Episode 2 Countryfile Summer Diaries

Long, sunny days,

when our countryside is bursting with colour and life.

It's the season that brings out the child in us all.

Summer is here.

It's the perfect time to enjoy the beauty of our great British landscape.

And our amazing wildlife.

OWL CHIRPS

Some of us are still hard at work.

Urgh!

But whatever you're doing, and whatever the weather,

our island is at its very best.

All week, we're travelling the length and breadth of the UK...

..bringing the very best seasonal stories that matter to you.

Nobody asks the question -

have we got enough water in the locality

to ensure that taps will be running in those new houses?

Nationwide, we've got our rivers at a real crisis.

The very warmest of welcomes to Countryfile Summer Diaries.

And here's what's coming up on the programme today.

Jules tries out the very latest in comfortable camping...

-Wow. Ha-ha!

-And there you have your beds all laid out for you, ready.

Hey, Teddy's quite excited about this, I think.

..while Paul will be showing you how to grow your own fruit and veg, even in the smallest of spaces.

That's a lemon verbena. I can make you a tea after.

-If you want.

-Oh, that is just divine.

And I'll be finding out how wildlife crime is having a devastating effect

on our fledgling birds of prey.

You're all right, little fella.

All this week we are enjoying summer

at one of Britain's top tourist destinations.

We're on the Isle of Wight.

Stretching 23 miles from east to west,

it's the largest island off the coast of England

and with its long, sandy beaches and stunning clifftop walks,

it draws 2.4 million of us here every year.

But it was the Victorians who really put the island on the map

and it's easy to see why, looking at the historic charm of Ventnor.

This picturesque seaside resort,

nestled in the sanctuary of the cliffs,

enjoys a special, rather benign microclimate.

With more sunny days than anywhere else on the island,

from the mid-19th century onwards

people flocked here for its health benefits.

Today the Isle of Wight is helping to break new ground into hay fever and its causes.

And we sent Margherita to find out why the summer blight is on the rise.

Surely not much can beat exploring our great British countryside

on a long, hot summer day, or being able to escape that heat

through the cooling, dappled light of a wonderful wood.

This is just a dream come true.

Isn't it?

RECORD SCRATCH

SPOOKY MUSIC

It's also a scene that strikes fear into many across the country.

Summer is the height of the hay fever season

when trees, grasses and weeds release their pollen,

waging war on innocent allergy sufferers.

It's hard to believe that such microscopically small grains,

that sow the seeds of life in our plant kingdom,

can cause such trouble for millions of us.

And with more of us than ever on the receiving end

of this pollen pounding, I'm here on the Isle of Wight

to meet Professor Hasan Arshad,

who's been looking into the root causes of our growing hay fever epidemic.

Hasan, this is such a beautiful view and a beautiful walk for most of us,

but if you've got hay fever, this is a real battlefield.

So, what is hay fever? How do we know when we have it?

So the hay fever is when a person is allergic to pollen.

You inhale the pollen, it gets into the nose and eyes

and the immune system, by fighting it,

produces hormones which are called histamine.

They start to have itchy eyes, a streamy nose, and sneezing.

This can be quite troublesome for those unfortunate people who have hay fever.

Keen to find a solution, 26 years ago, Professor Arshad started

a study group of 1,536 newborn babies, and set about giving them

allergy assessments every few years.

And what is the benefit of studying such a large group for such a long

-amount of time?

-We can see when the seeds of allergies are sown,

which is usually in early childhood,

then we can assess how they change over time.

And what can we do to prevent

this really rising prevalence of allergies

that have become in epidemic proportions.

Those babies and now adults, and Professor Arshad has just been

giving them their latest assessments.

Put your mouth around this tube and blow into the machine.

As well as performing a lung function test,

they have their height and weight measured, and are given

a skin-prick test to tease their immune system into making a reaction.

And what have you discovered during the course of this very unique study?

We have seen how the allergy changes over a life course.

There were only 3% of children who were diagnosed with having symptoms

of hay fever in early childhood.

By the age of ten years it was 20%.

By 18, 40% of teenagers suffered from hay fever.

And the most recent assessment of 26 years indicate that 46%

of the young adults have at least some hay fever symptoms.

That's incredible.

So almost half of your study group now have signs of hay fever.

Are we changing, or is it our environment that's changing?

That's a very interesting question.

We looked at our pollen data, and you know what we discovered?

That pollen count has been rising

and the number of days when the pollen count

exceeds a certain number,

which really causes trouble to the hay fever patient,

has also increased.

Later I'll be finding out what lies behind

these increasingly high pollen levels, and if you're a sufferer,

what practical things you can do to help alleviate your symptoms.

There's only a handful of really allergenic plants,

but we seem to be moving towards planting these.

And we're making a big problem for ourselves.

The Isle of Wight is a great place to be outdoors, and summer,

with its long, lazy days,

is certainly the perfect time to get back to basics

and enjoy nature at its best.

Lots of us Brits love to go camping,

and we're finding more and more unusual ways of doing it.

In recent years, at least 40% of us

have spent a summer night under canvas,

but it's not without its drawbacks.

And if you don't fancy your chances against the fickle British weather,

well, Jules has the perfect solution.

Now, unlike glamping, where you might find yourself

bedding down for the night in a yurt or a tipi, well, tonight,

Teddy and I have found something altogether a little more special.

CHORAL MUSIC

Come on, lad.

'It's champing, the latest trend in

'the ever-expanding outdoor accommodation sector.

'It's basically camping in a church.'

All Saints, in the village of Old Winkle in Northamptonshire,

is one of the first to offer it.

-Peter.

-Hi, Jules.

-Nice to see you.

-Nice to see you, too.

The man we've been looking for.

It's the grand idea of Peter Ayres,

who's come to show me my unusual accommodation.

Now, the Churches Conservation Trust

has championed this idea of champing.

How did it all come about?

Well, it came from a charity. I work for the Churches Conservation Trust.

We look after 350 historic churches across England

that aren't used for regular worship any more.

They remain consecrated, and we open them to the public.

And we've got to find a way to get people interested in these buildings.

We need people who are looking out for them and really love them.

And when people love them, they find a way to look after them.

So what do you get when you check in?

Well, come with me and I'll show you.

Come on, Teddy.

Come in.

Wow. Ha-ha!

That is wonderful without the pews, isn't it?

Yeah, it's amazing. You get a real appreciation of the space.

-Look at that.

-And the architecture, yeah.

And there you have your bed - all laid out for you, ready.

Hey, Teddy is quite excited about this, I think.

And you know what I love about the fabric of this one?

You can really see, architecturally, how they were put together,

because so much of the plaster has come off and you can see the stonework

and the way the roof structure works.

It's lovely on a day like today, with the light flooding through,

waking up to this. I mean, I actually can't wait.

But I'm also really intrigued to see what it's like at night.

So this is the point where a lot of people go,

"Oh, it must be really spooky!"

But actually, it feels quite cosy.

The Trust is currently offering 12 churches that people can stay in,

and they're attracting adventurous travellers

from all over the UK and abroad.

At a price from £39 per adult,

this year there are already over 1,300 bookings for the summer.

I like a country hotel.

They are replete with some fantastic facilities.

But what do you do for washing and that sort of thing?

Facilities aren't quite up to country house hotel standards,

but we've found a way to deliver a very comfortable stay for you

with the necessary ablutions that you require.

You've got a means to boil your kettle, hot water, a little stove.

And then we've got these fantastic Swedish composting loos.

And although there's no functioning kitchen,

that doesn't mean breakfast is off the menu.

COW LOWS

As a result of the church's new role,

a local farmer has been quick to spot a business opportunity.

Tim Hankin's family have been farming here for three generations.

As well as growing crops, he also keeps a herd of Hereford cattle

and has branched out into the B&B business.

Hello, Tim.

-Hello, Jules.

-Very nice to meet you, mate. How are you?

-Fine, thank you.

These all look very happy and healthy.

Yes, these were our last lot of heifers and cows to calf.

Now, Tim, diversification is the foundation of many modern farms.

What persuaded you to get involved with helping out the church?

We thought, "Why not? We can add another string to our bow,

"we can provide breakfast to the people down the church.

"We'll jump in and give them a hand."

So, have you ever stayed in the church yourself?

Not yet, no.

I am going to sometime,

it's just getting all the rest of the family to agree to come with me.

-But at least you know where breakfast is going to come from.

-Oh, definitely, yes, yes!

-So you've got the cattle, you've got your arable.

-Yes.

-You've got your B&Bs, your holiday lets.

-Yeah.

But something else is on the go, which I'm particularly intrigued about.

-Yep.

-Come and have a look?

-Come on, then.

-Come on, then.

-Yeah.

Diversification has become an important part of the rural economy,

with farms generating up to a third of their income

from alternative sources.

And here is a bit of a clue to one of Tim's more unusual crops.

Well, Tim, this is a beautiful spot by the water here

with these wonderful willow trees.

What are you doing on this part of the farm?

Well, we are using the river down here to grow cricket bat willows.

It's a really interesting area of diversification.

I mean, willow famously will take just from a twig, won't it?

It will. If you get it the right way up.

That's the secret to it, you've got to plant it the right way up.

We've found that they grow better on the river banks with flowing water into their roots.

So, there is a chance, then, that that tree right there

could, one day, be carried out onto the square at Lord's or the Oval.

It could well be and I would never know

because I never know who they sell the bats to.

Tim's willows are harvested every five years,

making up to 4,000 cricket bats for the world market.

Oh, yes!

LAUGHTER

It is a chaotic game of cricket, but I suspect the best of the day is yet

to happen, because Teddy and I have got our night at the church to come.

Haven't we, mate? Come on.

With all that fresh air and exercise, we should sleep soundly.

Well, I have to confess that when I knew that Teddy and I

were going to be spending the night in a church,

I honestly didn't think it would be this comfortable.

But look, I've got a glass of wine, I've got my book, I've got my dog,

and I've got this entire church to myself.

Well, I hope.

Unless the ghosties come...

Well, as you can see,

we have survived our night sleeping in the church.

I have to say, it was very comfortable.

We were not disturbed...

and waking up when the light was streaming through the windows,

really quite magical. Although I was rather glad...

..to get back to sleep again and have a bit of a lie-in.

But it's still only...

6:55.

KNOCK AT DOOR

You'd better get up.

-Good morning!

-Hello, Tim, how are you?

Tim's brought a delicious breakfast -

just what a hungry camper needs.

Mmm! Yes, is that bacon and eggs?

Bacon, eggs, sausages.

-Ah, fantastic.

-Bread roll.

-Look at this!

Thank you very much indeed.

You're welcome. Enjoy it all.

Well, this breakfast is the perfect end to my stay here

in this beautiful church.

And when you think about it, the church's role has always been

about providing shelter and sanctuary,

and that, of course, is exactly what this new initiative

is trying to champion, with champing.

There is no doubt that whatever your age, whatever your belief,

you've now got a chance to come here and experience these buildings

on your own terms, in your own way.

I think it's a brilliant idea.

And as for the breakfast, well...

Mm!

You can't beat it.

Good boy.

Looks like Jules has been converted.

It's certainly a novel way to keep our rural churches alive.

And protecting our countryside has also never been more important.

But across the land, many wild spaces are under pressure.

Wildlife crime is an ongoing problem, and some of the species

being targeted are our beautiful birds of prey.

Keeley's in Scotland to investigate.

With its remote, wild hills and glens,

Scotland is one of the best habitats for our birds of prey,

with everything from golden eagles,

hen harriers

to northern goshawks.

But they've long been a target for unscrupulous criminals.

It's illegal to kill birds of prey.

It can carry a prison sentence of up to a year and a £10,000 fine.

But despite this, a new report has found that

a third of fledglings from some species

are still being killed deliberately.

