Dorset Countryfile

It's been a great summer.

The fields of Dorset are filled with nature's bounty.

All around, the land speaks of plenty.

Agriculture shaped this land. Steam power shaped agriculture.

And machines like this changed the face of farming.

The Great Dorset Steam Fair

is a five-day celebration of all things steam.

I'll be going behind the scenes

to meet the people keeping this part of our heritage alive.

Before the advent of steam,

farming was a much more labour-intensive business,

but there was a ready workforce.

Romany gypsies would have travelled from farm to farm,

picking up seasonal work along the way.

It was work that suited their travelling lifestyle.

And thanks to modern-day Romanies,

we can still get a glimpse of what life would have been like.

And Adam's been finding out

what can be done to stop our pets attacking livestock.

I really enjoy taking the dogs for a walk on the farm

and they love it, but I try and keep them under control

and make sure they behave themselves.

But there are some dogs who cause havoc in the countryside.

Join me later to find out why. Come on, dogs.

Dorset.

Pretty as a postcard,

and more chocolate box vistas than a Swiss sweetshop.

The unspoiled coastline often steals the limelight,

with its World Heritage status and fossil-tastic cliffs.

But this week, I'm drawn inland,

to the chalky downlands near Blandford Forum.

And it's all getting a bit steamy.

Well, this isn't your usual country scene.

Spreading out behind me is 600 acres of the Great Dorset Steam Fair,

and this is its 45th year. It's steam heaven down there.

Look at them all, puffing away. There's rollers...

Tractors...

Threshers...

Woodcutters...

All kinds of enormous engines.

Steam's heyday was back in the mid-19th century.

It powered the Industrial Revolution.

Railways began criss-crossing the country.

Quiet rural villages became bustling towns.

Produce could zoom from the heart of farming communities

to the heart of a city faster than anyone had known before.

Our countryside was being transformed.

Soon, farms, fields and forests

all began to chug with the sound of steam.

The machines were well and truly off the rails.

Engines like these could rove around, self-propelled,

pulling huge loads for farming and industry.

They may look quaint today,

but back then, these were the future.

And even today, you can't help

but sit back and admire their beauty.

Right, John. Let's give it some welly!

Woo hoo!

'And she's going to need some welly.

'You won't believe what we are about to do.

'John Wakeham has owned Cracker for ten years,

'and now he's going to show us his party piece.

'Yes, we're wheelie-ing a steam engine.'

Well, that was an experience!

It was naughty. It was naughty.

-I thought you did this all the time, John.

-No, no, no.

So why do you call that naughty, then?

Well, it's not an authentic activity for an engine,

but it does show you how powerful this engine is

against today's tractor.

I know the engineering is perfect, and we aren't running any risks.

You can pull anything, anything at all.

As we found as the wheels went up into the sky there, John.

It worried you. It was worrying me as well!

BOTH LAUGH

So this is known as a traction engine.

This is a traction engine, an agricultural engine built

for whatever they could find to do with it.

It would be thrashing all winter.

Bit of stone crushing in the summer, bit of haulage on the roads.

Anything they could find to keep it working,

-they would be happy to do with it.

-What kind of an impact did it have?

It had tremendous impact,

because you moved from an acre a day,

from oxen and horses ploughing,

to 20 acres a day, no trouble at all for a pair of ploughing engines.

You increased production. This was an expensive thing to produce.

Modern tractors were much cheaper to produce,

and again speeded things up.

First World War, the men went off to fight. Tractors started creeping in.

Second World War, that was the real period

when these boys came off the road

and the Land Army girl was driving her tractor.

That's the lovely picture you see today

of Second World War agriculture.

Is she a she or a he, or...?

Well, it is a she, but it's a bit of a he, isn't it!

Excellent. Well, I know everything's on display here,

so you were talking about this steam plougher.

-Can we go and have a look at that?

-Yeah, it's on the hill over there.

-I think that's your next stop.

-Excellent. That was fun, man.

I'll never forget that, I tell you.

Thank you to you and him, or her, whatever.

Steam ploughing revolutionised farming, and our landscape.

Up until their advent, the work had been done by man and beast.

But steam power was not only more efficient,

it also changed the very form of our fields,

and the very character of our countryside.

Now, as then,

the trick is keeping your plough working in a straight line,

and it doesn't make it any easier

when you know you're being watched by the pros.

-I'm just keeping it close to the edge. Are you happy with that?

-Yeah.

Oh, we're getting a bit of speed up now!

Well, John, what do you reckon to that for a first attempt?

Well, he looks like a man who can do most things, doesn't he?

-It looks like he's done a little bit before, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

This is lovely.

It's so strange, because you can't hear an engine,

you can just hear the stones turning underneath.

-Isn't a bad job, is it?

-No, it's better

than some of the other television crews we've had here.

Dear, dear, dear!

How's it looking behind us, Derek?

-Is it all right?

-Yeah.

-Good.

'Well, I'm more than happy

'with my first attempt at steam ploughing.'

Derek, thank you so much for that. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It doesn't half make you realise

how sad it is that the age of steam has been and gone.

But full credit to you, lads, for keeping it alive. See you later.

Dorset's patchwork fields.

The summer's hot and ripening sun has set us up for a healthy harvest.

Today, combines and tractors make short work of it,

but in the age before machines, the harvest was dependent on a workforce.

Ideally, one that would arrive just as the crops were ripening

and move on when the work was finished.

Here in Dorset, that work was mostly done by Romany gypsies.

Romany gypsies have been part of the British landscape for centuries.

Unlike other travellers,

they trace their origins back to northern India,

more than 1,000 years ago.

Their nomadic lifestyle fit perfectly

with the seasonal nature of agriculture,

a connection that would last until machines replaced manpower.

Today, they are the largest ethnic minority in Dorset,

but their lifestyle has changed.

To find out how, I'm spending the day with a Dorset-based Romany family,

and I'm beginning with John Bond, who grew up in these lanes in the 1950s.

-You look like a movie star, John. Look at that!

-Yeah.

-That's fabulous.

-How old were you?

-About 11, 12.

And you used to actually stop on this very lane?

This lane here, just there. We all did.

Tell me about it. What was life like? What did you have to do?

Um, what we were doing was doing work on the farms.

Potato picking.

Then there was the sugar beet. That was in the winter.

We loved it, funnily enough. We loved what we were doing.

We would come back at night-time,

have our tea, big fire, dancing, singing.

-What do you feel, looking back, that you got out of that life?

-Knowledge.

How to live. How to survive.

'Romany gypsies had faced discrimination

'ever since their arrival in Britain, but as John was growing up,

'Romany culture was seriously under threat.

'Farm mechanisation meant the seasonal work dried up,

'and when gypsies left the farms

'and took to the roadsides in the '50s and '60s,

'laws were put in place that restricted where they could stop.'

Gradually, Romany people left behind life on the road,

forced to swap wheels for walls.

Today, there are about 300,000 Romany gypsies left in the UK,

and for many of them, the urge to travel

still courses through their veins.

And while most of the new generation have never lived on the road,

their traditions live on.

Such a rare sight, but really quite charming.

'This is Lee Hughes.'

-Any chance of a ride?

-Yeah, no problem.

-My foot up here?

-That's the one.

'A Romany gypsy who normally lives in a house and a nephew of John,

'who I've just been speaking to.'

So, even though Romany gypsies can't live the life they once lived,

how come you get to go about with your wagon like this?

Because we treat it more as a holiday now, really.

Just have a few days out,

because travellers don't like four walls and bricks and mortar.

Every now and then, they've got to get out, and this is what I do.

And it's a way of defying and keeping the tradition alive.

I was thinking, in 2013, how do you keep this way of life going?

-It must be tricky.

-It is tricky, especially with some of the cars.

Sometimes you think they're going to take the back of the wagon out.

-Really?

-It really is that bad.

-And what about in the eyes of the public?

The broad name "gypsy" has a different meaning to a lot of people.

-What do you think about that?

-Well, I don't know what to think, really.

Some people love to see travellers about,

and other people can't stand them.

You know, but I think

more people have more respect for this way of life

than they have with the motorised caravans and all that capers.

'Romanies often get confused with the travelling communities,

'but they are a distinct ethnic group.

'Just like the other travellers, though,

'they feel the same sense of being marginalised.'

At the end of the day, what are we hurting?

You're not polluting the air.

You know, when we've been on a campsite,

you can't see where we've been.

You can't even tell where we've had the fire.

So if it was up to you,

-would you choose this wagon over your four walls?

-Yes.

If you said to me tomorrow, "I'll buy you a house or a wagon",

I would say, "Buy me the wagon, please."

And you've got children yourself,

-so I guess you're keen to pass all this down to them as well?

-Oh, yeah.

-This is why I do it.

-So you take them out on these holidays?

-Oh, yeah.

You'll meet them in a minute.

'And here they come.

'All the family are here to set up camp.

'It's an echo of a time

'when caravans would pull up till the harvest was done.'

Show me around, Lee.

Well, this is the bed where the parents would sleep.

And underneath there is where the young kids would sleep.

The older ones would sleep in a tent.

And the older boys would sleep underneath there.

What about your kids?

Do you think they'll keep hold of this heritage and keep it going?

I'd like to think so. They've got it in their blood.

-If you ask... Mia, Mia, what are you, a gorgie or a gypsy?

-Gypsy.

-Aw! What's a gorgie?

-A gorgie's a non-traveller.

It's not a rude word for people,

but for people like you, it's a non-traveller.

-That's what we call gorgies.

-And she's gypsy, she said.

-Oh, yeah.

'And while these camps are a rare sight today,

'there is a tradition Lee can keep alive wherever he goes.'

# Well, I'm a Romany Rai

# You gorgies call me just an old didikai

# My home is a mansion beneath this blue sky

# I was born in a ditch

# That's why I'll never grow rich

# That's why they call me the Romany Rai

# Kakka little chavve dika kai

# Kakka little chavve dika kai

# My old daddy's gone to sell a mush a kushto grai... #

'It's been heartening to spend time with Lee and his family,

'to get such a close look

'at one of our countryside's most colourful cultures

'while it's still here.'

# ..Why they call him the Romany Rai. #

'Now, a few weeks back,

'Jules was in Wales' beautiful Elan Valley,

'where he found out there's more to its reservoirs

'than quenching our thirst.'

Imagine it's 1891, and I'm surrounded by a steep-sided river valley.

And hidden amongst the trees, there's the odd farmstead,

with livestock grazing gently.

Well, all that changed, thanks to a remarkable project

and a giant feat of Victorian engineering.

I'm talking dams. The region is dotted with them.

The valley was flooded way back to create the reservoirs we see today.

This lot is destined for Birmingham, and I'm here to find out why.

More than 100 years ago and 73 miles away, Birmingham was booming.

Its population was on the up, and that meant that for many,

conditions were squalid.

Clean water was vital, but providing it was a pipedream, literally.

Something had to be done.

This remote valley turned out to be Birmingham's saviour,

but why was this place chosen for such a large-scale project?

Rain, and lots of it.

Falling around 235 days of the year here,

it's almost three times wetter than Birmingham.

Narrow valleys made dam-building easier, too,

and also, the bedrock beneath is impervious,

making it ideal for holding water,

a big plus when you're building a reservoir.

The Birmingham Water Company, then run by the council,

bought the plot from two local landowners

and then set about the task

of relocating the 100 or so tenant farmers that lived here.

So now they had the land,

the big question was how to get the water from Wales to the city.

The answer was simple - gravity.

The reservoirs are higher up than Birmingham,

so the water shoots downhill all the way from Wales to the Midlands.

The design of the dams was an engineering marvel.

Even in an age of engineering marvels, they stood out.

To get a closer look at the design,

I'm meeting Noel Hughes, reservoir guardian.

Back in 1892, the City of Birmingham acquired a 72 square mile catchment

to build these massive structures to harness the water here in Wales.

But it must have cost a fortune.

The total cost was £6.6 million back in those days.

-Which these days seems like not a lot, but it would be billions.

-Quite.

In total, building all this

and doing the work in the inner cities almost bankrupted the city.

'But it didn't.

'The reservoirs were a success,

'and in 1904, the first drop of water left, bound for Birmingham.

'However, this dam was never completed.'

I love it, because it's a great way of understanding

the anatomy of these structures.

Each of these stones, as you can imagine, were weighed, cleaned,

-and believe it or not, this was the tool of the day.

-You're joking?

-No.

They used to clean each of the crevices

to make sure they were free of any debris

so that the concrete would engage and key into the stones.

Are you having a laugh?

No, this was possibly one of the most important tools required

-back in those days.

-That is extraordinary.

-Nothing was left to chance, then?

-No.

'A little touch of ingenuity,

'and it's meant these dams are in as good a nick

'as the day they were built.

'Like this one, eight miles away at Pen-y-Garreg.'

How much water is in this particular reservoir?

This reservoir holds 6,000 million litres.

To put that in perspective, it would last Birmingham just over two weeks.

But how do you get the water out of here on its way to Birmingham?

We have a series of valves we can open to release it.

Come on, I'll show you.

'There are 174 steps between the top and the bottom.

'Cheers, Noel, you could have said.'

So this is the business end.

-This is the business end.

-And is this an original valve?

-That's right.

-110 years of age.

-And it still works. Very much so.

-Right, which way do we turn it?

-Clockwise, if I remember rightly.

Here we go.

You can hear the water, can't you?

Wow!

There it is. This water is now racing off to the Midlands.

Now, they tell me it's going at about one mile an hour,

which means that this lot should get to Birmingham...

in about three days.

'So while the water follows its course,

'I'm getting a closer look at the reservoirs, paddle in hand.'

Ed Parsons manages the Elan Valley Estate which takes in the dams,

reservoirs, and the surrounding countryside.

-Shall we have a breather?

-Yeah, cool!

-Why not enjoy it?

I mean, this is a real treat for me.

I've often looked at these lakes and wondered what this dramatic

landscape would really look like from the surface, but here we are.

Absolutely, I mean, I think it's one

of the best ways to see the estate...

and marvel at the fantastic Victorian engineering.

I mean, you can see in front of us

the Garreg divider with the tower right behind that and that's

where the water's abstracted for the treatment works.

But there are lots of other little secrets, aren't there,

-tucked away in these valleys and caves?

-There certainly are, this

site played an important role

in the Second World War. There are pillboxes

you can still see today where the Home Guard were stationed.

You can understand its strategic importance.

Quite, absolutely, yeah,

and it was also used as a firing range I understand too.

'During the Second World War,

'the larger dams were protected from potential German raids, but it

'was another dam that was to play a much more significant wartime role.

'The small Nant-y-Gro Dam was important in the development

'of Sir Barnes Wallis' bouncing bomb

'famously used in the Dambusters raid of 1943.'

Now most of us are familiar with Derwentwater in Derbyshire

as the test site for the bomb practise run,

but the charge for that bomb was finally worked out here.

This tiny little dam has been obscured by trees for decades

until now.

Wallis and his team of engineers had been scouring the country looking

for suitable test sites, but when they got here to Nant-y-Gro

it must have been something like a eureka moment.

Tiny as it now looks, when it was complete,

this dam was about one fifth the size of their principal target,

the Mohne Dam, but, crucially, it was ten times bigger than any

model they'd built previously upon which to practice.

So, the idea in theory was simple -

if they could figure out how to destroy this lot...

they might yet come up with a plan to destroy the dams in Germany.

Now long before the bouncing bomb itself had been produced,

the tests here set out to answer two fundamental questions -

how much explosive would be needed and, importantly,

where should it be placed?

What they discovered at Nant-y-Gro was that the blast would have

to be set off right here next to the dam itself.

The explosion and, importantly, the shockwaves would then

hopefully shatter the concrete and breach the dam.

The first test failed.

But the second did the job.

'There's a real poignancy being here today.

'It's 70 years since the Dambusters raid and, whilst we remember it,

'it's important not to forget the part played

'by this remote region of Wales.

'Without practise sites like this,

'the Dambusters may never have made the history books.'

Dorset's beautiful coast and patchwork of pastures is

enough to attract nearly 25 million visitors every year.

Before the days of cars, computers and telly,

what did people do for fun?

The Industrial Revolution wasn't all about farming and industry,

it also powered a whole new world of entertainment.

Steam-powered funfairs, like this, were all the rage.

A highlight of the rural calendar for children and adults alike.

The turn of the 20th Century was the age of the great showmen...

Boys and girls, gather round, try your luck. Ring this bell.

Come along. All the fun of the British fair.

..enterprising chaps who saw cash in carousels

and money in merry-go-rounds.

From meadow to metropolis,

the touring fairs were hauled by the showmen's magnificent engines.

These puffing beasts were an attraction in their own right.

They were the same as the ones that hauled stone,

chopped wood or ploughed the fields.

Just a bit shinier.

These gleaming machines are all part of the Great Dorset Steam Fair.

In fact, this is the biggest event of its kind in the world and,

as I speak, this area is the third largest populated place in Dorset.

And there's one man who can take credit as the great

showman of this event - local lad and local legend, Michael Oliver.

This is a perfect example here of a threshing machine.

Most of the people that operate these machines,

many think they're fanatics, they're crazy...

They're very, very nice people in fact.

And we've got people from all walks of life, which...

operate these machines.

In our club alone, which is probably 80 percent of the stock here today,

we've got a bus conductor,

even a first-class eye surgeon.

I've got farm workers, we've got people that work in factories,

and it's amazing the interest shown by younger people.

'Michael's son Martin has taken on the steam legacy.'

-My father started this back in 1968.

-Right.

Um, nothing more bigger than the village fete, basically,

-but, uh...

-Really? How many engines were there then?

-Was it even known as a steam show then?

-It was a steam party.

When you think back 40 odd years,

some of these lovely machines were being cut up for scrap for £30, £40.

Luckily, our country has got a great heart for tradition

and heritage and it's very, very important

because we were the pioneers of manufacturing

in the world, you know, 100, 150 years ago, and we've sort of lost

our way a little bit, so we need to keep our heritage alive

because it's so important. And my dad was a complete one-off.

'He was a showman in his own right, really.

'He was a tremendous character.'

Lovely.

We put this whole show on with no money at all,

we take a gamble,

the thing cost us £3,000 to put on with nothing in the bank.

We take a chance, but the people that support us,

well, they're of the frame of mind,

"If you go down, we go down with you."

Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Hey!

'And my dad's left a tremendous legacy for this event

'and I feel it's my duty to keep it going for him, really.

'I really do enjoy it, but this will always be my dad's show, always.'

Huh!

I am laughing at that.

And I would think the last words that many people shouted

out of their car windows to me was, "See you again, same time,

"same place next year."

CAROUSEL TUNES PLAY

Well, earlier in the year, Julia was in Kent,

looking at ways to help small furry animals dodge the traffic and

if you want to know how the dormouse crossed the road, just ask her.

SHEEP BLEAT

Kent, the garden of England.

Here the countryside is blooming in the summer sunshine.

And nowhere more so than Scotney Castle.

Once home to the Hussey family,

the estate is now managed by the National Trust

and it's not hard to see why 130,000 visitors come here every year.

But even the most beautiful of beauty spots need a way in.

When the A21 bypass was built in 2005,

it cut right through the middle of precious woodland habitat.

Four roaring lanes of high-speed traffic,

and small woodland mammals don't really mix.

So, the question is...

..how did the mouse cross the road?

Not easily.

The Highways Agency and the National Trust came up with a novel solution.

The first ever wildlife road bridge in the UK.

The bridge provides access to the Scotney Castle Estate

for the tourists who flock here every year.

But little would they know that it was specially designed to offer

safe passage for mammals, insects and birds, avoiding the busy road below.

Has it really worked? Well, the proof is in the pudding.

Or, should I say, the traps.

'Janine Hill and her students from the nearby Hadlow College, have

'been monitoring a shy and elusive type of traffic on the bridge -

'traffic with four legs rather than wheels.'

Afternoon, all.

That is a lot of traps.

How many have you got?

-Eh, we've got 44 traps set today.

-44!

-Yeah.

And, um, usually how lucky are you?

We've got a couple which could be.

-You think there might, maybe, maybe, have some booty in there?

-Absolutely.

What do you think you might have in either of these two?

Well, with this habitat,

we're looking really for mice. There's different types of mice,

so a wood mouse or a yellow-necked mouse.

We might get some voles in here or, possibly, we might get a shrew.

-And, so, both hands straight in.

-Both hands straight in.

-And I'm going to just do this.

-Yes, I'm unclipping.

-Unclip, point downwards.

-Point downwards. Yes, I am.

And then what we're going to do is give it a little shake.

There might NOT be anything in here.

-I don't think there is, you know.

-Right, anything in the box?

-Nothing in there, that is an empty trap.

-It's an empty trap.

-I'm just going to check the bedding.

-Check the bag.

Not a lot in there.

Sometimes we don't catch anything

and that's not to say they're not here, it's just...

they're smart little beasts.

We're very familiar with this on Countryfile.

-This one...yes, squeeze both the buttons.

-Squeeze it.

-Straight open.

-Oh.

-Oh.

No, that's just a large peanut!

-No.

-No.

-That's zero.

-Oh, Janine!

-Oh, disappointing.

-Look at that!

-I know.

-Once we got there, the cupboard was bare.

-That's it.

But they're here, the mice are thriving, they're alive and well.

They are and lots of the other mammal species are as well,

which is fantastic. You know, it's a great site, so...

I haven't got anything today, but they are here, definitely here.

I believe you.

OK, so we weren't so lucky with these traps,

but we did have success with our camera traps.

This footage is some of the very first video evidence

of the creatures using the land bridge.

BLACKBIRD SINGS

'I'm off to find one more creature who's had a lot of influence,

'despite it's small size.'

In fact, this tree-loving mammal was one of the deciding

factors in building this wildlife highway.

-Hey, Ross.

-Hello.

-How are you doing?

-Very well, how are you?

-You must be Rosie.

-Nice to meet you.

-Where are we heading?

-We're heading off this way to see what we can find.

-OK.

-Follow me.

'Ross Wingfield and Rosie Marsden work and volunteer

'on the Scotney Castle Estate.

'They're taking me to an unlikely spot to find this

'very cute local resident.'

DISTANT TRAFFIC

You can definitely hear the road here.

-So, here we are.

-X marks the spot.

-Oh! Definitely something in there.

-Yeah.

So we'll get it off the tree.

-So the box comes off the tree.

-Yeah, in the bag.

Oh, look!

-It's a dormouse.

-We've got a little dormouse!

Look at that fellow!

Those big brown eyes, they're just so endearing.

They're great, aren't they?

We're not allowed to touch this, are we?

-You can, Rosie, cos you've got a licence.

-That's right.

It's really important work we do, collecting data on

how many numbers, age, sex and then they can get a sort of a trend

cos this is quite a rare and declining species now.

So, if I just sex it first, shall we?

So we just look here...

-..at the genitals.

-What have we got?

We've got a little girl here.

Um, you can see here that the anus

-and the genitals are very close together.

-Mm-hm.

So, that's a little girl. We'll just weigh her.

So, that's...

..17 grams minus... The bag is about 3.5, so that's...

-13 and a half grams.

-13 and a half grams.

Yeah, so that's a good healthy weight for

coming out of hibernation.

How old would she be?

Judging by the weight and the colour...

she might be one of last year's young, so, yeah, she's probably

not a full adult, but she's made it through hibernation at

a good weight and she looks healthy.

So, she'll be...

sort of piling on the weight now, feeding up and, yeah...

looking to breed in future years.

So, we'll just post it back through the box.

Relief!

Relief for her. Look at that little paw just clinging on!

-Oh!

-Normally you blow on the tails to get them to...pop in.

And, Ross, it would be fair to say that these little creatures

-were very influential in the creation of the bridge.

-Absolutely.

The bypass had separated two dormouse populations

and the whole point of the land bridge that was put in

was to connect these populations and in 2011, the end of 2011,

we had breeding dormice on the land bridge for the first time,

which was just fantastic, it was, you know, it was such a great day.

That must have exceeded expectations, really.

We always hoped we would get breeding dormice

on the land bridge, but it was always, you know, a hope

and now it's actually happening

and we're getting them hopefully regularly from now on.

How lovely.

Very exciting.

'It's brilliant to see an endangered species thriving

'next to such a busy road.'

A shining example of how we can live side by side with nature

if we just give it a little thought.

Plenty of us enjoy a walk in the countryside and, for some,

it's made more enjoyable when they're out with their dogs.

But sometimes a tranquil stroll can end in tragedy

as Adam's been finding out.

SHEEP BLEAT

This item contains some distressing scenes.

Dog attacks on livestock across the countryside are at a record high.

A recent study by the National Farmers' Union showed that there

were more than 700 cases of sheep and cattle-worrying on our farms

and it's costing the agricultural industry an estimated £1 million.

Here, dogs.

'I've had a few incidents in the past on my farm where dogs

'have chased our sheep, but that's nothing compared to Kevin Harrison.

'He manages a farm near Bath where

'dog attacks are a really big problem.'

INDISTINCT CONVERSATION

And what sort of things are you seeing?

Oh, dreadful things. We're seeing sheep with their throats ripped open,

uh, legs ripped open.

Um, in worst case scenario, the sheep can abort and slip their lambs,

because they've got lambs inside them. It's a huge welfare problem

for the sheep and what I tend to do is catch him...

We've all got phones these days. I mean, here's some here.

I mean, this is a video of a sheep. She's had her leg pulled about.

She's been attacked by a Saluki and, as you can see,

she's got... They constricted her throat.

-You can see the blood just below her chin.

-Horrible.

It pulled at the wool and she's really suffering there.

Two things I always hear are, "My dog won't chase sheep,"

and then, when you do catch someone's dog chasing the sheep,

they'll say, "Oh, my dog's never done that before."

I don't think people realise...

the potential that their dog has to do harm.

Even a dog just running loose near sheep can cause a problem.

But when they attack, it can be so severe

and relentless that the farmer has no option but to shoot the dog.

It's legal for farmers to shoot dogs as long as the attacking dog is

on their land, is clearly worrying livestock

and there's no sign of the dog's owner.

Off!

Off!

DOG GROWLS

I'm meeting up with Sergeant Simon Clemett

from the Gloucestershire Constabulary to find out what

can be done to deal with nuisance dogs.

Come on.

-Hi, good to meet you.

-How are you doing? Nice to meet you.

What you need to think about is...

is there livestock in the area?

If there's livestock in the area, you need to put your dog on a lead,

you need to keep it under close control.

Close control ordinarily would mean a highly trained dog

within about a yard of the owner or the person with it.

Not many people can actually say their dogs can be trusted to

that level. I certainly can't even with my dog.

What you also need to think about is

when you're walking on a public right of way.

A public right of way across fields is only about 1.7 metres wide,

it's just enough for two horses to pass, basically.

That's the rule of thumb.

Your dog does not have the right to stray off that public right of way.

It needs to stay on there with you.

The only way to do that is to keep it on a lead.

I've got some letters here from all over the country cos this

seems to be a national problem,

and there's a farmer here from Wytham who's had problems including

-sheep being pushed into the River Thames by out of control dogs.

-Yeah.

Another one here from the West Midlands where a dog attack

left about six badly injured sheep and five dead.

There's another one here from a guy in Yorkshire who said the police

aren't doing enough and he's plagued with dogs worrying his sheep.

Is there any more the police can do?

Of course there is.

What we want to do is we want to make sure... Firstly, prevention.

We've produced these signs,

um, and these are simply to give to landowners to put

up in prominent positions where public footpaths cross their land.

Most dog walkers are decent people, and if we say to them,

"Look, this is a problem", they will do so something about it.

So that's the main thing.

The second thing is, if we get incidents where livestock and...

We talk about sheep all the time but of course it's cattle,

horses as well, that's a big problem.

If we prosecute them then the message will soon go out

that we are not going to tolerate dogs

being out of control on our land.

Enjoy the countryside by all means, but enjoy it responsibly.

This is obviously a wonderful place to come and walk and enjoy,

and very tempting to let your dogs

off the lead so they can stretch their legs.

But this is a 1,200 acre site and there's lots of sheep here,

and so, with free-running dogs and livestock,

there's bound to be conflict.

Hi.

-Hiya.

-I'm just wondering why you've decided to keep the dog on the lead?

DOGS GROWL

Because of that! THEY LAUGH

Eh, no, there's a lot of livestock and sheep out on the hills,

so it's obviously the sensible thing just to keep him on the lead.

And you're aware that dogs can worry the livestock then?

Yeah, I mean, he's very good, he's been brought up in the country,

and it's just...

You know, it's not my land.

They're farmer's livestock, so why take the chance?

As I was getting soaked on Cleeve Hill

near Cheltenham, I happened to bump into a local farmer.

We're seeing sheep that have been badly mauled

and, in some cases, killed.

One just recently, in the last few days,

badly bitten round the neck.

I've spoken to people about keeping the dogs together,

keeping them under control, and if you're not very careful

you'll get more than a mouthful of abuse.

So you don't think people are responsive to the advice?

Not at all.

-Hello there.

-Hey.

I was just wondering whether you're aware of the increase

of dogs troubling livestock in public places like this?

Yeah, I have had heard about it.

There is signs actually, by the farm where we live, quite aggressive signs

mentioning that they will shoot any stray dogs near livestock.

Yeah, so you have to be careful.

They're best mates now! Enjoy the rest of your day.

-Thank you.

-Come on then, Boo.

Sit.

Back on the farm at home I'm catching up with

a group of dog owners keen to learn how to manage

and teach their dogs how to behave around livestock.

Showing them how is dog trainer Keith Fallon.

Responsibility for training is down to the owner.

Once you've finished your basic training in the village hall

or wherever you do it, you've got to carry on

with that training in an environment that the dog's going to be walked in.

And so what are you having to do to help them?

Essentially we're carrying on the training,

but in a real-life environment, so it'll be in the fields

and places where the dog is actually going to go wrong.

And come. Good girl.

What Keith is getting them to do is, if the dogs are ignoring the sheep

and behaving themselves, they'll reward them,

give them a treat, tell them they're good dogs.

If the dogs are pulling and trying to get to the sheep,

he's telling them to say, "No" and, "Leave it",

and taking the dogs away.

So they learn that it's wrong to be chasing them.

-SHEEP BAAS

-Good girl.

Leave it. Good girl, leave it. Good girl!

Coco's being very well-behaved today,

but you've had problems in the past?

Yes, I have, she has gone off and chased sheep actually.

And is that when you decided to seek further lessons?

In many ways, she was nine-months-old anyway,

very excitable around livestock,

so that's when I started consulting Keith and starting to do training.

And has that helped?

It has, a lot, she's got a lot more steady,

we can see today she's more steady, less excitable,

I still don't trust her 100 percent

so I put her on the lead if I see sheep anywhere.

With costs to the farming community running into

hundreds of thousands of pounds, hopefully courses like this

and raising awareness could be the answer.

When a dog attacks livestock it's clearly

very distressing for all those concerned.

So the message for dog owners

when you're out in the countryside and you're around farm animals -

keep your dogs under close control, and if you're in any doubt,

put them on the lead.

Come on then, dogs.

Here, Dolly.

SHEEP BAAS

We're exploring Dorset, classic English countryside.

Green fields, winding lanes and verdant hedges.

But suppose I was to tell you that this patch of Dorset has

taken on a tropical flavour? And that's a clue.

The Dorset village of Kingston has more in common

with Kingston, Jamaica than you'd think.

I'm meeting with a lady who's bringing a little bit

of the Caribbean right to the heart of the British countryside.

Cynthia is Jamaican born-and-bred,

but has run a pub in Dorset for four years.

When she arrived here she took on the challenge of trying to cook

the food she was used to back home.

When you moved here, did you find it hard

to get the ingredients to make the food you love?

Sort of, first off, but then I got source from locals -

spring onions, garlic, peppers, stuff like that.

-And how does your food go down? People love it?

-They love it.

I've got a great demand for the Jamaican food.

People just love it. I've got customers

coming back every year just for the food.

-Really?

-Yeah.

I'm really looking forward to trying it.

-I'm really looking forward to cooking some for you!

-Good.

And there's one Caribbean flavour above all others that Cynthia

loves to cook with, a staple of Jamaican cuisine - jerk seasoning.

That's what we'll be making today, and I'm gathering the ingredients.

And as I'm on the coast, how about a little seaside treat?

Something special for later.

-Amazing.

-OK?

-God, that looks incredible.

Superb, thank you very much.

Next stop, a few ingredients for the seasoning.

A little of that local produce.

MUSIC: "One Love" by Bob Marley

-Steve Coleman's been supplying Cynthia for two years.

-Hi, Ellie.

-Nice to meet you!

-And you.

-You're working hard here.

-Absolutely, yes.

-Can I give you a hand?

Never an end to it. Yes, here's some spring onions for the...

-Ooh, they look fab, don't they?

-..the old stuff up the pub.

So how is it you came to meet Cynthia and supply her with all this?

Well, I've been a regular lunch-goer at the pub for some time now,

and we could see what she was using and we thought,

"Hang on a minute, we've got a surplus of some of that stuff,

"maybe we can come to some arrangement."

THEY LAUGH

Bit of trading. Where's your mint then?

That's around the corner here, that grows wild.

'I'm after garlic and herbs.'

Back in her pub in the Dorset Kingston, Cynthia is

ready for the big mix, and things are just about to get a whole lot hotter.

There's been a special delivery.

So, we're going to sort out these lovely Dorset Nagas,

and chillies we've got for the marinade today,

one of the main ingredients.

Wow. I'm keen to see these.

-So even just to touch them you'd need gloves?

-Yes, especially the Nagas.

'Farmed right here in Dorset,

'these are one of the hottest chillies in the world.'

-So how many would you need in your...?

-Just the one.

-Really?!

-Just the one!

-Wow, they are...

-So these are the beauty.

-Great.

Not all marinades you get this in,

this is just my special touch to the marinade.

-Oh, right, so this is your own recipe?

-Yes.

-I like it.

Jerk seasoning is thought to originate from

mountain communities in Jamaica,

where spiced meat was smoked to preserve it.

The fragrant flavour's not just from the hot chillies,

but from a rich blend of loads of exotic spices.

And, with Cynthia in charge, a splash of rum.

Let's have a look.

Wow!

Jumps out at you, doesn't it? Hits you on the face.

-Yeah, it does, hits you on the palate also!

-Yeah.

Fantastic.

'Just half a teaspoon can take your taste buds to the Caribbean,

'and potentially blow your socks off.

'Time for that special treat from the sea.'

Lobster.

Added to some of this fantastic, fresh jerk marinade.

I control the heat by how much I put on, so, being a bit of a wuss,

I'm just going to put on a little bit like that. Massage it in.

Fabulous.

The sunshine is doing its best to transport us to the Caribbean.

Just one missing ingredient.

REGGAE MUSIC AND LAUGHTER

MUSIC: "It Mek" by Desmond Dekker

Here we go!

Glass of water for you, just in case.

You trying to tell me something, Cynthia?!

-Right, where should I start?

-Wherever you want.

Lobster, this looks amazing.

Oh, wow, here we go.

Mm. Wow. Ooh!

Yes.

CYNTHIA LAUGHS

-Now I can feel the heat. Yes.

-Whoo! That's really good.

I don't want to eat by myself, do you want some?

-Yes, I'll try a little bit, why not?

-Really good.

That really is...

a hot sauce.

In a moment I've got a big surprise for Matt, and I really do mean "big."

But before that, let's find out if the weather is as hot

as this sauce, in the Countryfile five-day forecast.

.

We're in Dorset at the Great Dorset Steam Fair -

the biggest fair of its kind in the world.

It's a steamed-up celebration of whistles and wheels,

power and puffing.

Now THIS is what you call extreme steam.

And there's one area of the festival with real pulling power -

and I'm not just talking about the crowds.

This is the Heavy Haulage Arena, the place where iron giants

pull impossible loads, where metal strains and whistles scream.

So, stop the engines, boys, get up a head of steam -

we're about to be put to the test.

And how. Just look at what we're pulling - 60 tons of solid metal.

We're going to need something pretty special to shift this.

Meet Old Tim, an old-timer, more than 100 years old.

He was a real workhorse during the First World War,

and built to pull everything -

from bombed-out buildings to broken-down trams.

It's Dave Allen's pride and joy,

bought in 1991 when it was on its last legs.

Worn down, workaday condition.

It was thoroughly worn-out. It had a lovely charm, I fell in love with it.

Driving these things was a real art form.

The engine is really only as good as the driver and fireman,

so you have this relationship with the engine,

so that a good driver and fireman will help an old engine along,

but a poor driver and fireman will bring a good engine down.

Well, I hope he's not talking about me,

cos I'm about to take the wheel of Old Tim.

Here we go, cap on.

'Keeping an eye on me will be Dave's son, Rob.

'Just as well, as we're about to haul that 60 tonnes of metal I saw.'

-Pretty much ready to go, we're right up on pressure.

-Are we? OK.

-I think we'll go for a trundle.

-Let's get the seat down and, em...

Oh, hang on a minute, I'm not used to this.

-Look at the suspension.

-You need that!

ROB LAUGHS AND WHISTLE TOOTS

Right, yeah. Toot, toot, toot, we'll toot you back.

WHISTLE TOOTS

Onward. Nice and easy. Oh, gosh, you do a lot of turns, don't you?

Oh, yes.

DRAMATIC OPERATIC MUSIC

This massive load can't be pulled by one engine. Two engines won't do it.

Will Old Tim make the difference?

We're now going for the big hill!

Come on, Tim! Get up there, Sonny Jim!

Oh, listen to that! Come on, dig in!

OPERATIC MUSIC CONTINUES

Oh, what a wonderful experience this has been!

-That was tremendous.

-A rush, isn't it?

MATT LAUGHS

Right, downhill now.

-Good. That's it, we're done.

-Brilliant, well done.

-Thank you.

-Expertly done.

-Cheers!

Hang on a minute. Who's this?

Here she is, she loves to make an entrance.

-That is class. That is hilarious!

-It's a bit noisy, give me a second!

MATT LAUGHS

That actually really suits you. Look at the cage and everything.

-Mine's bigger than yours.

-Have you got a horn?

No horn in here, I'll have to go like this, "Honk, honk!"

Let me just give you a blast of this one.

WHISTLE TOOTS

-See? You need one of them.

-We're a good double-act, aren't we?

Honestly, do you feel a little bit stupid in that here?

-Maybe, but I've got to get home in this, so I'm delighted.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

-Good, well, have a safe journey.

Watch the cars on the way out.

Anyway, that's all we've got time for this week.

Next week we're going to be in Devon,

where I'm going to be helping to

reshape the forests of the future.

What about you?

I'm going to be walking in the footsteps of one

of the most famous warhorses - we'll see you then.

Yeah, if I'm going to Devon in this...

Think we'd better leave now, Robert, otherwise we'll never get there.

Anyway, like I said, just be careful with the cars, yeah?

SHE LAUGHS

See you.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd