word!
0:08:33 > 0:08:34They're leeches?
0:08:34 > 0:08:36These are medicinal leeches.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41In Europe, Dungeness is one of the best places for this species.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45This has come from a gravel pit, so the water quality's excellent.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49Lots of food for them, frogs and birds for them to feed on,
0:08:49 > 0:08:50because they need blood.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52And you need a special licence...
0:08:52 > 0:08:54You need a licence to handle these,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56as they're quite rare in this country.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58What do you have to do? Keep moving them.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01I have got to keep holding these a bit like a hot potato.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06There we go, let's get this one out here.
0:09:06 > 0:09:07Oh, wow.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09I've got to keep moving him around,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12because he's looking for a place to bite me, now.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14Which end is the teeth?
0:09:14 > 0:09:16That's it, there's 300 teeth on it,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19and they expand about two or three times their size
0:09:19 > 0:09:20when they've had their meal,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23and that'll be it for the rest of the season.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26This is the largest leech in this country.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28You'll not mistake this for anything else.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Leeches have long been used in medicine.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36and in the 19th century, their popularity reached its peak.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Over-harvesting lead to dramatic shortages,
0:09:39 > 0:09:44but here in this corner of Kent, the leech somehow hung on.
0:09:47 > 0:09:53It all adds to the atmosphere - an alien storybook world,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55lost somewhere in time.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01Coming as I have from the heart of England's
0:10:01 > 0:10:06green and pleasant land, Dungeness is a startling sight.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11It's strangely alluring, it's dreamlike,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14it's almost in slow motion, this place.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17Totally unexpected, but unforgettable.
0:10:23 > 0:10:28Matt Baker, swept away with the beauty of Dungeness.
0:10:32 > 0:10:38I've left the go-karting track at Lydd and headed north to Brenzett.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40It's definitely a more peaceful spot -
0:10:40 > 0:10:42green fields stretching into the distance,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45and only birdsong to break the silence.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48It couldn't be more different to the scene here
0:10:48 > 0:10:52nearly 70 years ago, during the Second World War.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Well, it looks just like any other field today,
0:11:05 > 0:11:09but in the summer of 1944, Brenzett Airfield was here.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11It was an ALG - an Advanced Landing Ground -
0:11:11 > 0:11:16specially chosen and strategically positioned to be as close to the coast as possible -
0:11:16 > 0:11:18that is, as close to France as possible.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24As D-Day approached,
0:11:24 > 0:11:28these ALGs were vital fuel stations for allied aircraft.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31It meant their tanks were full as they fought in the skies
0:11:31 > 0:11:34above France, and for those returning from combat,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37it was the first sign of a safe landing spot.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39There were 12 ALGs in Kent.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45If you just passed by here today, you'd have no idea
0:11:45 > 0:11:47of the significance of this place
0:11:47 > 0:11:49towards the end of the Second World War,
0:11:49 > 0:11:53but luckily, its memory is kept alive just up the road.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08The Brenzett Aeronautical Museum has a staggering collection
0:12:08 > 0:12:13of wartime relics and memorabilia, including many precious photographs.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17It also displays items recovered from aircraft crash sites
0:12:17 > 0:12:19during the Battle of Britain.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26At first glance, it might be difficult to identify with
0:12:26 > 0:12:29these large lumps of twisted metal, but when you remember
0:12:29 > 0:12:33these were engines from downed aircraft flown by young men,
0:12:33 > 0:12:38so many of whom lost their lives, it really makes you think,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42actually, just how poignant these artefacts are.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51By 1944, there were three squadrons based here in Brenzett,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54and part of their role was to intercept the flying bombs,
0:12:54 > 0:12:55the infamous doodlebugs.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57Look at this - it's the tip of a Spitfire wing.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00It's completely bent out of shape
0:13:00 > 0:13:04because on one occasion a Spitfire pilot managed to get his wing
0:13:04 > 0:13:07under that of a doodlebug, flip it off course
0:13:07 > 0:13:09so it crashed in the fields of Kent
0:13:09 > 0:13:12rather than its intended target, which was London.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Absolutely incredible skill and bravery.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24The airfield closed in December 1944.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27The land was returned to agricultural use
0:13:27 > 0:13:32and Brenzett's planes and pilots melted into the history books.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38But this building survived.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41It's been an Aeronautical Museum since 1972,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44but during the war it had nothing to do with the aviation.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47In fact, you couldn't get much more down-to-earth.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53It was a Land Army hostel, and every year a group
0:13:53 > 0:13:58of former land girls come back for a trip down memory lane.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06In a moment, I'll be hearing some of their stories,
0:14:06 > 0:14:07but first to Dover,
0:14:07 > 0:14:10where Neil Oliver explored our determination over the centuries
0:14:10 > 0:14:13to link the British Isles with the rest of Europe.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27The nearest part of France, Cap Gris Nez, is 21 miles away over there.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30And every year, 15 million of us make the crossing.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32For a nation of islanders,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36we're very keen to get away from the place every once in a while.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40While ships have been making that escape possible
0:14:40 > 0:14:42for thousands of years,
0:14:42 > 0:14:46since 1994, trains have been making the journey, too.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51The Channel Tunnel is one of Britain's
0:14:51 > 0:14:54most complex engineering projects.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58The secret of its success is the layer of chalk below the seabed -
0:14:58 > 0:15:01ideal for tunnelling.
0:15:03 > 0:15:08Having a direct line to the Continent still feels like a bit of a novelty.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11But actually, the idea is nothing new.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16More than 100 years ago, there was already a tunnel under the Channel,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20but that audacious plan to connect us to France was never finished.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23'Richard Storer has offered to help me
0:15:23 > 0:15:26'uncover the history of the Victorian Channel Tunnel.'
0:15:26 > 0:15:29- Going to do some tunnelling? - Yes, we are.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35It all starts with a French engineer, Thome de Gamond.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40He knew that chalk was good for tunnelling, but in the 19th century,
0:15:40 > 0:15:43no-one knew if there was chalk under the Channel or not.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48In 1833, Thome decided that he had to know for sure,
0:15:48 > 0:15:50and the only way to find out
0:15:50 > 0:15:54was to dive to the sea bed and collect samples.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57I've got a sense of trepidation now!
0:15:57 > 0:16:00With Richard's help, I want to find out
0:16:00 > 0:16:02just how hard Thome's task must have been
0:16:02 > 0:16:06in the days before any proper diving equipment.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09It was dive in and hope that he could pick something up.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13What practical difficulties did Thome de Gamond face?
0:16:13 > 0:16:16He prepared himself with lint
0:16:16 > 0:16:19soaked in lard or butter, for his ears, and nostrils.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22- Why?- That was to keep out the water.
0:16:22 > 0:16:23Because at the lower depths,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27the pressure of the water would affect his ears and nose.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Just before he jumped overboard, he took a mouthful of olive oil,
0:16:31 > 0:16:36which he'd seen done in the Mediterranean by pearl divers.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40- Like a partial seal?- That's right. - What depths did he go to?
0:16:40 > 0:16:43About 30 metres, about 100 feet,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46- the deepest part of the Channel. - Just holding his breath?- Yeah.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48'There's no way I'm going that deep.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52'But just as Gamond did on his search for the signs of chalk,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55'I'm going to dive without an air supply.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58'Dive master Richard Bull and his team are here to help.'
0:17:02 > 0:17:05- I've never donned one of these. - Get that arm in, pulled right up,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08done like an expert.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13- Perfect. Made-to-measure, sir. - All set.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18It doesn't really help when they look so worried, though.
0:17:18 > 0:17:23Thome de Gamond needed bandages and olive oil and butter. I don't.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27All I'm taking is my gardening trowel and my bag.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39'Like Thome de Gamond, I'm holding my breath.'
0:17:41 > 0:17:45'Digging for evidence of the chalk beneath the seabed.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48'Gamond dived up to ten times deeper than I am,
0:17:48 > 0:17:50'and it's all the more extraordinary,
0:17:50 > 0:17:54'because like me, Thome was not a professional diver.'
0:17:59 > 0:18:03'After only 30 seconds, my lungs are burning.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06'It must have been a nightmare for Gamond.'
0:18:13 > 0:18:17That is extremely difficult. And all I've got...
0:18:17 > 0:18:19is a beach pebble!
0:18:19 > 0:18:23'Thankfully, Gamond was a lot more successful.'
0:18:23 > 0:18:28His dives confirmed there was a continuous layer of chalk
0:18:28 > 0:18:30between Britain and France.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36But sadly for him, he could never raise the money to start tunnelling.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44By the late 1870s, a British railway magnate, Sir Edward Watkin,
0:18:44 > 0:18:46had taken up the challenge.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53Using Gamond's discovery, Watkin's then-revolutionary plan
0:18:53 > 0:18:58was to link London to Paris direct, and for that he needed a tunnel.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01At the base of this cliff
0:19:01 > 0:19:04is the first ever trial tunnel for Watkin's scheme.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09Very forensic. Very Crime Scene!
0:19:09 > 0:19:13'It's hidden away at the end of a ventilation shaft,
0:19:13 > 0:19:17'and we need all this protective gear just to get in there.'
0:19:17 > 0:19:19All right.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31Mind the floor. Right, so, this is it.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33- Amazing, isn't it?- Unbelievable.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36Considering it's been here for about 130 years.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39It's perfect, it looks like a modern job.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43For some reason, I was expecting it to look hand-cut.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Oh, no, no, it was cut with a machine, like a big drill.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49And the beauty of it is it's unlined,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52it's just the bare rock that you can see.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56Just shows the strength of the chalk, the integrity of the chalk.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Have a look at this. A bit of original graffiti.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06- Oh, that's fantastic. - This tunnel was...- Was begun?
0:20:06 > 0:20:09I think he had difficulty spelling "begun".
0:20:09 > 0:20:11Spelling is not his strong suit!
0:20:11 > 0:20:15- In 1880.- A date! - And a name, William Sharp.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19How much better is that than a brass plaque?
0:20:19 > 0:20:21It is wonderful, absolutely amazing.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25'The newly developed drilling technology worked brilliantly,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28'which made it all the more frustrating for Watkin
0:20:28 > 0:20:32'that in 1882, after getting more than a mile out to sea,
0:20:32 > 0:20:33'the project was halted.'
0:20:40 > 0:20:42'Looking at these newspapers,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45'it turns out that not everyone was happy about the idea
0:20:45 > 0:20:48'of joining our island to the rest of Europe.'
