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Sixty years ago, an extraordinary man called Harold Briercliffe | 0:00:02 | 0:00:06 | |
wrote a string of books about his great passion - cycling. | 0:00:06 | 0:00:10 | |
Now largely forgotten, these overlooked gems were the culmination of a lifelong journey. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:16 | |
His destination? The whole of Britain. | 0:00:16 | 0:00:18 | |
On two wheels. | 0:00:18 | 0:00:21 | |
Over half a century later, | 0:00:21 | 0:00:22 | |
armed with one of his trusty cycling touring guides, | 0:00:22 | 0:00:26 | |
and riding Harold's very own bicycle, a Dawes Super Galaxy, | 0:00:26 | 0:00:30 | |
the touring cycle of its day, | 0:00:30 | 0:00:32 | |
I'm re-tracing his tracks through the glorious landscape he loved. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:36 | |
I'm going in search of Britain by Bike. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
This is the Cotswolds, the Heart of England. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:45 | |
Lush, green uplands, | 0:01:02 | 0:01:03 | |
inviting meadows, picture postcard views with burbling brooks. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:07 | |
No wonder the Cotswolds is, for most people, | 0:01:07 | 0:01:10 | |
the prettiest place in Britain. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:12 | |
I'm setting off to explore almost 45 miles of this perfection | 0:01:12 | 0:01:15 | |
in a journey that provokes some | 0:01:15 | 0:01:17 | |
fascinating questions about why we preserve the countryside this way. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:21 | |
It's a trip packed with beauty, a dash of folly, | 0:01:21 | 0:01:24 | |
oh, and TWO men, both, rather confusingly, called William Morris. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:28 | |
And tourists. Lots of tourists. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:32 | |
It's not difficult to see why this area of the country is so appealing to visitors from across the world. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:38 | |
There's something completely timeless about the sleepy villages, | 0:01:38 | 0:01:43 | |
the yellowish stone of the buildings, the church spires | 0:01:43 | 0:01:46 | |
rising above the hedgerows. | 0:01:46 | 0:01:48 | |
Harold Briercliffe was very keen on it, but he was not a man to be fooled by appearances, | 0:01:48 | 0:01:52 | |
and he was well aware of how much hard work goes into maintaining beauty like this. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:58 | |
I'm following parts of Harold Briercliffe's 343-mile cycle tour | 0:01:59 | 0:02:04 | |
from Reading to Oxford, a distance of just 26 miles as the crow flies. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:09 | |
My journey starts in Broadway, and then heads southeast on to | 0:02:09 | 0:02:13 | |
Burford, Blenheim and finally the city of Oxford. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:17 | |
Harold, a no-nonsense northerner, originally from Rochdale, set off | 0:02:18 | 0:02:22 | |
with tyres pumped, vowels flattened and a readiness to be under whelmed. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:27 | |
'Nearly everyone who visits the Cotswolds | 0:02:28 | 0:02:31 | |
'comes home with a favourite village. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:33 | |
'"The most beautiful," is a typical superlative.' | 0:02:33 | 0:02:36 | |
For many, that place is here... | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
the very epitome of an English country village, | 0:02:39 | 0:02:42 | |
known as the Jewel of the Cotswolds. But not by Harold. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:46 | |
This is Broadway, one main street, very broad, as the name would suggest. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:51 | |
Lovely, big houses, set back from the road, built in Cotswold stone, | 0:02:51 | 0:02:56 | |
which gives them a warmth and vibrancy, | 0:02:56 | 0:02:59 | |
but Harold wasn't particularly taken with it. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:03 | |
It was a bit too much for him. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
He preferred his beauty to be a bit more natural, more rugged, | 0:03:05 | 0:03:09 | |
this place, for him, had a little too much lipstick, mascara. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:13 | |
'There is more than a little unnecessary artifice about it all, | 0:03:13 | 0:03:18 | |
'like a pretty woman who has made up rather too well.' | 0:03:18 | 0:03:22 | |
That's the doctor's surgery. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:26 | |
It looks like a museum. Seriously, that is the doctor's surgery! | 0:03:26 | 0:03:30 | |
He's doing good trade, a lot of people. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
All right? So, tell me, what brings you to Broadway? | 0:03:36 | 0:03:41 | |
This is exactly | 0:03:41 | 0:03:43 | |
what we thought England would be. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:45 | |
The teashops and the thatched cottage roofs, | 0:03:45 | 0:03:49 | |
just the buildings themselves and the quaint little streets. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:52 | |
