Episode 5 Britain's Heritage Heroes

We're travelling across the UK on a mission.

All over the country, our heritage is at risk.

Ancient buildings and monuments are under threat of demolition.

Valuable arts and crafts are on the brink of extinction

and our rich industrial heritage is disappearing fast.

We're scouring town and country, in search of the nation's unsung heroes

determined not to let our heritage become a thing of the past.

Today, I get pointed in the right direction

at one of the last fingerpost works in the country.

And we get a glimpse of the grandeur soon to be reinstated in the heart of Buxton.

Ha-ha! Ooh!

On this journey, we're uncovering

the hidden treasures of our country,

treasures that are certainly worth fighting for.

And meeting heritage heroes saving Britain at risk.

So here we are, Jules,

on the final leg of our journey

down and around the Pennines.

I have to say, John,

it's really flown by, hasn't it?

We've been through several maps, lots of bags of sweets,

lots of flasks of tea,

and today, as you say, the last bit of this particular leg,

starting in the Peak District and heading down towards Worksop area.

This week's trail started in Northumberland,

in the north Pennines.

We then headed south,

through the towns and villages of Yorkshire and Lancashire,

and we end in the beautiful county of Derbyshire.

Using the Pennines as a rough guide,

we are meeting the heritage heroes

working hard behind the scenes

to keep their county's history intact,

but our first task is to find them.

Well, here we are, another roundabout, Jules.

Another load of signs, John, so many signs where, frankly,

they just don't need to be.

Yeah, they do spoil the countryside, don't they?

-I think they really do, they litter the verges. So much of this stuff is absolutely unnecessary.

-Yeah.

The ones I don't mind are the really useful ones that tell you where,

-say footpaths are, or country boundaries are, or rivers are.

-Yes.

Those are great because you learn something about the landscape.

In the mid-1700s, fingerposts helped stagecoaches keep to a timetable.

By the 20th century, both the AA and the RAC

were using signs to inform motorists of destinations and distances.

But by the 1960s, they were being replaced with new standardised signs.

Today, English Heritage believes traditional fingerposts

are as important as the environment in which they sit,

and a company near Buxton is working with them

to put fingerposts back on the map.

Here's a fingerpost leading me to a firm that's one of the few remaining ones

still making good old-fashioned fingerposts.

-Hello.

-Hello.

And here are some fingerposts almost ready to be put up,

by the look of it.

-You must be Ted?

-I am.

What's the demand for these these days?

It's still steady. Not everybody wants plastic,

not everybody wants stainless steel.

A lot of people like signs to be in traditional forms.

What metal are they made from these days?

It's an aluminium and silicone alloy.

The silicone gives it its strength, basically.

Can you show me how this whole thing works?

Yeah, we'll go right through it, stage by stage,

because this is the finishing stage.

-So if you want to come through, we'll go and have a...

-Right.

The first part of the process is to carefully place the letters onto a board.

This creates the relief, from which a mould is then made.

Not easy, is it?

I need to glue it first.

Oh, you'd glue it first, yeah.

We're on now to the second stage of the process,

-and I've got a rather larger board here which I'm going to hand over to Steve in the foundry.

-Thank you.

What happens now then, Steve?

We put this, basically, in the box

and then we take this... what we call parting powder,

and just gently shake it on

to stop the sand adhering to the board.

Then, start the sand flowing...

..gradually take the box up and down.

'The sand mixture is then poured in to either side of the mould.'

-It's a bit wet, isn't it, the sand?

-Yes.

-It's the acid and resin that's in it that forms it to go hard.

-Right.

Then, you just level the sand up to the top, like that.

-Yeah. Nice feeling through your fingers, isn't it?

-It is, yes.

-You get paid for doing this, Steve!

-Oh, yeah.

Not enough though, John, not enough.

-This is the strickle that you just...

-The strickle?

That's a lovely word, isn't it? What do we do with this?

-You just tamp it down.

-What, like that?

-All the way up. Yeah.

-Has that got to be OK?

-Have you done this before?

-No.

You have, haven't you?

Then gradually, you take it off the top.

It's marked on the box.

A hole is then made

so that the liquid metal

can be poured into the mould.

Once set, both sides of the mould are put together.

-Take this back, and if you...

-Goodness me, look at that.

Gradually slide it down...

Aluminium bars are then melted down,

before being poured into the mould.

-There you go.

-And another one?

And another one. That's it.

-That's pretty hot.

-That is pretty hot, that is 800 degrees.

How do you get that red hot liquid aluminium onto the mould there?

Well, we use what we call a spoon, which...