0:20:48 > 0:20:51This letter to The Times is a classic.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55"Providence has given us the sea as our safeguard," it says.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57"Why should we fly in the face of Providence
0:20:57 > 0:21:00"and throw our safety away for what, after all,
0:21:00 > 0:21:02"is a mercantile speculation
0:21:02 > 0:21:05"and certainly cannot be called a necessity?"
0:21:05 > 0:21:08All of the public disquiet became an unstoppable force.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13The project was pulled, and Watkin's dream was over.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17His tunnel was dead in the water.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20Not because it was too difficult to build,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24but simply because the government refused to take the political risk.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29Neil Oliver and the fascinating history of Channel tunnelling.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36I'm at the Brenzett Aeronautical Museum.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38It's a former Land Army hostel,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42and during the war, 36 land girls lived here.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45The Women's Land Army was set up in 1939, as war loomed.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48The government wanted to produce more food at home
0:21:48 > 0:21:52and that meant more help was needed on the farms.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57By 1943, more than 80,000 women called themselves land girls.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00They came from all backgrounds to work in a man's world,
0:22:00 > 0:22:04ploughing, hedging, threshing and harvesting.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08Doris Silk, Eve Light and Doris Bradley
0:22:08 > 0:22:14all joined the Land Army as teenagers between 1940 and 1944.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16And they worked right here in Kent.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18While they didn't live at this particular hostel,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22they meet here every year to reminisce
0:22:22 > 0:22:23and share some of their stories.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28You were all in the Land Army. Were you all based here in Kent?
0:22:28 > 0:22:31I was stationed at the Eastbourne research station,
0:22:31 > 0:22:33where I was trained to be a mobile fruit sprayer.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37So I used to go around parts of Kent spraying fruit orchards.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Did you have a sense of the importance of your work?
0:22:40 > 0:22:42I suppose as a teenager,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45you took everything that was put in front of you,
0:22:45 > 0:22:50you did as you were told, and just got on with it.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53This work wasn't fully mechanised. You could take it,
0:22:53 > 0:22:55but people forget how hard this was.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Yes, it was. It was hard. No doubt about it, it was hard.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01In the summer, when it's harvest time,
0:23:01 > 0:23:03you would start at 5:30am
0:23:03 > 0:23:06and you would finish at 11pm when it got too dark
0:23:06 > 0:23:08to bring the harvest in. You worked all those hours.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11It was while I was there, I called my friend and said,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14"Come and have a look. I don't know what this is."
0:23:14 > 0:23:17We looked and we saw something going across the sky,
0:23:17 > 0:23:19with all the flames coming out of it.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23When we went home we heard the first doodlebug had come over England.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25- Wow, you saw the first one?- Yes.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27Where would we have been without the Land Army
0:23:27 > 0:23:29as a fighting nation?
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Somebody once said if it hadn't been for the Merchant Navy
0:23:32 > 0:23:34and the Land Army, England would have starved.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41It's an honour to hear these memories first hand.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44The green jerseys of the Land Army have become
0:23:44 > 0:23:47as synonymous with the Second World War as any military uniform,
0:23:47 > 0:23:51and it's wonderful to see them worn with pride to this day.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57The land girls were charged with cultivated land and producing food,
0:23:57 > 0:24:00but there's more to the Garden of England than farming.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Alan Titchmarsh visited Sissinghurst,
0:24:03 > 0:24:07the Kent home of the writer and gardener, Vita Sackville-West,
0:24:07 > 0:24:09and her husband, Harold Nicolson.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15Many of us like to be adventurous with our gardens
0:24:15 > 0:24:16when it comes to colour.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20This desire to experiment and take risks
0:24:20 > 0:24:22began with pioneers like Vita.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26Always one for flouting convention, at Sissinghurst,
0:24:26 > 0:24:28she ripped up the rule book on colour.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34The Edwardians before her championed the use of subtle pastel shades.
0:24:34 > 0:24:39Nothing clashed as they strived for harmonious colour combinations.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42Purple was deemed difficult,
0:24:42 > 0:24:46and white flowers were to be used sparingly.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49It was their reaction to the garish blocks of colour
0:24:49 > 0:24:51so beloved of the Victorians.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55Vita embraced all colours.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58Her palette was sophisticated and cutting-edge.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03You know, there's nothing more contentious than colour in a garden.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06I have friends who won't have yellow or orange flowers.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08I think it's a rebellion against that
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Sixties movement, when it was blue and white alyssum,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14orange French marigolds, scarlet salvias.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18So we all became pastel-orientated in the '70s, '80s and '90s.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21But now it seems to me there's a movement back
0:25:21 > 0:25:23towards those strident colours.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26It's been picked up from the fashion catwalks of Paris
0:25:26 > 0:25:28and making its way into our gardens.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32But Vita was one of the very first to break the mould
0:25:32 > 0:25:34of being careful with colour.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42One of Vita's ideas was to create a single colour border.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Potentially dull and uninspiring,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47but her technique was to combine a host of shades
0:25:47 > 0:25:49that would create a single hue.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02Here in the purple border, we've knocked in a stake,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06which is coloured at the top with the shade of flower
0:26:06 > 0:26:09which sits underneath it.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Vita was very clever.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19She's taken the spectrum all the way through
0:26:19 > 0:26:24from the bluest shades of purple and lilac to the pale pinks.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31Lilac here. Here's a slightly darker one.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34This one is almost verging on the red.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38And instead of it being a flat, one-dimensional border,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41just look at all those colours which combine to make it
0:26:41 > 0:26:44wonderfully three-dimensional.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46Not only did it look good,
0:26:46 > 0:26:50but the choice of plants meant it had year-round interest as well.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57But Vita's most dramatic use of single colour
0:26:57 > 0:27:00can be found in the legendary white garden.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10At the time, the white garden was completely radical.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14White was a colour more commonly associated with stark, concrete,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18modernist architecture, not a traditional garden.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23White flowers and silvery foliage had rarely been used on their own.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28The white garden was actually a bit of a publicity stunt.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32It was created in 1951 for the Festival of Britain,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35and Vita and Harold hoped that swarms of foreign visitors
0:27:35 > 0:27:38would come to Sissinghurst and pay to see it.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44The white garden was to become one of the most celebrated
0:27:44 > 0:27:47and influential gardens of the 20th century.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51Copied thousands of times, all over the world.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01Course, you could say, well, anybody could create a white garden.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04Just get a bit of ground and fill it with white flowers,
0:28:04 > 0:28:07but it's not as simple as that.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09Fill a bed or a border with white flowers,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13it can be very dull, very monochromatic.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15You need to be a bit more cunning.
