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Today I'm on a journey through East Anglia. | 0:00:20 | 0:00:23 | |
I'll be meeting iconic animals, intriguing characters | 0:00:23 | 0:00:26 | |
and sampling some of the delights that Suffolk has to offer. | 0:00:26 | 0:00:29 | |
'My journey begins on a farm in the village of Rede, | 0:00:35 | 0:00:38 | |
'where I will be helping to train | 0:00:38 | 0:00:40 | |
'one of the rarest horse breeds in the world, | 0:00:40 | 0:00:44 | |
'and hear of a foal's amazing story of survival.' | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
The old mare was glad to have, well, not a companion, | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
but she liked the idea of having another young one, I think. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:53 | |
'From there, it's a short trip to Bury St Edmunds, | 0:00:53 | 0:00:57 | |
'where I'll visit the ancient ruins of the Abbey | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
'and learn about the origins of our legal system. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:03 | |
'My next stop is near the border with Norfolk, | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
'where I'll be finding out | 0:01:06 | 0:01:08 | |
'what it's like to own your very own piece of woodland.' | 0:01:08 | 0:01:10 | |
What made you pick this particular bit of woodland? | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
Because it was breathtakingly beautiful. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:16 | |
'My journey ends on the coast at Orford, | 0:01:16 | 0:01:18 | |
'where I'll taste some of Suffolk's specialities | 0:01:18 | 0:01:21 | |
'and follow food from sea to plate.' | 0:01:21 | 0:01:24 | |
Ah! | 0:01:24 | 0:01:25 | |
Along the way, I'll look back at the best of the BBC's rural programmes | 0:01:25 | 0:01:30 | |
from this part of the world. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:31 | |
Welcome to Country Tracks. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:34 | |
'The Suffolk countryside prides itself on being an authentic slice | 0:01:34 | 0:01:38 | |
'of real England, with a wide variety of landscape. | 0:01:38 | 0:01:42 | |
'There is woodland, coastline, farmland and ancient towns, | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
'but few hills. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
'In fact, Suffolk is very flat, creating vast skies | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
'and a great feeling of open space. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
'The county is edged with 40 miles of coastline to the east, | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
'which is largely unspoiled, and dotted with shingle beaches.' | 0:01:57 | 0:02:02 | |
But I'm starting inland, pretty near to Bury St Edmunds. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:06 | |
I've come to this farm in Rede | 0:02:06 | 0:02:08 | |
to meet one of the icons of the county - | 0:02:08 | 0:02:10 | |
the Suffolk Punch horses. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
'These beautiful animals are one of the oldest breeds | 0:02:15 | 0:02:18 | |
'of working horse in the world. They have the longest written pedigree of any such breed, | 0:02:18 | 0:02:22 | |
'which specifies their colouring and unique shape. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:26 | |
'Although the Suffolk Punch is held fondly in the hearts of many, | 0:02:26 | 0:02:29 | |
'they are sadly now very rare, | 0:02:29 | 0:02:31 | |
'and are classed as critical | 0:02:31 | 0:02:33 | |
'on the Rare Breeds Species Trust watch list. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:37 | |
'Fewer and fewer are being used for working the fields. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:41 | |
'Thankfully, there are people, like Nigel Oakley, | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
'who truly love the breed | 0:02:44 | 0:02:45 | |
'and are working hard to increase their popularity and numbers. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:49 | |
'Jasper is a five-year-old Suffolk Punch.' | 0:02:49 | 0:02:53 | |
-How many Suffolk Punches are left? -About 500. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
-In the entire world? -Yeah. | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
The Suffolk Horse Society in Woodbridge monitors the whole breed. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:03 | |
It still monitors the Australians, | 0:03:03 | 0:03:06 | |
like New Zealand, Australia and so on. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:08 | |
The Americans have a Suffolk Horse Society. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:12 | |
But it's not recognised in England. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
-Are you worried about the number of Suffolk Punches that are left? -I don't think I do. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:20 | |
When I started keeping Suffolks 30 years ago, | 0:03:20 | 0:03:23 | |
there were only something like 240. | 0:03:23 | 0:03:25 | |
Last year, we had 50 live foals, | 0:03:25 | 0:03:27 | |
which was the best year since 1950-something. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:31 | |
He looks great. He's great for working for you, | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
but why do you think | 0:03:33 | 0:03:34 | |
it's so important to make sure we keep breeding Suffolk Punches? | 0:03:34 | 0:03:38 | |
Well, I think it's essential we don't lose any of our breeds, | 0:03:38 | 0:03:42 | |
whether they are native birds, animals... | 0:03:42 | 0:03:44 | |
Suffolk's a beautiful county. The Breadbasket of England. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
All the cereals were grown in East Anglia, | 0:03:48 | 0:03:50 | |
and that horse shaped this county, | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
because he worked the field, and I think it's a shame | 0:03:53 | 0:03:56 | |
if our grandchildren's children don't have the privilege | 0:03:56 | 0:03:59 | |
to do what we're doing now. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
'Obviously, the survival of the Suffolks depends on breeding them, | 0:04:03 | 0:04:07 | |
'which Nigel happens to be good at. There are a couple of foals on the farm. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:11 | |
'One in particular has had a tough start in life, | 0:04:11 | 0:04:14 | |
'but thanks to the amazing support of one of the older mares, | 0:04:14 | 0:04:17 | |
'the foal has survived.' | 0:04:17 | 0:04:18 | |
Right, Nigel, who have we got here? | 0:04:18 | 0:04:22 | |
We've got Philippa holding Pride, a mare that I bred. | 0:04:22 | 0:04:27 | |
She's an elderly mare of 17. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:31 | |
The foal is Max, who Debbie is holding. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:36 | |
Debbie's doing well to hold! | 0:04:36 | 0:04:37 | |
Debbie, bless her, is used to this sort of thing. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:41 | |
Max is a four-month-old foal. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:44 | |
And what's unique about these two, | 0:04:44 | 0:04:46 | |
they aren't really mare and foal, or mother and daughter. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:51 | |
'Max's mother sadly didn't survive after his birth, | 0:04:53 | 0:04:56 | |
'and bottle-feeding isn't a great option, | 0:04:56 | 0:04:58 | |
'as the foal becomes humanised. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
'So, Nigel decided to put this mare Pride with Max for companionship.' | 0:05:00 | 0:05:06 | |
We brought the mare in and, obviously, | 0:05:07 | 0:05:10 | |
you don't put them together straightaway. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:13 | |
We let the mare see the foal and let it sniff the foal. | 0:05:13 | 0:05:16 | |
It wasn't long before we realised | 0:05:16 | 0:05:18 | |
it wasn't going to be a problem, | 0:05:18 | 0:05:21 | |
that the old mare was glad to have, well, not a companion, | 0:05:21 | 0:05:25 | |
but she liked the idea of having another young one, I think. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:28 | |
The foal didn't even realise it was a different horse, I'm certain. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:33 | |
It was that young that, from the foal's point of view, | 0:05:33 | 0:05:36 | |
it was very easy to get an adoption onto that mare. | 0:05:36 | 0:05:41 | |
But the mare, not only did she take to the foal as a companion, | 0:05:41 | 0:05:45 | |
but within three days, she started to bag up and come in to milk, | 0:05:45 | 0:05:49 | |
which I've never known with a horse. | 0:05:49 | 0:05:51 | |
And now, she's actually feeding, or was when we last checked it, | 0:05:51 | 0:05:56 | |
feeding full-strength milk to the foal, | 0:05:56 | 0:05:58 | |
so it's nothing shorter than some really good news. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
-That's a mini-miracle, isn't it? -It's a major miracle. | 0:06:01 | 0:06:04 | |
-A major miracle! -A major miracle. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:06 | |
'It's important to Nigel | 0:06:07 | 0:06:09 | |
'his Suffolks are well behaved and represent their breed well. | 0:06:09 | 0:06:12 | |
'So, training them to work the fields is | 0:06:12 | 0:06:14 | |
'a big part of what he does.' | 0:06:14 | 0:06:16 | |
Nigel, what are you getting Jasper to do? | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
What I'm getting to do is teaching him to stand square, | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
go back when I tell him. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:24 | |
Go back. If you're working him, the horse has got to back readily. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:29 | |
Come on. Go on, go back. Don't worry about them chickens. Go back. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
Go on. Whoa. That's it, good boy. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:38 | |
And then I want him to stand there without me holding him. Stand up! | 0:06:38 | 0:06:43 | |
If I was ploughing in the field and I wanted to adjust the plough, | 0:06:43 | 0:06:46 | |
the horse should stand there quiet, because if he goes forward, | 0:06:46 | 0:06:50 | |
he'll tighten the chain, so I wouldn't know where I was. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:53 | |
It's like with a dog, | 0:06:53 | 0:06:54 | |
one of the most important things you need them to do is stand still. | 0:06:54 | 0:06:57 | |
-That's right. -What you're doing is taking the stress out of the horse. | 0:06:57 | 0:07:00 | |
If the horse is content to stand doing nothing, | 0:07:00 | 0:07:03 | |
then he's not going to get stressed | 0:07:03 | 0:07:05 | |
and be told to behave himself all the time. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:07 | |
The secret with a horse that hasn't worked is to do it regularly. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:12 | |
You'd better do ten minutes a day, every day. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
-The horse gets handled on a regular basis and keeps to a routine. -Yes. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:21 | |
There's a good boy. Come up, then. Come up. Oi. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:25 | |
'Today, the horses are only occasionally used | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
'for ploughing and field work, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:30 | |
'because there have been advances in technology | 0:07:30 | 0:07:32 | |
'that replaced their natural strength, | 0:07:32 | 0:07:35 | |
'as Jimmy Doherty found out.' | 0:07:35 | 0:07:37 | |
For me, this is such a familiar landscape. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:40 | |
It fills me full of joy, because the huge skies, massive horizons, | 0:07:40 | 0:07:44 | |
and it's a space that you can really dream in. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:48 | |
But the weird thing is that, in terms of farming, it's really alien to me. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:53 | |
My farm's just down the road. It's 150 acres. | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
But I'm pin prick in terms of food production. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:59 | |
I mean, some of the farms here, | 0:07:59 | 0:08:01 | |
some of the fields, are bigger than my entire farm. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:04 | |
I really want to understand how these big boys produce | 0:08:04 | 0:08:08 | |
such huge quantities of food. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:10 | |
-Hi, Jim. -How are you getting on, Ali? | 0:08:17 | 0:08:19 | |
Not too bad at all, and yourself? | 0:08:19 | 0:08:21 | |
-All right, not bad, not bad. Harvest time, busy? -Very busy. Very busy. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:25 | |
'Ali Kerr's the key man behind this large-scale set-up. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:29 | |
'He's the third generation of his family to farm here.' | 0:08:29 | 0:08:32 | |
-It's like a house in here. Look at this! -It costs the same. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:37 | |
'I'm here to help him harvest in this 300 grand machine.' | 0:08:37 | 0:08:41 | |
-How do I operate this beast? -Push the pedal on the floor | 0:08:41 | 0:08:44 | |
and you pull the steering wheel back. Keep it close to you. | 0:08:44 | 0:08:46 | |
Get it so you're comfortable. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:48 | |
This is terrifying. Here we are. Right. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
-Have you ever crashed it? -No. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
-Don't crash it. The handle is called a joystick. -Yeah. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:57 | |
-The buttons on it control the front. -Yeah. -Fire it up to full power. | 0:08:57 | 0:09:01 | |
-Maximum power. -Maximum power. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
Take the yellow switch, lift it up. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:05 | |
So, your front is now OK. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
-Ready? -Yeah, let's do it. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:12 | |
It's now starting to feed its way into the front of the crop. | 0:09:27 | 0:09:31 | |
You need to press the "A" button on the lever. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:39 | |
-Where's the "A"? Here? -Yeah. Press that. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:41 | |
Your green light comes on. Let go of the steering wheel. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
-And it's now steering for you. -What?! | 0:09:45 | 0:09:47 | |
'Nothing is left to chance here. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:54 | |
'It's precision farming, driving down costs and increasing efficiency. | 0:09:54 | 0:10:00 | |
'The harvester is now using infrared beams to line itself up | 0:10:00 | 0:10:04 | |
'with the edges of the crop. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:07 | |
'That keeps it cutting in straight lines. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:11 | |
'No part of the field is missed or overlapped. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:13 | |
'And all the time, on-board sensors are measuring | 0:10:18 | 0:10:20 | |
'exactly how much wheat is being harvested.' | 0:10:20 | 0:10:23 | |
-It's recording the amount of crop coming into the combine. -Yeah. | 0:10:23 | 0:10:27 | |
As you get all that crop coming in, it's bringing it in from 30 feet. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:32 | |
It's recording that volume of crop the whole time. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:35 | |
'The crop output is then matched up with a satellite map | 0:10:38 | 0:10:42 | |
'to tell Ali exactly how well each part of his farm is performing. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:48 | |
'Blue areas are producing high yields, | 0:10:48 | 0:10:50 | |
'the orange ones are doing badly. Ali can target precisely | 0:10:50 | 0:10:54 | |
'where chemical fertilisers are needed, so none get wasted. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:58 | |
'Even the crop itself has been designed for maximum efficiency. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:06 | |
'New varieties of wheat were developed in the 1960s, | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
'part of what became known as the Green Revolution. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:13 | |
'They were shorter, but higher yielding.' | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
If you only get a limited amount of sunlight, | 0:11:16 | 0:11:19 | |
you don't want to use it to grow straw. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
To feed the world, you've got to grow wheat. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:23 | |
That's what the Green Revolution was. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:25 | |
This was the breakthrough, | 0:11:25 | 0:11:26 | |
reducing the height of the corn and producing higher yields. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:31 | |
By reducing it down, | 0:11:31 | 0:11:32 | |
we can focus more of that sunlight on producing ears. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
You weren't looking to produce straw. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:38 | |
-You're interested in the business end, this bit here. -Yeah. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:42 | |
-And not the stalk, which would be wasted. -Yeah. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:45 | |
If the crop was so high, | 0:11:45 | 0:11:46 | |
with the weight of the corn, it would fall over. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:49 | |
-It helps it be nice and sturdy. -We're trying to produce food, | 0:11:49 | 0:11:53 | |
so we focus on producing food and not the by-product. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
'Advances like these have seen yields in wheat | 0:12:03 | 0:12:06 | |
'triple in Britain in the past 50 years. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:10 | |
'That sounds impressive to me. | 0:12:10 | 0:12:14 | |
'Especially when you think what this kind of farming used to be like. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:19 | |
'Just two generations ago, getting the harvest in would have been | 0:12:19 | 0:12:24 | |
'a lot harder work, and a lot less efficient. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
'And this is what you used - the horse-drawn binder.' | 0:12:27 | 0:12:33 | |
-It's much quieter than a combine. -It is at the moment. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:36 | |
Once I start it up, it clanks and bangs a bit. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:39 | |
-You haven't got that engine sound. -No. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:41 | |
-There's something quite graceful about it. -Oh, yeah. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:44 | |
Whoa. | 0:12:44 | 0:12:46 | |