Everyone's drawn to this vision of rural Britain. | 0:03:53 | 0:03:56 | |
People want to live here, and they want to live in traditional Cotswold stone houses. | 0:03:56 | 0:04:01 | |
I'll tell you what, this is interesting, | 0:04:01 | 0:04:03 | |
because this is something that would really have changed since 1949. House prices. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:08 | |
There is a seventeenth-century listed house here, mind you, | 0:04:08 | 0:04:12 | |
it has got 9.4 acres with it, guide price, 1.8 million. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
Gee whiz! | 0:04:15 | 0:04:16 | |
And if you can't live here... | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
well you can always visit. And millions do. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:21 | |
Remarkably, Cotswolds tourism was well established, | 0:04:21 | 0:04:25 | |
even when Harold Briercliffe came in the 1940s. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:28 | |
Former MP Gerald Nabarro | 0:04:28 | 0:04:30 | |
once claimed the village earned | 0:04:30 | 0:04:32 | |
more foreign currency than anywhere of its size in Britain. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:36 | |
But there's a price to pay. You can't have your cake and eat it, | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
admits local teashop owner Laurie Avery. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:42 | |
Harold came through here in late '40s... how much has it changed? | 0:04:43 | 0:04:47 | |
Broadway has been a tourist centre for probably 60, 70 years. | 0:04:48 | 0:04:56 | |
In the early days, it was mainly centred around the antiques trade | 0:04:56 | 0:05:00 | |
and the arts trade. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:01 | |
And it has just continued. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:04 | |
The tourist season now runs here from March | 0:05:04 | 0:05:06 | |
until the end of November, probably, | 0:05:06 | 0:05:08 | |
and a little bit of Christmas, | 0:05:08 | 0:05:10 | |
and we have two quiet months now in January and February. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:13 | |
Many people retire to Broadway | 0:05:13 | 0:05:15 | |
because they think they're going to get a quiet life, | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
and they just get people looking through their front windows | 0:05:18 | 0:05:21 | |
most of the time. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:22 | |
Always being 'on show' can produce a theme park version of village life. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:26 | |
And Broadway's place on the map actually increased this effect, according to cyclist Harold. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:32 | |
'Broadway's position on a main highway | 0:05:32 | 0:05:35 | |
'has given it a prominence which has not been altogether to the good. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:39 | |
'The prettiness and trimness seem to be overdone. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:42 | |
You know, he's right. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:46 | |
He's right about this place. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:48 | |
It's as if everything's made for show. It's as if it's not quite... | 0:05:48 | 0:05:52 | |
I mean, it's lovely, and it's pretty, | 0:05:52 | 0:05:54 | |
and it's wonderfully maintained and there isn't a scrap of litter, but it doesn't quite feel real. | 0:05:54 | 0:06:01 | |
It feels as if it's a film set. | 0:06:01 | 0:06:04 | |
It's not, but it feels like it. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:06 | |
In search of something a bit more real, | 0:06:10 | 0:06:12 | |
I'm heading uphill to my next destination, | 0:06:12 | 0:06:14 | |
which is shamelessly fake. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:16 | |
Leaving the village behind, I'm on my way to Broadway Beacon, | 0:06:16 | 0:06:21 | |
with its commanding views of the whole area. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:23 | |
Now, Harold recommended taking a little detour to go and see Broadway Tower, | 0:06:23 | 0:06:27 | |
which is described as "The highest little castle in the Cotswolds." | 0:06:27 | 0:06:32 | |
Apparently it's worth getting up there. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:34 | |
This medieval castle, is a piece of architectural whimsy, an 18th century folly constructed | 0:06:35 | 0:06:41 | |
by local aristocrat, the 6th Earl of Coventry. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:45 | |
And Harold Briercliffe was very grateful he'd taken the trouble. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:49 | |
'Here, at an altitude of 1,024 ft, | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
'there is a tower, built in 1798, and from it, the eye ranges over | 0:06:52 | 0:06:58 | |
'a panorama as varied as it is beautiful.' | 0:06:58 | 0:07:02 | |
You hardly ever get a perspective like this, | 0:07:03 | 0:07:07 | |
see for 50 miles in every direction. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:09 | |
It's a complete 360.It's fabulous. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:11 | |
What's amazing about this beautiful view | 0:07:13 | 0:07:16 | |