Some spoon, that.

A big spoon, yeah.

-It looks beautiful, it's a lovely colour, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Then we take it over here.

That must be heavy.

Oh, it is heavy.

Make sure you don't spill any.

Oh, you've created a little funnel to pour it down into the hole.

Then gradually, you pour it in.

Fine eye for this.

'Once the molten metal has cooled and set,

'the two halves of the sand mould

'are broken away to reveal a fingerpost.'

There we go, there's the...

-Oh, yeah.

-That's the finished...

-That is it.

'It will then go on to be primed and painted by hand.'

-This is going, I think, to Oswestry?

-Oswestry, yes.

So whenever I am in Oswestry, I will look for that sign and say,

"I saw that being made."

Our heritage trail is now taking us out into the Derbyshire countryside

to learn about a skill that is used all over the UK.

You know, the countryside wouldn't be the same, would it, Jules,

without dry stone walls?

I love them, I think they're a fantastic, and very ancient, practical solution

to keeping your stock where you want it to be.

They now, of course, form this lovely grid over the landscape,

creating these patchwork patterns all over the place.

They are almost like the sewing in the patchwork, aren't they?

-Yeah, the stitches.

-The stitches.

They're lovely, but it's quite an art.

The old boys in Wales, where I live, they've always said to me,

"Look, when you're walling, you have to be just completely decisive.

-"Once you've picked up a stone, put it in, make it fit."

-Yeah.

The craft of dry stone walling has been used in Britain

since the Neolithic period.

Used to create boundaries, keep livestock in and defend land,

they've shaped the look of our landscape.

But nearly 40% of the 70,000 miles of walls in England alone

are lying derelict.

Having already earned himself a reputation

as one of the top wallers around,

Matty Greenan has been working with his best friend Josh for the last two-and-a-half years.

I fell in love with walling the first day I went.

I remember I stood there and they gave a demonstration.

We were sat in a classroom reading about it, then we went out

and did some walling and I fell in love with it straightaway.

We've had to take this piece down

because this old tree has pushed it,

the roots have come underneath the wall,

pushed the foundations, basically.

So it has pushed it over.

The landowner's asked us to re-gap it, basically.

So we're just going to put our foundations in,

but move them further out,

so there's a curve round the tree,

so it gives it a little bit more growth, but it doesn't affect the rest of the wall.

There's a rule when you first start walling, they tell you at college,

that if you pick a stone up, you've got to put it in the wall.

You soon come to learn the trick they want you to learn -

you always pick the right stone up in the first place.

If you think about taking four metres of wall down and rebuilding four metres,

you're basically shifting eight ton of stone a day.

When you get home, you're tired already,

so you don't want to make more work for yourself.

If you pick the right stone up in the first place, it saves you a lot of time,

instead of picking the stone up, trying it, putting it down.

Mattie is determined to pass on his skills to someone who is keen to learn them.

Obviously, he's my best mate and I want someone who I can work with

and get along with, someone I can trust.

I always think you work better if you're just having a laugh and joke

and a bit of singing together and stuff at work.

You work better, like, a happy mood.

So I had a word with Josh, Josh said he would do it

and we've been working together ever since.

It's nice to take someone on who's willing to learn

and do something with me.

Just putting it back into it, so it's not just me knowing it, it's someone else.

Then Josh can show someone else and I can show someone else.

I think it is a big part, to make sure that the walls are kept up.

When you look out of your bedroom window, you see walls.

Well, I do, out of my bedroom window, and I have all my life.

So I think it's a big part of the countryside and it should be kept.

I think we've always been outdoor people, haven't we?

Even when we were younger, we were always out,

always doing something, whether it would be treehouses, or...

There's not much to do, you find your own entertainment, which is good.

When you're a kid, you don't think it's good when everyone is going swimming and ice-skating,

cinema, we've got find our own entertainment,

but it's better now, later in life,

because you learnt to use your imagination a bit more,

and build things, stuff like that.

-Couldn't put it better myself.

-No, I know.

We're making our way through the beautiful Derbyshire countryside

to one of the highest towns in England.

Well, the big question, Jules, now,

where are we going to stay tonight?

-I think Buxton.

-Yeah, the heart of

the Peak District, good idea.

It's THE town in the Peak District,

and absolutely beautiful.

Lots of hotels there.

Nice old spa town, full of some lovely old Victorian beauties.

So we should have plenty of choice in there.

Any particular hotel that you can think of?

There is one, yeah, there is one I would definitely recommend a look at.

Is it in the budget?

Not really. You'll see why when we get there.