Go on. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:50 | |
Go on, Al. | 0:12:50 | 0:12:53 | |
'This contraption cut and tied the stalks of wheat into the sheaves. | 0:12:53 | 0:12:57 | |
'It was still the main way of harvesting right up until the 1930s.' | 0:12:59 | 0:13:04 | |
Brilliant. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:07 | |
It's taking in the crops and being cut at the bottom. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:11 | |
As they come through, they come bound. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
You've lost... | 0:13:16 | 0:13:19 | |
You've lost a part of it! | 0:13:19 | 0:13:22 | |
'It's fair to say that it wasn't always reliable.' | 0:13:22 | 0:13:26 | |
First problem? | 0:13:30 | 0:13:31 | |
-First problem? -What is it? Has something spooked them? | 0:13:31 | 0:13:36 | |
-No, he's just being lazy. -Combines don't have that problem. -They don't. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:40 | |
'The big breakthrough was designing a single device | 0:13:40 | 0:13:44 | |
'that could thresh the wheat on the move, | 0:13:44 | 0:13:46 | |
'removing the straw and husk and leaving the all-important grain. | 0:13:46 | 0:13:51 | |
'Combining all these jobs in one machine gave us | 0:13:51 | 0:13:54 | |
'the combine harvester.' | 0:13:54 | 0:13:57 | |
-Right, blimey. Go on, lads, go on. -Alf, get on. | 0:13:57 | 0:14:02 | |
Have you got the break on? Go on, Alf. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
Woo hoo hoo! | 0:14:05 | 0:14:08 | |
Come on, lads. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:15 | |
Let's get it harvested. Come on, fellas. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:20 | |
-That's it. Do I look like Ben Hur? -Yeah! | 0:14:20 | 0:14:22 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:14:22 | 0:14:25 | |
'It's tempting to get nostalgic about the old days, | 0:14:25 | 0:14:28 | |
'when farmers relied more on skill and muscle | 0:14:28 | 0:14:31 | |
'than on science and technology. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:33 | |
'But this shows how hard it was for our grandparents' generation | 0:14:33 | 0:14:37 | |
'to put bread on the table.' | 0:14:37 | 0:14:38 | |
I'll beat that other machine! | 0:14:38 | 0:14:40 | |
Whoa, whoa! | 0:14:42 | 0:14:43 | |
Here he comes, whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you catching up yet? | 0:14:46 | 0:14:51 | |
We've just about caught up. How did you get on? | 0:14:51 | 0:14:54 | |
A cinch, no problem at all. I've just done this strip here. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:58 | |
We've got about eight little stacks. Quite impressed, really. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:01 | |
What have you been doing with all your time? | 0:15:01 | 0:15:04 | |
This is what you call the convertible version of yours. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:07 | |
But in terms of getting a harvest in, yeah, it's not brilliant. | 0:15:07 | 0:15:12 | |
But to be fair to it, this machine was designed to collect | 0:15:12 | 0:15:15 | |
a completely different type of wheat. | 0:15:15 | 0:15:18 | |
Not your short, fat variety that you grow - the tall, elegant variety. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:23 | |
-Exactly. -How long do you reckon it'll take | 0:15:23 | 0:15:25 | |
to harvest this whole field? | 0:15:25 | 0:15:26 | |
To harvest it and collect it, a few days, | 0:15:26 | 0:15:28 | |
and then probably another two days to thrash. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:31 | |
-A good week's work. -For about 15 men. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:33 | |
15 men here. And for you? | 0:15:33 | 0:15:35 | |
An hour. And it's threshed at the end of it. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:39 | |
I have to keep going up and down... That's yours. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:43 | |
Hang on, this is your stuff. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
-You carry it back to the barn. -It's all money. -Come on, load up. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
But I have to keep going up and down and turning round. | 0:15:49 | 0:15:52 | |
-One more. -And then... | 0:15:52 | 0:15:54 | |
-You've got to get it back before it rains. -You swine! | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
'Ali's style of farming may not be romantic. | 0:15:57 | 0:16:00 | |
'But ultimately, its efficiency is something we all rely on.' | 0:16:00 | 0:16:04 | |
'After meeting the Suffolk punch horses, | 0:16:07 | 0:16:10 | |
'I reckon the old-fashioned way is still the best. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:14 | |
'It's just a short journey from Rede | 0:16:14 | 0:16:16 | |
'to the nearby town of Bury St Edmunds. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:19 | |
'This is a beautiful market town with a rich and important history. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:25 | |
'The buildings are made up of mediaeval architecture, | 0:16:25 | 0:16:28 | |
'elegant Georgian squares | 0:16:28 | 0:16:30 | |
'and, of course, the Abbey Cathedral and gardens. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
'Lying here are the remains of once the wealthiest | 0:16:33 | 0:16:38 | |
'and most powerful Benedictine abbey in England.' | 0:16:38 | 0:16:43 | |
The abbey was established in 1020, | 0:16:43 | 0:16:46 | |
but it wasn't finished until the turn of the 13th century. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:49 | |
This is the magnificent West front. | 0:16:49 | 0:16:52 | |
Although its use has been changed and it's now used for accommodation, | 0:16:52 | 0:16:56 | |
you can still see where the original arches are. | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
The relationship between the abbey | 0:17:05 | 0:17:07 | |
and the townspeople wasn't always great. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:09 | |
That's because there was such a huge divide | 0:17:09 | 0:17:12 | |
between the riches inside and the poverty outside. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:15 | |
It all came to a head in the summer of 1327 with a series of riots | 0:17:15 | 0:17:20 | |
in which this side entrance was completely destroyed. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:24 | |
The monks were quick to rebuild, and by 1347, this had been resurrected. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:28 | |
'In the mid-1500s, King Henry VIII took hold of the Abbey | 0:17:28 | 0:17:32 | |
'and began to strip it of its valuables, | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
'including the building materials holding it together, | 0:17:35 | 0:17:38 | |
'so it slowly crumbled, and much of it was lost.' | 0:17:38 | 0:17:41 | |
At first glance, this might look like a load of jagged ruins, | 0:17:41 | 0:17:45 | |
but when you spend a bit of time here, | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
you start to appreciate that these piles of stones | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
are a beautiful reminder of the history in Bury St Edmunds. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:55 | |
'The Abbey of Bury St Edmunds was also the location | 0:17:55 | 0:17:59 | |
'of an incredibly important meeting in 1214. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:03 | |
'It secured the future of the Magna Carta, | 0:18:03 | 0:18:05 | |
'a rulebook written by the barons and bishops of the time | 0:18:05 | 0:18:09 | |
'which went on to become the framework | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
'of our democratic legal system. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
'Local businessman and historian Simon Pott begins the story | 0:18:15 | 0:18:19 | |
'at the time of King John.' | 0:18:19 | 0:18:21 | |
These were an oppressed people, the people in Britain at the time, | 0:18:21 | 0:18:25 | |
because King John, while he had many good attributes, I'm sure, | 0:18:25 | 0:18:30 | |
was a bit of a bully and had his own way. | 0:18:30 | 0:18:34 | |
Therefore the barons, the bishops and the Archbishop | 0:18:34 | 0:18:39 | |
wanted to have an understanding | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
of where the law went, how was this going to develop | 0:18:41 | 0:18:44 | |
in order that people had what we now know as rights? | 0:18:44 | 0:18:48 | |
-So they wanted to rein the King in? -Yes. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:51 | |
Why did they decide to come here? | 0:18:51 | 0:18:53 | |
This was the biggest place of pilgrimage | 0:18:53 | 0:18:55 | |
in this part of the country, so truly huge. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:58 | |
Bear in mind the size of the Benedictine Abbey, quite enormous. | 0:18:58 | 0:19:02 | |
Therefore, a position in which St Edmund... | 0:19:02 | 0:19:05 | |
And St Edmund's Day is 20th November, | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
and the reason the barons came here on St Edmund's Day | 0:19:08 | 0:19:11 | |
was because it was a good cover for them all coming and getting together. | 0:19:11 | 0:19:15 | |
They pretended they were coming for St Edmund's Day? | 0:19:15 | 0:19:19 | |
Yes, and they bowed in front of the high altar and paid allegiance | 0:19:19 | 0:19:23 | |
to the King, who they were about to try and stab in the back. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:27 | |
-But they were writing a rulebook for the King? -Absolutely. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:30 | |
Then they got together and created this exercise | 0:19:30 | 0:19:36 | |
