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The Lake District, this is one
of the most romantically beautiful

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regions in the entire country.

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It's spectacular here.

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At the heart of Cumbria,

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magnificent mountains,
glacial valleys...

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You love it!

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..16 glorious lakes and meres.

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This is England's largest
national park,

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almost a thousand square miles.

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One of the great wonders
of the country.

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Look at this.

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This ancient landscape is seeing
huge changes.

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With millions more Brits
now enjoying the benefits

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of the great outdoors and an influx
of wealthy outsiders...

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That's a car worth as much
as a house.

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..a whole way of life
is under threat.

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I would be better off financially
if I was gone and stacking shelves.

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I'll be meeting the people fighting
to preserve and regenerate

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this unique British landscape.

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Look at this! You're standing on
a raft of sphagnum moss.

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And outside the national park,

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I'll be seeing the sights
in the county around it.

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They want me to be the bad guy.

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Step forward against the door!
Keep your hands up!

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GUNSHOTS

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I'm going to be exploring the county
of Cumbria from its wild coast

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to its soaring peaks and,
of course, its iconic lakes.

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On this first part of my journey,

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I'm starting at the heart
of the Lakes.

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In normal times, it's said around 20
million tourists visit this iconic

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landscape each year to walk,
hike, swim, boat

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and see a bit of wildlife.

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The Lake District is the very
essence of the English countryside.

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It's an idealised landscape,
completely idyllic,

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and a symbol as well, I think,
of our national love of nature.

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But just like everywhere else,

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nature here often
struggles to survive.

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I drove east.

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I'm on my way to meet a woman
who is doing all she can

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to protect one of the most elusive
creatures in this area.

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Fingers crossed, elusive doesn't
mean we won't see it.

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I'm looking for some little friends.

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Are they tricky to spot?
They're quite elusive.

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And they're tiny.

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Julie Bailey is Cumbrian
born and bred.

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For more than a decade,
she's been battling to protect

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one of Britain's
rarer native animals.

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Where's Julie looking?

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Just behind there.

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Just behind the tree.
Yeah. There's one there.

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There is.

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Red squirrels!

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This is the first time
I've ever seen... Look!

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Just running up. The first time
I've ever seen them.

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I'm so used to the slightly
bulkier...

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..almost steroided up
grey squirrels.

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These are so dainty, they just seem
to float almost when they leap.

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Found a lot just here.

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It's such a gorgeous Lake District
scene.

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This is one of the iconic
animals of the region.

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It's one of our iconic national
creatures,

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but it's been wiped out
in so much of the UK.

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Most remaining red squirrels
are in Scotland.

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The population in England
could be as low as 15,000.

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Most Brits say they love nature,

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but it's having a terrible time
on our watch.

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Around a quarter of all our
mammals face extinction,

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along with countless insects,
birds and other creatures.

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Cute as wee buttons, they are.

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I can't spend enough time with them.

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Put some more on here.

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So cute.

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There's three down here now.
Yeah.

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Oh, you're just you're posing
now, aren't you?

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JULIE CHUCKLES

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Is it behind me?
It's behind you.

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What is it that you love about them?

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It was always Squirrel Nutkin,
Beatrix Potter.

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I was, for some reason,
I was hooked, apparently,

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according to my parents as a child.
I was hooked on that one.

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It's a beautiful book
to be hooked on. Oh, absolutely.

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I mean, I'd never actually seen
a real live red squirrel

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until I moved to the cottage
I live in now.

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And for 16 years I only had reds,
until Christmas 2009

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and we had one of the grey ones.

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And it was just, "What on earth's
that in the garden?!"

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And it was a grey squirrel.

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Three weeks later, I was picking
up dead red squirrel carcasses.

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Got them tested

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and they'd all succumbed to
squirrel pox virus disease,

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which is hosted by
the grey squirrels.

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Most of the greys carry
the squirrel pox, don't they? Yeah.

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But they don't succumb to it.
That's right.

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And as soon as a red comes
into contact with one

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of those particular greys,
it's then transmitted

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and then obviously your reds will go
into their dreys at night

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and then it becomes red to red
transmission, and you can very soon

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wipe out a local, very fragile
population of red squirrels.

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I thought, I've got to do something.

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Julie joined and now helps run
a Red Squirrel Action Group

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to try to protect her area's
remaining reds.

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Come on you Reds!

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Julie? Yes. There's quite a lot of
squirrels in this room.

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There's one or two.
There's a few more in here.

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Yep. And this is my work...
Oh, my goodness.

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OK, well, we've got about 20
squirrels, just there.

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Squirrel ironmongery down here.

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Squirrel on the side of the stove.

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Squirrel, squirrel, squirrel.

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Squirrel, squirrel, squirrel,
squirrel.

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Squirrel, squirrel, squirrel,
squirrel, squirrel...

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You get the general gist.

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This is where I work, hence why
I've got a squirrel feeder here.

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Yeah. And the squirrel feeder there.

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So any time a squirrel comes,
I see it.

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We're just going to show you
a picture of what the squirrel pox

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can do to a red squirrel.

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It's quite gory,
but it is the reality.

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Oh, my goodness. It's a horrible way
for them to go. Absolutely awful.

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I mean, they go blind so
they can't forage

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and their mouths get that sore
that they can't eat.

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And that is within two to three
weeks of being somewhere near

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a grey squirrel that has
transmitted it, really.

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It's hard going.

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It's really hard going, to try
and keep the two species apart,

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to prevent not just the virus,
but the competition for food

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and living space and also
tree damage as well.

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The grey squirrel has been a bit
of a hand grenade

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exploding within our woodlands
and countryside, hasn't it?

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They've been terrifically
successful since the 1800s,

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since they were brought here.

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And, you know, it's sad that
we have to keep them apart

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from the red ones, but if we don't,
we'll lose our red ones.

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In England, greys could now
outnumber reds by 100 to one.

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Julie, and many conservationists,
believes one way of protecting

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the reds is by killing the greys.

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These are the pelts
from grey squirrels.

