Browse content similar to 04/12/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The Vale of Aylesbury. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:28 | |
Rolling English countryside, reaching down to the Chilterns. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:33 | |
This historic Buckinghamshire landscape is an inspiring patchwork | 0:00:33 | 0:00:36 | |
of ancient woodland, chalky grassland and grand estates. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:41 | |
It's easy to see, then, why it's a setting which has captured | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
the imagination of some of our greatest authors and poets. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:54 | |
It was where John Milton found his Paradise Lost, | 0:00:54 | 0:00:58 | |
where Enid Blyton brought Noddy to life, | 0:00:58 | 0:01:00 | |
and where Roald Dahl first saw the Fantastic Mr Fox. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:04 | |
But it's not just fictitious animals that form part of this landscape. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:10 | |
After serving their country, Jules discovers what happens | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
when our faithful old horses decide to hang up their shoes for good. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:17 | |
You ought to have that as a souvenir. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:20 | |
You ought to take that back and put it on the wall of the station. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:25 | |
John's finding out about a controversial new source of energy. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:29 | |
Two miles beneath the surface here, | 0:01:31 | 0:01:33 | |
there's natural gas trapped in rock, | 0:01:33 | 0:01:35 | |
and getting it out involves a technique new to this country | 0:01:35 | 0:01:39 | |
called fracking, which has been blamed | 0:01:39 | 0:01:42 | |
for creating earthquakes and fireballs. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
But is fracking quite as bad as some people would have us believe? | 0:01:44 | 0:01:48 | |
I'll be investigating. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:49 | |
'And Adam's on the trail of his very own wheat harvest.' | 0:01:49 | 0:01:52 | |
So there's about £4,500's worth going off down the drive, | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
and that's a year's hard work. | 0:01:57 | 0:01:59 | |
Hopefully, the cheque will be arriving soon. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:02 | |
From its wide chalk valleys to golden beech woodlands, | 0:02:11 | 0:02:14 | |
the countryside around the Vale of Aylesbury is ripe | 0:02:14 | 0:02:18 | |
with rural splendour. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:19 | |
And it's inspired some of our most famous writers to capture | 0:02:23 | 0:02:27 | |
the essence of the landscape in their work. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:29 | |
The war poet Rupert Brooke loved to walk in the Chilterns, | 0:02:29 | 0:02:33 | |
often stopping at his favourite watering hole for some liquid inspiration. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:37 | |
Rumour has it that the Aylesbury Vale even caught | 0:02:37 | 0:02:39 | |
the attention of one William Shakespeare. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:42 | |
It's thought that he wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream | 0:02:42 | 0:02:45 | |
while staying in the Chilterns. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:47 | |
And in this modest cottage in Chalfont St Giles, | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
the poet John Milton completed his masterpiece Paradise Lost. | 0:02:50 | 0:02:54 | |
With over 10,000 lines of verse, | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
it might not have oodles of easy reading appeal, | 0:02:59 | 0:03:02 | |
but this guy's work was in the top ten of its time. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:06 | |
Oh, you must be Ellie! | 0:03:06 | 0:03:07 | |
'Curator Ed Dawson is so passionate about Milton's work, | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
'he reckons the poet could win a war of words with Shakespeare any day. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:14 | |
'Milton came here to escape the Plague, | 0:03:15 | 0:03:18 | |
'by which time he was completely blind.' | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
He was overwhelmed and down in the dumps. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:23 | |
He then buried himself in his great, epic poetry. | 0:03:23 | 0:03:27 | |
And it was here that he finished it off. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:31 | |
Was he inspired by his surroundings here in the Chilterns? | 0:03:31 | 0:03:34 | |
Well, he had the countryside and the rolling Chiltern Hills explained to him. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:39 | |
He would have understood what the garden and surroundings looked like, | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
the flowers and so on. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:44 | |
He would have been able to use his imagination to enhance that, | 0:03:44 | 0:03:47 | |
because, after all, in Paradise Lost, | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
you have these great descriptions of Heaven and Hell | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
by a man completely blind. | 0:03:53 | 0:03:54 | |
And here's the A-level English bit. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
Apparently, he was a great neologist, whatever one of those is. | 0:03:57 | 0:04:01 | |
Neologism is the coining of words. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:06 | |
-And there are 530-odd down to John Milton. -530? | 0:04:06 | 0:04:13 | |
What sort of words did he create? | 0:04:13 | 0:04:16 | |
Well, "pandemonium" is the most famous. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
Which, of course, is Satan's headquarters in Paradise Lost. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:21 | |
-Oh, I see. -That's where it first appears. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:24 | |
But humble and ordinary words like "padlock" and "fragrance" | 0:04:24 | 0:04:29 | |
and "terrific" - look them up in a good, encyclopaedic dictionary, | 0:04:29 | 0:04:32 | |
and they all come back to this extraordinary man. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:36 | |
Milton was certainly a whiz with words, | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
and 400 years later, his language lives on. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:43 | |
Later, I'll be finding out | 0:04:48 | 0:04:49 | |
how nature inspired one of our best-loved children's authors, | 0:04:49 | 0:04:53 | |
but first, fracking may not be a word you're familiar with, yet - | 0:04:53 | 0:04:57 | |
it's the key to getting at the wealth of natural gas | 0:04:57 | 0:05:01 | |
we have trapped under the British Isles. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:03 | |
But at what cost? John's been investigating. | 0:05:03 | 0:05:06 | |
They say there are untold riches trapped in the ground | 0:05:18 | 0:05:21 | |
beneath our feet - a new source of power deep down. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:25 | |
It could be the answer to all our energy prayers. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:29 | |
But so far, it hasn't had the best press. | 0:05:29 | 0:05:33 | |
Controversial drilling operation...for natural shale gas | 0:05:33 | 0:05:37 | |
has been suspended after a small earthquake near Blackpool. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:40 | |
Drilling for shale gas has been put forward as a great new hope, | 0:05:43 | 0:05:47 | |
a way of helping to meet our future energy needs, | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
of keeping the lights on. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:52 | |
But just what is it? And why are we hearing about it only now? | 0:05:52 | 0:05:56 | |
'To find out more about this brand-new energy source, | 0:05:56 | 0:06:00 | |
'I am meeting Professor Mike Stevenson. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
'He is a top scientist with the British Geological Survey.' | 0:06:03 | 0:06:08 | |
Just what exactly is shale gas? | 0:06:08 | 0:06:10 | |
Well, the gas is the same kind of gas you get in the North Sea, | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
it's methane gas. It's exactly the same kind of gas, | 0:06:13 | 0:06:17 | |
but coming from a different kind of rock. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:19 | |
Here, the gas is in shale, which is very fine grained, | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
and it has gas in between the particles. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
You have to break it up to get the gas out. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
And how much shale gas do you think there could be underneath the UK? | 0:06:27 | 0:06:31 | |
In this country, the British Geological Survey | 0:06:31 | 0:06:34 | |
has come up with a figure of 150 billion cubic metres. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:38 | |
That's an awful lot. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:39 | |
It's an awful lot, but that's just what we think might be there. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:42 | |
What you can actually take out could be an awful lot less than that, | 0:06:42 | 0:06:46 | |
could even be only 10% or 5% of that. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:49 | |
But it could be potentially very important. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