about the various things they felt they needed | 0:19:36 | 0:19:39 | |
for the people of the country. | 0:19:39 | 0:19:42 | |
The secret meeting of the barons took place here in 1214, | 0:19:42 | 0:19:46 | |
but it wasn't until 1215 they actually met with King John | 0:19:46 | 0:19:50 | |
in the town of Runnymede where he signed the Magna Carta. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:54 | |
It wasn't a quick process, though, was it? | 0:19:54 | 0:19:56 | |
No, no. It'd taken place over some years, | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
but then this was fundamentally changing the power of the King. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
And changing the way that a lot of Europe is governed today? | 0:20:02 | 0:20:05 | |
-And the world. -Do you think people realise how significant the Magna Carta is? | 0:20:05 | 0:20:10 | |
Because it's a historical document kids learn about. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
That's what we're trying to create here. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:15 | |
We're trying to say this was an astonishing bit of work, | 0:20:15 | 0:20:17 | |
an astonishing bit of law-making. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:19 | |
It didn't stay completely unchanged. What happened, at least it created the springboard | 0:20:19 | 0:20:25 | |
for the rest of people who now know and understand and love the rights that they have. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:30 | |
We're walking over towards this plaque. What is this plaque? | 0:20:30 | 0:20:33 | |
This, near this spot, as it says, they met. | 0:20:33 | 0:20:37 | |
On the left-hand side are the various people for whom we really should be | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
very grateful for the work that their forebears did. | 0:20:40 | 0:20:44 | |
-We're talking about a register of people who came here in 1214. -Yep. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:50 | |
It's phenomenal to think that those people met here | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
and created something that had such a legacy for the rest of the world. | 0:20:53 | 0:20:57 | |
'A lot of the abbey remains are still hidden underground. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:03 | |
'When Matt Baker came to this area, he discovered | 0:21:03 | 0:21:06 | |
'another of East Anglia's hidden secrets.' | 0:21:06 | 0:21:09 | |
This is Britain's largest protected wetland. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:15 | |
A stunning 188 square miles of lakes and rivers. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:19 | |
It's easy to forget that this watery wilderness is all man-made, | 0:21:23 | 0:21:27 | |
the result of excavations that began over 1,000 years ago. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:33 | |
This whole area was once manually dug for peat | 0:21:33 | 0:21:36 | |
and when sea levels rose, it all naturally flooded, | 0:21:36 | 0:21:39 | |
creating this waterscape of reeds, windmills, boats and utter peace. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:45 | |
I'm sailing along here isn't just the best way to see | 0:21:47 | 0:21:50 | |
the quieter parts of the Broads, it's the only way. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:54 | |
'Although these waters can get busy with over 12,000 boats each year, | 0:21:56 | 0:21:59 | |
'I'm looking for the one part of the Broads that is hardly ever visited. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:04 | |
'A real treat right off the beaten track.' | 0:22:05 | 0:22:10 | |
Somewhere hidden behind this reed bed is an island. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:16 | |
But because of these reeds, it looks so similar | 0:22:16 | 0:22:19 | |
to everything else, you would never know it was there. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:22 | |
And it's one of Norfolk's best-kept secrets. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:24 | |
It's known as Heigham Holmes. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:28 | |
Even from the air, it's hard to see amongst the narrow channels | 0:22:31 | 0:22:34 | |
and tall reed beds, but these 500 acres are truly cut off, | 0:22:34 | 0:22:39 | |
as getting onto this secret island is far from straightforward. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:43 | |
Thankfully, local farmer John Stafford knows the way. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:47 | |
-John, how are we doing, all right? -Not too bad, how are you? -I'm very good. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:52 | |
I tell you what, I am very, very intrigued about this bridge here. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:56 | |
-Yeah. -Is it a bridge, is that what you call it? | 0:22:56 | 0:22:58 | |
The locals know it as Martham Ferry, but it actually is a floating bridge. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:02 | |
-First we'll unlock it. -Yeah, so we're all padlocked. | 0:23:04 | 0:23:07 | |
And then we pull...this chain here. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:13 | |
-Right. So we just literally grab the chain and pull ourselves across? -Yes. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:18 | |
-And it hinges... -In that corner. -..from that point. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:23 | |
'It's one of just 13 floating bridges in the country | 0:23:25 | 0:23:28 | |
'and it's the only way onto this island.' | 0:23:28 | 0:23:32 | |
It's a brilliant bit of kit, this. | 0:23:32 | 0:23:34 | |
And how long have you been doing this for then, | 0:23:34 | 0:23:36 | |
-how many years have you been coming across? -Oh...25 years. -25 years? | 0:23:36 | 0:23:40 | |
'There's one last trick to this unusual bridge.' | 0:23:42 | 0:23:45 | |
Here we go. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:47 | |
Here comes the tipping point. Gently does it... | 0:23:47 | 0:23:52 | |
Brilliant. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:53 | |
Absolutely superb. I tell you what, who needs modern technology | 0:23:53 | 0:23:58 | |
when you've got something as brilliant as that? | 0:23:58 | 0:24:00 | |
It's idiot-proof, isn't it? | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
'And that's how you unlock the secret of Heigham Holmes.' | 0:24:04 | 0:24:08 | |
This island was once private farmland, | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
but since the National Trust bought it in 1987, | 0:24:15 | 0:24:18 | |
it's open to visitors for just one day every September. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:22 | |
For the rest of the year, Heigham Holmes is a wildlife refuge and pasture. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:31 | |
'The only other visitor is the island's warden, Stephen Prowse.' | 0:24:35 | 0:24:39 | |
Well, it's certainly a very quiet spot. | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
People don't know it's here. I had a job finding it. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
Yes, you won't be alone. Many of the locals | 0:24:45 | 0:24:47 | |
in the village up the road here, they had no idea it was here either | 0:24:47 | 0:24:50 | |
when we first started having our annual opening day. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:53 | |
So we manage it as a sanctuary. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
The Broads is perhaps one of the last wilderness areas in southern England. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
Heigham Holmes is probably one of the remotest parts of that. It's really rather special. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:04 | |
Once a shallow hill rising out of the Fens, | 0:25:06 | 0:25:08 | |
Heigham Holmes became cut off as the rivers rose. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:12 | |
Over the years, its banks have been built up | 0:25:14 | 0:25:16 | |
to stop the pastures from flooding. | 0:25:16 | 0:25:18 | |
So now much of the island actually lies below sea level. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:22 | |
And it does seem to arc a little bit, does it? | 0:25:24 | 0:25:27 | |
Yes, that's right. When I say, "the upland", people laugh, | 0:25:27 | 0:25:31 | |
but it is about a metre above sea level, | 0:25:31 | 0:25:32 | |
but the whole site resembles a fried egg. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:34 | |
You have the white, which is the low-lying area below river level - or sea level, if you like. | 0:25:34 | 0:25:39 | |
Then you have the high level, which is the yoke, | 0:25:39 | 0:25:41 | |
the yellow bit in the middle with the buildings on. | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
'The open grassland and big skies are quintessentially Norfolk | 0:25:44 | 0:25:48 | |
'but a hidden Norfolk, one that few people ever get to see.' | 0:25:48 | 0:25:53 | |
'I've left the abbey of Bury St Edmunds | 0:25:54 | 0:25:56 | |
'and headed north-east to the village of Flixton. | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
'My destination is deep within the trees of Priory Wood.' | 0:25:59 | 0:26:03 | |
In recent years, there's been plenty of controversy surrounding woodland. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:07 | |
Who should own it, what should be done with it. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:09 | |
But whichever side of the fence you sit on, there's one thing that cannot be denied. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:14 | |
