Browse content similar to Gloucestershire. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The gently undulating Cotswold hills, | 0:00:26 | 0:00:30 | |
picture-postcard stone villages... | 0:00:30 | 0:00:33 | |
..miles of ancient woodland... | 0:00:34 | 0:00:36 | |
..and the magnificent River Severn. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:40 | |
This is Gloucestershire. | 0:00:42 | 0:00:44 | |
And it's where I call home. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:48 | |
This is my little apple orchard | 0:00:48 | 0:00:50 | |
and I've got some pretty big plans for it. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:53 | |
I want to bring in some cattle to graze it off, | 0:00:53 | 0:00:55 | |
potentially make some cider with these ancient apple varieties | 0:00:55 | 0:00:58 | |
and, most importantly, manage it for wildlife, | 0:00:58 | 0:01:01 | |
so I'm going to start by planting my own little wild-flower oasis. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:05 | |
And, tonight, you can join me because we're giving away | 0:01:05 | 0:01:08 | |
200,000 packets of wild-flower seeds like these. | 0:01:08 | 0:01:13 | |
How much exercise do you want to take? | 0:01:13 | 0:01:15 | |
The Princess Royal has lived in Gloucestershire for four decades. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:19 | |
Tom's been finding out about the challenges she faces, | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
from breeding horses to bovine TB. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:25 | |
How do you feel when you do get positive results in the sense | 0:01:25 | 0:01:29 | |
that your cattle do have TB and some have to be put down? | 0:01:29 | 0:01:32 | |
Well, you know, when you've got a cow and a calf of that size... | 0:01:32 | 0:01:37 | |
it's more than deeply frustrating. It's really upsetting. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
Adam is on home turf, too. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
I'm a Gloucestershire boy born and bred, | 0:01:46 | 0:01:48 | |
and I love living and working here. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:50 | |
One of the great things about the county | 0:01:50 | 0:01:52 | |
are our local breeds, like the Gloucestershire Old Spot here, | 0:01:52 | 0:01:55 | |
one of my favourites. | 0:01:55 | 0:01:56 | |
And, today, I'm looking at them all. | 0:01:56 | 0:01:58 | |
PIG SQUEALS | 0:01:58 | 0:02:01 | |
And John's celebrating the centenary | 0:02:01 | 0:02:03 | |
of one of the county's favourite writers. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
Laurie Lee was born here in the Slad Valley near Stroud, | 0:02:07 | 0:02:11 | |
and it was the place that inspired him to write his most famous novel, | 0:02:11 | 0:02:15 | |
Cider With Rosie. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:17 | |
I'll be meeting his daughter to find out more about the man | 0:02:17 | 0:02:20 | |
and about his love for this beautiful landscape. | 0:02:20 | 0:02:23 | |
Gloucestershire, a glorious gateway between the Midlands | 0:02:32 | 0:02:36 | |
and southwest England. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:38 | |
The Royal Forest of Dean guarding its western frontier. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:42 | |
To its east, chocolate-box Cotswold villages. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:46 | |
And, cutting deep through its centre, the River Severn. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:50 | |
The Forest of Dean isn't the only piece of this county | 0:02:51 | 0:02:55 | |
with royal connections. | 0:02:55 | 0:02:56 | |
I've come to this 400-acre estate in the heart of Gloucestershire | 0:02:56 | 0:03:01 | |
to meet someone who's been farming here for nearly 40 years | 0:03:01 | 0:03:06 | |
and she's someone you might have heard of. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:08 | |
ARCHIVE: Princess Anne and Captain Phillips | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
are planning to become farmers in the grand manner. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:14 | |
Today's announcement by Buckingham Palace said | 0:03:14 | 0:03:16 | |
they would run the estate as a farming enterprise. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:19 | |
Though you may associate farming more with her older brother, | 0:03:21 | 0:03:25 | |
the Princess Royal Princess Anne is arguably the most rural of royals. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:31 | |
Today, she runs Gatcombe with her husband, Sir Timothy Lawrence, | 0:03:31 | 0:03:35 | |
and she's farmed livestock here for almost four decades. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:39 | |
But she's also involved in nearly 50 countryside organisations | 0:03:39 | 0:03:43 | |
and has recently hit the headlines | 0:03:43 | 0:03:45 | |
with her opinions on rural housing and eating horse meat. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:49 | |
Should we be considering a real market for horse meat? | 0:03:49 | 0:03:53 | |
It's really nice to come back | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
and be able to just be yourself in an area like this. | 0:03:57 | 0:04:01 | |
I'll be delving deeper | 0:04:01 | 0:04:03 | |
into her sometimes controversial views on the countryside. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:07 | |
But, first, I want to discover | 0:04:07 | 0:04:09 | |
why she's made these Gloucestershire hills her home. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:13 | |
It seems a bit banal to be walking through here and saying, | 0:04:13 | 0:04:16 | |
"What do you like about this place?" | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
It's sort of screamingly obvious, isn't it? | 0:04:18 | 0:04:20 | |
It's not bad, really. Not bad, really. | 0:04:20 | 0:04:22 | |
But having now been here, it must be close to 40 years, | 0:04:22 | 0:04:25 | |
-you must have got a real love for the place. -Um...yes. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:29 | |
We've been here long enough to have a bit of an impact on the place. | 0:04:29 | 0:04:33 | |
We put it back to grass. We changed the way it's farmed. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:37 | |
Introduced three horse trials now, occasional events. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:41 | |
But, you know, we've done... These stone walls, | 0:04:41 | 0:04:43 | |
they don't stay like that without a bit of effort | 0:04:43 | 0:04:46 | |
and we've done a lot of stonewalling as well. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:49 | |
Bit by bit, we've added value, I suppose. | 0:04:49 | 0:04:51 | |
We started to manage the woodland, changed the farming here. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:55 | |
And of course, as time's gone by, it's learning how to manage it | 0:04:55 | 0:05:00 | |
and... | 0:05:00 | 0:05:02 | |
If that's farming, it's the responsibility of landowning | 0:05:02 | 0:05:06 | |
and land management to make the best possible use of the ground. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:10 | |
And it's been really interesting. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:12 | |
You must be aware of the danger that some people are saying, | 0:05:12 | 0:05:14 | |
"Well, she's only doing this because of birthright, | 0:05:14 | 0:05:17 | |
"because of privileged position." | 0:05:17 | 0:05:19 | |
How do you counter that? | 0:05:19 | 0:05:20 | |
I don't.... In this instance... | 0:05:20 | 0:05:22 | |
I mean, being able to take on a place like this, for me, | 0:05:22 | 0:05:26 | |
I've got to make it work. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:28 | |
This is not something that comes free. This has got to pay its way, | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
otherwise I can't stay here. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:33 | |
The Princess's rural roots stretch back to childhood, | 0:05:36 | 0:05:39 | |
where a young Princess Anne first encountered livestock | 0:05:39 | 0:05:43 | |
and country life on the royal estates. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:45 | |
She formed an early bond with horses, | 0:05:47 | 0:05:49 | |
going on to become European Eventing Champion... | 0:05:49 | 0:05:53 | |
COMMENTATOR: This is really a marvellous round by Princess Anne. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:56 | |
..and competing for Britain in the 1976 Olympics. | 0:05:57 | 0:06:02 | |
Today, this passion is very much part | 0:06:05 | 0:06:07 | |
of the Princess's farming enterprise, | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
with a stable of breeding horses, | 0:06:10 | 0:06:12 | |
including a rare Suffolk Punch we're about to meet. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:15 | |
Wow. She's tremendous. Who is this? | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
This... Commonly known as Windy. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:21 | |
Her proper name is Summer Breeze. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:22 | |
I did breed her, actually. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:24 | |
I did have her mother. So she's now five. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:27 | |
And we've worked her already, | 0:06:27 | 0:06:29 | |
so she's been in harness and she's log pulled, | 0:06:29 | 0:06:32 | |
here in the woods and in other places. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:35 | |
So we're happy that she has a good temperament and is... | 0:06:35 | 0:06:40 | |
would be worth breeding from. | 0:06:40 | 0:06:41 | |
The only trouble is we've now got to convince her of the same thing! | 0:06:41 | 0:06:44 | |
Hence why they are rare, I think. | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
Breeding is a mug's game, really. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:49 | |
But if you've got mares, which you know have talent | 0:06:49 | 0:06:53 | |
and good temperaments, then they're probably worth breeding from. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:57 | |
Hopefully we'll got a foal off her at some stage. | 0:06:57 | 0:07:01 | |
When she's finished interfering with the camera. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:03 | |
When she's finished having a scratch on the camera. | 0:07:03 | 0:07:06 | |
She's found herself a scratching post there, I think. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:08 | |
-And then she can go back to work. -THEY LAUGH | 0:07:08 | 0:07:10 | |
These animals are prime specimens. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
But across the country, | 0:07:15 | 0:07:16 | |
this could be the worst year for horses in living memory. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:20 | |
Welfare groups are warning of a crisis, | 0:07:20 | 0:07:23 | |
with thousands of horses left neglected or fending for themselves. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:28 | |
As patron of the charity World Horse Welfare, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
it's an issue close to Princess Anne's heart | 0:07:31 | 0:07:34 | |
and one in which she's taking a very direct interest. | 0:07:34 | 0:07:38 | |
This is Annie. She is on loan as a rescue. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:43 | |
Was she called Annie before she came here? | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
Yes, literally. When they introduced her up here... | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
When World Horse Welfare brought her, and I said, "What's her name?" | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
They laughed, rather embarrassed, and said, "She's called Annie." | 0:07:52 | 0:07:55 | |
I said, "OK, Fine." | 0:07:55 | 0:07:56 | |
It's fate. It was meant to be, in that case. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:59 | |
You thought it was a bit odd, didn't you, dear? | 0:07:59 | 0:08:01 | |
Unfortunately, she is just one of thousands of horses | 0:08:01 | 0:08:04 | |
who are now in trouble across the country. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:05 | |
There's been a sort of steady flow, partly through ignorance, | 0:08:05 | 0:08:09 | |
partly through changing circumstances that you get. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:13 | |
And certainly with...recession, | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
you are likely to get more. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:17 | |
So the marginal situations get tipped very quickly, | 0:08:17 | 0:08:22 | |
-where they really can't cope. -Too many horses in Britain? | 0:08:22 | 0:08:25 | |
Probably. Probably. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:29 | |
And I think that is true in certain areas...there are too many. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:33 | |
In fact, horses are now so common | 0:08:35 | 0:08:39 | |
that you can pick one up for as little as a fiver. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:42 | |
This glut, blamed largely on indiscriminate breeding, | 0:08:42 | 0:08:46 | |
is fuelling the welfare problem. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
Princess Anne made waves by suggesting a radical solution | 0:08:49 | 0:08:53 | |
might help this equestrian crisis. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:55 | |
Princess Anne has said we should consider eating horse meat | 0:08:56 | 0:09:00 | |
to improve the way horses are treated in Britain. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:02 | |
Should we be considering a real market for horse meat | 0:09:02 | 0:09:07 | |
and would that reduce the number of welfare cases, | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
if there was a real value in the horse meat sector? | 0:09:10 | 0:09:12 | |
I chuck that out, for what it's worth. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:14 | |
In the light of your recent pronouncements, I have to ask, | 0:09:14 | 0:09:17 | |
how do you think eating horses would help Annie here? | 0:09:17 | 0:09:20 | |
Well, it's a good question. I mean, I do think... | 0:09:20 | 0:09:22 | |
I threw the question out because an awful lot of the abandonments are | 0:09:22 | 0:09:28 | |
because they don't perceive there to be any value in the animals. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:32 | |
So...OK. Chuck them out. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:35 | |
They survive or they die. | 0:09:35 | 0:09:37 | |
But the meat trade has a way... | 0:09:37 | 0:09:39 | |
It adds value to the animal, | 0:09:39 | 0:09:41 | |
so there is some point in keeping it healthy | 0:09:41 | 0:09:44 | |
if it's got an end point that it can go to. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:46 | |
But you think it's something we should actively explore? | 0:09:46 | 0:09:48 | |
I think it's something that is worth looking at. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:51 | |
Do you think our famous attachment to horses in Britain, | 0:09:51 | 0:09:54 | |
almost sentimentality, is actually not helping them in a funny way? | 0:09:54 | 0:09:58 | |
Yes, in the sense that we are past the point | 0:09:58 | 0:10:00 | |
of it being a working horse. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:02 | |
For those who saw it as a working horse, | 0:10:02 | 0:10:04 | |
there was always some value in it. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:06 | |
And, of course, we've lost that connection. | 0:10:06 | 0:10:09 | |
-Can I ask, have you ever eaten horse yourself? -Certainly. -And how was it? | 0:10:09 | 0:10:14 | |
Good question. Very good actually. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:17 | |
HORSE NEIGHS | 0:10:17 | 0:10:19 | |
Annie isn't the only one seemingly alarmed | 0:10:19 | 0:10:22 | |
by the thought of putting animals like her on the menu, | 0:10:22 | 0:10:25 | |
and there are doubts about how practical a solution this is | 0:10:25 | 0:10:29 | |
to the welfare crisis. | 0:10:29 | 0:10:31 | |
Luckily, all the horses here have a healthy future ahead of them | 0:10:31 | 0:10:35 | |
as part of Gatcombe's farming enterprise. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:38 | |
But this farm's more than just a one-trick pony. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
There are enough rare breeds here to make our own Adam's eyes water, | 0:10:43 | 0:10:48 | |
and the Princess is equally proud of them, | 0:10:48 | 0:10:51 | |
but that doesn't give any royal immunity against the disease | 0:10:51 | 0:10:54 | |
which has hit cattle across much of the country - TB. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:59 | |
And, as I'll be discovering later, | 0:10:59 | 0:11:01 | |
the Princess has pretty strong views about who the culprit is | 0:11:01 | 0:11:05 | |
and what should be done about it. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:07 | |
Gloucestershire is one of the richest | 0:11:11 | 0:11:13 | |
and most diverse landscapes in England, | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
not to mention my own home turf. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:18 | |
And, as an ecologist, I love this place. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:21 | |
There are signs of life all over my orchard. | 0:11:25 | 0:11:28 | |
These badger runs just crisscross the entire place. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:31 | |
And, down in this blackthorn thicket, | 0:11:31 | 0:11:33 | |
there's openings for various mammals, I'm not sure what yet. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
There's lots of pop-holes down here, | 0:11:37 | 0:11:39 | |
where badgers will sniff out juicy worms. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:41 | |
There's some muntjac prints as well | 0:11:41 | 0:11:43 | |
and that's what I love about living in the countryside. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:45 | |
There's just so much wildlife on my doorstep. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:49 | |
I've had this orchard for just under a year | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
and it's very much a work in progress. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
I'm keen to encourage even more wildlife to stop by, | 0:11:56 | 0:11:59 | |
so I want to do whatever I can to make it feel welcome. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:03 | |
There are three main factors when it comes to attracting wildlife | 0:12:04 | 0:12:07 | |
and I've only got two out of the three on my orchard. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:10 | |
One is this, water. | 0:12:10 | 0:12:12 | |
This is my freshwater spring, which I know is in really good shape | 0:12:12 | 0:12:15 | |
cos there's freshwater shrimp in there. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:17 | |
The other one is trees. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:19 | |
I've got a few of those around because it's an orchard. | 0:12:19 | 0:12:21 | |
But the third is big one is food and I don't have that much here. | 0:12:21 | 0:12:25 | |
There's a few rotten windfall apples knocking around... | 0:12:25 | 0:12:29 | |
and a couple of wild flowers. | 0:12:29 | 0:12:31 | |
There's some buttercup, a little bit of sorrel | 0:12:31 | 0:12:34 | |
and a tiny bit of meadow vetchling, | 0:12:34 | 0:12:36 | |
but what I really need is lots more. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:39 | |
And so does the rest of our countryside. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:44 | |
Aside from being pretty, wild flowers are in serious decline. | 0:12:44 | 0:12:48 | |
In less than a century, | 0:12:48 | 0:12:50 | |
we've lost a whopping 97% of our wild-flower meadows, | 0:12:50 | 0:12:54 | |
but does that really matter? | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
Well, yes, it does. | 0:12:57 | 0:12:58 | |
In fact, it really matters | 0:12:58 | 0:13:00 | |
because these delicate little flowers are big hitters in the natural world. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:06 | |
Their function is twofold, | 0:13:06 | 0:13:08 | |
notably their role in underpinning the entire food chain. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:12 | |
wild flowers feed insects that, in turn, feed the bats, | 0:13:16 | 0:13:19 | |
birds and other small mammals around. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:22 | |
And, of course, these then in turn support the larger ones. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:26 | |
Not only that, the bees and butterflies | 0:13:26 | 0:13:28 | |
that thrive on the wild-flower pollen | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
then go on to pollinate our crops, resulting in food for us. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:35 | |
But, after losing so many of them in the past century, | 0:13:35 | 0:13:39 | |
how do we go about bringing them back? | 0:13:39 | 0:13:41 | |
Well, you can start by planting one of these. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
I've come here to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew to find out why. | 0:13:46 | 0:13:51 | |
This little pack is part of Kew's Grow Wild campaign, | 0:13:51 | 0:13:54 | |
and inside is the power to spread native wild flowers in gardens | 0:13:54 | 0:13:58 | |
and on windowsills across the country. | 0:13:58 | 0:14:00 | |
-This is quite a sight. -Yeah. -Wow. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:04 | |
This is a sneak preview of a meadow in the summer. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
We had to perform a bit of a horticultural miracle to grow | 0:14:07 | 0:14:10 | |
these plants indoors so we've got something to look at today. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
This whack of pink we've got is coming from the red campion. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:17 | |
There's a tiny forget-me-not down there. A bit of sorrel... | 0:14:17 | 0:14:21 | |
'Ted Chapman is from the UK Native Seed Hub, | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
'and he's giving me the lowdown on the campaign.' | 0:14:23 | 0:14:26 | |
Grow Wild, really, is all about communicating the beauty | 0:14:26 | 0:14:30 | |
and diversity of our native plants | 0:14:30 | 0:14:32 | |
and bringing them right in to where people live. | 0:14:32 | 0:14:35 | |
So most of us are not fortunate enough to live right next to | 0:14:35 | 0:14:38 | |
a fantastic wild flower-rich environment in the countryside, | 0:14:38 | 0:14:41 | |
but we can use these species in cities, in our gardens, | 0:14:41 | 0:14:45 | |
right where we live, to create beautiful places. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:47 | |
And they're great for us and, of course, | 0:14:47 | 0:14:49 | |
-they'll be great for nature, too. -What's in this pack? | 0:14:49 | 0:14:51 | |
Is it going to create what's in front of us? | 0:14:51 | 0:14:53 | |
It's a mixture of annuals, perennials, | 0:14:53 | 0:14:56 | |
native species that are going to, | 0:14:56 | 0:14:57 | |
hopefully, perform well in your garden. | 0:14:57 | 0:14:59 | |
They're going to look fantastic throughout the year. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:03 | |
Kew's Grow Wild campaign has been running | 0:15:03 | 0:15:05 | |
in community groups for nearly a year, | 0:15:05 | 0:15:07 | |
but we're working with them to open it up to the masses | 0:15:07 | 0:15:11 | |
by giving away 230,000 free wild-flower seed packs. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:15 | |
And, to keep a natural balance, there are specific seed | 0:15:15 | 0:15:18 | |
mixes for Scotland, Ireland, and England and Wales. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:22 | |
These packs are full of variety. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:25 | |
Each and every species laid out here | 0:15:25 | 0:15:27 | |
is in this little packet for England and Wales. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:30 | |
So there's the lovely sunny buttercup up there, | 0:15:30 | 0:15:33 | |
the gorgeous open face of the ox-eye daisy, | 0:15:33 | 0:15:35 | |
and, down here, the classic poppy of remembrance, | 0:15:35 | 0:15:39 | |
which is particularly apt in this centenary year. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:41 | |
You can find out later how you can get your hands on your pack. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:45 | |
But, before I put mine in the ground, | 0:15:45 | 0:15:47 | |
I want to know a little bit more about what's in here. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:51 | |
The contents are not just features of our landscape. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
They're all native to this country, | 0:15:54 | 0:15:56 | |
so they're also part of our heritage and have been for thousands of years. | 0:15:56 | 0:15:59 | |
Get a bit of shelter with these precious samples... | 0:16:01 | 0:16:03 | |
'Professor Monique Simmons is based here at Kew | 0:16:03 | 0:16:06 | |
'and knows all about the methods our ancestors used | 0:16:06 | 0:16:09 | |
'to extract the medicinal properties of wild flowers.' | 0:16:09 | 0:16:12 | |
You've got a few plants, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:15 | |
one of them is meadowsweet that we've got in here, | 0:16:15 | 0:16:18 | |
and it's kind of to show you that we still use some traditional | 0:16:18 | 0:16:21 | |
old methods. Start the process off with a good old mortar and pestle. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:25 | |
I'll have a little go at doing some grinding. Here we go. | 0:16:25 | 0:16:28 | |
It's actually quite hard work. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:30 | |
Yeah, it is. These stalks are very fibrous, aren't they? | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
And the seed mixes that we're giving away - I've got one right here - | 0:16:33 | 0:16:37 | |
do any of the species in here have proven health benefits? | 0:16:37 | 0:16:41 | |
Some of these species... Again, it's folklore about traditional use. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:45 | |
And, yes, it does contain things like meadowsweet here. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:49 | |
You've got the galiums, | 0:16:49 | 0:16:50 | |
then you've got the cornflowers that we use for eye treatments, etc. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:55 | |
Digitalis, now used for heart conditions, | 0:16:55 | 0:16:57 | |
but now used for drops in other conditions. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
There's a whole range of different plants that were used, | 0:17:00 | 0:17:02 | |
but we now go to the chemist and get something in the shop, | 0:17:02 | 0:17:05 | |
and often forget that you can use some of these plants. | 0:17:05 | 0:17:09 | |
What we're trying to do at Kew is not only conserve them | 0:17:09 | 0:17:13 | |
for use in these seed banks, | 0:17:13 | 0:17:14 | |
but also understand those traditional uses. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:18 | |
So with every seed that's planted from these little packs, | 0:17:18 | 0:17:22 | |
we're not only preserving our food chain, | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
we're also preserving an important part of our past. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:28 | |
And now, to make sure they have the very best chance of growing, | 0:17:28 | 0:17:31 | |
I've come to the Millennium Seed Bank in Sussex. | 0:17:31 | 0:17:34 | |
This place is home to almost every species of wild flower | 0:17:35 | 0:17:39 | |
found in Britain | 0:17:39 | 0:17:40 | |
and almost all of them are stored here at minus 20 degrees Celsius. | 0:17:40 | 0:17:44 | |
I'm meeting a familiar face. It's Ted again, back in his natural habitat. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:52 | |
It's been the job of his team from the UK Native Seed Hub | 0:17:52 | 0:17:55 | |
to make sure that the seeds in the packs are actually going to grow. | 0:17:55 | 0:18:00 | |
So what species have you got in the mix here? | 0:18:00 | 0:18:02 | |
The nice big one is the corncockle, | 0:18:02 | 0:18:06 | |
so that's a lovely pink cornfield annual. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:08 | |
-The seed with the little spiky Mohican... -Oh, yeah. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
That's a cornflower, so that will be really common again, | 0:18:12 | 0:18:14 | |
a cornfield annual. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:16 | |
You've got these little brown and black triangular-shaped seeds | 0:18:16 | 0:18:20 | |
with a little beak on the top. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
-Oh, yeah, I see those. -That's meadow buttercup. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:25 | |
Fantastic. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
And then the very tiny ones, little black seed, is poppy seed, | 0:18:27 | 0:18:29 | |
so a really small seed but familiar, obviously, | 0:18:29 | 0:18:32 | |
from loaves of bread. | 0:18:32 | 0:18:34 | |
But how can you guarantee that they will do well? That they will grow? | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
One way we can look at the quality of the seed | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
is by cutting it open and having a look to see what's inside. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:42 | |
Can I have a go at this? Do you think I'll be any good? | 0:18:42 | 0:18:45 | |
Absolutely. Yeah, let's give it a go. | 0:18:45 | 0:18:46 | |
I'm going to go for a big seed. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:48 | |
Right. Let's see if I can take a slice off this. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
Oops. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:56 | |
Oof. That grip's all-important, isn't it? | 0:18:56 | 0:18:59 | |
Absolutely. Sideways...oops! | 0:18:59 | 0:19:01 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:19:01 | 0:19:03 | |
-Sorry about that. -Have another go. | 0:19:03 | 0:19:05 | |
That one's done a runner somewhere... Somewhere in the room. | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
-Oh, there we go. -Well, can you see? | 0:19:11 | 0:19:13 | |
Yes. I've got the white there. Solid white. | 0:19:13 | 0:19:16 | |
So that lovely healthy, white part is the food store for the seed, | 0:19:16 | 0:19:20 | |
so that's what the germinating seedling is going to use | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
before it starts photosynthesising and supporting itself. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
You may be able to see a little green crescent | 0:19:26 | 0:19:29 | |
at the edge of the seed. | 0:19:29 | 0:19:30 | |
I can see exactly that. What is it? | 0:19:30 | 0:19:32 | |
That's the embryo of the seed. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:34 | |
That's the part that's actually going to produce the shoot | 0:19:34 | 0:19:36 | |
and the root, and develop into the plant. | 0:19:36 | 0:19:38 | |
So, just by slicing it open, you can tell | 0:19:38 | 0:19:40 | |
whether it's going to be a successful seed or not? | 0:19:40 | 0:19:43 | |
It is a nice, quick way of gauging the quality of the seed. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:48 | |
But there is a quicker way. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:50 | |
You can X-ray them with a medical X-ray. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:53 | |
This way, Ted can show me how many of my seeds are full of goodness | 0:19:53 | 0:19:56 | |
that's actually going to grow when I put them in the ground. | 0:19:56 | 0:20:00 | |
-They look good! -You can see, right away, | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
the corncockle seed that we were dissecting earlier. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:06 | |
These look fantastic. There are hardly any empty ones. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:09 | |
This is a good hit rate in here. | 0:20:09 | 0:20:11 | |
This is a really nice collection of seed here. Yeah, looks good. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
So the chances are good for my seeds. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:16 | |
I'm really excited about planting them now. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:19 | |
With all the care that's gone into selecting these seeds, | 0:20:20 | 0:20:22 | |
they should be pretty indestructible, tough enough to grow, | 0:20:22 | 0:20:26 | |
wherever you live in the UK. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:28 | |
I've brought mine home and, later on, I'll be planting them. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:32 | |
In the meantime, we've got 230,000 packets of these seeds to give away, | 0:20:32 | 0:20:37 | |
so log on to our website to get your hands on yours. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
Here, on the edge of the Cotswolds, is Gloucestershire in all its glory. | 0:20:43 | 0:20:48 | |
Honey-coloured villages pepper the lush landscape. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:53 | |
This is the Slad Valley, | 0:20:53 | 0:20:54 | |
immortalised in the writings | 0:20:54 | 0:20:56 | |
of one of the county's best-known sons, Laurie Lee. | 0:20:56 | 0:21:00 | |
The village lies deep in one of the five wooded valleys | 0:21:00 | 0:21:03 | |
that runs like the spokes of a wheel to Stroud. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:05 | |
When I was a boy, we seldom left it. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:07 | |
We lived in that valley as snug as beans in a pod. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:11 | |
Laurie Lee put his beloved part of the Cotswolds | 0:21:11 | 0:21:14 | |
firmly on the literary map with his most famous novel, Cider With Rosie. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:19 | |
It's an almost autobiographical tale of growing up in the 1930s | 0:21:19 | 0:21:24 | |
amongst the fields and woods of this isolated valley. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
As a boy and young man, Laurie would wander the hills above his home, | 0:21:29 | 0:21:34 | |
and his writing vividly captured the landscape he loved so much. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:38 | |
Today, it remains pretty much unchanged. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
He grew up in this cottage | 0:21:42 | 0:21:44 | |
with his mother and seven brothers and sisters. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:48 | |
And, in later life, he was often to be found in his local, | 0:21:48 | 0:21:51 | |
The Woolpack, just a stone's throw from his house. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
This year marks the centenary of Laurie Lee's birth, | 0:21:56 | 0:21:59 | |
and today I'm going to be walking in his footsteps, | 0:21:59 | 0:22:02 | |
experiencing for myself the landscape | 0:22:02 | 0:22:05 | |
that he made so familiar to so many people through his words. | 0:22:05 | 0:22:10 | |
To discover more about the local lad who became a world-renowned writer, | 0:22:16 | 0:22:21 | |
but always stayed loyal to his Gloucestershire roots, | 0:22:21 | 0:22:24 | |
I'm meeting his daughter, Jessie. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:25 | |
That's the fancy-dress parade, which is in the book. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:29 | |
-And there's Rosie. -That's Rosie. -Yes. | 0:22:29 | 0:22:32 | |
-There really was a Rosie, wasn't there? -There was a Rosie. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:35 | |
There definitely was a Rosie, yeah. Yeah. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:38 | |
Well, the book has never been out of print since it was first published. | 0:22:38 | 0:22:41 | |
Do you think that, when he wrote it, | 0:22:41 | 0:22:43 | |
he had any idea of the impact it might have? | 0:22:43 | 0:22:47 | |
I don't think for one minute he ever expected that. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
I think he sort of thought it would be a nice little gift | 0:22:49 | 0:22:52 | |
to give to his local friends and family, | 0:22:52 | 0:22:53 | |
but I think it was probably quite a big surprise for him. | 0:22:53 | 0:22:56 | |
-Why do you think he wrote it? -He always said to me, | 0:22:56 | 0:23:00 | |
"Whatever you do, take a notebook, wherever you go. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
"You don't want to lose anything." | 0:23:03 | 0:23:04 | |
That may be another reason why he wrote Cider With Rosie - | 0:23:04 | 0:23:08 | |
he didn't want to lose his childhood. | 0:23:08 | 0:23:10 | |
Laurie was a musician as well as a writer | 0:23:11 | 0:23:14 | |
and a talented painter. | 0:23:14 | 0:23:16 | |
A book of his previously unseen artwork, compiled by Jessie, | 0:23:16 | 0:23:20 | |
is being published later this year. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:23 | |
We've got lovely paintings of the landscape... | 0:23:23 | 0:23:26 | |
-Is that Slad? -That's in Slad, yes. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:29 | |
That's at the bottom of the valley. | 0:23:29 | 0:23:31 | |
So these were paintings he did for himself. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:34 | |
He had them all hidden away. | 0:23:34 | 0:23:36 | |
In fact, they were hidden away under his bed. | 0:23:36 | 0:23:38 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:23:38 | 0:23:40 | |
And, of course, on top of everything else, | 0:23:40 | 0:23:43 | |
he was also a wonderful poet, wasn't he? | 0:23:43 | 0:23:46 | |
Yes, he certainly was and... | 0:23:46 | 0:23:48 | |
I'm a great fan of his poetry. It is deep as well as celebratory, | 0:23:48 | 0:23:53 | |
and I think it really condenses his words. | 0:23:53 | 0:23:57 | |
And, of course, he's a great man of words. | 0:23:57 | 0:23:59 | |
Not only had Laurie Lee put this valley on the literary map, | 0:24:01 | 0:24:05 | |
he also helped preserve it for the future. | 0:24:05 | 0:24:07 | |
With royalties from Cider With Rosie, back in the 1960s, | 0:24:09 | 0:24:13 | |
he bought woodland here in the Slad Valley | 0:24:13 | 0:24:16 | |
to stop it being built on. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:18 | |
Last year, the Laurie Lee Woods opened as a protected nature reserve | 0:24:18 | 0:24:22 | |
thanks to donations from people who admire his work. | 0:24:22 | 0:24:26 | |
Roger Mortlock from the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust | 0:24:26 | 0:24:29 | |
was overwhelmed by the response. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:31 | |
We put out an appeal and, within six weeks, 1,000 people had donated | 0:24:31 | 0:24:36 | |
and we'd made almost twice what we'd asked for. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
And we were able, not only to buy the Wood, | 0:24:39 | 0:24:40 | |
but to secure it and its maintenance going forward. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
-That's fantastic. -Yeah, it was great. | 0:24:43 | 0:24:45 | |
-What kind of people gave money, then? -What was interesting... | 0:24:45 | 0:24:47 | |
We got some press coverage, | 0:24:47 | 0:24:48 | |
that meant that people heard about the wood from a long way away. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:51 | |
We had some donations from America, from Australia... | 0:24:51 | 0:24:54 | |
-So he was well-known in America? -Yeah. | 0:24:54 | 0:24:56 | |
Interestingly, Cider With Rosie was taught on the high-school syllabus | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
for a long time, so this bucolic sense of the English landscape... | 0:24:59 | 0:25:01 | |
-As it was here. -..travelled far and wide. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:04 | |
Keen to emphasise the link between literature and the landscape, | 0:25:04 | 0:25:08 | |
the Trust is launching the Laurie Lee Wildlife Way | 0:25:08 | 0:25:11 | |
to celebrate his centenary. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:14 | |
In conjunction with the family, we've have decided to construct | 0:25:14 | 0:25:17 | |
a poetry trail linking our reserves and liking the Slad village, | 0:25:17 | 0:25:21 | |
where Laurie had so many of his old haunts. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
And we're actually going to construct ten poetry posts | 0:25:24 | 0:25:27 | |
that will actually allow you to see | 0:25:27 | 0:25:29 | |
his work on the landscape this summer. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:31 | |
Well, I've left Laurie Lee Wood behind and I'm crossing the valley | 0:25:35 | 0:25:38 | |
now to get a special preview of one of those poetry posts at Frith Wood. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:44 | |
The posts will punctuate walks that will join together | 0:25:46 | 0:25:49 | |
the nature reserves in a loop around the valley. | 0:25:49 | 0:25:52 | |
-Hello, Emma. -Hi, John. -And Pete. -Hello, John. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:55 | |
'Emma and Pete Bradshaw are in charge | 0:25:55 | 0:25:58 | |
'of choosing the best spots for them.' | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
-It is heavy. -It's quite a heavy beast, yeah. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:03 | |
What about that? | 0:26:03 | 0:26:04 | |
-Hmm... Might need to straighten up a little bit. -Right. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:10 | |
This is going to happen all across the valley, | 0:26:11 | 0:26:14 | |
-and each one at a place which is significant for the poetry. -Yes. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:18 | |
We've tried to choose poems that blend in well | 0:26:18 | 0:26:21 | |
with the countryside and Laurie's favourite places, | 0:26:21 | 0:26:25 | |
so we're putting one of the posts with the poem, | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
Apples, in an orchard... | 0:26:28 | 0:26:30 | |
We think one of the orchards that he wrote about in Cider With Rosie. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:33 | |
And Wild Trees is going in Laurie Lee Wood. | 0:26:33 | 0:26:36 | |
-This is April Rise. -April Rise. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:38 | |
So this is a kind of perfect... | 0:26:38 | 0:26:42 | |
-Perfect... -..late spring, early summer view. -Absolutely. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:45 | |
And when will everything be in place and the Way officially opened? | 0:26:45 | 0:26:49 | |
Hopefully, we're going to open it on what would have been | 0:26:49 | 0:26:52 | |
Laurie Lee's 100th birthday, which is June the 26th. | 0:26:52 | 0:26:54 | |
HE READS THE POEM | 0:26:58 | 0:27:00 | |
Quite beautiful. | 0:27:11 | 0:27:13 | |
-I've just been reading a little bit of April Rise... -Ah. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:25 | |
What do you think of that poem? | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
Well, actually... April Rise is my... | 0:27:27 | 0:27:31 | |
If I had to choose a favourite, it would be my favourite. And... | 0:27:31 | 0:27:35 | |
I actually chose the first few lines to go on the back of his gravestone, | 0:27:35 | 0:27:40 | |
and it was the last poem that he asked me to read to him | 0:27:40 | 0:27:44 | |
before he died. So it's very special to me, April Rise. | 0:27:44 | 0:27:48 | |
And obviously special to him as well. | 0:27:48 | 0:27:51 | |
Yes. I was surprised that he asked me to read it, | 0:27:51 | 0:27:55 | |
but it left me with something very profound. Mm. | 0:27:55 | 0:27:58 | |
Laurie Lee died in May, 1997, | 0:28:03 | 0:28:06 | |
at home in his beloved village of Slad. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:10 | |
He now lies in the local churchyard... | 0:28:10 | 0:28:13 | |
..overlooking the pub and the valley that he treasured so much. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:20 | |
-TOM: -Just a few miles from the Slad Valley, | 0:28:25 | 0:28:28 | |
I'm on a prime piece of Gloucestershire countryside... | 0:28:28 | 0:28:31 | |
being run as a working farm by Princess Anne. | 0:28:31 | 0:28:34 | |
200 acres of woodland fall away to a tranquil lake below, | 0:28:35 | 0:28:41 | |
and grazed rolling hills form a timeless pastoral landscape. | 0:28:41 | 0:28:46 | |
Alongside the beauty lies plenty of hard graft, | 0:28:48 | 0:28:52 | |
and the Princess has been involved in the business of livestock farming | 0:28:52 | 0:28:56 | |
here for nearly 40 years. | 0:28:56 | 0:28:58 | |
And, like many farmers in that time, she's had to deal with | 0:28:58 | 0:29:02 | |
plenty of trials, particularly challenges from disease. | 0:29:02 | 0:29:06 | |
And, like many farmers, she's also chosen to diversify. | 0:29:06 | 0:29:10 | |
This is horse trials course. | 0:29:13 | 0:29:15 | |
This area has got two courses, two different standards of courses. | 0:29:15 | 0:29:20 | |
Gatcombe plays home to the Festival of British Eventing, | 0:29:22 | 0:29:26 | |
a major date on the equestrian calendar | 0:29:26 | 0:29:28 | |
and one of three horse trials held here. | 0:29:28 | 0:29:31 | |
In fact, to help the land pay its way, | 0:29:32 | 0:29:34 | |
everything from craft fairs to mountain biking marathons | 0:29:34 | 0:29:38 | |
take place on the estate. | 0:29:38 | 0:29:41 | |
They're absolutely insane. | 0:29:41 | 0:29:42 | |
CHEERING | 0:29:42 | 0:29:44 | |
It's quite exciting to watch. | 0:29:44 | 0:29:46 | |
-CROWD: -Oh! | 0:29:46 | 0:29:48 | |
But the core business is farming rare breeds. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:55 | |
Gloucester Old Spot pigs rummage around the woodland, | 0:29:55 | 0:29:59 | |
and White Park cattle are corralled into the shelter of the barn | 0:29:59 | 0:30:03 | |
to see out the winter months. | 0:30:03 | 0:30:05 | |
Why does it matter to you that they're rare breeds? | 0:30:06 | 0:30:09 | |
I do think there's a responsibility | 0:30:09 | 0:30:11 | |
to maintain some of the bloodlines which go back a long way, | 0:30:11 | 0:30:14 | |
partly because the very fact | 0:30:14 | 0:30:15 | |
that they do come from a long way back, they've got some value. | 0:30:15 | 0:30:18 | |
-How do you find them to keep? Are they good to keep? -I... Yes. | 0:30:18 | 0:30:22 | |
Having enough scope to keep the best is difficult, | 0:30:22 | 0:30:25 | |
but we try just to improve them bit by bit, | 0:30:25 | 0:30:28 | |
and fortunately, at the moment, | 0:30:28 | 0:30:29 | |
they're turning out to be quite popular with the local butcher. | 0:30:29 | 0:30:33 | |
With the resurgence in public appetite for local, traceable food, | 0:30:33 | 0:30:37 | |
these animals can command a premium for their meat. | 0:30:37 | 0:30:41 | |
But numbers can be difficult to maintain at the best of times, | 0:30:41 | 0:30:45 | |
and Gatcombe has recently seen the worst of times, | 0:30:45 | 0:30:49 | |
with bovine TB wiping out a third of this herd in the past two years. | 0:30:49 | 0:30:55 | |
How do you feel when you do get positive results | 0:30:55 | 0:30:58 | |
in the sense that your cattle do have TB | 0:30:58 | 0:31:00 | |
and some of them have to be put down? | 0:31:00 | 0:31:02 | |
Well, you know, when you've got a cow and a calf of that size, | 0:31:02 | 0:31:07 | |
it's more than deeply frustrating, it's really upsetting. | 0:31:07 | 0:31:10 | |
And, you know, | 0:31:10 | 0:31:12 | |
when you're struggling to keep the numbers going anyway - | 0:31:12 | 0:31:15 | |
some of these aren't the most efficient mothers - | 0:31:15 | 0:31:18 | |
it's really undermining your... your process. | 0:31:18 | 0:31:21 | |
Now, I gather you had a TB test this morning. | 0:31:21 | 0:31:24 | |
-We did, which was...good news for a change. So it was clear. -Good. Good. | 0:31:24 | 0:31:29 | |
You say for a change. Give me the recent history of how that's gone. | 0:31:29 | 0:31:32 | |
Recent history hasn't been too good. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:34 | |
We've gone through phases, which I think, actually, | 0:31:34 | 0:31:36 | |
reflects the size of the population of the badgers, | 0:31:36 | 0:31:39 | |
which, in our woodlands, is quite considerable. | 0:31:39 | 0:31:42 | |
So you're of the opinion | 0:31:42 | 0:31:44 | |
that the badgers are basically giving the TB to the cattle? | 0:31:44 | 0:31:47 | |
Well, I think they're a source because of their success, in a way. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:52 | |
You think maybe the numbers are getting out of control? | 0:31:52 | 0:31:54 | |
I think in some areas they are. | 0:31:54 | 0:31:55 | |
Last year, part of Gloucestershire was one of the trial areas | 0:31:58 | 0:32:01 | |
for culling badgers by shooting them. | 0:32:01 | 0:32:04 | |
But, despite her belief | 0:32:04 | 0:32:05 | |
that badgers carrying TB have blighted her cattle, | 0:32:05 | 0:32:08 | |
Princess Anne is sceptical about this approach | 0:32:08 | 0:32:11 | |
and thinks there may be a better way to control badger populations. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:16 | |
Most of the people would argue, who did it in the past, | 0:32:16 | 0:32:19 | |
and even those, if you're talking about humane, | 0:32:19 | 0:32:23 | |
they will tell you that gas is a much nicer way of doing it, | 0:32:23 | 0:32:26 | |
if that's not a silly expression, because of the way it works. | 0:32:26 | 0:32:31 | |
And how it works is that you go to sleep, basically. | 0:32:31 | 0:32:35 | |
You'd favour gassing as an approach to tackling badgers? | 0:32:35 | 0:32:38 | |
Well, I don't believe that shooting | 0:32:38 | 0:32:40 | |
was ever a particularly good way of dealing with it. | 0:32:40 | 0:32:42 | |
Given that the size of our woods are not that big, | 0:32:42 | 0:32:45 | |
it's very easy to be in a very dangerous situation. | 0:32:45 | 0:32:48 | |
Do you think we're too sentimental about badgers | 0:32:48 | 0:32:50 | |
and we just need to get on with this problem and, you know...? | 0:32:50 | 0:32:53 | |
I think we're too single-issue about a lot of things. | 0:32:53 | 0:32:55 | |
When you look at the badger population, | 0:32:55 | 0:32:57 | |
if there are a lot of badgers, you're going to have no hedgehogs, | 0:32:57 | 0:33:01 | |
probably no wild bees and fewer ground-nesting birds. | 0:33:01 | 0:33:05 | |
Actually, even if you took the cattle completely out of this debate, | 0:33:05 | 0:33:09 | |
from a conservation issue alone, | 0:33:09 | 0:33:11 | |
you'd have to say that too many badgers, | 0:33:11 | 0:33:13 | |
a bigger growth of badger population, | 0:33:13 | 0:33:15 | |
is not good for the balance of conservation anyway. | 0:33:15 | 0:33:18 | |
The Government was considering the idea of gassing as a way forward | 0:33:21 | 0:33:25 | |
after the poor results from last year's trial culls. | 0:33:25 | 0:33:29 | |
They may have gone quiet on the issue, | 0:33:29 | 0:33:32 | |
but it seems Princess Anne is happy to speak out | 0:33:32 | 0:33:36 | |
in favour of trying gas over guns | 0:33:36 | 0:33:38 | |
to cull badgers in these woods and elsewhere across Britain. | 0:33:38 | 0:33:43 | |
A lot of people will find it difficult | 0:33:43 | 0:33:45 | |
to square your concern with wildlife, which you claim you have, | 0:33:45 | 0:33:50 | |
alongside a willingness to cull, indeed, you know, badgers, | 0:33:50 | 0:33:53 | |
possibly gassing as well. | 0:33:53 | 0:33:55 | |
-Do you find that incompatible yourself? -No. | 0:33:55 | 0:33:57 | |
But that's partly because there is no simple answer, | 0:33:57 | 0:34:01 | |
and some of the answers are difficult and not necessarily comfortable. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:04 | |
It's an opinion with which many staunchly disagree. | 0:34:06 | 0:34:09 | |
The Badger Trust, for instance, believes that bringing back gassing, | 0:34:11 | 0:34:15 | |
which has been outlawed for 30 years, | 0:34:15 | 0:34:18 | |
would be inhumane and unpalatable to the public at large. | 0:34:18 | 0:34:21 | |
But Princess Anne's sometimes contentious views | 0:34:25 | 0:34:27 | |
aren't just confined to matters affecting her own farming. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:31 | |
Later on, I'll be finding out about her concerns | 0:34:33 | 0:34:37 | |
over the future of the countryside | 0:34:37 | 0:34:39 | |
and what can be done to solve some of our most pressing rural problems. | 0:34:39 | 0:34:43 | |
-ADAM: -Gloucestershire has a special place in my heart. | 0:34:49 | 0:34:52 | |
It's where I was born and where I was brought up. | 0:34:55 | 0:34:57 | |
And while farming's always been part of my life, | 0:35:00 | 0:35:03 | |
it's always been part of Gloucestershire's life, too. | 0:35:03 | 0:35:05 | |
Gloucestershire's the only county in England | 0:35:10 | 0:35:12 | |
that can boast five local breeds. | 0:35:12 | 0:35:14 | |
We've got sheep, cattle, chickens, ducks | 0:35:14 | 0:35:17 | |
and, of course, my favourite, the lovely Gloucestershire Old Spot pig. | 0:35:17 | 0:35:20 | |
Go on, then. Go on, then, little ones. Follow Mummy. | 0:35:22 | 0:35:25 | |
This sow has given birth to her first litter | 0:35:25 | 0:35:27 | |
in the stables back at home, and we just turn them out | 0:35:27 | 0:35:30 | |
so that they can get a bit of fresh air and sunshine. | 0:35:30 | 0:35:32 | |
They're much happier out here. | 0:35:32 | 0:35:34 | |
And the Gloucestershire Old Spot is a lovely pig. | 0:35:34 | 0:35:36 | |
In fact, it's the oldest pedigree spotted pig in the world, | 0:35:36 | 0:35:39 | |
and they used to be known as the "orchard pig", | 0:35:39 | 0:35:42 | |
because they grazed the apple and pear orchards of the Avon Vale. | 0:35:42 | 0:35:46 | |
In fact, the old wives' tales say that these black spots were created | 0:35:46 | 0:35:49 | |
as the apples fell down and gave them bruises. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:52 | |
If you believe that, you believe anything. | 0:35:52 | 0:35:54 | |
The Old Spots went into decline | 0:35:54 | 0:35:55 | |
because they couldn't compete with the modern-day sow. | 0:35:55 | 0:35:58 | |
They run to fat too quickly, don't have big enough litters | 0:35:58 | 0:36:00 | |
and didn't really suit indoor pig production. | 0:36:00 | 0:36:02 | |
But, now, they're coming back into their own. | 0:36:02 | 0:36:05 | |
In fact, the Princess Royal is patron to the breeders' club. | 0:36:05 | 0:36:08 | |
These local breeds are some of my favourites on the farm | 0:36:11 | 0:36:14 | |
but, within living memory, | 0:36:14 | 0:36:15 | |
they almost disappeared from our countryside. | 0:36:15 | 0:36:18 | |
Gloucester cattle were on the verge of extinction in the 1970s, | 0:36:18 | 0:36:21 | |
but this local man wanted to save the breed. | 0:36:21 | 0:36:25 | |
Good old boy. Good old fella. | 0:36:25 | 0:36:28 | |
'Charles Martell believes that the milk from Old Gloucesters, | 0:36:30 | 0:36:33 | |
'which has a small fat globule, | 0:36:33 | 0:36:35 | |
'is ideal for cheesemaking, | 0:36:35 | 0:36:36 | |
'and he's trying to re-establish the breed. | 0:36:36 | 0:36:40 | |
'Note them well. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:41 | |
'There's only nine bulls | 0:36:41 | 0:36:43 | |
'and less than 70 cows left in the whole of England. | 0:36:43 | 0:36:46 | |
'Although their milk is first-class and high in solids - | 0:36:46 | 0:36:49 | |
'just the thing for cheesemaking - | 0:36:49 | 0:36:50 | |
'the yield isn't as high as in other breeds. | 0:36:50 | 0:36:53 | |
'Dairy farmers wanting more and more output wouldn't bother with them.' | 0:36:53 | 0:36:56 | |
Go on. | 0:36:58 | 0:36:59 | |
'If Charles Martell succeeds, he'll be the first man for 30 years | 0:37:01 | 0:37:05 | |
'to produce real farmhouse double Gloucester. | 0:37:05 | 0:37:08 | |
'Can it be done? And could it really be successful on so small a scale?' | 0:37:08 | 0:37:12 | |
40 years on and the proof is plain to see. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:17 | |
Charles has been making single and double Gloucester cheese ever since | 0:37:17 | 0:37:21 | |
and he still keeps a herd of his own. | 0:37:21 | 0:37:24 | |
-Beautiful. How many have you got now? -About 17 at the moment. | 0:37:24 | 0:37:27 | |
-They're so calm, aren't they? Just... -Yes. -..very relaxed. -Yes. | 0:37:27 | 0:37:31 | |
I think that's a lot through handling. | 0:37:31 | 0:37:33 | |
You know, I think if you go in amongst them, | 0:37:33 | 0:37:35 | |
talk quietly to them, and they respond to that, | 0:37:35 | 0:37:38 | |
cos cattle generally don't want a don't want a lot of hassle in life, | 0:37:38 | 0:37:42 | |
and as long as you don't hassle them, they don't want hassle. | 0:37:42 | 0:37:45 | |
-So, take me through the finer points of a Gloucester, then. -Here we go. | 0:37:45 | 0:37:48 | |
Look. Look at those horns. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:50 | |
The breed standard says fine, wide and inclined to turn up. | 0:37:50 | 0:37:54 | |
Their black head and black legs, and the body is black-brown. | 0:37:54 | 0:37:57 | |
So, very, very dark brown, but not black. | 0:37:57 | 0:37:59 | |
And then you've got the white streak along the back and the white tail. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:03 | |
Classic, that white tail, isn't it? Beautiful. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:05 | |
Yeah. Most beautiful, yeah. Black teats. | 0:38:05 | 0:38:07 | |
People laugh but, actually, it's quite important, | 0:38:07 | 0:38:09 | |
because the teats can get sunburnt in the summer, | 0:38:09 | 0:38:12 | |
so black teats will actually protect them against that. | 0:38:12 | 0:38:15 | |
They've got to have a black top to their tongue. | 0:38:15 | 0:38:18 | |
-She's just licking... -Oh, really? | 0:38:18 | 0:38:19 | |
..these trousers, so she'll stop now. | 0:38:19 | 0:38:21 | |
They've got a black top... There you are. | 0:38:21 | 0:38:23 | |
I knew about the rest, but I didn't know about the tongue. | 0:38:23 | 0:38:25 | |
And a black roof of the mouth, if you care to look. I never have! | 0:38:25 | 0:38:29 | |
Amazing! And why particularly this breed for you? | 0:38:29 | 0:38:33 | |
Well, we live in Gloucestershire. I mean, just no contest. | 0:38:33 | 0:38:37 | |
Plus they needed help, and my way of helping was to make cheese. | 0:38:37 | 0:38:42 | |
'The milk of Old Gloucester cows gives a rich curd, | 0:38:45 | 0:38:47 | |
'and those small fat globules produce a fine, even texture. | 0:38:47 | 0:38:51 | |
'After three pressings and up to six months maturing, | 0:38:52 | 0:38:55 | |
'the cheese should be mellow and slightly pungent in flavour.' | 0:38:55 | 0:38:58 | |
How did you know how to make the cheese? | 0:38:58 | 0:39:01 | |
Well, I didn't, but it was written down. | 0:39:01 | 0:39:04 | |
So, The Cheese Of Gloucestershire, by Avis Colnett, | 0:39:04 | 0:39:07 | |
and she wrote it down in 1931. | 0:39:07 | 0:39:10 | |
-Goodness me. -And there it all is. | 0:39:10 | 0:39:11 | |
Double Gloucester, and the very rare and extinct at that time - | 0:39:11 | 0:39:16 | |
I met Miss Colnett - single Gloucester. | 0:39:16 | 0:39:18 | |
She went round and measured the temperature and acidities | 0:39:18 | 0:39:21 | |
that the dairymaids were using. | 0:39:21 | 0:39:23 | |
They didn't know what they were, because they did it by instinct. | 0:39:23 | 0:39:26 | |
The farmhouse double Gloucester had the personal touch, | 0:39:26 | 0:39:31 | |
the person who was dedicated to cheesemaking, in many cases, | 0:39:31 | 0:39:35 | |
and therefore produced a more mellow, | 0:39:35 | 0:39:40 | |
really fine type, typical double. | 0:39:40 | 0:39:44 | |
And the difference between single and double Gloucester, then? | 0:39:44 | 0:39:47 | |
Right, Adam. Well, here we go. Look, first of all, you can see. | 0:39:47 | 0:39:50 | |
This cheese is thicker - that's a double Gloucester - | 0:39:50 | 0:39:53 | |
because it has to last longer, it has to be matured longer. | 0:39:53 | 0:39:55 | |
-If it was too thin, it would dry out. -Yeah. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:58 | |
So double's the long-keeping cheese. | 0:39:58 | 0:40:00 | |
The single was the short-keeping one. | 0:40:00 | 0:40:03 | |
In fact, the single was the cheese the farmer ate himself. | 0:40:03 | 0:40:06 | |
The double he never used to eat, because that was his income. | 0:40:06 | 0:40:10 | |
So let's try the single first, cos it should be the milder one. | 0:40:10 | 0:40:13 | |
There you are, you see? It's white in colour. Get a bit off there. | 0:40:14 | 0:40:18 | |
Mm. You're losing the recipe! | 0:40:22 | 0:40:24 | |
There's a song about that, Adam. | 0:40:25 | 0:40:28 | |
# Never have that recipe again. # | 0:40:28 | 0:40:30 | |
It's 1931! | 0:40:30 | 0:40:32 | |
ADAM CHUCKLES | 0:40:32 | 0:40:33 | |
-Goodness me! -That's not too bad. I find that a bit bitter. | 0:40:36 | 0:40:39 | |
It was made, for example, | 0:40:39 | 0:40:40 | |
when the cows were in the yards in the winter. | 0:40:40 | 0:40:43 | |
When they went on grass - and the best... | 0:40:43 | 0:40:45 | |
best cheese is made off grass - then you'd make the double. | 0:40:45 | 0:40:49 | |
-Which has a higher acidity. You see it's coloured orange. -Yeah. | 0:40:49 | 0:40:53 | |
That's to give the impression that it's got a lot of fat in, | 0:40:53 | 0:40:56 | |
which everybody wanted fat in the old days. | 0:40:56 | 0:40:59 | |
I hope it's as good as it looks. | 0:40:59 | 0:41:00 | |
Mm. | 0:41:03 | 0:41:05 | |
-That's really great. -That's somewhere near. -That's lovely. | 0:41:05 | 0:41:09 | |
So, when they used to sell cheese, then, | 0:41:09 | 0:41:11 | |
they went around with one of these, testing them and tasting them? | 0:41:11 | 0:41:14 | |
Up to a point, Adam. | 0:41:14 | 0:41:16 | |
But what happened, I mentioned the double Gloucester, | 0:41:16 | 0:41:18 | |
the farmer didn't eat it, it was the one he sent away for his income, | 0:41:18 | 0:41:21 | |
and people used to come on the farms buying the cheese, | 0:41:21 | 0:41:23 | |
-and they were called factors. -Mm-hm. | 0:41:23 | 0:41:25 | |
And it was such a job, going every cheese, | 0:41:25 | 0:41:27 | |
you know, doing like we've just done, | 0:41:27 | 0:41:29 | |
they'd never get through them all. | 0:41:29 | 0:41:31 | |
So, what he'd do, he'd lay them on the ground | 0:41:31 | 0:41:33 | |
and he'd walk on them, | 0:41:33 | 0:41:35 | |
and if the cheese gave under his foot too much, | 0:41:35 | 0:41:37 | |
that was deemed to be hoven, | 0:41:37 | 0:41:39 | |
it had something wrong with it, and he'd reject it. | 0:41:39 | 0:41:41 | |
And we've been here, what, 42 years now. | 0:41:41 | 0:41:44 | |
We've never tried walking on the cheese. | 0:41:44 | 0:41:49 | |
And as we've...a fine Gloucestershire guest with us today, | 0:41:49 | 0:41:53 | |
-I wondered if you'd like to try. -Yeah, why not. | 0:41:53 | 0:41:55 | |
I've never walked on a cheese either. Let's give it a go. | 0:41:55 | 0:41:58 | |
-Are you sure about this? -Yes, Adam. | 0:42:02 | 0:42:04 | |
Now, don't forget, this has never been done in living memory. | 0:42:04 | 0:42:07 | |
So this is a unique occasion. | 0:42:07 | 0:42:09 | |
And, don't forget, the senses of the soles of your feet | 0:42:09 | 0:42:12 | |
-will judge the quality of each cheese. -OK. | 0:42:12 | 0:42:14 | |
-So, you have to be clocking that as you go along. -How quickly do I walk? | 0:42:14 | 0:42:17 | |
-Well, not long enough to sink in. -OK. | 0:42:17 | 0:42:21 | |
Oh, God. Ooh, it's standing it. Brilliant. Oh, wow. | 0:42:21 | 0:42:25 | |
-Wow! -And? Did they give? -Only a little tiny bit. -That's all right. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:29 | |
-Yeah. -So they're not hoven? -No. I think they're lovely. | 0:42:29 | 0:42:32 | |
-I'll buy the lot. Thank you very much. -Can I just smell them now? | 0:42:32 | 0:42:35 | |
They smell a bit more cheesy! | 0:42:35 | 0:42:38 | |
-All right. That's improved them. -Yes! | 0:42:38 | 0:42:40 | |
I'll be able to sell them for a premium. | 0:42:40 | 0:42:42 | |
Agriculture is very much at the heart of Gloucestershire's history, | 0:42:47 | 0:42:51 | |
with some wonderful old-fashioned breeds | 0:42:51 | 0:42:54 | |
and great farmers like Charles Martell, | 0:42:54 | 0:42:57 | |
who are preserving that tradition. | 0:42:57 | 0:42:59 | |
Now, for me, well, | 0:42:59 | 0:43:00 | |
Gloucestershire is a county that I'm very proud to call my home. | 0:43:00 | 0:43:04 | |
-TOM: -I've been exploring 400 acres of land | 0:43:08 | 0:43:11 | |
farmed by someone else who's proud to call Gloucestershire home. | 0:43:11 | 0:43:14 | |
Princess Anne. | 0:43:14 | 0:43:15 | |
She's raised rare breeds at Gatcombe Park since the 1970s, | 0:43:17 | 0:43:21 | |
but her involvement in country life runs much deeper. | 0:43:21 | 0:43:24 | |
Much of the rest of her time is spent working with rural groups | 0:43:26 | 0:43:30 | |
to keep their concerns in the public eye, | 0:43:30 | 0:43:32 | |
and also tackle some of the big issues facing British farming today. | 0:43:32 | 0:43:37 | |
Farming doesn't have the profile that maybe it should have, | 0:43:39 | 0:43:42 | |
and I think that needs arguing. | 0:43:42 | 0:43:45 | |
Farmers are not here just to entertain other people | 0:43:45 | 0:43:48 | |
or, indeed, themselves. | 0:43:48 | 0:43:49 | |
What you do here is to add value, and that's what I hope you see it as, | 0:43:49 | 0:43:52 | |
is adding value to the land that you live on and work from. | 0:43:52 | 0:43:56 | |
It's a serious business, looking after the countryside, | 0:43:58 | 0:44:01 | |
and it's a much more serious business feeding people. | 0:44:01 | 0:44:03 | |
It's not just farming, | 0:44:03 | 0:44:05 | |
but the whole fabric of rural life she's involved with, | 0:44:05 | 0:44:09 | |
everything from the Worshipful Company of Butchers | 0:44:09 | 0:44:12 | |
to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. | 0:44:12 | 0:44:15 | |
But before we tackle more thorny issues of the day, though, | 0:44:15 | 0:44:19 | |
there are some upstarts closer to home to take on. | 0:44:19 | 0:44:22 | |
-So what have you brought me down here for? -Well, these are... | 0:44:23 | 0:44:26 | |
These ARE unusual. Not these, because these are willows. | 0:44:26 | 0:44:29 | |
But the thing in the middle here is a black poplar. | 0:44:29 | 0:44:31 | |
-We need to give them a bit more space now. -A bit more freedom. -Yes. | 0:44:31 | 0:44:34 | |
You tell me what to chop, I'll do some chopping. | 0:44:34 | 0:44:36 | |
Well, how much exercise do you want to take? | 0:44:36 | 0:44:39 | |
Because you can try the really thick one, or you can just take the...! | 0:44:39 | 0:44:42 | |
You've set me a challenge there now. I'm not going to wimp out of that. | 0:44:42 | 0:44:46 | |
We're both at it now. | 0:44:46 | 0:44:48 | |
'As we work in the shadow of the Princess's stately pile, | 0:44:48 | 0:44:53 | |
'it seems a good time to raise the issue of affordable rural homes.' | 0:44:53 | 0:44:57 | |
It's estimated our countryside needs a quarter of a million of them | 0:44:58 | 0:45:02 | |
and, as patron of the English Rural Housing Association, | 0:45:02 | 0:45:05 | |
Princess Anne's views on the subject recently made something of a splash, | 0:45:05 | 0:45:10 | |
as she shared her thoughts on the size and location of new housing. | 0:45:10 | 0:45:15 | |
What do you think's the key to getting more houses in rural Britain | 0:45:16 | 0:45:20 | |
that so many people who live in the countryside say they need? | 0:45:20 | 0:45:23 | |
It may pay to do it in smaller developments, not bigger ones, | 0:45:23 | 0:45:29 | |
say, in groups of 10, 15 houses, | 0:45:29 | 0:45:34 | |
as long as it came with space for community hub, | 0:45:34 | 0:45:38 | |
proper broadband, proper mobile phone coverage, | 0:45:38 | 0:45:40 | |
so people could do business there as well. | 0:45:40 | 0:45:42 | |
I can see the attraction of that, | 0:45:42 | 0:45:44 | |
but if you do it in lots of small pockets, do you not end up with, | 0:45:44 | 0:45:48 | |
you know, 2,500 planning battles, 2,500 NIMBY rows? | 0:45:48 | 0:45:52 | |
There are always some strong local voices and objection. | 0:45:52 | 0:45:55 | |
-Do you think...? -Not always. | 0:45:55 | 0:45:56 | |
The secret of success was to go out and explain the value, | 0:45:56 | 0:45:59 | |
that for every pound you spend in affordable housing, | 0:45:59 | 0:46:02 | |
through social value and local benefit, you're making £6.50. | 0:46:02 | 0:46:09 | |
They can keep their school, they may keep the shop, | 0:46:09 | 0:46:13 | |
they may keep the pub, all of which are in danger of disappearing | 0:46:13 | 0:46:16 | |
if you don't have enough people to make them viable. | 0:46:16 | 0:46:19 | |
I can hear people saying right now, you know, | 0:46:19 | 0:46:22 | |
would you practice what you preach? | 0:46:22 | 0:46:24 | |
Would you offer land in your patch for housing? | 0:46:24 | 0:46:27 | |
I have done in the past. | 0:46:27 | 0:46:29 | |
I actually offered them some land here a few years back. | 0:46:29 | 0:46:33 | |
And, oddly enough, | 0:46:33 | 0:46:34 | |
the local village hadn't recognised that it had a problem at that stage. | 0:46:34 | 0:46:39 | |
So it seems Princess Anne's not someone | 0:46:39 | 0:46:41 | |
who's afraid of putting her money where her mouth is | 0:46:41 | 0:46:44 | |
when it comes to securing the future of our rural communities. | 0:46:44 | 0:46:47 | |
Attracting young blood to work in our countryside | 0:46:48 | 0:46:51 | |
is another hot topic the Princess is involved in. | 0:46:51 | 0:46:55 | |
She recently became the first chancellor | 0:46:55 | 0:46:58 | |
of Harper Adams University, | 0:46:58 | 0:47:00 | |
which trains young people for a future in farming. | 0:47:00 | 0:47:03 | |
And it's an issue which has recently taken on an even more personal tone. | 0:47:05 | 0:47:10 | |
One young man who's recently shown an interest in agriculture | 0:47:11 | 0:47:13 | |
is your nephew, who's doing a course in Cambridge. | 0:47:13 | 0:47:16 | |
Did you give him any advice and encouragement on that? | 0:47:16 | 0:47:19 | |
-Did I give him any? -Yeah. | 0:47:19 | 0:47:20 | |
Well, I probably wouldn't have suggested Cambridge, but I mean...! | 0:47:20 | 0:47:23 | |
I couldn't possibly say that, could I? | 0:47:23 | 0:47:26 | |
No, I think, for the same reason... | 0:47:26 | 0:47:29 | |
I mean, they too were brought up, of course, | 0:47:29 | 0:47:31 | |
in very much a farming background, and... | 0:47:31 | 0:47:35 | |
My brother's farming is on a rather different scale to mine, | 0:47:36 | 0:47:39 | |
as you may have noticed. | 0:47:39 | 0:47:40 | |
So they've had plenty of experience, again, of a range of farming | 0:47:40 | 0:47:44 | |
and what it means to families, | 0:47:44 | 0:47:46 | |
and I think in the long run, he's going to see that | 0:47:46 | 0:47:48 | |
as a very important part of his future life, | 0:47:48 | 0:47:51 | |
and he'd like to understand a bit more about it. | 0:47:51 | 0:47:53 | |
The Royals may share a passion for working the land, | 0:47:55 | 0:47:59 | |
but how to do it is as contentious an issue within this family | 0:47:59 | 0:48:03 | |
as it is in the wider community. | 0:48:03 | 0:48:06 | |
Prince Charles is famously opposed to GM. | 0:48:07 | 0:48:10 | |
His sister may have other ideas. | 0:48:10 | 0:48:13 | |
What role do you think there is for genetic modification of crops? | 0:48:15 | 0:48:20 | |
-Well, I think it has a role to play, to be honest. -Big role? | 0:48:20 | 0:48:23 | |
I think the claims are probably slightly greater | 0:48:23 | 0:48:27 | |
than most of the deliverables actually are. | 0:48:27 | 0:48:29 | |
They do add to our ability | 0:48:29 | 0:48:32 | |
to perhaps be more efficient users of the land that is good. | 0:48:32 | 0:48:36 | |
Because I think, in the long-term, | 0:48:36 | 0:48:38 | |
when you've got the prospect of nine billion to feed, | 0:48:38 | 0:48:41 | |
you are going to need some help in doing that, and to do it well. | 0:48:41 | 0:48:46 | |
Do you have some interesting chats with your brother | 0:48:46 | 0:48:49 | |
-about this subject? -Seldom. | 0:48:49 | 0:48:51 | |
ADAM CHUCKLES | 0:48:51 | 0:48:53 | |
-But you do take a slightly...I mean, a different view... -Yes. -..on this. | 0:48:53 | 0:48:56 | |
Yes, I think we probably do. | 0:48:56 | 0:48:58 | |
-But that's all part of family life, would you say? -I think so. | 0:48:58 | 0:49:01 | |
But I do think there are some things which, | 0:49:01 | 0:49:03 | |
even if you don't really like the sound of it yourself, | 0:49:03 | 0:49:06 | |
you know that's got to a point... | 0:49:06 | 0:49:08 | |
you're not going to stop it, because you can't, | 0:49:08 | 0:49:10 | |
so you really must focus on how you get the best out of it | 0:49:10 | 0:49:13 | |
and how it works for humans and the globe in the long run. | 0:49:13 | 0:49:17 | |
From housing, to agriculture, to energy, to wildlife. | 0:49:20 | 0:49:23 | |
Ever more is demanded from the finite land of rural Britain. | 0:49:23 | 0:49:28 | |
Opinions may be divided on Princess Anne's vision of how to get there, | 0:49:28 | 0:49:32 | |
but one thing few could argue with | 0:49:32 | 0:49:35 | |
is the value that she places on our countryside. | 0:49:35 | 0:49:39 | |
At the risk of a slightly philosophical question, | 0:49:39 | 0:49:41 | |
what do you think the countryside is ultimately for? | 0:49:41 | 0:49:44 | |
You see, I think that's a really strange concept. | 0:49:45 | 0:49:48 | |
What do you mean, what is the countryside for? | 0:49:48 | 0:49:51 | |
It's for our survival, isn't it? | 0:49:51 | 0:49:53 | |
The foundation of Princess Anne's beliefs do stem, to some extent, | 0:49:57 | 0:50:02 | |
from privilege and birthright. | 0:50:02 | 0:50:04 | |
But they've also been developed over the years by her experience here | 0:50:04 | 0:50:08 | |
and her engagement with farmers across the country. | 0:50:08 | 0:50:12 | |
Nonetheless, her opinions are very divisive | 0:50:12 | 0:50:16 | |
and there's no doubt that some well-informed people | 0:50:16 | 0:50:19 | |
would strongly disagree, | 0:50:19 | 0:50:21 | |
and we'll be exploring some of those views over the coming months. | 0:50:21 | 0:50:25 | |
This week, we've been exploring all things Gloucestershire, | 0:50:36 | 0:50:40 | |
and I've been finding out about the importance of wild flowers. | 0:50:40 | 0:50:43 | |
They underpin so much of our natural environment, | 0:50:43 | 0:50:46 | |
feeding the wildlife and, in turn, feeding us by pollinating our crops. | 0:50:46 | 0:50:50 | |
Yet they're in serious decline. | 0:50:50 | 0:50:53 | |
But these little packets of seeds from Kew Gardens | 0:50:53 | 0:50:56 | |
is going to help change all that. | 0:50:56 | 0:50:58 | |
We're working with them | 0:50:58 | 0:51:00 | |
to give away 230,000 of these little pods of life, | 0:51:00 | 0:51:03 | |
and I'm going to kick things off | 0:51:03 | 0:51:05 | |
by planting the first pack here at home. | 0:51:05 | 0:51:08 | |
I've enlisted the help of Dr Kate Hardwick, | 0:51:14 | 0:51:16 | |
a meadow restoration expert from Kew's Millennium Seed Bank. | 0:51:16 | 0:51:20 | |
I've got a fair few birds and mammals on my land already, | 0:51:20 | 0:51:24 | |
but I'm keen for Kate to have a look | 0:51:24 | 0:51:25 | |
and tell me how wild flowers will encourage more. | 0:51:25 | 0:51:28 | |
-Oh, yeah. -Muntjac. -That's my muntjac. | 0:51:30 | 0:51:33 | |
Well, they'll help to nibble, keep the grass down a bit, | 0:51:33 | 0:51:36 | |
but they might nibble your wild flowers as well. | 0:51:36 | 0:51:38 | |
-Oh, OK. I'll take that downside. I like having them. -Yeah. | 0:51:38 | 0:51:41 | |
-Oh, yeah, badger. -Crafty badger. -Yeah. -Birdlife. | 0:51:42 | 0:51:45 | |
-There's a great tit there. -Oh, yes, OK. | 0:51:45 | 0:51:48 | |
No, I think this is going to be really good | 0:51:48 | 0:51:50 | |
-for increasing the birdlife on the site. -Excellent. | 0:51:50 | 0:51:53 | |
Cos you'll be getting seeds from the plants, | 0:51:53 | 0:51:55 | |
the plants will encourage insects, | 0:51:55 | 0:51:57 | |
so you'll get the ground-feeding, insect-eating birds, | 0:51:57 | 0:52:00 | |
so I think that's one thing you could really expect to see improving. | 0:52:00 | 0:52:03 | |
-So it's looking good, but could do better. -Absolutely. | 0:52:03 | 0:52:06 | |
There's lots of potential for improvement, I think. | 0:52:06 | 0:52:08 | |
Never one to take the easy route, | 0:52:10 | 0:52:12 | |
I'm planting my very first Grow Wild seed pack | 0:52:12 | 0:52:15 | |
in this scrubby area of my orchard. | 0:52:15 | 0:52:17 | |
Right, so the important thing here is to open up the soil, | 0:52:17 | 0:52:21 | |
get rid of the grass and weeds, get rid of the big lumps, | 0:52:21 | 0:52:25 | |
and rake it so that we've got a nice, smooth seedbed | 0:52:25 | 0:52:29 | |
that the seeds can germinate in. | 0:52:29 | 0:52:31 | |
-And how big a patch do people need to prepare for their seeds? -Well... | 0:52:31 | 0:52:36 | |
One packet of seeds will cover about two square metres, | 0:52:36 | 0:52:40 | |
and that's roughly the size of a single bed. | 0:52:40 | 0:52:43 | |
-Good. -So, I think we're nearly there. | 0:52:43 | 0:52:46 | |
'But the point of Grow Wild is to sow seeds | 0:52:46 | 0:52:48 | |
'in any spare growing space you may have, rural or urban. | 0:52:48 | 0:52:52 | |
'Even window boxes or buckets or paint pots. | 0:52:52 | 0:52:56 | |
'Whatever you can get your hands on. | 0:52:56 | 0:52:58 | |
'Just use compost or topsoil in a container.' | 0:52:58 | 0:53:01 | |
These are my first seeds going in. | 0:53:01 | 0:53:03 | |
This is the first active step I've taken on this land, | 0:53:03 | 0:53:06 | |
-so quite excited about this. -Yeah. | 0:53:06 | 0:53:08 | |
Because it's got the sand in it, you can just about see where you've gone. | 0:53:08 | 0:53:11 | |
'There are two ways to sow the seed. | 0:53:11 | 0:53:13 | |
'Either just sprinkle it on, or mix it with sand. | 0:53:13 | 0:53:16 | |
'It makes it easier to handle, plus you can see where you've sown.' | 0:53:16 | 0:53:20 | |
Shake it on, and then a little bit of raking over. | 0:53:20 | 0:53:22 | |
Yeah, but we don't want to cover it up too much, | 0:53:22 | 0:53:24 | |
because some of the species | 0:53:24 | 0:53:26 | |
need access to sunlight in order to germinate. | 0:53:26 | 0:53:28 | |
'Finally, give the seeds a good drink. | 0:53:28 | 0:53:32 | |
'In a few months' time, this bare patch of earth | 0:53:32 | 0:53:34 | |
'should be full of flowers and buzzing with life.' | 0:53:34 | 0:53:37 | |
It looks as though you've almost finished there, Ellie. | 0:53:37 | 0:53:40 | |
-How about that, John? -Sorry I arrived too late to help. | 0:53:40 | 0:53:43 | |
Yeah, that's perfect timing on your part. What's the wellies for? | 0:53:43 | 0:53:46 | |
Well, I've heard that these wild seeds can grow anywhere, | 0:53:46 | 0:53:49 | |
even in an old pair of wellies, | 0:53:49 | 0:53:51 | |
so here's a pair with some compost already in them. | 0:53:51 | 0:53:54 | |
All the hard work's been done for you. The compost's in there. | 0:53:54 | 0:53:56 | |
-Here's your seeds, then. -Right. | 0:53:56 | 0:53:58 | |
Just put a few seeds in, scatter them in like that. | 0:53:58 | 0:54:00 | |
-That's it, mix them all in. -And then mix them in the sand, like that. | 0:54:00 | 0:54:04 | |
OK. And just scatter a few in, like that. | 0:54:06 | 0:54:10 | |
So, while John waters those seeds in, we've got | 0:54:10 | 0:54:12 | |
nearly a quarter of a million | 0:54:12 | 0:54:13 | |
packets of seeds to give away, | 0:54:13 | 0:54:15 | |
so log on to our website | 0:54:15 | 0:54:17 | |
and see how you can claim | 0:54:17 | 0:54:18 | |
your free pack. | 0:54:18 | 0:54:20 | |
How's it going? | 0:54:20 | 0:54:21 | |
-Wellies deliberately getting wet on the inside. -Yeah! | 0:54:21 | 0:54:24 | |
Love your work, John. Great. | 0:54:24 | 0:54:26 | |
Well, I'll take these home and see what happens. | 0:54:26 | 0:54:28 | |
Well, that's it from glorious Gloucestershire. | 0:54:28 | 0:54:31 | |
Next week, we'll be in Southport, | 0:54:31 | 0:54:32 | |
where Matt will be looking for shrimps | 0:54:32 | 0:54:35 | |
on a newly restored horse-drawn shrimping cart. | 0:54:35 | 0:54:38 | |
And I shall be looking at the history of bathing in the area | 0:54:38 | 0:54:41 | |
and meeting a local group determined to clean up the waters. | 0:54:41 | 0:54:44 | |
-But I won't be tempted to get in. It will be too cold. -Oh, go on! | 0:54:44 | 0:54:48 | |
-Hope you can join us then. -Bye for now. -Bye. | 0:54:48 | 0:54:50 |