It could be, yes, because it would be our own home-grown gas, | 0:06:52 | 0:06:55 | |
as opposed to gas we import. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:57 | |
Gas companies are hoping methane reserves could be even higher, | 0:06:57 | 0:07:01 | |
but getting at it is tricky. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:03 | |
The way it's done is called fracking. | 0:07:03 | 0:07:05 | |
That means that water and sand and a specific chemical | 0:07:05 | 0:07:09 | |
will be pumped into the very hard rock to fracture it. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:13 | |
That will release the natural gas, which can be brought to the surface. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:18 | |
A special drill is sunk down thousands of feet, then it turns | 0:07:18 | 0:07:22 | |
at right angles to bore horizontally along the shale deposit. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:26 | |
Small explosions open up fissures | 0:07:26 | 0:07:28 | |
into which the water is pumped at pressure. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
It's this technique that is revolutionising the industry. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:37 | |
Gas that was once impossible to get at can now be reached. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:40 | |
It's boom time in a business worth around £20 billion a year globally, | 0:07:40 | 0:07:45 | |
and Lancashire could have some of our biggest reserves. | 0:07:45 | 0:07:48 | |
Well, this is an exploration rig. How do you know where to put it? | 0:07:48 | 0:07:53 | |
Well, this area has had a lot of history of seismic work, | 0:07:54 | 0:07:57 | |
where people have looked at and basically mapped underground. | 0:07:57 | 0:08:01 | |
There have been a few other exploration wells here | 0:08:01 | 0:08:04 | |
in the late '80s and '90s. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:06 | |
That is how we looked at this licence area to start with. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:09 | |
Can we expect to see exploration rigs | 0:08:09 | 0:08:11 | |
popping up all over Lancashire now? | 0:08:11 | 0:08:13 | |
The rig is only here during the drilling phase. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
This rig will drill a well | 0:08:15 | 0:08:17 | |
and then it will move someplace else and drill another well. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
Once the wells are drilled, then they go into the production phase, | 0:08:20 | 0:08:25 | |
and the only thing that is left is just the wellheads, | 0:08:25 | 0:08:28 | |
which are only about two metres high. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
So there is not something sticking up | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
that you can see for a long way on the landscape. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:34 | |
And, if you do go ahead and produce methane from down here, | 0:08:34 | 0:08:39 | |
will that be cheaper than bringing it in from the North Sea? | 0:08:39 | 0:08:43 | |
It has reduced the price of gas. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:46 | |
The price of gas in North America now | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
is about a third of what it is here. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:51 | |
-And is that because of shale gas? -Yes. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:54 | |
'He claims there could be more than 50 trillion cubic metres | 0:08:54 | 0:08:59 | |
'of shale gas in Lancashire alone. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:01 | |
'That's ten times more than | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
'all the UK's conventional gas reserves put together.' | 0:09:04 | 0:09:08 | |
And it's not just here. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:11 | |
There are potentially rich sources of it right across the country, | 0:09:11 | 0:09:15 | |
from Scotland to Devon. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
Here in the Mendip Hills of Somerset, | 0:09:19 | 0:09:21 | |
there have been mines and quarries since Roman times. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:25 | |
Now, most of them are worked out. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:27 | |
But many people round here are really concerned that the Mendips | 0:09:27 | 0:09:32 | |
could be the next area to attract fracking for shale gas. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:36 | |
It may not look much on a gloomy day like today, | 0:09:36 | 0:09:39 | |
but this quarry is in an area of outstanding natural beauty. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:43 | |
For campaigners like Nigel Taylor, shale gas seems like bad news. | 0:09:43 | 0:09:47 | |
Right behind me over my shoulder here is a site of special | 0:09:47 | 0:09:50 | |
scientific interest which dates back 700,000 years, geologically. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:55 | |
Above it is a botanical site of special scientific interest. | 0:09:55 | 0:10:00 | |
This is unique on the Mendip Hills. It's such a fragile ecosystem here. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:04 | |
Fracking's not going to affect that? | 0:10:04 | 0:10:06 | |
Can you give me the assurance of that? | 0:10:06 | 0:10:07 | |
If you're breaking up the rocks below us and turning around | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
and rupturing the limestone, pulling it apart, | 0:10:10 | 0:10:13 | |
the backwash of it could come up into the fissures, | 0:10:13 | 0:10:16 | |
could go into the caves. | 0:10:16 | 0:10:18 | |
If you imagine the Mendip with layers of water disappearing | 0:10:18 | 0:10:22 | |
through different passages, | 0:10:22 | 0:10:24 | |
at all different heights through the Mendips - | 0:10:24 | 0:10:26 | |
the Mendips are 1,000 feet tall - | 0:10:26 | 0:10:30 | |
You're talking... If the water levels are dropping through | 0:10:30 | 0:10:34 | |
the limestones and merging at the base in the springs there, | 0:10:34 | 0:10:37 | |
we don't know yet what level they are drilling at. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:39 | |
Until somebody can give us satisfactory answers, | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
nobody's going to be happy. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:44 | |
So, are we right to be pressing ahead? | 0:10:44 | 0:10:47 | |
Later, I will be hearing about concerns about fracking | 0:10:47 | 0:10:50 | |
close to our most beautiful cities. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:52 | |
And I'll investigate why the process is even to blame for earthquakes. | 0:10:53 | 0:10:58 | |
The Chiltern Ridgeway in Buckinghamshire. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:08 | |
An ancient old trade route that has relied on horse power for centuries. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:13 | |
In the rich, golden beach woodlands lying just below these hills, | 0:11:13 | 0:11:17 | |
the majestic workhorse is still very much a part of this landscape today. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:22 | |
Nick, you're a professional forester, | 0:11:22 | 0:11:24 | |
but you decided to use working horses in your day-to-day life. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:30 | |
It can't be easy. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:32 | |
Easy, no, it is hard work. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:34 | |
But it's a choice of conscience, | 0:11:36 | 0:11:37 | |
an ecological choice as well. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:39 | |
And it is fantastically traditional. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:41 | |
It is, it's something that has been happening in woodlands | 0:11:41 | 0:11:44 | |
for a couple of hundred years - oxen before that. | 0:11:44 | 0:11:47 | |
-Who is this lovely old boy pulling these logs? -This is Silent. | 0:11:47 | 0:11:52 | |
He's a 21-year-old Clydesdale, | 0:11:52 | 0:11:54 | |
and has been doing it for a good few years. | 0:11:54 | 0:11:56 | |
-Working hard for your living. So how old is he again? -He is 21. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:01 | |
How many hours a day would you expect him to work? | 0:12:01 | 0:12:05 | |
He will work an eight-hour day like us, but will do two hours on | 0:12:05 | 0:12:09 | |
and maybe a half hour's rest, another two hours, rest again. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:14 | |
So we're not overworking him. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:15 | |
It does vary, depending on how far we have to drag these logs | 0:12:15 | 0:12:19 | |
and how big a log we have to move. | 0:12:19 | 0:12:22 | |
A horse can happily work for around 20 years, | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
but then, like the rest of us, | 0:12:24 | 0:12:26 | |
they want to hang up their shoes and retire. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:29 | |
Which is the case for one very special group of horses | 0:12:29 | 0:12:33 | |
that I am now off to visit. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:34 | |
The Horse Trust is where | 0:12:34 | 0:12:36 | |
many of the nation's hardest-working horses come to retire, | 0:12:36 | 0:12:40 | |
including many from the police and military. | 0:12:40 | 0:12:43 | |
What does the trust focus on today? | 0:12:45 | 0:12:48 | |
We provide education and training, we also fund clinical research, | 0:12:48 | 0:12:53 | |
but here at the home of rest, we focus on offering | 0:12:53 | 0:12:56 | |
the time in respite for working horses, so horses | 0:12:56 | 0:12:59 | |
that would be the taxpayers' responsibility, like army, police. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:02 | |
Well, it's all very noble, but how did it start? | 0:13:02 | 0:13:06 | |
We're actually the oldest equine charity in the world, | 0:13:06 | 0:13:08 | |
we're 125 years old. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
We were started in 1886 by a lady who read the novel Black Beauty | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
and was inspired by the plight of the working London cab horse. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
So she rented a field and started loaning healthy horses | 0:13:18 | 0:13:22 | |
to cab drivers whilst offering respite care to their animals, | 0:13:22 | 0:13:26 | |
bringing them back up to health and then swapping them back. | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
We weren't implying there was cruelty in the way the horses were treated, | 0:13:29 | 0:13:33 | |
not malicious cruelty. Rather, they were just overworked, | 0:13:33 | 0:13:37 | |
and the drivers were doing their best to care for them in difficult circumstances. | 0:13:37 | 0:13:42 | |
'For some, however, | 0:13:42 | 0:13:43 | |
'it really has been a tragic case of animal cruelty.' | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
This is Duke. | 0:13:48 | 0:13:50 | |
Back in 2008, he was caught up in the infamous Spindles Farm case. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:55 | |
He and many other farm animals | 0:13:55 | 0:13:56 | |
were subjected to some bouts of horrific animal cruelty. | 0:13:56 | 0:14:00 | |
It has been described as | 0:14:00 | 0:14:01 | |
one of Britain's worst cases of animal cruelty. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:04 | |
32 horses were found dead and 111 other animals had to be | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
rescued from a farm in Buckinghamshire last week. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:10 | |
Even though the trust has helped nurture Duke back from the brink | 0:14:11 | 0:14:14 | |
of death, he has ongoing issues with colic, | 0:14:14 | 0:14:17 | |
and today, the vets are going to try to diagnose his problems | 0:14:17 | 0:14:21 | |
by passing a camera down him. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:22 | |
He is looking a bit dopey now. | 0:14:22 | 0:14:24 | |
First, the vet inserts the scope up poor old Duke's nose. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:28 | |
He then has to swallow it in order to inspect | 0:14:28 | 0:14:31 | |
the intestine further, all of which is pretty uncomfortable. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:35 | |
Colic - basically, there are various causes of it. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:37 | |
It means pain in the abdomen. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:40 | |
In some cases, it will be fatal, unless they have surgery. | 0:14:40 | 0:14:44 | |
In some cases, medical treatment will resolve the issue. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:48 | |
Fortunately for Duke, all his cases of colic have been medical | 0:14:48 | 0:14:52 | |
and we have been able to resolve them with painkillers and drugs. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:56 | |
This looks nice and healthy. Just stop for a second. | 0:14:56 | 0:15:00 | |
Just have a look at that. All right. | 0:15:00 | 0:15:03 | |
-He's just feeling that a little bit in his gullet. -Bits of hay. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:07 | |
Little bits of food material, | 0:15:07 | 0:15:08 | |
you see that nice, furry, carpet-like lining of the intestine. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:12 | |
You can see a few ulcers here, just those little red spots. | 0:15:12 | 0:15:17 | |
I wouldn't anticipate that that would cause | 0:15:17 | 0:15:20 | |
the sort of symptoms that you have described. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:23 | |
'It's good news that these ulcers aren't serious, | 0:15:23 | 0:15:26 | |
'but what is troubling him is still unclear, and he'll need further investigations.' | 0:15:26 | 0:15:31 | |
-Good man. There we go. -I've got it, that's it. -Terrific. Good boy. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:35 | |
Hopefully, Duke's problems won't escalate, | 0:15:35 | 0:15:39 | |
and he'll make a strong and swift recovery | 0:15:39 | 0:15:42 | |
so he can hook up with the other residents out at pasture. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:45 | |
Adding to those numbers are four newcomers that have just | 0:15:45 | 0:15:49 | |
been retired by Greater Manchester Police. | 0:15:49 | 0:15:51 | |
They are 17-year-old Jack Pridey, followed by Nickleby, | 0:15:51 | 0:15:55 | |
the oldest and longest-serving of the bunch at 19 years. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:58 | |
Oliver is a 17-year-old chestnut gelding, and finally, Fairfax, | 0:15:58 | 0:16:02 | |
the youngest at 14, and the flightiest. | 0:16:02 | 0:16:05 | |
But before they retire, there is one last job to do, | 0:16:07 | 0:16:10 | |
and that is to shake off those working shoes for good. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:14 | |
-So, that's it, the very last time the shoe will be on those feet. -Yes. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:20 | |
Do you know what? | 0:16:20 | 0:16:21 | |
I kind of think you ought to have that as a souvenir. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:26 | |
You ought to take that back and put it on the wall. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
OK, thank you! | 0:16:30 | 0:16:31 | |
Between them, these chaps have a combined 50 years of service | 0:16:31 | 0:16:36 | |
with the Greater Manchester Police, working in all situations, | 0:16:36 | 0:16:40 | |
including the recent public disorder and football matches. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:43 | |
Good boy. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:45 | |
Saying their final goodbyes are head groom Ann Firth | 0:16:45 | 0:16:48 | |
and officer Shane Wilson, who rode these boys regularly. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:52 | |
Ah, the last time you're going to feed them. | 0:16:52 | 0:16:56 | |
It's a bit of the moment, isn't it? I won't start you off! | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
Now, you have memories of these horses working hard | 0:16:59 | 0:17:03 | |
on the beat in all weathers, all times of day. | 0:17:03 | 0:17:06 | |
That's right, I had Nickleby for a year and Jack for six months. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:10 | |
Which was your favourite of the two? Impossible to say! | 0:17:10 | 0:17:14 | |
They are both totally different characters. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:17 | |
Jack is a very loving horse and shows you a lot of affection, | 0:17:17 | 0:17:20 | |
where is Nickleby is a solid police horse. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:24 | |
In the space of two weeks with my colleague | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
on patrol, we detained two burglars on two separate incidents. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:31 | |
On horseback?! It's a bit like the Wild West in Manchester, isn't it? | 0:17:31 | 0:17:36 | |
And how long have you worked with the police force for? | 0:17:36 | 0:17:39 | |
20 years in January. Exactly 20 years. | 0:17:39 | 0:17:42 | |
So you have seen these deliveries happen over the years | 0:17:42 | 0:17:46 | |
to various parts of the country. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:48 | |
-Does it get any easier? -No, it doesn't. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:52 | |
It's wonderful, but it is a very emotional time. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:56 | |
I love the welfare of the horses, and to see them come back | 0:17:56 | 0:18:00 | |
into a natural environment like this is absolutely wonderful. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:05 | |
Aww. Hey, at least you can keep an eye on them! They're in good hands! | 0:18:05 | 0:18:09 | |
Absolutely, it is wonderful. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
All of the hard-working retired horses at the trust are here | 0:18:14 | 0:18:17 | |
to live out their lives in as much comfort as possible. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:21 | |
And for Duke, a moment of freedom. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:23 | |
Poor old Duke, who we saw earlier with his endoscopy, | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
has now recovered from his jab and is raring to go. | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
Good lad. Look at that. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:35 | |
That is the sort of thing that kind of makes me tingle. | 0:18:36 | 0:18:40 | |
A horse like this that has had such a difficult and trying life, | 0:18:40 | 0:18:44 | |
now out here in this gorgeous environment | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
on a lovely winter's afternoon like this. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:50 | |
Doing what horses should do - relaxing, | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
and enjoying the evening sunshine. | 0:18:53 | 0:18:55 | |
A good old roll! | 0:18:56 | 0:18:58 | |
Earlier, we heard about the huge resources of natural gas | 0:19:04 | 0:19:08 | |
still trapped beneath our feet. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:10 | |
But the method used to get at it is proving highly controversial. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:15 | |
So, is it safe? Here's John. | 0:19:15 | 0:19:17 | |
It's reckoned there could be trillions of cubic feet of gas | 0:19:23 | 0:19:27 | |
locked away down deep beneath our landscape. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:30 | |
Enough, perhaps, to keep our lights on for decades. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:34 | |
But getting it is tricky and controversial. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:38 | |
It's claimed it can lead to flaming taps, polluted water, | 0:19:38 | 0:19:42 | |
and even earth tremors. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
A controversial drilling operation for natural shale gas | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
has been suspended after a small earthquake near Blackpool. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:51 | |
What happened in Lancashire has been blamed on hydraulic fracturing, | 0:19:51 | 0:19:55 | |
or fracking. That's the high-tech method of breaking up the shale | 0:19:55 | 0:19:59 | |
thousands of feet down to get to the gas. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
It was May this year when those tremors were felt, | 0:20:02 | 0:20:05 | |
and fracking was stopped immediately. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:07 | |
The company concerned has held its hands up. | 0:20:07 | 0:20:11 | |
No doubt the earthquakes were caused by your fracking. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:15 | |
Two of them, we did five altogether, and two of them | 0:20:15 | 0:20:18 | |
did have seismic activity that was related to the operation. | 0:20:18 | 0:20:22 | |
They were very small, they don't actually rate | 0:20:22 | 0:20:27 | |
as an earthquake that would cause damage or injury or anything. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:30 | |
But what we have done with this study is looked at different ways | 0:20:30 | 0:20:34 | |
of doing the treatments a bit differently, | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
and also being able to monitor all the operations so you can see | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
anything coming, before it even becomes | 0:20:40 | 0:20:43 | |
something small like the ones we already had. | 0:20:43 | 0:20:45 | |
A report into the tremors is currently being studied by the Government, so, at the moment, | 0:20:47 | 0:20:51 | |
only test drilling is happening at this Southport site. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:56 | |
It's miles from where the earthquakes happened, | 0:20:56 | 0:20:58 | |
but tremors aren't the only concern about fracking. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:01 | |
What about the cocktail of chemicals, water and sand | 0:21:01 | 0:21:04 | |
being pumped into the ground? | 0:21:04 | 0:21:06 | |
The city of Bath. People have come here to take the waters | 0:21:07 | 0:21:11 | |
since Roman times. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:12 | |
There are fears that, should the quest for shale gas come to | 0:21:12 | 0:21:16 | |
the nearby Mendip Hills, all this could be under threat. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:20 | |
How would fracking here in the Mendips affect | 0:21:20 | 0:21:23 | |
the water in Bristol and Bath? | 0:21:23 | 0:21:27 | |
I'm concerned that, if they're going to start drilling | 0:21:27 | 0:21:31 | |
down into the Mendip plateau, and interfering with the aquifers, | 0:21:31 | 0:21:35 | |
they are going to pollute the springs | 0:21:35 | 0:21:37 | |
and water that runs across to Bath. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:39 | |
They're going to back flush their fluids, | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
and that could break out into the watercourses underground. | 0:21:42 | 0:21:45 | |
70% of the water that people in Bath and Bristol drink, | 0:21:45 | 0:21:50 | |
and the surrounding areas, comes from the Mendip Hills. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:53 | |
And one of the biggest tourist attractions around here | 0:21:53 | 0:21:56 | |
are the Roman baths and Bath itself. Could they be threatened? | 0:21:56 | 0:22:00 | |
If the water is interrupted by the fracking methods | 0:22:00 | 0:22:04 | |
and is diverted underground, | 0:22:04 | 0:22:07 | |
or if we lose the source of its actual heating - | 0:22:07 | 0:22:10 | |
because bear in mind it is coming off the Mendips, | 0:22:10 | 0:22:13 | |
going deep down into the underground systems and being super heated | 0:22:13 | 0:22:17 | |
before it goes to Bath - what happens if that water gets diverted? | 0:22:17 | 0:22:21 | |
We end up going to have a cold bath in Bath. | 0:22:21 | 0:22:24 | |
And what about those spectacular flaming taps? | 0:22:26 | 0:22:29 | |
Could flammable gas really get into our water? | 0:22:29 | 0:22:32 | |
Well, those pictures from America of flames coming out of water taps, | 0:22:33 | 0:22:39 | |
that's pretty frightening. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:41 | |
Most geologists feel | 0:22:41 | 0:22:43 | |
the chances of methane from that far below coming almost two miles | 0:22:43 | 0:22:47 | |
up through very compressed, very high density rocks, is unlikely. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:53 | |
-Would it be possible? To see flaming taps in the UK? -I don't think so. | 0:22:53 | 0:22:58 | |
Certainly not natural amounts of methane could cause that. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:03 | |
That still leaves fears over earthquakes. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:05 | |
Mike Stevenson says we really shouldn't be worried. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:09 | |
There are natural earthquakes in this area, | 0:23:09 | 0:23:11 | |
as there are all over Britain. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:12 | |
In the last 15 years, | 0:23:12 | 0:23:14 | |
there have been 30 earthquakes | 0:23:14 | 0:23:16 | |
of the size that happened here due to fracking. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:19 | |
-In the UK? -Yes, and they happen naturally. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:23 | |
So we need to know what is a natural level before we can start | 0:23:23 | 0:23:26 | |
blaming people for causing earthquakes. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:30 | |
Because fracking is so new, I can well understand all the concerns, | 0:23:34 | 0:23:38 | |
even though scientists are saying it is highly unlikely that aquifers | 0:23:38 | 0:23:42 | |
will be contaminated or that we will see flames coming out of water taps. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:46 | |
But the gas industry says | 0:23:46 | 0:23:48 | |
the chemicals it's using are all perfectly safe. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:51 | |
But there is another concern, | 0:23:51 | 0:23:53 | |
and it is nothing to do with how they get the gas out of the ground. | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
I personally am not so concerned about the process of fracking. | 0:23:56 | 0:24:00 | |
I think with a very stringent and very carefully-developed | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
regulatory framework, we can deal with those sorts of sets of impacts. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:07 | |
My principal issue, and the game changer for me | 0:24:07 | 0:24:09 | |
in terms of shale gas, is the relation to climate change. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:13 | |
Prof Kevin Anderson is a climate scientist | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
who thinks using shale gas is a backwards step. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
The UK Government has very stringent commitments | 0:24:17 | 0:24:20 | |
to make significant reductions in carbon-dioxide emissions. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
20% by 2020. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:25 | |
Yes, but more significantly, | 0:24:25 | 0:24:27 | |
we would have to have | 0:24:27 | 0:24:28 | |
a de-carbonised electricity system by 2030 - | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
the Government's own committee on climate change say that. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:35 | |
So we can show, mathematically, | 0:24:35 | 0:24:36 | |
you cannot reconcile the development of shale gas in the UK | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
with the Government's commitment to climate change. | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
-Is that because it is yet another fossil fuel? -It is, yes. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
It may be slightly better than coal, but it is a high-carbon fuel, | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
and we should now be making the transition rapidly to zero or | 0:24:48 | 0:24:52 | |
very low-carbon fuels, and shale gas cannot be part of that portfolio. | 0:24:52 | 0:24:55 | |
For others, shale gas could be as important to our energy needs | 0:24:55 | 0:25:00 | |
as the discovery of North Sea oil and gas. | 0:25:00 | 0:25:04 | |
The Government believes it can ensure this new power source is both clean and safe. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:09 | |
I have been hearing a lot of concerns about fracking. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:12 | |
So, you can guarantee there won't be gas or chemicals | 0:25:12 | 0:25:15 | |
getting into our drinking water? | 0:25:15 | 0:25:16 | |
There is no question of relaxing any of the environmental | 0:25:16 | 0:25:19 | |
regulations that we have in order to protect clean water. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:23 | |
Most have been established at European Union level, | 0:25:23 | 0:25:25 | |
and that has given us very good, clean water. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:28 | |
We intend to keep it that way. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:30 | |
Shale gas could have an impact on your 20% target for reducing carbon. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:34 | |
I don't think shale gas would have an impact adversely on our target, | 0:25:34 | 0:25:39 | |
precisely because in the long run we would be looking to use | 0:25:39 | 0:25:42 | |
gas in the context of carbon capture and storage to generate electricity. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:48 | |
Obviously, if we can decarbonise our electricity supply, | 0:25:48 | 0:25:51 | |
rely on renewables, nuclear, and on clean coal and gas, | 0:25:51 | 0:25:56 | |
by carbon capture and storage, | 0:25:56 | 0:25:58 | |
then we can go on using these deposits | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
for a very long time to come. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:02 | |
Undoubtedly, shale gas has huge potential, | 0:26:02 | 0:26:06 | |
but, at the moment, carbon capture just is not commercially viable. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
And for many, there are still serious questions to be answered | 0:26:09 | 0:26:12 | |
before shale gas can be seen as an answer to our future energy demands. | 0:26:12 | 0:26:18 | |
Later on show, Adam discovers how his wheat gets turned into bread. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:25 | |
It's just incredible, I've never seen anything like it. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
I'll be on the trail of children's author Roald Dahl, | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
a man who managed to create | 0:26:31 | 0:26:33 | |
a flushbunkingly gloryumptious world of whimsy | 0:26:33 | 0:26:35 | |
that I've never grown out of. | 0:26:35 | 0:26:38 | |
And we'll be tracking down | 0:26:39 | 0:26:40 | |
the Countryfile weather forecast for the week ahead. | 0:26:40 | 0:26:44 | |
Magnificent beech woods and charming brick and flint villages | 0:26:58 | 0:27:01 | |
are quintessentially Chilterns landscape. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
But the beauty of Buckinghamshire's buildings comes | 0:27:04 | 0:27:08 | |
from the ground beneath, | 0:27:08 | 0:27:09 | |
and I'm going to see just how the clay that's unique to the Chilterns | 0:27:09 | 0:27:13 | |
goes from underground to overground. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:16 | |
In a region short of building stone, the rich, red clay | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
harnessed from beneath the hills make perfect bricks. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:24 | |
The land belongs to the Matthews family, | 0:27:24 | 0:27:28 | |
who have been hand making bricks in the area for the last 90-odd years. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:31 | |
Stuart Brown is a clay digger | 0:27:31 | 0:27:34 | |
who has been digging very big holes for them since he was a lad. | 0:27:34 | 0:27:38 | |
Stuart, is this pure clay you've been digging out? | 0:27:38 | 0:27:43 | |
No, this is what we call loam. We mix this with the clay. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
We use about a quarter to a third of it, | 0:27:46 | 0:27:48 | |
-depending on how strong the clay is. -How strong the clay is? | 0:27:48 | 0:27:52 | |
When you dig the clay from the top of the ground, it's a lot stronger | 0:27:52 | 0:27:55 | |
than when you get in the ground, because it is a lot milder. | 0:27:55 | 0:27:59 | |
And how do you know what proportion of each you need? | 0:27:59 | 0:28:02 | |
-It's like a sixth sense. -And what's going to happen | 0:28:02 | 0:28:06 | |
when you end up exhausting all of the clay and loam that you have? | 0:28:06 | 0:28:10 | |
Well, there are other sites to move onto. | 0:28:10 | 0:28:13 | |
It's in pockets, like small veins. Some of it's big, some small. | 0:28:13 | 0:28:17 | |
Once you start, you can then follow the veins through the land. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:21 | |
'A bit like surface mining, really. The clay here is pretty special. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:26 | |
'Normally, clay forms gently in layers of mud in a lake, | 0:28:26 | 0:28:30 | |
'but this stuff was created | 0:28:30 | 0:28:31 | |
'when a glacial flood tore through the Chilterns, | 0:28:31 | 0:28:34 | |
'dragging mud and rocks along with it, spreading its deposits.' | 0:28:34 | 0:28:37 | |
But it's not just the clay from down there | 0:28:37 | 0:28:39 | |
that is important in making the bricks. | 0:28:39 | 0:28:41 | |
The trees that tower above me here also play their part. | 0:28:41 | 0:28:45 | |
It was once a major industry, but now this place is | 0:28:47 | 0:28:51 | |
one of a handful of traditional brick makers left. | 0:28:51 | 0:28:53 | |
The beech trees from the wood are used | 0:28:55 | 0:28:57 | |
to fire the kilns that harden the bricks. | 0:28:57 | 0:28:59 | |
I'm meeting Jim Matthews, who runs the place. | 0:28:59 | 0:29:03 | |
So, you are still using a lot of the same resources | 0:29:03 | 0:29:05 | |
and skills that your grandfather would have used. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:07 | |
It's pretty much exactly the same as it was in his time. | 0:29:07 | 0:29:10 | |
There are a few other things like forklifts and electric motors, | 0:29:10 | 0:29:13 | |
but the process is the same. | 0:29:13 | 0:29:16 | |
And your grandfather was a bit of an eco-man himself. | 0:29:16 | 0:29:19 | |
He was very passionate about particularly the habitat | 0:29:19 | 0:29:23 | |
and maintaining the woodlands. | 0:29:23 | 0:29:25 | |
He actually wrote this book, which is like a journal for us | 0:29:25 | 0:29:30 | |
as a family to keep... | 0:29:30 | 0:29:31 | |
It is beautifully written. Look at that! | 0:29:31 | 0:29:34 | |
It has almost instructions to us that have been passed down. | 0:29:34 | 0:29:37 | |
"Think twice before you destroy." | 0:29:37 | 0:29:40 | |
So, we are careful to replant far more than we take, | 0:29:40 | 0:29:43 | |
and we have actually replanted | 0:29:43 | 0:29:46 | |
a net gain of 35 acres of native species, broadleaf woodland, | 0:29:46 | 0:29:49 | |
in the last 15 years. | 0:29:49 | 0:29:51 | |
As was his granddad's wish, | 0:29:51 | 0:29:53 | |
the whole operation is run with conservation in mind. | 0:29:53 | 0:29:56 | |
By replicating the traditional methods used, | 0:29:56 | 0:30:00 | |
the factory makes bricks that preserve the look so typical of the area. | 0:30:00 | 0:30:04 | |
The wood-firing leaves a distinctive smoky effect that you just don't get | 0:30:04 | 0:30:08 | |
with modern oil-fired kilns. But as well as the bog standards, | 0:30:08 | 0:30:12 | |
they make ornate specials, | 0:30:12 | 0:30:13 | |
often matching original bricks hundreds of years old. | 0:30:13 | 0:30:16 | |
It's like Geppetto's workshop in here! | 0:30:16 | 0:30:18 | |
Andy Hales will show me how. | 0:30:18 | 0:30:20 | |
-Good and cold. -Just roll it. Roll it away. That's it, let go. | 0:30:20 | 0:30:23 | |
Now, pick it up. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:24 | |
Yeah, little bit of a drag. Now, bang it down hard. | 0:30:28 | 0:30:30 | |
This is quite culinary. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:32 | |
Wire bow that little bit of excess clay off. | 0:30:32 | 0:30:34 | |
Once these beauties have been shaped, it's time to bake them | 0:30:34 | 0:30:38 | |
in a hot kiln for 24 hours at 1,000 degrees centigrade. | 0:30:38 | 0:30:41 | |
That's gas mark 36 to you and me! | 0:30:41 | 0:30:43 | |
-Sandcastles! -There we are. | 0:30:44 | 0:30:46 | |
-Ta-da! -And I could sell that one. | 0:30:46 | 0:30:49 | |
Really?! | 0:30:49 | 0:30:50 | |
The distinctive reddy hues of these Chiltern bricks have been used | 0:30:51 | 0:30:55 | |
on many a stately pile. | 0:30:55 | 0:30:57 | |
Hampton Court and Mapledurham House all boast | 0:30:57 | 0:31:01 | |
a bit of traditional Buckinghamshire brickwork. | 0:31:01 | 0:31:03 | |
But from grand houses and little cottages right back to ground level, | 0:31:03 | 0:31:07 | |
this might not look like a lot at the moment, | 0:31:07 | 0:31:09 | |
but the boys return all the land from which they got their clay | 0:31:09 | 0:31:13 | |
back to wildlife ponds, to agriculture and to native woodland. | 0:31:13 | 0:31:17 | |
Not only are Jim and the boys maintaining | 0:31:17 | 0:31:20 | |
the tradition of hand-making the bricks that characterise the area, | 0:31:20 | 0:31:24 | |
but they're also leaving a legacy for the landscape. | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
Now, over in the Cotswolds, | 0:31:31 | 0:31:33 | |
it's been a busy year for Adam out in the arable fields. | 0:31:33 | 0:31:35 | |
Today, he's on a journey to discover what happens to his milling wheat | 0:31:35 | 0:31:39 | |
once it leaves the farm. But before he does that, | 0:31:39 | 0:31:41 | |
the animals need a bit of attention. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:43 | |
Not you, cow! You're staying out! | 0:31:45 | 0:31:48 | |
Come on, goats! | 0:31:49 | 0:31:51 | |
As the winter months are drawing in, the days are getting shorter, | 0:31:51 | 0:31:54 | |
the nights are getting colder and wetter, | 0:31:54 | 0:31:56 | |
it's time these goats came into the shed. | 0:31:56 | 0:31:58 | |
Like many of the other animals, we house them for the winter. | 0:31:58 | 0:32:02 | |
Goats have got hair, not wool, so unlike sheep, | 0:32:02 | 0:32:04 | |
they haven't got a greasy, woolly fleece to keep them warm all winter. | 0:32:04 | 0:32:08 | |
They really come from arid countries, where it's warm and dry. | 0:32:08 | 0:32:12 | |
So, they suffer from the cold a bit. Come on, girls. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:14 | |
They're all females out here, apart from one Billy goat, | 0:32:14 | 0:32:18 | |
who's got an unusual way of attracting the ladies. | 0:32:18 | 0:32:21 | |
At this time of year, male goats really stink. | 0:32:21 | 0:32:24 | |
They're covered in pheromones, and rather disgustingly, | 0:32:24 | 0:32:27 | |
they wee on themselves. You think it makes you smell lovely, don't you, | 0:32:27 | 0:32:31 | |
but it doesn't. You stink! | 0:32:31 | 0:32:33 | |
Goats are one of the first animals to be domesticated, or tamed, | 0:32:33 | 0:32:37 | |
and they're so good at coming to a bucket of food, | 0:32:37 | 0:32:39 | |
you can pretty much do anything with them. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:42 | |
And food is exactly what I'm using to entice them | 0:32:45 | 0:32:48 | |
to their new home for the winter. | 0:32:48 | 0:32:49 | |
Come on, goats! | 0:32:49 | 0:32:51 | |
This is their winter housing, and it's a nice, airy, open shed | 0:32:59 | 0:33:02 | |
with lots of natural light and movement of air, | 0:33:02 | 0:33:05 | |
which is important for the health of the goats. | 0:33:05 | 0:33:07 | |
You don't want it too foggy in here, | 0:33:07 | 0:33:09 | |
otherwise there's a risk of them getting pneumonia. | 0:33:09 | 0:33:12 | |
And they like to be in groups, goats. They're herd animals. | 0:33:12 | 0:33:16 | |
They don't like to be isolated. | 0:33:16 | 0:33:17 | |
They just live like this happily all winter. | 0:33:17 | 0:33:20 | |
There's just one last job I've got to do. | 0:33:20 | 0:33:23 | |
Believe it or not, they need a pedicure, which we do twice a year. | 0:33:23 | 0:33:26 | |
Goats can get quite long toenails that curl right over, | 0:33:26 | 0:33:30 | |
and we just trim off the excess hoof. | 0:33:30 | 0:33:33 | |
Sometimes when they grow right over, it traps in dirt, | 0:33:34 | 0:33:39 | |
and they get foot rot. | 0:33:39 | 0:33:42 | |
These ones are very good feet. | 0:33:43 | 0:33:45 | |
There you go, all done. | 0:33:47 | 0:33:48 | |
With the goats all settled in for the winter, | 0:33:48 | 0:33:52 | |
it's time to put in a bit of halter training with my cows. | 0:33:52 | 0:33:55 | |
This one I've got, is a Belted Galloway, and Mike's got a Gloucester. | 0:33:55 | 0:33:59 | |
Belted Galloways come in three colours. | 0:33:59 | 0:34:02 | |
Black and white, red and white and dun and white. | 0:34:02 | 0:34:04 | |
This one is obviously black and white, and she's well marked - | 0:34:04 | 0:34:07 | |
a lovely big belt round her middle and over her tummy. | 0:34:07 | 0:34:10 | |
And she's called Paprika. She's a bit fiery. | 0:34:11 | 0:34:15 | |
And while she's small like this, while she's little, | 0:34:15 | 0:34:18 | |
I'm stronger than she is, and she learns to respect the halter | 0:34:18 | 0:34:21 | |
and learns that she can't get away. | 0:34:21 | 0:34:23 | |
But this Belty, when she's mature, she'll weigh as much as that bull. | 0:34:23 | 0:34:27 | |
And obviously be quite difficult to control. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:30 | |
Then, you can slip a halter on them and they seem to remember, | 0:34:30 | 0:34:33 | |
so if you've got a problem with them, | 0:34:33 | 0:34:35 | |
something in their eye or mastitis | 0:34:35 | 0:34:37 | |
or you just want to take them to a show, | 0:34:37 | 0:34:39 | |
you just put a halter on, and off you go. | 0:34:39 | 0:34:41 | |
That's the plan, anyway. | 0:34:42 | 0:34:43 | |
There we go, job done. | 0:34:48 | 0:34:49 | |
With the calves safely back indoors, I can turn my attention to my wheat. | 0:34:49 | 0:34:53 | |
It's been in these stores since August, | 0:34:53 | 0:34:55 | |
and is now ready to come out. | 0:34:55 | 0:34:57 | |
I'm hoping the milling wheat will make the grade | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
and could be turned into flour for making bread. | 0:35:00 | 0:35:02 | |
We've worked hard producing it, | 0:35:02 | 0:35:03 | |
so I don't want it ending up just as animal feed. | 0:35:03 | 0:35:06 | |
Martin's just loading a lorry-load of milling wheat. | 0:35:08 | 0:35:10 | |
This was grown on the farm. We've got about 700 tons of it. | 0:35:10 | 0:35:13 | |
Milling wheat is grown to quite a high specification, | 0:35:13 | 0:35:16 | |
particularly the protein. It needs to be over 12% | 0:35:16 | 0:35:19 | |
to be able to make it into bread. | 0:35:19 | 0:35:21 | |
We've got in the store here, we've got about 700 tons below. | 0:35:21 | 0:35:24 | |
Once it comes into the store, the job isn't done. | 0:35:24 | 0:35:27 | |
We have to look after it, it has to be kept cool and dry | 0:35:27 | 0:35:30 | |
so it doesn't go mouldy. | 0:35:30 | 0:35:31 | |
But once it's on the lorry and gone, it's a weight off our mind. | 0:35:31 | 0:35:35 | |
Because this is a precious load for us. | 0:35:35 | 0:35:37 | |
It represents 12 months of hard graft. | 0:35:37 | 0:35:40 | |
This milling wheat is really valuable stuff. | 0:35:40 | 0:35:43 | |
The price fluctuates all the time, depending on the world market | 0:35:43 | 0:35:46 | |
and what the grain prices are in Europe. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:49 | |
At the moment, it's worth about £155 a ton. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:52 | |
This lorry holds 29 tons, so there's about four and a half grand's worth | 0:35:52 | 0:35:56 | |
that'll be going off down the drive. | 0:35:56 | 0:35:58 | |
That's a year's hard work, and hopefully, | 0:35:58 | 0:36:01 | |
a cheque'll be arriving soon. | 0:36:01 | 0:36:03 | |
And this is normally the end of the process for us. | 0:36:03 | 0:36:06 | |
We sell our grain to a merchant and we never see it again. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:09 | |
But I'm keen to find out what happens when it leaves my farm. | 0:36:11 | 0:36:14 | |
I'm on my way to Southampton Docks, | 0:36:19 | 0:36:21 | |
to one of the largest mills in the UK. | 0:36:21 | 0:36:23 | |
That's where my wheat's going at the moment. | 0:36:23 | 0:36:25 | |
I've heard it's an amazing set-up. | 0:36:25 | 0:36:27 | |
It's supposed to be huge, so I'm really looking forward to seeing it. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:30 | |
Wow, this place is bigger than I expected. | 0:36:38 | 0:36:40 | |
There must be some pretty impressive machines behind those walls. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:44 | |
I can't wait to get inside. | 0:36:44 | 0:36:45 | |
I'm meeting Gary Sharkey. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:47 | |
He's worked in the grain trade for 27 years, | 0:36:47 | 0:36:49 | |
so he knows the industry inside-out. | 0:36:49 | 0:36:51 | |
-Gary, hi. -Hi, morning. | 0:36:51 | 0:36:52 | |
So, this is the first stop as my wheat comes to the mill, is it? | 0:36:52 | 0:36:56 | |
Yes, as each lorry arrives at the mill, | 0:36:56 | 0:36:58 | |
it comes here to the weighbridge. | 0:36:58 | 0:37:00 | |
We take samples from each lorry, and then it goes | 0:37:00 | 0:37:02 | |
straight into the laboratory behind us for testing and analysing. | 0:37:02 | 0:37:06 | |
-Can we have a look in there? -Yes, we can. | 0:37:06 | 0:37:08 | |
So, what we're looking for here | 0:37:08 | 0:37:10 | |
is the cleanliness of the grain, the smell. | 0:37:10 | 0:37:13 | |
What we'd like to make sure there isn't in there are things like mice, | 0:37:13 | 0:37:16 | |
insects, stones, rat droppings, | 0:37:16 | 0:37:20 | |
as an example we found before. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:23 | |
-And smell is important, then? -Smell is very important. | 0:37:23 | 0:37:26 | |
Let's have a little smell, then. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:28 | |
You don't want it to be mouldy. It smells pretty good to me. | 0:37:30 | 0:37:33 | |
We've had in the past, actually, we had one sample many years ago | 0:37:33 | 0:37:36 | |
where it took on the taint of a creosote fence | 0:37:36 | 0:37:38 | |
from outside the farmer's shed. | 0:37:38 | 0:37:41 | |
So, it takes on a lot of smell, it can. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:43 | |
Yep, a good, clean sample. | 0:37:43 | 0:37:45 | |
Lovely. Just like the stuff from my farm, I expect. | 0:37:45 | 0:37:48 | |
I'm sure! | 0:37:48 | 0:37:50 | |
Fortunately for me, my wheat does make the grade, and begins its journey into the factory. | 0:37:50 | 0:37:54 | |
Goodness me. When you think of a flour mill, | 0:37:54 | 0:37:57 | |
a lot of people would think of Windy Miller | 0:37:57 | 0:37:59 | |
and his old windmill, wouldn't they? | 0:37:59 | 0:38:01 | |
This is multi-million-pound technology these days. | 0:38:01 | 0:38:04 | |
We're producing lots of different flours on site. | 0:38:04 | 0:38:07 | |
This is a control panel that runs all four mills. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:10 | |
You can see we have quality data | 0:38:10 | 0:38:12 | |
-all the way through to the finished flour on the end here. -Crikey. | 0:38:12 | 0:38:15 | |
Like something out of Star Trek. How many types of flour are you actually producing? | 0:38:15 | 0:38:19 | |
We produce over 200 types of flour on this site alone. | 0:38:19 | 0:38:22 | |
But the machines are so noisy. | 0:38:22 | 0:38:24 | |
You can't hear a thing! | 0:38:24 | 0:38:26 | |
So we communicate using our own sort of sign language. | 0:38:26 | 0:38:29 | |
From what I gather, this is what's happening. | 0:38:29 | 0:38:32 | |
The grain passes through the top of this machine and the wheatberries are broken open. | 0:38:32 | 0:38:36 | |
It's then sucked up some pipes, five floors to the top of the mill. | 0:38:36 | 0:38:40 | |
It's sifted and then ground down in these machines to extract the flour. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:45 | |
The wheat's shaken up in this large container. | 0:38:45 | 0:38:48 | |
Basically, it's one massive sieve. | 0:38:48 | 0:38:50 | |
It's just incredible, I've never seen anything like it! | 0:38:50 | 0:38:53 | |
The flour now starts the next part of its journey, into the bakery. | 0:38:53 | 0:38:57 | |
This is the flour that you saw leave the mill. | 0:38:57 | 0:39:00 | |
And now we're here at the bakery. | 0:39:00 | 0:39:02 | |
And this will be added to what to make the bread? | 0:39:02 | 0:39:05 | |
Typically, water, yeast, salt, they're the main ingredients. | 0:39:05 | 0:39:09 | |
And how many loaves are you putting through this place at one time? | 0:39:09 | 0:39:13 | |
A typical bakery line will produce between four and 10,000 loaves, | 0:39:13 | 0:39:17 | |
depending on its size, each hour. | 0:39:17 | 0:39:19 | |
-Wow, that's a lot of bread, isn't it? -Yes. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:21 | |
So, can we see some loaves being made? | 0:39:21 | 0:39:23 | |
The whole process takes about three and a quarter hours, | 0:39:23 | 0:39:25 | |
-but we'll do it a bit quicker for you. -Thanks very much. | 0:39:25 | 0:39:28 | |
A lorry-load of wheat like mine will make around 50,000 loaves of bread. | 0:39:28 | 0:39:32 | |
Wow, that's the biggest dough mixture I've ever seen. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:36 | |
Uniformity is crucial. Every piece needs to weigh the same. | 0:39:36 | 0:39:39 | |
Bread! | 0:39:40 | 0:39:42 | |
914 grams. Excellent. Well within our specification. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:46 | |
-In the bin? -In the bin, please. | 0:39:46 | 0:39:48 | |
OK, so here we are at the front end of the oven, | 0:39:55 | 0:39:57 | |
and the bread's ready to go and travel through the 48 degrees. | 0:39:57 | 0:40:00 | |
-So, in these trays, there's loaves ready to go? -In each... Here we go. | 0:40:00 | 0:40:05 | |
-The dough's already started to rise. -Already started to rise. -Great. | 0:40:05 | 0:40:08 | |
To provide that perfect loaf at the end of the oven. | 0:40:08 | 0:40:11 | |
So, here we are, the final product. Go ahead, try one. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:24 | |
-Is that all right? -Yep. | 0:40:24 | 0:40:25 | |
It's amazing to think that all the work that's gone into | 0:40:25 | 0:40:28 | |
growing the wheat and then coming here with the process, | 0:40:28 | 0:40:31 | |
it's huge, isn't it? Over a year's work. | 0:40:31 | 0:40:33 | |
Over a year's work for you, and maybe another year of marketing | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
it before the actual flour sees us in the bakery, | 0:40:36 | 0:40:39 | |
so coming up for two years. | 0:40:39 | 0:40:40 | |
Next time I'm tucking into my sandwiches, I'll think of you. | 0:40:40 | 0:40:43 | |
I thought it was me doing all the hard work! Great stuff. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:46 | |
Next week, I'm back on the farm, | 0:40:46 | 0:40:47 | |
putting the rest of the animals to bed for the winter, | 0:40:47 | 0:40:50 | |
and I'll be finding out the results of my TB test. | 0:40:50 | 0:40:53 | |
Recently, local girl Helen returned home to Cumbria | 0:40:54 | 0:40:57 | |
to one of the country's oldest traditional agricultural shows, | 0:40:57 | 0:41:02 | |
and while she was there, | 0:41:02 | 0:41:03 | |
she was able to surprise one show-goer in particular. | 0:41:03 | 0:41:06 | |
# We are rowing around Lakeland | 0:41:08 | 0:41:11 | |
# What a pleasure and a joy | 0:41:11 | 0:41:13 | |
# The hills, the fens, the valleys | 0:41:13 | 0:41:16 | |
# I have loved since a boy | 0:41:16 | 0:41:18 | |
# Generations quickly pass | 0:41:18 | 0:41:20 | |
# Nature's beauty stays the same | 0:41:20 | 0:41:23 | |
# A piece of Heaven here on Earth | 0:41:23 | 0:41:25 | |
# And Lakeland, that's the name. # | 0:41:25 | 0:41:28 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:41:28 | 0:41:30 | |
It's been a great day. | 0:41:30 | 0:41:32 | |
I spent it amongst the hills at home, | 0:41:32 | 0:41:35 | |
in a very special place, untouched by time. | 0:41:35 | 0:41:37 | |
I'm in Wasdale in wild West Cumbria, and it's here you'll find | 0:41:40 | 0:41:43 | |
England's highest mountain, | 0:41:43 | 0:41:45 | |
somewhere hidden in the clouds, its deepest lake, and this, | 0:41:45 | 0:41:50 | |
one of the best little country shows in the land. | 0:41:50 | 0:41:53 | |
The Wasdale Shepherds' Meet dates back to the 1700s. | 0:41:53 | 0:41:56 | |
It's stayed true to its rural roots. | 0:41:56 | 0:41:58 | |
There's hundreds of Herdwick sheep on show, there's vintage tractors, | 0:41:58 | 0:42:04 | |
old farm machinery | 0:42:04 | 0:42:06 | |
and these, the traditional tool of the hill shepherd - the crook. | 0:42:06 | 0:42:10 | |
They take crooks seriously in these parts. | 0:42:11 | 0:42:15 | |
Competition for first prize is fierce. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:18 | |
The guy they all have to beat is Dennis Wall. | 0:42:18 | 0:42:20 | |
How do you get this from a sheep's horn? | 0:42:20 | 0:42:24 | |
Well, this is a sheep horn as we would get hold of it, | 0:42:25 | 0:42:28 | |
straight from the sheep, so to speak. | 0:42:28 | 0:42:30 | |
So, we boil it and flatten it. | 0:42:31 | 0:42:33 | |
We can then put it in blocks like that, | 0:42:36 | 0:42:39 | |
and incorporate in this jig. That's a bottle jack. And that's ten tons. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:43 | |
So we then jack it up, and when it reaches that top bar, | 0:42:43 | 0:42:47 | |
it'll simply force the horn into the shape of the blocks. | 0:42:47 | 0:42:51 | |
It's got nowhere else to go. | 0:42:51 | 0:42:53 | |
Once you've got your basic shape, it's time to file it down. | 0:42:53 | 0:42:58 | |
Don't tell Dennis, but I'm getting a few tips from his main rival, | 0:42:58 | 0:43:02 | |
Bob Cannon. | 0:43:02 | 0:43:03 | |
Dennis is just loitering behind us, Bob, but he's your competition. | 0:43:05 | 0:43:10 | |
Yes, strong competition, yes, yes. | 0:43:10 | 0:43:14 | |
I hear he's got a bit of a reputation. | 0:43:14 | 0:43:16 | |
He wins, I win, six of one and half a dozen of the other. | 0:43:16 | 0:43:20 | |
I can never imagine Man United and Man City | 0:43:20 | 0:43:22 | |
being underneath the same tarpaulin! | 0:43:22 | 0:43:24 | |
-You don't mind working alongside him? -No, not at all! | 0:43:24 | 0:43:28 | |
No, it's friendly rivals. | 0:43:28 | 0:43:30 | |
I think I may have caught the bark! | 0:43:36 | 0:43:38 | |
Oops, I think I'd better beat a hasty retreat, | 0:43:38 | 0:43:41 | |
but I'll be back later, not so much to see who's won - nope, | 0:43:41 | 0:43:45 | |
I've got a special surprise for one of the show-goers. | 0:43:45 | 0:43:49 | |
OK, then. | 0:43:49 | 0:43:51 | |
Wasdale's a proper shepherds' meet. | 0:43:56 | 0:43:58 | |
Tracey Harrison is a local lass, and her Herdwicks have done well today. | 0:43:58 | 0:44:02 | |
So, you've won all these today? | 0:44:02 | 0:44:04 | |
Yeah, these are all our gimmer sheep. | 0:44:04 | 0:44:06 | |
As you can see, we've got quite a few red rosettes, | 0:44:06 | 0:44:09 | |
so we're really pleased. | 0:44:09 | 0:44:10 | |
But there's been a lot of good competition. | 0:44:10 | 0:44:12 | |
I think there's more sheep here than I've ever seen been shown, | 0:44:12 | 0:44:16 | |
so it's good for the shepherds' meet, it keeps everything going, keeps people coming back. | 0:44:16 | 0:44:20 | |
And what makes you come and show your sheep? | 0:44:20 | 0:44:23 | |
It's a day out! | 0:44:23 | 0:44:24 | |
And you work all year to breed your sheep, and you look after them, | 0:44:24 | 0:44:29 | |
and it's chance to show them off. A social event, see everybody, | 0:44:29 | 0:44:32 | |
and it also promotes your stock for when you sell them at the market. | 0:44:32 | 0:44:37 | |
One of the highlights of the show is the fell race, | 0:44:39 | 0:44:42 | |
one of the toughest in the calendar. | 0:44:42 | 0:44:45 | |
Near 2,000 feet sheer up Kirk Fell. | 0:44:45 | 0:44:49 | |
Looking on is the greatest fell runner of them all, Joss Naylor, | 0:44:49 | 0:44:53 | |
shepherd and living legend. | 0:44:53 | 0:44:56 | |
-Are you still running now? -I am. | 0:44:59 | 0:45:02 | |
I did the mountain trial about three weeks ago for the 49th time, | 0:45:02 | 0:45:06 | |
and I enjoyed it. | 0:45:06 | 0:45:09 | |
I hope next year I'll be fit enough to do my 50th one. | 0:45:09 | 0:45:13 | |
-I'll have to keep working at it. -How old are you now? | 0:45:13 | 0:45:15 | |
75, but age doesn't matter, I don't think about that. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:20 | |
Will you carry on training or just do events? | 0:45:20 | 0:45:24 | |
I still do my training. I like to get out in the fells. | 0:45:24 | 0:45:29 | |
-I don't do a lot of events. -Did you not fancy doing this today? | 0:45:29 | 0:45:32 | |
It's too snotty and that. It's a young man's run, that, today. | 0:45:32 | 0:45:36 | |
I've been up and down there dozens of times. | 0:45:36 | 0:45:39 | |
We can't see because of the fog. What's it like up there? | 0:45:39 | 0:45:42 | |
Up there, it's hand-on-knee stuff for a lot of people. | 0:45:42 | 0:45:46 | |
If you started walking, you'll walk the lot after that. | 0:45:46 | 0:45:48 | |
Anybody who sets off up there running and they start walking, | 0:45:48 | 0:45:51 | |
that's them finished until they get to the top, | 0:45:51 | 0:45:54 | |
because they don't get to start running again - it's that steep. | 0:45:54 | 0:45:57 | |
It's one of the steepest mountains in the Lake District. | 0:45:57 | 0:46:00 | |
It'll be very, very greasy underfoot, and they'll have to be very careful. | 0:46:00 | 0:46:05 | |
I've seen a few people come down with bloody knees already. | 0:46:05 | 0:46:08 | |
That's right. | 0:46:08 | 0:46:09 | |
-Nice to see you. -Well done, mate. Magic. -Cheers, mate. | 0:46:09 | 0:46:13 | |
-It's cleared up, up there. -That's good. The top is clear. | 0:46:13 | 0:46:17 | |
Well, maybe I should give it a go, then. | 0:46:17 | 0:46:19 | |
Get this tackle on the way, lass! | 0:46:19 | 0:46:21 | |
Fell running can be dangerous. Only a few weeks ago, | 0:46:21 | 0:46:25 | |
it claimed the life of one of the sport's true greats, Bill Smith. | 0:46:25 | 0:46:29 | |
Apart from a few cuts and bruises, | 0:46:29 | 0:46:31 | |
no-one has come to any grief at the show today, | 0:46:31 | 0:46:35 | |
and away from the fell race, Dennis's crooks have come out on top. | 0:46:35 | 0:46:38 | |
I think it's first! It's a Herdwick horn as well. | 0:46:38 | 0:46:41 | |
They also made this year's Countryfile calendar. | 0:46:44 | 0:46:47 | |
The picture was taken at last year's Wasdale show by this fellow, | 0:46:47 | 0:46:51 | |
Derek Young, and he's about to get a bit of a surprise. | 0:46:51 | 0:46:54 | |
-Here you are again, Derek, taking photographs. -Yeah. | 0:46:54 | 0:46:57 | |
It was a bit different this time last year, though, wasn't it? | 0:46:57 | 0:47:00 | |
It certainly was. It was a lovely day last year. | 0:47:00 | 0:47:03 | |
Unfortunately, today, our sunshine is in liquid form. | 0:47:03 | 0:47:06 | |
We can see last year's picture in the calendar. How does that feel? | 0:47:06 | 0:47:10 | |
Very pleased, very pleased with it. | 0:47:10 | 0:47:12 | |
Right then, come on, tell me about these crooks. | 0:47:12 | 0:47:15 | |
What was it that caught your eye | 0:47:15 | 0:47:17 | |
and made you think, "I'm going to snap these"? | 0:47:17 | 0:47:19 | |
I took a picture of the crooks a few years ago when I was here. | 0:47:19 | 0:47:22 | |
It was OK, but I always felt it could be better. | 0:47:22 | 0:47:25 | |
So, last year I came back and I took the picture and thought it looked OK, | 0:47:25 | 0:47:29 | |
particularly because the winning crooks had been set up so nicely, | 0:47:29 | 0:47:33 | |
and it was facing such a lovely, low sun. | 0:47:33 | 0:47:36 | |
I was very fortunate. | 0:47:36 | 0:47:38 | |
Well, I can tell you that not only has your photograph made | 0:47:38 | 0:47:42 | |
the calendar, it was actually judged the judges' favourite. | 0:47:42 | 0:47:46 | |
-Wow. -Huge congratulations. Here's a signed picture for you. | 0:47:46 | 0:47:50 | |
John Craven has autographed it on the back, especially for you. | 0:47:50 | 0:47:53 | |
Brilliant, thank you. | 0:47:53 | 0:47:55 | |
And you also get £500 worth of photographic equipment. | 0:47:55 | 0:48:00 | |
We can get you a new rain cover. | 0:48:00 | 0:48:03 | |
He had a little sandwich bag before! | 0:48:03 | 0:48:06 | |
When the show is over and the last of the rosettes have all been won, | 0:48:08 | 0:48:11 | |
there's one final act, a song - | 0:48:11 | 0:48:14 | |
a traditional Lakeland air, sung by this man, Pat Temple, | 0:48:14 | 0:48:19 | |
the last of his kind, the last of the old-style shepherd singers | 0:48:19 | 0:48:23 | |
who sang at the end of shows like Wasdale. | 0:48:23 | 0:48:27 | |
# Work and leisure hand-in-hand | 0:48:27 | 0:48:29 | |
# A treat for the world to see | 0:48:29 | 0:48:32 | |
# We're roving round Lakeland | 0:48:32 | 0:48:35 | |
# What a pleasure and a joy | 0:48:35 | 0:48:37 | |
# The hills, the farms, the valleys | 0:48:37 | 0:48:40 | |
# I have loved since a boy | 0:48:40 | 0:48:42 | |
# Generations quickly pass | 0:48:42 | 0:48:44 | |
# Nature's beauty stays the same | 0:48:44 | 0:48:47 | |
# A piece of Heaven here on Earth | 0:48:47 | 0:48:50 | |
# And Lakeland, that's the name. # | 0:48:50 | 0:48:51 | |
Thank you. | 0:48:51 | 0:48:53 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:48:53 | 0:48:54 | |
If you'd like Derek's prize-winning By Hook Or By Crook hanging | 0:48:59 | 0:49:02 | |
on your wall in July next year, well, you need to buy | 0:49:02 | 0:49:05 | |
a Countryfile calendar, sold in aid of Children in Need. | 0:49:05 | 0:49:09 | |
Here's how you can get your hands on one. | 0:49:09 | 0:49:12 | |
The calendar costs £9, and a minimum of £4 | 0:49:15 | 0:49:17 | |
from each sale will go to Children in Need. | 0:49:17 | 0:49:22 | |
You can order it right now on our website, that's... | 0:49:22 | 0:49:25 | |
Or you can call the order line on... | 0:49:29 | 0:49:31 | |
You can also order by post. Send your name, address and check to... | 0:49:36 | 0:49:40 | |
Please make your cheques payable to BBC Countryfile Calendar. | 0:49:48 | 0:49:52 | |
In a moment, I'll be visiting a few of the locations | 0:49:59 | 0:50:02 | |
that inspired some of Roald Dahl's best-loved children's stories. | 0:50:02 | 0:50:06 | |
But first, here's the Countryfile forecast for the week ahead. | 0:50:06 | 0:50:10 | |
Earlier, I heard how the landscape here in the Vale of Aylesbury | 0:53:10 | 0:53:14 | |
inspired many a poet to write. | 0:53:14 | 0:53:16 | |
I visited the home of John Milton, | 0:53:16 | 0:53:18 | |
who was to Buckinghamshire what Shakespeare was to Warwickshire. | 0:53:18 | 0:53:22 | |
The landscape didn't just inspire highbrow poetry, | 0:53:23 | 0:53:27 | |
but also lashings of lovely children's literature. | 0:53:27 | 0:53:30 | |
Enid Blyton wrote the Famous Five here. | 0:53:30 | 0:53:32 | |
But it's another literary great that I'm here to find out about, | 0:53:32 | 0:53:36 | |
a man who managed to create a flushbunkingly gloriumptious world of whimsy | 0:53:36 | 0:53:40 | |
that I've never grown out of. | 0:53:40 | 0:53:43 | |
Roald Dahl, a man remembered as one of the most successful | 0:53:43 | 0:53:47 | |
and beloved children's writers of all time, | 0:53:47 | 0:53:49 | |
who lived here at Gypsy House in Great Missenden. | 0:53:49 | 0:53:54 | |
His works are littered with references | 0:53:54 | 0:53:56 | |
to the village and his surroundings. | 0:53:56 | 0:53:58 | |
The shiny red pumps of the garage on the high street gave inspiration | 0:53:58 | 0:54:02 | |
for Danny The Champion Of The World. | 0:54:02 | 0:54:04 | |
"My father owned the filling station and the caravan | 0:54:04 | 0:54:07 | |
"and the small field behind, but that was about all he owned in the world." | 0:54:07 | 0:54:11 | |
And there's yet more magic within the bricks and mortar of this place. | 0:54:11 | 0:54:15 | |
This house was the inspiration for Sophie's orphanage in the BFG, | 0:54:16 | 0:54:20 | |
which I have to say is one of my personal faves. | 0:54:20 | 0:54:23 | |
This museum was opened to honour the man himself, | 0:54:28 | 0:54:32 | |
and I've got a golden ticket to delve into their private archive | 0:54:32 | 0:54:35 | |
and take a sneaky peek at some of his original scribblings. | 0:54:35 | 0:54:38 | |
I'm meeting archivist Jane Branfield, wearer of white gloves | 0:54:41 | 0:54:46 | |
and privileged bearer of keys to a world of pure imagination. | 0:54:46 | 0:54:50 | |
Jane, he really was inspired by the natural world | 0:54:50 | 0:54:53 | |
and his landscape, wasn't he? | 0:54:53 | 0:54:55 | |
Yes, Roald always had a tremendous love of nature, | 0:54:55 | 0:54:58 | |
and you can see this even from when he was a very small boy. | 0:54:58 | 0:55:01 | |
-We've got all the letters he wrote to his mother. -Oh, wow. | 0:55:01 | 0:55:05 | |
And these early ones... | 0:55:05 | 0:55:07 | |
-Look at the handwriting, it's very neat for a young man. -I know. | 0:55:08 | 0:55:12 | |
Notice he signs them all, "Boy," | 0:55:12 | 0:55:14 | |
-probably because he had three sisters. -The boy of the family. | 0:55:14 | 0:55:18 | |
The letters are full of references to the nature walks | 0:55:18 | 0:55:22 | |
he goes on with his friends. In this letter, | 0:55:22 | 0:55:24 | |
he's particularly smitten with Mr Nicholl's lecture on owls. | 0:55:24 | 0:55:29 | |
"Mr Nichol gave us a fine lecture last night on birds. | 0:55:31 | 0:55:34 | |
"He told us how owls eat mice, they eat the whole mouse, skin and all, | 0:55:34 | 0:55:38 | |
"and then all the skin and bones goes into a sort of little parcel | 0:55:38 | 0:55:41 | |
"inside him, and he puts it on the ground, and these are called pellets. | 0:55:41 | 0:55:45 | |
"And he showed us some pictures." | 0:55:45 | 0:55:47 | |
-This here is one of Roald Dahl's ideas books. -Wow. | 0:55:47 | 0:55:51 | |
This is the original idea for James And The Giant Peach. | 0:55:51 | 0:55:54 | |
As you can see, it's very faint and it says, | 0:55:54 | 0:55:57 | |
"The cherry that wouldn't stop growing. A fairy story." | 0:55:57 | 0:56:00 | |
So, it was going to be a cherry to begin with. | 0:56:00 | 0:56:02 | |
Yes, yes, it was. We know that from other sources, too. | 0:56:02 | 0:56:05 | |
And then he settled on the peach, I think because it was softer. | 0:56:05 | 0:56:09 | |
Those animals could burrow in a bit better. Yeah, easier to cave into. | 0:56:09 | 0:56:12 | |
That's amazing. | 0:56:12 | 0:56:14 | |
Dahl would lock himself away in his writing hut in the garden | 0:56:16 | 0:56:19 | |
to pen his magical tales. | 0:56:19 | 0:56:21 | |
And rumour has it, he'd tell his children that wolves | 0:56:21 | 0:56:24 | |
lived inside, so they were too scared to come in and distract him. | 0:56:24 | 0:56:28 | |
From his home at Gypsy House, Dahl would walk here, | 0:56:32 | 0:56:35 | |
through Angling Springwood. | 0:56:35 | 0:56:37 | |
The name itself sounds pure fairytale, doesn't it? | 0:56:37 | 0:56:40 | |
It was here that he apparently took inspiration for Fantastic Mr Fox. | 0:56:40 | 0:56:45 | |
And so the story ends, | 0:57:03 | 0:57:05 | |
here at the local church in the village that meant so much to Dahl. | 0:57:05 | 0:57:08 | |
"We have tears in our eyes as we wave our goodbyes. | 0:57:08 | 0:57:14 | |
"We so loved being with you, we three. | 0:57:14 | 0:57:18 | |
"So do please now and then come and see us again, | 0:57:18 | 0:57:21 | |
"the Giraffe and the Pelly and me." | 0:57:21 | 0:57:25 | |
That's it from the literary landscape, | 0:57:32 | 0:57:35 | |
here in the Vale of Aylesbury. | 0:57:35 | 0:57:37 | |
Next week, I'll be off-roading with a difference | 0:57:37 | 0:57:40 | |
around the shores of Loch Lomond, | 0:57:40 | 0:57:42 | |
and Matt will be swimming with horses | 0:57:42 | 0:57:44 | |
around the islands of the loch. | 0:57:44 | 0:57:46 | |
I hope you can join us then, bye-bye. | 0:57:46 | 0:57:48 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:57:55 | 0:57:59 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:57:59 | 0:58:02 |