Woodland is a vital part of our landscape. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
Woods are used for recreation, walking and camping, | 0:26:19 | 0:26:22 | |
for shelter and to provide us with raw materials. | 0:26:22 | 0:26:25 | |
They're home to wildlife, store carbon and generate oxygen. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:30 | |
Above all, they are magical, beautiful places. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:34 | |
But what would it be like to own your own woodland? | 0:26:34 | 0:26:37 | |
It's not just a nice idea, | 0:26:37 | 0:26:39 | |
it's actually a reality for an increasing number of people. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
Somewhere among these trees is the owner of this woodland, Peter Forster. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:46 | |
'Peter bought this wood a couple of years ago after he retired.' | 0:26:50 | 0:26:55 | |
How on earth did you end up owning a bit of a wood? | 0:26:55 | 0:26:59 | |
Well, I knew from a friend, who owns a patch of woodland in Kent, | 0:26:59 | 0:27:02 | |
that it was possible to buy wood, small acres of wood. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:05 | |
And this is only 3.5 acres. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:07 | |
There are companies that buy areas of woodland and then sell them on | 0:27:07 | 0:27:12 | |
to people such as myself. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:14 | |
It is undoubtedly beautiful, | 0:27:14 | 0:27:16 | |
and I can see why you'd want to spend time here, but... | 0:27:16 | 0:27:19 | |
I was brought up on a farm, and you buy land that is of value. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:23 | |
You buy land that you can grow crops on. | 0:27:23 | 0:27:25 | |
I can't imagine you can grow much here. Why buy it? | 0:27:25 | 0:27:30 | |
I like being out of doors, so it was a love of the outdoors. | 0:27:30 | 0:27:34 | |
I like physical exercise involved in managing a wood, moving wood, | 0:27:34 | 0:27:39 | |
cutting down trees with permission, | 0:27:39 | 0:27:41 | |
supplying my home with wood for my wood-burning stoves. | 0:27:41 | 0:27:46 | |
I want to learn about conservation | 0:27:46 | 0:27:48 | |
and I would love to restore this woodland to some of the majesty | 0:27:48 | 0:27:51 | |
it used to have, because it's declining at the moment. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:55 | |
Woodland can set you back anything from £10,000 upwards, | 0:27:58 | 0:28:02 | |
depending on the acreage and location. | 0:28:02 | 0:28:05 | |
Anyone can buy it, but it's a good idea to get in touch | 0:28:05 | 0:28:07 | |
with companies like the Woodland Trust or Natural England to understand | 0:28:07 | 0:28:12 | |
more about caring for it. | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
Does it worry you that bits of the countryside can be handed over | 0:28:15 | 0:28:18 | |
to individuals? What if someone did come down here | 0:28:18 | 0:28:21 | |
and have a barbecue every weekend and park a caravan up? | 0:28:21 | 0:28:24 | |
There's quite a lot of responsibility that comes | 0:28:24 | 0:28:27 | |
with owning a bit of wood. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:28 | |
There is. We view ourselves as custodians. I know we own it, we bought it. | 0:28:28 | 0:28:33 | |
But we are holding it, if you like, for the next generation. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:36 | |
While one buys a piece of woodland like this, you have to sign | 0:28:36 | 0:28:41 | |
a covenant with the company who sell it to you, | 0:28:41 | 0:28:45 | |
that you say you won't cover it over in tarmac | 0:28:45 | 0:28:48 | |
and use it as a car park, you won't put up a caravan site. | 0:28:48 | 0:28:52 | |
'Peter has a five-year management plan for this ancient | 0:28:52 | 0:28:57 | |
'broadleaved woodland as agreed with Natural England. | 0:28:57 | 0:29:00 | |
'Part of this plan is to create a glade in the middle | 0:29:00 | 0:29:02 | |
'of the wood by chopping down a few of the trees. | 0:29:02 | 0:29:05 | |
'He's still drying out the log, so I'm giving him a hand stacking them.' | 0:29:05 | 0:29:10 | |
How long did it take you to clear this glade then, Peter? | 0:29:12 | 0:29:16 | |
I've been doing it for the last year | 0:29:16 | 0:29:19 | |
and I've cleared about 10 trees. | 0:29:19 | 0:29:24 | |
It created this area of about 30 metres by 10 metres, | 0:29:24 | 0:29:30 | |
really to allow more light into the lower parts of the wood. | 0:29:30 | 0:29:34 | |
I know it's only a year, but are you seeing much benefit? | 0:29:34 | 0:29:38 | |
Before we had this glade, we'd never seen any butterflies in here, | 0:29:38 | 0:29:41 | |
but this spring, we saw some butterflies, | 0:29:41 | 0:29:44 | |
small white butterflies, and that was very exciting, because it showed | 0:29:44 | 0:29:47 | |
that this intervention was having some benefit. | 0:29:47 | 0:29:50 | |
There's more light. | 0:29:50 | 0:29:52 | |
There's more light, so the butterflies were present. | 0:29:52 | 0:29:54 | |
That must be really rewarding. | 0:29:54 | 0:29:57 | |
It may seem a very small reward, but from my point of view, | 0:29:57 | 0:30:00 | |
it was enormously rewarding for the amount of effort | 0:30:00 | 0:30:03 | |
which it had taken to clear this wood. | 0:30:03 | 0:30:05 | |
Why did you pick this particular bit of woodland, Peter? | 0:30:05 | 0:30:09 | |
-Because it was breathtakingly beautiful. -Yeah. | 0:30:09 | 0:30:11 | |
I knew within a very short time of entering the woodland | 0:30:11 | 0:30:14 | |
that this was what I was looking for. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:17 | |
I think anyone who bought it would buy it primarily | 0:30:17 | 0:30:21 | |
out of love for the countryside, rather than for finance. | 0:30:21 | 0:30:24 | |
There are about 100,000, 120,000 small woodland owners | 0:30:25 | 0:30:32 | |
in the United Kingdom and they're doing a huge amount of work conservation. | 0:30:32 | 0:30:37 | |
They're an unsung army of heroes, because they are planting trees, | 0:30:37 | 0:30:41 | |
putting up bird boxes, digging ponds. | 0:30:41 | 0:30:45 | |
They don't get any money for this, but they get enormous pleasure | 0:30:45 | 0:30:49 | |
and they're improving the countryside. | 0:30:49 | 0:30:52 | |
In all honesty, | 0:31:03 | 0:31:04 | |
initially I was a bit concerned about handing over huge chunks | 0:31:04 | 0:31:08 | |
of the countryside to individuals, but if the people buying woodland | 0:31:08 | 0:31:11 | |
are half as passionate as Peter is, I think we're going to be all right. | 0:31:11 | 0:31:15 | |
It's great news the butterflies have been spotted in Peter's wood | 0:31:15 | 0:31:20 | |
and it was butterflies that brought Miranda Krestovnikoff to a special haven in Norfolk | 0:31:20 | 0:31:24 | |
when she was on the trail of the elusive swallowtail. | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
I'm on the hunt for five of Britain's most fascinating butterflies. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:32 | |
But today is definitely my toughest challenge. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:35 | |
I'm looking for the swallowtail. | 0:31:35 | 0:31:38 | |
They're rare, elusive and they're completely unpredictable. Nightmare. | 0:31:38 | 0:31:45 | |
But this area of the Norfolk Broads is their main stronghold, | 0:31:45 | 0:31:49 | |
so I am in with a chance. | 0:31:49 | 0:31:51 | |
To help me track them down, Matthew Oates, | 0:31:51 | 0:31:53 | |
our butterfly expert, is on hand. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:56 | |
Why is it that the swallowtails are found here especially? | 0:31:56 | 0:32:00 | |
Well, it needs huge areas of marsh and swamp | 0:32:00 | 0:32:04 | |
and also where a very special plant grows. | 0:32:04 | 0:32:07 | |
What's the food plant they're looking for? | 0:32:07 | 0:32:09 | |
It's a very strange plant called milk parsley, which only lives | 0:32:09 | 0:32:12 | |
in this sort of place. And even then, it's not common. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:17 | |
This plant is so crucial to the swallowtail's survival | 0:32:19 | 0:32:23 | |
that it has to be carefully managed. | 0:32:23 | 0:32:26 | |
Polish ponies have been brought in to graze the sedge, | 0:32:26 | 0:32:29 | |
enabling the milk parsley plants to flourish | 0:32:29 | 0:32:32 | |
and provide food for hungry swallowtail caterpillars. | 0:32:32 | 0:32:36 | |
So the caterpillars are here, albeit rather tiny. | 0:32:40 | 0:32:44 | |
I still haven't seen butterflies. | 0:32:44 | 0:32:46 | |
I think it's time we get out on the water. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:49 | |
-Into the real world. -Yeah. | 0:33:03 | 0:33:05 | |
Our sightings are going to be momentary. | 0:33:10 | 0:33:12 | |
Keep your eyes peeled, then. | 0:33:12 | 0:33:15 | |
'After a couple of hours of searching out on the water, | 0:33:20 | 0:33:23 | |
'I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever see a swallowtail. | 0:33:23 | 0:33:27 | |
'But our luck was about to change.' | 0:33:27 | 0:33:29 | |
One has just gone over. Yes! | 0:33:29 | 0:33:32 | |
Oh, God. Yes! | 0:33:32 | 0:33:35 | |
-Good boy, good boy, good boy. -Look at that. | 0:33:36 | 0:33:41 | |
-Oh, yes, yes, yes! -Oh, that has made my day now. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:44 | |
I really thought we weren't going to see one. | 0:33:44 | 0:33:46 | |
'That first glimpse was great, but Matthew and I want to see | 0:33:46 | 0:33:49 | |
'if we can get an even closer look.' | 0:33:49 | 0:33:52 | |
To the right of the kit. | 0:33:54 | 0:33:55 | |