is that not only is it the same as the one | 0:07:16 | 0:07:18 | |
Harold described, but some of this countryside has changed | 0:07:18 | 0:07:21 | |
precious little for almost two centuries. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:24 | |
The pattern of the fields, hedgerows and dry stone walls are all still here. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:29 | |
And that's what gives the landscape its unique appeal. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
With the naked eye, you can see Gloucestershire and Herefordshire and Worcestershire as well. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:38 | |
You can see the Malvern Hills, which are 25 miles away. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:40 | |
Beyond them, slightly shrouded in cloud, 50 miles away, are the Black Mountains in Wales. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:46 | |
And, if you've got 20p in your pocket, you can pop it in here... | 0:07:46 | 0:07:50 | |
Go on you! | 0:07:53 | 0:07:54 | |
If you've got 20p in your pocket, you can try and make this work! | 0:07:58 | 0:08:02 | |
No, it doesn't want to work. If you've got 20p in your pocket, | 0:08:06 | 0:08:09 | |
you can go and buy yourself some sweeties later. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:12 | |
Even without a telescope, | 0:08:12 | 0:08:13 | |
anyone can see this landscape's perfect for travel on two wheels. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:17 | |
You can just see how it's rolled out. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:22 | |
And you get, obviously, very steep climbs and lovely, | 0:08:22 | 0:08:25 | |
rounded hills on the south, | 0:08:25 | 0:08:27 | |
and then an enormous expanse of flat land, and you look at that, | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
and you think, oh, good cycling country! | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
Yeah. Won't even have to change gear. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:35 | |
The glorious view drew others here. One person in particular, | 0:08:37 | 0:08:40 | |
who would play an important role | 0:08:40 | 0:08:42 | |
in preserving the distinctive character of the Cotswolds. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
In the 19th century, William Morris, the designer, writer, | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
and pioneering conservationist, used the tower as a country retreat. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:53 | |
A special room, decorated with Morris's distinctive prints and fabrics, commemorates his stay. | 0:08:53 | 0:09:00 | |
And we'll be hearing more of him later in my journey. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:03 | |
There's something comfortable about cycling in this area. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:07 | |
Even the gentle hills are fairly easy on the legs, and that's why | 0:09:07 | 0:09:11 | |
it's a little surprising that Harold was less than impressed. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:15 | |
'The scenery of the district is pleasing rather than noble, | 0:09:15 | 0:09:20 | |
'soothing rather than inspiring. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:22 | |
'Yet its own characteristics are striking enough.' | 0:09:22 | 0:09:27 | |
And why was Harold so restrained in his praise? | 0:09:27 | 0:09:30 | |
May be now, any patch of green not covered by Tarmac | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
and used as a car park is deemed a rural paradise. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:35 | |
But perhaps in Harold's day, there was simply | 0:09:35 | 0:09:38 | |
so much unspoilt countryside you could afford to be picky. | 0:09:38 | 0:09:41 | |
But there's not much unspoiled about the next section of Harold's route, | 0:09:43 | 0:09:47 | |
along the Fosse Way, a Roman Road stretching more than 200 miles | 0:09:47 | 0:09:51 | |
from Devon to Lincolnshire. | 0:09:51 | 0:09:53 | |
In Harold's day it looked something like this. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:56 | |
Now, however... | 0:09:56 | 0:09:58 | |
You need to be a Ninja cyclist to brave this sort of traffic. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:04 | |
So instead of doing that I'm going off route following the Warden's Way, | 0:10:06 | 0:10:10 | |
which takes you through some lovely villages here in the Slaughters, | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
and then on to Bourton on the Water. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:16 | |
Hi, there. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:20 | |
'Bourton on the Water, | 0:10:24 | 0:10:25 | |
'one of the most engaging of the larger villages in the Cotswolds. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:30 | |
'A stream runs down the main street, through lawns, | 0:10:30 | 0:10:33 | |
'and is crossed by ornamental bridges.' | 0:10:33 | 0:10:36 | |
From Bourton on the Water, | 0:10:36 | 0:10:38 | |
the route takes us on smaller B roads to Great Rissington, | 0:10:38 | 0:10:41 | |
then to Great Barrington, before arriving at my next stop, which was | 0:10:41 | 0:10:45 | |
