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This is Tyne Wear, a proud landscape with a rich history. | :00:33. | :00:40. | |
'There is a surprising amount of green space.' | :00:41. | :00:49. | |
'There is stunning secret coastline.' | :00:50. | :00:57. | |
The light at the end of the tunnel. There we are. | :00:58. | :01:00. | |
Also tonight, Tom will have the first part of a special report | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
Are these dramatic scenes we have witnessed across the UK | :01:06. | :01:13. | |
or likely to be the shape of things to come? | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
'And Adam is looking at Suffolk's county breeds.' | :01:21. | :01:23. | |
A land stitched together through the seams of its coal, | :01:24. | :02:42. | |
mined for generations to power the region's shipyards and steelworks. | :02:43. | :02:50. | |
This steep hill is actually man-made. | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
It's a massive pile of waste, spoil from the pursuit of coal | :02:55. | :03:00. | |
and what was once one of the largest working coal mines in the world. | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
The pit closed more than 40 years ago and, in that time, | :03:07. | :03:18. | |
Today, this former pit is a country park, | :03:19. | :03:27. | |
What do you remember about life down there, Danny? | :03:28. | :04:04. | |
Well, it was very dangerous, I suppose, | :04:05. | :04:07. | |
you take it in your stride, you know. | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
As the air travels through the workings, | :04:14. | :04:15. | |
and people would be looking for the fitter | :04:16. | :04:22. | |
and they didn't realise it was me because I would be in short pants, | :04:23. | :04:25. | |
no shirt and just a pair of boots and that, you know, | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
because it used to get that hot. It was so hot down there? | :04:30. | :04:31. | |
So it can be very tricky, but, at times, good fun. | :04:32. | :04:38. | |
By the time the Rising Sun closed in 1969, | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
Tyneside had already lost most of its collieries. | :04:44. | :04:46. | |
in the coffin of the North East's coal industry. | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
What do you feel when you stand here now? | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
so I get a bit sad on that system, like. | :04:57. | :05:08. | |
It is, it's beautiful, I mean, even that view there. | :05:09. | :05:15. | |
Today, the Rising Sun Country Park is one of the best places | :05:16. | :05:23. | |
for wildfowl and wading birds on Tyneside, | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
acres and acres of wetland making the perfect habitat for breeding. | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
have flooded huge areas of the park and that's a problem. | :05:32. | :05:37. | |
I mean, look at this, Matt, it's turned into a swamp. Goodness me! | :05:38. | :05:40. | |
Is this unprecedented? Have you seen anything like this before? | :05:41. | :05:43. | |
we've got members of the public that walk round here | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
who have loved you for 40 years and they've said this is... | :05:48. | :05:49. | |
they've seen nothing like this before. Right. | :05:50. | :05:52. | |
'He is concerned the high water levels may affect breeding.' | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
And a worry, then, as far as nesting birds are concerned, for you? | :06:00. | :06:02. | |
Yeah, I mean, the water levels have got a lot deeper, | :06:03. | :06:05. | |
so the types of birds that would live on here, | :06:06. | :06:07. | |
it might be too deep for them to feed. | :06:08. | :06:10. | |
I mean, also, we've got two nesting islands that are permanent ones, | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
the black-headed gulls and Arctic terns nest on them, | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
and they are under water now, non-existent. | :06:18. | :06:27. | |
Now, of course, the torrential rain that we've been experiencing | :06:28. | :06:30. | |
over the last few months has led to the flooding | :06:31. | :06:32. | |
of thousands of homes and businesses, | :06:33. | :06:34. | |
something that we're going to have to get used in the future? | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
In the last decade, records for the amount of rain falling | :06:40. | :06:53. | |
on our hills, fields and homes have been broken over and over again. | :06:54. | :07:05. | |
People have been flooded out of their homes and businesses, | :07:06. | :07:14. | |
from Aberdeen to York, from Belfast to Bangor, | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
in the wettest December for a century. | :07:19. | :07:29. | |
but early last December, it was wetter than ever. | :07:30. | :07:36. | |
In one 24-hour period, more than a month's worth of rain fell | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
and in that opening weekend of December, | :07:42. | :07:44. | |
14 billion litres of water came into this reservoir | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
and most of it went off down the River Derwent. | :07:49. | :07:55. | |
All that, together with water from the rest of the catchment area, | :07:56. | :07:58. | |
passed through here - the ancient market town of Cockermouth, | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
built where the River Cocker joins the Derwent. | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
Hi. Morning. You must be Sue. | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
'Sue Cashmore lives not far from the river in Cockermouth.' | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
Well, I'm greeted by that post-flood buzz I hear everywhere. | :08:21. | :08:23. | |
This is the sound of Christmas, you know, | :08:24. | :08:25. | |
because we always flood just before Christmas and this is the sound. | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
Any chance you can just knock it off now? We can, there you go. | :08:29. | :08:31. | |
I bet that's a relief, isn't it? It is, it's lovely! | :08:32. | :08:33. | |
So, tell me, what was it like on the day as the waters came? | :08:34. | :08:39. | |
We knew there was a potential for flood, | :08:40. | :08:41. | |
but I didn't actually get a call till three o'clock | :08:42. | :08:43. | |
and by that time, we saw the water heading down the road at us | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
because it comes really quite fast, it moves at about 35mph to 40mph | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
I think, within seconds, there was four feet of water in this house. | :08:53. | :08:59. | |
The electricity went off, so I was stood there in the dark, | :09:00. | :09:01. | |
with water coming in, so I had no choice but to grab the dog | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
and ran upstairs and we were trapped. | :09:06. | :09:06. | |
'Sue can't get insurance because she's been flooded before, | :09:07. | :09:15. | |
'so unlike many people, she stayed in her home | :09:16. | :09:18. | |
That is a hell of a depth. It's incredible to think, isn't it? | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
Seven weeks ago, this house was full of water. | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
And how did you feel about this, bearing in mind, of course, | :09:27. | :09:29. | |
No, this is the fourth time, in this house, that this has flooded. | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
We honestly thought we were going to be OK, | :09:35. | :09:36. | |
we didn't think we would flood again. | :09:37. | :09:37. | |
The fact that we flooded again makes you think, | :09:38. | :09:39. | |
Some, of course, would argue that it always HAS happened. | :09:40. | :09:47. | |
The first recorded flood in Cockermouth was back in 1761. | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
Since then, like many places across the UK, | :09:52. | :09:54. | |
often in clusters, with long gaps in between. | :09:55. | :10:00. | |
So, is the exceptional rainfall and widespread flooding | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
we've seen in recent years just part of a natural cycle | :10:05. | :10:07. | |
'To help me answer that question, I'm meeting BBC weather forecaster | :10:08. | :10:18. | |
'and friend of Countryfile John Hammond.' | :10:19. | :10:21. | |
Welcome to my open air, rather wobbly, 3-D weather studio. | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
Well, those BBC economies are really beginning to bite! | :10:27. | :10:29. | |
So, how does this help us understand what happened this winter? | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
One factor we think which was behind this event, this winter, | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
was actually El Nino at the other side of the world, | :10:39. | :10:41. | |
We know that that heating actually affects | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
The jet stream meanders around the northern hemisphere, | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
and it was those winds which brought up | :10:51. | :10:53. | |
a lot of warm, moist air from the tropics | :10:54. | :10:56. | |
and headed in our direction along this atmospheric river, | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
generating a lot of cloud up through the Irish Sea | :11:00. | :11:01. | |
and, as it hit the high ground, here in Cumbria, | :11:02. | :11:04. | |
that air was forced to rise and if you lift moist air, | :11:05. | :11:07. | |
it condenses and it cools and it produces colossal amounts of rain, | :11:08. | :11:11. | |
over a metre of rain this December in parts of Cumbria. | :11:12. | :11:14. | |
So, with climate change, are we likely to see | :11:15. | :11:16. | |
and a challenge for climate scientists, but certainly we think | :11:17. | :11:22. | |
that with a warmer planet, warm air can hold more moisture. | :11:23. | :11:25. | |
In fact, if you raise the temperature by one degree, | :11:26. | :11:27. | |
so these atmospheric rivers coming up towards us | :11:28. | :11:32. | |
and these extreme winter rainfall events are likely, we think, | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
with a warmer planet, to become more extreme. | :11:39. | :11:41. | |
'But this kind of extreme weather is often described as | :11:42. | :11:44. | |
'a 1-in-100-year event, so how come we're seeing it so regularly?' | :11:45. | :11:51. | |
Statistically, you'd expect the six to come up every six throws, | :11:52. | :12:00. | |
but it doesn't. It's a bit like the weather. | :12:01. | :12:02. | |
You know, a 1-in-100-year event is a long-term average. | :12:03. | :12:05. | |
The reality is that these events can crop up in quick succession | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
What we do think is that with a warmer world, in a sense, | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
those more extreme events happening more often. | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
So, could these more-frequent flooding events be the new normal? | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
That's the challenge for climate scientists. | :12:26. | :12:27. | |
We think, with a warmer climate, the odds are shortening, | :12:28. | :12:30. | |
but we don't know what they are shortening to yet | :12:31. | :12:32. | |
So, it could become more often than 1 in 100, | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
but we don't know what the new figure is? | :12:37. | :12:38. | |
Yes, one in what? That's the challenge. | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
'So, in a world of chaotic and unpredictable weather, | :12:43. | :12:45. | |
'planning a strategy for flood prevention | :12:46. | :12:47. | |
Having to base our policies on odds and guesswork | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
may sound a little bit like gambling with people's homes, | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
so what should we do to prepare ourselves | :12:58. | :13:00. | |
our traditional defences are up to the job. | :13:01. | :13:20. | |
ELLIE: 'I'm exploring the coastline near Sunderland, | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
'at the mouth of the mighty River Wear. | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
'Said to have been the shipbuilding capital of the world, | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
'one of the busiest industrial ports in the country.' | :13:32. | :13:38. | |
ships navigating these waters have been safely guided | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
by one of the North East's most elegant landmarks - | :13:45. | :13:47. | |
protecting the harbour entrance and guiding ships safely into port. | :13:48. | :14:07. | |
But a century of battering from the North Sea takes its toll, | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
and three years ago, Sunderland Council decided | :14:12. | :14:14. | |
that this grand old lady needed a bit of TLC. | :14:15. | :14:22. | |
and the lighthouse fell into disrepair. | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
The interior was badly damaged by salt water. | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
And the lamp house had corroded to the point of collapse. | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
But three years on, the restoration is almost complete. | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
'Ian Smithwhite has been managing the project.' | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
There's only a few little bits left to do. | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
The granite is looking really fantastic, | :14:50. | :14:50. | |
you've got the fantastic alternating coloured bands of red | :14:51. | :14:53. | |
and grey Aberdeen granite, that's been repointed, | :14:54. | :14:56. | |
and we have a brand-new lantern and a brand-new foghorn, | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
offering the safety to the port that it's always had | :15:01. | :15:02. | |
The pier and lighthouse were designed and built | :15:03. | :15:08. | |
One of his innovations was a giant crane nicknamed Goliath, | :15:09. | :15:15. | |
used to lay the immense concrete blocks which make up | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
the three quarters of a mile long pier. | :15:20. | :15:21. | |
'And beneath its newly restored surface lies a secret.' | :15:22. | :15:29. | |
Matthew! Hello! What are you doing down there? I'm waiting for you! | :15:30. | :15:32. | |
Can I come in? Certainly can. All right. | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
'This hidden tunnel stretches all the way to the lighthouse.' | :15:37. | :15:47. | |
'Matthew Storey has been working on its restoration.' | :15:48. | :15:54. | |
So, the tunnel was built into the pier to house these | :15:55. | :16:02. | |
gas and water pipes that you can see. | :16:03. | :16:04. | |
Once the pier had been built, the tunnel was then used | :16:05. | :16:08. | |
by the lighthouse keeper to access the lighthouse in bad weather. | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
it was just used a couple of weeks ago to get two men off the pier. | :16:13. | :16:20. | |
What are the plans for the tunnel now? | :16:21. | :16:23. | |
So, the idea is that we'll build a new entrance structure, | :16:24. | :16:26. | |
so it's a bit easier to access from the shore side. | :16:27. | :16:28. | |
And we'll be opening it up to the public | :16:29. | :16:31. | |
and running guided tours through the tunnel and the lighthouse. | :16:32. | :16:34. | |
At last! Here we are. I can taste fresh air from somewhere! | :16:35. | :16:43. | |
Oh, yeah. The light at the end of the tunnel! Here we are. | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
I'm pleased to see this. What's this, then? | :16:48. | :16:50. | |
So, here we are in the basement of the lighthouse. | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
And just up there is the lighthouse itself. | :16:54. | :16:55. | |
There's only one way up, then! OK. Give you that... | :16:56. | :17:04. | |
You need to be fit to be a lighthouse keeper! | :17:05. | :17:07. | |
'All the main structural work has now been done. | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
'Day-to-day upkeep of the lighthouse is the job | :17:14. | :17:15. | |
'of the Roker Heritage Volunteer Group. | :17:16. | :17:17. | |
Wow, this is looking amazing! What are you doing? | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
I'm just carrying on an old tradition. | :17:24. | :17:25. | |
My grandfather was the lighthouse keeper, he was here for a good | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
many years, certainly, when we were children, this was our playground. | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
We used to come down here in school holidays and one of our jobs | :17:34. | :17:36. | |
was cleaning the windows and also polishing the handrails. | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
So, you'll know your way around this place, you can show me around? | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
Yes, yes. Shall we wander up? We'll polish as we go, shall we? | :17:44. | :17:45. | |
This is my favourite room, it was the day room. | :17:46. | :17:55. | |
We had a little desk here, the binoculars, telescope, | :17:56. | :17:59. | |
we used to look out of the window, looking at the ships going by. | :18:00. | :18:03. | |
All the gadgets on the day. That's right. | :18:04. | :18:05. | |
Yes, the next floor, the next rooms do get smaller | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
and the stairs get narrower as you wander up. OK. | :18:10. | :18:19. | |
They've left it as it is here, just to show what it was originally like. | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
And it shows what a battle there still is with the water, | :18:25. | :18:27. | |
inside and out. That's right. Yes, the condensation. | :18:28. | :18:29. | |
Shall we go on through? You follow me up to the next level. | :18:30. | :18:37. | |
This is what it's all about! The light. Yes, this is the new light. | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
It's a bit underwhelming in size, isn't it? | :18:42. | :18:43. | |
It's certainly not as impressive as the original light used to be. | :18:44. | :18:46. | |
When it was originally opened, the lights were the brightest | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
in the world and had a distance of about 15 or so miles out to sea. | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
Wow, that's impressive. Really magnificent. Incredible. | :18:55. | :18:57. | |
But then, you get something like this now, which is really small... | :18:58. | :19:00. | |
Does the job. ..and does exactly the same! | :19:01. | :19:03. | |
It must mean quite a lot to you to be involved in this project. | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
I can see we've got something to look forward to in the future. | :19:07. | :19:15. | |
Roker Lighthouse was a beacon of safety for nearly a century. | :19:16. | :19:18. | |
Now restored, its guiding light will keep | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
Now, here is a welcome reminder of warmer days. | :19:22. | :19:31. | |
Last summer, we asked some well-known faces, from athletes... | :19:32. | :19:37. | |
Oh, it's quite refreshing after a while! | :19:38. | :19:40. | |
..what part of our magnificent countryside was special to them. | :19:41. | :19:57. | |
This week, we take to the mountains on the Isle of Skye | :19:58. | :20:00. | |
MUSIC: Over The Hills And Far Away by Led Zeppelin | :20:01. | :20:10. | |
to climb all of the Munros in Scotland. | :20:11. | :20:21. | |
And the Munros are mountains above 3,000 feet, of which there are 282. | :20:22. | :20:31. | |
I don't know why people who tick off mountains are known as baggers, | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
Well, I'm not going to argue with it. | :20:36. | :20:55. | |
for getting me into Munro bagging specifically, | :20:56. | :21:03. | |
who I was familiar with from the quite edgy music programme The Tube, | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
but I then saw hosting a show called The Munro Show, | :21:11. | :21:14. | |
"You're supposed to be interviewing Morrissey." | :21:15. | :21:23. | |
And then I remember, many, many years later, | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
with my now wife, then girlfriend, driving through the Peak District | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
and thinking, we need to go hill walking again. | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
and as I remembered there's these things, the Munros, | :21:36. | :21:38. | |
that you can tick off, and, being quite a nerdy sort, | :21:39. | :21:41. | |
having that target, straightaway that was it, | :21:42. | :21:44. | |
I knew what I wanted to do and that was any chance I could get, I was | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
going to steal myself off up to Scotland and become a Munro bagger. | :21:49. | :22:00. | |
I have had days where it's just been torrential rain | :22:01. | :22:02. | |
and just mist, and you never see anything | :22:03. | :22:05. | |
and it's just a joyless trudge up a steep | :22:06. | :22:08. | |
and featureless hill to get to the top, and not see anything | :22:09. | :22:11. | |
and walk straight back down and get back in the car. | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
but tick off a mountain that you hadn't done before. | :22:17. | :22:18. | |
And you'd go, what was the point of that? | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
I don't know what the point of that is. | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
I feel sometimes that the whole concept of Munro bagging | :22:27. | :22:29. | |
is a cruel trick that the Scottish are playing on tourists, | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
because 3,000 feet, the minimum height | :22:34. | :22:34. | |
coincidentally seems to be the very height | :22:35. | :22:40. | |
that Scottish cloud tends to just sit. | :22:41. | :22:48. | |
because this is the home of the Cuillin Ridge, which is | :22:49. | :22:55. | |
a chain of 11 Munros that represent the most extensive | :22:56. | :23:01. | |
mountaineering challenge that the UK has. | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
And in the middle of the Cuillin Ridge is Sgurr Dearg, | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
also known as the Inaccessible Pinnacle, which is | :23:10. | :23:12. | |
unique among all the Munros in that it's the only one that you | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
need to rock climb, you need ropes to actually get to the top of it. | :23:17. | :23:22. | |
So, it looms large in my mind as the one I'm worried about, basically. | :23:23. | :23:29. | |
Because even though I love mountains, | :23:30. | :23:32. | |
I'm not actually very good with heights. | :23:33. | :23:58. | |
Er, it's a lot bigger than I've had it described, and, er, | :23:59. | :24:19. | |
a little bit more frightening than I was expecting. | :24:20. | :24:22. | |
I'm feeling a certain level of trepidation about the climb. | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
I don't want to say frightened or scared, | :24:28. | :24:30. | |
because that would make me sound like a coward. We're ready to go. | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
If I touch you, does that count? Well done, Ed. | :24:35. | :26:15. | |
Thanks for your help, Martin, appreciated! | :26:16. | :26:17. | |
Pretty wild conditions. They were... Yeah. | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
it was unpleasant for a good 60% of it, I think. | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
that's certainly the most hard-fought Munro I've bagged. | :26:27. | :26:36. | |
Another 206 to go! It's all plain sailing from here. | :26:37. | :26:49. | |
Well, as exhilarating and exciting as that was, I am glad it's over. | :26:50. | :26:56. | |
Er, there should be a little bit of self-discovery in every journey, | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
and the main self-discovery from today is, | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
I'm a hill walker, I'm not a rock climber or a mountaineer, | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
I'm a hill walker and I'm glad that the rock climbing part | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
of my Munro adventure is now done. | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
Right, where did I leave me rucksack? | :27:19. | :27:27. | |
Now, earlier we heard how we should expect more of the unexpected | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
But if that's the case, can we continue to | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
rely on traditional flood defences for protection? | :27:37. | :27:39. | |
Floodwater as far as the eye can see. | :27:40. | :27:57. | |
And predictions this might happen much more frequently in the future. | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
This is the life for many across the UK this winter, | :28:02. | :28:05. | |
especially in Cumbria, and not for the first time. | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
Here in Cockermouth, they've suffered frequent floods, | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
and the response, like elsewhere in the country, has been | :28:14. | :28:16. | |
to build bigger, supposedly better defences. | :28:17. | :28:23. | |
there have been three major flood defence schemes | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
built in Cockermouth, each one upgrading and adding to the last. | :28:29. | :28:32. | |
There are now walls, gates, glass panels, waterproof windows, | :28:33. | :28:36. | |
and in pride of place, a state-of-the-art, | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
self-raising barrier, the first of its kind in the UK. | :28:41. | :28:44. | |
which had proved inadequate in the floods of 2009. | :28:45. | :28:51. | |
Last December, the new defence faced its stiffest test. | :28:52. | :28:56. | |
This self-raising barrier that I'm walking on came up to almost | :28:57. | :29:00. | |
and actually prevented these houses immediately behind from flooding. | :29:01. | :29:06. | |
But the water itself carried on down the river | :29:07. | :29:10. | |
and those just downstream weren't so lucky. | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
Sue Cashmore is giving me a tour of Cockermouth defences. | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
And so what worked and what didn't here? | :29:21. | :29:22. | |
I think all the defences worked to an extent. | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
and less shops got hit and less houses on this side of the river. | :29:26. | :29:32. | |
It gave us more time, maybe, and we haven't lost the town | :29:33. | :29:38. | |
as much as we did in 2009, so we can't say that they failed. | :29:39. | :29:41. | |
Did you think those new defences were going to do their job | :29:42. | :29:46. | |
I don't think any of us thought we would get hit as badly | :29:47. | :29:52. | |
Throughout November, the defences were tested several times | :29:53. | :29:58. | |
and everybody kind of breathed a little sigh of relief thinking | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
we were going to be OK, so I think that was more traumatising | :30:03. | :30:05. | |
for people, because we didn't think we'd ever flood or see this again. | :30:06. | :30:09. | |
But are there some places where you think more engineering | :30:10. | :30:12. | |
could make a difference? Yeah, I think | :30:13. | :30:13. | |
it definitely showed some weaknesses in the defences that they built. | :30:14. | :30:17. | |
What do you think is the future for Cockermouth and places like it? | :30:18. | :30:21. | |
I think it's quite worrying, actually. | :30:22. | :30:22. | |
I think it's had a big impact on our economy again. | :30:23. | :30:25. | |
A lot of the shops are closed, and that is what our economy | :30:26. | :30:30. | |
is about, so that means that this town could die. Really? | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
If we don't change things, we could lose this town. | :30:35. | :30:39. | |
The government claims that this winter, one million properties | :30:40. | :30:42. | |
that were at risk of flooding were protected, | :30:43. | :30:45. | |
and that in the end, only 15,000 were flooded. | :30:46. | :30:49. | |
Not only that, it says defensive measures allowed the victims | :30:50. | :30:52. | |
more time to prepare or evacuate safely. | :30:53. | :30:55. | |
Even so, we've seen flooding in cities like York, Leeds | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
and Carlisle, and in numerous smaller towns | :31:00. | :31:02. | |
and villages across the whole of the UK. | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
All that despite spending more than ?3 billion on flood defences | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
since 2005 in England alone, and it's estimated that by 2035, | :31:13. | :31:19. | |
we could be spending ?1 billion a year | :31:20. | :31:23. | |
So, given the problem is likely to get worse, not better, | :31:24. | :31:30. | |
can we continue to defend ourselves town by town | :31:31. | :31:33. | |
with more and more physical barriers? | :31:34. | :31:36. | |
'I'm meeting Alison Baptiste from the Environment Agency to find out.' | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
So, this is the river under the bridge that got | :31:42. | :31:43. | |
It did, yeah, and you only have to look here, to the debris | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
in the trees, as to see how high this river came up, | :31:48. | :31:50. | |
you know, five times higher than it normally does. | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
In places like Cockermouth, is the solution to build bigger, | :31:55. | :31:59. | |
Well, whenever we look at trying to reduce flooding in communities, | :32:00. | :32:05. | |
there's a technical basis about physically | :32:06. | :32:08. | |
whether you can do it technically, but there's also the community and | :32:09. | :32:11. | |
what it means for the culture of the community and the atmosphere there. | :32:12. | :32:15. | |
In order to defend from the sort of levels that you see that | :32:16. | :32:18. | |
we had here, there would be such significant defences here, | :32:19. | :32:22. | |
it would just destroy the character of the town. | :32:23. | :32:25. | |
if we are going to protect places like this, | :32:26. | :32:29. | |
people have to maybe accept perhaps bigger, uglier defences. | :32:30. | :32:34. | |
I've just walked down the high street in Cockermouth, | :32:35. | :32:37. | |
and to see probably half the businesses back up and running, | :32:38. | :32:39. | |
it's been really good to see that so quickly after the floods, | :32:40. | :32:43. | |
so there is an element of understanding the environment | :32:44. | :32:47. | |
that you live in, and whether you stop the flooding | :32:48. | :32:49. | |
if you can or whether you make yourselves resilient to it, | :32:50. | :32:52. | |
so what we're looking at is a whole range of... Really a fresh look. | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
"Are the climate change assumptions right, are the modelling, | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
"the approach that we take to that, is the investment right? | :33:02. | :33:04. | |
"Our critical infrastructure, are we protecting that well enough?", | :33:05. | :33:07. | |
and so that national review will look at, what can we do better | :33:08. | :33:11. | |
so that we can better protect this country? | :33:12. | :33:17. | |
Better protection of our country is of course what everyone wants. | :33:18. | :33:21. | |
But in the face of more extreme weather, | :33:22. | :33:23. | |
that's going to be a major challenge. | :33:24. | :33:26. | |
With one in six properties already at risk of flooding | :33:27. | :33:29. | |
it's perhaps not surprising that the authorities believe | :33:30. | :33:35. | |
we can't rely on man-made flood barriers to keep us dry. | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
Next week, I'll be looking at controversial proposals | :33:41. | :33:43. | |
to use our natural landscape as a flood defence. | :33:44. | :33:55. | |
Today, I'm in the Rising Sun Country Park on North Tyneside. | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
It was once a coal mine, but this 400-acre site has been transformed | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
into an oasis of green - a phoenix rising from the industrial past. | :34:05. | :34:16. | |
The minute the pit closed in 1969, land reclamation began. | :34:17. | :34:21. | |
By the mid '70s, 29,000 tress had been planted. | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
But more than six decades of mining took a heavy toll. | :34:27. | :34:29. | |
these trees are struggling to reach their full height. | :34:30. | :34:38. | |
I mean, all the tress you see here were planted all at the same time. | :34:39. | :34:42. | |
This Swedish whitebeam, a non-native species. | :34:43. | :34:45. | |
As you can see, the diameter of it, it's hardly grown at all. | :34:46. | :34:49. | |
Not what you'd expect from a tree in its forties. | :34:50. | :34:52. | |
Chris, the park's land officer, is showing me | :34:53. | :34:54. | |
So, we've got a bit of a casualty here, | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
Chris, of the north-east winds, but it's exposed the soil | :34:59. | :35:01. | |
to get a good view of what's going on underneath. Yeah. | :35:02. | :35:05. | |
I mean, as you can see, really poor soil. | :35:06. | :35:07. | |
Got a bit of brick there, bit of metal there that's surfaced. | :35:08. | :35:10. | |
Things keep just popping up every now and again. Right. | :35:11. | :35:15. | |
The site was originally planted with hardy North American trees, | :35:16. | :35:19. | |
The kind of trees that could cope with poor growing conditions. | :35:20. | :35:25. | |
For native trees to have a chance, the soil quality needs to improve. | :35:26. | :35:32. | |
With the soil itself, are you just hoping that time's going to be | :35:33. | :35:35. | |
your friend and it will just improve with age? Yeah. | :35:36. | :35:38. | |
we're going to get all the likes of pine needles, leaves. | :35:39. | :35:43. | |
As you can see, everything's starting to rot down. Yes. | :35:44. | :35:46. | |
It's looking really good for the future. | :35:47. | :35:49. | |
The soil quality is slowly improving, | :35:50. | :35:52. | |
but Chris and his team of volunteers are giving nature a helping hand. | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
Fallen trees are chipped and left to decompose on the woodland floor. | :35:57. | :36:04. | |
That's it. At the top, yeah? Yeah, that's it, perfect. | :36:05. | :36:06. | |
'Logs are piled up to create a habitat for creepy crawlies, | :36:07. | :36:13. | |
It's just turned into a five-star home, this one. | :36:14. | :36:23. | |
brings with it some very particular problems. | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
You've got a lot of people living around the outskirts of this wood. | :36:28. | :36:30. | |
Do you find that people come here and help themselves to firewood? | :36:31. | :36:33. | |
Yeah. The wood definitely disappears. Fairies come and get it. | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
We need to put this wire on, cos if we just left this as it is, | :36:39. | :36:42. | |
it'll not be there in a few weeks' time, | :36:43. | :36:44. | |
it'll be moved about by people, so we'll wire it all up | :36:45. | :36:47. | |
and then it will be there for years to come for the wildlife to live in. | :36:48. | :36:52. | |
but they don't realise that it is quite a precious habitat, | :36:53. | :36:56. | |
this, so they just come and, you know, help themselves... | :36:57. | :37:00. | |
..just not knowing, really. Not knowing. There could be | :37:01. | :37:03. | |
a bird's nest in there if it's the spring, wrens and... Yeah. | :37:04. | :37:06. | |
..robins like to get in places like that. Mm-hm. | :37:07. | :37:08. | |
As you can see from the rest of the wood, it's quite bare, | :37:09. | :37:11. | |
so that's perfect nesting opportunity for something. | :37:12. | :37:13. | |
Over the centuries, our native breeds have adapted to survive. | :37:14. | :37:36. | |
these diverse landscapes have helped define the animals that live here. | :37:37. | :37:51. | |
And every county has its own specific breeds. | :37:52. | :37:55. | |
Adam's in Suffolk finding out some of the region's livestock. | :37:56. | :38:05. | |
This is the proud birthplace of many wonderful breeds... | :38:06. | :38:10. | |
..and each has its own story to tell. | :38:11. | :38:14. | |
I'm starting with the magnificent Suffolk Punch. | :38:15. | :38:17. | |
These horses worked and shaped this rural landscape | :38:18. | :38:23. | |
But now, they need all the help they can get. | :38:24. | :38:26. | |
'Nigel Oakley from Chedburgh in Suffolk | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
'provides a safe haven for these horses.' | :38:31. | :38:33. | |
Nigel, hi! Good to see you again. Yeah, and you. | :38:34. | :38:36. | |
He's lovely, isn't he? He's a delight, yeah. He's a lovely animal. | :38:37. | :38:40. | |
A good example of a Suffolk Horse, in my opinion. | :38:41. | :38:43. | |
And how many have you got now? We've got 16 on the farm. | :38:44. | :38:47. | |
I've had Suffolk horses the best part of 40 years, | :38:48. | :38:51. | |
but that's the colour for a Suffolk horse. | :38:52. | :39:02. | |
It's a really beautiful colour, isn't it? Lovely colour. Lovely. | :39:03. | :39:05. | |
I like my ginger on a horse. You're bound to say that! | :39:06. | :39:07. | |
And the feather, the hair on the feet that the shire has, | :39:08. | :39:11. | |
the Suffolk's quite clean, isn't it? No, it was bred purposely for that. | :39:12. | :39:14. | |
That's a very relevant point, actually, | :39:15. | :39:16. | |
because a lot of Suffolk is boulder clay, heavy clays, | :39:17. | :39:19. | |
and obviously, if you're ploughing all day, | :39:20. | :39:22. | |
you've got yourself a job at the end of the day washing all that out. | :39:23. | :39:25. | |
So, these were bred with less feather in the fetlock joint. | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
They're incredibly rare now, though, aren't they? | :39:31. | :39:33. | |
Unfortunately on category one of the Rare Breeds... Critically rare. | :39:34. | :39:36. | |
There are only something like about 500 registered Suffolk horses. | :39:37. | :39:44. | |
How many foals were registered last year? | :39:45. | :39:46. | |
The Suffolk Horse Society monitors the breed. | :39:47. | :39:52. | |
Obviously, the economic climate has meant that some of the supporters | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
so let's hope people give the society a little bit of an uplift. | :39:57. | :40:03. | |
These horses shape the countryside, really, | :40:04. | :40:06. | |
and they are the living heritage of Suffolk, and if we want | :40:07. | :40:10. | |
our grandchildren to have the privilege of doing what we're doing | :40:11. | :40:13. | |
then we must ensure it's here for perpetuity. Yeah. | :40:14. | :40:26. | |
'Using a traditional Suffolk harness, | :40:27. | :40:28. | |
'we pair an experienced horse with a novice for a spot of training, | :40:29. | :40:32. | |
'and I've been given the reins of these magnificent beasts.' | :40:33. | :40:36. | |
Walk on, then, boys. Walk on. Walk on. | :40:37. | :40:39. | |
What sort of weight would they pull, then, Nigel? | :40:40. | :40:48. | |
Well, each of those horses weigh almost a tonne, | :40:49. | :40:51. | |
and on wheels they can pull 2.5 times their own weight. | :40:52. | :40:55. | |
So these two would pull, what, five tonne between them? Yeah, on wheels. | :40:56. | :40:58. | |
If you were delivering beer with a brewery dray, you could put | :40:59. | :41:02. | |
five tonne of beer on, and I have done on lots of occasions. | :41:03. | :41:05. | |
Walk on, then. And it is right that a man could plough an acre in a day? | :41:06. | :41:09. | |
if you get up early and have no real friends to get home to. | :41:10. | :41:15. | |
And to plough an acre, you'd walk 11 miles. Goodness me! | :41:16. | :41:24. | |
Nigel's passion for Suffolk breeds goes far beyond this mighty horse. | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
The Suffolk sheep has been in existence since the late 1700s, | :41:30. | :41:33. | |
but has a very different story to that of the Suffolk Punch. | :41:34. | :41:36. | |
I mean, the horse became rare for obvious reasons. | :41:37. | :41:50. | |
The tractor automation took over, so... | :41:51. | :41:52. | |
But the Suffolk sheep, that was a success from the word go. | :41:53. | :41:59. | |
They bred a sheep with a wonderful carcass to it. | :42:00. | :42:02. | |
It produces good, strong lambs, good mother, good milking sheep, | :42:03. | :42:08. | |
so it's there and it is now still a very, very commercial breed. | :42:09. | :42:14. | |
And what other breeds are there in Suffolk? | :42:15. | :42:16. | |
There's what's known as the Suffolk Trinity, that's the Suffolk horse, | :42:17. | :42:19. | |
the sheep that we're now looking at, and the Red Poll cattle. | :42:20. | :42:23. | |
So, tell me about Red Poll cattle. What are they like? | :42:24. | :42:25. | |
They were, up to the 1950s, quite a commercial breed in East Anglia, | :42:26. | :42:29. | |
but obviously, the Continentals came in, which were double-muscled, | :42:30. | :42:33. | |
and so on. But now, the Red Poll has seen a resurgence | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
Anything else in the county? Yeah, we've got a Large Black pig. | :42:38. | :42:43. | |
Well, so's ice cream, but we make that here as well. | :42:44. | :42:49. | |
But the thing with... From what I gather, Devon and Cornwall | :42:50. | :42:54. | |
had the Large Black pig, which became extinct, and now Suffolk | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
and East Anglia in general has got the Large Black, | :43:00. | :43:07. | |
Because of their black hair on the body, we moved over to a white pig, | :43:08. | :43:12. | |
didn't we, so they didn't have the black hair on the crackling. | :43:13. | :43:15. | |
You know, that was not just the Large Black but sort of the Oxford | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
and Sandy and... Gloucestershire Old Spots. Yeah, the Orchard Pig, | :43:21. | :43:23. | |
as they used to call it. Yeah. It's just a fashion, I think, | :43:24. | :43:26. | |
to be truthful, cos... You know, if you swallow a white hair | :43:27. | :43:30. | |
or a black hair, does it really matter? | :43:31. | :43:32. | |
NIGEL LAUGHS Exactly. | :43:33. | :43:33. | |
How come Suffolk's got so many of these great breeds? | :43:34. | :43:36. | |
Well, it's known because it's God's County. | :43:37. | :43:39. | |
That's what they say in Yorkshire and Cornwall. | :43:40. | :43:42. | |
Yeah, but unfortunately, they're mistaken. | :43:43. | :43:44. | |
They're wrong, though. No, Suffolk is definitely God's County. Yeah. | :43:45. | :43:53. | |
But there's one more county breed I must see. | :43:54. | :43:56. | |
It originated from the village of Ixworth | :43:57. | :43:58. | |
and is appropriately named the Ixworth chicken. | :43:59. | :44:03. | |
is dedicated to protecting this county breed. | :44:04. | :44:09. | |
Hi, Katie. Hello, Adam. My word, lovely to meet you. | :44:10. | :44:12. | |
What a fantastic-looking Ixworth. Thank you. | :44:13. | :44:14. | |
He was created by a Reginald Appleyard. | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
He was aiming to create a dual-purpose bird | :44:20. | :44:21. | |
so one bird to do all the jobs that you need a chicken to do. | :44:22. | :44:25. | |
That's the name of a duck, isn't it, so is that another Suffolk breed? | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
Yes, it is. He also created a duck pretty much for meat and eggs | :44:30. | :44:33. | |
so he was aiming again to create that one bird for all purposes. | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
And so was it successful, then, the Ixworth? | :44:38. | :44:40. | |
Well, I think at the time that he was creating it, | :44:41. | :44:42. | |
Although it maintained its popularity in the war years, | :44:43. | :44:48. | |
after the war, unfortunately, these guys just fell out of favour. | :44:49. | :44:52. | |
So we went for the specialised egg-laying bird | :44:53. | :44:54. | |
and the broiler, the meat-producing chicken... Yeah. | :44:55. | :44:56. | |
..and these dual-purpose birds were no longer needed? | :44:57. | :44:59. | |
they nearly dropped off the face of the earth, really, | :45:00. | :45:04. | |
and, without some really loyal breeders, | :45:05. | :45:07. | |
So I make that six Suffolk county breeds. That's pretty impressive. | :45:08. | :45:13. | |
I don't think many counties can claim that. | :45:14. | :45:15. | |
No, they can't, and that's why I'm quite proud to be Suffolk | :45:16. | :45:18. | |
and have all these wonderful breeds. Well done, you. | :45:19. | :45:20. | |
Thanks for letting me visit. All the best. Bye-bye. Bye. | :45:21. | :45:29. | |
England's spectacular north-east coast, where sheer limestone cliffs | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
plunge into the steely waters of the North Sea. | :45:35. | :45:38. | |
Six miles south of Sunderland in County Durham | :45:39. | :45:41. | |
lies the small coastal town of Seaham. | :45:42. | :45:49. | |
These days it's hard to imagine that Seaham's beaches were once black | :45:50. | :45:53. | |
with the slag and slurry of colliery waste. | :45:54. | :46:00. | |
A century's worth of spoil from the area's coal mines had taken its toll | :46:01. | :46:05. | |
When the last mine closed in 1992, the clean-up began, | :46:06. | :46:12. | |
and now no trace of coal waste remains. | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
There's one legacy of Seaham's industrial past that's become | :46:18. | :46:20. | |
highly prized, and it's been washing up on the beaches here | :46:21. | :46:24. | |
A true treasure. Jewels borne on the tide. | :46:25. | :46:35. | |
Glass that's been sculpted and smoothed by the restless sea. | :46:36. | :46:39. | |
Little fragments are found on beaches all over the world, | :46:40. | :46:42. | |
but Seaham is one of the very best places to find it. | :46:43. | :46:46. | |
It's all thanks to the town's Victorian past. | :46:47. | :46:53. | |
producing 20,000 bottles a day at its peak. | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
Any broken glass was just dumped into the sea | :46:58. | :47:00. | |
to be washed up a century later as sea glass. | :47:01. | :47:07. | |
but people come from all over the world to look for it, | :47:08. | :47:13. | |
and today I'm going to join in with the treasure hunt. | :47:14. | :47:20. | |
'Sea glass has helped one man change his life completely. | :47:21. | :47:23. | |
'Gavin Hardy is a lifelong collector | :47:24. | :47:26. | |
'who's turned his passion into a profitable jewellery business.' | :47:27. | :47:29. | |
You're finding some already, I see. Yeah. | :47:30. | :47:35. | |
When's the best time of year to be looking | :47:36. | :47:36. | |
Probably now is the best time to look, | :47:37. | :47:40. | |
when the tides are strong and the wind's strong as well. | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
I was made redundant from a job a couple of years ago. | :47:45. | :47:48. | |
obviously just kind of coming down and looking for glass. | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
What was the appeal? What makes you keep coming back? | :47:54. | :47:57. | |
I think the excitement of finding a different piece. There's one. | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
I think kind of the thrill of finding different pieces like this, | :48:02. | :48:08. | |
something that we can actually use in our jewellery | :48:09. | :48:11. | |
So pieces like that for you are the real sort of collector's items? | :48:12. | :48:17. | |
The colourful stuff that isn't the green and the whites? Yeah. Ah. | :48:18. | :48:21. | |
Those are the pieces that are most desirable. | :48:22. | :48:23. | |
Shall we split up and then come back together and share treasures, | :48:24. | :48:26. | |
It is incredibly addictive, this business. | :48:27. | :48:48. | |
'We're not the only ones beachcombing today.' | :48:49. | :48:52. | |
Hiya. Hi. I want to have a look at your treasures, | :48:53. | :48:55. | |
What have you got? That's a different one there. | :48:56. | :48:59. | |
Yeah, it's just like bits of wire, like safety glass. | :49:00. | :49:02. | |
What do you do with it when you take it home? | :49:03. | :49:04. | |
We've just got, like, a jar. My daughter likes to collect it. | :49:05. | :49:08. | |
If you can get a piece with colour in... It's rare to find those. | :49:09. | :49:10. | |
Proper treasure. Yeah, indeed. Well, I'll leave you do it. | :49:11. | :49:13. | |
Thank you. Hope you find some more interesting pieces. See you later. | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
'Well, I'm happy with my finds, but how's Gavin got on?' | :49:19. | :49:22. | |
A few nice pieces. Ooh, very blue in tone. | :49:23. | :49:27. | |
These are my best bits of the morning. | :49:28. | :49:29. | |
I've got a two-tone green there... That's nice. | :49:30. | :49:31. | |
..and I've got these two blue shark's teeth there, look. | :49:32. | :49:33. | |
Yeah, those are the pieces that people are after. | :49:34. | :49:35. | |
The brighter coloured ones are the best ones to find. | :49:36. | :49:38. | |
It's quite a good haul. Is there something we could do with these? | :49:39. | :49:41. | |
Yeah, I think we could make a few pieces. Excellent. | :49:42. | :49:43. | |
Shall we go back to the workshop? Yeah, let's go. All right. | :49:44. | :49:49. | |
'Gavin uses all the coloured gems he can find | :49:50. | :49:52. | |
'He's going to show me how to transform my beach bounty | :49:53. | :50:07. | |
Drill in the other. Hold it quite firm. Press down a bit? | :50:08. | :50:39. | |
That's fine. So I'll give myself a mark for the other side? Yeah. | :50:40. | :51:17. | |
If you're heading out on the hunt for treasure this week, | :51:18. | :51:20. | |
you'll want to know what the weather will be doing. | :51:21. | :51:23. | |
for strong wind and potential travel disruption and impact through the | :51:24. | :52:11. | |
day, wind across land areas could hit 60 mph, further south around 80 | :52:12. | :52:14. | |
mph. High seas and hit 60 mph, further south around 80 | :52:15. | :52:22. | |
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Away from the waves and the strong | :52:23. | :52:27. | |
wind, heavy and thundery showers with sunshine in between. Contrast | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
to the other half of the country, wind picking up across Northern | :52:33. | :52:37. | |
Ireland and England to bring 40 mph gusts and some sunshine at times but | :52:38. | :52:40. | |
the best of Monday gusts and some sunshine at times but | :52:41. | :52:44. | |
Scotland with one or two showers but plenty of dry and sunny weather | :52:45. | :52:49. | |
after a frosty start. Feeling even colder in the south with those | :52:50. | :52:54. | |
potentially damaging winds. Winds will slowly ease down through Monday | :52:55. | :52:59. | |
night into Tuesday so feeding and plenty showers initially but they | :53:00. | :53:02. | |
will be confined across parts of northern England and Wales and | :53:03. | :53:07. | |
south-west Scotland. Temperatures dropping below freezing and | :53:08. | :53:09. | |
widespread frost into Tuesday morning. On Tuesday, the coldest air | :53:10. | :53:17. | |
behind this weather front will work southwards through the day winning | :53:18. | :53:21. | |
at mix of rain and sleet and hill snow and we could see some | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
wintriness over higher ground. Still some gusty wind along the weather | :53:26. | :53:31. | |
front and touching gale force at times. Sunny for a time across the | :53:32. | :53:36. | |
North as temperatures drop. 5 degrees for many in the afternoon | :53:37. | :53:39. | |
and that colder air will eventually go southwards as it clears the South | :53:40. | :53:46. | |
coast into Wednesday morning. A little ridge of high pressure | :53:47. | :53:50. | |
building infra-red Friday with the odd weather front for the south-west | :53:51. | :53:54. | |
producing cloud and rain and some gusty wind for the North and East of | :53:55. | :53:59. | |
Scotland and north-east England. For many, after a cold and icy start, it | :54:00. | :54:07. | |
should be a dry day. Wednesday into Thursday, low systems push across | :54:08. | :54:12. | |
France and for Thursday it will be largely dry but there will be old | :54:13. | :54:17. | |
weather front 's tangling with the benign conditions producing the odd | :54:18. | :54:20. | |
shower and if you brakes on the cloud and sunshine but overall it | :54:21. | :54:25. | |
generally cool day. Into Friday, the jet stream pushes further north but | :54:26. | :54:30. | |
it is half-hearted, it does not really get to the UK but it pushes | :54:31. | :54:34. | |
blood pressure towards us which does not make inroads far north and will | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
swing southwards and eastwards into the near continent but that means | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
the northern half of the UK, bearing in mind this could change, but to | :54:44. | :54:49. | |
the north it looks like Scotland and Northern Ireland will have cold | :54:50. | :54:52. | |
easterly wind through the day, dryer and brighter conditions and | :54:53. | :54:55. | |
outbreaks of rain further south and always that but Wilder and that | :54:56. | :54:57. | |
process both Today we've been round | :54:58. | :55:10. | |
and about in Tyne and Wear. Whilst Ellie has been | :55:11. | :55:14. | |
exploring the coastline, I've been on North Tyneside taking a | :55:15. | :55:18. | |
look at the Rising Sun Country Park, a former coal mine that's been | :55:19. | :55:22. | |
transformed into a green haven At the edge of the park | :55:23. | :55:26. | |
sits a mixed farm and it takes a special kind of | :55:27. | :55:37. | |
person to make a go of farming Now, then, Matt. How we doing, Matt? | :55:38. | :55:46. | |
Good to see you. Nice to see you. And you too. Everything all right? | :55:47. | :55:49. | |
Yeah, fine, yeah. Good lad. 'was just 22 | :55:50. | :55:52. | |
when he took on this challenge.' So where did this passion of yours | :55:53. | :55:59. | |
come from, cos you're not from a farming | :56:00. | :56:02. | |
family, are you, Matt? No, I'm not. I'm not quite sure, | :56:03. | :56:05. | |
to be honest, Matt. When did you first ever | :56:06. | :56:07. | |
experience a farm? First time I did a bit of shooting | :56:08. | :56:11. | |
with my grandfather, which I thoroughly enjoyed | :56:12. | :56:14. | |
and then got quite into that and realised the countryside was | :56:15. | :56:16. | |
the place I wanted to be in. It was a very enjoyable job from | :56:17. | :56:20. | |
what I could see from the outside, so I decided I'd go and get some | :56:21. | :56:23. | |
experience, so that's what I did. 'It's taken a lot of hard work, | :56:24. | :56:28. | |
but, in just two years, 'Matt has started turning | :56:29. | :56:31. | |
a profit from farming It looks like you're producing some | :56:32. | :56:34. | |
wonderful stock, it really does. What is it like to farm, | :56:35. | :56:41. | |
in general, this landscape? The whole site's 400 acres in the | :56:42. | :56:44. | |
middle of Newcastle effectively, so it hasn't been put back | :56:45. | :56:49. | |
the best it could have been, so it is a lot wetter, | :56:50. | :56:55. | |
a lot muddier. We've just got to be | :56:56. | :56:58. | |
a lot more careful. I think we have | :56:59. | :57:00. | |
a lower stocking weight, and also we're on the urban fringe, | :57:01. | :57:02. | |
so it's great to have so many people come on to the farm, | :57:03. | :57:05. | |
as long as they use it responsibly. 'The farm does a lot | :57:06. | :57:09. | |
for the local community, 'giving adults with learning | :57:10. | :57:12. | |
disabilities and college students 'the chance to learn | :57:13. | :57:15. | |
more about farming, 'and a bit of extra help | :57:16. | :57:17. | |
always comes in handy.' Right, | :57:18. | :57:21. | |
so you don't have a sheepdog, but you've got some college | :57:22. | :57:22. | |
students over here? Yeah. Our sole purpose to be here | :57:23. | :57:25. | |
is for the community, to provide an outlet | :57:26. | :57:34. | |
for people to come... Yeah. ..enjoy the environment, | :57:35. | :57:37. | |
enjoy farming and food. Yeah, we're building | :57:38. | :57:40. | |
the stock numbers up. And the flock of sheep we're just | :57:41. | :57:43. | |
putting into the polytunnel here now then, they're going to come in | :57:44. | :57:46. | |
in preparation for lambing? We'll give them a little bit of feed | :57:47. | :57:49. | |
while they're in, and, hopefully, we should be lambing | :57:50. | :57:54. | |
the first batch 1st April. Let's hope we can get them in | :57:55. | :57:57. | |
first time. That's when all the college students | :57:58. | :58:00. | |
come in handy. Yeah, hopefully. Come on, get the arms waving. | :58:01. | :58:03. | |
Get the old arms waving. There we are, Matt. Too easy, that. | :58:04. | :58:09. | |
Yeah, something like that. I'll shut this door, | :58:10. | :58:19. | |
keep the students out. Well, that's all we've got time for | :58:20. | :58:22. | |
from Tyne and Wear. Next week we're going to be | :58:23. | :58:29. | |
in Norfolk, where I'll be with the next generation of gamekeepers | :58:30. | :58:31. | |
as they're put through their paces. And I'll be hoping to catch | :58:32. | :58:35. | |
a glimpse of one of our most spectacular and faithful birds, | :58:36. | :58:37. | |
so I hope you can join us then. There's something I have to do, | :58:38. | :59:11. | |
something terrible. | :59:12. | :59:15. |