Warwickshire A Taste of Britain

He's Brian Turner.

And she's Janet Street-Porter.

I'm passionate about walking.

These feet have taken me the length and breadth of Great Britain.

I've been privileged to cook all round the world,

but it's Britain that I love!

Fabulous produce, great ingredients right here on the doorstep.

We're joining forces to explore Britain's rich heritage.

And the landscape that's given us such wonderful produce.

He's in charge of the food.

And guess what, she's in charge of everything else!

-This is...

-A Taste Of Britain.

Today, we're in Shakespeare country,

as our culinary and cultural voyage of discovery brings us

to the wonderful county of Warwickshire.

Sitting right in the heart of Britain,

it's a region with a rich industrial and agricultural heritage

and blessed with glorious countryside,

quaint villages and grand castles.

There are also miles of canals and waterways to explore,

so I'll be steering the ship.

-You're looking at a master mariner!

-Toot, toot, toot, toot.

-Toot, toot!

While Brian does the work for a change!

It used to be donkeys that did this, didn't it?

We've got two carrots for you afterwards!

I'll be getting some well-earned refreshment at a local brewery.

-Cheers!

-Well, thank you.

While I'll be learning about some ancient weapons

that might come in handy today.

What you're looking at is Warwick Castle's very mighty trebuchet.

-I might use it to attack Brian!

-Yeah!

-Throw food at his head.

-I could throw food...

-Yeah, that's what you can throw.

-I'll keep that in mind.

Mm!

And after sampling our way round the county,

I'll be cooking up a celebratory taste of Warwickshire

fit for the bard himself.

Ta da!

Here we are in the middle of Warwickshire, South Warwickshire,

and it's bounded by seven counties, so we're completely landlocked.

The county kind of divides in to two halves.

In the north, it's industrial. We've got textiles, mining,

engineering and in the south, where we are now, look, how rural it is.

And Brian, the Chesterton Windmill, built in the 16th century

and was actually working till 1910.

It's an architectural tour de force.

In this part of the world, you've got some great food producers.

And the beauty is, cos it's central,

they can get wherever they want to get with all their produce.

But of course, we couldn't do A Taste Of Britain

without doing brewing.

Look, how you've really perked up!

Well, why not for goodness' sake?

And just down the road there's a brewer

that's got a sustainable ethos, which is fantastic. I love...

-And beer, and beer, and beer!

-Oh, yes!

And of course, beer. So, for me, what a great part of the world.

Well, you've whetted my appetite, let's get going!

There is no other way to go, is there? Let's have a beer, kid!

There's plenty of great food and drink to be had

in this part of the world and I can't think of a better way

to begin sampling a taste of Warwickshire than at a local brewery.

Operating in the disused barns of a working farm,

the Purity Brewery produces a range of award-winning beers.

You can't get more British than a traditional pint of ale.

But showing me around today is the company's head brewer,

who happens to be a Frenchman, Florian Vialan.

How does a Frenchman come to be brewing beer in the middle of...

in the heart of England?

I came to the UK for, erm, two main things.

Is rugby, which is my first passion, and brewing, which is my second one.

And I think English beer is the best thing on earth.

I certainly agree about the quality of British beer.

Florian and his team brew around 2.5 million pints of it every year.

And it all begins with a grain.

So, we start with a little bit of malt.

That will change a lot of the colour and also the taste.

-It will give some great coffee taste.

-Right.

-A little bit of crystal will get it bready, biscuity.

-OK.

And, erm, the wheat will also impact on the flavour, the mouthfeel

and the head retention of the beer.

OK, So, when you've mashed all that, what happens next?

Once it's all mixed up together, it looks like a bit of a soup...

-Yeah.

-Erm, porridge we call it.

What we need to do is to extract the liquid to the solids of the grain.

It's a bit like wine making in process, the balancing of...

I would disagree with that. I have done both.

I was making wine in Switzerland for few years

and brewing is a bit more technical.

In brewing, you need to play with four ingredients

week in, week out.

So, you need to basically brew the same beer consistently.

Whereas wine you get one shot in September

and that will be your wine for that year.

Then I bow to your expertise.

And now for the most important part of any visit to a brewery...

This is where the magic takes place.

..the tasting.

When you're tasting beer to pick out the flavours,

in wine you swill it round the glass, how do you do it with beer?

OK. First thing, give it a swirl, check for the condition of the beer.

-Mm-hm.

-If it's flat, it's never a good sign.

If you can see loads of little bubbles appearing,

that's a good sign.

Then you need to check for clarity.

-Yeah.

-Sometime you can have bits of yeast floating.

It's never a good thing neither.

Then the best part is the smell.

There are so many chemicals happening

between the beer and the foam and inside the glass.

That's loads of flavours.

-Then you smell. Kiwi, mango, pineapple.

-Yeah, exotic fruit.

-Exotic fruits.

-Exotic fruit, that's right OK.

The biggest difference with wine is with beer you need to swallow.

The bitterness only happens around your tongue

at the back of your throat.

-It goes really well with a nice dessert...

-Yeah.

-..a fruit tart or...

-Right.

-Cheers!

-Well, thank you.

Florian has laid on some more ales for me to sample

in the brewery bar to see if I can get an idea for a beer-based recipe.

Well, I can actually drink any of those

and I'm not a great big beer drinker.

What we're going to make is a batter, which is really...

The other flavour has got a bit of chilli in there

and there's a bit of lemon juice. What would be your thinking?

-My guess would be Mad Goose.

-Mad Goose?

Mad Goose brew with this American hops and erm, it's really zesty.

But you're the chef!

You're the expert brewer!

That's what we'll do.

With Florian's recommendation, I'm all set

to create a simple snack using his delicious ale.

But before Janet lets me cook, I have to pass her breathalyser test.

Breathe on me.

Ha-ha. It's not easy tasting beer er...

-Yeah, but you forced it down.

-I did. I did my best with it there.

-And we ended up tasting three beers...

-Yeah.

..and I came up with this beer here.

As we're going to make a beer batter with it.

And Mad Goose is named after a goose

that used to be the security around the old farmyard over there.

If I drink that, do I start honking a lot?

You might, you might.

So, what I'm going to do, I'm going to make some strips of chicken...

like goujon of fish.

I've got some chilli to go in there, bit of lemon juice

and a really crisp batter.

So, it's kind of Brian's nuggets!

Is it Brian's nuggets?

THEY LAUGH

-Right.

-Oh, deary me. OK, so, plain flour.

-A pinch of salt goes in there.

-Yeah.

And a pinch of bicarbonate of soda. That's just for a bit...

What does that do?

Well, it's just going to help to aerate it as is the cold beer.

It's about half a pint there.

I think the trick with making any batter is not to spill it!

Yeah, that's all right, just got out of that.

But how do you know the consistency?

Well, it's got to be sticking consistency

and it will look a little bit like one of your favourite items of food,

-double cream...

-Yeah.

-..by the time I've got there.

-Or paint, thick paint.

-OK, yeah, thick paint.

-That's a good analogy, is that.

-Yeah.

-That's obviously too thick.

-Yeah.

-So, I've got some cold, sparkling water.

So, you're putting these bubbles in it to make it really light?

We're helping it aerate itself.

Lovely, so that sits for a few minutes

and don't worry about any lumps in there cos we'll get the...

-God, I can smell the beer.

-Well, that's the whole idea.

It's pointless having beer there if you can't smell it, do you not think?

-Yep.

-And I'm going to make a little marinade now.

Lemon. So I squeeze it.

I'm going to put chilli flakes in there as well.

-Yeah.

-And a bit of chilli powder.

-Yep.

And we've got some chicken breasts here. Bone off...

-and skin off as well, OK?

-Yeah.

And then just cut these into thin strips,

so they'll quickly cook through and leave you wanting more.

I'm just putting a bit of salt in there.

Now, you don't need to marinade them too much.

And it starts to change the colour of the flesh...

-Oh, yeah.

-..if you're not careful.

What you're not wanting is lemon chicken.

You're making chilli chicken deep-fried in a beer batter.

The first thing I need now is to finish off the batter.

I'm going to put some eggs whites in there.

The trick is just to take the yolk out and not to burst the yolk

if you really want to get your whites to whip up.

And the idea is that we just want to get lots of air in here.

-OK. So, we've just got lots of air in there.

-Yeah.

-In it goes.

And just give it a whisk round.

-You can already see the bubbles in there.

-Yeah.

That's lovely. Now, bit of flour.

Now the trick is to put it into flour first and then in to batter

because the flour, hopefully, will help it stick.

Just be careful the flour doesn't go all over you, dear,

I don't want a laundry bill again!

Don't get too many in at a time

cos if you do they'll stick together.

And won't they bring the temperature down too much?

Well, they bring the temperature down as well, but they'll stick together.

We don't want that we want individual strips of chicken,

so make sure you get rid of the excess,

then just drop it in there. Now, I've not got a basket in here

cos I think they stick in a basket.

See what that did? It floats straightaway.

Look at that. That's lovely. And they are starting to colour.

And they're not sticking on the bottom, which is what I wanted.

And touch wood, at the moment, they're not sticking together either.

-The ones that I put in first, look how they're looking now.

-Yeah.

They're...they're coming on nicely.

Lovely beer coloured.

And now you can start to hear the chicken juices,

so we know that actually they're just about cooked now.

So, I'm going to turn that off.

Drain them on a bit of kitchen paper.

You know I've got a deep-fat fryer in my house I've never used.

-It doesn't, erm...

-Now, I'm going to try it.