0:28:15 > 0:28:21What sets this white garden apart from the common herd is three things.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24Structure, form, and texture.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27The structure is provided by this path network,
0:28:27 > 0:28:31and the strictly-clipped box hedges which give wonderful shadow.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36The form is the shape of these plants in drifts, and their heights.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39And the texture, by the foliage.
0:28:39 > 0:28:44Some of it soft and fluffy, some of it big and bold.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47This is plantsmanship at its most masterful.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57After the white garden had been created,
0:28:57 > 0:29:04Vita wrote about her ideas on planting for a radio broadcast in 1954.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10"I believe in exaggeration in gardening.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13"I believe in big groups, big masses.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15"I believe it's far more effective
0:29:15 > 0:29:18"to concentrate delphiniums into one big bed,
0:29:18 > 0:29:23"than to dot them about at intervals, in twos and threes."
0:29:31 > 0:29:32What isn't generally known,
0:29:32 > 0:29:36is that this garden was designed to be just as dramatic
0:29:36 > 0:29:38at night time.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46As daylight fades into moonlight,
0:29:46 > 0:29:49this garden takes on a natural, luminous quality.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53Vita and Harold would dine here in the evening,
0:29:53 > 0:29:57so they wanted to enjoy their garden under the stars.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04The arbour of Rosa mulliganii glows under the moonlight
0:30:04 > 0:30:09and the silver-grey foliage all round seems to sparkle.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14The garden's illuminated without the need for artificial light.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22Alan Titchmarsh enjoying a ghostly garden of white.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28I've travelled north to the outskirts of Canterbury
0:30:28 > 0:30:30on my Kentish journey.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34For many, the countryside is a place of quiet repose,
0:30:34 > 0:30:35a pastoral idyll.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38For others, the summer months mean they rush to fields like this
0:30:38 > 0:30:41all across the UK
0:30:41 > 0:30:45which are turned into venues for very loud music festivals.
0:30:50 > 0:30:56# I look to the sky with sunken eyes... #
0:30:56 > 0:31:01In 2009, two million people defied the recession
0:31:01 > 0:31:03and flocked to British music festivals,
0:31:03 > 0:31:07generating £450 million for the economy.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16The biggest chunk of live music revenue
0:31:16 > 0:31:19comes out of London and the south-east.
0:31:19 > 0:31:20It's big business.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24Every July, music fans head to this site near Canterbury
0:31:24 > 0:31:27for the Lounge On The Farm Festival.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29Sean Baker is the organiser.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33How did Lounge On The Farm, the festival, get started here.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37It was a chance meeting with the farmer's son.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41I said I was looking for a place for a festival,
0:31:41 > 0:31:43and he said, "Come on to my farm and give it a go."
0:31:43 > 0:31:46It's grown, hasn't it?
0:31:46 > 0:31:50- This has been something that's just built up and built up.- Yes.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55It started off with 1,200 people, and now we hit about 10,000.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59Why in the last five-ten years has there been this surge
0:31:59 > 0:32:03in smaller, medium-sized festivals? Why is it so popular?
0:32:03 > 0:32:07I think British people just love to have a good party.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09There's nothing better than a big open field.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13We're so close to Canterbury, you can almost see the cathedral.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15I've been hearing about the Canterbury scene,
0:32:15 > 0:32:20but don't really know what it is or how it relates to music.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22It's sort of late-'60s, really.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26It's like the early sort of prog rock music.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29A group of musicians from the Canterbury area
0:32:29 > 0:32:33who produced this mixture of jazz and rock.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44It was a great sound and it's still around today.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51It's a sound that influenced prog rock across the globe.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53I'm off into town to trace its roots
0:32:53 > 0:32:57and find out why Canterbury has such a unique impact on music.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05Today you might pick up a Chinese takeaway here,
0:33:05 > 0:33:08but this used to be a live music venue called the Beehive.