one of Harold's favourite places, | 0:10:45 | 0:10:47 | |
and the location for a historic spat between two people which has | 0:10:47 | 0:10:51 | |
actually saved thousands of old buildings and iconic landscapes. | 0:10:51 | 0:10:55 | |
This is Burford. | 0:10:55 | 0:10:58 | |
'Burford is one of the best-preserved old towns in England, | 0:10:58 | 0:11:03 | |
'and one of the most picturesque. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:05 | |
'Burford I would call a wonderful old townlet instead of a village.' | 0:11:05 | 0:11:10 | |
This place is something else. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:12 | |
Do you know, Burford ranked 6th in Forbes magazine | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
as most idyllic places to live in Europe. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:17 | |
That means it has ranked above Budapest, Rome. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:22 | |
And it's not that difficult to see why, | 0:11:22 | 0:11:24 | |
because there's something really authentic about this place. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:28 | |
It feels old, obviously, but it feels lived in. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:32 | |
These are old people's houses. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
It doesn't have that same manufactured charm to it that one could accuse Broadway off. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:41 | |
It doesn't seem to have sold out completely to the tourist industry, | 0:11:41 | 0:11:45 | |
although, clearly it's very popular with them as well. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
'There is a variety of architectural styles | 0:11:49 | 0:11:51 | |
'about the houses and inns at Burford, | 0:11:51 | 0:11:54 | |
'but all are clearly of the Cotswolds.' | 0:11:54 | 0:11:58 | |
It's strange to think a landscape like this | 0:11:58 | 0:12:00 | |
could be an industrial heartland, but in the Middle Ages, | 0:12:00 | 0:12:03 | |
Burford stood at the centre of a lucrative business | 0:12:03 | 0:12:07 | |
which provided over half of all the cloth in England courtesy of an animal known as 'The Cotswold Lion'. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:13 | |
Here in the 14th century, sheep outnumbered people | 0:12:13 | 0:12:17 | |
by thousands to one, | 0:12:17 | 0:12:18 | |
generating vast wealth... | 0:12:18 | 0:12:20 | |
much of it used to glorify God in a series of magnificent churches. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:26 | |
None greater than St John the Baptist, Burford. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:29 | |
'The church stands on low ground at the foot of the hill | 0:12:30 | 0:12:34 | |
'and close to the Windrush. | 0:12:34 | 0:12:36 | |
'It has a Norman west door and several fine chapels.' | 0:12:36 | 0:12:40 | |
One of the best things about cycling, | 0:12:40 | 0:12:42 | |
and doing it with a guidebook, is you get signposts, | 0:12:42 | 0:12:45 | |
if you like, and obviously, you can do your own thing, | 0:12:45 | 0:12:48 | |
and you can stop where you like, | 0:12:48 | 0:12:50 | |
but I'm quite enjoying following the route that Harold took, | 0:12:50 | 0:12:54 | |
and seeing if things have changed | 0:12:54 | 0:12:56 | |
and some of them not at all, and obviously, | 0:12:56 | 0:12:58 | |
with Burford church, there's not a lot that can have changed. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
I've come to meet Burford's former verger, Peter Harris. | 0:13:10 | 0:13:13 | |
-Peter, hello. -Hello, good morning. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:17 | |
This is... | 0:13:17 | 0:13:18 | |
-Nice to see you. -This is magnificent. -Yes. | 0:13:18 | 0:13:21 | |
You know about big cathedrals and abbeys and, | 0:13:21 | 0:13:24 | |
you know in bigger cities. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:26 | |
But to come into what is essentially an extended village | 0:13:26 | 0:13:30 | |
and find a church like this, it's like discovering treasure. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
It is, yes. This was built finally in the 15th century, | 0:13:33 | 0:13:37 | |
the height of the wool trade. | 0:13:37 | 0:13:39 | |
And it does fit in with the sort of a pattern with other wool churches. | 0:13:39 | 0:13:43 | |
This sort of style of it. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:45 | |
In that time since Harold would have come here in 1949... | 0:13:45 | 0:13:48 | |
-Yes. -..to now, the Church has almost become the focal point | 0:13:48 | 0:13:52 | |
for the new riches of the area, which is the tourist industry. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:55 | |
Well, yes. | 0:13:55 | 0:13:57 | |
Now, I went to Broadway Tower and saw the William Morris room, | 0:13:57 | 0:14:00 | |
and there is a connection with William Morris and this church. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:04 | |
Yes, it goes back to when these tiles were put down. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
And the then vicar was busying around, | 0:14:07 | 0:14:10 | |
and William Morris came in and said, | 0:14:10 | 0:14:12 | |
"What on earth are you doing to that lovely old stone floor, | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