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I already knew how to shoot
because I'm a country girl

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and I've shot all my life
and started trapping and shooting

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the greys from there.

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How many have you got in there?

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I think there's about maybe 30 pelts
in here, which will be enough

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to make a waistcoat at some point.

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There's no point wasting them,
is there? After they've been shot

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what happens to the squirrel?
What do you do with them?

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These go to a local fisherman
because they make fishing flies

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with them, and the meat goes
in the freezer.

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You eat the...
You eat the squirrels? Yes.

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Yes. Yeah.

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What's your favourite recipe
for your squirrels?

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Mine is dead simple.

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It's just cook it for a long, long
time till it falls off the bone

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and then add some porcini mushrooms.

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And Phil likes curry.
Squirrel curry? Yeah.

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Squirrel madras, perfect.

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What did he say?

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He said, "Squirrel madras,
perfect."

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Squirrel, madras.

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Husband Phil shares Julie's
determination to protect the reds.

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So this would be dog-walk time.

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Yes, the wood where we're going,
the rivers like,

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I suppose it's a grey squirrel
highway in a way.

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They never go far from water.

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They follow water all the time.

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The greys? Yes.
Oh, right, OK.

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On a dog walk, you'll take that
shotgun just in case.

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Just in case, yeah.

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So if you see a grey
and it's in the right place,

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you take a shot.

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Yes. Aren't you, Pearl?
Are you ready?

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Come on, then.

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Grey squirrel lovers
might be shocked

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the creatures are targeted like
this, but humane culling

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is legal and even encouraged as part
of attempts to protect the reds.

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Julie's Red Squirrel Group recently
received more than £200,000

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of government funding.
This is the kind of the start

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where there's a few oak trees,

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there's a beech tree down there.

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I've been sitting in the morning,
shooting greys.

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Have you kept a tally of how many
greys you think you've shot?

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It's over a thousand, yeah.

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And I'm just part time.

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Is that making a tangible
difference? Oh, yeah.

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If I don't keep the greys down,

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I'll never get reds back
in this wood.

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Personally, I was always fond
of grey squirrels,

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but I know they can be a pest,

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damaging and sometimes killing
young trees.

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The International Union
for Conservation of Nature even puts

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them in its top 100 of most harmful
invasive species in the world.

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But culling is controversial.

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Some experts think it's futile
and that greys are here to stay.

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Secretly, I'm quite glad
that a squirrel wasn't shot.

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I've got quite a soft spot
for squirrels of whatever colour,

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but I do also recognise, and I do
believe that when humans

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have damaged an ecosystem,

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when we've introduced an
invasive species,

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we probably need to do
something about it

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and they are doing
something very direct,

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whether you like it or not.

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I've shot loads here.

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I mean, at the right time of year,
it's rife with them, like.

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It's not just red squirrels
that need a helping hand in Cumbria.

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Populations of other threatened
and important UK wildlife

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have plummeted by 60%
over the last 50 years.

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The biodiversity of Britain is
threatened by humans

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like never before, even here
in the Lake District.

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I headed to the western side
of the national park,

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to Ennerdale Water.

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It's one of the 16 lakes, meres
and waters in the Lake District.

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And at first glance, the valley
is home to lovely trees and forest.

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That is an astonishing piece of kit.

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I've seen deforestation happening

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around the world, as we lay waste
to thousands of square miles

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of precious forest.

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These tree harvesting machines can
cut and strip a huge tree

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in under a minute.

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Billy, it's Gareth. Can you read?
Over.

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Gareth Browning is the head
forester at Ennerdale.

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Gareth. Hello, Simon.

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Why are you doing this?

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Why are you destroying the lovely
forest of Ennerdale?

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So these are Sitka spruce
that we're cutting down.

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Sitka spruce? Sitka spruce.

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This is a North American tree
and it grows really quick,

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so it's really good for timber.

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But at this end of the valley,
it's very dominant.

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There's no other species really
here,

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and that wouldn't be naturally
how it is.

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So we're having to fell these trees

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to allow us to then plant a more
open, diverse mix of species.

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So this is part of our wilder vision
for Ennerdale.

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For more biodiversity,

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we do need more trees,

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but the right trees.

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We planted Sitka spruce industrially
after the Second World War

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for timber, but it's something
of a desert for wildlife.

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Oh, my God.

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Removing it can be a messy business.

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It is quite an extraordinary sight,
isn't it? Yeah, it is.

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It might look like the destruction
of the forest,

242
00:13:06,220 --> 00:13:09,500
but this is actually one of the
biggest rewilding projects

243
00:13:09,500 --> 00:13:12,100
in the entire country.

244
00:13:12,100 --> 00:13:15,580
And rewilding, of course,
is a recognition that we live

245
00:13:15,580 --> 00:13:20,180
in a country where nature has taking
an absolute hammering over decades

246
00:13:20,180 --> 00:13:22,660
and centuries and perhaps
even thousands of years.

247
00:13:22,660 --> 00:13:26,700
And rewilding is a bit of an attempt
to just put some of that wild back

248
00:13:26,700 --> 00:13:29,780
into our islands and into our lives.

249
00:13:32,060 --> 00:13:33,860
To replace the Sitka Spruce,

250
00:13:33,860 --> 00:13:38,980
Gareth and his team are now planting
half a million new native trees.

251
00:13:38,980 --> 00:13:43,780
They're recreating the sprawling
natural forests and giant old trees

252
00:13:43,780 --> 00:13:47,220
that were here before they were
cleared by humans.

253
00:13:49,180 --> 00:13:52,500
The Wild Ennerdale project also
takes inspiration from the knowledge

254
00:13:52,500 --> 00:13:54,980
that thousands of years
ago, our island was home

255
00:13:54,980 --> 00:13:59,420
to huge grazing animals like wild
cattle and bison.

256
00:13:59,420 --> 00:14:00,420
SHOUTING

257
00:14:02,260 --> 00:14:03,700
SHOUTING

258
00:14:07,380 --> 00:14:10,740
If they hear me, they normally call
back and come and see me.