I've come to meet Ian Thomson,

head of RSPB Scotland's investigation team.

-Hi, Ian, how are you doing? Good to see you.

-Nice to see you, too.

Now, these are very worrying statistics, aren't they?

Absolutely. For a third of satellite-tagged golden eagles to

either be found deliberately killed

or to disappear in circumstances that suggest they've been killed

is really very, very concerning.

-It's not just golden eagles.

-No, it's not just golden eagles.

It's red kites, it's goshawks.

The toll being taken on our birds of prey by these criminals is phenomenal.

And they couldn't have just been shot down by accident?

A golden eagle is a bird with a six-foot wingspan.

It's very difficult to mistake it for something else.

If people are accidentally shooting birds like that,

they're not fit to have a firearm.

EAGLE CALLS

All signs suggest the birds are being deliberately targeted,

but why would anyone harm these majestic creatures,

particularly the fledglings?

To help protect these young birds,

conservationists have been monitoring some of their nests.

I've been given the chance to get up close and personal

with fledgling chicks of one of Scotland's rarest birds of prey,

the northern goshawk.

Unsurprisingly, they're not the easiest birds to track down.

A century ago the goshawk was hunted to extinction in Scotland,

but thanks to conservation efforts since the '60s,

they've made a bit of a comeback.

But in more recent times, their numbers have remained stagnant.

David Anderson from Forest Enterprise Scotland

has been looking into why this is happening.

Hi, David, how are you doing?

-Hi, Keeley, fine.

-Now, I'm a bit surprised that we came here because

I associate birds of prey with vast open spaces

and you can see them from far up.

So when you said to meet here, I was a bit confused.

The bird we've come to see is the goshawk.

It's got a four-foot wingspan,

but it can manoeuvre perfectly through here.

They've got this great big tail that acts as a rudder,

and they hunt through the bottom of here and go shooting up,

straight up to the nests.

To observe these birds' early development,

David has set up cameras on nests,

one with a couple of two-week old chicks.

This is incredible to see this so close up.

So this is mum on the nest, then.

She is using her body to either shield them from the sun

or shield them from the rain.

And how much would they eat? How often are they fed?

When they're small, they are eating the size of a pigeon a day.

And then, as they get older,

you are looking at two to three pigeon-sized prey items per day.

So the adults have got a really busy job feeding these little chicks up, haven't they?

The male's got a massive job because he's not only feeding them,

he's feeding the female as well, and himself.

What happens after they've left the nest?

She'll feed them around the territory.

They just start to range, and they get further and further,

and then they just go - they're not coming back to the nest.

So even once they've flown the nest, they're still returning home?

A bit like teenagers, really.

They're very, very needy.

It's what they do when they finally move off

that David is keen to discover, so he's been fitting satellite tags

to the chicks when they're just a few weeks off fledgling.

One in the bag?

-One in the bag.

-One in the bag.

Today I'm helping him with a couple of four-week-old chicks.

So what we'll do is, we'll take this one straight out,

and then the bag will go straight back up

so that the second one is in the bag.

Look at this guy.

If you put your hands like that, yep, exactly like that.

This bird is just at the right stage for a satellite tag.

They can be a wee bit bigger.

So it's about 27, 28 days old.

You're all right, little fella.

With the arrival of the second chick,

it's time to get down to work.

Oh, this one looks a lot more alert.

He looks a couple of days older, yes.

Fitting the tags doesn't hurt the birds, but to keep them calm,

David uses a special falconry hood.

So the tag is going to sit around here.

And it does look long on the bird,

but it's away from the wings and it sits on the back

and it should sit down the spine.

There's a lot of technology wrapped into this tag.

And it will tell us what elevation it's at,

it will tell us what body temperature it's got,

it will tell us if it's stationary or active.

But once these birds are back up there,

I don't expect to be climbing that tree again or seeing these birds.

I just expect to get data.

Right, right, there you go.

This is the second year David's team has been tagging goshawk chicks,

and last year's result shows

something very unusual is happening about a month after fledging.