-Have you got a cheese fondue machine as well?

-No!

I've got a built-in deep-fat fryer that has never been used.

I'm just going to sprinkle with a wee bit of salt.

And now I'm just going to do, is just pile them on to a plate here.

So, there you've got it.

Goujons of chicken. Chilli chicken in a beer batter.

-Mm.

-Nice, huh?

-Hm.

-Hot!

-A hint of chilli.

-Yeah, I can taste the chilli.

-A hint of lemon juice.

-Very good.

And that beer batter, lovely.

Well, I must get my deep-fat fryer working! Right.

The man who really made it work... Florian, come and see us.

-Hi.

-How are you doing?

-This is the man who brewed the beer,

-so that's wonderful. Have a taste, sir.

-Wow! Thank you.

See if you can taste the beer.

I could certainly smell it when he was cooking with it.

-It's not a big thing and you don't want it to overpower.

-No.

-..but it matches.

-This is really good.

And the great thing about these, I think,

you don't need a dipping sauce.

There are plenty of flavours there that make it work.

-It's brilliant. Thank you very much.

-Good man.

-My pleasure.

-I can't shake your hands, I'm still eating.

-That's fine. Enjoy.

Thank you.

From goujons to dungeons.

I want to start exploring Warwickshire's historical heritage

at one of Britain's best preserved castles.

Situated on the banks of the river Avon,

Warwick Castle was commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1068.

A thousand years later, it's now a world famous tourist attraction.

And guide, Aaron Manning, is showing me around.

-Welcome to Warwick Castle.

-Let's have a tour.

Now, we're in the middle of the battlements.

Erm, is that the oldest bit over there?

It certainly is, yes, but there has been a fortress at Warwick

for about 1,100 years now,

but indeed the oldest part of the castle is Norman.

So, in the 11th century,

William the Conqueror was going right through England

and he arrived in Warwick and thought,

"Terrific, I'll build a hill,

"so I can look out over all the surrounding countryside."

And then these battlements that we see around us

were they added after that? Because they're all in stone

and that building originally would have been wood, wouldn't it?

Yeah, certainly. It was rebuilt in stone in the 14th century

by the very powerful Earls of Warwick.

A lot of architectural historians believe that the castle here

doesn't really function as a castle, as a fortress.

It's very much a show piece.

This is about showing off the wealth and power.

And one of our owners, Richard Beauchamp,

was voted very recently as the 10th richest man in English history

and they say if he was alive today

his wealth would be equivalent to about £34 billion.

Warwick Castle's former owners weren't just incredibly wealthy,

they also held great power.

Even the monarchy had to fear them.

-They imprisoned a king here, didn't they?

-Yeah, they certainly did.

In Caesar's Tower, just behind you.

And it takes its name, Caesar, from the fact that the King himself,

Edward IV, was held prisoner here during The War of the Roses.

You know, it's such a powerful sign of how wealthy and strong

our Earls of Warwick were.

So, the area we're kind of coming through now

is one of the old guard stations of the castle.

If you imagine from the 14th century

right through until the 19th century,

this would have been a place for the guards of the castle

to kind of keep watch over not only the centre of the castle

to make sure no kind of elicit activity was going on inside,

but also over the ground as well.

If there were poachers, if there were invaders,

if there was anything going on outside the walls,

it would be from this point here

that the guards would be able to alert the Earl of Warwick.

-You can see for miles up here, can't you?

-You really can.

I mean, we can see as far as Oxford on clear days,

as far north as Coventry and Birmingham.

You get such a strategic view from up on these ramparts.

So, through here we'll have a view in the other direction.

If an invading army was to come from the south, which is this direction,

you'd be able to see them coming to attack you.

But later on, by the 18th century,

an army wasn't going to invade across the land anymore,

so the family decided to employ a pretty famous gardener

called Capability Brown to landscape all their gardens

and today this really gives us the great vantage point

to enjoy those wonderful thousands of acres that he designed.

That's the river flowing past the castle?

Yeah, so there, the River Avon is the strategic important reason

why Warwick is built where it is.

It divided the north and south of England.

And I can see a giant catapult down there.

What's that exactly?

What you're looking at is Warwick Castle's very mighty trebuchet.

They were used to attack and destroy castles.

And here in Warwick, we're very lucky because what you see

is the world's largest trebuchet and it's based on 14th century design.

-Very, very powerful.

-I might use it to attack Brian!

-Yeah!

-What do you put in it?

-Well, you could throw many things.

Originally, you would throw rocks,

you would throw rotting pigs, you know...

-I could...

-A prisoner's head.

-..throw food.

Yeah, you know what, if you want to throw food at Brian,

-then that's what you can throw!

-I'll keep that in mind!

One of the defining features of the Warwickshire landscape

is its many miles of canals and waterways

that weave their way through the county.

The Warwickshire Ring, a series of connecting canals

forming a circuit around the West Midlands,

played an integral part in the success

of the region's industrial past.

Narrow boat owners, Len and Anne Creswell,

have invited us on board to give us a taste of canal travel.

-Hello!

-Hello.

-Morning, Anne.

-Hello.

-Hello, Anne.

-Len.

-Yes, hello, nice to see you.

-Hi.

-Do you want to...

-Oh, thank you.

Argh! Brian?

Thank you, sir. I'll very happily take a hand here.

LEN LAUGHS

Right. Are you sitting comfortably?

Now Len, how long does it take you to go through all these locks?

From the bottom to the top,

we can do it in about three hours, 15 minutes.

Who does all the hard work?

-OK.

-Anne's raised her hand already!

I know it's to make sure I say the right thing!

Er, Anne does mo...all the locks.

-Anne does the locks?

-Does all the locks.

The lady does the locks. Are you listening to this?

-That's tradition.

-I agree with you, mate.

I would dread that as well that.

What does doing the lock involve?

Er, a windlass, or a lock key if you want to call it,

to open the gates and let the water through to fill the lock up.

Or if you're coming up, to empty the lock.

Do you need a lot of muscle power for that?

Well, Anne's got a lot of muscle power.

Yeah, you're looking particularly puny, Len,

like you're forte is giving orders. Right, Brian, that's your job.

Oh, no, just pass it round and when the music stops, whoever's got

it has got to do it, all right. Give it to her quickly.

-Can we just make it clear, you're the skipper, eh?

-Yeah.

-You listening?

-Oh, no, look, look...

-Oh, no.

-..I've got me hat.

I'm sorry, Brian, go and have a lesson from Anne.

Erm, I'm going to have to give you the lock keys, Brian.

-Lock keys, all right.

-Yep.

Right, we're off!

Hells teeth! Are you saying the women do this?

Get out of here! I've got a hernia!

-That goes on...?

-On there.

-..on that one. OK.

See my weight training's come in useful!

There's not a lot to do really is there, Janet, down there?

-Brian, don't put me off.

-Janet, you're doing great job! Janet.

Brian, I'm getting through the lock, I'm ignoring you.

-You're looking at a master mariner!

-Toot, toot, toot, toot.

-Toot, toot!

We're through the lock, but they haven't finished with me yet.

Steer it right for goodness' sake!

Cor blimey O'Reilly!

Brian, forward a bit so it doesn't go back there.

-Forward a bit?

-Forward!

-Give me de... Give me...

-Cor, blimey, chef.

-Come on, Brian!

What do you want me to do next, skipper?

Would you mind tying us up, please?

Certainly, come here and I'll get a piece of rope.

THEY LAUGH

It used to be donkeys that did this, didn't it?

We've got some carrots for you afterwards!

Heave!

-Right there you are.

-Yeah, brilliant.

-Well done, Brian.

Avast there, me hearties!

Brian, thank you so much.

SHE CACKLES

All that hard work has given me quite an appetite,

so it seems like a good time to find out more about this region's cuisine.

Based in the stately Mallory Court Hotel in Leamington Spa,

Chef Paul Foster tries to showcase the very best in seasonal flavours

at his restaurant, The Dining Room.

-Paul, how are you?

-Good.

-So, what are you going to cook for us today?

We've got some lovely local ingredients.

I'm going to do a pheasant egg dish,

which are bang in season at the moment

with some local asparagus from Kineton and mushroom ketchup.

OK, so what do you do first?

First of all, I'm going to make a lavash bread,

-which is like a nice, crisp bread with flaxseeds.

-Yeah.

It's like a bread dough but there's no yeast in it.

-Flour, water, butter and a little bit of milk in there as well.

-OK.

So, it's an ordinary plain flour, not a 00 flour.

-It's a strong flour.

-It is a strong flour? OK, right.

So, just take a small amount of the dough

-and just treat it exactly as you would pasta.

-Yeah.

We'll put it through a few times just to work up the gluten

-like you would with pasta.

-Yeah.

It's should be quite a sticky dough,

a little bit more sticky than you do with erm, with pasta.

Pheasant eggs are something that not a lot of people actually know about.

I have to say I've never really used them.

They're a lovely egg. They're really nice and rich

-and they've got a lovely delicate white on them as well.

-Yeah.

-And we're just going to fry it.

-Right.

I don't like to mess about with eggs too much.

They're so lovely, when you get a good egg.

OK. So, you've done that as thin as you need it.

Lovely and thin, so you can just see through it.

Cut it and then it just needs glazing with some egg yolk

-and then seasoning with some sea salt.

-Right.

And what you'll see when it's baked it puffs up

-with the little air bubbles in it, so it gives a...

-Oh, right.

..lovely, lovely texture.

-This is just a hen's egg. They're local as well.

-Yeah.

So, just brush it all over the top, so you get a lovely colour

and it gives an extra sort of crispness and smoothness

to the top as well.

-So, some linseed.

-OK, right, yeah.

Just for, again, more texture.

There's no salt in the dough cos I like to put sea salt on top,

so you get a hit of the salt when you eat it.

OK, so that's going to go straight in the oven.

-OK, so for the mushroom ketchup...

-Yeah.

..what we do we use these mushrooms.

They look a bit knackered, but we slice them

and leave them in the fridge for two days to oxidise.

And that intensifies the umami flavour.

So, what we're going to do,

I'm going to blend it with some soy sauce and make a liquid.

And then I'm going to hang it overnight

-and you get this lovely mushroomy, soy juice.

-Oh, right.

And then we set that juice in to a nice puree.

So, you get this like ketchup on the plate with loads of rich flavour.

-OK.

-So, next I'm just going to prep some asparagus.

Beautiful Kineton asparagus, which is from, I think,

it's about four miles away from us and they pick it exactly as we need.

And it's in season from then for about six to eight weeks.

So, all we're going to do for the asparagus

is just take these little tips off.

They just get in the way a bit, really.

Then you just get rid of some of the skin as well.

So, you get a much more delicate piece of asparagus.

-They're delicate.

-And you have to be gentle with those, don't you,

otherwise you snap the thing.

You do or you'll take a big chunk out of it.

It does look really pretty and nice, doesn't it, I have to say.

It looks like you've made the effort, doesn't it?

-Nice and elegant. Yeah.

-It does, absolutely, yeah.

So, the mushrooms, I've got some little Shimeji mushrooms.

They're lovely and delicate and, again, they're nice raw.

I've got a ready-made pickle liquor

which is just vinegar, sugar and water.

Yeah, as you know, mushrooms are so absorbent.

That's going to suck all that up

and it's just going to take that rawness off them.

-Right. So, next job?

-So, next job is bringing it together, really.

-Here's this lovely flat bread.

-Lovely.

And you can see the little bubbles I spoke about earlier.

It's a great colour.

A nice sort of richness to it as well with that egg.

So, all I'll do is I'll just snap it in to pieces.

I'll just let it cool, which will take a few minutes,

-but that's ready for the dish.

-Yeah.

-Right. So, now I'm going to start the eggs and the asparagus.

-Right.

Eggs, I like to do them quite slowly,

-so a couple of minutes even for a small egg like that.

-Yeah.

-So, are you going to cook it in oil or butter?

-Butter.

-Butter, good lad.

-Only way to cook an egg.

I'm liking this!

The shell's so delicate.

-If you try and crack it like a normal egg...

-You'll smash it.

Yeah, you'll smash it and the yolk will break.

So, just nice and gently.

-This has got quite a big yolk for...

-It has really, yeah.

So, it will take about two minutes to cook.

I'm going to take some of the ends of the asparagus

-that are still tender...

-Yeah.

-..just slice them very thin.

It's a lovely vegetable, isn't it?

That perfect little round there.

It's so pretty, that lovely green colour.

Let that sit just for a couple of minutes in the salt,

-which will help break it down.

-Yeah.

So, the egg isn't far off.

And the asparagus straight in.

Obviously, we want to cook it really fast.

-Yeah.

-No such thing as slow-cooking asparagus, is there?

It's fast, it's fresh. You keep it sweet and green.

-And it keeps that colour. Yeah.

-Exactly.

So, the mushroom ketchup I showed you earlier,

-this is the finished product.

-Right, yeah.

If you want to have a little taste.

It's a really intense, but silky...

And cos it's so powerful just spread it about on the plate.

You don't want a big mouthful of it.

It's just that seasoning and that extra moisture.

-Really mushroomy, isn't it?

-That's lovely that is, yeah.

Then on the plate, we've got the raw asparagus.

OK, so some radish, again, which are grown in our garden.

I do love these breakfast radishes.

They look lovely, but they taste great.

Pickled mushrooms. A lot of richness to this dish.

That pickled element will just cut through the yolk

and through the mushroom ketchup. And then the bread.

Snap it in to some shards.

So, the egg's about ready.

-You can see the white's really soft.

-Yeah, yeah.

It's not a rubbery white.

Get some of the flowers on the plate.

-And the beauty is it changes with the season.

-Exactly.

Just drain off the egg.

And a little more seasoning just on the yolk.

And now the asparagus.

So, just, again, just a way, so we get it all on the plate.

And then the last ingredient, cured egg yolk.

-Cured egg yolk?

-Yeah.

So, what we do, it looks like a dried apricot and it's really hard.

-Yeah, yeah.

-We salt it for 12 hours and then dehydrate it.

So, what you get is this really intense egg yolk.

To get that extra creaminess in the dish just grate it over.

Amazing.

And, so this is our local asparagus with pheasant egg,

crisp bread and mushroom ketchup.

Chef, that looks fantastic.

Thanks very much.

I'm really impressed. However...

-I'm not the judge here.

-No, no!

Let's see what our lady thinks, shall we?

All right, I hope she likes it.

Paul's dish certainly is culinary art on a plate.

But how would it rate under the scrutiny

of one of the country's most discerning food critics?

-Hi, there.

-Hi, Janet.

So, this is a local dish for you.

We've got a pheasant egg, asparagus with a mushroom ketchup

and crisp bread. I hope you enjoy it.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

-Thanks, Chef.

Right, now, tell us what you think.

Usually, I'm one of those people that the picture on the plate

Well, it's lovely.

I don't know quite where to start.

Start at the very beginning.

-I'm going to start...

-It's a very good place to start.

-Do you know what, Brian?

-Yes, dear?

You're such a cliche.

HE LAUGHS SILENTLY

Mm, that egg's well cooked. It's perfectly cooked.

How do... Do I put all this lovely, little arrangement in the egg yolk?

I think that's what I would do, yes.

Right.

-And this here...

-Hm.

-Just try that.

Well, it's a real... It's something that's been reduced

and reduced and reduced.

It's mushrooms and soy sauce.

Oh, yeah, I can taste the soy sauce.

-Just blitzed toge... You can, can't you. Yeah.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And it's good seasoning for the rest of the plate.

So, it's kind of very healthy, light food,

but it's got a lot of ideas in it.

Well, it's delicious.

Now, we've eaten,

it's time to explore more of the region's history,

and as we're in Shakespeare country,

I want to take Brian for a stroll around Henley-in-Arden,

an ancient market town Shakespeare referenced in his play,

Love's Labour's Lost.

So, here we are in Henley-in-Arden,

which is in the middle of the Arden Forest

and in the 12th century, it was an absolutely thriving market town.

And there are 150 buildings on this one stretch of road,

I think within a mile or so

that are rated as being of historical interest.

-Look, there's an old street sign over there.

-Oh, right, yeah.

-"From London, 102."

-Yeah.

And a lot of these houses that are now private homes

were in fact pubs.

It was lined with pubs.

And some of the pubs date from the 15th century.

So look that says, "The Old White Horse,"

so it was obviously a pub once, although it looks like a house now.

Yeah, yeah.

After all this walking, I think we've earned ourselves a rest.

We've hardly started, Brian!

Let me guess, you've spotted the town's famous ice cream parlour.

-Good morning, what can I get for you?

-Hiya.

How many flavours have you got here?

Erm, approximately 56.

And do you change them from week on week?

-Erm, through the seasons. So, we'll have winter flavours...

-Right.

..like Baileys ice cream, Christmas pudding ice cream,

and then as we come in to the spring, we'll come with the cherries

and then we come in to tropical and then we'll go back

into the in to the winter and autumn, yeah.

So, how long has this been an ice-cream parlour?

Since 1934. So, this year is our 80th birthday.

So, when they opened the parlour, what was the effect on the town?

Well, I wasn't here then, of course...

-No, I'm not suggesting you were.

-..not long after, but I wasn't here!

-I'm not suggesting you were, but...

-Behave yourself, Street-Porter.

-It used to stop the traffic, so...

-Stopped the traffic?

..one of the workers, one of the production workers

used to go out in to the high street and control the traffic,

so people could come in and buy their ice creams

and the traffic kept flowing.

We're definitely going to have an ice cream.

I'm going to have honeycomb. I love it.

I'm going to have vanilla, Cindy.

Oh, look at that, you got two blobs on there.

-Lovely, thank you.

-Eat and enjoy.

Well, erm, if you see the lady, she'll sort out the cash.

Shall we go for a walk?

Shall we go for a walk, dear?

-Hm. It's delicious. Thank you.

-Thank you. It's proper ice cream!

Fabulous!

So, look at that church. 12th century.

And the Guildhall, it's Elizabethan

with all the original brick work, fantastic timbers.

How it's not shaken down by all these lorries

-and buses going past, I don't know!

-No, quite.

So, look, here's The White Swan,

which is a 16th century coaching inn and you can see all the stables.

What would have been the stables and lodgings out the back.

Well, look at this.

It's rather sad, isn't it?

It's a bit truncated. It's the remains of the old market cross.

I think it dates from the 15th century.

Oh, right. So, is that...that's not all of it, then? They've lost a bit.

It's missing the cross, Brian.

SHE LAUGHS

History is not really your strong point, is it, Brian?

Best stick to the food.

Good idea! And talking of food,

I'm still on the hunt for a main ingredient for our celebratory dish.

Warwickshire has a long tradition of sheep farming,

so we've come to meet Stephen Fletcher.

-Hi.

-Hi. We're just about to get the sheep in for milking now.

A fifth-generation milk producer,

who's turned his hand to cheese-making.

So, how many sheep have you got here?

Erm, well, altogether we're approaching 1,000 milking sheep.

-They're on their way. Look, here they come.

-Here they come.

-Yeah.

Well, look at that, they're really keen to get in, aren't they?

They're fairly docile, are they not?

They are and that's one of the reasons

why they lend themselves to milking.

I only ever hear the milking parlour on The Archers!

And... I know you're laughing.

-I've never been in a sheep milking parlour.

-Right.

So, can we have a look? I won't put them off, will I?

No, you won't put them off, no.

So, the first thing we do is we wash the teats.

Right. Then the next step is the important bit.

OK, that's putting the clusters on.

So, bring that down, you can now here it sucking.

That's the squeeze and relax motion.

-It actually pours the milk out.

-Yeah.

So then, pull it into view.

OK?

-You've missed.

-Have I missed?

-Yeah.

There you are you've got it now.

-That's it. Then if you look in here...

-Yeah. Milk's coming out.

..you'll see the milk coming out.

OK and then it goes up, then comes into the jar.

So, Brian, do you want to have a go?

OK let me switch it on for you.

That's it.

That one wants to go on that side.

-Oh, right. I didn't realise there was a...

-That's it.

Come on, me darling, let's just do this properly, huh?

-Which way is...

-Yeah, that, well, there's a pair of them,

so the left-hand one goes on the left-hand teat.

Come on, Brian. You're not doing as well as I did!

I'm doing a damn site better than you did, lass, eh!

-No, no.

-That's it, she's on.

Come on, fill up.

So, how much does each sheep produce in a milking like this?

In the afternoon, we're looking at each ewe giving

about three quarters of a litre,

and in the mornings, we're looking at about a litre and a half.

-There or thereabouts.

-That's a lot, isn't it?

-It's a fair bit.

For their body weight, they actually do produce quite a lot of milk.

To make his award-winning cheese,

Stephen pumps the milk into vats to begin the souring process,

where an enzyme is added to thicken the mixture.

It's then broken into small pieces to release the whey

and moulded into containers.

Once matured, all that's left to do is to taste it.

So, here we go. Berkswell cheese.

-How long does it take to get to that stage?

-Minimum of 90 days,

but ideally between four, four and a half months

is when we feel it's at its best.

Now, the first thing I notice about it is how pale and creamy it looks.

As it ages a bit more, it will sort of darken

and just slightly dry out just a little bit as well.

It would go really well with fruit.

-What I like about it is it doesn't scream sheep's milk at you...

-No.

..but it's got a lovely maturity and bags of character about it.

It's got big flavours, it's lovely.

Now, I have to cook a celebration dish

and I really think that that would work, for me.

In the meantime...

I'm going to have another piece!

Don't eat it all yet, Brian, because I've invited some hungry locals

to the beautiful grounds of Mallory Court to give us their verdict

on our celebratory taste of Warwickshire.

What a glorious day again, this is fantastic!

Look all our friends are here. Paul the chef,

Stephen the cheese creator of his Berkswell cheese,

-the boat people...

-Barge people.

-No!

-Narrow boat people, yeah, you got it wrong, huh?

Fantastic to see you all. Thank you very much.

What I'm going to cook is really quite a simple dish.

It's sort of a leftover dish cos I'm good at that,

using this wonderful Berkswell cheese.

-And it's a mixture of Welsh rarebit...

-Yeah.

-..cheese on toast...

-Yeah.

-..croque-monsieur...

-Yeah.

..and I've called it a Berkswell cheese toastie pudding.

Right, that's covering all bases!

You've got it! So, first job is we've got to make the sandwich.

Now, this is toasted bread. Only on one side. So...

Does it have to white bread? Can I ask...

It does not have to be white. It can be any colour bread you like.

-All right, OK.

-So, the first thing we do

is put on one side local mustard.

And, once again, as much or as little as you like.

I quite like mustard and this is really good, great texture.

So, that goes on there.

A nice slice of local ham goes on top.

And then this is local butter.

-Delicious.

-This is like a very blokey sandwich.

Well, this is the kind of thing you find in a men's club...

-Exactly!

-A gentlemen's club, we've got a gentlemen's club!

I know why white bread never passes my lips,

so this is a bit of a first for me!

I've toasted it so it's brown, so you're all right.

-Oh, yeah, that's the right answer.

-Thank you very much.

Keep it going, keep it going, keep it going, right.

OK, so you make a sandwich.

Now, all I want is this little bit in the middle.

So, look, I've got those ready to go there. So, that's quite simple.

So, it's a ham sandwich with a bit of mustard on here.

Right, over here, it's double cream...

And I want to reduce it, so it starts to thicken up.

-So, this is a single portion, quite lady-like.

-Yeah.

And this is possibly, without being sexist, a double portion.

That is sexist, that's a Yorkshire portion.

I said a do... A Yorkshire...

You're quite right, it is a Yorkshire portion.

And look, I helped to make this ale earlier.

This is optional, cos you'd find it in a Welsh rarebit, a bit of ale.

-So, I'm just going to put a little bit...

-What does that do?

-It just sor... It's flavour.

-Right.

Just gives it that little bit of... umph.

-OK, so look.

-Yep.

The cream has now boiled. Take it off the heat,

cos if you leave it on the heat it just doesn't help it

and it gets too thick.

-All you do now is quickly, a little bit of mustard...

-Yeah.

-..some of this Worcestershire sauce...

-Yeah.

A little bit of pepper.

-And I've got some cheese in here.

-Handful.

-Most of it...

No, no, I'm going to keep some of it out just to go out on the top.

-That's lovely.

-Yeah.

It's looking good there. And here I want two egg yolks.

So, we'll separate the yolks and the whites.

Whites go in there.

Yolks go in here.

-That's...

-Kind of like eggy custard.

It is a bit like it. But this is how the original Welsh rarebit was made

and you just poured it over the top, which I'm going to do

and then put it into an oven,

about 180 degrees, for about 15, 20 minutes.

This'd make a great brasserie dish, chef, over there, eh?

-Oh, thanks for the tip, it'll be on staff food tonight!

-Yeah.

So, just pile it on top there. Don't go mad. And that's it.

-So, I'm just going to go and stick that in the oven...

-All right.

-..and I'll be back.

-OK.

There you are. 15 minutes later.

Oh, that's the start. I haven't finished yet.

-But thank you very much.

-Yeah.

-How kind. Right.

I'm just going to pinch some of this salad down the front here.

-Do you know what these are, Chef?

-Yeah, yeah, we got some...

-Basil over here.

-Basil, purple basil.

-You've got some coriander there. Yeah.

-Coriander, yes, Chef.

-That's nice choi leaves there as well.

-Choi leaves here, yeah?

-Yeah.

They are so pretty and so tasty. Excellent.

In lots of places, you'd just serve it exactly as it is.

But I just think it's a really nice touch

as we've got these little bits of herbs and salad leaves so that can...

-Ah, Brian!

-You see you didn't realise I had another side to me,

-did you?

-What, an artistic side?

Oh, no, not that! SHE LAUGHS

-And then we just want a little bit of oil on top.

-Lovely.

And there you have it, my dear, Berkswell cheese toastie pudding.

Ta da!

Now, what's the correct way to eat this?

In a slice, in a wedge or in a great...

It's in a wedge I think, yeah.

Oh, it's great the way the ham's in the middle.

Mm. Tell you what, that mustard's got a kick in it!

Never mind about the blessed mustard what about the cheese?

-It's delicious!

-Have a taste, Steve, eh?

-Thank you very much.

-It's your cheese.

-Very good.

-Cheers. Thank you.

-That is...

-It's a...it's a big piece!

That's a ladies size!

That's excellent.

The beer comes through as well.

I would not have thought of that.

-So, shall we give everybody else a taste?

-Yep.

OK, come on up!

All right, OK.

-Esme likes it.

-She loves it. Yeah, shove it in.

Well, you're a hit with the under fives...

Some more.

-Empty plates, I think I know what that means.

-Of course.

Is it something you'll be doing on the boat?

-Sounds like a good idea.

-I might do, yes!

-Yes, yeah.

It was your cheese. Well done.

I thought that was lovely, it worked well as a dish.

Empty plate, it was absolutely superb, thank you.

-The nice is it's so simple...

-Yeah.

-..and it's so, so tasty...

What about adding the beer?

For the beer, but you were right with the mustard.

the mustard comes through as well. Yes, it's really nice.

Well, I've loved Warwickshire. It's the geographical centre of England

and you feel like it's the beating heart of England

and we've seen so much in such a short time.

I mean, Warwick Castle, I thought was extraordinary.

It's just like a film set.

What about the windmill? Chesterton Windmill?

Have you ever seen another windmill like that?

And then, of course, I don't want to rub your nose in it

but, the locks, Hatton Locks,

and my prowess as, I think it's called a helmswoman?

I think you're right. It's been a wonderful place to visit.

That Berkswell cheese was lovely, and that farm

-and the, milking the sheep?

-Ahh!

Not something I'm going to do again!

Hang on. Here at Mallory Court they've been so kind to us

and cooks well that lad as well.

But actually we mustn't forget the other thing must we...

-The brewery!

-The brewery! I can say...

Funny how you come back to the brewery!

I thought it was lovely.

But it just goes to prove,

cos I think we got it right, my Berkswell toastie, cheesy, pudding...

-Yes.

-..is just definitely a taste of Warwickshire