Devon Secret Britain

We live in a country with some of the most diverse

and beautiful landscapes in the world.

So diverse, very few of us know every nook and cranny.

And so beautiful it'd be a crime to miss any of them.

The British Isles are full of secrets and surprises

just waiting to be discovered.

-CHRIS GROANS

-Good, Chris, good.

-Thank you!

Wow! Oh, my God!

Out of nowhere they came!

It's easy to think Britain is a crowded place,

but with more than 60 million acres out there,

there's still plenty of the UK for us to discover and enjoy.

SHE LAUGHS

The power of the elements really belittles you!

In this series, we're going to escape the crowds

and get off the beaten track.

We're on the hunt for the unexpected...

Did you see it?

-There we go!

-Woohoo!

..the breathtaking..

Oh! It's freezing!

..the hidden...

I think I've found it!

Look at the size of this place.

This is the place we call home.

This is our secret Britain.

The clear blue waters of the English Riviera.

A mysterious moor,

once inhabited by people known as "deep-valley dwellers".

And wild, dramatic granite cliffs.

This is the only county in England with two separate coastlines.

I'm in one of the most important naval bases anywhere in the UK

and the biggest in Western Europe.

This is Devon.

From holding off Viking raiders

to seeing off the Spanish Armada,

Devon has a long naval history.

It's from here in Plymouth that our warships sailed

when Britannia ruled the waves.

In our quest to uncover Devon's secrets,

we'll be travelling from the south coast, all the way across

the wild expanse of Dartmoor,

to the craggy and treacherous north coast.

And so our journey begins here in Plymouth.

It was from here in 1577 that Devon's greatest hero,

the explorer Sir Francis Drake, set off to circumnavigate the globe.

When he returned, he was made governor of a small island

that's just a stone's throw from the mainland.

It may have been little, but it was of huge strategic importance.

Still known as Drake's Island, it's right in the middle

of Plymouth Sound,

and is the site of five centuries of military history.

It's not easy getting onto Drake's Island, and it's been in private

ownership for two decades, so I'm really lucky to get to explore it.

Drake's Island covers just six-and-a-half acres.

Yet in the days when the greatest threat of invasion

was from the sea, it was critical for the defence of the realm.

Without it, Plymouth harbour would have been dangerously exposed.

Welcome.

Chris Bourne quite literally holds the keys to the island.

Wow! This place has got a lot to tell us, hasn't it?

Oh, it has indeed!

He's the estate manager,

and knows this place like the back of his hand.

-You know, I think these are sort of, like, 1880.

-Pretty old.

But God knows how on earth they got them up here. I'll never know.

And it's shabby-chic, really.

LAUGHING: Is that the look you're going for?

-We're working for, yeah, very nice.

-Amazing.

Yeah.

'The ambition is to develop the island and build a luxury hotel.

'So this could be a last chance to see

'what remains of the island's rich history.

'It's an overgrown mishmash of abandoned

'military buildings, old cannons and underground tunnels.

'But one feature that really stands out

'is the late-19th-century horseshoe-shaped building

'which wraps itself round the head of the island.'

Wow! What's all this?

Well, welcome to the casemates.

These are located on the south-east of the island.

We have 20 gun placements here,

and behind, we have the ammunition stores.

The island has a myriad of underground tunnels,

and the ammunition was brought through here, through those tunnels,

and stored in here for the guns directly in front of you.

You could play hide-and-seek for days in here, couldn't you?

-Yeah, you can get lost quite easily, that's for sure.

-Yeah!

-Shall we have a look further on?

-OK.

'I'm glad Chris is here to show me around.

'There's no logic to this place.

'He's promised me a trip back in time and underground,

'to a part of the island built during the Napoleonic Wars.'

-Whoo! Down the rabbit hole.

-Yes. Mysterious.

-A secret world down here.

-It really is.

-Ooh, crumbs! It goes down a long way!

-I know. All the way.

Welcome to the underworld.

-What an entrance!

-I know. It's somewhat menacing.

It is, a bit.

I'm sure I know where I'm going.

Yeah, I trust you. HE LAUGHS

-I bet there's no phone signal.

-It's all right, I've got the torch. We're OK.

There's about a kilometre of this.

-Is there?

-Yeah. It goes... It goes...

Some go that way, some go this way, and there's huge underground stores

where they obviously put all of the ammunition.

'These tunnels were built in the early 1800s.

'They're part of a subterranean network that runs between

'all the buildings on the island,

'making it possible to move ammunition and men

'safely between the gun placements.'

And this is an ammunition store,

the main ammunition store for the island.

This could be an art installation, couldn't it, this stretcher?

-It could indeed.

-Really spooky.

D'you know what's quite strange?

Cos they're not caves, they're not mines,

they're clearly human places, it asks so many questions -

what were they doing, what was it like? All of that.

Yeah. This... How much time and effort it must have taken to...

to create these tunnels in the first place.

Yeah.

-The secrets of these walls, eh?

-Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

-That is quite long enough in here.

-Oh, OK. Let's get out of here.

-Yeah, I'd rather like to get out.

-I think I know the way.

No matter how long I spend on Drake's Island,

I'm not sure I'd ever uncover all its secrets.

What is clear, though, is how critical it was

to the protection of our shores in perilous times.

Drake's Island is the land that time forgot,

and I must say, I feel so lucky to have had a chance to look round it,

and this is just the beginning.

We don't have to go far to discover more of Devon's secrets.

Just across the bay is Plymouth Hoe,

one of Devon's top tourist attractions.

SEAGULLS CRY

It's an area rich in history, seaside fun and cream teas.

Cream on first, of course.

But in the past,

it was the first port of call for some very different visitors.

It looks pretty now, but at the beginning of the 19th century

the waters around here

were full of prison hulks, packed with French prisoners of war.

Cream teas were definitely not on the menu for those guys.

Back then, Britain was at war with Napoleon's France.

As the war rumbled on, more and more French POWs

were sent to floating prison ships just off Plymouth.

Eventually, conditions on the ships got so bad

that plans had to be drawn up for a prison,

not on the coast, but high up on the moors.

The prison was finished in 1809, and to get to their new home

the French POWs had to walk.

Dartmoor is the largest open space in southern England.

Its highest point is over 2,000ft above sea level.

For the prisoners,

most of the 17-mile walk to the new prison in Princetown was uphill.

Even on a beautiful day like this, this is pretty tough going,

and I've got walking boots on.

Most of the prisoners would have been barefoot.

The original POW prison on Dartmoor

was built by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt.

He was a close friend of the Prince Regent -

so close, he named Princetown after him.

The land Tyrwhitt owned on Dartmoor

wasn't much good for farming,

but what he DID have was space and granite.

The prison was the perfect opportunity to capitalise on both.

This is the old prison quarry.

I've been told the granite from here was used to build the prison.

Once the prisoners were here, those who could worked in the quarry.

It's eerie down here and it's cold.

Can you imagine what it must have been like to be a prisoner,

hundreds of miles away from home, to end up here, working in a quarry?

Not nice.

Alain Sibiril is following in the footsteps

of his 19th-century countrymen.

But unlike them, this Frenchman has chosen to live in the area.

He is the French Consul in Plymouth.

We're meeting in a place which has a special resonance for Alain.

Well, this is the beautiful church

of St Michael and All Angels Church in Princetown,

which was built partially by the French prisoners of war in 1812.

It is probably the only church in England which has been built

by prisoners of war.

The French, in 1812...

'Most people walk by St Michael's and All Angels Church in Princetown

'and have no idea of its unique history.'

I can't imagine what it must have been like for these prisoners

to find themselves in such a remote place.

This is a letter.

It was written by a young... we would call a novice in French,

but we would probably say that it's a midshipman in English.

It's dated 1 January 1814

and this young man is called Jean Antoine Grande.

His family lived in Grasse in the south of France

on the Mediterranean.

And as you can see, he writes here...

"Your son, Jean Antoine Grande,

"novice on board the vessel Rivoli,

"prisoner of war at Dartmoor Prison, England."

England.

Does the young novice say anything about the conditions

that they were under and facing whilst they were here?

Yes, h-h-he does.

You know, for instance, he says that...

as far as his health is concerned, he said it's rather good.

But being far away from his family causes him a lot of chagrin,

you know, a lot of grief, a lot of unhappiness.

And...

he...he hopes that his family is well

and he's hoping that very soon his chains will be broken.

-That he'll be released.

-He'll be... He'll be released.

Yeah, of course, at that time - 1 January -

he didn't know that he would be released just a few months after.

I have read it a number of occasions and every time I read it,

I'm moved, each time I read it.

French prisoners of war were held on Dartmoor for six years

until the war with France came to an end.

At its peak, 6,000 prisoners of war were held here.

1,200 of them died before the Napoleonic Wars were over.

I like to think that this granite church on these windswept moors

is a lasting tribute to them.

-SOLDIER YELLS:

-Rapid fire!

-GUNFIRE

The French POWs are long gone,

but you can still find soldiers on the moor,

like these members of the British Armed Forces.

SOLDIERS SHOUT

What you might not know about Dartmoor

is how crucial it is for the defence of the realm.

So why is this beautiful landscape

so important to the British military?

Well, there's only one way of finding out

and that is to join in and get stuck in.

These boys are the best of the best.

They've got all the equipment, they've got helmets

and they have guns.

I've got a woolly hat and some waterproofs.

These soldiers are on a 72-hour training exercise

and they spent last night sleeping out on the moor.

Dartmoor is beautiful, but it's also an austere landscape

and this is why it's the perfect place for military training.

There are huge areas that are almost featureless, so navigation -

so vital in many hostile environments - is tough.

-SOLDIER:

-Down the right now!

And as in any combat zone,

to survive, you need to be completely self-sufficient.

Right lads, OK.

What we're doing is removing these two ammo tins from here

to White Tor, which we're...

'Lieutenant Oli Sharland is the Troop Commander.'

When your arm's tired, swap arms.

When both arms get tired, then rotate in from Delta to Charlie.

Happy? OK.

Can I just say, thank you for letting me be part of this.

Was it a tough night last night?

Aye, been in worse, like, but, yeah, it's quite cheeky.

My room in the hotel last night was a little bit hot

and I didn't sleep that well, and the breakfast, well...

You know, the latte that I had just wasn't strong enough.

So, bear with me.

You can burn that off when you carry this...

-LAUGHTER

-When you say helping, along with us.

Yeah.

-SOLDIER:

-Cheers, mate.

Oh, my word! How heavy is this?

Between about... It's about 45 kilos.

You... You just tell me when you get...

Just tell me when you get tired and I'll...I'll help out, yeah?

'With a 7st load on their backs,

'by the time the soldiers finish their exercise

'they'll have covered 20 miles.'

Who's got the short straw first?

OK.

You've been out here for 36 hours?

Normally we do it between 36 and 46 hours

-because the cannon patrol is 40-46 hours.

-Yeah.

I've just been having a chat with them

and they say that THIS is the toughest test.

All the wind,

the wet overnight, and now they go walking,

and I do feel very guilty,

cos I'm having really good fun. This is beautiful!

Absolutely beautiful.

Dartmoor might have fabulous scenery,

but it also has a reputation for...

changeable weather.

-THUNDER RUMBLES

-Presumably another reason

why it's good for military training.

I mean, who else would come out for a walk in this kind of weather?

And you can walk for absolutely miles and see nothing -

and I mean nothing - and no-one.

But every now and again you see something really unusual.

SHEEP BLEAT

'Someone who holds the key to another military secret up here

'is Lieutenant Colonel Tony Clarke.

'Now, he was in charge of military training in the South West

'before he retired.

'But he still loves to spend time wandering the moor...'

Oh, it's gorgeous...for Dartmoor.

-Dartmoor, lovely weather.

-Yeah.

'..and keeping up-to-date with what's going on on his old patch.'

If they can survive on Dartmoor, they can survive anywhere.

'I'm hoping that whatever the Colonel has in store,

'it's worth coming out in this weather for.'

Ah... Oh!

There you are, look, a railway.

Did you expect to find a railway on Dartmoor?

No, what is it, a fun railway? Or a mine? Am I close?

-That's what it looks like.

-Yeah, but you're wrong.

It's one of five railways on Dartmoor -

run by the military in years gone by -

to move targets representing tanks.

Absolutely necessary for the infantry anti-tank gunners

to knock out those tanks that were trying to kill them.

And we'll have a look at one, cos it lives down there in that shed.

-There's a tank in there?

-No, not a tank,

just a trolley on which the cut-out of the tank will be.

-CHRIS WHEEZES

-Oh, right, OK.

And it goes, what, around in a circle? And then...

-A circle at this end...

-Yeah.

A long straight, where they fired at it...

-Yeah.

-..and then another circle at the far end.

And it continued like that until all the rounds were expended.

I've got to say, Tony, I'm a bit disappointed.

-I thought it was going to be a fun ride, for me. I thought it was going to go up and down...

-It can be.

..on a little trip, you and me.

What we can do is I'll put you on top of it and give you a push.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

Oh, at least I'm going to have some fun on a day like today.

-I won't be shot at, though, will I?

-No, no, no, no.

-Those boys have gone?

-As long as you behave.

Yeah!

'If I'd stumbled across this shed on my own,

'I'd never have guessed what's locked inside it.

'But thanks to Tony, I'm getting a peek at a curious relic

'from our military past.'

Right, here we go. Here we go.

Right, let's get it outside where we can see.

All right. It's not pretty, is it?

-BOTH GROAN

-Hey-aah!

It is. It depends on what you... what you like.

-STRAINING:

-Mind the door!

-Here we are.

-That's it, we've got it.

-CHRIS CHUCKLES

-Go on!

I'm coming! Come on, let's get him out.

-BOTH GROAN

-Hey-aah!

-Aah!

-Come on. Come on, then.

-CHRIS GROANS

Ah! Come on.

-There she is.

-There we go.

-So...

-Look at that. There you are.

Right.

-So there's an engine in there, is there?

-1942...

and it's provided invaluable training to soldier after soldier

using the 120mm anti-tank weapon.

So you say 1942, so this would have been used for training soldiers

-during the Second World War?

-Absolutely.

And it's just a vehicle engine inside here,

inside this armour plate - look.

So, come on, let's see the workings of this.

-Here you are. If you lift that bit up.

-Is this the engine in the back?

That's it. You can see the engine.

-Just turn that one over.

-OK.

-Out the way, mind the... That's it, good.

-So, petrol?

It's petrol, yeah. See the spark plugs?

And just turn that up there. Look, there's the engine there.

-Beautiful.

-Two-cylinder.

But look at the machinery in there, it's incredible.

I assume that people just didn't sit on it and drive it?

-No, not unless they were totally stupid.

-Yeah.

High explosive and human beings - not a good mixture.

But it was all automatic.

The accelerator was triggered

when it went over a bit of metal that raised it up.

The points were changed automatically,

and even stopping was the same.

Or you waited until it ran out of fuel.

And it would just go round and round and round...

Round and round

and fired at when it was going through from both directions.

This is a lovely little secret, it really is.

I mean, as I said, I quite literally tripped over this little secret.

Shall we put this engine back?

-Yeah. Careful of your fingers.

-I will.

-I notice you left me to do it.

-I'm using the handle!

You see, that's mil...

That's military training, that's military training for you!

-Right.

-There we are.

-Right. And here...

-This back in there.

-Right, on you go.

-Really?

-Yes! Come on, come on.

-Come on, then, sunshine. Away you go.

Right. Have we got anybody else to help us, or is it just you and me?

-What's your rank? What's your rank?

-A colonel.

Colonel. I'm going to be pulled around by the Colonel.

-What is another name for a colonel?

-I don't know.

A nut.

-LAUGHS:

-Very good!

-Here we go! Ahh, heave!

-Hey, I'm moving it!

-And very good.

-Can you just get the whip out a bit?

-Yeah, exactly.

-GROANS:

-Hey-ahh! Come on!

'Who would have guessed that this old piece of railway track

'has trained the best of British?'

For some Dartmoor enthusiasts,

hitching a lift is the last thing they want.

This National Park is the only place in England

where you're legally allowed

to go wild camping.

This means you can pitch your tent

almost anywhere on the moor,

taking everything you need to survive on your back.

Mike Nendick has camped

in some of the most spectacular places in the world,

but he always comes back to the 400 square miles

of outstanding natural beauty that is Dartmoor.

I never cease to be inspired by it, amazed by it.

The landscape changes every day, the colours change through the seasons.

Dartmoor gets in your blood, I think.

One of the great things about Dartmoor, for me,

is being able to navigate through it.

It's not just about looking at a map and seeing,

"There's point A, there's point B,"

it's about reading the landscape as well.

Following streams, tracks...

looking at the contours of the hillside.

It's a way of actually moving through the landscape,

which human beings have been doing

for thousands and thousands of years.

You can see this area around here is really wet.

Pick a piece...

You can see underneath it's... it's very brown

and the top bit's vivid green.

This is sphagnum moss. Sphagnum moss is a bog plant.

When it dies back, the dead material sinks down

and over many, many years, builds up, and that's what creates a bog.

During the First World War,

the people of Dartmoor gathered this material and dried it out.

Because it's so absorbent and it has slightly antiseptic qualities,

it was used as battlefield dressings and sent to the Western Front.

So, it's a really fascinating plant

and something to look out for when you're walking across the moor.

There are so many things that you can see

when you come out onto Dartmoor.

It's... It's known as a palimpsest, which means you can...

you can see one layer of human history

superimposed on top of another.

There are many stone crosses on Dartmoor,

but this is believed to be the oldest.

It's called Siward's Cross.

If you look on this side,

you can see engraved in the stone "Bocland".

That's possibly an old version of the word "Buckland".

There is possibly another meaning, however.

It could mean "Book-land", a reference to the Bible.

Not quite so clear, but engraved on this side is the word "Siward".

Now, Siward was mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles

and he was known to have owned land in the Tavistock area -

which lies on this side of the cross - before the Norman Conquest.

Well, the sun's beginning to set and I'm just on me way up the hill.

It's, um...

It's one of my favourite places to camp on the moor.

It's a bit of a climb to get there, but well worth it when you do

because when you pitch your tent just on the other side of the hill,

you've got the whole of the north of Dartmoor set out before you.

Fantastic views...

No sign of human habitation

and a great place to stay on a night like this.

For me, the attraction of wild camping is actually

coming out onto Dartmoor and experiencing the landscape I love,

listening to the sounds of the night.

No trappings of the modern world other than your tent

and your equipment with you.

And just having a peaceful night's sleep,

especially on a marvellous moonlit night,

away from it all, just listening to the wind blowing through the grass.

WIND HOWLS

BIRDS TWITTER

It is early.

But thankfully, I'm a morning person, and I've been promised that

first light on the moor is not to be missed,

especially if I want to experience Dartmoor at its mystical best.

Dartmoor is rich with prehistoric monuments.

There are mysterious standing stones,

stone rows and 13 stone circles.

It would be easy to assume that every inch of Dartmoor

had been meticulously examined by archaeologists,

but astonishingly, the moor is still revealing more secrets.

I've seen a few stone circles in my time

and I just love all the mystery that surrounds them.

They're usually found in places like this with stunning views,

which I think, for me, makes it even more special.

It was at Sittaford Tor

on north-western Dartmoor nine years ago

that an amazing discovery was made.

The first new stone circle to be found in more than 100 years

was unearthed by Alan Endacott.

Alan searches for stones like others hunt down hidden treasure.

He's often joined on his explorations

by Dartmoor National Park archaeologist Lee Bray.

-It's pretty squelchy up here.

-Yeah!

You need good boots.

-Going to have to jump this one.

-Yeah.

There we go.

'In 2007, a fire swept across this part of the moor.

'And with the earth laid bare, Alan made his exciting discovery.'

I was sort of working systematically along the ridge,

-I came back up the hill and...

-Yeah.

-..saw that stone there sticking up.

-Oh, right, that was your first one.

-So that was the first clue.

-Mm!

And then, er, I noticed a couple of others

where the peat had been burnt back by the fire

and then I went round and sort of started poking around

beneath the surface to see if I could find further ones...

And I think I found about 20 stones in total on that day.

After a while, I realised, yeah, they were all evenly spaced

and on the same arc - it had to be a circle.

Lee, what's the thinking behind this stone circle here?

Erm, well, at the moment it's got a number of unusual features,

er, we're not too sure about.

-One of them, obviously, is all the stones are lying flat...

-Mm.

..which we don't see on Dartmoor

and that leads into why this stone circle is so special.

Er, it's untouched, it's pristine since prehistory.

Lee has done radiocarbon testing on samples taken from under the stones.

The results show that this stone circle is at least

4,000 years old.

But for Alan the stone circle's existence is proof of a theory

he's been working on since he was a boy.

This has been years in the making for you, then.

It had been, really, because I'd... well, way back into my childhood

I'd been trying to make sense of all these monuments

and I'd been predicting there'd be a circle in this vicinity.

But with the fire, it was a golden opportunity to go round

and see if I could, you know, prove the point, so...

How did you realise that it wasn't just a few stones,

but it was a whole circle?

You know, looking across at a flat,

-you don't really get any idea of the spectacle, but...

-No.

..I've tried a number of ways over the years to get aerial photographs.

I think the first attempt was carrying a stepladder out here,

-which was not...not...

-ELLIE LAUGHS

Probably got some strange looks as well!

Then I tried a kite, but believe it or not,

the day I tried flying my kite there was no wind,

which is highly unusual for Dartmoor.

So, um... I then tried a helium balloon,

-a giant helium balloon, and...

-Wow.

..it was fine, it carried the camera no problem at all,

it just kept spinning around and around, so that was...that was...

-LAUGHTER

-And then burst, embarrassingly!

Oh, no! You're like the zany professor, trying all these different techniques!

Finally, Alan got hold of a drone

and could see his discovery from the air.

Today, the moor is reclaiming the stones.

But from Alan's footage after the fire,

you can clearly see the circle.

Well, there's no doubting the beauty of those stone circles

and I suppose it's a way of man

responding to the incredible landscape around him,

but I've got to tell you something, nature does a pretty good job, too.

There are some wonderful formations in this area

and that, too, fuels our imagination.

Dartmoor, and the surrounding area,

is home to the largest single body of granite in Britain.

Look, I don't want to tempt fate, but it looks as if it's drying up.

-I know, it does. Thank goodness.

-CHRIS CHUCKLES

It's only torrential...

'Pat Read has spent her life wandering the moors,

'researching the myths and legends

'connected to the strange granite formations.'

What is it about this place, Dartmoor?

Oh, it's just a very healing sort of place,

-I find it very therapeutic.

-Yeah.

Um... Come here when your spirits are low -

I think it must be the wide open spaces or something -

and you just feel better.

And the fresh air, and just the sheer beauty of the whole place.

'Pat's taking me to one of her favourite places on Dartmoor

'to see a beautiful rock formation known as the Tolemen Stone.'

-And it's perfectly natural...

-Perfectly natural.

-Not man-made?

-No, it has been worn away with a hole in the middle,

which has been caused by river erosion over many, many years.

The Tolemen means "holed stone".

-BOTH:

-Holed stone.

-I mean, it does look extraordinary, doesn't it?

-It is.

Which, obviously, then begs legend.

-I bet this one's got a good one, hasn't it?

-It certainly has.

They said that if a woman had been unfaithful,

she was told to go and wash in a nearby pool,

then come down here, go through the Tolemen Stone.

Then go back to the stone circle, run round it three times

and then kneel before the stones and ask for forgiveness.

And another legend says, if you go through it and stand in the river,

you will never, ever have rheumatism or arthritis again.

I'm not a woman, I haven't been unfaithful...

-PAT LAUGHS

-So, the only thing I can hope for is lack of rheumatism.

-Other people say it's a form of purification.

-Is it?

Yes. Perhaps you need to be purified.

'Clearly, Pat thinks I do. And who am I to argue?'

So, I've got to go through the... that hole...

Through the hole. Stand in the river.

I've got to have my feet in the river?!

Oh, you've got to get your feet wet.

I-I hadn't planned on that, but I'll give it a go.

-Go on. Good luck.

-PAT LAUGHS

CHRIS GROANS

Be careful! It's slippery.

-GROANS:

-Ahh!

Oh, dear!

-Just the one foot, I think, Pat.

-Absolutely.

Ooh! That's cold!

HE EXHALES

Oh, it's freezing!

Did Pat say how long I should put it under?

Five seconds should be enough.

SHE LAUGHS

While granite underpins most of Devon,

there is one small area which is quite different.

A tiny pocket of limestone caves.

They're home to something so rare in England

that they've been made a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

And we've been sworn to keep the exact location a secret.

Gerald Marangone stumbled across the caves when he was a child.

My name is Gerald.

I was born in this beautiful part of Devon.

I grew up here and I've lived here ever since.

As a child, we explored this area quite a lot.

We came across the cave, really, by accident.

We sort of dared each other who would go in, who wouldn't go in.

We maybe went in a metre or so,

but when it got dark and a little scary, we were straight back out.

Yeah.

I was introduced to caving by a colleague of mine,

basically reliving what I did as a child,

but going a lot further in and exploring the whole cave.

It's reasonably difficult to get in.

Some places you can crawl along on your hands and knees,

but most places it's crawl along on your belly.

The big buzz for me

is going somewhere that's very claustrophobic.

You'll not necessarily want to get stuck,

but it's a challenge to get through it

and know that you can get through it

and come out the other side thinking,

"Yeah, I did that, I managed it."

There's some absolutely cracking formations up in this corner.

Yeah, yeah.

This cave is very secret.

Not a lot of people know it even exists.

There are some very, very pretty formations.

They're quite big aragonite formations that you don't see

in any other caves in Britain.

They're the only formations that... that grow like that.

Very stony.

Yeah, there's loads more up here.

-They are all over, fantastic.

-Yeah.

Aragonite tends to grow... almost grow like a flower head,

but nobody's really sure how they actually form,

whether it's wind in the cave...

It's-It's formed the same as a stalactite,

with calcite dripping out the water.

But nobody's really sure how they... how they tend to twist and turn.

Yeah, there's some behind you in that...bit behind you there.

Up in there.

So unique to have something like this in Devon, eh?

-A strange world, innit?

-Yeah, yeah, it is.

The secret world of caving isn't everyone's idea of fun.

Locals above ground

have some of Dartmoor's better-known residents to deal with.

Hill ponies have been living

on Dartmoor for thousands of years.

Charlotte Faulkner's mission is to keep them here for thousands more.

She thinks the Dartmoor ponies are the secret to keeping the moor

the remarkable place it is.

Dartmoor has been managed for 3,000 years,

with the cattle, the sheep and the ponies together,

and they've created the habitats for all sorts of amazing birds,

animals, butterflies...

I mean, the marsh fritillary butterfly wouldn't be there

without the habitat created by the way the ponies graze.

The marsh fritillary is one of England's fastest-declining

species of butterfly.

Its population has dropped by nearly half since the 1970s.

So you've got to recognise,

anything we do now

will change it for generations to come

and we have got to try and ensure that that's kept.

QUAD BIKE HUMS

Every autumn, all the ponies on Dartmoor are rounded up, or drifted,

to be counted, health-checked and in some cases sold.

Records of the pony drift date back to the 11th century.

Thanks to Charlotte's efforts,

the next generation of drifters are set to keep the tradition alive.

You'll see a lot of children out today

and the reason I invite all the children

is because I need them to learn.

And if they learn this bit, then they will be addicted

and they will help me to continue to conserve the ponies on the moor later on.

It's like a drip-drip effect.

There's a pony right on the brow of the hill over there.

Charlotte's job is to make sure everyone is in the right place

at the right time.

Not an easy task when the whole moor is under a blanket of fog.

(That's probably his cattle.)

I can't see.

It's too foggy.

We'll just have to wait.

QUAD BIKE HUMS

-There they are, look.

-Oh, there's... Oh, yes, I can see them now!

Wow!

Just out of nowhere they came.

-There's another rider.

-Yeah.

Up there, coming in. That'll be my son. That's Thomas.

-Flying across the...

-Yeah.

'Charlotte's 14-year-old son Tom

'has been riding with the drift since he was ten.

'This year, he's joined by his friend Heli.'

So, Tom, how was that?

I just saw the horses come through. Is it fun? It looks...

It's brilliant fun, yeah.

-We got lost in the fog on the moor.

-HELI AND DENISE LAUGH

I was thinking that could be quite challenging,

on a day like this when it was very, very foggy.

We couldn't see anything.

All the horses know where they are more than we do, to be honest.

You've just got to let go of the reins

and they're going to walk in some direction, they'll eventually find a road.

And it's just something that, I guess, is part of the family.

I mean, I was obviously spending time with your mum

and she's been telling me so much, but, you know, the fact that

you guys are out here...

Been doing it from quite a young age

and just all really enjoy it.

But getting the ponies OFF the moor is only half the job.

MAN YELLS AT PONY

PONY WHINNIES

So, Charlotte, what's happening now? What's the next stage of the process?

What we're doing now, as you'll see, the group...

All the ponies that we've brought in are just down here, OK?

And the gentlemen now are all splitting them out

as to who owns what.

Once the ponies are identified,

they're coaxed back to each owner's farm...

PONY NEIGHS LOUDLY

..where they'll be health-checked

before returning to the moor or sold.

-So, I've got my stick in hand.

-Yeah.

What am I going to do with that?

-Well, you sort of knock it on the ground...

-Yeah.

And that should...

That should persuade them to go in the general direction you want.

It'll make you feel braver.

OK, I feel like I've got the power in my hands, anyway.

-You've got the power in your hand.

-BOTH LAUGH

'That's the plan!'

-Oh, so, there's some coming.

-Yeah.

-WOMAN YELLS:

-Right!

-And they're going right.

-So, they're going right.

-Going right!

'But has anyone told the ponies?'

-OK.

-Right!

-So, do we need to...

-And then we follow them on up.

-We follow them up.

-So that they don't want to go back and join the others.

-Yeah.

So, they know that they need to go right?

WOMAN YELLS AT PONIES

MAN AND BOY SHOUT AT PONIES

-Move! MAN:

-Yah!

-Well done, Olly!

-CHARLOTTE CHUCKLES

-Which way?

-Which way, Anne?

-HORSE NEIGHS

-That's it, little fella.

-OK.

It's about 50 miles from the middle of Dartmoor to my next secret,

but it feels a lot further.

Small country roads wind through farmland

and picture-postcard villages...

..until finally we hit the sea again.

This is Devon's spectacular north coast.

Just look at those granite outcrops,

they stretch out from the cliffs into the Atlantic

like giant prehistoric fingers.

The coastline is completely different to the south,

but from here you can really see what Devon is made of.

SEAGULLS CRY

What you might not know, though,

is that buried in the middle of all that granite is a precious metal.

While today, north Devon's coastal towns and villages

are associated with summer tourists, ice cream and fudge,

this wasn't always the case.

This is the stunning, sleepy seaside town of Combe Martin.

It's hard to believe that THIS was once at the centre

of a thriving silver-mining industry.

Over there is a whole series

of hidden tunnels and caves.

The last working mine in Combe Martin closed in 1890,

but for the previous 600 years

it was at the centre of England's silver industry.

The silver extracted from these mines

was crucial to the wealth of England during the Middle Ages.

It paid for those soldiers used in the long war against France.

It was said that the battles of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt

were won in the shafts of Combe Martin.

This secret history of the village might have been lost forever...

..were it not for a group of local enthusiasts who decided

to dig up the village's past...

quite literally.

And what is it about this place, then?

-Well, I just...

-It's different.

-I'm more of an outdoors person.

I can't sit at home, like, and play the Xbox,

I've got to come out and, well... do things like this.

'While the average age of the group is over 50,

'teenagers Sam Boyce and James Found are by far its youngest

'AND most enthusiastic members.'

So, I must admit... I like to get out in the fresh air,

I'm not necessarily that keen on going underground.

-Yeah, it's worth it.

-Is it?

-SAM AND JAMES:

-Yeah.

-CHRIS SIGHS

-What, squeezing through gaps?

There's one squeeze, really, then...

Yeah, but I'm a lot... fatter than you two.

Oh, you'll be fine. There's bigger people have gone down.

CHRIS LAUGHS

'For them, a journey down the mine is exciting.

'For me...not so much!'

Have I got my light on?

Oh, no, if you just look at mine, there's a black button on the side.

-Right.

-So just there. If you just press that one.

-One.

-That's it, yeah. Press it again. Again.

-That's it. Three settings.

-That's the brightest?

-Yeah.

-Yours on? You've got yours on.

-So, you get that.

-That's really bright.

-That should be the brightest.

-I can't see now.

-Sorry about that.

-That's all...

-CHRIS LAUGHS

-In we go?

-Yeah, let's crack on in.

-Come on.

-So, if you just go down there after Sam...

-Yeah.

..and I'll open it up for you.

-Where d'you want me?

-If you just stand just there.

-Just go round there.

-Here?

-Yeah, if you stand just there you can...

-OK.

-..see.

So, I'll just open it up for you...

Oh, my goodness!

So, that's the shaft.

CHRIS LAUGHS

-I can't even see the bottom.

-It's a long way down.

Well, the bottom, at the minute, is 160-ish feet down.

So, that's about the height of the church over there,

as you see, on the other side of the hill.

-Yeah.

-That's 90ft, it's about how far down we're going.

Oh...

-CHRIS INHALES DEEPLY

-Is it worth it?

-It is.

-It is, yeah.

-Definitely.

-It'd better be...

When the mine was closed, it was filled in.

You know, like, when you're rock climbing,

-you don't want to look down?

-Yeah.

-I don't want to look up, it's...

-CHRIS LAUGHS

I don't want to know how deep I'm going.

'The volunteers have dug out over 1,000 tonnes of rubble

'to reveal a network of man-made tunnels, hidden for over a century.'

-I'm going on the next ladder, mate.

-Good.

'To get there, I have to clamber down seven vertical ladders.'

I was rather hoping that was the last ladder.

It's a bit of an awkward one, that one.

OK, you can come on that next one.

It seems to be getting more and more damp.

'Finally, we're at the bottom.

'Time to see just how much the dig has unearthed.'

What we're going to do is crawl through this little hole

and then it'll open up into a larger area.

-I'll do it.

-Just mind your head a bit.

It's quite a tight squeeze, to be honest.

Is it nice and open and comfortable in there?

-Oh, yes.

-It'd better be.

-Come on, big boy.

-I'm coming, Sam.

Come on, then.

-I'm here, I'm up.

-Well done.

-Cheers.

-Right.

We're going to have to squat on these.

I think I'll squat next to my new friend.

-It's a bit tight in here, isn't it?

-CHRIS WHEEZES

It's all right.

Can I just say, what's wrong with a game of golf?

Or a game of tennis?

It's not nearly as exciting, is it?

You come down here every weekend and pretty much something different's happened.

Like, they've got further with the dig, or they've found something else.

What do you know about the history of this mine?

We know... We've got records dating back to the 1200s, like,

so we know that's when it was mining.

Um... Obviously, a lot of the silver that came out...

all the silver in the Crown Jewels comes from Combe Martin.

The Lord Mayor of London has got a cup

that is pure Combe Martin silver as well.

-Is that right?

-Yeah.

What do your mum and dad think about you coming down here?

When I first came down, my mum was like,

"I need to speak to them to see if it's OK...

"Is it safe for them?" First time I did it, she was like,

-"Oh, yeah, it's fine, you can just..."

-Yeah.

She's happy that I do it and not sit at home.

-I just come out, actually do something and achieve something.

-Yeah.

-So, d'you want to follow me up?

-Yeah.

-So, now, if you think this is claustrophobic in here...

-Yeah.

-..imagine it...

-Yeah.

-..if they were smoking.

-Oh, my...

-This way.

-Yeah.

-So, imagine that, if there's smoke and all the smoke fumes.

-Yeah, thanks(!)

-CHRIS LAUGHS

-And it'd be a... It'd be a lot worse, wouldn't it?

-They used to smoke down here?

They used to smoke here, yeah. So they used to have their pipes.

They'd start about this long. They'd snap and get shorter and shorter.

Oh, my goodness. Are you all right there? Oh, what's this?

That's the old cable ladder, how they used to get up and down.

See where we are now, this is the old workings,

-where they used to come in and out.

-Yeah.

So, if you carry on up here, we'll miss out a few ladders.

That goes right up to the surface, does it?

Not right to the surface, up to the ladders sort of stages.

-Goes up to the sixth fathom level.

-Yeah.

-CHRIS CHUCKLES

-But you can see the way that they have just worked this, haven't they?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

I mean, I must admit, I'm coming round to your side,

-it is fascinating.

-Yeah...

'It's a labyrinth down here.'

'The boys have taken me as far as they can,

'but who knows how much further the tunnels go?'

'There are rumours that some of them might stretch halfway to the coast!'

'And with Sam and James's enthusiasm,

'I'm sure they'll get there...

'even if it takes until they're 50.'

SEAGULLS CRY

Devon's two coastlines have made it a place where adventures begin.

Drake left from the south coast to help defend the nation

against the invading Spanish Armada,

and he returned here to Hartland on the north coast.

Drake built the quay here at Hartland to land the treasure

from his travels.

It's been a place of legend ever since.

Hartland was famously a place of shipwrecks and shipwreckers.

Local people would lure ships onto these dangerous rocky waters

and wreck the vessels, then take the loot.

But today's thrill-seekers are less likely to be wreckers than surfers.

Andrew Cotton is a legend amongst surfers.

He grew up on the north coast of Devon,

but like Drake, he's travelled the world in pursuit of adventure,

including waves like this 60-footer in Portugal.

Andrew, Devon born and bred.

What was it that got you into surfing?

Well, if you live in north Devon, I think, you know,

it's such an amazing coastline and loads of nice beaches, and...

it's just a great way to spend the weekend, I suppose.

What are the chances of me getting your secret surf spots out of you?

-HE CHUCKLES

-Ah... Pretty slim.

-You hold them close to your chest, do you?

-Definitely, yeah.

That's why they're secret. But, no, like...

No, surfers are really always protective about, you know, their spots, you know?

I think every surfer in the UK will have their special place, but...

You know, even my best mates don't always tell me

where they're going to surf.

Wow! A secretive world.

'If I'm going to get any information out of Andrew,

'it's going to take some persuasion.'

For me, I spend a lot of time on jet skis and, for me,

that's a good way that I check a lot of spots.

So, we can... We can get the ski out

and we can check a few beaches out and see what you think.

Awesome. Sounds good.

-Shall I get on there now?

-Yes, get on! Let's go!

I've never done this before, you know.

ELLIE GROANS

-Hey!

-We're on.

'Agreeing to take me out on the jet ski is, I think,

'the closest I'm going to get to Andrew's secrets.'

Like that?

-I was just going to say, might get a little bit wet.

-OK.

-But...don't be scared to hold on tight, cos it...

-OK, thanks.

D'you know what I mean, like?

It's like a motorbike, wow! ELLIE LAUGHS

Wow.

ELLIE YELLS

Whoa!

ELLIE LAUGHS I've never known anything like it!

Oh, come on!

'Andrew uses his jet ski to reach the most inaccessible

'and, by their very nature, secret surf spots.'

That is nuts!

So, like, as we were coming round, obviously, this is all Saunton

and then you come around, this is, like...Downend Point.

-Right!

-And this actually gets, like, quite good waves along here.

It has to be low tide, and, like, a certain swell...

-Yeah, it gets quite good.

-Again, it's a bit rocky, though.

-Yeah, but sometimes that makes the best waves.

-Oh, OK.

So, like, points like this are really fun places to surf.

-But it's just...

-Not for the amateurs, I shouldn't think.

No, no. I would say, like, intermediates to advanced, I reckon.

HE LAUGHS

-Is this one of your favourite spots around here?

-Yeah. Definitely, yeah.

'If only I could, it would be amazing to surf one of the spots

'that Andrew has shown me.

'But I have my own secret.'

How many surfers would kill me right now to get a lesson with you?

'I don't even know the front from the back end of a surf board.'

Paddle, paddle, paddle! Good.

'Andrew promises he can get me standing up in one lesson,

'but he does admit it might take a bit more practice

'before I'm ready for one of his secret surf spots.'

Paddle!

Ooh!

-Whoo!

-Whoohoo! Yeah!

Well, what an exhilarating way to end our travels,

which began on a secret island off the south coast,

came all the way across Dartmoor and has ended here,

searching out the best secret surfing spot on the north.

Devon may be a county of two coastlines,

but it's certainly a place of many different faces.

There's more to Devon than cream teas, you know.

Next time we're in Northern Ireland.

That is such a view! Oh! How wonderful!

-You were at Sydney in

-2000. Yes.

This is as big an occasion and you're not treating it as. You need to get focused, woman!

-Oh!

-Oh! Too much! Aah!

And we've got the moon shining above as well.

-And the sun's coming up!

-Yeah, it's getting close.