When these birds fledge from the site,

they're in really good condition,

they're going out into a big environment.

It should have a lot of food there.

There's everything there for them,

there's young crows, there's young pigeons.

Survival rate is estimated to be around 80%.

We're talking about a bird that should be doing really well.

But unfortunately, it's the exact same time as people are putting

pheasants into pheasant release pens.

And young goshawks are attracted to them. Like many raptors,

they are attracted to these areas

because they are plentiful in food.

Those are the areas where those tags stop working.

Why do you think that is?

They are being culled,

about a month after fledging.

Because...the conflict between game management

and raptor populations trying to expand.

There's long been a controversy in the relationship

between some gamekeepers and our birds of prey.

They argue there's a need to protect game birds

from being preyed upon.

But the British Association of Shooting and Conservation

have told us any deliberate targeting of birds of prey

is something they strongly condemn

and down to the actions of a few individuals.

They emphasise that, in managing the moors,

gamekeepers create important habitats

for many other rare and endangered birds.

It really has been amazing to see such rare birds close up,

and they're still so vulnerable over the next few weeks.

So, fingers crossed,

our little chicks won't have too much of a bumpy ride

into the adult world.

At this time of year, Britain is brimming with birdlife.

If you're here on the Isle of Wight, you might be lucky to spot

a Dartford warbler or an increasingly rare turtledove.

And here are some of our other favourite places to spot our

feathered friends both inland and on the coast this summer.

On the east coast of Yorkshire, the towering cliffs at Bentham

are home to the largest mainland sea bird colony in the UK.

Our biggest sea bird, the gannet, is the star of the show.

12,500 nesting pairs crammed into every nook and cranny.

These beautiful birds dive into the sea at speeds of up to 60mph.

An impressive sight.

This is awesome.

If you've got your sea legs, why not take a short boat ride to

the spectacular Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast?

This is a twitcher's paradise.

Here, you can get up close to its most popular resident...

..the puffin.

Now to Scotland and Lanarkshire's Clyde Valley...

..home to an unassuming but rather special bird -

the dipper.

It's unique in the songbird family,

able to wade, swim and dive in running water.

Another river favourite is the elusive kingfisher.

While they're pretty widespread across the UK,

you need a lot of patience to spot one.

We were rewarded with this shot at Worth Marshes in East Kent.

Among other things, the Isle of Wight is renowned for this place,

the Ventnor Botanic Garden,

otherwise known as the hottest garden in Britain.

Because of its sheltered position,

the temperature here in summertime

is five degrees higher than on the mainland.

It's an altogether more Mediterranean climate,

so the garden has a fantastic collection

of subtropical trees and plants, more than 30,000 of them altogether.

There are apricots here, and cherries.

But there's one fruit above all others

which is drooled over at this time of year,

and Matt is the lucky one to be finding out more.

Summertime in the British countryside.

Long, lazy days, dappled sunlight and lush green hills.

I'm in Kent near Maidstone, the Garden of England,

where sunny, south-facing slopes

provide the perfect place for growing soft fruits.

And during the British summer

there is one fruit that matters more than most -

the strawberry.

Strawberries are a quintessential part of

our most famous tennis tournament - Wimbledon.

23 tonnes of strawberries were consumed at Wimbledon last year.

That's around 2 million individual berries.

Hugh Lowe Farms near Maidstone is a family-run business.

They've been the sole suppliers of strawberries to Wimbledon

for more than 25 years.

Marion Regan is the managing director.

Well, Marion, just walking up here, I mean, it's mesmerising,

the amount of strawberry plants you've got in here.

What does the strawberry mean to you, Marion?

Well, it's a way of life for me.

I couldn't imagine life without strawberries, I suppose.

I grew up on this farm and we've always grown strawberries,

we've always shared our summers with a large number of super people

who come to help us pick the crops.

I couldn't imagine anything different, really.

And lots of people enjoying your strawberries at Wimbledon, as well.

-Yes.

-So, as far as they are concerned,

when will those strawberries have started their life?

We now find we get the best quality from a young plant,

so we plant them early in the year,

sometimes in January or February,

to time them to crop for the Wimbledon period.

And like the game of tennis,

the art of producing strawberries has been refined over the years.

Improved varieties and cultivation techniques

means growers are now playing at the highest level.

I think most people would think of strawberries being grown

in the traditional way on the ground, surrounded by straw.

We're growing them nowadays in the gutters and in pots

so that the plants are actually at shoulder height,

which makes it much easier for people to pick.

And it is a better growing environment for the plant,

it's very good for the bees and other pollinators.

We've changed in a lot of ways.

Now we actually pick strawberries from May all the way until October.

Two things have happened.

One is we've got varieties now which flower and fruit at the same time,

so they keep going all the way through the summer.

And the other thing is we use polytunnels,

which advance the season at the beginning and at the end,

keep the rain off and allow us to have a lovely, long season.

These days, the game of growing strawberries is more demanding.

After Wimbledon, the farm continues to supply other markets,

so harvesting doesn't stop until the end of the season in October.

It's a very intense business.

And with everything that you're doing here, Marion,

what are you actually aiming to do as far as the plant is concerned,

to get the best crop?

This plant has got to keep throwing out flowers and fruit all the way

from now until October, so we want to see a very healthy plant,

no pests and diseases, and we want to give it everything it needs

to put its energy into growing fruit.

So we give it its own irrigation, little system here.

And it gets a feed programme.

Depending on what stage the plant is at, the feed programme changes.

So, really, I'm very pleased with the way these plants look at this stage.

And do you prune them in any way?

We take off the runners because otherwise

all of the energy of the plant

goes into growing leaves and runners

and not enough energy going into the fruit.

Yes, beautiful, glorious, red, shiny fruit

that just looks so appealing to the eye, and my taste buds are tingling.

Do you have to eat a lot? In all seriousness,

do you have to spend quite a lot of time eating these?

I love eating strawberries.

We're regularly testing them, for sure.

-Absolutely beautiful.

-Straight off the plant.

Exactly, straight off the plant. Oh! Can't beat it.

And while you tuck into your strawberries,

spare a thought for those poor souls who are allergic to them.

We're becoming a nation of allergy sufferers.

Almost 20 million people in Britain get hay fever

and sneeze their way through the summer.

Margherita's investigating why it's on the rise and, crucially,

what you could do to help blow out the problem.

Earlier, I learned that a 26-year study on the Isle of Wight has

discovered more of us are developing hay fever as we get older.

46% of the young adults have at least some hay fever symptoms.

And interestingly, the reason may lie in our lifestyles.

Although you might think that our open countryside and woodland is the

place that those pesky little pollen particles create the most chaos,

you might need to think again.

CAR HORN HONKS

As it turns out, Allergy UK has discovered

it's our towns and cities that are the real hay fever hot spots.

One of their advisers, Amena Warner,

an allergy and immunology specialist,

thinks they've uncovered why.

Well, it's the architecture within the city -

it doesn't allow for the wind dispersal of pollens.

And also, topped with the fact that

out of the 2,500 different species of plants,

we are choosing allergenic species

that can cause hay fever and asthma in susceptible people.

Not all plants cause the sniffs and sneezes we associate with hay fever.

So Allergy UK has been working closely with Exeter University,

to identify the worst offenders and to map their location.

Most people think it's grass pollen.

A lot of people are allergic to grass pollen,

but there are other pollens that people need to consider as well that

might be causing their hay fever.

So things like mugwort, nettle, dandelion...

They are all weeds that can cause hay fever symptoms.

All these weeds are commonly found in our cities.

But it's not just weeds causing the problem.

It seems we're planting the wrong trees.

One of the very big offenders is birch tree.

It has become a tree of choice,

and people are planting it because they like the look of it.

Now, when you get a species of trees

that are planted very close to each other

and close to human inhabitants,

then you have got a problem with people being sensitised to it.

So the choice of tree is really important.

An index of allergenic plant species puts the birch tree near the top,

with a score of nine out of ten.