To the right, coming towards us. | 0:33:55 | 0:33:58 | |
-Coming right into the camera now. -Bother. | 0:33:58 | 0:34:03 | |
-Oh, he's going to land on the... -No, he's not. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
He's not going to land anywhere. He's skittish. | 0:34:06 | 0:34:10 | |
He's going to come and see us. | 0:34:10 | 0:34:13 | |
He's up again, coming towards us. | 0:34:13 | 0:34:15 | |
He's going to come right between us...now. | 0:34:15 | 0:34:18 | |
There he goes. Yes! | 0:34:18 | 0:34:20 | |
-Amazing! -Look at that. | 0:34:21 | 0:34:23 | |
I've never been so excited to see a butterfly in my life, actually. | 0:34:23 | 0:34:27 | |
There has been this build-up, and the fact we weren't going to see it. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:29 | |
This is a tropical experience, this butterfly. | 0:34:29 | 0:34:34 | |
Fantastic. | 0:34:34 | 0:34:36 | |
So how old would he be, because he looks quite battered? | 0:34:36 | 0:34:38 | |
My guess is he's a couple of weeks old. | 0:34:38 | 0:34:41 | |
We don't rightly know how long they live for, maybe two to three weeks. | 0:34:41 | 0:34:45 | |
Everything depends upon the weather. | 0:34:45 | 0:34:47 | |
-His right wing is pretty much intact. -Yes. | 0:34:47 | 0:34:50 | |
There's a little bit of the tail there, which is why they've got this name, the swallowtail, | 0:34:50 | 0:34:54 | |
because of the beautiful tails which do look exactly like a swallow, | 0:34:54 | 0:34:58 | |
apart from the colourings of the rest of the body. | 0:34:58 | 0:35:00 | |
He's lost a lot of his colourings, a lot of his blue. | 0:35:00 | 0:35:03 | |
-Is that just through... -age. He's an old boy, let's be honest. | 0:35:03 | 0:35:06 | |
-Two weeks is an old boy. -He's still utterly beautiful. | 0:35:06 | 0:35:10 | |
When you get a magic moment like this, | 0:35:11 | 0:35:14 | |
it really does reach deep into the soul. | 0:35:14 | 0:35:17 | |
-We really are immensely fortunate. It's party time for us. -Great stuff. | 0:35:17 | 0:35:23 | |
Well, I have to say, I really had my doubts when we started off here. | 0:35:26 | 0:35:30 | |
Things were not looking good, but those hours of searching | 0:35:30 | 0:35:33 | |
and waiting have really paid off. We got some fantastic and really, | 0:35:33 | 0:35:37 | |
really close-up views of Britain's largest and most secretive butterfly. | 0:35:37 | 0:35:42 | |
I've driven down the coast | 0:35:45 | 0:35:47 | |
to the pretty waterside village | 0:35:47 | 0:35:49 | |
of Orford in search of some food. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:51 | |
With Suffolk's range of landscapes comes a delicious variety | 0:35:51 | 0:35:54 | |
of food produce, and lots of the food and drink | 0:35:54 | 0:35:57 | |
from Suffolk can be followed from source to plate. | 0:35:57 | 0:36:01 | |
There's nothing better than knowing exactly where your food comes from. | 0:36:01 | 0:36:05 | |
'When Polly Robinson moved to Suffolk a few years ago, | 0:36:06 | 0:36:10 | |
'she wanted to make the most of the amazing wealth of produce | 0:36:10 | 0:36:13 | |
'around her, so she now takes people on food safari tours. | 0:36:13 | 0:36:18 | |
'Today, she wants to show me some of the seafood available right here | 0:36:18 | 0:36:22 | |
'on her doorstep and later the best ways to eat it.' | 0:36:22 | 0:36:25 | |
Are you OK? | 0:36:28 | 0:36:29 | |
'We're boarding the Regardless for a trip on the River Or with skipper Peter.' | 0:36:34 | 0:36:38 | |
Polly, what has Suffolk got to offer in terms of food? | 0:36:40 | 0:36:43 | |
Suffolk has traditionally been the breadbasket of England, hasn't it? | 0:36:43 | 0:36:48 | |
There's a lot of big arable farms here. | 0:36:48 | 0:36:50 | |
There are also a lot of farms diversifying | 0:36:50 | 0:36:54 | |
and doing new foodie things. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:55 | |
There's also great fish, great beer, we've got lots of breweries. | 0:36:55 | 0:36:59 | |
Pork is another thing that this area is famous for. | 0:36:59 | 0:37:03 | |
And there's a wealth of small businesses. | 0:37:03 | 0:37:06 | |
I think there's an absence of big supermarkets in quite a wide area, | 0:37:06 | 0:37:10 | |
which has meant that small, independent retailers have thrived. | 0:37:10 | 0:37:14 | |
That has given an opportunity to small food producers as well | 0:37:14 | 0:37:17 | |
to sell their stuff direct. | 0:37:17 | 0:37:19 | |
We're heading out to the North Sea, but where exactly are we? What's this river? | 0:37:19 | 0:37:24 | |
This is both the Alde and the Ore. | 0:37:24 | 0:37:26 | |
The Alde comes into the River Ore at Orford, where we are now. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:30 | |
And it goes out, down to the sea, down towards Felixstowe. | 0:37:30 | 0:37:33 | |
So this is an unusual river. The salt content is really high. | 0:37:33 | 0:37:37 | |
What does that mean in terms of the fish? | 0:37:37 | 0:37:39 | |
It means that things you'd not normally find in a river here, | 0:37:40 | 0:37:44 | |
so we get lobsters, which we'll hopefully find today, | 0:37:44 | 0:37:47 | |
different kinds of crab, starfish and other shellfish. | 0:37:47 | 0:37:51 | |
'Peter Merrion is just one of the local fishermen | 0:37:53 | 0:37:56 | |
'proud to share his trade. | 0:37:56 | 0:37:59 | |
'Today we're hoping to catch lobster in the pots that he has out here | 0:37:59 | 0:38:03 | |
'on the river, and I'm keen to get stuck in.' | 0:38:03 | 0:38:05 | |
You look as if you're ready to pull that pot up yourself? | 0:38:05 | 0:38:08 | |
-I'm going to give it a go. -Do you want a hand? | 0:38:08 | 0:38:10 | |
I probably will do. It's not too bad. | 0:38:10 | 0:38:13 | |
If it gets too tiring, I'll give you a hand. | 0:38:13 | 0:38:15 | |
How many lobster pots do you have out here? | 0:38:15 | 0:38:17 | |
We have about 12 lobster pots. | 0:38:17 | 0:38:19 | |
-Do you always pull up lobsters in them? -Not every time. | 0:38:19 | 0:38:23 | |
You're not lucky every time, but on average, we get about three or four. | 0:38:23 | 0:38:28 | |
-How long is this rope? -It's a very deep river for its size. | 0:38:28 | 0:38:32 | |
-Oh. -That's it. | 0:38:35 | 0:38:37 | |
Oh, what?! | 0:38:37 | 0:38:39 | |
-These ones are shore crabs. -OK. | 0:38:39 | 0:38:42 | |
So before we put the lobster pot back in, we need to put bait in it. | 0:38:44 | 0:38:47 | |
We've got a piece of mullet head that we caught earlier. Nothing is wasted. | 0:38:47 | 0:38:52 | |
-Put the head in. -So that's brilliant bait for a lobster. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:57 | |
-It is good bait, yeah. -OK. | 0:38:57 | 0:38:59 | |
The lobster crawls in there to eat that and then he gets stuck inside. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:03 | |
Instead of coming back out the way it came in, it moves from this chamber into that chamber, | 0:39:03 | 0:39:08 | |
-and that's where it gets caught. -OK. | 0:39:08 | 0:39:11 | |
-You can put it in. -All right. | 0:39:11 | 0:39:13 | |
Make sure the ropes are no where near your feet. | 0:39:15 | 0:39:19 | |
-Yeah. -One, two, three, go. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:21 | |
'There are no lobsters in pot number two either. | 0:39:23 | 0:39:26 | |
'Apparently, summer is the best time of year to catch them, | 0:39:26 | 0:39:30 | |
'and in the 20 years that Peter has been fishing this river, | 0:39:30 | 0:39:34 | |
'he reckons the stocks have stayed pretty healthy. | 0:39:34 | 0:39:36 | |
'So fingers crossed for pot number three.' | 0:39:36 | 0:39:38 | |
We're there. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:39 | |
Oh, look at that! | 0:39:39 | 0:39:41 | |
We've got one. We've got three! | 0:39:43 | 0:39:45 | |
Third time lucky, three in a pot. | 0:39:45 | 0:39:48 | |
-How about that? -Oh, yes! | 0:39:48 | 0:39:50 | |
When you catch lobsters in a pot, | 0:39:53 | 0:39:56 | |
if you've got one lobster in there, it encourages more into the pot. | 0:39:56 | 0:39:59 | |
Is there a limit on how many you can catch in a year? | 0:39:59 | 0:40:03 | |
No, there's not a limit, you can catch as many as you like. | 0:40:03 | 0:40:06 | |
-As long as they're within a certain size, you can keep them. -OK. | 0:40:06 | 0:40:10 | |
And the size is normally 87mm from the eye socket | 0:40:10 | 0:40:14 | |
to the back of the shell. | 0:40:14 | 0:40:16 | |
-Any smaller, they go back in? -They go back in, yeah. | 0:40:16 | 0:40:19 | |
I think these are all restaurant size, so they're OK. | 0:40:19 | 0:40:22 | |
The lobsters are kept alive until they arrive at a restaurant. | 0:40:22 | 0:40:26 | |
We'll be taking my three back to Orford, | 0:40:26 | 0:40:29 | |
as we continue to follow their journey to the plate. | 0:40:29 | 0:40:32 | |
OK, come on then, little fella. Off to the kitchen with you. | 0:40:32 | 0:40:36 | |
Thank you, Peter - I really enjoyed that. Success. | 0:40:36 | 0:40:39 | |
'Polly has another great seafood treat for me to see - | 0:40:40 | 0:40:43 | |
'the oysters on the beds of the estuary. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:46 | |
'Bill Pinney and his family have been working this water for years, | 0:40:46 | 0:40:50 | |
'with the help of his team of dredgers.' | 0:40:50 | 0:40:53 | |
-Oh, wow. -Look at those. -Some of these are huge. | 0:40:53 | 0:40:57 | |
That's a thick-shelled rock oyster. | 0:40:59 | 0:41:03 | |
And that's a flat-shelled oyster. | 0:41:03 | 0:41:06 | |
And that is the native oyster from this country - | 0:41:06 | 0:41:10 | |
it's what's been in these waters for the last 2,000 years. | 0:41:10 | 0:41:13 | |
So why are these doing so well? There's loads of those. | 0:41:13 | 0:41:16 | |