"putting these down?" | 0:14:15 | 0:14:17 | |
And the vicar said, "It's my church, and if I want to stand on my head in it, I can do so." | 0:14:17 | 0:14:21 | |
So, William Morris went home, thought about it, | 0:14:21 | 0:14:24 | |
and started the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Churches. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:28 | |
So anything new that we do, | 0:14:28 | 0:14:29 | |
we're supposed to get authority from the diocese. | 0:14:29 | 0:14:32 | |
So the bad tempered argument over these historic tiles, | 0:14:32 | 0:14:37 | |
unwittingly created the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:42 | |
An unlikely key moment in the history of conservation. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:46 | |
And the tops to these gravestones were tombs. | 0:14:46 | 0:14:50 | |
Why are they ridged like that? | 0:14:50 | 0:14:52 | |
It's all again to do with the wool trade and you'll find them in | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
Cotswold churches and sometimes in the Norfolk ones. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:58 | |
They're supposedly wool merchants' tombs. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:01 | |
That rolled top represents the bale of wool or cloth. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:04 | |
It was rolled up into the woolsack as it were in those days. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
There was something about encouraging people to keep buying wool. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:12 | |
In the sort of 16th century later on when the wool trade was declining | 0:15:12 | 0:15:17 | |
a bit they passed a law, parliament, | 0:15:17 | 0:15:19 | |
that everyone should be buried in a woollen shroud. | 0:15:19 | 0:15:23 | |
If everybody had a woollen shroud, that would keep the business going for a while. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:27 | |
The final structural additions to the building | 0:15:29 | 0:15:31 | |
were made in the Perpendicular era, when the spire, | 0:15:31 | 0:15:34 | |
porch and lady chapel were added to complete the appearance | 0:15:34 | 0:15:38 | |
of the church as we see it today. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:40 | |
It's remarkable to think that William Morris's ideas | 0:15:40 | 0:15:43 | |
about what we now call "conservation" | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
started right here in Burford. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:47 | |
Nowadays, the preservation of the church relies on tourist donations, and maybe Harold's touring guides | 0:15:47 | 0:15:53 | |
played some small part in making that possible. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:57 | |
The next part of the route takes us from Burford along the River Windrush past Minster Lovell, | 0:16:01 | 0:16:07 | |
and the town of Witney and then on to Blenheim Palace. | 0:16:07 | 0:16:11 | |
The one thing Harold doesn't mention is the weather. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:15 | |
Because you know what it's like in Britain. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:17 | |
It doesn't matter whether you are on foot or on a bike. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:21 | |
It doesn't half change quickly. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:22 | |
But not, it seems, in the magical world of Harold Briercliffe's Cycling Touring Guides. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:28 | |
It's a land free of torrential downpours. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:30 | |
Not even mild drizzle gets a look in. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
Across hundreds, thousands of miles, Harold saw only sunshine. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:38 | |
Some chance, but at least the view's a welcome distraction. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:43 | |
This magnificent setting is Blenheim Park. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:47 | |
Harold would have come here, but in 1949 this was as far as he was allowed to go. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:53 | |
He would have had to admire it from this | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
side of the bridge, but these days it's open to the public and I can go in. | 0:16:56 | 0:17:01 | |
'The Palace, which can be seen from the park, was built to commemorate | 0:17:02 | 0:17:06 | |
'the services to the nation of the Duke of Marlborough | 0:17:06 | 0:17:10 | |
'and is in the Italian Renaissance style. | 0:17:10 | 0:17:12 | |
'The grounds but not the palace | 0:17:12 | 0:17:15 | |
'are open on certain days of the week.' | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
This was simply a splendid private house for the Churchill family | 0:17:18 | 0:17:22 | |
when Harold visited in the late 1940s. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:25 | |
But not for much longer. In the '50s, Blenheim was forced | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
to open its doors to a curious and paying public, as Attlee's post-war | 0:17:28 | 0:17:33 | |