0:33:08 > 0:33:12One night, in 1964 a new band called the Wild Flowers took to the stage
0:33:12 > 0:33:16and unleashed a totally different sound.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20A fusion - part rock, part folk, part jazz.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23It was the birth of the Canterbury scene.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30Unlike the Beatles, or the Rolling Stones,
0:33:30 > 0:33:33which had a rock 'n' roll and blues influence,
0:33:33 > 0:33:36the Canterbury scene combined choral sounds and a church organs
0:33:36 > 0:33:39with a healthy dose of a far-out psychedelia.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43After the Wild Flowers came bands like Caravan,
0:33:43 > 0:33:45and these guys, Soft Machine.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48As the '60s turned to the '70s,
0:33:48 > 0:33:51these bands found themselves at the cutting edge of prog rock
0:33:51 > 0:33:55gathering a following on both sides of the Atlantic.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01Brian Hopper is an original member of the Wild Flowers.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07He played guitar and saxophone in the band from 1964
0:34:07 > 0:34:09until they split up in 1967.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13Two years later, he joined Soft Machine.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16Brian, why here? Why the Canterbury scene?
0:34:16 > 0:34:18Well, it's a cathedral city,
0:34:18 > 0:34:21a lot of choral music goes on here.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24When were at school we used to sing in the cathedral
0:34:24 > 0:34:25in choirs and things.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28As much as that, it was a group of people
0:34:28 > 0:34:31who were all at school together.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33We all had common influences of culture,
0:34:33 > 0:34:35music art and everything else.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37That contributed to our influences, I think,
0:34:37 > 0:34:41which is what kicked it off as far as the Wild Flowers were concerned.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43- A shared outlook.- Yeah.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46How was it received? It was a very new music.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50- What was the atmosphere like at gigs?- Yeah, it was mixed.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53We had to play covers and things to keep people...
0:34:53 > 0:34:56Some of the gigs where they wanted to dance.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00The unique thing about us was we wrote a lot of our own material
0:35:00 > 0:35:04which was unique at that time for a local, provincial band.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08Other places we played, like the Beehive for example,
0:35:08 > 0:35:10it was a much more listening audience.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14People used to sit on the floor and it was a bit hippy-ish,
0:35:14 > 0:35:15a bit psychedelic.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18We had different audiences, depending on where we were playing.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28# Grey skies are forming in the winds
0:35:28 > 0:35:34# To the east in the morning light... #
0:35:34 > 0:35:35Back on the festival site,
0:35:35 > 0:35:39upcoming band Syd Arthur are playing an impromptu set
0:35:39 > 0:35:43in preparation for their appearance on the line up this year.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46They claim to be keeping the flame of the Canterbury scene alive.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49I brought Brian along to see if they are.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00- Very good.- Yes, great.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03Brian, what do you make of that, up to your high standards?
0:36:03 > 0:36:05I think so. It's a great little band.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Certainly continuing in the tradition of the Canterbury sound.
0:36:08 > 0:36:14With the unusual time signatures and interesting musical forms.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18- I think they're great.- There's devices, things you look out for,
0:36:18 > 0:36:20time signatures, instrumentation,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23but to the layman, to the basic music fan,
0:36:23 > 0:36:27what does it make you feel? How would you sum up the music?
0:36:27 > 0:36:30I think you're right. That's the mechanical side of it,
0:36:30 > 0:36:34but it's the emotional response to the music itself.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37What does it make you feel?
0:36:37 > 0:36:40I think one of the things with the Canterbury sound
0:36:40 > 0:36:42and a lot of the bands involved in that
0:36:42 > 0:36:46was a whimsical approach to the music. Slight eccentricity.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50Listening to that, you'd say it had energy,
0:36:50 > 0:36:53but it was also quite reflective and thoughtful.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57Definitely, that's exactly right. A good way of summing it.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00Would you have thought in the '60s that here you'd be
0:37:00 > 0:37:03in 2011 and it would be carried on?
0:37:03 > 0:37:05Never. Never, no.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07I don't think in the '60s
0:37:07 > 0:37:10we really thought that far ahead anyway.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14It's amazing that 40 years later it's still all happening
0:37:14 > 0:37:17and people are continuing with that tradition.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22There's nothing quite like sitting in the sunshine
0:37:22 > 0:37:24enjoying live music in the countryside.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26A little taste of that festival vibe.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30As for the Canterbury scene, it continues to inspire
0:37:30 > 0:37:32and push musical boundaries.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35The fields of Kent throw up
0:37:35 > 0:37:38many archaeological riches as well as musical ones.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42Dr Alice Roberts has been tracking down the Anglo-Saxons.
0:37:47 > 0:37:48You might wonder what I'm doing
0:37:48 > 0:37:51in a car park outside a shopping centre in Sittingbourne.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54But if you come with me through these doors there's evidence
0:37:54 > 0:37:58of Anglo-Saxon Kent at the height of its powers.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03Archaeologists have recovered 2,500 objects
0:38:03 > 0:38:07from around 230 graves at a site called the Meads.
0:38:07 > 0:38:12It's an enormous collection of clues dating back nearly 1,500 years.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18And processing this volume of material
0:38:18 > 0:38:20demands a unique approach.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24Right. I think this must be it.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34Dana Goodburn-Brown is an archaeological conservator.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37A year ago, she pioneered a radical new scheme
0:38:37 > 0:38:41encouraging local volunteers to get involved with conserving the grave goods
0:38:41 > 0:38:44of people who may have been their ancestors.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51Have you got people coming in who've never done anything like this before?
0:38:51 > 0:38:54Yes. No-one's done anything exactly like this.
0:38:54 > 0:38:55They go through a training session,
0:38:55 > 0:38:59we have some practice pieces, then they work on the real thing.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02What are the artefacts that you're working on?
