Browse content similar to Cornwall. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Sheltered coves and tumbling waves, sea spray and surf. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:31 | |
This is the glorious coastline of Cornwall. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
And it's more than just a feast for the eyes, | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
because along this coastline, underneath the waves, | 0:00:39 | 0:00:42 | |
there is plenty of food to be had. | 0:00:42 | 0:00:44 | |
You've just got to know where to look. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
And it's amazing what you can find with a bit of expert help. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:51 | |
Wow! Even from here, that perfume coming out of there. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:55 | |
-That's wild oregano. -I mean, certainly the earlier machines... | 0:00:55 | 0:00:59 | |
Helen's going back to a day that changed the world. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:03 | |
Tomorrow, it will be 100 years since Britain joined the First World War. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:07 | |
Here at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
they've turned the clock back to 1914, and I'll be finding out | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
what happened to the gardeners caught up in the conflict. | 0:01:12 | 0:01:15 | |
Tom asks if new towns can tackle an old problem. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:21 | |
Garden cities are back on the agenda | 0:01:22 | 0:01:24 | |
as a solution to our national housing shortage, | 0:01:24 | 0:01:28 | |
but what impact would these 21st-century towns have | 0:01:28 | 0:01:32 | |
on our countryside? | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
And Adam's helping his new bull to settle in. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:38 | |
Because he's much younger than they are, | 0:01:39 | 0:01:42 | |
and quite small in stature, | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
what he has to do is assert his authority, | 0:01:44 | 0:01:47 | |
and he's doing that with all those big bellows, deep grumbles. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:52 | |
Tropical green creeks... golden beaches... | 0:02:00 | 0:02:05 | |
and picturesque fishing villages. | 0:02:05 | 0:02:07 | |
This can only be Cornwall. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
I'm going to be exploring the coast near Newquay in the north | 0:02:13 | 0:02:17 | |
and St Austell in the south, looking for food for a fabulous free lunch. | 0:02:17 | 0:02:23 | |
For centuries, | 0:02:23 | 0:02:24 | |
fishermen have eked out a living along this rugged coastline, | 0:02:24 | 0:02:28 | |
but now there's a new generation with a whole new approach. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:31 | |
Ian Donald forages for food beneath the waves, | 0:02:34 | 0:02:37 | |
and he does it by just holding his breath. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:41 | |
They call it freediving, and Ian is going to show me how. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
So, Ian, what exactly is the concept of freediving? | 0:02:46 | 0:02:50 | |
Well, basically what we're doing is, we're holding our breath for, | 0:02:50 | 0:02:53 | |
-hopefully, an extended amount of time. -Yeah. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:55 | |
Enough time to be able to get down, you know, enjoy what's around us. | 0:02:55 | 0:03:00 | |
What really started me in a lot of this | 0:03:00 | 0:03:02 | |
was the fact that I could pick up my own sustainable, easily caught food, | 0:03:02 | 0:03:07 | |
delicious seafood, you know, right here. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
The whole point, obviously, is to be holding your breath. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
-I guess that's where we start. -Yeah. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:14 | |
We're going to get you to try holding your breath. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:16 | |
We're going to see how long you can do now, | 0:03:16 | 0:03:18 | |
-and then we'll see how long you can do after some training. -Yeah. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
-All right? -Yeah. -Comfortable? -Yeah. -In your own time. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:24 | |
No pressure, but I'm never going to make it as a freediver | 0:03:30 | 0:03:32 | |
if I can't hold my breath. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:34 | |
HE EXHALES Well done, that was good. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:40 | |
All right, so that's a baseline at around 40 seconds. | 0:03:40 | 0:03:42 | |
-Oh, that is pretty rubbish. -Well, it's not that bad. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:45 | |
-Right. -I've had worse. -How long can you hold yours for? | 0:03:45 | 0:03:48 | |
-About seven minutes. -Oooh! -Yeah. -Do you practise in the bath? | 0:03:48 | 0:03:51 | |
40 seconds. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
Well, I'll have to do a lot better than that | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
if I'm going to go in the water. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
Ian reckons, with a bit of training, he can double my time. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:05 | |
Here goes. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:08 | |
Slightly deeper than normal breath in. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:10 | |
Then full exhale. Just get rid of everything. Spit, spit, spit, spit. | 0:04:13 | 0:04:16 | |
Deflating. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
Then into your chest, in that big, wide open mouth. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:24 | |
That's it. And hold and relax. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:29 | |
Just keep loose. Keep loose. That's it. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:41 | |
You're going to start feeling those contractions coming. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:43 | |
Just relax. Don't shake. Just relax, relax, relax. Loose, loose, loose. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:47 | |
HE PANTS | 0:04:47 | 0:04:49 | |
-Well done. -Wow. -Do you want to know how long you did? | 0:04:49 | 0:04:52 | |
That is different. Yeah, go on. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:54 | |
Two minutes, one second. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:56 | |
Really? Did I?! | 0:04:56 | 0:04:58 | |
-There you go. -Oh, man. Wow. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:01 | |
Before I hit the water, I need to get kitted out. | 0:05:03 | 0:05:06 | |
But first, I've got to figure out how to get the suit on. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:09 | |
So, you're going to have to pull it down now, so just... Right, head up. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:13 | |
That's it. Right... | 0:05:13 | 0:05:15 | |
-'I don't remember Spider-Man finding it in this difficult.' -Keep going. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
-And breathe. -That's it, well done. Right... | 0:05:20 | 0:05:22 | |
-Good job we did all that breath-holding earlier. -That's it. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:26 | |
The hooded suit and extra-long fins make me more efficient in the water. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:30 | |
Now to put my new-found skills to the test and go in search of lunch. | 0:05:30 | 0:05:35 | |
That way. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:36 | |
My first ever freedive, and I think I'm going to like this. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:52 | |
That felt great. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:06 | |
It's so liberating, I can't tell you, just swimming along the bottom | 0:06:06 | 0:06:10 | |
and the fish are coming up and having a little look. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
There's a lot of life down here, | 0:06:18 | 0:06:20 | |
but we're looking for something we can eat. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:22 | |
The freediving mantra is take only what you need | 0:06:27 | 0:06:30 | |
and select animals of the right size and species. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:33 | |
-He's quite young. -He's small. | 0:06:40 | 0:06:42 | |
-There won't be much meat in him either. -Right. | 0:06:42 | 0:06:45 | |
'Brown crab is delicious, | 0:06:46 | 0:06:48 | |
'but this little fella is too small to eat, | 0:06:48 | 0:06:50 | |
'so we're going to put him back.' | 0:06:50 | 0:06:52 | |
Now, this looks more promising. A full-grown lobster. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:57 | |
It looks like it's been in the wars, | 0:07:00 | 0:07:02 | |
but even with one claw, it'll put up a fight. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:05 | |
Got it. That's one claw for me and... Sorry, Ian. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:18 | |
It's not a banquet, that's for sure, but I did manage to grab a lobster. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:26 | |
Quite a feisty little thing, he was. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:28 | |
A lovely way to get your food, and cos you're face-to-face with it, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
when you take it off the sea bed and you're going to eat it, | 0:07:31 | 0:07:34 | |
you have a lot more respect for your food that way. | 0:07:34 | 0:07:36 | |
You know exactly where it came from. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:38 | |
Well, I'm pretty pleased with my haul. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:43 | |
Later, I'll be scouring the shoreline for edible plants | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
to go with my freedived feast. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
Now, new housing and where to put it | 0:07:49 | 0:07:51 | |
is one of the most controversial issues in the countryside, | 0:07:51 | 0:07:55 | |
So, could a new wave of garden cities be the answer? Here's Tom. | 0:07:55 | 0:08:00 | |
The British landscape is a precious commodity | 0:08:05 | 0:08:08 | |
and many believe we should do everything possible | 0:08:08 | 0:08:12 | |
to protect it from development. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:14 | |
But having somewhere to live, a plot of land | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
and a home to call your own, | 0:08:17 | 0:08:19 | |
well, that's also a very precious commodity. | 0:08:19 | 0:08:22 | |
According to the latest statistics, we need to be building | 0:08:24 | 0:08:27 | |
around a quarter of a million homes a year to meet demand. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
At the moment, though, | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
we're managing to construct less than half of that. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
So, how are we going to make up for this shortfall? | 0:08:36 | 0:08:39 | |
The latest solution is an old idea, to build a wave of new garden cities, | 0:08:41 | 0:08:48 | |
and I've come to the world's first, Letchworth in Hertfordshire, | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
to meet the man championing the idea, | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:57 | |
So, what's your plan for garden cities? | 0:08:57 | 0:08:59 | |
I think if we return to the old tradition, if you like, | 0:08:59 | 0:09:03 | |
of Ebenezer Howard, Raymond Unwin, | 0:09:03 | 0:09:05 | |
those great pioneers who built places like this. | 0:09:05 | 0:09:08 | |
Beautiful, green, settled communities | 0:09:08 | 0:09:10 | |
with the right amenities, the right transport links, | 0:09:10 | 0:09:13 | |
places where people want to bring up children, | 0:09:13 | 0:09:15 | |
where they want to grow old. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
I think if we do that, with local support, | 0:09:17 | 0:09:19 | |
you can actually stop this endless aggravation around urban sprawl | 0:09:19 | 0:09:23 | |
and, instead, | 0:09:23 | 0:09:25 | |
build on a scale which also helps build the number of homes we need. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:29 | |
'The Deputy Prime Minister's initial plan | 0:09:29 | 0:09:31 | |
'is for three new garden cities, each with around 15,000 homes. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:36 | |
'But he says they'll only be built | 0:09:36 | 0:09:38 | |
'if local people propose and support them.' | 0:09:38 | 0:09:40 | |
Isn't there a danger, though, you'll replace, as you call it, | 0:09:40 | 0:09:43 | |
a rash of planning battles with, let's say, a handful, | 0:09:43 | 0:09:46 | |
three, four, five, really big ones, really iconic ones? | 0:09:46 | 0:09:50 | |
Well, that's why it's important that I'm saying | 0:09:50 | 0:09:52 | |
this will not go ahead unless there is local support. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:56 | |
It cannot be imposed from...you know, from the top, from the centre. | 0:09:56 | 0:10:00 | |
We're not going to just sort of drop a garden city | 0:10:00 | 0:10:02 | |
on top of a community that don't want it. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:04 | |
Garden cities were first proposed at the end of the 19th century | 0:10:07 | 0:10:11 | |
as an antidote to urban overcrowding. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:14 | |
The idea was to blend the very best of the town and the countryside | 0:10:14 | 0:10:18 | |
in a single community. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:20 | |
Letchworth came first, in 1903. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:23 | |
A step back in time with a little slide show of Letchworth. | 0:10:24 | 0:10:28 | |
This is Ebenezer Howard, the founder of the place, | 0:10:30 | 0:10:33 | |
the real godfather of the garden city movement in Britain. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:36 | |
After World War II, a fresh wave of so-called new towns were built, | 0:10:37 | 0:10:42 | |
32 in all, each inspired by garden city principles. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
'The satellite town scheme | 0:10:47 | 0:10:49 | |
'is planned to reduce the congestion in London | 0:10:49 | 0:10:51 | |
'and give workers employment in pleasant surroundings.' | 0:10:51 | 0:10:55 | |
But who is going to want to build one now? | 0:10:58 | 0:11:00 | |
It's still early days, | 0:11:00 | 0:11:02 | |
but one place that has already expressed an interest | 0:11:02 | 0:11:04 | |
in learning more about the scheme is Bicester, in Oxfordshire. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:08 | |
Councillor Michael Gibbard is the lead member for planning. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
So, what have you got in mind for Bicester? | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
We do have the existing Bicester. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:17 | |
We are now well under way with North West Bicester, | 0:11:17 | 0:11:21 | |
which is an eco-town. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:23 | |
We have housing where we are now. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:25 | |
We have South West Bicester, and Graven Hill. | 0:11:25 | 0:11:29 | |
But hang on. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:30 | |
This is a long-standing plan to expand Bicester | 0:11:30 | 0:11:34 | |
and give it 15,000 new greener homes. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:37 | |
Now the council want to call it a garden city. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
So, what is going on? | 0:11:40 | 0:11:42 | |
And what is it you think entitles this to be called a garden city | 0:11:42 | 0:11:45 | |
rather than a bunch of new housing developments round a town? | 0:11:45 | 0:11:49 | |
We have the opportunity to reshape Bicester | 0:11:49 | 0:11:52 | |
to fully integrate these new areas | 0:11:52 | 0:11:55 | |
and to do it in an eco-friendly way... | 0:11:55 | 0:11:59 | |
Really? A garden city? Honestly? | 0:11:59 | 0:12:03 | |
In order to create that, we do need additional investment. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:06 | |
We would look for the Government in promoting garden city. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
Does the change of title simply give you a way | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
of squeezing more money out of the Government? | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
If need be, I will do that, but it's a garden city by design. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:17 | |
So, being accepted as a garden city | 0:12:18 | 0:12:21 | |
may help Bicester unlock Government cash and support | 0:12:21 | 0:12:24 | |
for its housing expansion, but you don't have to go far | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
to discover what the impact of that expansion might be. | 0:12:27 | 0:12:31 | |
Wendlebury, a small rural village to the southwest of Bicester. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:38 | |
It's currently surrounded by green fields, | 0:12:38 | 0:12:41 | |
but that could be about to change. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:43 | |
Well, we've seen, haven't we, | 0:12:43 | 0:12:45 | |
from the developments that are going on, that the map is... | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
the road is coming all across this fantastic countryside over here. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:51 | |
'Julian Cordy heads up a protest group | 0:12:51 | 0:12:53 | |
'against one of the proposed Bicester development sites.' | 0:12:53 | 0:12:56 | |
-Hello. This must be campaign headquarters. -Yes, it is indeed. | 0:12:56 | 0:13:01 | |
'The group is not against the housing. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:04 | |
'It's fighting a road that goes with it.' | 0:13:04 | 0:13:06 | |
-What am I looking at here? -Well, this is a map of Wendlebury. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:09 | |
The big problem for us is this the proposed relief road. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:12 | |
It's proposed to come in right against our village over here, | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
within maybe 150 yards of houses, and it's there for no good reason. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:20 | |
Our big concern is the loss of our rural identity, | 0:13:20 | 0:13:22 | |
the potential impact of increased traffic coming through the village, | 0:13:22 | 0:13:26 | |
noise, and, really, losing our rural way of life | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
is a really big concern for us. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:31 | |
'To see how the area could be affected, | 0:13:31 | 0:13:33 | |
'Julian's taken me to one potential route for the planned road.' | 0:13:33 | 0:13:38 | |
Well, this is a lovely bit of countryside, | 0:13:38 | 0:13:40 | |
a footpath that a lot of the villagers use, | 0:13:40 | 0:13:42 | |
and this is actually the very site | 0:13:42 | 0:13:44 | |
where this proposed road may be going. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:46 | |
As you can see, it's fantastic countryside | 0:13:46 | 0:13:48 | |
and it's going to be under tonnes and tonnes of concrete. | 0:13:48 | 0:13:50 | |
Does this make you think that they're sort of... | 0:13:50 | 0:13:52 | |
they don't consider villages, they don't consider your feelings? | 0:13:52 | 0:13:55 | |
I don't think there's any doubt about that. They definitely do not. | 0:13:55 | 0:13:58 | |
Everything is tunnel vision, it's all about houses, houses, houses, | 0:13:58 | 0:14:01 | |
don't think about the villages, | 0:14:01 | 0:14:03 | |
don't listen to the impact, and it's not at all joined up. | 0:14:03 | 0:14:06 | |
The district council, to the county council, | 0:14:06 | 0:14:08 | |
to the Highways Agency, to the Environment Agency, | 0:14:08 | 0:14:10 | |
the whole thing is a complete muddle, | 0:14:10 | 0:14:12 | |
and we're the villages that are suffering as a result of it. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
The Wendlebury protest | 0:14:15 | 0:14:17 | |
illustrates one of the biggest potential problems | 0:14:17 | 0:14:20 | |
for new garden cities - local opposition. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:23 | |
And now this scheme's come through, | 0:14:23 | 0:14:26 | |
it looks like losing our home and everything we've worked for. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:30 | |
Post-war new towns attracted protests, but in more recent years, | 0:14:30 | 0:14:34 | |
even relatively modest plans for new rural housing | 0:14:34 | 0:14:38 | |
caused major controversy. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:40 | |
The Deputy Prime Minister, though, has a plan | 0:14:40 | 0:14:42 | |
to make garden cities more palatable for existing communities. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:47 | |
We could maybe give deductions on their council tax | 0:14:47 | 0:14:51 | |
for the period of time during which the garden city's being built. | 0:14:51 | 0:14:55 | |
We could possibly also say to those homes | 0:14:55 | 0:14:57 | |
where they think the price of their home will be affected, | 0:14:57 | 0:14:59 | |
we will guarantee the price of their home | 0:14:59 | 0:15:02 | |
by buying it, if you like, up front. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:04 | |
Wow, so if their home value is blighted by a nearby garden city, | 0:15:04 | 0:15:07 | |
you're saying the Government will step in and compensate them? | 0:15:07 | 0:15:09 | |
-We could. We could. -Really? That would be a big bill. | 0:15:09 | 0:15:12 | |
Well, I actually don't think it will be as big as people think. | 0:15:12 | 0:15:15 | |
All I'm saying is, we're actively looking at things like that | 0:15:15 | 0:15:17 | |
to show that we will go the extra mile | 0:15:17 | 0:15:20 | |
to allay those concerns of people who feel that their property | 0:15:20 | 0:15:23 | |
or the price of their home might be affected. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:26 | |
-We don't want people to lose out. -You buy them off? | 0:15:26 | 0:15:28 | |
This is something that we do anyway. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:29 | |
As a country where you have big infrastructure projects, | 0:15:29 | 0:15:32 | |
where people are affected, we make sure that they don't lose out, | 0:15:32 | 0:15:35 | |
and I think the same principle can and should apply to garden cities, | 0:15:35 | 0:15:39 | |
but to really give that belt and braces assurance | 0:15:39 | 0:15:42 | |
we are actively looking at those kind of things. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:44 | |
So, the Deputy Prime Minister is banking on local support | 0:15:44 | 0:15:47 | |
to make the new garden cities a reality | 0:15:47 | 0:15:50 | |
and, as we just heard, he's open to using public money | 0:15:50 | 0:15:54 | |
to win opinion round, but what would we get for that money? | 0:15:54 | 0:15:58 | |
I'll come back to this subject in a couple of weeks | 0:15:59 | 0:16:02 | |
to see whether present-day town and country | 0:16:02 | 0:16:04 | |
can ever sit happily together. | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
Back in Cornwall, the latest addition to the Countryfile team, | 0:16:12 | 0:16:16 | |
Anita Rani, is about to make a big entrance. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:19 | |
Stand by, Anita. In three, two, one. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:23 | |
Oooh! | 0:16:27 | 0:16:29 | |
Oh, my goodness! | 0:16:31 | 0:16:32 | |
28,000 tonnes of rock have just been blown up, | 0:16:34 | 0:16:39 | |
and this is the largest china clay pit in the world. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:43 | |
That was seriously impressive. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:45 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
Wonderful! | 0:16:47 | 0:16:48 | |
Over 500 acres in size and 450 feet deep. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:57 | |
Three million tonnes of clay are excavated from this mine every year. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:02 | |
But where does it all go? | 0:17:02 | 0:17:03 | |
Ivor Bowditch has worked here for nearly 50 years. | 0:17:05 | 0:17:09 | |
So, Ivor, we all know that a china cup makes the best cup of tea. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:13 | |
But what else is it used for? | 0:17:13 | 0:17:15 | |
Today, 50% goes into paper manufacturing. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
It is the supplement which would have the higher... | 0:17:18 | 0:17:20 | |
The shiny, glossy magazine paper? | 0:17:20 | 0:17:22 | |
..quantity, and you would be looking at, probably, 25% by weight, | 0:17:22 | 0:17:25 | |
that Saturday or Sunday supplement is containing china clay. | 0:17:25 | 0:17:30 | |
A quarter of the weight of my weekend paper. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:33 | |
The poor old paperboy. But clay is more versatile than that. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:37 | |
It's also used in pharmaceuticals, | 0:17:37 | 0:17:40 | |
rubber, paint, plastics, cosmetics - the list goes on. | 0:17:40 | 0:17:45 | |
What happens to all the waste? Presumably it's not 100% clay. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:49 | |
Every tonne of china clay, we have up to nine tonnes of by-products. | 0:17:49 | 0:17:53 | |
This very plant here supplied aggregate to the Olympic Village. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:57 | |
So, next time I'm cycling through the Olympic Village, | 0:17:57 | 0:18:00 | |
I will think about this very pit. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:02 | |
But to understand the true scale of this pit, | 0:18:02 | 0:18:05 | |
I've got to get down there. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:07 | |
This pit has been continuously mined since 1830. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
300,000 tonnes of china clay are mined here annually, | 0:18:12 | 0:18:16 | |
and the work goes on around the clock. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:19 | |
Meeting such big demand requires big toys. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:22 | |
It's huge! | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
If you stand by the wheel, it'll give you some indication of how big it is. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:32 | |
-There you go. -£5,000 a tyre. -Don't want to get a puncture, do you? -No. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:39 | |
-Can I get up there? -Yes. -Off to have a go in a dump truck. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:43 | |
Hello. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:45 | |
Carrying 65 tonnes in one load, | 0:18:46 | 0:18:49 | |
these monstrous trucks make light work of the huge quantities of clay. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:54 | |
OK, Chris, tip it. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:56 | |
About 65 tonnes just dumped. | 0:18:59 | 0:19:03 | |
-Easy as that. -Easy as that. | 0:19:03 | 0:19:05 | |
I didn't think it could get any better, but now for the best bit. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:15 | |
Firing water at the rock is the easiest way | 0:19:17 | 0:19:19 | |
of separating out the valuable china clay. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:22 | |
Up she goes. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:23 | |
This water cannon fires out 14,000 litres of water a minute, | 0:19:25 | 0:19:29 | |
or the equivalent of eight | 0:19:29 | 0:19:31 | |
Olympic-sized swimming pools a day... | 0:19:31 | 0:19:34 | |
..and at a force that's enough to blast a 4x4 clean off its wheels. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:41 | |
Ivor, do you think I've got a job? | 0:19:43 | 0:19:44 | |
I think you're shaping up. You're doing a proper job, | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
as we would say in Cornwall. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:49 | |
This is brilliant. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:51 | |
But I think I should probably leave this to the professionals. | 0:19:52 | 0:19:55 | |
It's an impressive landscape - | 0:19:57 | 0:19:59 | |
a white gouge beneath a soft blue sky. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:03 | |
Local artist Jenny Beavan | 0:20:05 | 0:20:06 | |
takes inspiration form the landscape around her. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:09 | |
She uses a variety of natural materials | 0:20:10 | 0:20:12 | |
found in the Cornish landscape, not least the china clay. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:17 | |
Here is the china clay, which has been processed | 0:20:20 | 0:20:23 | |
-so it might be a bit... -Ah, in powder form. -..loose in this wind. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:27 | |
It's so fine, isn't it? | 0:20:27 | 0:20:30 | |
So delicate. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:31 | |
It's like talc. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:33 | |
One minute I'm blasting it, | 0:20:33 | 0:20:34 | |
next minute helping Jenny make art with it. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
We're going to work with the idea of what water does. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
Water flows as a whirl. | 0:20:40 | 0:20:43 | |
She doesn't just take inspiration from the natural world, | 0:20:43 | 0:20:46 | |
she also uses it. | 0:20:46 | 0:20:48 | |
-What's in here? Wild flowers? -Yes. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:50 | |
Things that are seasonal. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:52 | |
So this is all local? | 0:20:52 | 0:20:54 | |
You just work with the earth, then, you really do. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:56 | |
They will go into the clay, | 0:20:58 | 0:20:59 | |
and they will eventually combust out | 0:20:59 | 0:21:02 | |
and they'll leave gaps so that the glaze can then fill. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:05 | |
I've travelled. I've worked in Japan and Finland and places | 0:21:07 | 0:21:10 | |
and I've seen bags of this china clay | 0:21:10 | 0:21:13 | |
-from Cornwall. -From Cornwall? -Yeah. -In Japan? -Yes. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
I feel so proud and I think, "How many other people | 0:21:16 | 0:21:18 | |
"know that this comes from this small little area of England?" | 0:21:18 | 0:21:22 | |
So this is 100% Cornish art. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:26 | |
Everything is set but Jenny's left me the tricky bit. | 0:21:26 | 0:21:29 | |
(She's going to let me pour it on.) | 0:21:29 | 0:21:32 | |
I don't know if that's wise! | 0:21:33 | 0:21:35 | |
Easy does it. | 0:21:36 | 0:21:37 | |
This thick clay will hold it all together. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:40 | |
Are there any beauty properties... Will I live for ever | 0:21:40 | 0:21:43 | |
if I cover myself in it? | 0:21:43 | 0:21:44 | |
-Everyone who works around here looks a lot younger. -Do they? -Yeah. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:48 | |
I'm figuring it's something to do with the clay. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:50 | |
Oh, my goodness! | 0:21:50 | 0:21:52 | |
This is just the start of the process. | 0:21:52 | 0:21:54 | |
Our piece will be left to dry for three months, | 0:21:54 | 0:21:56 | |
then it'll be fired and glazed | 0:21:56 | 0:21:58 | |
and maybe one day look like this, | 0:21:58 | 0:22:01 | |
taking its place alongside all of Jenny's inspired artwork. | 0:22:01 | 0:22:06 | |
There's something about this landscape | 0:22:08 | 0:22:11 | |
and the way the light's reflecting off the water. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:14 | |
It just looks beautiful. It's industrial and it's a wasteland | 0:22:14 | 0:22:18 | |
-but it's gorgeous. -It is. | 0:22:18 | 0:22:20 | |
What an absolute pleasure. | 0:22:20 | 0:22:21 | |
I've loved it. | 0:22:21 | 0:22:23 | |
What a better place to come and have my first ever ceramics lesson. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:27 | |
-This is pretty special. -It's perfect. -Thank you. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:30 | |
It's perfect. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:31 | |
In the spring, James Wong was in the countryside | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
looking at all the plants and flowers | 0:22:43 | 0:22:45 | |
bursting back to life. | 0:22:45 | 0:22:46 | |
A riot of life and colour | 0:22:46 | 0:22:48 | |
that we all know and love. | 0:22:48 | 0:22:50 | |
But there is one plant that's perhaps | 0:22:51 | 0:22:54 | |
captured our hearts more than any other - | 0:22:54 | 0:22:56 | |
the native bluebell, one of Britain's favourite wildflowers. | 0:22:56 | 0:23:00 | |
But there is more to this plant than meets the eye. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
I've come to meet a scientist on a mission | 0:23:04 | 0:23:07 | |
to unlock the secrets of the bluebell. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:09 | |
Hello? | 0:23:11 | 0:23:13 | |
-Hello. -Vera? | 0:23:13 | 0:23:14 | |
-James. -Good stuff. Good to meet you. -And you. | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
Originally from Germany, Doctor Vera Thoss | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
is a chemist at Bangor University. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:22 | |
She specialises in the study of plants | 0:23:22 | 0:23:25 | |
on a molecular level. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:26 | |
Vera, you're a chemist, not a botanist. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:29 | |
What's led you to study bluebells? | 0:23:29 | 0:23:30 | |
Because they've got interesting poisonous chemicals in them. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:34 | |
So you're not looking at them from the point of a plant, | 0:23:34 | 0:23:36 | |
you're looking at them from the point of, like, | 0:23:36 | 0:23:38 | |
-a cocktail of chemicals that's within theirselves? -Yes. | 0:23:38 | 0:23:41 | |
We are trying to chemically take apart to look at the individuals. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
What Vera is trying to do is explore the chemicals within bluebells | 0:23:48 | 0:23:51 | |
by breaking them down into their component parts. | 0:23:51 | 0:23:53 | |
To aid her research, | 0:23:53 | 0:23:55 | |
she is licensed to manage a wild colony of bluebells. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
She is the only person in Wales with such a licence | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
and one of only a handful in the entire UK. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:04 | |
Much of Vera's work has looked into | 0:24:07 | 0:24:09 | |
how bluebell conservation can be improved. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:11 | |
Along the way, she has also explored | 0:24:11 | 0:24:13 | |
how bluebells spread to form those magical carpets. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:17 | |
What you've got is | 0:24:17 | 0:24:18 | |
the flower. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:20 | |
Those flowers on here | 0:24:21 | 0:24:23 | |
will turn into seed capsules. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:25 | |
The seed will ripen in them. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:27 | |
It stays in them and at the end of the life, they fall down. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:30 | |
So you have got a little bit, just a short distance | 0:24:30 | 0:24:32 | |
away from where the flower was. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:34 | |
If that happens year in, year out, | 0:24:34 | 0:24:36 | |
if you've got a high density, | 0:24:36 | 0:24:38 | |
eventually you get a bluebell carpet. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:40 | |
But bluebells, like woodlands, | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
take decades or centuries to grow | 0:24:43 | 0:24:45 | |
because that spread continues. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
This is why, where you see a bluebell carpet, | 0:24:48 | 0:24:50 | |
it's taken as an indicator of an ancient woodland. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:53 | |
It's amazing how these enormous things can start from | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
very small beginnings. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:57 | |
But her research into these flowers | 0:24:57 | 0:24:59 | |
goes far beyond increasing the number of bluebells. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:02 | |
Look at this! It's like some kind of blue landslide. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:06 | |
-Painting the mountains blue. -Amazing. | 0:25:06 | 0:25:09 | |
When you look at this as a geeky chemist, | 0:25:09 | 0:25:11 | |
you're not looking at it in terms of being beautiful, | 0:25:11 | 0:25:14 | |
you're more interested in the chemicals that go on inside. | 0:25:14 | 0:25:16 | |
About half of all medicines that we use today | 0:25:18 | 0:25:20 | |
come originally from plants, also from a biological source. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
Bluebells are mostly described as poisonous. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:27 | |
But there are potential future medicines in there. | 0:25:27 | 0:25:29 | |
We know there is immuno-sugars in there. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:33 | |
Those immuno-sugars are potential anti-cancer drugs, | 0:25:33 | 0:25:37 | |
anti-TB drugs, so we still have to try to | 0:25:37 | 0:25:40 | |
tease them apart and see what are the individual ones, | 0:25:40 | 0:25:44 | |
what are their structure, what could they possibly do. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
We're still scratching the surface | 0:25:47 | 0:25:49 | |
when it comes to the medicinal potential of the plant world. | 0:25:49 | 0:25:51 | |
But with around 300,000 plant species on Earth, | 0:25:51 | 0:25:55 | |
that's a lot of testing. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:57 | |
Medicine aside, Vera reckons there may be even more uses | 0:25:57 | 0:26:00 | |
for bluebells. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:01 | |
How do you go from this | 0:26:03 | 0:26:04 | |
to finding out its potential future applications? | 0:26:04 | 0:26:07 | |
Well, the first thing we have to do | 0:26:07 | 0:26:09 | |
is look at the different components which are in the plant. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:12 | |
The oil, the carbohydrates, | 0:26:12 | 0:26:14 | |
the scent, the pigment. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:16 | |
What are they and how we can get them out. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:19 | |
And if you want... | 0:26:19 | 0:26:21 | |
we can maybe get the pigment out of these flowers. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:24 | |
First of all, though, we need to pick some. | 0:26:26 | 0:26:28 | |
It's not illegal to pick bluebells for your own use | 0:26:32 | 0:26:34 | |
but you would be breaking the law if you took the blubs. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:37 | |
And always get the landowner's permission | 0:26:37 | 0:26:39 | |
before you pick any wildflower. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:41 | |
How much do we need? | 0:26:42 | 0:26:44 | |
Oh. How much have you got? | 0:26:44 | 0:26:46 | |
That'll do. That will do. We can use those. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:50 | |
-OK, OK. -Just to illustrate the principle. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:53 | |
Having collected a few handfuls, | 0:26:54 | 0:26:56 | |
the next step is to add some solvent, | 0:26:56 | 0:26:58 | |
in this case, methanol. | 0:26:58 | 0:27:00 | |
What we should begin to see after a few minutes | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
is that the bluebells will begin to go pale. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
Right. So we've added the solvent to the flowers. | 0:27:11 | 0:27:15 | |
Pigment travelled into the solvent. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:17 | |
What we do is we leave it for a day, | 0:27:17 | 0:27:19 | |
take it back to the lab, | 0:27:19 | 0:27:22 | |
take off the flowers | 0:27:22 | 0:27:24 | |
and distil off the solvent. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:26 | |
What we are left with then | 0:27:26 | 0:27:27 | |
is something which looks like that. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:29 | |
Unbelievably, when you concentrate it down, | 0:27:29 | 0:27:32 | |
you get this really intense, almost like grape jelly kind of pigment. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:37 | |
So much darker than the flowers themselves. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:40 | |
So much darker than I ever imagined. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:42 | |
Vera is hoping to reveal | 0:27:44 | 0:27:47 | |
just how versatile bluebells can be. | 0:27:47 | 0:27:48 | |
But I've got an experiment of my own | 0:27:48 | 0:27:50 | |
that I'm keen to put to the test. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:52 | |
Just across the Menai Straits | 0:27:58 | 0:28:00 | |
lies Anglesey, home of an artist known for capturing | 0:28:00 | 0:28:02 | |
some of the most picturesque scenes of North Wales, | 0:28:02 | 0:28:05 | |
Janet Bell. | 0:28:05 | 0:28:07 | |
I'm hoping that she'll be able to use | 0:28:07 | 0:28:08 | |
this pigment in her latest creation, | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
a bluebell wood. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:13 | |
Janet. What a great place to be creative in! | 0:28:13 | 0:28:15 | |
Isn't it just. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:17 | |
I'm painting bluebells at the moment. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:19 | |
My painting's more about colour and form | 0:28:19 | 0:28:23 | |
rather than the detail of the flowers | 0:28:23 | 0:28:26 | |
-but I adore flowers so this is a great place to be. -Great. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:30 | |
In terms of capturing the hue of something, | 0:28:30 | 0:28:32 | |
I've got a little surprise for you. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:35 | |
I've got this pigment here, | 0:28:35 | 0:28:36 | |
which, believe it or not, | 0:28:36 | 0:28:38 | |
is a pure extract from the bluebells that you are taking | 0:28:38 | 0:28:41 | |
images of right now. | 0:28:41 | 0:28:43 | |
I'm wondering - I'm no artist - | 0:28:43 | 0:28:46 | |
whether you can paint with this. | 0:28:46 | 0:28:48 | |
I'm led to believe you can. | 0:28:48 | 0:28:50 | |
-OK. -Shall we have a go? | 0:28:50 | 0:28:51 | |
Absolutely. Let's have a go. | 0:28:51 | 0:28:54 | |
Wow. It really is quite strong purple, isn't it? | 0:28:54 | 0:28:59 | |
-Unusual texture. -An Indian ink kind of colour. | 0:28:59 | 0:29:01 | |
If I add white paint to it, let's see what happens. | 0:29:01 | 0:29:06 | |
That's quite a good purple. | 0:29:09 | 0:29:11 | |
BIRDSONG | 0:29:11 | 0:29:14 | |
That's real bluebell! | 0:29:16 | 0:29:18 | |
You're painting bluebells using bluebells! | 0:29:18 | 0:29:20 | |
Using bluebells. | 0:29:20 | 0:29:22 | |
The other interesting thing about this pigment, | 0:29:23 | 0:29:25 | |
is...it doesn't have a fixative in it, | 0:29:25 | 0:29:28 | |
so we don't know exactly how long | 0:29:28 | 0:29:30 | |
it'll keep its colour for. | 0:29:30 | 0:29:32 | |
So...the flowers in this painting | 0:29:32 | 0:29:35 | |
may be as fleeting as the real flowers | 0:29:35 | 0:29:38 | |
that you're taking pictures of! | 0:29:38 | 0:29:40 | |
OK. The bluebells are here for three weeks. | 0:29:40 | 0:29:42 | |
The painting might just be here for three weeks! | 0:29:42 | 0:29:45 | |
Yeah! It looks great as it is! We'll see what happens. | 0:29:45 | 0:29:48 | |
This may have been just a bit of fun, | 0:29:48 | 0:29:51 | |
but there is no denying that Janet has really captured | 0:29:51 | 0:29:54 | |
the beauty of these bluebells. | 0:29:54 | 0:29:56 | |
It never ceases to amaze me | 0:30:02 | 0:30:04 | |
about how even the most familiar plants | 0:30:04 | 0:30:06 | |
can still harbour this enormous range | 0:30:06 | 0:30:09 | |
of unknown properties. | 0:30:09 | 0:30:11 | |
Maybe one day we'll unlock the secrets | 0:30:11 | 0:30:14 | |
behind this fantastic little flower. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:16 | |
Earlier on, I learned to freedive and bagged myself a lobster | 0:30:19 | 0:30:22 | |
in the clear waters off Newquay. | 0:30:22 | 0:30:25 | |
Now I'm on the south coast, | 0:30:28 | 0:30:30 | |
looking for a seaside side dish. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:32 | |
There's plenty of foodie things to be found along the Cornish coast, | 0:30:34 | 0:30:38 | |
without even getting your feet wet. | 0:30:38 | 0:30:40 | |
Local wild food expert Tom Hunt | 0:30:43 | 0:30:45 | |
is going to help me put together a tasty side dish or two. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:48 | |
Tom, how are you doing? | 0:30:49 | 0:30:51 | |
Nice to see you. | 0:30:51 | 0:30:52 | |
You've obviously been very busy here. | 0:30:52 | 0:30:55 | |
Where do you get all this stuff from? | 0:30:55 | 0:30:56 | |
This has been all over. | 0:30:56 | 0:30:58 | |
I've been everywhere from my home this morning, | 0:30:58 | 0:31:00 | |
which is on the estuary, right round the coast | 0:31:00 | 0:31:02 | |
and a bit of the fields. | 0:31:02 | 0:31:03 | |
This time of year is a great time of year for foraging. | 0:31:03 | 0:31:06 | |
There's heaps of stuff - everything from flowers, | 0:31:06 | 0:31:09 | |
shoots, roots, berries, nuts. | 0:31:09 | 0:31:12 | |
It's just a great way of living. | 0:31:12 | 0:31:14 | |
It's a great lifestyle. | 0:31:14 | 0:31:15 | |
Has it ever gone wrong for you? Have you ever eaten the wrong stuff? | 0:31:15 | 0:31:18 | |
-No. -You must have done! Come on! | 0:31:18 | 0:31:20 | |
I get asked that question quite a lot. | 0:31:20 | 0:31:22 | |
It's an important point because | 0:31:22 | 0:31:24 | |
certainly at this time of year, | 0:31:24 | 0:31:26 | |
there's a hemlock water dropwort, | 0:31:26 | 0:31:28 | |
which is the most dangerous plant in the whole of the Northern Hemisphere. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:31 | |
It's fully in bloom and if you were to eat some of that, | 0:31:31 | 0:31:34 | |
you wouldn't get much past about three hours | 0:31:34 | 0:31:36 | |
before we'd wave you goodbye into the next world. | 0:31:36 | 0:31:38 | |
It's pretty potent stuff. | 0:31:38 | 0:31:39 | |
That's why I always tell people | 0:31:39 | 0:31:42 | |
get handbooks, cross-reference on the internet | 0:31:42 | 0:31:44 | |
and get yourself on a course. | 0:31:44 | 0:31:46 | |
That's how we can just incorporate the wild | 0:31:46 | 0:31:49 | |
into our everyday lives. | 0:31:49 | 0:31:51 | |
When it comes to wild food, | 0:31:52 | 0:31:54 | |
the saying is what grows together goes together. | 0:31:54 | 0:31:57 | |
Tom thinks we can get some great things | 0:31:57 | 0:32:01 | |
to go with my lobster right here on this beach. | 0:32:01 | 0:32:04 | |
We're going to start with quite a potent plant. | 0:32:04 | 0:32:07 | |
This is actually black mustard. | 0:32:07 | 0:32:09 | |
-OK. Definitely. -Brassica nigra. | 0:32:09 | 0:32:11 | |
It's in flower at the moment. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:13 | |
OK? | 0:32:13 | 0:32:14 | |
-Pop that in your mouth. -All of it? -Yeah. Whole thing. | 0:32:14 | 0:32:17 | |
It's pretty potent. Tell me what you think. | 0:32:17 | 0:32:19 | |
-Do I chew it? -Yeah. Certainly. | 0:32:19 | 0:32:21 | |
Yeah. I'm definitely getting that mustard straightaway. | 0:32:23 | 0:32:26 | |
Now it's getting spicy. | 0:32:26 | 0:32:27 | |
Very spicy?! | 0:32:27 | 0:32:28 | |
Now it's getting... Yeah, now it's hot. | 0:32:28 | 0:32:30 | |
Wow. | 0:32:30 | 0:32:32 | |
Yeah, that fills your whole mouth. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:35 | |
I tell you what, I was having a few problems equalising earlier on | 0:32:35 | 0:32:38 | |
but that's clearing my sinuses beautifully! | 0:32:38 | 0:32:41 | |
It's pretty potent stuff. | 0:32:41 | 0:32:42 | |
This is the reason that English mustard | 0:32:42 | 0:32:44 | |
is the strongest mustard of all | 0:32:44 | 0:32:46 | |
because we've got so much black mustard. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:48 | |
Tom's introducing me to some basic plants | 0:32:51 | 0:32:54 | |
I can seek for myself. | 0:32:54 | 0:32:55 | |
There's an incredible range of things to choose | 0:32:59 | 0:33:01 | |
just metres from the sea. | 0:33:01 | 0:33:03 | |
And in no time at all, | 0:33:03 | 0:33:05 | |
we've got ourselves a feast. | 0:33:05 | 0:33:08 | |
Look at this. Some beautiful stuff as well. | 0:33:08 | 0:33:10 | |
On a plate, I mean, you know... | 0:33:10 | 0:33:12 | |
It just looks delightful. | 0:33:12 | 0:33:14 | |
Well, it looks good. Have a smell. | 0:33:14 | 0:33:16 | |
Rub one of the leaves. | 0:33:16 | 0:33:17 | |
You've got to mash it up a touch. | 0:33:17 | 0:33:19 | |
Wow! | 0:33:21 | 0:33:22 | |
Even from here that perfume coming out of there. | 0:33:22 | 0:33:25 | |
That's wild oregano. | 0:33:25 | 0:33:27 | |
It's actually quite rare. We're quite lucky. | 0:33:27 | 0:33:30 | |
That's the first spot I've found of that in quite a while. | 0:33:30 | 0:33:33 | |
Foraging may be subject to local bylaws | 0:33:33 | 0:33:36 | |
so check for permission before you go gathering. | 0:33:36 | 0:33:39 | |
Above all, use common sense. | 0:33:39 | 0:33:42 | |
Don't damage plants or habitat | 0:33:42 | 0:33:44 | |
and don't eat anything if you're in any doubt. | 0:33:44 | 0:33:47 | |
What about this stuff? That looks quite interesting. | 0:33:48 | 0:33:50 | |
You must eat in posh restaurants. | 0:33:50 | 0:33:52 | |
I don't, to be honest with you. | 0:33:52 | 0:33:54 | |
I'm not, honestly! I hardly ever do, but go on. | 0:33:54 | 0:33:57 | |
-This is one that most... -Should I know what that is? | 0:33:57 | 0:33:59 | |
..most people, I would say, would recognise that one. | 0:33:59 | 0:34:03 | |
-Marsh samphire. -Hm. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
I love that stuff. | 0:34:06 | 0:34:07 | |
Hopefully, that lobster's going to taste | 0:34:07 | 0:34:10 | |
absolutely exquisite with a little bit of whatever we decide | 0:34:10 | 0:34:13 | |
to put next to it. | 0:34:13 | 0:34:14 | |
It beats popping to the local shops. | 0:34:15 | 0:34:17 | |
Or one of those posh restaurants. | 0:34:17 | 0:34:19 | |
We've easily got enough to make a proper fish supper. | 0:34:19 | 0:34:22 | |
Later, I'll be putting my culinary skills to the test | 0:34:22 | 0:34:25 | |
by cooking up that free-food lunch. | 0:34:25 | 0:34:28 | |
On Countryfile, we travel far and wide | 0:34:31 | 0:34:34 | |
to cover every corner of the UK. | 0:34:34 | 0:34:36 | |
But sometimes | 0:34:36 | 0:34:38 | |
it's just nice to have a little time in familiar surroundings. | 0:34:38 | 0:34:41 | |
This week, Adam's doing just that, | 0:34:41 | 0:34:43 | |
spending the day at home on his farm. | 0:34:43 | 0:34:47 | |
-Cheers. See you later. -See you later. | 0:34:47 | 0:34:49 | |
It's eight o'clock in the morning and I've been up for about an hour, | 0:34:49 | 0:34:53 | |
checking through e-mails and planning the week ahead. | 0:34:53 | 0:34:55 | |
Now I'm going to spend a day doing what I enjoy most | 0:34:55 | 0:34:57 | |
and that's getting out and about on the farm. | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
Although it's generally a quiet time of year now, | 0:35:00 | 0:35:02 | |
there still seems to be a lot going on on the farm. Everyone is busy. | 0:35:02 | 0:35:06 | |
But at least the sun is shining. | 0:35:06 | 0:35:08 | |
The first job I've got to do is turn one of my new bulls out | 0:35:17 | 0:35:20 | |
with the cows. | 0:35:20 | 0:35:21 | |
A few months ago, I had the great pleasure | 0:35:21 | 0:35:23 | |
of going up to the Queen's estate in Scotland, to Balmoral, | 0:35:23 | 0:35:26 | |
to see her wonderful herd of Highland cattle. | 0:35:26 | 0:35:28 | |
I met up with he farm manager, there, Docky. | 0:35:28 | 0:35:31 | |
Being a good Scotsman, he soon persuaded me | 0:35:31 | 0:35:33 | |
to buy one of his bulls. | 0:35:33 | 0:35:35 | |
-I want him. -Good! | 0:35:35 | 0:35:36 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:35:36 | 0:35:37 | |
Thank you very much. | 0:35:37 | 0:35:39 | |
Here he is. One of the lads has got him tied up for me | 0:35:45 | 0:35:47 | |
so I'll lead him out to his cows. | 0:35:47 | 0:35:49 | |
GATE CLANGS | 0:35:51 | 0:35:52 | |
He likes having his neck scratched. | 0:35:52 | 0:35:54 | |
Archie, like any new arrival onto the farm, | 0:35:54 | 0:35:57 | |
had to be quarantined, to make sure he wasn't carrying any | 0:35:57 | 0:36:00 | |
nasty diseases or infections. | 0:36:00 | 0:36:02 | |
I'm pleased to say this little fella | 0:36:03 | 0:36:05 | |
got a clean bill of health | 0:36:05 | 0:36:06 | |
so he's ready to finally meet his new lady friends. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:09 | |
BULL BELLOWS | 0:36:10 | 0:36:12 | |
He's certainly asserting his authority, | 0:36:12 | 0:36:14 | |
sounding very manly. | 0:36:14 | 0:36:16 | |
BULL BELLOWS | 0:36:18 | 0:36:21 | |
Go on! | 0:36:23 | 0:36:25 | |
BULL BELLOWS | 0:36:27 | 0:36:30 | |
I'm quite worried about him. | 0:36:32 | 0:36:34 | |
Because he's much younger than they are, | 0:36:34 | 0:36:37 | |
and quite small in stature, | 0:36:37 | 0:36:39 | |
what he has to do is assert his authority | 0:36:39 | 0:36:42 | |
and he's doing that with all those big bellows, | 0:36:42 | 0:36:45 | |
deep grumbles. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:47 | |
He's just checking out there's not another bull in the field. | 0:36:49 | 0:36:52 | |
BULL BELLOWS | 0:36:55 | 0:36:58 | |
The girls are actually very impressed. | 0:37:01 | 0:37:03 | |
BULL BELLOWS | 0:37:03 | 0:37:05 | |
They look like they're a bit nervous of him. | 0:37:05 | 0:37:07 | |
BULL BELLOWS | 0:37:07 | 0:37:10 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:37:17 | 0:37:18 | |
Dirty fella! | 0:37:18 | 0:37:19 | |
Now he knows there's no-one to fight with, | 0:37:20 | 0:37:22 | |
he's got something else on his mind. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:24 | |
BULL BELLOWS | 0:37:29 | 0:37:31 | |
Best to leave Archie to it | 0:37:32 | 0:37:33 | |
and take stock of some of our other beasts. | 0:37:33 | 0:37:36 | |
Just checking on some of my young bulls we've got here. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:39 | |
Belted Galloway, White Park, | 0:37:39 | 0:37:41 | |
and then this silvery Highland, | 0:37:41 | 0:37:44 | |
is Nevis. | 0:37:44 | 0:37:46 | |
He's Eric's son, my old Highland bull. | 0:37:46 | 0:37:48 | |
Unfortunately, he broke his horn off when he was younger. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:50 | |
He's still looking good. | 0:37:51 | 0:37:53 | |
We check around all the livestock at least once a day. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:02 | |
It's something I enjoy doing. | 0:38:02 | 0:38:04 | |
There's a group of sheep down here under the trees in the shade. | 0:38:04 | 0:38:06 | |
I'll drive round and get them all up. | 0:38:06 | 0:38:09 | |
It's important to see | 0:38:09 | 0:38:10 | |
all the animals up on their feet, walking about, | 0:38:10 | 0:38:12 | |
to make sure they're happy and healthy. | 0:38:12 | 0:38:14 | |
HE WHISTLES | 0:38:14 | 0:38:16 | |
Come by, sheep. And again. Come on. | 0:38:16 | 0:38:18 | |
They all look well so I'll check around the perimeter | 0:38:23 | 0:38:26 | |
and make sure the water trough is full, then this field's done. | 0:38:26 | 0:38:29 | |
It's all looking good for the animals I've seen so far. | 0:38:37 | 0:38:39 | |
But at this time of year it's our arable land, | 0:38:40 | 0:38:43 | |
which is really on my mind. | 0:38:43 | 0:38:45 | |
This is a field of our winter wheat. | 0:38:47 | 0:38:49 | |
We grow about 350 acres of wheat. | 0:38:49 | 0:38:51 | |
That makes up about a third of our cropable area. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:54 | |
It's a very important crop to us. | 0:38:54 | 0:38:56 | |
We invest a huge amount of money and time and energy in it. | 0:38:56 | 0:38:59 | |
Martin, our arable manager, is here just checking it over. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:02 | |
-Hi, Martin. -Hi, Adam. | 0:39:04 | 0:39:06 | |
This crop looks tremendous. | 0:39:06 | 0:39:08 | |
There's hardly any disease in it at all. | 0:39:08 | 0:39:10 | |
It's really good. Really pleased with it. | 0:39:10 | 0:39:12 | |
We're going to check and see how the nitrogen is going on in the plant | 0:39:12 | 0:39:15 | |
so we get good proteins. | 0:39:15 | 0:39:17 | |
We've been monitoring this now for two weeks. | 0:39:17 | 0:39:19 | |
Hopefully, we've still got plenty in the plant. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:22 | |
-You just squeeze some sap out... -That's it. -Like that. | 0:39:22 | 0:39:27 | |
You should just run in there. | 0:39:27 | 0:39:29 | |
We are looking for it to go purple pretty quick. | 0:39:29 | 0:39:32 | |
If you had low nitrogen, that would mean low proteins | 0:39:32 | 0:39:36 | |
and this would get rejected from bread-making and go into animal feed. | 0:39:36 | 0:39:39 | |
-That's it, yes. -This is perfect, isn't it? That's really good. -Yes. | 0:39:39 | 0:39:43 | |
Well done, you. Let's hope for a bumper harvest. | 0:39:43 | 0:39:45 | |
The crops are looking excellent. | 0:39:47 | 0:39:49 | |
A little later, I will be taking delivery of a new piece of kit | 0:39:49 | 0:39:53 | |
which I hope is going to make this year's harvest a breeze. | 0:39:53 | 0:39:56 | |
But before that, there are some sheep that need a bit of attention. | 0:39:58 | 0:40:01 | |
-Hi, Becka. -Hello. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:04 | |
So these are some lambs that Becka is treating for lameness. | 0:40:04 | 0:40:07 | |
A few weeks ago, we had an expert | 0:40:07 | 0:40:08 | |
come to the farm and advise us not to trim | 0:40:08 | 0:40:10 | |
our sheep any more with foot trimmers, | 0:40:10 | 0:40:12 | |
so we have avoided doing that. | 0:40:12 | 0:40:14 | |
We now spray their feet with this anti-biotic, antiseptic spray. | 0:40:14 | 0:40:18 | |
Then we will be putting a vaccine programme in place | 0:40:18 | 0:40:21 | |
and we have put in lime around the gateways. Hopefully, | 0:40:21 | 0:40:24 | |
in time, we will get on top of the problem. How are they looking, Becka? | 0:40:24 | 0:40:28 | |
Really well, actually, they are growing really well at the moment. | 0:40:28 | 0:40:31 | |
-Their feet are getting a lot better. -Good. | 0:40:31 | 0:40:33 | |
It is so difficult trying to keep the sheep's feet clean | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
in a situation like this in the pens, where they get mucky. | 0:40:36 | 0:40:39 | |
There is a risk of cross infection | 0:40:39 | 0:40:41 | |
so the lower the incidence of foot rot in the flock, | 0:40:41 | 0:40:44 | |
the less chance there is of that. Well done. Catch up with you later. | 0:40:44 | 0:40:49 | |
We are slowly getting on top of the feet problems | 0:40:52 | 0:40:55 | |
but I am finding it quite difficult not trimming their feet, it is | 0:40:55 | 0:40:58 | |
something I have done for ever. | 0:40:58 | 0:41:00 | |
When their toenails get long, the temptation is to trim them back. | 0:41:00 | 0:41:04 | |
But the advice is, leave them be. It goes against the grain a bit. | 0:41:04 | 0:41:08 | |
It is time to meet Martin again, to check out our brand-new beast. | 0:41:09 | 0:41:14 | |
An enormous combine ideal for the bumper harvest | 0:41:14 | 0:41:18 | |
we are really hoping for. | 0:41:18 | 0:41:20 | |
Goodness me, Martin, boys and their toys. | 0:41:21 | 0:41:23 | |
-You have been treating me again, haven't you? -Spoiling you. -I know. | 0:41:23 | 0:41:27 | |
So this cutter bar which cuts the wheat in the field, how long is that? | 0:41:27 | 0:41:31 | |
That is 30 feet this time. | 0:41:31 | 0:41:34 | |
-I think that is the biggest we have ever had on this farm. -It is, yes. | 0:41:34 | 0:41:37 | |
The header goes on the front of the combine and it cuts the crop | 0:41:37 | 0:41:40 | |
that then goes into the guts of the machine for threshing. | 0:41:40 | 0:41:43 | |
-She cost us, what, 250,000? -Yes. -So put that on finance over five years. | 0:41:45 | 0:41:50 | |
She has got to cover some acres. | 0:41:50 | 0:41:51 | |
How many acres are we going to be cutting? | 0:41:51 | 0:41:53 | |
It's got to cut at least 1,500 acres a year. | 0:41:53 | 0:41:55 | |
It's capable of maize, grass, seed, sunflowers, everything. | 0:41:55 | 0:41:59 | |
Tell me about these, tracks like you get on a tank. | 0:41:59 | 0:42:02 | |
Yes, we put tracks on this one this time. | 0:42:02 | 0:42:04 | |
The weight of the combine is over 20 tonnes, that is | 0:42:04 | 0:42:07 | |
without any grain in the tank. So that we can get up the hills easier. | 0:42:07 | 0:42:11 | |
Brilliant. It is really smart. | 0:42:11 | 0:42:13 | |
I can't wait to see it working in the fields. | 0:42:13 | 0:42:15 | |
-Won't be long. -Catch up with you later. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:17 | |
Come on then. | 0:42:21 | 0:42:23 | |
It is six o'clock now. | 0:42:30 | 0:42:32 | |
Just doing the evening feed, the animals indoors get fed twice a day. | 0:42:32 | 0:42:35 | |
This is Meredith, my lovely White Park bull I bought recently. | 0:42:35 | 0:42:39 | |
He'll be going out with the cows soon. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:41 | |
It's been a good day on the farm, the crops are looking good, | 0:42:41 | 0:42:44 | |
the lambs are all sorted | 0:42:44 | 0:42:45 | |
and Archie, my new Highland bull, settled in well. | 0:42:45 | 0:42:48 | |
Just a few things to sort out in the office and then home for tea. | 0:42:48 | 0:42:51 | |
Imagine a summer 100 years ago. | 0:43:02 | 0:43:05 | |
Crops ripening in the fields, | 0:43:05 | 0:43:07 | |
the sun beating down on farmers making hay. | 0:43:07 | 0:43:09 | |
Here, the gardeners of the Heligan estate were busy cutting, | 0:43:12 | 0:43:16 | |
pruning and tending vegetables. | 0:43:16 | 0:43:19 | |
But that idyllic summer would soon be shattered. | 0:43:19 | 0:43:22 | |
For a conflict like none before was coming. | 0:43:22 | 0:43:25 | |
Exactly 100 years ago tomorrow, | 0:43:25 | 0:43:27 | |
Britain declared war on Germany as part of the First World War | 0:43:27 | 0:43:31 | |
and nothing would ever be the same again. | 0:43:31 | 0:43:33 | |
It would cost millions of lives, | 0:43:35 | 0:43:38 | |
a whole generation of young men would be wiped out. | 0:43:38 | 0:43:41 | |
12 Heligan gardeners went to war but not all of them came home. | 0:43:42 | 0:43:47 | |
To find out more about the lost heroes, | 0:43:47 | 0:43:50 | |
I am meeting Heligan historian Peter Lavis. | 0:43:50 | 0:43:53 | |
-Hi, Peter. -Hello, Helen. | 0:43:54 | 0:43:56 | |
So what do we know about the 12 men who went to World War I from here? | 0:43:56 | 0:44:00 | |
We have got the Heligan estate labour book here | 0:44:00 | 0:44:04 | |
which dates from April 1914 | 0:44:04 | 0:44:06 | |
and it gives, under each day, the jobs that the men were allocated. | 0:44:06 | 0:44:12 | |
We have got a family called the Paynters. | 0:44:12 | 0:44:15 | |
We have got Richard Paynter, Frederick Paynter | 0:44:15 | 0:44:18 | |
and William Paynter. William was the father, he was a stonemason. | 0:44:18 | 0:44:23 | |
Richard was one of his sons, he was the carpenter here. | 0:44:23 | 0:44:26 | |
Here we have Fred, and there it is written, "Left to enlist". | 0:44:26 | 0:44:30 | |
-We know that 12 went. How many came back? -Only three. Nine perished. | 0:44:34 | 0:44:40 | |
75%. It is a big proportion. | 0:44:40 | 0:44:44 | |
Hearing that Britain had joined the war, they would never have | 0:44:44 | 0:44:47 | |
known how significant that was going to be, would they? | 0:44:47 | 0:44:50 | |
I think a lot of young lads thought it was an adventure | 0:44:50 | 0:44:52 | |
and didn't realise the implications of what they were going to fight in. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:57 | |
Why do you think it is important to pay tribute to these men, | 0:44:57 | 0:45:00 | |
and why do you think it is important to get the gardens back to how | 0:45:00 | 0:45:03 | |
-they were? -We pay tribute to these men because they gave their lives. | 0:45:03 | 0:45:07 | |
With the help of the families, we are | 0:45:07 | 0:45:09 | |
slowly putting those stories back together which means that | 0:45:09 | 0:45:12 | |
the men are coming back to life in people's memories. | 0:45:12 | 0:45:15 | |
There are echoes of those old gardeners at every turn. | 0:45:17 | 0:45:21 | |
Here and there are vegetable beds they laid out, | 0:45:21 | 0:45:23 | |
trees they planted and even old buildings | 0:45:23 | 0:45:26 | |
they would have used are just as they were back in 1914. | 0:45:26 | 0:45:31 | |
The gardens have undergone massive restoration. | 0:45:34 | 0:45:38 | |
They have been returned to their original splendour | 0:45:38 | 0:45:40 | |
and the methods and techniques would be familiar still | 0:45:40 | 0:45:43 | |
to the gardeners of 100 years ago. | 0:45:43 | 0:45:45 | |
Nicola Bradley is their modern-day equivalent, | 0:45:47 | 0:45:50 | |
keeping alive those old traditions. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:52 | |
-Nicola, hello. -Hello. -You look busy there. | 0:45:55 | 0:45:58 | |
I am, yes, just putting on some kale to go out in the winter brassica bed. | 0:45:58 | 0:46:02 | |
How close is this to how it would have been in 1914? | 0:46:02 | 0:46:07 | |
Pretty much as close as it could be, really. | 0:46:07 | 0:46:09 | |
They are so atmospheric, these buildings. | 0:46:09 | 0:46:12 | |
You can almost feel the gardeners of time gone by. | 0:46:12 | 0:46:15 | |
Let's get this kale on the next stage of its journey | 0:46:15 | 0:46:18 | |
so that we can enjoy it. | 0:46:18 | 0:46:20 | |
Will just pop them in this cold frame here | 0:46:27 | 0:46:30 | |
and we will make sure we put a net over them later. | 0:46:30 | 0:46:33 | |
-Keep the pigeons off. -Are birds a bit of an issue? | 0:46:33 | 0:46:35 | |
They are a nightmare, yes. | 0:46:35 | 0:46:36 | |
Of course, they would have had the same problem back in 1914, | 0:46:36 | 0:46:39 | |
they would have had pigeons. | 0:46:39 | 0:46:40 | |
But I think they would probably have had a lot of pigeon pie | 0:46:40 | 0:46:43 | |
-back then as well. -Win, win. -Yes. | 0:46:43 | 0:46:45 | |
I can imagine people ask you about why you do things in a certain way. | 0:46:45 | 0:46:49 | |
As far as we are concerned, it is a good way to garden. | 0:46:49 | 0:46:51 | |
It is very labour intensive, obviously. | 0:46:51 | 0:46:53 | |
People look at us like we're crazy sometimes | 0:46:53 | 0:46:55 | |
but we have got amazing soil and we can grow parsnips, | 0:46:55 | 0:46:59 | |
you know, that long, because we have got beautiful rich topsoil | 0:46:59 | 0:47:02 | |
and because we dug it that way. | 0:47:02 | 0:47:05 | |
Is there anything that they did in 1914 that you wouldn't do now? | 0:47:05 | 0:47:08 | |
They did use, believe it or not, cucumber straighteners. | 0:47:08 | 0:47:12 | |
Nicola, take me to the cucumber straightener. | 0:47:12 | 0:47:14 | |
A sentence I never thought I would say! | 0:47:14 | 0:47:16 | |
Completely derelict 25 years ago, the beautiful greenhouses | 0:47:22 | 0:47:26 | |
have been fully restored to their former glory. | 0:47:26 | 0:47:29 | |
-This is a cucumber straightener. -Of course! | 0:47:33 | 0:47:37 | |
You have got to attach it to a relatively small cucumber. | 0:47:37 | 0:47:42 | |
Back then, it was a matter of pride, you know, in the produce you produce. | 0:47:42 | 0:47:47 | |
Also, probably quite high expectations of your employer. | 0:47:47 | 0:47:51 | |
It said something about them, the produce that was on their table. | 0:47:51 | 0:47:54 | |
If it wasn't perfect, the guests would go away | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
and probably gossip about that. So it was very much a matter of pride. | 0:47:57 | 0:48:01 | |
-What are the little boxes? -They are basically natural predators. | 0:48:01 | 0:48:06 | |
They would have been spraying really horrible stuff like nicotine | 0:48:06 | 0:48:10 | |
and arsenic as pest control. Hideous chemicals. | 0:48:10 | 0:48:13 | |
Didn't that poison the plants? | 0:48:13 | 0:48:15 | |
Well, some of it would have gone into the plants, yes. | 0:48:15 | 0:48:19 | |
-Perfectly straight cucumbers with a side helping of arsenic! -Yes! | 0:48:19 | 0:48:23 | |
The summer that the First World War broke out was perfect. | 0:48:27 | 0:48:30 | |
The conditions were ideal for growing crops. | 0:48:30 | 0:48:34 | |
In the fields, | 0:48:34 | 0:48:35 | |
the gardeners of Heligan would have been harvesting hay. | 0:48:35 | 0:48:37 | |
To get a sense of how different that process was, I am turning | 0:48:45 | 0:48:49 | |
the clock back with the help of David Jones and Bumble, his horse. | 0:48:49 | 0:48:54 | |
Up until the First World War, | 0:48:55 | 0:48:57 | |
most of the jobs on the farm would have been done by horses. | 0:48:57 | 0:49:00 | |
They worked the hay pole, they ploughed, | 0:49:00 | 0:49:02 | |
they did pretty much all the jobs on the farm. | 0:49:02 | 0:49:05 | |
100 years ago, hay making was time consuming and labour intensive. | 0:49:07 | 0:49:12 | |
From scything the hay to cocking it for drying | 0:49:12 | 0:49:15 | |
required many man-hours and lots of elbow grease. | 0:49:15 | 0:49:18 | |
Today, we are trying our hand at some of those old methods. | 0:49:20 | 0:49:24 | |
I feel a little bit naive because when I see | 0:49:26 | 0:49:28 | |
pictures of my grandad doing this, exact thing in the fields, | 0:49:28 | 0:49:31 | |
I think, how romantic, | 0:49:31 | 0:49:32 | |
he was probably there enjoying the sunshine, moseying along. | 0:49:32 | 0:49:36 | |
But actually, you can't switch off. | 0:49:36 | 0:49:38 | |
It was hard work and relatively dangerous as well. | 0:49:38 | 0:49:42 | |
-This time I am going to concentrate and get it right. -Right, excellent. | 0:49:42 | 0:49:47 | |
-Do you want the reins as well? -Do you trust me? -Yeah, yeah. -Walk on! | 0:49:47 | 0:49:51 | |
-He probably won't listen to you. -Not many men do. | 0:49:51 | 0:49:54 | |
Bumbles. Come on, fella. Bumble. | 0:49:54 | 0:49:56 | |
-There you are. -Off he goes. Go on, Bumble. Walk on. Walk on. | 0:49:56 | 0:50:01 | |
It's so heavy! | 0:50:05 | 0:50:07 | |
Bumble! | 0:50:07 | 0:50:09 | |
Hey, look at you! | 0:50:12 | 0:50:14 | |
-Good boy! -And again. -Thank you, Bumble. | 0:50:18 | 0:50:22 | |
I am in Cornwall, where I have been foraging above | 0:50:31 | 0:50:34 | |
and beneath the waves for the ingredients for a seaside feast. | 0:50:34 | 0:50:38 | |
So far, I have caught a lobster with my bare hands | 0:50:38 | 0:50:40 | |
and plucked an array of herbs and sea vegetables from the shoreline. | 0:50:40 | 0:50:45 | |
All that is left is to cook it. | 0:50:45 | 0:50:47 | |
Simon Stallard runs a beach restaurant | 0:50:48 | 0:50:51 | |
and is a dab hand with foraged food. | 0:50:51 | 0:50:53 | |
There is a vision of a man who likes to be prepared. Simon, how are you? | 0:50:58 | 0:51:02 | |
Hi, Matt, how are you doing? | 0:51:02 | 0:51:03 | |
-Good to see you. -Welcome to Porthcurnick. | 0:51:03 | 0:51:05 | |
-Look at all these goody stuff that I have for you here. -Wow, wicked. | 0:51:05 | 0:51:09 | |
-That comes from Thom. This here is the result of my freedive. -Wow! | 0:51:09 | 0:51:13 | |
It's a lobster, as you can see, with just the one claw. | 0:51:13 | 0:51:15 | |
-Maybe a bit more practice? -I think so! | 0:51:15 | 0:51:18 | |
-Can you do something with that? -Yes, yes, we will get him on the grill. | 0:51:18 | 0:51:22 | |
What's it like for you to be out here cooking with | 0:51:28 | 0:51:31 | |
the sound of the water coming in, knowing that all of this stuff | 0:51:31 | 0:51:34 | |
has just been foraged from a matter of miles? | 0:51:34 | 0:51:38 | |
I don't think it gets any better, really. | 0:51:38 | 0:51:40 | |
I gave up my life living and working in London kitchens to come and | 0:51:40 | 0:51:43 | |
actually just cook and work around these waters with this produce. | 0:51:43 | 0:51:49 | |
We try to cook as much as we can over wood, coconut coals. | 0:51:49 | 0:51:53 | |
Just really about that sort of flavour, realness, | 0:51:53 | 0:51:56 | |
certainly unpretentious style of cooking, really. | 0:51:56 | 0:51:59 | |
'Simon has brought along the king of sustainable Cornish seafood, | 0:52:01 | 0:52:04 | |
'the spider crab.' | 0:52:04 | 0:52:05 | |
Look at the size of that one. That's huge. | 0:52:05 | 0:52:08 | |
'There are loads of them in our seas but we usually export them abroad.' | 0:52:09 | 0:52:13 | |
The majority, I think about 80%, goes to Spain. | 0:52:13 | 0:52:17 | |
The Spanish value it as much as lobster. | 0:52:17 | 0:52:19 | |
Unfortunately we don't seem to see the same value. | 0:52:19 | 0:52:22 | |
'Speaking of lobster, Mine is done.' | 0:52:23 | 0:52:26 | |
Look at that! | 0:52:26 | 0:52:28 | |
-I think you should just have a bit of your fruits. -Just to try it. | 0:52:28 | 0:52:32 | |
-Yeah, just get straight in. -Here we go. | 0:52:32 | 0:52:34 | |
That tastes absolutely beautiful. | 0:52:39 | 0:52:42 | |
The spider crab is cooked. | 0:52:44 | 0:52:47 | |
Now for the delicate task of getting at the meat, | 0:52:47 | 0:52:49 | |
which it turns out is anything but delicate. | 0:52:49 | 0:52:53 | |
My basket of leaves has given Simon food for thought. | 0:52:58 | 0:53:01 | |
I see that as my lemon juice, this here has lovely saltiness to it. | 0:53:02 | 0:53:07 | |
Just shredded down. | 0:53:07 | 0:53:09 | |
So I have got my saltiness, these can go in, we'll just roll them up. | 0:53:09 | 0:53:13 | |
My foraged sea beet is blanched | 0:53:13 | 0:53:15 | |
and is filled with the other ingredients. | 0:53:15 | 0:53:17 | |
In goes the spider crab, my lobster and all my hand-picked herbs. | 0:53:17 | 0:53:22 | |
The bite-sized parcels are then seared on the griddle. | 0:53:22 | 0:53:25 | |
Does it bring a different perspective to it that this | 0:53:25 | 0:53:29 | |
is all free? | 0:53:29 | 0:53:30 | |
It always tastes sweeter when it doesn't cost anything. | 0:53:30 | 0:53:33 | |
Looks like these fabulous cooking smells have attracted | 0:53:33 | 0:53:36 | |
a few scavengers. | 0:53:36 | 0:53:38 | |
This looks very productive. | 0:53:38 | 0:53:39 | |
Would you believe it, just in time! Here they come. Hungry bellies. | 0:53:39 | 0:53:43 | |
-Nice to see you all. -What have you got for us? | 0:53:43 | 0:53:46 | |
Well, this is an absolute delight. This is basically my day in a bite. | 0:53:46 | 0:53:51 | |
So we have got sea beet all round the outside. | 0:53:51 | 0:53:54 | |
Inside there you have got spider crab, | 0:53:54 | 0:53:56 | |
you have got hand-foraged and grabbed one-armed lobster. | 0:53:56 | 0:54:01 | |
-Right. -By my good self! | 0:54:01 | 0:54:04 | |
That is delicious. Really nice. | 0:54:04 | 0:54:07 | |
That is just perfect. | 0:54:09 | 0:54:11 | |
I might just lie down here on this beach | 0:54:11 | 0:54:13 | |
and just listen to the waves and fall fast asleep. | 0:54:13 | 0:54:16 | |
That is all we have got time for from Countryfile this week, | 0:54:16 | 0:54:19 | |
from the Cornish coast. | 0:54:19 | 0:54:20 | |
Next week the whole team will be in the Cotswolds, | 0:54:20 | 0:54:22 | |
where it is no-holds-barred. | 0:54:22 | 0:54:24 | |
Look at this. | 0:54:24 | 0:54:25 | |
-Did we say no mercy? -No mercy. | 0:54:25 | 0:54:27 | |
Come on! Oh! | 0:54:31 | 0:54:33 | |
-That is not like you, to be competitive. -Anyway, who wins? | 0:54:36 | 0:54:40 | |
-Find out next week. That is it from us. Goodbye. -How's that? -Delicious. | 0:54:40 | 0:54:44 | |
Hands off! | 0:54:44 | 0:54:46 |