Labour government brought in changes which meant the financing of lavish estates like this became untenable. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:40 | |
Blenheim saved itself by becoming a tourist destination. | 0:17:40 | 0:17:46 | |
This is something that Harold wouldn't have been able to do. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:49 | |
In 1949 he wouldn't have been able to come through the front door. | 0:17:49 | 0:17:52 | |
Not at all. Not for another year. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:54 | |
When we first opened to tourism proper in 1951, the maintenance | 0:17:54 | 0:17:58 | |
of the estates like this was really beyond the income of the families | 0:17:58 | 0:18:02 | |
that had run them for centuries. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:04 | |
They had three options. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:06 | |
One was to walk out and let the place fall down | 0:18:06 | 0:18:08 | |
and lots of houses are like that, in ruins. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:10 | |
The classic option was to make it over to the National Trust. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:13 | |
The third option, not so common because | 0:18:13 | 0:18:16 | |
it depended where you were, but it was to open it as a tourist site. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:22 | |
When tourists come in here, | 0:18:22 | 0:18:24 | |
what do you find strikes them most about Blenheim Palace? | 0:18:24 | 0:18:28 | |
Just the size, the sense of strength, the sense of importance. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:34 | |
It was built to symbolise the huge victory of the | 0:18:34 | 0:18:38 | |
first Duke of Marlborough at the Battle of Blenheim. | 0:18:38 | 0:18:40 | |
Winston was born here just about 30 yards from where we are. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:44 | |
The grandson of a Duke. He was very much inspired by the original victory | 0:18:44 | 0:18:49 | |
and by this building where he spent a lot of his early years. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:53 | |
He felt he was born as part of an historical continuum | 0:18:53 | 0:18:56 | |
going right back to the Battle of Blenheim, | 0:18:56 | 0:18:59 | |
right through this house and right into the future. | 0:18:59 | 0:19:01 | |
You were telling me, John, about you remembering massive cycling parties. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:10 | |
Yes, we used to call them road wheeler's in those days. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:14 | |
You'd find... It would possibly be too dangerous on our roads now, | 0:19:14 | 0:19:18 | |
but 50 or 100 or more going at a cracking pace would cycle | 0:19:18 | 0:19:22 | |
80 miles, 100 miles there and back on the same day, on a Sunday usually. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:26 | |
No helmets. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:28 | |
The bikes must have weighed a ton. It was a huge sport. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:32 | |
It was the beginning of leisure, I think, for the ordinary man. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:36 | |
It's strange how things have altered because now when you get behind a | 0:19:36 | 0:19:40 | |
couple of cyclists in your car struggling along you think, get out of the way. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:44 | |
But with these hundreds you were quite happy to saunter along behind them. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:48 | |
It was a happy and participating occasion, you know. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:53 | |
With their cheese sandwiches! | 0:19:53 | 0:19:55 | |
Social changes in post-war Britain | 0:19:58 | 0:20:00 | |
not only opened the doors of Blenheim, | 0:20:00 | 0:20:02 | |
they opened up the countryside | 0:20:02 | 0:20:03 | |
to people keen to explore what they'd fought to defend. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:06 | |
Many did it on two wheels. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:10 | |
During the late '40s a third of all the vehicle miles travelled | 0:20:10 | 0:20:14 | |
in Britain were completed by bike and membership of cycling touring clubs was at an all-time high. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:20 | |
Amongst them was Harold Briercliffe's cycling club, | 0:20:20 | 0:20:24 | |
the Hitchin Nomads. | 0:20:24 | 0:20:25 | |
Rene Stacey, now 92 years old, is the last surviving founder member. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:30 | |
On a club run in those days you would ride in groups of 6 or 8. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:37 | |
Two abreast and you'd have a car space of several yards. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:44 | |
The Captain would always be at the back with a policeman's whistle in his pocket. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:50 | |
When anybody had to get off to walk up hill, | 0:20:50 | 0:20:55 | |
that was 2 blasts on the whistle and you stopped. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:59 | |
You did as you were told. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:01 | |