There's only a handful of really allergenic plants

but we seem to be moving towards planting these,

and we're making a big problem for ourselves.

But it's not just the concentration of pollen

that's making the problem worse in our cities.

Another culprit is pollution.

We know from research that diesel fumes, in particular,

can coat the pollen particles, and you've got the allergenic effect

of the pollen particle on top of the irritant effect of the diesel fume.

For those that suffer with hay fever, what can we do?

There's plenty that we can actually do.

Your pharmacist has an array of different things that

you can get just over the chemist's counter to actually help.

So things like nasal saline douching,

that's a saline rinse that will wash out the pollen from your nose.

There are things like allergen barrier balms

that you just put around the nostril, and that

makes pollen stick to it instead of being breathed up into the nose.

Don't suffer in silence.

So if you're one of the millions for whom the great outdoors

is a no-go area in the summer,

there are a number of practical things you can do

to help make the season a bit more enjoyable.

Although it's advisable to cut the grass regularly to stop it flowering

and producing pollen,

make sure you're not the one cutting the grass.

And when you're out and about, take a sun hat with you

and wraparound sunglasses, too.

And if you're lucky enough that someone brings you flowers,

perhaps on this occasion you might want to pass them on to someone

who'd appreciate them a little bit more.

The only thing that can kill off pollen is water.

So after time outside,

pop your clothes in the washing machine

and take a quick shower, to wash away those allergens.

And when the pollen count is particularly high,

make sure you shake your washing before you bring it inside

because the pollen can end up sticking to the material.

Keeping doors and windows closed as much as possible will also help to

keep the pollen levels low inside your home.

And as pollen counts are generally higher

in the early morning and late evening, a great excuse to head home

and catch up on some beauty sleep.

If you suffer from hay fever,

you could also try creating a sneeze-free garden

by planting low-allergy plants.

But some people don't have a garden at all.

In fact, about a third of all properties on sale in the UK

at the moment are without them.

But not having an outside space doesn't stop some people

from growing their own veggies, as Paul is about to discover.

I've left the good life behind today,

to uncover the secrets of growing veg no matter where you live

from a man who's determined not to let the lack of space

put the dampeners on his growing ambitions.

Mark Ridsdill Smith is a champion of the Vertical Veg movement,

and an expert on turning urban spaces into bountiful gardens.

Here we are in suburbia, just outside the city centre.

Not many city dwellers have a lot of space to grow things in.

This is the average size, sort of yard and plot you get

for a terrace. But it's a starting point.

Absolutely, it is, yeah,

and we can grow a lot of stuff in a space like this.

I used to have this balcony in London,

and I really wanted to grow my own food.

So I put my name down for an allotment...

That was years away, probably, wasn't it?

Well, I was on the waiting list for five years

and I thought I would find out how long it was going to be,

and it was going to be another 30 years.

-Oh, gosh!

-So I was going to be 70 by the time I got my allotment.

So I thought, "Well, I'll just try growing on this balcony,

"and see what's possible."

So what did you start with?

Well, I just started with a few pots of rocket.

I didn't really know what I was doing, so quite a few of them died.

Then I put a little bit more effort into it,

and I just started growing, trying lots of different things

and finding out what worked and what didn't.

I measured it one year, I grew £900 worth of food

on this balcony along my windowsill.

And that is a smaller space than this space.

It is a much smaller space than this space.

And, yeah, we were eating fresh herbs and salads nearly every day.

I can't believe there's £900 worth of veg...

-Yeah.

-..that you can grow in that space.

It's amazing. Honestly, I didn't believe that it was possible.

After a year or two of doing this, we started calling it "the garden".

We started to say we were going out into the garden.

Even though it was really small, but it felt like a garden

and it actually changes the way you see the city.

As soon as I started growing, I started talking and chatting to

people and it made me feel part of a community.

Mark started a blog to share his experience and tips

about growing veg in containers.

It soon caught the attention of gardening enthusiasts

all over the world - including Therese, who lives in

rented accommodation in Bristol with a small courtyard round the back.

I really wanted a garden here,

and I had a courtyard with slabs and gravel.

Yeah. There's no soil, no beds.

Yeah. So I had nothing else to do but to grow in containers.

Well, looking around me,

I would say, what, 90% of what you grow, you eat?

Yes. They are all edible, and they are beautiful at the same time.

So you have a nice garden, and you have good food.

Good food and plenty of it!

Having started with a few pots of herbs five years ago,

Therese's outside space is now heaving with natural goodness,

from mint to tomatoes, and from apples...

to artichokes.

The list is endless.

That is lemon verbena.

It makes... I can make you tea, after.

-Oh!

-If you want.

-That is just divine!

-Yes.

The brilliant thing about that, is you imagine a plant like

in just a flat...

-Exactly.

-..you've got a supply of fresh herbal tea.

-Yes.

Well, what does it taste like, the leaf by itself? Is it edible?

You put it in water and that infuses the flavour into the liquid.

-Oh, it's beautiful!

-Yeah.

'There's no need for supermarket bags of salad in this household.'

What's that?

That's basil.

That looks really small for basil, doesn't it?

Yes. But taste it, it is really, really nice,

and we can cut some for the...for a salad.

It's like cress.

That's beautiful!

It is beautiful...

That's a strong basil.

What's this?

These are radish.

So you get the beautiful red stalk of the radish, which looks wonderful

in a salad, and then you get the radish flavour

and slight crunch and bite. A beautiful addition.

It's really nice.

Yeah.

With the shoot, you've got the crunch as well.

-Yeah. And the next one is broccoli.

-All these are exactly the same.

These will grow into normal radishes, this will grow into big broccoli.

But you're just eating them exceptionally early.

Just in a small space, this is a very convenient way of growing.

-What are these?

-Musk mallow. The flowers are edible.

-Beautiful, aren't they?

-Beautiful.

Oh, this is brilliant.

Oh, it's so nice.

This is sort of Michelin chef territory, isn't it, salad-wise?

Yeah. And just goes to show, you can grow great, fresh veg anywhere,

with limited space. That is delicious, and can I finish the rest?

LAUGHTER

Finish it! Yes!

'So, if you feel inspired to have a go at growing your own veg,

'a simple way to start is with supermarket herbs like mint,

'parsley or basil.'

If you're going to spend money on one thing, this is the thing.

It makes a really big difference to use good-quality compost.

OK, so, as you can see there's, like, lots and lots of basil plants.

If we take this out...

..and if we split up the basil plants

and put them into a bigger pot,

they'll grow for many weeks longer.

-OK.

-I'm teasing the basil plants apart...

Make a hole in the compost,

and you want to firm it in and we can put

sort of two or three clumps like that in here,

then give it a really good water.

Giving them a drink of water is a bit like giving them a cup of tea

when they're moving house.

HE CHUCKLES

Parsley also likes to be split up before planting.

The mint is a bit different

in that it tends to be just, like, one plant...

So I'm just going to put it all in in one go.

'With a little bit of care, this herb will keep on growing.'

I've got some ten years old, that I've just repotted every year -

and you've got mint for life.

There you are, look.

Supermarket herbs that will rejuvenate

as long as you look after them.

The secret, really, is a few minutes a day,

just to check whether or not your plants need watering,

and to water them if they do.

It's been really satisfying seeing how a bit of uncompromising concrete

can be turned into a brilliant green space

that can produce food all year round.

You can connect with the seasons and with the local community.

Now, there's got to be something very satisfying in that.

And that's all for today, but here are just some of the entries

in our summer diary tomorrow.

Keeley's taking the plunge...

SHE SHRIEKS

It is really, really cold in here.

..all to help save lives around our coast.

Paul finds out how we can care for our elusive nocturnal neighbours.

They don't have a very strong grip,

so you can just rest it in your palm. He'll be fine.

Oh, wow. He's so warm!

And I'll be finding out how some furry friends

could help reduce flood risk here in the UK.

So, until then, goodbye.