0:39:02 > 0:39:04This is a side view of this block
0:39:04 > 0:39:11which seems to have this enormous brooch that's gilded.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13You can see a little bit of gilt and gold coming out.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16There's quite an intricate design going on there.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19They could see rings. If they lifted them out individually,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22you'd have a series of rings and you wouldn't know what it was.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24If you X-ray it as a block,
0:39:24 > 0:39:27you can see the relationship between one and the other.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29This was something that went around the waist
0:39:29 > 0:39:32and probably keys or things might have hung off of it.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37Dana's innovative project is opening up archaeology to everyone.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39It's already proving popular.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44We've had almost 10,000 people.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47You get people dropping by,
0:39:47 > 0:39:49some people come back again and again.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52We've been open several months
0:39:52 > 0:39:54and people are still just discovering us new.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58Don't you think it's great?
0:39:58 > 0:40:00Loads of people can see it.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04Normally conservation work goes on behind closed doors in a museum.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07I love what I do and it's really nice to share it with other people.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11I do have to stop myself sometimes and think, "This is 1,400 years old.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15"Some craftsmen made this. Someone wore it."
0:40:15 > 0:40:17It's quite special.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22This is such a great example of community engagement.
0:40:22 > 0:40:27Anybody in this shopping mall, they might be coming for their weekly shop,
0:40:27 > 0:40:28or a cup of tea, they can pop in
0:40:28 > 0:40:31and find out more about conservation,
0:40:31 > 0:40:33archaeology and local history.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36If they are really interested, they can also volunteer.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38Right now, I want to find out more
0:40:38 > 0:40:41about the artefacts from those graves.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46Once they've been cleaned, you get a sense
0:40:46 > 0:40:48of the incredible craftsmanship
0:40:48 > 0:40:51that's gone into making these stunning objects.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55But what can they tell us about Anglo-Saxon life?
0:40:58 > 0:41:01Dr Andrew Richardson of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust
0:41:01 > 0:41:05has been interpreting these finds for over two years.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09- These are wonderful objects, are they brooches?- Yes.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13If you look at this one, this is a plated disc brooch.
0:41:13 > 0:41:19A silver back plate with a gold front plate then gold cell work,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22and then inlaid with garnets
0:41:22 > 0:41:24of very, very fine gold filigree wire.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27It's also very delicately made.
0:41:27 > 0:41:28It is.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32It is highly skilled craft-working
0:41:32 > 0:41:35and when you show this sort of thing to modern jewellers,
0:41:35 > 0:41:39they say that they would have to charge an enormous amount of money
0:41:39 > 0:41:41to make a copy of this.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46The woman who owned this, who wore this,
0:41:46 > 0:41:51would probably have been at the top of the social scale in this community.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55- Incredibly high status, possibly even royal connections.- Definitely.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59Many of the people buried here by their grieving loved ones
0:41:59 > 0:42:03were adorned with magnificent pieces of jewellery,
0:42:03 > 0:42:05but the whole community is here.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09Some buried with ordinary, everyday items like this iron knife.
0:42:09 > 0:42:14If you think about the full range of objects we've got from this site,
0:42:14 > 0:42:17it's a huge investment in wealth in the ground.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19It isn't recovered by them, it's only
0:42:19 > 0:42:23when we excavate it that it emerges into the light again.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26The people interred here were part of a wave of settlers
0:42:26 > 0:42:29who'd come to make their mark.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Nearly 1,500 years on, this cemetery is allowing us
0:42:33 > 0:42:36to glimpse how their society functioned.
0:42:36 > 0:42:41A member of a powerful family dies, the family have to reaffirm
0:42:41 > 0:42:45that that family still has power and status.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48This certainly isn't costume jewellery, it is it?
0:42:48 > 0:42:52This is the real thing. These are incredibly prized items.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54This is the real thing.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57For their time, these are the top of the range jewellery
0:42:57 > 0:43:00that Anglo-Saxon England can produce.
0:43:00 > 0:43:06We can suppose that these settlers were seen by the people already living here as invaders.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10And power in these times was wielded at the end of a sword.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13The cemetery bears witness to the importance of these weapons.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15These are iron weapons.
0:43:15 > 0:43:21You've got spearheads. Some of these spearheads inlaid with gold.
0:43:21 > 0:43:27You've got some decorated pyramid mounts from a sword belt.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29They're amazing. Can I pick that up on its face?
0:43:29 > 0:43:34These exquisite items are over 1,000 years old,
0:43:34 > 0:43:38shaped in silver inlaid with gold and topped with garnet.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42An extraordinary amount of effort has gone into crafting them.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47I think they're real, functional weapons.
0:43:47 > 0:43:49But they have a symbolic role.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54Young children, people who were severely disabled,
0:43:54 > 0:43:56have been found buried with weapons,
0:43:56 > 0:43:58people who could never have used them in battle.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01But they still see themselves as warriors?
0:44:01 > 0:44:02They do, they do.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06I think Anglo-Saxon culture, if you look at their poetry,
0:44:06 > 0:44:08their artwork,
0:44:08 > 0:44:11is very, very centred on warfare.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15It's about communicating a message about how they see themselves,
0:44:15 > 0:44:20how their families see the deceased in the funeral rite.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26There is so little documentary evidence
0:44:26 > 0:44:28of early Anglo-Saxon society,
0:44:28 > 0:44:32so cemeteries like this and those amazing grave goods
0:44:32 > 0:44:36offer us a really precious insight into that culture.
0:44:36 > 0:44:41We start to be able to really focus on those people in the forgotten cemetery,
0:44:41 > 0:44:45who themselves have long since faded from memory.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50Dr Alice Roberts exploring Kent's ancient past.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55I've reached the last stop on my journey.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59I'm at Howletts Wild Animal Park near the village of Bekesbourne.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02These 100 acres of English parkland
0:45:02 > 0:45:05are home to some of the world's most rare and endangered animals.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09Not exactly what you'd expect to see in the Kent countryside.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15There's the UK's largest herd of African elephants.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18There's black rhino. There's tigers. There's even snow leopards.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22But the one thing that you really can't miss if you come here
0:45:22 > 0:45:26is the world's biggest captive group of Western lowland gorillas.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46It's feeding time for this group,
0:45:46 > 0:45:49and it's a great opportunity to get a closer look
0:45:49 > 0:45:51with head gorilla keeper Lorna Wanless.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02Wow, look at this. I had no idea you'd be coming up on the roof like this.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05So what benefit is there to be feeding them from above?
0:46:05 > 0:46:08It's really important that they climb.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10They would naturally, in the wild.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12So what we're going to do is throw the celery all over
0:46:12 > 0:46:16so that it's widespread so the gorillas don't fight over a small area of food.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18Then we'll watch them climb up.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21We've got a load of celery here. What do you feed them and how often?
0:46:21 > 0:46:26Pretty much any fruit and vegetable you can think of they get at some point during the year -
0:46:26 > 0:46:29it's very seasonal - and between five and seven times a day.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32And browse as well, obviously they love the browse,
0:46:32 > 0:46:35you know, the trees, all the UK trees they pretty much eat.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37And they pre-empt this.
0:46:37 > 0:46:39I can see a few of them coming closer.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42- They are.- Always eating? They're big beasts, aren't they?
0:46:42 > 0:46:46Pretty much, yeah. They're browsers. They have a little snooze in the afternoon.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49Apart from that they eat pretty much all day!
0:46:49 > 0:46:51- So are we ready to feed? - Yep, that's fine.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53If you do this area, don't get too near the mesh.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56All the way on that side. I'll do this side.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59Great, all right. Ring the dinner bell. Here we go.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17Not as ravenous as I thought.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20I thought they'd be devouring that in seconds.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23There's a healthy salad snack there throughout the afternoon, I think.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25Lots of crunching going on.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28Lots of crunching, that's what I can hear.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28Yeah.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31Maybe not everyone's a celery fan. There's no dips or anything.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33True. Would be better, wouldn't it?
0:47:33 > 0:47:35Doesn't suit all tastes, perhaps.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40The story of this park started in 1956
0:47:40 > 0:47:43when it was bought by the club and casino owner John Aspinall.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47It's now been passed on to his son Damian.
0:47:47 > 0:47:52He's got his father's head for business, as well as his passion for wildlife.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54In fact he's been called a real life Mowgli
0:47:54 > 0:47:57because of his remarkable relationship with the gorillas here.
0:47:57 > 0:48:03He's the only person allowed to enter their enclosure and interact with them.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05That's not just for insurance reasons.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08He's the only person the gorillas will tolerate.
0:48:09 > 0:48:14I want to find out if there's more to Howletts than just a wildlife spectacle.
0:48:14 > 0:48:18Though your father started this as a private park,
0:48:18 > 0:48:20you've opened it up to the public.
0:48:20 > 0:48:22Where does conservation come into what you do here?
0:48:23 > 0:48:26Conservation is at the heart of everything we do.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30The idea that a wildlife park or an animal collection or zoo
0:48:30 > 0:48:34is there for human exhibit is abhorrent to us.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37Everything we do here is for the animal and everything we do
0:48:37 > 0:48:40is to try to breed these animals and then, wherever we can,
0:48:40 > 0:48:42try and return them to the wild.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46So it's at the very core of what we're about.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49How is it gorillas born and raised in Kent
0:48:49 > 0:48:54can be taken back to Africa and released successfully there?
0:48:54 > 0:48:58Well, I think you have to be very ambitious
0:48:58 > 0:49:01and you have to be willing to accept a lot of challenges
0:49:01 > 0:49:05cos it's not easy, which is why we're the only people in the world that do this.
0:49:05 > 0:49:09But we're very proud we've introduced over 50 gorillas back into the wild.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13There's all types of problems when you make these types of decisions.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15But it's worthwhile.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19We're repopulating a part of Africa that hasn't seen gorillas for 200 years.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21Which part of Africa do they go to?
0:49:21 > 0:49:23They go to the Congo and the Gambon.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27We protect in Africa 1.2 million acres of land,
0:49:27 > 0:49:31so within this land we put the gorillas back,
0:49:31 > 0:49:34but also we protect the land from poaching,
0:49:34 > 0:49:38and all our animal numbers have increased by 50-60%
0:49:38 > 0:49:42over the last five years. Five, six years ago there were no crocodiles in the rivers.
0:49:42 > 0:49:44Now teeming with crocodiles.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47Chimps have been seen there for the first time in 50 years.
0:49:47 > 0:49:52So it's not just about returning gorillas, it's about protecting the land.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54You have a very close relationship.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57Famously, you go in, they accept you.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01First of all, I consider it a huge compliment and a great honour.