These grow very quickly, they're very hardy. | 0:41:18 | 0:41:21 | |
These are exactly the opposite. | 0:41:21 | 0:41:22 | |
Whereas this one takes about three years to mature, | 0:41:22 | 0:41:25 | |
-this one takes about five or six. That's only a baby one, really. -OK. | 0:41:25 | 0:41:29 | |
-Would you say these are taking over in England? -Very much so, yeah. | 0:41:29 | 0:41:33 | |
There are still some natives, but they are extremely rare now. | 0:41:33 | 0:41:37 | |
-Does it affect what they taste like, their age? -No, not at all. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:41 | |
Except, obviously it's a bit too much for a mouthful. | 0:41:41 | 0:41:44 | |
We'd use the bigger ones for soup or cooking or something like that. | 0:41:44 | 0:41:48 | |
-I can't see any villages or towns near here. -No. | 0:41:48 | 0:41:51 | |
-That must be good for the oysters. -Fantastic, yes. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:54 | |
We've got no sewage coming into the water and no pollution, | 0:41:54 | 0:41:57 | |
so we've got lovely pure water. It makes a huge difference. | 0:41:57 | 0:42:00 | |
Do oysters taste different around the country? | 0:42:00 | 0:42:03 | |
Everywhere you go. Every single site is different, yes. | 0:42:03 | 0:42:06 | |
Even just a couple of miles away it'll be completely different. | 0:42:06 | 0:42:09 | |
Yeah. It's all to do with the local conditions. | 0:42:09 | 0:42:11 | |
Once the oysters are brought in, | 0:42:11 | 0:42:13 | |
they're taken to the tanks for cleaning. | 0:42:13 | 0:42:15 | |
Water passes through a UV light | 0:42:15 | 0:42:18 | |
and circulates around the oysters for two days to kill off any nasties. | 0:42:18 | 0:42:22 | |
Some of them will end up at Bill's restaurant in Orford, | 0:42:22 | 0:42:25 | |
where I'm heading to next. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:28 | |
I'm genuinely excited about the seafood we've caught this morning. | 0:42:28 | 0:42:31 | |
I think you forget what amazing stock we have on our very doorstep. | 0:42:31 | 0:42:35 | |
You know what makes it even more special? | 0:42:35 | 0:42:37 | |
Everything has been caught within three miles | 0:42:37 | 0:42:40 | |
of where I started in Orford. | 0:42:40 | 0:42:41 | |
Soon I'll be tasting the seafood we've caught. | 0:42:43 | 0:42:46 | |
But first, when Matt Baker came to Suffolk, | 0:42:46 | 0:42:48 | |
he met some entirely different animals. | 0:42:48 | 0:42:50 | |
Come on! | 0:42:53 | 0:42:54 | |
'Paul Rilott has kept alpacas for five years | 0:42:54 | 0:42:56 | |
'and is now responsible for a prize-winning herd of 120.' | 0:42:56 | 0:42:59 | |
-I think they're something else. -We think so, but we're biased! | 0:42:59 | 0:43:03 | |
Yeah, we really like them. | 0:43:03 | 0:43:05 | |
With the weather being wet like this, we like to make sure | 0:43:05 | 0:43:08 | |
they've got plenty of fuel in the tank to keep them warm. | 0:43:08 | 0:43:12 | |
How did you end up with them here in Suffolk? | 0:43:12 | 0:43:13 | |
Well, about five years ago, I was made redundant | 0:43:13 | 0:43:17 | |
from a plant-breeding business. | 0:43:17 | 0:43:19 | |
We went over to Peru and came across them while up there. | 0:43:19 | 0:43:22 | |
Jude, my wife, said, "Couldn't we do that?" | 0:43:22 | 0:43:24 | |
So we started off with just a few and the following year, we managed | 0:43:24 | 0:43:28 | |
to bring in another 18 Peruvians and a couple from Australia. | 0:43:28 | 0:43:32 | |
The key was to get the right animals, and that's exactly | 0:43:32 | 0:43:34 | |
what we were all about. | 0:43:34 | 0:43:35 | |
They're just packed with character. I mean, their faces! | 0:43:35 | 0:43:39 | |
-I absolutely love 'em. Big eyes. -The big eyes look right into your soul. | 0:43:39 | 0:43:43 | |
You just got to love 'em. | 0:43:43 | 0:43:45 | |
One thing about them coming here is they don't get as much | 0:43:45 | 0:43:48 | |
vitamin D as they should do from the sunlight, | 0:43:48 | 0:43:51 | |
so we want to give the cria in particular | 0:43:51 | 0:43:52 | |
a vitamin boost to make sure they don't get rickets. | 0:43:52 | 0:43:55 | |
-Talking about the cria, that's the young? -Yep. | 0:43:55 | 0:43:57 | |
OK, firstly, can I introduce you to Viki? | 0:43:57 | 0:44:00 | |
-Hiya. -Viki looks after the herd for me. | 0:44:00 | 0:44:03 | |
As far as I'm concerned, every farm should have a Viki. | 0:44:03 | 0:44:06 | |
She is like a walking herd book, she knows all of these animals, | 0:44:06 | 0:44:09 | |
all their names, everything we need to know about them, she'll tell you. | 0:44:09 | 0:44:13 | |
-Hang on, all their names? -Yeah. -Every single one has a name? | 0:44:13 | 0:44:16 | |
-Yes, they do. -Really? | 0:44:16 | 0:44:18 | |
All our white females, for instance, they're named after Bond girls. | 0:44:18 | 0:44:21 | |
We've got a Domino, Tatiana, an Honor, Miss Moneypenny, to name but a few. | 0:44:21 | 0:44:27 | |
Come on, girls. | 0:44:27 | 0:44:29 | |
-A mouthful of vitamins. -Mouthful of vitamins. Good boy, Scratchy. | 0:44:29 | 0:44:33 | |
Steady, steady. | 0:44:33 | 0:44:34 | |
-Oh! Did you get it? Mmm, good boy! -Next one. | 0:44:36 | 0:44:40 | |
'There's approximately 20,000 alpacas in the UK, in 800 herds. | 0:44:42 | 0:44:46 | |
'This may sound a lot, but when you compare it to sheep, | 0:44:46 | 0:44:50 | |
'of which there's about 32 million, this is farming on a small scale.' | 0:44:50 | 0:44:54 | |
-There you are. -Well done! | 0:44:54 | 0:44:56 | |
Alpacas seem to kind of communicate on a different level. | 0:44:58 | 0:45:00 | |
-They're really intuitive with their young. -They are. | 0:45:00 | 0:45:03 | |
They only give birth when it's nice weather, | 0:45:03 | 0:45:06 | |
so if it's raining, she won't bother. If it's cold, she won't bother, | 0:45:06 | 0:45:09 | |
she'll hang on till the next day or the next week. | 0:45:09 | 0:45:12 | |
She'll only give birth between 8am and 2pm. | 0:45:12 | 0:45:14 | |
So if it gets to two o'clock and she hasn't had her babe, | 0:45:14 | 0:45:17 | |
she'll hold on till the next day. | 0:45:17 | 0:45:19 | |
That's because the sun's at the highest point in the sky then | 0:45:19 | 0:45:23 | |
and it gives the babe its best chance | 0:45:23 | 0:45:25 | |
to have a feed and to be up and about before dusk. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:28 | |
They've got this lovely noise, like "Oooh!" | 0:45:28 | 0:45:31 | |
This little one - very noisy, aren't you, Pen? | 0:45:31 | 0:45:33 | |
-How is Miss Moneypenny looking? -Looking good. | 0:45:33 | 0:45:35 | |
'Alpacas come in 22 different colours, | 0:45:35 | 0:45:38 | |
'and the fleece is in demand for clothing.' | 0:45:38 | 0:45:40 | |
The first thing you'll notice is it's been a wet day, | 0:45:40 | 0:45:43 | |
but when you open it up, how dry it is in there. | 0:45:43 | 0:45:45 | |
-That just shines, yeah? -Yeah. | 0:45:45 | 0:45:48 | |
This is worth £100 a kilo processed against a sheep's fleece. | 0:45:48 | 0:45:51 | |
-Is it really? £100 a kilo? -Yeah. | 0:45:51 | 0:45:54 | |
-Up against a sheep fleece, which is what, less than a pound? -Exactly. | 0:45:54 | 0:45:57 | |
Big difference. | 0:45:57 | 0:45:58 | |
Not only that, but it's five times harder-wearing than sheep's wool, | 0:45:58 | 0:46:03 | |
so you make yourself a proper suit out of alpaca, | 0:46:03 | 0:46:06 | |
it'll last you a lifetime. | 0:46:06 | 0:46:08 | |
Come, boys! In you go, my friends. | 0:46:08 | 0:46:12 | |
'Now it's time to look at the big boys, | 0:46:12 | 0:46:14 | |
'who Paul constantly monitors, as they're his best studs, | 0:46:14 | 0:46:16 | |
'one of them being the East Anglian champion.' | 0:46:16 | 0:46:19 | |
As a champion, what is he worth? | 0:46:19 | 0:46:22 | |
If you were to offer me somewhere between £20-25,000 today, | 0:46:22 | 0:46:26 | |
I might take it. | 0:46:26 | 0:46:28 | |
-25 grand, really? -Yeah. Some of the top whites could be double that. | 0:46:28 | 0:46:32 | |
In the States, their supreme champions | 0:46:32 | 0:46:34 | |
will fetch up to half a million. | 0:46:34 | 0:46:36 | |
-Never! -Absolutely. | 0:46:36 | 0:46:38 | |
'Paul can earn £1,500 a time putting these boys out to stud. | 0:46:38 | 0:46:42 | |
'Not all alpacas cost 25 grand. You can pick one up for around £500. | 0:46:42 | 0:46:47 | |
'Alpacas are not just kept for their wool, though. | 0:46:47 | 0:46:50 | |
'Their protective instinct is the reason | 0:46:50 | 0:46:51 | |
'Sue Sharott keeps three to guard her chickens.' | 0:46:51 | 0:46:54 | |
When did you come across the alpacas? | 0:46:54 | 0:46:57 | |
My husband and children went out to buy some more chickens for me | 0:46:57 | 0:47:01 | |
and came back deciding that we were going to have alpacas instead! | 0:47:01 | 0:47:04 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:47:04 | 0:47:07 | |
-And this is Emma and Sam here? -This is Emma and Sam. -Lovely to see you. | 0:47:07 | 0:47:10 | |
How are you? What is it like having alpacas in your garden? | 0:47:10 | 0:47:13 | |
It's a bit unusual. | 0:47:13 | 0:47:15 | |
We got them primarily | 0:47:15 | 0:47:17 | |
because we were told that they would stop the foxes getting the chickens. | 0:47:17 | 0:47:21 | |
-And do they? -Yes, we haven't lost any yet. | 0:47:21 | 0:47:24 | |
-Fingers crossed it keeps going. -Yes, exactly. | 0:47:24 | 0:47:26 | |
-Quite expensive guard dogs. -They are expensive guard dogs. | 0:47:26 | 0:47:31 | |
I know Prince Charles has alpacas to guard his lambs, so obviously | 0:47:31 | 0:47:35 | |
it's the up-and-coming animal to have as a guard dog, I suppose. | 0:47:35 | 0:47:38 | |
Definitely. | 0:47:38 | 0:47:39 | |
'If it's good enough for Prince Charles, | 0:47:39 | 0:47:41 | |
'it's good enough for me, and it's planted a seed in my mind | 0:47:41 | 0:47:44 | |
'to buy a couple of these fantastic animals to guard our family flock.' | 0:47:44 | 0:47:48 | |
They really are charming animals, | 0:47:48 | 0:47:51 | |
and it's lovely to see fields full of them. | 0:47:51 | 0:47:53 | |
I'm on my way into Orford village, where local food lover | 0:47:56 | 0:48:00 | |
Polly Robinson has one last stop on our gastronomic tour of the area - | 0:48:00 | 0:48:03 | |
Bill Pinney's restaurant. | 0:48:03 | 0:48:06 | |
It's been here in Orford since the 1960s | 0:48:06 | 0:48:09 | |
when the Pinney family opened it. | 0:48:09 | 0:48:11 | |
And as I saw earlier, some of the produce comes straight here | 0:48:11 | 0:48:16 | |
from the Pinney's very own oyster beds. | 0:48:16 | 0:48:19 | |
I'll be heading in there to prepare some of the food I caught earlier, | 0:48:20 | 0:48:23 | |
but first here's the Country Tracks weather for the week ahead. | 0:48:23 | 0:48:26 | |
. | 0:50:50 | 0:50:57 | |
Today I'm on a journey through East Anglia. | 0:51:06 | 0:51:08 | |
I began on a farm in Rede, | 0:51:08 | 0:51:10 | |
where I met some beautiful Suffolk Punch horses. | 0:51:10 | 0:51:14 | |
From there, it was a short trip to Bury St Edmunds, | 0:51:14 | 0:51:17 | |
where I learned about the origins of the Magna Carta. | 0:51:17 | 0:51:22 | |
At my next stop, Flixton, | 0:51:22 | 0:51:23 | |
I explored the possibilities of owning a little bit of woodland. | 0:51:23 | 0:51:27 | |
And today my journey ends here in Orford, | 0:51:29 | 0:51:32 | |
where I'm about to taste oysters for the very first time. | 0:51:32 | 0:51:36 | |
My foodie guide, Polly Robinson, has brought me | 0:51:37 | 0:51:40 | |
to Bill Pinney's restaurant for a lesson in seafood preparation. | 0:51:40 | 0:51:43 | |
Honestly, I've never eaten an oyster, I've never opened one, so... | 0:51:43 | 0:51:48 | |
-Right, well. -I'm a total novice. | 0:51:48 | 0:51:50 | |
There's a deep shell - that's the bottom and the top - | 0:51:50 | 0:51:53 | |
and at the end, you have a hinge. | 0:51:53 | 0:51:55 | |
-What we're going to do is put the knife in through the hinge. -OK. | 0:51:55 | 0:51:58 | |
Just press it in until you've broken the hinge | 0:51:58 | 0:52:01 | |
and then you just flick the top shell open. | 0:52:01 | 0:52:04 | |
Then give your blade a little wipe. | 0:52:04 | 0:52:08 | |
-Move it along the top shell. -Oh, wow! | 0:52:08 | 0:52:11 | |
And you cut the muscle, the adductor muscle, on the top of the oyster. | 0:52:11 | 0:52:17 | |
-That looks so clean. -It's a lovely plump oyster. | 0:52:17 | 0:52:20 | |
And then you...just cut the oyster underneath, and it's ready to eat. | 0:52:20 | 0:52:25 | |
You serve it in the shell? | 0:52:25 | 0:52:27 | |
Served in the shell. | 0:52:27 | 0:52:28 | |
-What makes a good oyster, then? -The really important thing is the meat. | 0:52:28 | 0:52:32 | |
You can see you have a very nice plump oyster here. | 0:52:32 | 0:52:35 | |
Sometimes when they've spawned or they are out of condition, | 0:52:35 | 0:52:38 | |
they can be rather green and transparent. | 0:52:38 | 0:52:42 | |
But that one you see there is in absolutely prime condition. | 0:52:42 | 0:52:46 | |
-Can I have a go at opening one, then? -You can. | 0:52:46 | 0:52:48 | |
-You have to be very careful not to cut your hands. -OK. | 0:52:48 | 0:52:51 | |
You need special little knife? | 0:52:51 | 0:52:52 | |
-I think you ought to put gloves on really. -Oh. | 0:52:52 | 0:52:55 | |
-We don't want blood on the screen. -No. | 0:52:57 | 0:53:00 | |
-That would put people off oysters full stop. -Yes. Right. -Right. | 0:53:00 | 0:53:04 | |
Now, you've got to press it in there. | 0:53:04 | 0:53:06 | |
And you've got to hold that with your left hand, | 0:53:06 | 0:53:09 | |
press that in quite firmly and wiggle it | 0:53:09 | 0:53:11 | |
until you feel you've broken through. | 0:53:11 | 0:53:15 | |
I can see why you don't have much faith in me. | 0:53:15 | 0:53:17 | |
Keep going. Keep going. | 0:53:17 | 0:53:18 | |
-You're through, yes, that's good. -OK, yes. | 0:53:18 | 0:53:21 | |
Now push it in a bit further. | 0:53:21 | 0:53:23 | |
Right. Little bit further. Now give the knife a turn, a twist. | 0:53:23 | 0:53:27 | |
Go on, be a little firm with it. | 0:53:29 | 0:53:32 | |
That will crack open then. | 0:53:32 | 0:53:34 | |
Leave your knife in. | 0:53:34 | 0:53:36 | |
Lift it up, wedge it open. | 0:53:36 | 0:53:39 | |
Now run this knife along the top of the oyster - | 0:53:39 | 0:53:42 | |
be careful along the top of the shell, | 0:53:42 | 0:53:43 | |
or you'll cut some of the meat away. | 0:53:43 | 0:53:46 | |
Just run it along there. That's it. | 0:53:46 | 0:53:48 | |
-There we go. -That's pretty good. | 0:53:48 | 0:53:51 | |
Yes, very good. | 0:53:51 | 0:53:53 | |
How on earth do you throw that back in one gulp? | 0:53:53 | 0:53:56 | |
-That's a big oyster, isn't it? -Is it? Well, it is a big oyster, yes. | 0:53:56 | 0:53:59 | |
-I haven't eaten oyster for years. -Really? | 0:53:59 | 0:54:02 | |
You just don't sometimes, do you? | 0:54:02 | 0:54:04 | |
-Mm. -Nice? -Lovely, very nice. | 0:54:08 | 0:54:11 | |
Haven't eaten one for years, but would you eat another one tomorrow? | 0:54:11 | 0:54:15 | |
-Yes, I would, yes. Yourself? -I've got to try it, haven't I? | 0:54:15 | 0:54:18 | |
When in Rome. | 0:54:18 | 0:54:21 | |
Or in Orford. | 0:54:21 | 0:54:22 | |
-Do I chew it or just throw it back? -Chew it. | 0:54:24 | 0:54:27 | |
-Salty. -Yes. Sweet but salty? -Certainly an acquired taste. -Yes! | 0:54:42 | 0:54:47 | |
Well done. | 0:54:49 | 0:54:51 | |
'I didn't want to be rude, but oysters are definitely not for me. | 0:54:53 | 0:54:56 | |
'Hopefully the lobsters will be a bit more to my taste.' | 0:54:56 | 0:55:01 | |
These are the lobster we caught earlier today | 0:55:01 | 0:55:04 | |
and they look so dramatically different. | 0:55:04 | 0:55:07 | |
A few minutes in boiling water | 0:55:07 | 0:55:09 | |
and they go from navy blue to bright pink. | 0:55:09 | 0:55:11 | |
-These were just plunged in boiling water? -Yes. | 0:55:11 | 0:55:13 | |
Just brought up to the boil for about 12 minutes. | 0:55:13 | 0:55:16 | |
-12 minutes and then they're cooked inside? -They're ready to eat, yes. | 0:55:16 | 0:55:20 | |
We're not going to eat these chaps just yet, | 0:55:20 | 0:55:22 | |
because, although I'm proud of them, they're tiny compared to... | 0:55:22 | 0:55:27 | |
Duh, duh, duh-da-a-a-a! | 0:55:28 | 0:55:32 | |
Look at those beasts. | 0:55:32 | 0:55:35 | |
-Now, that is a lobster isn't it? -It is, yes. | 0:55:37 | 0:55:42 | |
'And those beasts are actually caught out at sea. | 0:55:42 | 0:55:45 | |
'They're much bigger than the ones we brought back from the river. | 0:55:45 | 0:55:48 | |
'Because of their size, they're easier to prepare. | 0:55:48 | 0:55:52 | |
'After cutting down the centre of the underside of the lobster, | 0:55:52 | 0:55:55 | |
'there's the head meat, the more sought-after tail meat, | 0:55:55 | 0:55:59 | |
'and the best bit - out comes the hammer | 0:55:59 | 0:56:01 | |
'to crush the shell and reveal the tasty claw meat.' | 0:56:01 | 0:56:05 | |
-That's it, and again. -I've never eaten lobster ever. -Haven't you? -No. | 0:56:05 | 0:56:09 | |
See if you prefer it to oysters. | 0:56:09 | 0:56:11 | |
Quite a brave chunk I'm going for. | 0:56:13 | 0:56:15 | |
It's definitely fishier. | 0:56:18 | 0:56:20 | |
I have to say lobster is definitely above oyster for me. | 0:56:20 | 0:56:25 | |
Fair enough. | 0:56:25 | 0:56:27 | |
'It's a great experience to follow food directly from sea to plate, | 0:56:28 | 0:56:33 | |
'even if the oysters were a bit hard to swallow.' | 0:56:33 | 0:56:36 | |
You couldn't get more source to plate than this, | 0:56:36 | 0:56:39 | |
we caught the lobster, it's on our plate. | 0:56:39 | 0:56:41 | |
But why is it important that people know about that journey? | 0:56:41 | 0:56:45 | |
I think it's so disconnected now | 0:56:45 | 0:56:47 | |
when we buy food in the supermarket or eat it in a restaurant. | 0:56:47 | 0:56:50 | |
We have no idea where it's come from. | 0:56:50 | 0:56:52 | |
Doing something like we've done today just really reconnecting it | 0:56:52 | 0:56:56 | |
and experiencing what the fishermen go through, seeing that side of it. | 0:56:56 | 0:57:00 | |
Then following through every stage. | 0:57:00 | 0:57:02 | |
And I think it tastes so much better. | 0:57:02 | 0:57:04 | |
I was satisfied with my lobster | 0:57:04 | 0:57:06 | |
until I saw the size of the ones Bill showed me, | 0:57:06 | 0:57:09 | |
and then he told me they can grow up to 50 years old. | 0:57:09 | 0:57:12 | |
-So, sorry, buddy, you're just a baby. -I'm sure he'll still taste good. | 0:57:12 | 0:57:17 | |
This has been a rewarding day, | 0:57:17 | 0:57:20 | |
but it's also been a reminder of the hard work | 0:57:20 | 0:57:23 | |
that fishermen like Peter do every day to put food on our plates. | 0:57:23 | 0:57:27 | |
I knew I'd have a good time in Suffolk, because I got to come here | 0:57:29 | 0:57:32 | |
and enjoy some of the best the county has to offer. | 0:57:32 | 0:57:35 | |
I've learnt about the plight of Suffolk Punch horses, | 0:57:35 | 0:57:39 | |
heard tales of secret meetings that paved the way for the Magna Carta, | 0:57:39 | 0:57:43 | |
I've discovered the benefits of woodland ownership and, | 0:57:43 | 0:57:47 | |
ultimately, I've developed a taste for some of Suffolk's specialities. | 0:57:47 | 0:57:52 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:57:58 | 0:58:01 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:58:01 | 0:58:04 |