How much would it cost us to stay there tonight, then?

30 million-plus.

-Really?!

-Yeah.

It will all make sense when we get there, John.

This is just lovely, isn't it, John, the way it opens up?

Look at this, can you see on the left?

This is where we're heading.

In around 70 AD,

the Romans discovered Buxton's underground thermal springs.

Over the centuries that followed,

the town became a place of pilgrimage, as people flocked there to take the waters,

which were thought to have healing powers.

In the 18th century, the fifth Duke of Devonshire built The Crescent,

to rival the famous one in the spa town of Bath,

offering the gentry a fine place to stay and relax.

Sadly, its popularity dwindled

and in the '70s, it was bought by the local council.

The Crescent really was the forerunner of the modern luxury hotel as we know it.

Thankfully, plans have been developed to renovate The Crescent

and spa as a hotel, with public access to the thermal baths.

And while they are waiting,

the locals can still enjoy the free water.

Well, this must be the famous Buxton water.

"A well of living waters," it says.

-Join the queue, shall we?

-Hello, sir, how are you?

-Hello, there.

-Clearly a connoisseur, is it any good?

-It is, it's very nice, yes.

Go on, John.

It must be, how many bottles are you going to fill?!

-Do you do this every day?

-Not every day, no.

-Do you empty the gin first?

-Yes.

I see you are using gin bottles, what happened to all the gin?

Oh, well, you know!

-I'm going to try it.

-Let's have a go.

-This is Buxton water without a label on it.

-Yes.

-Do you come down here quite regularly?

-About once a month.

-Something like that.

-It's warm.

-Yes, it is.

-It is.

Very warm, why is that?

Well, it's straight out of the spring, I suppose,

it's not had anything done to it, has it?

-Volcanic activity, John.

-Yes.

-Very nice.

-The baths.

-The mineral baths.

That's where people used to take the plunge, presumably. Angela, hello.

'Local resident Angela

'has fond memories of The Crescent's thermal baths.'

You used to go for a plunge in there?

I did, indeed, yes.

As a child, my friend and I, we learnt to swim there in these baths.

There was actually three pools

and the middle pool was a really spooky pool,

and when we felt very brave, we'd go into that.

Why was it spooky?

It was spooky because it was very dark, very deep, very cold,

and that's why nobody ever wanted to go in it.

As I say, when we felt brave, we used to go in there.

What about the other one?

The other one was like the big family pool,

that's where most people actually went to swim.

Was this really the centre of town activity,

social activity, did everybody come and use this?

Yes, well, this was the main pool of Buxton before they built the new swimming pool

in the Pavilion Gardens.

So this was really like

Buxton's Mecca here, where everything happened.

'Despite it being run down, many original 18th-century features remain

'and soon, work will be under way to return them to full working order.

'The public here in Buxton

'have been desperate to see The Crescent and its baths restored.'

This is called the plunge pool...

'Local councillor Richard Tuffrey has been heavily involved in fundraising

'to have The Crescent reinstated as a luxury spa, for the people of Buxton and beyond.'

-Oh, crikey.

-How about that?

-Wow.

I wasn't expecting that, I have to say.

This is the original main pool, is it?

Well, the water comes out of the ground,

it then goes into the gentlemen's first-class pool.

-Can I walk down there?

-You can.

From there, it goes into the gentlemen's second-class pool,

and then it goes into the ladies' pool.

-It's the way the Victorians managed things.

-Is this the ladies' pool?

This is the ladies' pool. But, as you can see, they've got by far the best space.

Come on, it's not a great picture, is it, really?

-It's been here a long time.

-That's lovely, isn't it?

That's a wonderful feature to have above it, this natural light.

That's right. And this window above us will be raised up a level,

so there will be an extra floor where people can look on a gallery and look down into people swimming.

Oh, I see, so like a balcony, effectively?

-Yeah.

-Brilliant.

-Let me show you some of the other parts.

-Yeah, do.

Now, this is the gentlemen's second-class pool.

Ah, into the boys' room.

Into the boys' room, yeah.

I think some people used to know this as the darkroom,

or the spook room.

People were still swimming in this until 1972.

The lady we met outside, Angela,

who remembers coming in here as a teenage girl, she called this the spooky pool.

That's the one.

You can see why, there's absolutely no light in here, is there?

-Absolutely.

-When are you hoping, you know, to turn this around by?

This is a massive project, what are the kind of figures and timescales?

It's a £35 million project

and it's going to take something in the order of two years to complete.

So we are all hoping that it will be finished by 2014.

I've known this building for years, in this condition and in this state,

and to see this all fully repaired and refurbished and back in use,

it will be just fantastic.

I think the whole town is going to be queuing around the block.

I think you're right, yes.

This multi-million pound project won't just see the baths restored,

but the entire building.

It's time to have a look inside.

It's lovely, isn't it, this?

You get a real sense of the scale of these rooms, but also,

the kind of work that has got to be done, look at the ceiling.

-Yeah. That '60s chandelier is going to have to go, isn't it?

-Yes.

These wall lights and this awful wallpaper.

It's all an interior designer's dream, this, isn't it?

Oh, so many original features to play with.

That wonderful arched door, I wonder what's behind that?

-Beautiful door, John, isn't it?

-Isn't it?

-Look at that.

-Ha-ha! Ooh! Oh, come on!

-This must be the ballroom.

-This is fabulous, isn't it?

-Yeah.

And still in quite beautiful condition up there.

-Look at the floor, John, imagine how many feet have skipped the light fandango across here.

-Yeah.

-Everything from tea dances to formal balls, I suppose.

-Yeah.

-You could do Strictly here, couldn't you?

-Strictly?

-You're my favourite, Jules!

-I'll give you ten!

This is going to be some place, isn't it, when it's finished?

Yes, it's extraordinary, I love it. I love it.

-We must come back here, John...

-Yes.

..and eventually, have a night in the hotel.

-Bring our other halves.

-Yes.

Have a waltz around.

Our heritage trail is now taking us

to the southernmost point of the Peak District.

Heritage in this country is wonderfully diverse,

from communities getting behind magnificent buildings

to individuals passionate about preserving our woodland.

Next up, we are going to meet a man and his family who are doing just that.

Following the great storm of 1987,

farmer Robert Morley was asked by an aunt to plant ten oak trees,

by way of replacing some of those lost.

Looking more like it.

On hearing the news, Robert's mother then asked him

to plant one in memory of her mother.

Word spread, and more and more people began to ask Robert

to plant trees to commemorate loved ones and celebrate special events.

Since then, nearly 4,000 trees have been planted across a 30-acre site.

The sponsor-a-tree scheme has been embraced by locals

and people from far and wide.

Over the generations, of course, farmers have cleared land to produce the food,

and we all agree we need the food,

but we have lost huge areas of old woodland.

We felt it was a great opportunity

to plant a hardwood wood

which would be here for generations to enjoy.

Whether ash, oak, lime or horse chestnut,

each tree has its own story to tell.

It gives a bit of ownership to people who live in towns

and want to come out and enjoy the countryside.

Instead of just visiting a park,

they visit their tree in a bit of rural Derbyshire.

It's something we wanted to recreate, right from day one.

An old mature woodland,

as there would've been in times gone by.

As you see, the trees are really maturing now.

It's 22 years since we started planting and, I have to say,

it's been very gratifying for my wife and I to see the trees mature

and grow into what we see now.

For me, personally, coming in and spending a bit of time in amongst the trees,

it's a real relief from real life, if you like.

I think, when I'm on my deathbed, I shall look back

and think, well, I've left a real good woodland

that will carry on a long time after I've departed this life.

For our final stop, we are heading across Derbyshire's southern border

into the impressive Welbeck Estate.

John, would you say you were a foodie, connoisseur?

I don't know. I like my food,

but I don't like all this posh food, you know?

All this incredibly expensive,

but very little food that's on your plate,

artistically placed with somebody, in gravy or something, doing a little drawing round it.

That is not for me, I like good solid food. What about you?

I think all of us, I guess, have got a greater interest in knowing where our food comes from.

And, as you say, as long as it is nice, good quality food

that looks and tastes as it should,

I think we are all up for that.

The 15,000-acre Welbeck Estate straddles Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire

and is a haven for foodies.

The farm shop supports local artisan producers, who use traditional methods.

Michael is the man with the task of sourcing

the right goods at the right price.

-Michael, hello, nice to see you. How are you?

-Nice to see you.

-It's smelling gorgeous in here.

-It's beautiful, isn't it?

-Isn't it? Look at that.

-It's a real pleasure. Some lovely teacakes.

-Oh, now, then!

-Fresh from the bakery.

-Might get to some of those a little bit later.

-Yes, definitely.

This is extraordinary though, isn't it?

I get the sense that the shop and the idea behind it, I mean,

it's a real sort of haven, if you like, for, well,

local producers that perhaps wouldn't get a look-in with the bigger supermarkets.

Definitely, that's the idea behind the shop.

We opened in October 2006, and we really wanted to create something

where people could showcase their produce.