0:50:01 > 0:50:03I think I'm the only person in the world, actually,
0:50:03 > 0:50:05who goes in with silverback gorillas.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07But honestly, it sounds strange
0:50:07 > 0:50:11but actually it's no different from me going out for dinner with a friend.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13I'm considered an old family friend
0:50:13 > 0:50:16and they respect me as such.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18The young ones come up and play
0:50:18 > 0:50:23just like if Uncle Damian was coming round to see his nieces and nephews.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26It's a real thrill. It's not dangerous at all.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28I think what you see at Howletts with gorillas
0:50:28 > 0:50:32is the closest you'll ever see them to act like they do in the wild.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47In a moment I'm going to be on the other side of the fence
0:50:47 > 0:50:52getting a close-up look at one of the most secretive and elusive predators in the world.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55But first, the Country Tracks weather for the week ahead.
0:52:50 > 0:52:57.
0:53:07 > 0:53:12I've been on a journey through Kent, from its southern tip at Lydd
0:53:12 > 0:53:14over to the Brenzett Aeronautical Museum,
0:53:14 > 0:53:17north to Canterbury and ending here
0:53:17 > 0:53:21at the Howletts Wild Animal Park near Bekesbourne.
0:53:25 > 0:53:30Howletts opened to the public in 1975.
0:53:30 > 0:53:35The conservation charity, the Aspinall Foundation, was set up in 1984.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39It aims to protect threatened species by reintroducing animals to the wild.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42A lot of captive breeding work is done here,
0:53:42 > 0:53:46and today I'm getting a rare insight behind the scenes.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48My guide is Ben Warren,
0:53:48 > 0:53:52and his job title gives a bit of a clue as to what's in store.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55He's the Deputy Head of Carnivores.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59Ben, this is a particularly handsome chap. What's he?
0:53:59 > 0:54:02This is a male clouded leopard. He's come from South East Asia.
0:54:02 > 0:54:07He came to us from a park in the States for our breeding programme here.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09How hard are they to breed?
0:54:09 > 0:54:10Very hard to breed.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13The hardest part is actually putting the cats together.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17There's a high chance of the males killing the females
0:54:17 > 0:54:21when you're trying to mix them for breeding. It used to be very difficult.
0:54:21 > 0:54:22Now he we've worked out how to do it
0:54:22 > 0:54:24and probably around a ten-year span
0:54:24 > 0:54:26we've bred around 60 cubs in that period.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31- 60? That's phenomenal. Can I go and say hello? - Yeah, definitely.
0:54:31 > 0:54:35If he wants to say hello to you he tends to wrap his legs around your legs or something.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39Don't back off, just stay there.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42The things to watch out for, obviously, are the teeth.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46They're the biggest teeth in comparison to their size within the cat family.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50They're meant to be the closest relatives to the sabre-toothed tiger.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53OK, despite the teeth, sharp claws, just stand there,
0:54:53 > 0:54:58let him come up to you, let him inspect me, I suppose, and try not to back off?
0:54:58 > 0:54:59Yeah, let him do his thing.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01- Great. - Hello, big fella.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12Nearly trod on a very big tail there. Not a great start.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18- Hello. - Hello, fella.
0:55:19 > 0:55:24Hello. You OK? Are you going to jump on me? Yep. There we go.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26Now look at that.
0:55:26 > 0:55:30One of the rarest cats in the world just playing with us here.
0:55:32 > 0:55:33And he likes his boots.
0:55:36 > 0:55:37Isn't that incredible?
0:55:37 > 0:55:40'Clouded leopards are arboreal,
0:55:40 > 0:55:43'meaning they spend most of their time in trees,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45'hence that amazing balance.'
0:55:45 > 0:55:50So soft when he jumps up, just big, soft paws padding on your shoulders.
0:55:50 > 0:55:51He's very good at not using claws.
0:55:51 > 0:55:53If he gets a little bit worked up
0:55:53 > 0:55:55and the play gets a bit more serious,
0:55:55 > 0:55:59the claws come out a little bit then, but nothing too drastic.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03- I think he's a bit of a poser here as well.- Yeah, he loves it, doesn't he?
0:56:03 > 0:56:07'These beautiful cats are notoriously difficult to study in the wild.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11'No one knows how many live in the rainforests of south-east Asia,
0:56:11 > 0:56:14'but their numbers are thought to be in decline.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18'Tawada is one of 18 clouded leopards here.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21'The breeding programme ensures strong bloodlines for the future.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25He always wants to do what he can't quite get to.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30LAUGHTER
0:56:33 > 0:56:35There's a good boy. Gently. There's a good boy, yes.
0:56:35 > 0:56:40'I'd never even heard of clouded leopard before meeting Tawada.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43'And here we are in his territory.'
0:56:43 > 0:56:44Such a rare cat.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48Very seldom seen in the wild.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52And here he is, just letting me play with him almost like he's a pet cat.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54Absolutely wonderful experience.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01This has been an eclectic journey.
0:57:01 > 0:57:08From go-karts to land girls. From prog rock to gorillas.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10And in keeping with such a rich medley of adventures,
0:57:10 > 0:57:12my journey ends gazing at elephants
0:57:12 > 0:57:15right here in the Garden of England.
0:57:26 > 0:57:31Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:57:31 > 0:57:35E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk