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Shropshire, a county known for its heath, | 0:00:30 | 0:00:34 | |
its moorland and in particular, | 0:00:34 | 0:00:36 | |
its hills, which roll on as far as the eye can see and it was on one of | 0:00:36 | 0:00:40 | |
these craggy exposed peaks that a mining community made its home. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:45 | |
-This is a simple life, isn't it? -Yeah. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:54 | |
Anita is exploring the site of a very unlikely nature reserve. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:02 | |
I mean, you wonder what a scrapyard and a wildlife trust could possibly | 0:01:02 | 0:01:07 | |
-have in common. -It's all about where it is. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
Right here we're on the edge of one of the largest peat bodies | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
in Britain. | 0:01:12 | 0:01:13 | |
Charlotte's finding out about an issue that is all too common, | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
but often hidden away. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:20 | |
Dementia can be devastating wherever you live, | 0:01:21 | 0:01:24 | |
but finding help and support in | 0:01:24 | 0:01:26 | |
rural areas can be tough and for farmers | 0:01:26 | 0:01:28 | |
especially, everyday tasks can quickly become dangerous. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:32 | |
And in the first part of a series of special films, | 0:01:35 | 0:01:37 | |
Adam is discovering how they farm on the other side of the world, | 0:01:37 | 0:01:41 | |
in New Zealand. | 0:01:41 | 0:01:42 | |
Obviously we're in the old home where you used to snore a lot. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
You know, when you come and stayed last time? | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
You used to kick me out of bed and make me go and prune kiwi vines! | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
This wild, storm-battered rocky ridge is hardly | 0:02:05 | 0:02:09 | |
the ideal place to build a | 0:02:09 | 0:02:10 | |
new community, but in the mid-1800s, | 0:02:10 | 0:02:14 | |
that is exactly what happened. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:16 | |
This is literally life lived on the edge. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:19 | |
Migrant workers poured into this remote corner of Shropshire, | 0:02:25 | 0:02:28 | |
southwest of Shrewsbury, | 0:02:28 | 0:02:30 | |
attracted by the booming lead mine at Snailbeach. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:33 | |
Cottages began to spring up high on this hill above the mine. | 0:02:35 | 0:02:38 | |
This community, known as Blakemoregate, | 0:02:40 | 0:02:43 | |
was without doubt, one of the most isolated and these | 0:02:43 | 0:02:45 | |
squatters' cottages were built on the Welsh tradition of a house in a | 0:02:45 | 0:02:50 | |
night. This is incredible. | 0:02:50 | 0:02:52 | |
Basically, if you could build a | 0:02:52 | 0:02:54 | |
chimney and get it smoking by the morning, | 0:02:54 | 0:02:57 | |
then you had the right to stay. | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
Once given the thumbs up, | 0:02:59 | 0:03:00 | |
you would throw an axe and wherever the axe landed, | 0:03:00 | 0:03:03 | |
that was your boundary. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
Presumably, once they had staked their claim, | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
they spent a little bit more time fine tuning the house. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
By 1836, there were 97 cottages built on this precipice. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:19 | |
As they were sometimes cut off for months on end, | 0:03:21 | 0:03:23 | |
the residents had to survive on what | 0:03:23 | 0:03:25 | |
this unforgiving landscape could provide. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:28 | |
And this is what they used as kindling for the fire, | 0:03:29 | 0:03:32 | |
heather from the hills. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:33 | |
It was brittle, burnt easily and more importantly, | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
it was right on the doorstep. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:38 | |
Local farmer, Mary Huxley still lives by many of these principles. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
She is the third generation of a family to make butter from scratch. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:54 | |
Now in her late 70s, this is still her livelihood. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:58 | |
Mary, do you remember a time in your life when you weren't churning | 0:03:58 | 0:04:01 | |
-butter? -No, I don't, unfortunately. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
-Definitely on a Saturday, always. -Right. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:07 | |
And from what age are we talking? | 0:04:07 | 0:04:09 | |
-Eight years old. -Eight years old! | 0:04:09 | 0:04:11 | |
This is a simple life, isn't it? | 0:04:11 | 0:04:13 | |
What have we got going on in here? | 0:04:13 | 0:04:16 | |
We've got that cream we pour in from one end to the | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
other and as it drops from one end to | 0:04:18 | 0:04:20 | |
the other, it knocks out the fatty globules and it will look like | 0:04:20 | 0:04:24 | |
scrambled egg floating in milk. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:27 | |
How do you know when it's ready? | 0:04:27 | 0:04:28 | |
Because that window will be clean, | 0:04:28 | 0:04:30 | |
that is why I am trying to reach over to have a look. | 0:04:30 | 0:04:32 | |
Do you think we're done? Screw that a little bit more. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:37 | |
We can have a look. And see if it has worked. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:40 | |
-That looks pretty good to me. -This is how my mother used to do it. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:43 | |
Mary is the last in her family to churn for a living. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:47 | |
Is this is for your design now? | 0:04:50 | 0:04:52 | |
That's my mother's and it went down the family line. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:54 | |
Well, it's beautiful. Nobody would not look at that and think, | 0:04:55 | 0:04:59 | |
"That is a fine display of butter, Mary." | 0:04:59 | 0:05:01 | |
THEY CHUCKLE | 0:05:01 | 0:05:02 | |
But this self-sustaining way of life on these hills was soon to die out. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:12 | |
As the lead mining industry fell into decline, | 0:05:14 | 0:05:17 | |
the cottages here at Blakemoregate were | 0:05:17 | 0:05:19 | |
gradually deserted and this cottage here | 0:05:19 | 0:05:21 | |
behind me, Cook's Cottage, was the last to be abandoned in the 1950s. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:26 | |
But now Natural England have | 0:05:29 | 0:05:31 | |
painstakingly rebuilt this cottage from rubble, | 0:05:31 | 0:05:34 | |
so that the miners' way of life can be | 0:05:34 | 0:05:36 | |
recorded for future generations. | 0:05:36 | 0:05:38 | |
You know, this whole restoration project gives a wonderful glimpse | 0:05:41 | 0:05:45 | |
into what life was like for the people who lived here, | 0:05:45 | 0:05:47 | |
how rooted they were in their habitat, | 0:05:47 | 0:05:49 | |
how they lived off the land and how they responded to the seasons and I | 0:05:49 | 0:05:54 | |
don't want to over romanticise this, | 0:05:54 | 0:05:56 | |
because it was all borne out of necessity, | 0:05:56 | 0:05:58 | |
but this simple life is very attractive to me. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
Now, dementia is a difficult diagnosis for any family to receive, | 0:06:09 | 0:06:13 | |
but as Charlotte has been finding out, | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
for those who live in our countryside, well, | 0:06:15 | 0:06:17 | |
they face very specific problems. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:20 | |
I've seen my father, who was straight as a arrow, | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
change so dramatically in the previous year. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:29 | |
It was just horrible, watching him deteriorate into a shell, | 0:06:32 | 0:06:37 | |
not recognise us or any of his friends. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:39 | |
Dad got dementia in his 60s, | 0:06:43 | 0:06:46 | |
we had to hide the car keys from him but he still wanted to work on | 0:06:46 | 0:06:49 | |
the farm. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:51 | |
Dementia is a devastating condition, | 0:06:51 | 0:06:54 | |
cruel both to those who have it and to those left to care and it's a | 0:06:54 | 0:06:58 | |
growing problem. | 0:06:58 | 0:06:59 | |
Many of us may think of dementia as simply a case of memory loss, | 0:07:01 | 0:07:05 | |
but the symptoms can be as wide-ranging as they are damaging. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:09 | |
Your whole way of perceiving the world alters. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:12 | |
It can change your personality and affect spatial awareness. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:16 | |
The University of Plymouth will soon publish a report which shows that | 0:07:17 | 0:07:21 | |
rural and farming families dealing with dementia face an even greater | 0:07:21 | 0:07:25 | |
burden than those elsewhere. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:27 | |
And the findings from that report show that those with dementia on | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
farms can find themselves in a dangerous environment, | 0:07:32 | 0:07:35 | |
often with little support available. | 0:07:35 | 0:07:38 | |
In November last year, | 0:07:38 | 0:07:40 | |
dementia was recognised as the leading cause of death in England | 0:07:40 | 0:07:43 | |
and Wales for the first time. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
Right now there are around 850,000 people living with dementia across | 0:07:46 | 0:07:51 | |
the UK, of which a significant proportion live in rural areas. | 0:07:51 | 0:07:55 | |
Now, this is a very personal and sensitive subject, | 0:07:55 | 0:07:58 | |
one that farmers and their families are understandably reluctant to talk | 0:07:58 | 0:08:02 | |
about. We've been in touch with many families and although they didn't | 0:08:02 | 0:08:06 | |
want to appear on television, | 0:08:06 | 0:08:08 | |
they were willing to share their experiences anonymously. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:11 | |
I wept in the shed one day when I got a phone call from him saying he | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
had parked the car in town. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:19 | |
He can't find it, could I come and pick him up. | 0:08:19 | 0:08:21 | |
My own small business has taken a | 0:08:26 | 0:08:27 | |
knock because of me covering for him. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:29 | |
We have to go together in the morning to feed the sheep. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
It's usually a 20 minute job but now it takes over an hour. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
The man in charge of tackling dementia in our countryside | 0:08:40 | 0:08:43 | |
is Ian Sherriff. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:44 | |
He chairs the government's Rural Dementia Task Force and commissioned | 0:08:44 | 0:08:48 | |
Plymouth University's new report. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:50 | |
What are the main problems for | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
people who have dementia who are in rural areas? | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
I think the biggest thing and we are being told by carers, | 0:08:56 | 0:09:00 | |
is that they are lonely, they're isolated and quite frankly, | 0:09:00 | 0:09:05 | |
nobody gives a damn about them. | 0:09:05 | 0:09:07 | |
You look around us here in Devon and people from outside Devon | 0:09:07 | 0:09:11 | |
think it's a wonderful location, to some people that is a prison. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:14 | |
Nine times out of ten, | 0:09:14 | 0:09:16 | |
the person who has the dementia is the one that drives the car and | 0:09:16 | 0:09:19 | |
visiting people in rural locations by health and | 0:09:19 | 0:09:23 | |
social care workers is difficult. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:26 | |
You can imagine the time it takes to get to a location, | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
how much time they have on location with a person, | 0:09:29 | 0:09:32 | |
so everything is exacerbated even more, by the idyllic, | 0:09:32 | 0:09:37 | |
what other people would say, rural setting. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:41 | |
And when we put this into a farming context, | 0:09:41 | 0:09:43 | |
I guess that gets more complicated. | 0:09:43 | 0:09:45 | |
I think if you look at the environment on a farm, | 0:09:45 | 0:09:47 | |
the farmyard is a very risky place to work. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:50 | |
People have been injured. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:52 | |
But I've also heard that livestock has suffered as well. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:55 | |
Where an individual, | 0:09:55 | 0:09:57 | |
had not been feeding their animals correctly and those animals had to | 0:09:57 | 0:10:01 | |
be put down. It does worry me about the risk factors that farmers put | 0:10:01 | 0:10:07 | |
-themselves into. -Because they are just carrying on doing what they do | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
with machinery and animals. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:11 | |
Yes, just carrying on as farmers do. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:14 | |
And farmers do just carry on, as these anonymous testimonies show. | 0:10:16 | 0:10:21 | |
Keep coming. Whoa! | 0:10:21 | 0:10:27 | |
Things like attaching something to the back of the tractor is now a | 0:10:27 | 0:10:30 | |
dangerous job. Not for him, for me. | 0:10:30 | 0:10:33 | |
Keep coming. Keep coming. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:35 | |
I've been squashed three times now. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
Keep coming. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:39 | |
Whoa! | 0:10:40 | 0:10:42 | |
Put him in the field with a spreader or a plough and he's fine. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:45 | |
You wouldn't know he'd almost killed me 20 minutes ago. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:47 | |
We realised just how bad it was | 0:10:55 | 0:10:57 | |
getting when we looked in his tractor and | 0:10:57 | 0:10:59 | |
found post-it notes stuck all over the windscreen. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:02 | |
He had written instructions to | 0:11:02 | 0:11:04 | |
himself saying what gears he should use for | 0:11:04 | 0:11:06 | |
all the different jobs! | 0:11:06 | 0:11:08 | |
I had to persuade him that he ought to give the younger chaps a chance | 0:11:10 | 0:11:13 | |
to use the bigger machines, but he still drove the tractor. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:17 | |
In the end, it got too dangerous. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:19 | |
I remember that once he drove out of the grain store with the trailer | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
still up. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:27 | |
Only just missed the door frame. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:31 | |
We were lucky not to have a nasty accident. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:35 | |
Dementia can affect anyone but if you're somewhere rural, | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
the challenges can be huge and on farms what were everyday jobs can be | 0:11:40 | 0:11:45 | |
potentially life-threatening situations. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:47 | |
So what's being done to tackle the issues farmers face? | 0:11:47 | 0:11:50 | |
Well, that's what I'll be finding out later. | 0:11:50 | 0:11:53 | |
Shropshire... | 0:11:59 | 0:12:00 | |
..a diverse rural county. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:04 | |
Home to some unusual nooks and crannies, | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
including some of the country's rarest habitat. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:12 | |
So why am I in this polluted old scrapyard? | 0:12:15 | 0:12:18 | |
Well, believe it or not, | 0:12:18 | 0:12:20 | |
this is Shropshire Wildlife Trust's latest nature reserve, | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
or at least it will be. | 0:12:23 | 0:12:25 | |
It's part of a £5 million restoration project. | 0:12:25 | 0:12:29 | |
But what makes this toxic tip so special? | 0:12:32 | 0:12:36 | |
Why spend so much reclaiming this scrappy patch of land? | 0:12:36 | 0:12:39 | |
This is why. | 0:12:44 | 0:12:45 | |
It borders this internationally renowned nature reserve. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:51 | |
Its landscape was carved out thousands of years ago | 0:12:53 | 0:12:57 | |
in the last Ice Age but remains vital today. | 0:12:57 | 0:13:01 | |
It's quite something, isn't it? | 0:13:01 | 0:13:02 | |
Looks like Africa but I can assure you I'm on the Fenn's, Whixall and | 0:13:02 | 0:13:06 | |
Bettisfield Mosses and | 0:13:06 | 0:13:07 | |
the land here is full of peat and peat is an environmental life-saver. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:13 | |
Peter Bowyer is Natural England's senior reserve manager and it's his | 0:13:16 | 0:13:20 | |
job to look after the mosses. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:22 | |
Why is peat so important? | 0:13:23 | 0:13:25 | |
We're standing on a huge carbon store, | 0:13:25 | 0:13:28 | |
below our feet is a vast amount of carbon, | 0:13:28 | 0:13:30 | |
which is really important for climate change reasons, | 0:13:30 | 0:13:32 | |
it's taking all the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and locking it | 0:13:32 | 0:13:35 | |
here in place. | 0:13:35 | 0:13:36 | |
There is more carbon locked in the UK peatlands than all the forests in | 0:13:36 | 0:13:40 | |
Britain and France combined. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:41 | |
That's astonishing. Why does peat have the capacity to do that? | 0:13:41 | 0:13:46 | |
Sphagnum bog moss is the key to it all, really. | 0:13:46 | 0:13:48 | |
-Can I see what that looks like? -Yeah, sure. | 0:13:48 | 0:13:50 | |
There's some here. This is sphagnum bog moss. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:52 | |
Sphagnum bog moss turns the water here very acidic, | 0:13:52 | 0:13:56 | |
all the plants that grow every year | 0:13:56 | 0:13:58 | |
become pickled and preserved and that's what the peat is, | 0:13:58 | 0:14:01 | |
it is pickled preserved plants. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:03 | |
The site is very much in different stages of development, | 0:14:03 | 0:14:05 | |
so we're trying to put it all back together to try and get it to become | 0:14:05 | 0:14:08 | |
completely self-sustaining. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:10 | |
That involves retaining the water in the centre of the moss but then | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
a lot of tree clearance around the edge of the site as well. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
Quite a big job you've got ahead of you. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:18 | |
It is a big job, it's a very big site, | 0:14:18 | 0:14:20 | |
it's the largest peat bog in Britain. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:22 | |
It's a big challenge but it is a really exciting challenge as well. | 0:14:22 | 0:14:24 | |
I'm going to go and get my hands mucky. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:26 | |
-OK. -Thank you Pete, I'll leave you to it. -All right. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:29 | |
It's all hands to the pump for the volunteers. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:38 | |
Because a long history of peat cutting almost destroyed these | 0:14:38 | 0:14:41 | |
internationally important mosses. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:44 | |
Peat was commercially cut here for fuel and then for compost from the | 0:14:45 | 0:14:49 | |
1850s, a practice that only stopped here in 1990. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:54 | |
Since then, nature has been fighting back. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:58 | |
You can already see just how different this is | 0:14:59 | 0:15:02 | |
to the peat bog and they've got quite a bit of work to do. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:05 | |
Right, where's Clare? | 0:15:05 | 0:15:06 | |
-Hello there, Clare. -Hi, Anita. | 0:15:13 | 0:15:15 | |
I'll get kitted up as well. | 0:15:15 | 0:15:16 | |
-Already seems quite boggy on the way in here. -Yes, it is. | 0:15:16 | 0:15:21 | |
But the hope is that it will get a lot wetter once the project is well | 0:15:21 | 0:15:26 | |
underway and we have cleared some of the stuff. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:29 | |
Why volunteer, why do this? | 0:15:29 | 0:15:31 | |
I felt that I would learn something as well as getting fresh air | 0:15:31 | 0:15:35 | |
and exercise. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:36 | |
But also, you know, | 0:15:36 | 0:15:38 | |
contributing a little bit to a project I really believed in. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:41 | |
Were you a dab hand with any of these tools before you did this? | 0:15:41 | 0:15:43 | |
No, I was a complete stranger to a silky saw and to any kind of saw, | 0:15:43 | 0:15:48 | |
to be honest, but I could probably | 0:15:48 | 0:15:50 | |
build you a fence if I really had to. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:53 | |
-My kind of woman. -With help. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:54 | |
Cutting back those trees is a huge job, | 0:16:08 | 0:16:11 | |
but turning all of this back to nature is on a whole other level. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:16 | |
How on earth do they plan on doing it? | 0:16:16 | 0:16:18 | |
I'll be finding out later. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:20 | |
Now, it's time for our winter warmer. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:30 | |
Late last summer, we asked some well-known faces from | 0:16:32 | 0:16:35 | |
DJs to comedians... | 0:16:35 | 0:16:36 | |
It's a seal. False alarm everyone. | 0:16:36 | 0:16:38 | |
-It was a seal. -..chefs to singers... | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
# My old man said follow the van. # | 0:16:41 | 0:16:45 | |
..which part of our magnificent countryside was special to them. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:50 | |
This week Michelin-starred chef | 0:16:55 | 0:16:57 | |
Michael Caines heads out on foot into the wilds of Dartmoor. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
Outdoor life has always been | 0:17:18 | 0:17:20 | |
something I have thrived on, the nature, | 0:17:20 | 0:17:22 | |
the feeling of being outdoors is quite liberating. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:25 | |
Being in the environment of the kitchen with all that stress of | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
work, going out and taking a moment, | 0:17:28 | 0:17:30 | |
half an hour or an hour even two hours running, | 0:17:30 | 0:17:33 | |
in and around this environment, | 0:17:33 | 0:17:35 | |
really gives me inspiration but it also gives me a chance to think. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:38 | |
I was born in Exeter and grew up in Devon, | 0:17:47 | 0:17:49 | |
so these parts of Dartmoor and the surrounding area were pretty much my | 0:17:49 | 0:17:53 | |
playground as a child. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:55 | |
Wow. What a view. Incredible. | 0:17:56 | 0:17:59 | |
So this is Cranbrook Castle. It's a hillfort, one of three in this area. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:08 | |
Hound Tor, Fernworthy, Chagford | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
and then the other hillfort over here. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
The thing that fascinates me the most about these settlements on | 0:18:21 | 0:18:23 | |
Dartmoor is it is hard to imagine anyone really living | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
on Dartmoor now, it's so barren, it's such an extreme environment, | 0:18:26 | 0:18:30 | |
and yet actually if you can imagine in Neolithic times, | 0:18:30 | 0:18:33 | |
one of the most densely populated parts of Britain. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:35 | |
It's just incredible to see this landscape now, | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
stretching out to Devon. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:41 | |
I really get a sense of place... | 0:18:43 | 0:18:44 | |
..and a connection with this landscape, | 0:18:45 | 0:18:48 | |
massively, incredible view. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:49 | |
Because Dartmoor has always inspired me as a young man, | 0:18:52 | 0:18:55 | |
I've taken the time in the last sort of ten or 12 years to do | 0:18:55 | 0:18:59 | |
wild camping. | 0:18:59 | 0:19:01 | |
Right, I'm ready to go. | 0:19:05 | 0:19:06 | |
So, the general idea of going camping for me | 0:19:08 | 0:19:11 | |
is planning a route first, | 0:19:11 | 0:19:13 | |
couple of waypoints on the map where I'm going to head to and then I'll | 0:19:13 | 0:19:17 | |
take a bearing. Then off I go. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:20 | |
I go walking. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:22 | |
You know, as a young man I was in the cadet force, | 0:19:26 | 0:19:29 | |
we used to come on Dartmoor doing point to point. | 0:19:29 | 0:19:31 | |
But I think above all, it's a great reminder of a wonderful childhood. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:38 | |
We used to go, just the boys with my father on Dartmoor, camping. | 0:19:38 | 0:19:42 | |
When I look back, I think Father is not here any more but in a way, | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
there's lots of memories and lots of things that come back, | 0:19:46 | 0:19:49 | |
places that you have been to that you then suddenly remember. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:51 | |
Good spot for it, I think. | 0:20:00 | 0:20:01 | |
Amazing view. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:06 | |
Clouds with the light coming through, it's just so beautiful. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:11 | |
Hopefully the rain will hold off, at least until I | 0:20:11 | 0:20:13 | |
get my tent up, anyway! | 0:20:13 | 0:20:15 | |
I just love the atmosphere of the place, the moods that it gives, | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
through the weather. | 0:20:24 | 0:20:26 | |
But also the landscape itself, if you're looking out at it now, | 0:20:26 | 0:20:30 | |
it's become very, | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
almost polarised, by the shade of the clouds. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:36 | |
And then you can see the rain is coming in, | 0:20:36 | 0:20:38 | |
the weather fronts coming in and the elevation gives you | 0:20:38 | 0:20:41 | |
that broad aspect and view | 0:20:41 | 0:20:42 | |
and you really sense that different parts of the moor are | 0:20:42 | 0:20:47 | |
experiencing different, sort of, microclimates. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:49 | |
You really get that. It's very atmospheric. | 0:20:49 | 0:20:52 | |
Wow, what a completely different view this morning from last night. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:30 | |
You can't even see beyond the valley. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:32 | |
The mist is just clearing and it | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
just shows how drama unfolds on Dartmoor with the weather cycle. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:39 | |
You know, | 0:21:49 | 0:21:50 | |
Devon is the third largest county in the UK and it has an amazing | 0:21:50 | 0:21:55 | |
food larder. Lots to forage. | 0:21:55 | 0:21:58 | |
Here we are looking for some field mushrooms. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:01 | |
Here's a few here. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:04 | |
Beautiful mushroom, very tasty, very delicate. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:12 | |
I think the key thing is to remember, | 0:22:12 | 0:22:14 | |
you've got to know what you're picking and in this | 0:22:14 | 0:22:17 | |
regard field mushrooms are quite safe. | 0:22:17 | 0:22:20 | |
So I'm going to cook this Dartmoor steak with our foraged | 0:22:20 | 0:22:23 | |
field mushrooms. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:25 | |
There we go. Got plenty. | 0:22:31 | 0:22:33 | |
So what I'm going to do is, I'm going to oil and season the beef. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:39 | |
I've got just one pan to cook so I'm going to griddle it. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:45 | |
This is going to be | 0:22:45 | 0:22:47 | |
cooked in a few minutes, so just get that nicely sealed. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:51 | |
So I'm going to add some oil with the mushrooms. | 0:22:51 | 0:22:55 | |
And a little bit of seasoning as well. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:56 | |
In they go. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:00 | |
It smells good. | 0:23:02 | 0:23:03 | |
I'm cooking for two! | 0:23:08 | 0:23:10 | |
Look at that! | 0:23:11 | 0:23:12 | |
Incredible. | 0:23:18 | 0:23:19 | |
We're pretty good to go, really. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:24 | |
To think that these were in the field | 0:23:40 | 0:23:43 | |
only a few hours ago, picked, cooked with this lovely steak, | 0:23:43 | 0:23:47 | |
for me, I feel connected to the landscape and the land and, | 0:23:47 | 0:23:51 | |
of course, the produce which I use. | 0:23:51 | 0:23:53 | |
It's... Yeah, it's stunning. | 0:23:56 | 0:23:59 | |
Bit like my steak. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:02 | |
Now, Charlotte's been hearing how dementia cruelly | 0:24:11 | 0:24:14 | |
impacts on rural lives. | 0:24:14 | 0:24:16 | |
Sadly, it's an issue more and more of us will have to deal with. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
As our population ages, the number of people with dementia is growing. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:33 | |
Within ten years there could be as many as a million people with | 0:24:33 | 0:24:37 | |
dementia here in the UK. | 0:24:37 | 0:24:39 | |
And that's expected to double by 2050. | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
Right now 15-20% of people aged over 65 in our countryside are living | 0:24:42 | 0:24:48 | |
with the condition. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:49 | |
When farmers are struck by dementia the results can be | 0:24:49 | 0:24:52 | |
catastrophic. Their families are placed under great strain | 0:24:52 | 0:24:55 | |
and can even be put at risk. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
So what help is out there? | 0:24:58 | 0:24:59 | |
I'm meeting Joanne Jones, a dairy farmer here in Devon. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:05 | |
She's also a part-time nurse | 0:25:05 | 0:25:07 | |
and a coordinator with the charity Farming Community Network, | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
a key member of the rural support structure. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:13 | |
-Hi. -Hi. -Accessing help is challenging | 0:25:13 | 0:25:15 | |
for those living in isolated rural | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
locations, which is why Joanne makes house calls. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:21 | |
So what sort of things do families come to you with? | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
We help farming families if there's a problem with the business, | 0:25:24 | 0:25:28 | |
the farm, the family, or health issues. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:31 | |
How much help, realistically, can you be, though? | 0:25:31 | 0:25:34 | |
Because some people with dementia need an awful lot of care. | 0:25:34 | 0:25:39 | |
The way in which we offer help is through befriending and offering | 0:25:39 | 0:25:42 | |
support and signposting. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:44 | |
So it's finding out what's available in the area. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
They can also meet other carers that are in the same situation, | 0:25:47 | 0:25:50 | |
so that the carer doesn't feel isolated. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:52 | |
Today Joanne's making her first visit to young farmer Duncan Wilmot. | 0:25:56 | 0:26:00 | |
Duncan's mother Sue was diagnosed with dementia aged just 55. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:05 | |
She moved into a care home last summer. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:08 | |
-Have a seat. -Thank you very much. | 0:26:08 | 0:26:10 | |
Did you find it easy to sort of get a diagnosis and get support? | 0:26:12 | 0:26:16 | |
We had to travel to get a diagnosis, but eventually it came through. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:22 | |
And how was mum at the time? | 0:26:22 | 0:26:23 | |
Did she find that quite hard to accept? | 0:26:23 | 0:26:26 | |
Yeah, she did find it hard to accept, I remember, | 0:26:26 | 0:26:29 | |
when we got her driving licence revoked, because with forgetting, | 0:26:29 | 0:26:33 | |
she wouldn't indicate, or anything, and wouldn't check blind spots. | 0:26:33 | 0:26:36 | |
It wasn't safe for her to drive. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:38 | |
There is help available but much of it is voluntary. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:41 | |
And rural families struggling with the emotional and practical impact | 0:26:41 | 0:26:45 | |
of someone having dementia, well, often they are managing alone. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:49 | |
Jo, if you could change one thing to help rural families struggling with | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
dementia, what would you do? | 0:26:54 | 0:26:56 | |
I think it would be great if there was some sort of coordinated care, | 0:26:56 | 0:27:00 | |
so there was one place within each county you could go to, | 0:27:00 | 0:27:03 | |
that we could signpost people to, | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
that would know all about the resources and what's available in | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
their local area in terms of support for the person with the diagnosis of | 0:27:08 | 0:27:12 | |
dementia and also for the family. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:14 | |
And that's exactly what Ian Sherriff, | 0:27:15 | 0:27:17 | |
chair of the government's | 0:27:17 | 0:27:18 | |
Rural Dementia Task Force, is trying to do. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:20 | |
Ian's established a pilot scheme with local parish councils to help | 0:27:22 | 0:27:25 | |
with the coordination of services. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
How's that working here in Devon? | 0:27:30 | 0:27:32 | |
You've got five parish councils who are being coordinated by a worker, | 0:27:32 | 0:27:36 | |
providing support, advice, information and guidance. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:40 | |
But not only doing that, it's raising the awareness. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:44 | |
When you consider there are 700 parish councils | 0:27:44 | 0:27:47 | |
in Devon and Cornwall, | 0:27:47 | 0:27:48 | |
now if all of those became dementia aware, dementia friendly, | 0:27:48 | 0:27:52 | |
then we've got the whole of our rural communities covered. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:55 | |
And not only are parish councils doing it in Devon, | 0:27:55 | 0:27:58 | |
there are other people in our rural communities, like the church. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
So, for you, in rural communities it is actually the word community that | 0:28:01 | 0:28:06 | |
is the important word, isn't it? | 0:28:06 | 0:28:07 | |
Yes, yes. There is a saying that | 0:28:07 | 0:28:09 | |
there's no sense of community without a sense of caring. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:13 | |
Through the dementia friendly parish's initiative, | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
several support groups have been founded. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:18 | |
Here in the village of Yealmpton, people with dementia and their | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
carers meet weekly for sessions of guided reading. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:27 | |
'No man is an island entire of itself. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:30 | |
'Every man is a piece of the continent.' | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
These groups are really important to the people who use them but they are | 0:28:41 | 0:28:44 | |
also pretty rare. | 0:28:44 | 0:28:46 | |
So how's that going to change? | 0:28:46 | 0:28:47 | |
Ian Sherriff has no doubts about what needs to happen. | 0:28:55 | 0:28:59 | |
He's passionate about tackling rural dementia at a national level. | 0:28:59 | 0:29:03 | |
It is the biggest thing to hit this planet. | 0:29:03 | 0:29:06 | |
We're actually diagnosing somebody around the world every three | 0:29:06 | 0:29:10 | |
seconds. In this country, it's every three minutes. | 0:29:10 | 0:29:12 | |
I think government must focus on some of those big issues that are | 0:29:12 | 0:29:15 | |
happening around dementia within our rural communities. | 0:29:15 | 0:29:19 | |
Will they? | 0:29:19 | 0:29:20 | |
I think it isn't will, they've got to. | 0:29:20 | 0:29:22 | |
But it's going to cost a lot of money. | 0:29:22 | 0:29:25 | |
I think cost benefit analysis is one thing we can look at. | 0:29:25 | 0:29:30 | |
If we do the work now, if we set up those systems, | 0:29:30 | 0:29:33 | |
then in the long term, it will pay for government to do that. | 0:29:33 | 0:29:37 | |
How supportive can government be, though? | 0:29:37 | 0:29:39 | |
There is a commitment being given by the Prime Minister to | 0:29:39 | 0:29:43 | |
support dementia. | 0:29:43 | 0:29:44 | |
There is a commitment and the Department of Health | 0:29:46 | 0:29:48 | |
told us that improving | 0:29:48 | 0:29:49 | |
dementia care and treatment will continue to be a | 0:29:49 | 0:29:53 | |
priority for the government. | 0:29:53 | 0:29:55 | |
But there's a long way to go and it's going to cost a lot of money. | 0:29:55 | 0:29:59 | |
Because right now, those in isolated communities are reliant on the | 0:29:59 | 0:30:03 | |
kindness of volunteers. | 0:30:03 | 0:30:05 | |
The saddest thing is that Dad didn't get to see how the farm's grown | 0:30:08 | 0:30:12 | |
during better times. | 0:30:12 | 0:30:14 | |
He spent most of his life worrying. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:16 | |
It's a real shame he didn't get to enjoy his retirement with his | 0:30:16 | 0:30:19 | |
grandchildren. | 0:30:19 | 0:30:20 | |
If you've been affected by dementia, | 0:30:22 | 0:30:24 | |
you can get in touch with the BBC action line. | 0:30:24 | 0:30:27 | |
Details of organisations offering | 0:30:27 | 0:30:29 | |
information and support with dementia | 0:30:29 | 0:30:32 | |
are available at... | 0:30:32 | 0:30:35 | |
Or you can call for free at any time to hear recorded information on... | 0:30:36 | 0:30:40 | |
Well, at Christmas time, | 0:31:00 | 0:31:01 | |
we decked the hall with boughs of holly and | 0:31:01 | 0:31:03 | |
really celebrate this stuff | 0:31:03 | 0:31:05 | |
but then, for the rest of the year, it's kind of forgotten about. | 0:31:05 | 0:31:08 | |
But here on these Shropshire slopes, | 0:31:08 | 0:31:10 | |
holly stands proud throughout all the seasons. | 0:31:10 | 0:31:13 | |
These hollies are an ancient cluster of 500 gnarled and wizened trees, | 0:31:16 | 0:31:21 | |
sitting high on the hills above | 0:31:21 | 0:31:24 | |
Lords Hill Chapel in south Shropshire. | 0:31:24 | 0:31:26 | |
It's believed they were planted around 400 years ago. | 0:31:26 | 0:31:30 | |
-John, how are you? -I'm very well, Matt. | 0:31:35 | 0:31:37 | |
John Hughes from the Shropshire Wildlife Trust has made | 0:31:38 | 0:31:41 | |
it his life's work to protect these incredible trees. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:44 | |
I'll tell you what, this is some place, isn't it? | 0:31:46 | 0:31:48 | |
-Do you like it, do you? -I do. It's very unusual, isn't it? | 0:31:48 | 0:31:51 | |
It's more than usual. | 0:31:51 | 0:31:52 | |
I just think there's nowhere else quite like this in Britain. | 0:31:52 | 0:31:56 | |
It is a very, very special place. | 0:31:56 | 0:31:58 | |
Well, let's have a wander through. | 0:32:02 | 0:32:04 | |
Look at that holly tree there! | 0:32:06 | 0:32:07 | |
It has to be one of my very favourites. | 0:32:07 | 0:32:10 | |
-It's a belter. -Of all the holly trees... | 0:32:10 | 0:32:12 | |
-Yeah? -It's just remarkable, this one. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:14 | |
So you would think, on the face of it, it was dead. | 0:32:14 | 0:32:16 | |
This one has almost been put in its coffin and yet, | 0:32:16 | 0:32:21 | |
you can hear this tapping coming from it. | 0:32:21 | 0:32:23 | |
-Yeah? -It's dead all the way round bar a few inches of bark. | 0:32:23 | 0:32:29 | |
And still, it puts out this shoot. | 0:32:29 | 0:32:32 | |
A little bird told me, John, that you love these trees so much, | 0:32:32 | 0:32:35 | |
and you believe that they're so full of character, | 0:32:35 | 0:32:37 | |
that you've given them all names. | 0:32:37 | 0:32:39 | |
Well, I've always had a particular view of each tree. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:42 | |
-Is that yes? -It is, it is yes! | 0:32:42 | 0:32:44 | |
And the way I see them is, | 0:32:44 | 0:32:47 | |
we don't treat our elderly as well as we could, do we? | 0:32:47 | 0:32:51 | |
And these are all very elderly and they're sort of in this retirement | 0:32:51 | 0:32:56 | |
home. And therefore, | 0:32:56 | 0:32:58 | |
it's our duty to get to know them | 0:32:58 | 0:33:00 | |
individually and personally, isn't it? | 0:33:00 | 0:33:03 | |
So, this one, that's clinging on to life, | 0:33:03 | 0:33:06 | |
I think she's a bit of a Sheila. | 0:33:06 | 0:33:09 | |
-Do you know, my grandma is called Sheila. -Is she? -She is. | 0:33:09 | 0:33:12 | |
-Very well-suited. -Is she? Is she as good-looking? | 0:33:12 | 0:33:15 | |
Sheila and her friends have survived for centuries because in the harsh | 0:33:17 | 0:33:21 | |
winters, the local miners harvested | 0:33:21 | 0:33:23 | |
the holly trees for their cattle to eat. | 0:33:23 | 0:33:26 | |
It was this pruning which regenerated the trees. | 0:33:26 | 0:33:30 | |
-Right, who needs a haircut, then, John? -This lady here. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:37 | |
-Yeah. -She's called Maureen. | 0:33:37 | 0:33:39 | |
John is carrying on this tradition. | 0:33:42 | 0:33:44 | |
Back in the day, obviously, crofters, | 0:33:46 | 0:33:49 | |
farmers would be coming down here | 0:33:49 | 0:33:51 | |
and getting all of these lovely gentle leaves | 0:33:51 | 0:33:54 | |
for their cows to feed on. | 0:33:54 | 0:33:56 | |
Yes. So if you look at that, there's barely a prickle on it. | 0:33:56 | 0:33:59 | |
And that will keep my livestock alive during the winter and that's | 0:33:59 | 0:34:03 | |
what I need, cos if my livestock aren't alive, I'm not alive. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:08 | |
Is there, I mean, | 0:34:08 | 0:34:09 | |
evidence of how they've been managed by those kind of early growers? | 0:34:09 | 0:34:14 | |
They would have gone in and they'd have climbed the tree and they've | 0:34:14 | 0:34:17 | |
sawed the top out, chopping the top out of a tree like that | 0:34:17 | 0:34:20 | |
is a very ancient technique | 0:34:20 | 0:34:21 | |
called pollarding and it causes the tree to regrow. | 0:34:21 | 0:34:25 | |
There will be new young growth next year, | 0:34:25 | 0:34:27 | |
which is ideal to feed your livestock. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:29 | |
These hollies would have been cleared long ago if the miners | 0:34:31 | 0:34:34 | |
hadn't needed them for animal fodder. | 0:34:34 | 0:34:36 | |
So we have them to thank for preserving what is now one of the | 0:34:36 | 0:34:40 | |
oldest holly groves in Europe. | 0:34:40 | 0:34:42 | |
So we're going to just leave some of this lying around, then? | 0:34:45 | 0:34:48 | |
-For the livestock? -Yeah, | 0:34:48 | 0:34:49 | |
the cattle will come in and find this and they'll | 0:34:49 | 0:34:52 | |
think it's delicious. | 0:34:52 | 0:34:53 | |
Maureen, I'll book you in for the next appointment! | 0:34:56 | 0:34:59 | |
Tell you what, it's a good job I've got the Countryfile calendar here. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:02 | |
Anyway, there's still time, if you haven't got yours yet. | 0:35:02 | 0:35:05 | |
Here's John with all the details. | 0:35:05 | 0:35:07 | |
May 9th - cheeky trim for Maureen. | 0:35:07 | 0:35:09 | |
It costs £9.50, including free UK delivery. | 0:35:12 | 0:35:16 | |
You can go to our website, where | 0:35:16 | 0:35:17 | |
you'll find a link to the order page. | 0:35:17 | 0:35:20 | |
Or you can phone the order line on.... | 0:35:20 | 0:35:22 | |
Standard charges will apply to both landlines and mobiles. | 0:35:26 | 0:35:30 | |
If you prefer to order by post, then send your name, | 0:35:31 | 0:35:34 | |
address and a cheque to... | 0:35:34 | 0:35:39 | |
And please make... | 0:35:44 | 0:35:49 | |
A minimum of £4 from the sale of each calendar will be donated to | 0:35:49 | 0:35:53 | |
BBC Children in Need. | 0:35:53 | 0:35:55 | |
Back in 1989, | 0:35:58 | 0:35:59 | |
a 23-year-old Adam and his now business partner Duncan made the | 0:35:59 | 0:36:04 | |
long trip to New Zealand, keen to | 0:36:04 | 0:36:05 | |
experience just what makes Kiwi farmers some | 0:36:05 | 0:36:09 | |
of the best in the world. | 0:36:09 | 0:36:11 | |
Now, in the first of a series of four special films, | 0:36:11 | 0:36:14 | |
he's revisiting the land of the long white cloud to discover just how | 0:36:14 | 0:36:18 | |
farming has changed since his last visit. | 0:36:18 | 0:36:20 | |
New Zealand may be the dream location for a holiday, | 0:36:34 | 0:36:38 | |
but its captivating, lush landscape is also perfect for farming and it's | 0:36:38 | 0:36:42 | |
what inspired Duncan and me to visit all those years ago. | 0:36:42 | 0:36:46 | |
We bought a little Austin 1100 and hit the road. | 0:36:46 | 0:36:49 | |
One of our first stops was the Bay of Plenty, | 0:36:50 | 0:36:53 | |
a farmer's paradise on the North Island. | 0:36:53 | 0:36:56 | |
It's so good is to be back in | 0:36:56 | 0:36:57 | |
New Zealand and the Bay of Plenty here is | 0:36:57 | 0:36:59 | |
famed for its perfect growing conditions. | 0:36:59 | 0:37:02 | |
It's warm all year round with lots of sunshine and rainfall and rich, | 0:37:02 | 0:37:05 | |
deep soils. | 0:37:05 | 0:37:07 | |
So perfect for growing grass, | 0:37:07 | 0:37:09 | |
but also lots of different fruit and veg too. | 0:37:09 | 0:37:11 | |
And that's why Duncan and I thought here would be a good place to pick | 0:37:11 | 0:37:14 | |
up some labouring work. Our point of contact was a local dairy farmer, | 0:37:14 | 0:37:18 | |
a guy called John Cameron, | 0:37:18 | 0:37:20 | |
and he found us a month's work pruning kiwi vines. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:23 | |
I thought I was going to be milking dairy cows! | 0:37:23 | 0:37:26 | |
Anyway, it was great fun and JC, as his mates call him, | 0:37:26 | 0:37:30 | |
became a good friend. | 0:37:30 | 0:37:31 | |
And now I'm really looking forward to catching up with him back on his | 0:37:31 | 0:37:34 | |
farm all these years later. | 0:37:34 | 0:37:35 | |
But farmers here have had their difficulties. | 0:37:37 | 0:37:40 | |
In 1984, five years before my visit, | 0:37:40 | 0:37:43 | |
the New Zealand government had | 0:37:43 | 0:37:45 | |
removed almost all agricultural subsidies. | 0:37:45 | 0:37:48 | |
With Brexit just around the corner, | 0:37:48 | 0:37:49 | |
there's a chance British farmers might lose theirs too. | 0:37:49 | 0:37:52 | |
So it's a poignant moment to find out how New Zealanders like JC, | 0:37:52 | 0:37:56 | |
who we stayed with, adapted to this huge change. | 0:37:56 | 0:38:00 | |
How are you keeping, mate? | 0:38:00 | 0:38:01 | |
-All right. -I haven't seen you for ages. | 0:38:01 | 0:38:03 | |
-Great to see you. -Yeah, you too. -What a place you've got now. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:06 | |
Yeah, it's bloody brilliant. | 0:38:06 | 0:38:08 | |
-Isn't it, eh? -When did you build this? | 0:38:08 | 0:38:10 | |
Um, ten years ago we started and obviously, we're in the old home. | 0:38:10 | 0:38:14 | |
Where you used to snore a lot when you came and stayed last time! | 0:38:14 | 0:38:17 | |
You used to kick me out of bed and make me go and prune kiwi vines! | 0:38:17 | 0:38:20 | |
-Yeah. -So you've still got cows. | 0:38:20 | 0:38:22 | |
When I was here last, you had two farms, milking what, I don't know, | 0:38:22 | 0:38:25 | |
-1,000 cows or something? -Yes, that's correct. | 0:38:25 | 0:38:27 | |
Now we've sort of diversified into, I guess, other land uses, | 0:38:27 | 0:38:30 | |
which is kiwi fruit at this stage, yeah. | 0:38:30 | 0:38:32 | |
You're growing kiwi fruit yourself now? | 0:38:32 | 0:38:34 | |
-Yes, thank you very much. -You used to take the mickey out of those kiwi | 0:38:34 | 0:38:37 | |
-growers! -I have to say that I never thought I'd ever do it, you know! | 0:38:37 | 0:38:40 | |
But economics is telling that, you know, land-use, etc. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:44 | |
So time to do it. | 0:38:44 | 0:38:45 | |
Well, the view has changed dramatically. | 0:38:45 | 0:38:47 | |
It was all open pasture and thousands of cows and now, | 0:38:47 | 0:38:50 | |
there's all these trees and sort of shelter belts everywhere. | 0:38:50 | 0:38:53 | |
Lucky, we've got that chance to do that, so it's all good. | 0:38:53 | 0:38:57 | |
Well, I'd quite like to get back down into the kiwi plantation. | 0:38:57 | 0:38:59 | |
-Yeah, I'd love to show you. -Can we have a look? | 0:38:59 | 0:39:01 | |
-Yeah, love to show you, mate. -Bring back some sweet memories. | 0:39:01 | 0:39:03 | |
-Yeah, yeah. Well, good to see you. Yeah. -When I was last here, | 0:39:03 | 0:39:06 | |
kiwi fruit was still seen as an exotic crop to grow. | 0:39:06 | 0:39:10 | |
Pruning them earned Duncan and me some much needed cash to fund our | 0:39:10 | 0:39:13 | |
travels. | 0:39:13 | 0:39:14 | |
Today, the fruit is big business. | 0:39:16 | 0:39:18 | |
The plantations are vast. | 0:39:20 | 0:39:22 | |
And pruning is a full-time job. | 0:39:24 | 0:39:26 | |
Nathan Burt manages JC's kiwi orchard. | 0:39:26 | 0:39:29 | |
Well, this takes me back. | 0:39:31 | 0:39:32 | |
And I have to say, 20 years, 27 years on, | 0:39:32 | 0:39:35 | |
that was one of your claims to fame here. | 0:39:35 | 0:39:38 | |
I'd like you to give it a go, at least, mate. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:40 | |
Can I still remember what I'm...? | 0:39:40 | 0:39:42 | |
So when we were pruning kiwi vines, it was in the winter months. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:45 | |
I think we were taking out the dead wood. | 0:39:45 | 0:39:47 | |
But it's all growing now. | 0:39:47 | 0:39:48 | |
So basically now, we've gone through flowering, | 0:39:48 | 0:39:51 | |
so these males with the male flowers aren't needed any more. | 0:39:51 | 0:39:54 | |
So what we're doing is trying to rein them back in and get the shade | 0:39:54 | 0:39:57 | |
off the females and also get good production for flower for next | 0:39:57 | 0:40:01 | |
-season for the male. -The gross fruit production now, | 0:40:01 | 0:40:04 | |
instead of being at 5,000 trays per hectare once upon a time when you | 0:40:04 | 0:40:07 | |
were here, 10,000 now is normal. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:09 | |
-Wow! -So it's around, you know, | 0:40:09 | 0:40:11 | |
Nathan's ability to exercise and get new methods that we're consistently | 0:40:11 | 0:40:16 | |
trying to get better and better at what we're doing. | 0:40:16 | 0:40:18 | |
-Moving things on. -Yeah, absolutely. | 0:40:18 | 0:40:20 | |
Now, around a third of kiwi fruit are grown in New Zealand, | 0:40:23 | 0:40:26 | |
most of them here in the Bay of Plenty. | 0:40:26 | 0:40:29 | |
It's not just kiwis that JC's started to grow. | 0:40:31 | 0:40:34 | |
In the UK, avocados are now outselling oranges | 0:40:34 | 0:40:38 | |
and they grow well in this part of the world. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:41 | |
There is a lot of fruit on here. | 0:40:41 | 0:40:43 | |
It's great to see fruit on there, believe me, | 0:40:43 | 0:40:45 | |
cos it can be difficult to grow them. | 0:40:45 | 0:40:48 | |
Any severe weather conditions from now onwards after budding is done, | 0:40:48 | 0:40:52 | |
-you can lose the fruit. -Right. -So it's quite rewarding and it's very | 0:40:52 | 0:40:56 | |
economic, over and above cows. | 0:40:56 | 0:40:58 | |
So are you a dairy farmer or are you a businessman? | 0:40:58 | 0:41:01 | |
Hand on heart, I'd say that I'm a dairy farmer and a stock person | 0:41:01 | 0:41:05 | |
at heart. But I would have to say I'm a businessperson as well. | 0:41:05 | 0:41:10 | |
In the UK, we've just had Brexit. | 0:41:10 | 0:41:12 | |
We'll be coming out of Europe soon | 0:41:12 | 0:41:14 | |
and there is a concern that our support | 0:41:14 | 0:41:16 | |
to farmers will be lacking from government. | 0:41:16 | 0:41:18 | |
What would be your advice to those people? | 0:41:18 | 0:41:21 | |
Well, we're obviously very, | 0:41:21 | 0:41:23 | |
very conscious of the world market and it's being open to those | 0:41:23 | 0:41:26 | |
opportunities. It may be in time, growing vegetables. | 0:41:26 | 0:41:28 | |
I don't know. I'm not going to... | 0:41:28 | 0:41:30 | |
You know, I'm not going to say no to anything. | 0:41:30 | 0:41:32 | |
As you know, I said no to kiwi fruit 27 years ago but things change. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:36 | |
And I think it's about having the adaptability and the foresight with | 0:41:36 | 0:41:41 | |
people and partnerships to make those choices and the Bay of Plenty | 0:41:41 | 0:41:45 | |
is very lucky for those. | 0:41:45 | 0:41:46 | |
Well, I'd love to come back in another ten years and see what | 0:41:46 | 0:41:49 | |
-you're up to, JC. -Ten years is too long. | 0:41:49 | 0:41:50 | |
You've got to come sooner than that, please. | 0:41:50 | 0:41:52 | |
-I will, I promise you. -OK. -Cheers. | 0:41:52 | 0:41:54 | |
It's been great to catch up with JC. | 0:41:56 | 0:41:59 | |
The farm has certainly changed since I was last year. | 0:41:59 | 0:42:02 | |
-See you again. -Take care. | 0:42:02 | 0:42:03 | |
But JC is just as I remember him. | 0:42:06 | 0:42:08 | |
I'm leaving the fertile soil of the Bay of Plenty and driving south to | 0:42:11 | 0:42:15 | |
find out how other farmers have made subsidy-free farming work for them. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:19 | |
I'm heading to the Rangitaiki Station. | 0:42:22 | 0:42:24 | |
It's one of several huge government-owned farms. | 0:42:24 | 0:42:27 | |
The state have always owned land over here, | 0:42:27 | 0:42:30 | |
and once subsidies were removed, | 0:42:30 | 0:42:32 | |
the government had to make those farms pay for themselves. | 0:42:32 | 0:42:34 | |
Deer aren't native to New Zealand and over the years | 0:42:39 | 0:42:43 | |
these wild animals were seen as a menace. | 0:42:43 | 0:42:46 | |
But with the popularity of venison soaring, | 0:42:46 | 0:42:48 | |
a market opened up to farm the deer | 0:42:48 | 0:42:50 | |
and the government saw an opportunity. | 0:42:50 | 0:42:52 | |
New Zealand has become the largest exporter of | 0:42:54 | 0:42:57 | |
farmed venison in the world. | 0:42:57 | 0:43:00 | |
The Rangitaiki Station is not only | 0:43:00 | 0:43:02 | |
the biggest deer farm in New Zealand, | 0:43:02 | 0:43:05 | |
but it's the largest in the southern hemisphere. | 0:43:05 | 0:43:07 | |
Sam Bunny is the station manager. | 0:43:08 | 0:43:10 | |
-Oh, you must be Sam. -Yeah. -Good to see you. | 0:43:12 | 0:43:15 | |
-How's things? -Really good. | 0:43:15 | 0:43:16 | |
This is an amazing set up. What are you doing in here? | 0:43:16 | 0:43:18 | |
These are our two-year-old stags and the vet's just here giving them a | 0:43:18 | 0:43:21 | |
health check before sale. | 0:43:21 | 0:43:22 | |
They'll be getting sold in the next couple of months. | 0:43:22 | 0:43:25 | |
And I understand you've got the biggest herd in the country. | 0:43:25 | 0:43:27 | |
Yeah, Rangitaiki runs about 7,500 commercial hinds. | 0:43:27 | 0:43:32 | |
-Goodness me! Thousands of them! -Yeah. -Amazing. | 0:43:32 | 0:43:35 | |
-Keeps us busy. -So when you've got all the hinds and the fawns and all | 0:43:35 | 0:43:38 | |
the stags, what does that add up to? | 0:43:38 | 0:43:40 | |
On any given, sort of, summer, | 0:43:40 | 0:43:42 | |
we might have about 14 or 15,000 deer running around at Rangitaiki. | 0:43:42 | 0:43:45 | |
Serious operation. | 0:43:45 | 0:43:46 | |
What are you focusing on, then, to improve the deer? | 0:43:46 | 0:43:48 | |
We've got to the deer stud here, so genetically, | 0:43:48 | 0:43:51 | |
we're working on their breeding | 0:43:51 | 0:43:53 | |
values which is traits around growth rates | 0:43:53 | 0:43:55 | |
and carcass weights, trying to get them to grow faster and get their | 0:43:55 | 0:43:59 | |
venison production up. A lot of focus around pasture management, | 0:43:59 | 0:44:03 | |
so just eating grass is better, growing more grass. | 0:44:03 | 0:44:06 | |
And the more grass we can grow and the better that grass is then the | 0:44:06 | 0:44:09 | |
more profitable and the better our business will be, so... | 0:44:09 | 0:44:12 | |
There are concerns back home that our farming subsidy system may be | 0:44:12 | 0:44:15 | |
reduced following Brexit. | 0:44:15 | 0:44:17 | |
How have you managed here since 1984 when your farming subsidies were | 0:44:17 | 0:44:21 | |
-removed? -I mean, I know nothing different. | 0:44:21 | 0:44:24 | |
I'm only 33 years old and I... | 0:44:24 | 0:44:26 | |
All my farming career's been about trying to run a sustainable business | 0:44:26 | 0:44:30 | |
and it's not easy. It's a real | 0:44:30 | 0:44:31 | |
challenge and we have our ups and downs, | 0:44:31 | 0:44:33 | |
but, it's just all about trying to improve production, | 0:44:33 | 0:44:36 | |
improved genetics, just make it sustainable as best we can. | 0:44:36 | 0:44:39 | |
Well, it's fascinating to see how you guys were out here and how you | 0:44:39 | 0:44:42 | |
think. Beautiful looking deer. How are they, Andrew? All clear? | 0:44:42 | 0:44:45 | |
-Yeah, they're all clear. Good to go. -Let's leave them to settle down. | 0:44:45 | 0:44:48 | |
There's good boys. | 0:45:00 | 0:45:01 | |
-They've got some size about them, haven't they? -Take it easy. | 0:45:03 | 0:45:07 | |
Wow! Once they go, they certainly go. | 0:45:07 | 0:45:10 | |
-Certainly a lot quicker than moving sheep about. -Yeah. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:18 | |
You have to hand it to the Kiwis. | 0:45:20 | 0:45:21 | |
These subsidy-free farmers know how to turn opportunities into | 0:45:22 | 0:45:26 | |
money-making businesses. | 0:45:26 | 0:45:28 | |
And I know when it comes to farming, | 0:45:31 | 0:45:34 | |
New Zealand is very different to back home, | 0:45:34 | 0:45:37 | |
but what really sets them apart from what I've seen | 0:45:37 | 0:45:40 | |
so far is their attitude. | 0:45:40 | 0:45:41 | |
It's this can-do attitude that many of the early pioneers | 0:45:43 | 0:45:47 | |
to these shores certainly had. | 0:45:47 | 0:45:49 | |
But that's not the only thing to have survived from them. | 0:45:49 | 0:45:52 | |
Next week, I'm on the hunt for an | 0:45:52 | 0:45:54 | |
elusive breed of old English goat that | 0:45:54 | 0:45:56 | |
took up residence on an isolated | 0:45:56 | 0:45:58 | |
New Zealand island more than 200 years ago. | 0:45:58 | 0:46:02 | |
Bordering Wales, Shropshire is a county of contrasts. | 0:46:13 | 0:46:16 | |
From the rugged hills of the south... | 0:46:19 | 0:46:20 | |
..to the patchwork of pools and bogs of the north. | 0:46:22 | 0:46:25 | |
As we found out earlier, | 0:46:27 | 0:46:28 | |
the Meres and Mosses are a landscape with an important environmental role | 0:46:28 | 0:46:33 | |
and therefore, worth protecting. | 0:46:33 | 0:46:34 | |
Not the usual Countryfile location, is it? | 0:46:41 | 0:46:43 | |
Now, it may seem unlikely, but reclaiming this scrapyard is | 0:46:43 | 0:46:47 | |
the latest stage in keeping those mosses happy. | 0:46:47 | 0:46:50 | |
I don't quite understand it either, but luckily, | 0:46:50 | 0:46:52 | |
there is a chap here somewhere with all the answers. | 0:46:52 | 0:46:55 | |
Shropshire Wildlife Trust bought this site three months ago. | 0:46:58 | 0:47:01 | |
Now in partnership with Natural England and Natural Resources Wales, | 0:47:04 | 0:47:08 | |
the most challenging work is about to begin. | 0:47:08 | 0:47:10 | |
Luke Neal is a community officer with Shropshire Wildlife Trust. | 0:47:13 | 0:47:17 | |
-Hi, Luke. -Oh, hi, Anita. | 0:47:18 | 0:47:20 | |
I've brought another massive pair of hands. | 0:47:20 | 0:47:22 | |
-You're going to need those! -So, what are we doing? | 0:47:22 | 0:47:24 | |
-We're lugging... -We're moving some of these tyres. | 0:47:24 | 0:47:26 | |
We're trying to get them sorted from the ones that have got metal rims in | 0:47:26 | 0:47:29 | |
and those that haven't. Yeah, help yourself to one down there. | 0:47:29 | 0:47:31 | |
-Just piling up over here? -Yeah, please. | 0:47:31 | 0:47:34 | |
I mean, you wonder what a scrapyard and a wildlife trust could possibly | 0:47:35 | 0:47:39 | |
have in common, don't you? I mean, why acquire this site? | 0:47:39 | 0:47:42 | |
It's all about where it is. | 0:47:42 | 0:47:43 | |
It's about the location, so right here, we're on the edge of Fenn's, | 0:47:43 | 0:47:46 | |
Whixall and Bettisfield Moss, | 0:47:46 | 0:47:47 | |
which is one of the largest peat bodies in Britain. | 0:47:47 | 0:47:50 | |
That seems quite strange to have a scrapyard positioned here. | 0:47:50 | 0:47:53 | |
I mean, it's quite rural, isn't it? | 0:47:53 | 0:47:54 | |
The scrapyard was actually brought here in the 1960s and that was | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
before this site really had its special designation. | 0:47:57 | 0:48:01 | |
Prior to that, it would have just been a farm. | 0:48:01 | 0:48:03 | |
It's not an easy job though, is it? | 0:48:03 | 0:48:04 | |
It's not. There's an awful lot that we've got to deal with. | 0:48:04 | 0:48:07 | |
I mean, you can see here, we've got piles of tyres, we've got scrap, | 0:48:07 | 0:48:10 | |
we've got oil and it's quite polluted in the ground under our | 0:48:10 | 0:48:13 | |
-feet as well. -But despite those challenges, | 0:48:13 | 0:48:15 | |
they're using what they can from the site and transforming it to work in | 0:48:15 | 0:48:19 | |
harmony with nature. | 0:48:19 | 0:48:20 | |
So, what we're hoping to do is to keep some of these sheds back here, | 0:48:22 | 0:48:25 | |
but, kind of, clad so that it's got an earth wall and an earth roof. | 0:48:25 | 0:48:29 | |
We would like to have a viewing tower at the top because one of the | 0:48:29 | 0:48:32 | |
things about these sites, they're very, very flat, | 0:48:32 | 0:48:34 | |
so if you can get a bit of height and then you can actually see right | 0:48:34 | 0:48:37 | |
out across the whole of the Moss. | 0:48:37 | 0:48:39 | |
From there, where we want to go is we want to restore all of this area. | 0:48:39 | 0:48:44 | |
We want to try and build some walls and maybe some play features out of | 0:48:44 | 0:48:47 | |
the tyres. You know, really re-use them if we can. | 0:48:47 | 0:48:50 | |
With this lovely kind of boardwalk that leads you right out onto the | 0:48:50 | 0:48:53 | |
-edge of the Moss. -And we'll all have as much fun as that little dog. | 0:48:53 | 0:48:56 | |
Absolutely, yeah! | 0:48:56 | 0:48:57 | |
And that's not the only way this scrap material lives on. | 0:49:03 | 0:49:07 | |
Artist Rob Holmquist is turning some | 0:49:07 | 0:49:09 | |
of it into children's play equipment. | 0:49:09 | 0:49:11 | |
That is brilliant. | 0:49:15 | 0:49:17 | |
-Cheers, thank you. -So, what are these bits that you've got? | 0:49:17 | 0:49:19 | |
These are a couple of valves from an engine and they've been welded onto | 0:49:19 | 0:49:23 | |
the front of the snail like that to make its tentacles. | 0:49:23 | 0:49:26 | |
What we're going to do is we're going to turn it into a bug hotel, | 0:49:26 | 0:49:28 | |
so not only was it scrap, | 0:49:28 | 0:49:30 | |
it's now a habitat for small creatures and animals. | 0:49:30 | 0:49:34 | |
I mean, it's funny because I look at that and all I can see is scrap. | 0:49:34 | 0:49:38 | |
-But what do you see? -Quite a lot of scrap, I must admit! | 0:49:38 | 0:49:41 | |
But there is a lot of potential, as well. | 0:49:42 | 0:49:43 | |
If you've got the time and the tools, | 0:49:43 | 0:49:45 | |
you can make something out of quite a lot of it. | 0:49:45 | 0:49:47 | |
I'd love to have a go at something. | 0:49:47 | 0:49:48 | |
Cool. Do you want to do some spray-painting? | 0:49:48 | 0:49:50 | |
Would I ever like to do some spray-painting! | 0:49:50 | 0:49:52 | |
What are these going to be? | 0:49:52 | 0:49:53 | |
These are parts for one of the rockers over there, | 0:49:53 | 0:49:56 | |
so this is the body of a grasshopper. | 0:49:56 | 0:49:58 | |
I'd suggest everyone take a step backwards. | 0:49:58 | 0:50:00 | |
Thank you very much. | 0:50:02 | 0:50:03 | |
It is as fun as it looks and if it's inspired you to get out there and do | 0:50:18 | 0:50:21 | |
something fantastic in the great outdoors, | 0:50:21 | 0:50:23 | |
you'll want to know what the weather's doing. | 0:50:23 | 0:50:25 | |
Here's the forecast. | 0:50:25 | 0:50:26 | |
We're in Shropshire, where I've been discovering the unforgiving | 0:51:12 | 0:51:16 | |
landscape where both people and plants have battled to survive. | 0:51:16 | 0:51:19 | |
This quiet place was once a beacon of industry. | 0:51:22 | 0:51:25 | |
Today, the wheel no longer turns. | 0:51:26 | 0:51:28 | |
And the miners have stopped streaming into these tunnels. | 0:51:30 | 0:51:32 | |
But in the mid-18th century, lead mining was big business. | 0:51:34 | 0:51:38 | |
This stuff helped to power the Industrial Revolution. | 0:51:39 | 0:51:43 | |
Now, at one point, this place, Snailbeach Mine, | 0:51:43 | 0:51:46 | |
was the richest mine per acre in Europe, | 0:51:46 | 0:51:49 | |
and it was extracting 3,000 tonnes of ore a year. | 0:51:49 | 0:51:53 | |
Now restored, there's a maze of | 0:51:55 | 0:51:57 | |
rarely-seen underground tunnels to explore. | 0:51:57 | 0:52:00 | |
Let's venture into the gloom. | 0:52:00 | 0:52:02 | |
'Andrew Wood from the | 0:52:04 | 0:52:05 | |
Shropshire Mines Trust is taking me deep underground.' | 0:52:05 | 0:52:10 | |
How big is this mine, then, Andrew? | 0:52:10 | 0:52:12 | |
It actually goes well below sea level. | 0:52:12 | 0:52:14 | |
-Right. -It's actually 1,700-odd feet deep. | 0:52:14 | 0:52:19 | |
3,000 tonnes a year coming out of this place, | 0:52:19 | 0:52:21 | |
what was the workforce like? | 0:52:21 | 0:52:23 | |
Well, at its peak in the middle of the 19th century, | 0:52:23 | 0:52:27 | |
this site employed over 500 people. | 0:52:27 | 0:52:30 | |
So instead of the quiet country place it is now, | 0:52:30 | 0:52:33 | |
it was a hive of industry and there were people and smoke and noise | 0:52:33 | 0:52:37 | |
absolutely everywhere. | 0:52:37 | 0:52:39 | |
Instantly, it opened up here, then, Andrew, | 0:52:39 | 0:52:41 | |
so what have we come across here? | 0:52:41 | 0:52:43 | |
This is what's called a stump, where all the mineral has been removed. | 0:52:43 | 0:52:47 | |
And what techniques would they have been using to get all this out? | 0:52:47 | 0:52:52 | |
It was all done by hand and using candles. | 0:52:52 | 0:52:56 | |
The men had to buy their own candles and they had to buy their own | 0:52:56 | 0:52:59 | |
gunpowder and, of course, | 0:52:59 | 0:53:01 | |
they needed gunpowder to blast the rock down. | 0:53:01 | 0:53:03 | |
So they used an implement like a bit of a spoon, if you like, | 0:53:03 | 0:53:06 | |
on a long stick. The spoon is copper, | 0:53:06 | 0:53:10 | |
the handle is wood because the last thing you want to do is to introduce | 0:53:10 | 0:53:15 | |
iron or steel to gunpowder in case you get a spark. | 0:53:15 | 0:53:18 | |
When they were ready, they'd light the fuse, run away and hide. | 0:53:18 | 0:53:21 | |
There'd be an enormous bang, | 0:53:21 | 0:53:23 | |
all the rock would come down and when the dust had settled, | 0:53:23 | 0:53:25 | |
they'd come back and start shovelling up the ore. | 0:53:25 | 0:53:28 | |
The mind boggles, doesn't it? | 0:53:28 | 0:53:29 | |
When you've got electric lights and you can see the vast area that was, | 0:53:29 | 0:53:32 | |
kind of, excavated but then, you think, that was all done by hand. | 0:53:32 | 0:53:37 | |
In the second half of the 19th century, | 0:53:48 | 0:53:50 | |
lead production reached its peak, but in 1885, | 0:53:50 | 0:53:54 | |
after a flood of cheap imports, | 0:53:54 | 0:53:56 | |
lead prices fell and many small mines went out of business. | 0:53:56 | 0:54:01 | |
This mine has now fallen silent. | 0:54:10 | 0:54:12 | |
But it's far from empty. | 0:54:12 | 0:54:14 | |
One particular species has set up home in these cavernous chambers, | 0:54:14 | 0:54:19 | |
the lesser horseshoe bat. | 0:54:19 | 0:54:21 | |
Just hanging about ten feet away from where I'm kneeling is the most | 0:54:21 | 0:54:27 | |
beautiful lesser horseshoe bat. | 0:54:27 | 0:54:30 | |
You could see one just fly up right there. | 0:54:30 | 0:54:32 | |
And here in Shropshire, | 0:54:32 | 0:54:33 | |
numbers of this beautiful creature have been on the rise since 1999, | 0:54:33 | 0:54:38 | |
year-on-year. | 0:54:38 | 0:54:39 | |
And the Shropshire Bat Group believe that this is because they found the | 0:54:39 | 0:54:43 | |
perfect dark, dank hibernation roost right here in Snailbeach Mine. | 0:54:43 | 0:54:48 | |
It's wonderful to see that this mine is not just a museum to the past. | 0:54:54 | 0:54:58 | |
It's also helping to protect the future. | 0:54:58 | 0:55:00 | |
Perfect timing! | 0:55:03 | 0:55:04 | |
Can you let me out? What's it worth? | 0:55:04 | 0:55:06 | |
Shall I let him out? All right, come on. | 0:55:06 | 0:55:09 | |
Thank you. Just what I wanted, actually. | 0:55:09 | 0:55:10 | |
-There you go. -Oh, my eyes! Tell me when that's off. Is that off? | 0:55:10 | 0:55:13 | |
-It's off. -It's off. -How is it down there? | 0:55:13 | 0:55:15 | |
Yeah, good, good. I've had a lovely time here. | 0:55:15 | 0:55:17 | |
I tell you what, I've been up on top of it and underneath the landscape | 0:55:17 | 0:55:20 | |
here, but what a view. The hills around here! | 0:55:20 | 0:55:22 | |
It has been spectacular in Shropshire, hasn't it? | 0:55:22 | 0:55:24 | |
Even a scrapyard looked gorgeous! | 0:55:24 | 0:55:26 | |
Anyway, that's all we've got time for for this week. | 0:55:26 | 0:55:30 | |
Next week, we're going to be in | 0:55:30 | 0:55:31 | |
Carmarthenshire, where I will be exploring | 0:55:31 | 0:55:33 | |
the explosive sand dunes. | 0:55:33 | 0:55:35 | |
And Helen will be finding out just how fantastic bees really are. | 0:55:35 | 0:55:39 | |
-Join -us then. See you. -Cheers. | 0:55:39 | 0:55:41 |