If it was something more desperate and everybody had to stop | 0:21:01 | 0:21:07 | |
immediately, that was one blast, that was urgent. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:10 | |
It all worked, it was wonderful. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:13 | |
Today there are almost 30 million cars on Britain's roads, | 0:21:23 | 0:21:26 | |
but back in 1950, there were less than 2 million - | 0:21:26 | 0:21:30 | |
many of them made by this man, another William Morris. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:34 | |
His factory at Cowley near Oxford produced many of the great British | 0:21:34 | 0:21:38 | |
marques of the day, including the Morris Minor and Morris Oxford. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:42 | |
But he started out building a very different form of transport, | 0:21:42 | 0:21:46 | |
one celebrated by the Veteran Cycling Club. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
I'm particularly interested in a cycle owned by club member Percy Balson. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:56 | |
It's a 1909 William Morris who later became Lord Nuffield, of the cars. | 0:21:56 | 0:22:00 | |
He was almost the Henry Ford of Britain. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:04 | |
But bicycles were his first love? | 0:22:04 | 0:22:06 | |
-He was a cycling champion. -Was he? | 0:22:06 | 0:22:10 | |
-Yes. -Did you restore this bike? | 0:22:10 | 0:22:11 | |
Yes, it was completely rusty when I had it. There was no back mudguard. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
This was worn away, the pedals had had it. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:19 | |
I found a period lamp to go on the front. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:21 | |
I found a period bell. | 0:22:21 | 0:22:23 | |
It rides beautifully. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:25 | |
It's as light as anything. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:27 | |
It's on a fixed wheel. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:30 | |
Theoretically I can pedal backwards. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:32 | |
I wouldn't recommend it. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:34 | |
How much would you say it's worth now? | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
A very difficult question. There are only three in the world. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:41 | |
I don't know what to put on it. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:43 | |
It's priceless. It's literally priceless. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
You would never get another one. | 0:22:46 | 0:22:47 | |
The only way anyone is going to get this is if I'm 6 ft under! | 0:22:47 | 0:22:51 | |
Very graceful. | 0:22:57 | 0:22:58 | |
When Harold Briercliffe came to Oxford, the Nuffield Motor Works | 0:23:09 | 0:23:13 | |
was a cornerstone of the British car manufacturing industry. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:17 | |
Harold's cycle route took him past the main gates. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
'To the south east is the location of the huge Cowley works | 0:23:20 | 0:23:24 | |
'of the Nuffield Group' of vehicle makers.' | 0:23:24 | 0:23:27 | |
But soon crisis and decline would overtake Morris cars, | 0:23:27 | 0:23:31 | |
like so much of Britain's post-war industry. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:34 | |
Rebranded as British Leyland, | 0:23:34 | 0:23:37 | |
the business died but was re-born under BMW ownership in 2001. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:43 | |
The site now makes minis. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:46 | |
And the last surviving part of Morris's factory | 0:23:46 | 0:23:48 | |
can be found in a museum. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:50 | |
Still at work inside, veterans of the old assembly line, | 0:23:50 | 0:23:54 | |
keeping alive the vehicles and memories of the man. | 0:23:54 | 0:23:58 | |
Good afternoon. Hello. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:00 | |
This building you see was part of the old factory. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:05 | |
I worked there for a good number of years. | 0:24:05 | 0:24:08 | |
When they sold it off to BMW I asked if we could have a building. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:13 | |
They thought I was a bit doolally asking for a building. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:17 | |
But when they realised we were serious, we got this building. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:23 | |
Lord Nuffield as you probably know started off the car industry in Oxford. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:33 | |
As you see, he didn't only build motor cars. | 0:24:33 | 0:24:36 | |
During the war he built aircraft. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:38 | |
Where others couldn't he did. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:42 | |
He brought so much prosperity | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
to Oxford and the surrounding district. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:47 | |
He gave 25 million away which in today's money would be well.... | 0:24:47 | 0:24:55 | |
He had no family so he gave it all away. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:57 | |
It's a shame in a way now that this is the greatest monument to him. | 0:24:57 | 0:25:02 | |
This is all there is of him. The company is no more. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:06 | |
No, it's all gone. | 0:25:06 | 0:25:08 | |
Except this here. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:11 | |
We saved a little bit. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:12 | |
From the bus museum it's just a few miles road to reach my final destination, Oxford. | 0:25:14 | 0:25:21 | |
'The distant view of the city | 0:25:21 | 0:25:22 | |
'from any of the surrounding hills is a most pleasing one, | 0:25:22 | 0:25:26 | |
'largely because of the grouping of its towers and spires.' | 0:25:26 | 0:25:31 | |
More people cycle here than in any other place in Britain. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:35 | |
About 20,000 cycle commuters pedal into the city centre each day. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:40 | |
You know what's incredible, | 0:25:43 | 0:25:45 | |
this is Oxford and I've been coming here since I was 12. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:49 | |
I grew up 45 mins away. | 0:25:49 | 0:25:51 | |
But I've never seen it like this because I always came by car, | 0:25:51 | 0:25:54 | |
but if you come on a bike, you can get everywhere. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:58 | |
You don't have to worry about parking, you can stop when you like. | 0:25:58 | 0:26:01 | |
it's just perfect. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:02 | |
For any visitor Oxford's the distinction of Oxford is | 0:26:05 | 0:26:08 | |
its colleges and Harold was no exception. | 0:26:08 | 0:26:12 | |
Glimpsing their beauty through college gates from the road as he passed. | 0:26:12 | 0:26:18 | |
'The residential colleges are world-famous for their rich halls | 0:26:18 | 0:26:22 | |
'and chapels and for their green lawns. | 0:26:22 | 0:26:25 | |
'The most outstanding of the colleges are New, | 0:26:25 | 0:26:29 | |
'Merton, Christchurch, Magdalen and Oriel, | 0:26:29 | 0:26:33 | |
'mostly grouped close to the curving High Street | 0:26:33 | 0:26:36 | |
'which carries the main London Road from the River Cherwell | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
'at Magdalen Bridge to Carfax, the ancient centre of the city.' | 0:26:39 | 0:26:44 | |
Our national obsession for heritage tourism owes much to the work of both William Morrises, | 0:26:44 | 0:26:50 | |
the first for preserving historic buildings like these and the second | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
for enabling the family Sunday afternoon drive to enjoy them. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:58 | |
Yet the survival of Oxford's incredible architecture | 0:26:58 | 0:27:02 | |
even from the of the Blitz has a much more unlikely hero. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:05 | |
Oxford didn't have to do a big clean up operation after the second world war. It wasn't bombed. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:10 | |
It's said that's because Hitler wanted to make Oxford his seat | 0:27:10 | 0:27:15 | |
of power after he'd conquered the country. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
And that what's been so apparent on this journey - | 0:27:18 | 0:27:22 | |
that there are very different reasons why and how | 0:27:22 | 0:27:25 | |
the fabric of our past has been preserved or forgotten. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:28 | |
From tourist-dependent villages like Broadway where preservation clearly comes at a price, | 0:27:28 | 0:27:33 | |
to the wonderful medieval church at Burford, which helped inspire the conservation movement. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:39 | |
And in contrast the great palace at Blenheim, | 0:27:39 | 0:27:42 | |
whose open doors now symbolize the revolutionary changes | 0:27:42 | 0:27:46 | |
in society after the second world war. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:48 | |
And finally Oxford. | 0:27:48 | 0:27:50 | |
Busy, but still beautifully preserved | 0:27:50 | 0:27:52 | |
thanks to an unexpected saviour. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:55 | |
We've covered a lot of ground in every sense. | 0:27:55 | 0:27:58 | |
The other thing that's been strange about this journey is that | 0:28:00 | 0:28:03 | |
one name, two different people, but one name has stood out, | 0:28:03 | 0:28:06 | |
William Morris. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:07 | |
The pre-Raphaelite William Morris who made sure that these buildings | 0:28:07 | 0:28:11 | |
were preserved as they should be and the 20th Century William Morris | 0:28:11 | 0:28:15 | |
who developed the bicycle and then the motorbike and then the car and allowed us the freedom to travel. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:21 | |
And my final thought is I'm going to sleep very well tonight. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:25 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:50 | 0:28:53 |