The estate has a lot of its own things,

but also, some great local things from local producers.

-So it's very exciting.

-Come on, let's have a look around.

It's not all just about local and look interesting, it's about taste as well.

All the products have the taste.

-We taste everything that comes into us.

-Yeah.

So you can personally vouch for everything that's on the shelf?

-As you can tell!

-THEY LAUGH

-Well, you can't have cheese without some bread.

-No, definitely not.

You've sited the bread counter right next door.

Yes. This is where the wonderful smell was coming from.

Beautifully presented as well.

I love the use of the slate.

-It's that tactile...

-It is.

..kind of material that people just love to see.

Definitely, it sets the bread off

and it's less commercial.

Half a mile up the road on the estate

is the School Of Artisan Food.

Established two years ago, the school not only teaches baking,

but cheese making, brewing, butchery and preserving,

and Jules is going to get a lesson in breadmaking.

Ah, a scene of activity.

-Hi, Jules, welcome.

-Emmanuel, nice to see you.

-Hi, guys, how are you?

-So we're doing 200 grams of water,

then we're just going to mix it until it just comes together.

I was hoping this would be it, the messy bit. Look at that.

-Take the end of it there.

-Yeah.

-Fold that to the middle.

-Yeah.

That's it, push it in. You just carry on going round and round.

'Master baker Emmanuel Hadjiandreou, from South Africa,

'has worked in some of Britain's best restaurants with the biggest names

'and is passing on the centuries-old art of breadmaking.

-So again, that's going to go on there.

-Right.

Then again, the finger thing.

You are going to go straight inside there, like that.

-Oh, this is fun. Right, yeah.

-OK.

-OK.

Hudson can't get his finger out. OK.

A lot of skill involved in this, as you can see.

You made it look so easy.

And we're going to take it round the corner.

Oh, great stuff.

-Crikey, it's hot in here. Are these the ovens?

-Yeah.

-Oh, look at those.

Right, in you go, put that on there...

and then we're just going to cover them with out bowls so that they don't form a skin.

-OK.

-I've got a bowl for you.

-Got a clean bowl, OK.

-Yeah.

Just thinking about the mass-produced bread market,

I know it's convenient and it fills the supermarkets and so forth, but

the kind of bread that you're making must have a completely different flavour,

completely different purpose, completely different taste.

I think the biggest emphasis on the bread that we make,

or the bread that I'm trying to teach people how to make, is...

number one, as you say, flavour is the most important thing.

I think with mass-produced bread, you find that the time factor

is something that's taken out of the equation.

Bread is made in such a quick way, it doesn't give it enough time

to produce that lovely flavour.

To really kind of mature, in a sense?

That's exactly what it is.

Bread is theoretically like a good wine or a good beer,

it needs to sit there and actually mature.

Here at the School Of Artisan Food,

I think what we are trying to do is, again, introduce those old skills back in.

So in an ideal world, you'd like us all, as households,

to be self-sufficient in terms of producing bread.

Definitely. I think, I mean, breadmaking is not only a hobby,

I think, in my personal opinion, it should be a way of life.

-Look at that.

-It's enormous.

-Nice and crusty, there.

Oh, that lovely smell. HE TAPS THE BREAD

What's the tapping, does that mean it's...?

That's literally telling you that it's cooked inside.

What you are looking for is a nice hollow sound.

That tells you it's baked through beautifully.

-It's done?

-They're both done, we'll have a look at this one.

Got a bit charred at the bottom, but it looks amazing, nice and crusty.

You can also hear them crackling away.

Actually, you can.

And that's, literally, in bread terms, the loaves are singing,

so they are very happy little loaves.

-Ah, look at this.

-There you go.

-Look at that, fabulous. Oh, it is hot.

Don't burn yourself.

Mmm. That's extraordinary. It's incredibly light...

-Yes.

-..for one thing.

The crust is just perfect.

Really tasty.

Absolutely delicious, mate, and it's all organic.

-It's all just as nature intended bread to be, isn't it?

-Perfect.

Cheers, thank you very much.

What a great day,

and a wonderful week we've had making our way down the Pennines.

I really enjoyed our look around the magnificent Crescent in Buxton,

and it was great to see such an important building

being brought back to life.

For me, learning how historic fingerposts are made

was quite an eye-opener.

Needs to be dressed a bit.

Next time, we're starting a trip which will take us

zigzagging down the English and Welsh border.

We learn that things aren't always black and white

in a traditional printworks.

And we meet the people uncovering some flights of fancy

in some World War One aircraft hangars.

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