259
00:14:10,740 --> 00:14:11,700
Come on.

260
00:14:11,700 --> 00:14:13,020
SHOUTING

261
00:14:14,060 --> 00:14:15,620
MOOING

262
00:14:15,620 --> 00:14:16,780
Come on!

263
00:14:16,780 --> 00:14:17,860
No!

264
00:14:20,380 --> 00:14:21,700
MOOING

265
00:14:22,820 --> 00:14:24,620
These are the black bears of
Ennerdale.

266
00:14:24,620 --> 00:14:26,660
What a sight this is.

267
00:14:26,660 --> 00:14:29,020
Richard Maxwell is a local farmer
helping

268
00:14:29,020 --> 00:14:30,900
with the Ennerdale rewilding.

269
00:14:30,900 --> 00:14:33,580
He got rid of his dainty cows
and bought tougher cattle

270
00:14:33,580 --> 00:14:35,380
who thrive in woodland.

271
00:14:35,380 --> 00:14:37,020
They're a hardy breed.

272
00:14:37,020 --> 00:14:40,580
Galloway cows, originally
from the southwest of Scotland.

273
00:14:40,580 --> 00:14:44,340
They're here 12 months of the year
and they can go anywhere.

274
00:14:44,340 --> 00:14:51,020
Your cattle are replicating the sort
of action of ancient cattle

275
00:14:51,020 --> 00:14:52,500
that existed on these islands

276
00:14:52,500 --> 00:14:55,180
for thousands and thousands of
years.

277
00:14:55,180 --> 00:14:56,820
How do they help?

278
00:14:56,820 --> 00:15:00,380
If you look at the ground, you can
see the disturbance they're causing.

279
00:15:00,380 --> 00:15:03,220
Look, you can see the size
of its foot with my boot, there.

280
00:15:03,220 --> 00:15:05,660
So it's creating a little
pocket, almost.

281
00:15:05,660 --> 00:15:08,780
And that's an area where seeds
can come in contact with,

282
00:15:08,780 --> 00:15:11,740
and it can then once come
in contact with soil

283
00:15:11,740 --> 00:15:13,300
that can start to germinate.

284
00:15:13,300 --> 00:15:15,220
So if seeds are lying here... Yeah.

285
00:15:15,220 --> 00:15:17,820
..they're not coming in contact
with the soil.

286
00:15:17,820 --> 00:15:20,700
But if you get a cow that put
his foot there, then it will push

287
00:15:20,700 --> 00:15:24,340
the soil, push the seed
into the soil

288
00:15:24,340 --> 00:15:26,180
to make contact with the soil.

289
00:15:26,180 --> 00:15:27,180
MOOING

290
00:15:29,220 --> 00:15:33,980
Richard is an example of how farming
can work alongside rewilding.

291
00:15:33,980 --> 00:15:36,100
His Galloway cattle produce
top-notch beef

292
00:15:36,100 --> 00:15:38,100
that he can sell for a tidy sum.

293
00:15:40,420 --> 00:15:43,220
So I think they're taking
us up to see an area

294
00:15:43,220 --> 00:15:45,860
of what they call regenerated
forest.

295
00:15:47,180 --> 00:15:50,100
New, improved change for the better.

296
00:15:53,780 --> 00:15:56,420
Yeah, this is what the... This is
it! ..future hopefully looks like

297
00:15:56,420 --> 00:15:58,140
for the area that we were looking at
earlier.

298
00:15:58,140 --> 00:16:01,900
The environment around is, as nature
works relatively slowly,

299
00:16:01,900 --> 00:16:05,380
but being transformed,
there is grass, there is moss,

300
00:16:05,380 --> 00:16:08,220
there are bushes growing
here that would never have existed.

301
00:16:08,220 --> 00:16:09,860
And it's just more textually rich.

302
00:16:09,860 --> 00:16:13,300
If you look at the landscape,
it's very clumpy and bumpy.

303
00:16:13,300 --> 00:16:15,580
In the past, I've thought
that's a bad thing. But actually,

304
00:16:15,580 --> 00:16:18,180
this is part of what nature wants -
this diverse structure.

305
00:16:18,180 --> 00:16:19,620
And it then might change again.

306
00:16:19,620 --> 00:16:21,620
The cows might not come
up here for a while

307
00:16:21,620 --> 00:16:24,260
cos some other area opens
up and this might then get away.

308
00:16:24,260 --> 00:16:25,500
Or it might not.

309
00:16:25,500 --> 00:16:26,700
It's entirely opportunistic.

310
00:16:26,700 --> 00:16:28,940
It's not entirely in our control.

311
00:16:28,940 --> 00:16:31,140
The chaos is...
You're accepting it.

312
00:16:31,140 --> 00:16:32,300
Yeah.

313
00:16:32,300 --> 00:16:34,380
There's little, probably
Rowan, I think that is.

314
00:16:34,380 --> 00:16:35,980
Little Rowan seedling, there.

315
00:16:38,940 --> 00:16:42,900
This is much closer to their vision
for the future of Ennerdale.

316
00:16:42,900 --> 00:16:48,260
Less of the thick, closed
plantations of Sitka Spruce,

317
00:16:48,260 --> 00:16:51,820
much more of this more open, mixed
woodland.

318
00:16:51,820 --> 00:16:55,260
Less production of timber, perhaps,

319
00:16:55,260 --> 00:16:58,380
but much more production of
wildness.

320
00:17:00,220 --> 00:17:04,940
Natural native forest - Scots Pine
birch, rowan, oak, willow

321
00:17:04,940 --> 00:17:08,580
and juniper supports real
biodiversity, helping

322
00:17:08,580 --> 00:17:10,780
insects, birds, mammals.

323
00:17:12,180 --> 00:17:15,940
Many think the Lake District
needs more of it.

324
00:17:15,940 --> 00:17:19,980
Currently, just 12% of the National
Park is covered by forest.

325
00:17:19,980 --> 00:17:22,340
Even Greater London has 21%.

326
00:17:24,580 --> 00:17:27,820
I carried on up the Ennerdale Valley
towards the high fells.

327
00:17:35,940 --> 00:17:40,500
WHISPERS: Just listen to that - it's
an empty valley.

328
00:17:40,500 --> 00:17:43,060
It feels like we're the only people
here.

329
00:17:43,060 --> 00:17:45,380
In this crazy time, we might
be.

330
00:17:54,260 --> 00:17:55,860
It is spectacular.

331
00:18:06,220 --> 00:18:09,460
And look - see where we're staying.

332
00:18:09,460 --> 00:18:10,980
What a treat!

333
00:18:13,140 --> 00:18:17,060
This is Black Sail Youth Hostel,
a converted shepherd's hut said

334
00:18:17,060 --> 00:18:19,860
to be the most remote hostel
in the country.

335
00:18:22,500 --> 00:18:24,820
Hey!

336
00:18:24,820 --> 00:18:27,140
I'm really looking forward
to this.

337
00:18:27,140 --> 00:18:29,820
This will be me here...with a
view out

338
00:18:29,820 --> 00:18:31,820
in the morning.

339
00:18:31,820 --> 00:18:33,860
This is great.

340
00:18:33,860 --> 00:18:37,740
Six-star accommodation
in a seven-star location,

341
00:18:37,740 --> 00:18:39,700
look at that.

342
00:18:39,700 --> 00:18:41,180
God!

343
00:18:42,820 --> 00:18:45,300
The Lake District
is really going to have quite

344
00:18:45,300 --> 00:18:47,140
a summer.

345
00:18:47,140 --> 00:18:52,180
And we're here now just at the start
of it all. We're some of the first

346
00:18:52,180 --> 00:18:55,060
guests who are allowed out
and coming back.

347
00:18:55,060 --> 00:18:58,420
But many are predicting
that this could quite possibly

348
00:18:58,420 --> 00:19:03,140
be the busiest season for tourism
in the Lake District ever.

349
00:19:05,260 --> 00:19:08,740
When you look at this, you can see
why they come.

350
00:19:11,020 --> 00:19:12,660
LOGS CRACKLE

351
00:19:15,180 --> 00:19:16,780
OWL HOOTS

352
00:19:33,180 --> 00:19:35,780
What an absolutely stunning morning.

353
00:19:41,100 --> 00:19:44,340
It is very stark that up at this end
of the valley,

354
00:19:44,340 --> 00:19:48,500
there really are basically
no trees at all.

355
00:19:48,500 --> 00:19:52,300
And the one creature more than
any other that is held responsible,

356
00:19:52,300 --> 00:19:56,820
that stands accused of keeping
the landscape like this, for better

357
00:19:56,820 --> 00:19:59,780
or worse, are the sheep.

358
00:19:59,780 --> 00:20:04,260
The sheep are such prodigious
nibblers of every little bit

359
00:20:04,260 --> 00:20:07,540
of possible life that comes
up through the grass.

360
00:20:07,540 --> 00:20:10,060
There's even a phrase
that's been coined to describe

361
00:20:10,060 --> 00:20:15,020
how the sheep control and shape
and strip the landscape.

362
00:20:15,020 --> 00:20:17,220
It's said they sheep-wreck it.

363
00:20:20,140 --> 00:20:22,580
Well, that's one strong claim.

364
00:20:22,580 --> 00:20:26,220
Another view recognises
the Lake District has been shaped

365
00:20:26,220 --> 00:20:29,620
by farmers and their livestock
over thousands of years,

366
00:20:29,620 --> 00:20:34,740
but celebrates it as a unique human
landscape created by toil and sweat

367
00:20:34,740 --> 00:20:38,700
and as culturally precious as some
of our great buildings.

368
00:20:38,700 --> 00:20:41,620
Either way, few would claim
this is a natural wilderness.

369
00:20:41,620 --> 00:20:45,460
In many ways, it's an industrial
landscape.

370
00:20:45,460 --> 00:20:48,340
The Lake District may be a
National Park, but it's not owned

371
00:20:48,340 --> 00:20:49,780
by the nation.

372
00:20:49,780 --> 00:20:53,100
It's mostly private landowners
and there are hundreds of farms

373
00:20:53,100 --> 00:20:55,300
and hundreds of thousands of sheep,

374
00:20:55,300 --> 00:20:57,820
who certainly nibble it bare.

375
00:20:57,820 --> 00:21:00,100
I find myself very torn,

376
00:21:00,100 --> 00:21:03,380
because...I like a clipped lawn.

377
00:21:03,380 --> 00:21:04,900
I do.

378
00:21:04,900 --> 00:21:08,580
There is part of me that likes that,
but I now recognise and I think

379
00:21:08,580 --> 00:21:12,300
I've come to realise just
in the last maybe ten years,

380
00:21:12,300 --> 00:21:14,580
that a clipped lawn -

381
00:21:14,580 --> 00:21:16,780
it's not a good thing
for the environment.

382
00:21:16,780 --> 00:21:19,220
It's not a good thing
for Mother Nature.

383
00:21:19,220 --> 00:21:23,660
Mother Nature wants mess
and trees and scrub and life.

384
00:21:25,940 --> 00:21:28,540
I think that's probably
what we need, as well.

385
00:21:31,980 --> 00:21:35,060
In the Lake District, there are now
calls to plant millions of trees

386
00:21:35,060 --> 00:21:37,060
and rewild large areas.

387
00:21:38,700 --> 00:21:41,740
But for some farmers here,
that feels like a direct attack

388
00:21:41,740 --> 00:21:43,980
on their way of life.

389
00:21:43,980 --> 00:21:48,740
I went to see tenant farmers,
David and Gail Thompson.

390
00:21:48,740 --> 00:21:50,260
David? Guilty.

391
00:21:50,260 --> 00:21:52,940
Guilty as charged.
Hello, David, Simon. Hi, Simon.

392
00:21:52,940 --> 00:21:55,340
We've got to do the elbows. Oh!
I know, I know.

393
00:21:55,340 --> 00:21:57,380
Hello, Gail.
I'm Simon. How are you doing?

394
00:21:57,380 --> 00:21:58,940
Hi, Simon. What have you got here?

395
00:21:58,940 --> 00:22:01,140
A tiny one that's just
been dropped.

396
00:22:01,140 --> 00:22:03,900
David says it might not make it,
but his little lips are going.

397
00:22:03,900 --> 00:22:06,340
You've got to try, where there's
life, you've got to try.

398
00:22:06,340 --> 00:22:08,740
There's some proper shaking
going on, isn't there?

399
00:22:08,740 --> 00:22:12,420
He's cold. Don't hold,
don't hold him up for us. He wants
to warm through.

400
00:22:12,420 --> 00:22:15,620
David and Gail's farm is 140 acres.

401
00:22:15,620 --> 00:22:20,540
It's a hill farm, an upland farm,
very different to lowland farming.

402
00:22:20,540 --> 00:22:23,380
What are they getting there?

403
00:22:23,380 --> 00:22:25,260
A little bit of supplement feeding,
this.

404
00:22:25,260 --> 00:22:28,740
These are ewe rolls. Ewe rolls?
Yeah.

405
00:22:28,740 --> 00:22:32,980
Farming on the uplands is much
tougher than at lower altitude.

406
00:22:32,980 --> 00:22:36,220
Local breeds of sheep here,
and perhaps the farmers,

407
00:22:36,220 --> 00:22:39,660
have to be hardy enough
to survive the harsh climate.

408
00:22:39,660 --> 00:22:42,660
Lambing season can still
be touch and go.

409
00:22:42,660 --> 00:22:44,940
Stay there. Stay.
What, are you talking to us or

410
00:22:44,940 --> 00:22:46,540
the dog? The dog, the dog.

411
00:22:46,540 --> 00:22:47,780
Stay there, stay.

412
00:22:51,020 --> 00:22:52,540
What's happening there?

413
00:22:52,540 --> 00:22:56,500
She walked away and the lambs
just didn't... Didn't follow.
Jump up and follow.

414
00:22:56,500 --> 00:22:59,100
But I think they were just laying
snug out of the breeze

415
00:22:59,100 --> 00:23:01,620
and fast asleep. Well, they were
just born this morning.

416
00:23:01,620 --> 00:23:05,060
There are only a few hours old.
Born this morning? Out here?

417
00:23:05,060 --> 00:23:06,020
Yeah.

418
00:23:11,020 --> 00:23:15,380
16% of the land in the Lake District
National Park is common land,

419
00:23:15,380 --> 00:23:18,300
and farmers like David had the right
to graze their sheep

420
00:23:18,300 --> 00:23:19,860
on the open fell.

421
00:23:27,140 --> 00:23:29,300
How long have you been farming
out here?

422
00:23:29,300 --> 00:23:31,220
I've been here all me life.

423
00:23:31,220 --> 00:23:35,100
Mum and Dad took the tenancy
1962, '63.

424
00:23:35,100 --> 00:23:37,820
That bad winter was the first winter

425
00:23:37,820 --> 00:23:41,380
here and he lost over half his fell
flock

426
00:23:41,380 --> 00:23:45,820
that winter. In the snow
on the fell.

427
00:23:45,820 --> 00:23:47,940
It, it always has been hard.

428
00:23:47,940 --> 00:23:49,980
To be honest, I think it
always will be.

429
00:23:52,180 --> 00:23:55,820
Earning a living on these hills
is getting harder and harder.

430
00:23:55,820 --> 00:23:58,260
Wool prices have been at rock
bottom.

431
00:23:58,260 --> 00:24:01,180
As a country, we seem happy to pay
less than almost any other nation

432
00:24:01,180 --> 00:24:04,940
for our food, while importing lamb
from around the planet.

433
00:24:04,940 --> 00:24:07,980
In recent years, the average income
of an upland farm in England

434
00:24:07,980 --> 00:24:12,500
has been as low as £12,000 a year,
even with hefty subsidies.

435
00:24:12,500 --> 00:24:15,740
Unless we're willing to buy British
and pay more for our food,

436
00:24:15,740 --> 00:24:18,780
you wonder if, like other
traditional industries, hill farming

437
00:24:18,780 --> 00:24:20,860
could inevitably die out.

438
00:24:20,860 --> 00:24:24,860
These are fell ponies, they're
indigenous to this area.

439
00:24:25,900 --> 00:24:28,940
The Lake District has pretty much
been built off fell ponies' backs

440
00:24:28,940 --> 00:24:32,580
that have been used as pack animals
for centuries.

441
00:24:32,580 --> 00:24:34,420
Carried whatever, lead, slate,

442
00:24:34,420 --> 00:24:37,300
wool, you name it, they were used
for it.

443
00:24:37,300 --> 00:24:39,900
And there's fewer and fewer
of these ponies.

444
00:24:39,900 --> 00:24:44,740
There's only maybe 300 foals
bred in the UK per year.

445
00:24:44,740 --> 00:24:46,180
Wow.

446
00:24:46,180 --> 00:24:48,220
These are two of last year's foals.

447
00:24:48,220 --> 00:24:51,060
I think they know what's happening
because they've been inside all

448
00:24:51,060 --> 00:24:54,900
winter, it's a nice spring day
and they're going back to the fell

449
00:24:54,900 --> 00:24:58,180
today to join the rest of the herd,
which is... And they'll live out on

450
00:24:58,180 --> 00:25:00,260
the fell from now on.

451
00:25:00,260 --> 00:25:02,260
So this is quite a moment.

452
00:25:02,260 --> 00:25:04,300
Yeah, there's only one that's been
halted.

453
00:25:04,300 --> 00:25:06,900
The other one hasn't been halted,
so I'm hoping it'll just follow

454
00:25:06,900 --> 00:25:10,340
on, if you can just open
the gate. Nice and calm.
Come on, sweet.

455
00:25:13,620 --> 00:25:17,900
Just bring that gate this way
please, Simon, and...

456
00:25:17,900 --> 00:25:19,100
Come on, sweet.

457
00:25:20,380 --> 00:25:23,740
Hopefully, she'll turn round...
This way. ..and follow out.

458
00:25:23,740 --> 00:25:26,580
Yes! That's it.

459
00:25:26,580 --> 00:25:28,580
Steady, steady.

460
00:25:28,580 --> 00:25:30,660
Whoa, sweet.

461
00:25:33,300 --> 00:25:35,900
Wait, wait.

462
00:25:35,900 --> 00:25:37,540
Ah, ah, ah, ah...

463
00:25:43,060 --> 00:25:49,140
Yes! Come on...come on...

464
00:25:52,580 --> 00:25:55,420
Hey, hey. It's all right.
Come on.

465
00:25:55,420 --> 00:25:57,060
Come on.

466
00:26:04,380 --> 00:26:07,460
So you breed the fell ponies?

467
00:26:07,460 --> 00:26:09,060
Yes.

468
00:26:09,060 --> 00:26:11,980
It's in me blood. That's
the why.

469
00:26:11,980 --> 00:26:14,140
Me father bred them, me grandfather

470
00:26:14,140 --> 00:26:15,980
and me great grandfather.

471
00:26:15,980 --> 00:26:19,380
It's part of this area
and it's...

472
00:26:19,380 --> 00:26:22,020
I get an awful lot
of pleasure from it.

473
00:26:22,020 --> 00:26:24,820
I think you're doing what you love.
I am. Yeah.

474
00:26:24,820 --> 00:26:26,780
So where, where are we now?

475
00:26:26,780 --> 00:26:30,180
This is... We're just coming on to
Bampton Common now, and this is
where the ponies

476
00:26:30,180 --> 00:26:32,820
live and run pretty much year round.

477
00:26:36,420 --> 00:26:38,460
Come on, sweet.

478
00:26:38,460 --> 00:26:42,180
Come on. Look, they're coming
down to see you.

479
00:26:42,180 --> 00:26:43,980
Oh, they're beautiful.

480
00:26:43,980 --> 00:26:45,420
Look at you.

481
00:26:45,420 --> 00:26:47,660
I mean, it's quite the look,
isn't it?

482
00:26:47,660 --> 00:26:51,140
Incredible head of hair
and a bit of a moustache.

483
00:27:01,340 --> 00:27:03,500
So they've met the others.

484
00:27:03,500 --> 00:27:06,940
Money can't buy that. Er...

485
00:27:06,940 --> 00:27:08,460
..it's part of me.

486
00:27:08,460 --> 00:27:11,980
I've been here all me life.
Where we are now,

487
00:27:11,980 --> 00:27:15,100
you can't put value on this
and there's more to life than money.

488
00:27:15,100 --> 00:27:16,580
It's a good life.

489
00:27:16,580 --> 00:27:17,900
It's a hard life.

490
00:27:17,900 --> 00:27:20,260
It's a good life
if you don't weaken.

491
00:27:22,820 --> 00:27:24,620
Oh, my goodness.

492
00:27:24,620 --> 00:27:26,420
HE GASPS

493
00:27:28,780 --> 00:27:30,740
That is quite the view.

494
00:27:30,740 --> 00:27:33,980
But that view is never the same
twice, Simon. No.

495
00:27:36,220 --> 00:27:40,500
Hawsewater Reservoir supplies
the North West with water.

496
00:27:40,500 --> 00:27:43,540
Much of the land around it,
which David farms, is owned

497
00:27:43,540 --> 00:27:47,380
by the water company United
Utilities, a major landowner

498
00:27:47,380 --> 00:27:49,620
in the Lake District.

499
00:27:49,620 --> 00:27:53,540
They want tenant farmers like David
to sign up to environmental schemes

500
00:27:53,540 --> 00:27:57,300
designed to improve land and water
quality, and perhaps keep

501
00:27:57,300 --> 00:27:59,620
customers' bills down.

502
00:27:59,620 --> 00:28:02,900
The plans, described by some
as a form of rewilding,

503
00:28:02,900 --> 00:28:06,460
would dramatically reduce
sheep-grazing on the fells.

504
00:28:06,460 --> 00:28:10,460
Already hammered by the low prices
he gets for his wool and meat,

505
00:28:10,460 --> 00:28:13,060
David feels like this is the

506
00:28:13,060 --> 00:28:16,020
final straw and that he's being
squeezed out.

507
00:28:16,020 --> 00:28:18,020
Where we are now,

508
00:28:18,020 --> 00:28:21,700
I'm sure there are conservation
groups looking at this sort of land

509
00:28:21,700 --> 00:28:24,580
and thinking, "This is where

510
00:28:24,580 --> 00:28:28,100
"we need to be planting bushes,
trees,

511
00:28:28,100 --> 00:28:31,580
"where we need to be growing,
we need to be rewilding, creating

512
00:28:31,580 --> 00:28:33,900
"more plant biodiversity."

513
00:28:35,300 --> 00:28:37,820
What do you feel about that?

514
00:28:37,820 --> 00:28:41,420
There's bits can all do to improve
things,

515
00:28:41,420 --> 00:28:44,060
and conservation is a big
part of it.

516
00:28:44,060 --> 00:28:47,900
But I strongly disagree with this
rewilding and just planting

517
00:28:47,900 --> 00:28:52,180
vast areas of trees and letting
it go back to scrub.

518
00:28:53,260 --> 00:28:56,260
Er...it's, it's not...

519
00:28:56,260 --> 00:29:00,100
I don't think it's going
to have the desired effect

520
00:29:00,100 --> 00:29:03,020
that people think it's going
to have.

521
00:29:03,020 --> 00:29:05,580
What, what do you think...
what do you think of this word,

522
00:29:05,580 --> 00:29:06,940
"sheep-wrecked"?

523
00:29:08,260 --> 00:29:10,340
People need to get real.

524
00:29:10,340 --> 00:29:13,100
Sheep have been part of making this

525
00:29:13,100 --> 00:29:18,180
Lake District what it is,
and it's just another way of kicking

526
00:29:18,180 --> 00:29:22,860
the farmer. We're a cog, we're
a very small cog in a big wheel.

527
00:29:22,860 --> 00:29:26,860
But if you lose us, something else
is going to suffer further

528
00:29:26,860 --> 00:29:28,340
down the line.

529
00:29:28,340 --> 00:29:30,940
You haven't got the livestock,
you haven't got the need

530
00:29:30,940 --> 00:29:36,260
for management, per se,
so there's no need for the...

531
00:29:36,260 --> 00:29:40,700
..the local shop, the local
garage, the village school.

532
00:29:40,700 --> 00:29:44,620
Your fear, then, is that the idea
of rewilding,

533
00:29:44,620 --> 00:29:49,660
the idea will result in farms
being stripped of creatures

534
00:29:49,660 --> 00:29:52,100
and people, and the community
suffers as a result?

535
00:29:52,100 --> 00:29:54,380
Yes. Yeah.

536
00:29:54,380 --> 00:29:57,140
I can't see
how it can't have that effect.

537
00:29:58,420 --> 00:30:03,940
Just, for that all to come to an
end, it's...

538
00:30:03,940 --> 00:30:06,340
What am I working for, what am I
doing it for?

539
00:30:06,340 --> 00:30:09,540
I would actually, I would be better
off financially if I was gone

540
00:30:09,540 --> 00:30:13,620
and stacking shelves in
Sainsbury's or Tesco's or something
like that.

541
00:30:13,620 --> 00:30:16,260
But I wouldn't get this.

542
00:30:16,260 --> 00:30:17,860
And I'd...

543
00:30:19,380 --> 00:30:23,380
You don't have to keep
it in...you burly chap.

544
00:30:23,380 --> 00:30:25,260
What are you feeling right now?

545
00:30:29,540 --> 00:30:32,100
Sad...that there isn't...

546
00:30:33,700 --> 00:30:34,940
..ah...

547
00:30:38,100 --> 00:30:41,260
That there probably isn't going
to be a future on these type

548
00:30:41,260 --> 00:30:43,260
of places in years to come.

549
00:30:46,460 --> 00:30:51,060
Too often in the past, conservations
had a problem with people, wanting

550
00:30:51,060 --> 00:30:53,820
humans out of the picture.

551
00:30:53,820 --> 00:30:56,900
But surely, rewilding projects
across the country

552
00:30:56,900 --> 00:31:01,380
have to really involve and inspire
farmers like David and Gail.

553
00:31:01,380 --> 00:31:06,180
Farming can work alongside
rewilding, helping to sustain jobs

554
00:31:06,180 --> 00:31:09,740
in local rural communities,
especially if we properly

555
00:31:09,740 --> 00:31:13,820
value our food and pay farmers
a decent wage to steward

556
00:31:13,820 --> 00:31:17,820
the countryside and help
tackle our biodiversity crisis.

557
00:31:17,820 --> 00:31:22,100
And who could be better than people
like David and Gail to actually care

558
00:31:22,100 --> 00:31:24,380
for the environment and wildlife?

559
00:31:36,140 --> 00:31:39,380
Sheep farming is in decline
in the Lake District.

560
00:31:39,380 --> 00:31:41,420
Young people are moving away.

561
00:31:41,420 --> 00:31:44,340
At the same time, outsiders
are moving in.

562
00:31:46,500 --> 00:31:50,140
In some of the most beautiful
villages in the Lake District,

563
00:31:50,140 --> 00:31:54,020
more than half of the houses are
actually second homes.

564
00:31:54,020 --> 00:31:58,860
The pandemic and the lockdown
has seen even more city dwellers

565
00:31:58,860 --> 00:32:02,700
moving to this area, so they can
work from home.

566
00:32:04,140 --> 00:32:07,900
It drives up prices and it can make
houses totally unaffordable

567
00:32:07,900 --> 00:32:09,940
for local people.

568
00:32:09,940 --> 00:32:11,260
Oh, my goodness.

569
00:32:12,460 --> 00:32:15,460
Look, it's a, it's a parade
of supercars.

570
00:32:16,860 --> 00:32:18,500
That's a McLaren.

571
00:32:19,580 --> 00:32:22,700
That's a car worth, worth
as much as a house.

572
00:32:25,540 --> 00:32:29,580
The Lake District really has become
a playground, especially

573
00:32:29,580 --> 00:32:31,580
for the wealthy.

574
00:32:33,220 --> 00:32:36,060
There's plenty of rich visitors
and day-trippers to the

575
00:32:36,060 --> 00:32:40,180
Lake District, especially during a
time of staycations.

576
00:32:40,180 --> 00:32:44,180
But perhaps too few of them head
away from the lakes and hills

577
00:32:44,180 --> 00:32:47,380
to explore what's beyond the limits
of the National Park,

578
00:32:47,380 --> 00:32:50,220
the rest of the county of Cumbria.

579
00:32:53,900 --> 00:32:57,380
Just 12 miles outside
the Lake District, dangling out

580
00:32:57,380 --> 00:33:01,460
into the Irish Sea, is the town
of Barrow-in-Furness.

581
00:33:01,460 --> 00:33:04,660
In the 19th century, Barrow
was a boom town with huge steel

582
00:33:04,660 --> 00:33:06,300
and shipbuilding industries.

583
00:33:06,300 --> 00:33:08,300
It was here they built some
of the most famous

584
00:33:08,300 --> 00:33:09,780
Royal Navy warships.

585
00:33:11,140 --> 00:33:13,940
Much of the housing was built
specifically

586
00:33:13,940 --> 00:33:15,660
for the dockyard workers.

587
00:33:15,660 --> 00:33:18,700
I'm on Vengeance Street
at the moment, which was named

588
00:33:18,700 --> 00:33:22,540
after the great warship,
HMS Vengeance.

589
00:33:23,540 --> 00:33:28,300
And ironically enough, I'm turning
now onto Mikasa Street,

590
00:33:28,300 --> 00:33:32,500
which was named after a Japanese
battleship they built here.

591
00:33:32,500 --> 00:33:34,140
Juno Street.

592
00:33:34,140 --> 00:33:36,380
That was another Royal Navy
battleship.

593
00:33:39,140 --> 00:33:42,220
Look at a map, and you might
be forgiven for thinking Barrow

594
00:33:42,220 --> 00:33:44,260
is a bit cut off.

595
00:33:44,260 --> 00:33:48,220
Locals joke they live at the end
of England's longest cul-de-sac,

596
00:33:48,220 --> 00:33:50,980
but actually, Barrow
is still at the vanguard

597
00:33:50,980 --> 00:33:52,820
of the nation's defences.

598
00:33:58,300 --> 00:34:00,300
Oh, my!

599
00:34:00,300 --> 00:34:01,860
Bloody hell!

600
00:34:01,860 --> 00:34:03,980
Pretty impressive.

601
00:34:03,980 --> 00:34:08,060
Brian Hurley was responsible
for getting HMS Anson, a

602
00:34:08,060 --> 00:34:11,540
nuclear-powered sub fresh out of
the factory, ready to go to sea.

603
00:34:11,540 --> 00:34:16,980
It's like a cross between
a spaceship and a dolphin.

604
00:34:18,620 --> 00:34:23,260
It's almost impossibly sleek,
contoured.

605
00:34:23,260 --> 00:34:25,900
It does look very futuristic.

606
00:34:25,900 --> 00:34:30,180
It's got top-of-the-range
combat-system control systems.

607
00:34:30,180 --> 00:34:32,660
It's a phenomenal piece
of equipment.

608
00:34:32,660 --> 00:34:36,620
I read that it can circle
the world staying underwater.

609
00:34:36,620 --> 00:34:39,540
It produces its own oxygen.
Its own water.

610
00:34:39,540 --> 00:34:41,980
One of the few limitations
on how long it can stay

611
00:34:41,980 --> 00:34:45,420
underneath the surface is how many
Weetabix and sausages

612
00:34:45,420 --> 00:34:47,020
you're carrying on board.

613
00:34:47,020 --> 00:34:48,660
That's pretty much what stops

614
00:34:48,660 --> 00:34:51,180
it staying underwater permanently,
yeah.

615
00:34:51,180 --> 00:34:52,940
How much are they, Brian?

616
00:34:52,940 --> 00:34:56,620
You won't get a lot of change out
of 1.5 billion, with the man hours

617
00:34:56,620 --> 00:35:00,260
and the material. Brian, are we
allowed to go in inside and have a
look?

618
00:35:00,260 --> 00:35:02,300
Unfortunately not, no.

619
00:35:02,300 --> 00:35:05,780
This is the forefront of
the nation's defence, and that's one

620
00:35:05,780 --> 00:35:09,220
of the things that makes me so proud
to work here, thinking that

621
00:35:09,220 --> 00:35:12,020
something that was built in Barrow
is circumnavigating the globe

622
00:35:12,020 --> 00:35:13,660
protecting our country.

623
00:35:13,660 --> 00:35:15,620
Your accent sounds pretty local.

624
00:35:15,620 --> 00:35:19,220
I am a...Barrow lad.

625
00:35:19,220 --> 00:35:22,540
I went to school only a couple
of miles away from here,

626
00:35:22,540 --> 00:35:26,060
and when I finished school,
there was only one place I was
going. Why?

627
00:35:26,060 --> 00:35:28,300
I was offered a job in the shipyard.

628
00:35:28,300 --> 00:35:32,340
Well, back at that time,
you know, my father worked in here.

629
00:35:32,340 --> 00:35:35,420
His father had worked in here.

630
00:35:35,420 --> 00:35:38,740
So it was a, it was a family... No.
..family affair.

631
00:35:38,740 --> 00:35:43,020
Your great grandfather would
have been here in the time of steam.

632
00:35:43,020 --> 00:35:45,940
Yeah, just about. The late '40s,
'50s, yeah.

633
00:35:45,940 --> 00:35:47,580
Working through.

634
00:35:47,580 --> 00:35:51,220
Whether or not
you approve of us spending billions

635
00:35:51,220 --> 00:35:54,500
on a nuclear deterrent, there's
no doubt Barrow depends

636
00:35:54,500 --> 00:35:59,580
on BAE. More than 9,000 workers
are employed here, from specialised

637
00:35:59,580 --> 00:36:02,380
welders to electrical engineers.

638
00:36:02,380 --> 00:36:05,660
It's by far the biggest
employer in the town.

639
00:36:05,660 --> 00:36:08,900
The shipyard looms into view
almost everywhere here.

640
00:36:08,900 --> 00:36:12,540
BAE is now the last shipbuilder left
in Barrow, and not everyone

641
00:36:12,540 --> 00:36:14,420
can find work there.

642
00:36:14,420 --> 00:36:17,980
There is a proud sense of heritage
and community in Barrow, but most

643
00:36:17,980 --> 00:36:21,700
of the traditional industrial jobs
have now gone, and some

644
00:36:21,700 --> 00:36:24,740
here struggle with poverty
and deprivation.

645
00:36:27,460 --> 00:36:29,780
This is quite the building.

646
00:36:29,780 --> 00:36:33,260
This building was the town's
technical school.

647
00:36:33,260 --> 00:36:34,900
Not any more.

648
00:36:34,900 --> 00:36:38,340
The grand Victorian building now
houses a community support group

649
00:36:38,340 --> 00:36:39,980
OK to come in? Yes.

650
00:36:39,980 --> 00:36:43,860
Rebecca Robson runs Barrow
Women's Community Matters.

651
00:36:43,860 --> 00:36:47,100
What is this place?
We're a women's centre.

652
00:36:47,100 --> 00:36:50,940
We offer support to women and girls
and more recently, young men.

653
00:36:50,940 --> 00:36:56,540
Yep. To mainly women experiencing
what? Struggles with mental health,

654
00:36:56,540 --> 00:37:00,100
homelessness, involvement
with the criminal justice system.

655
00:37:00,100 --> 00:37:04,140
And that might be as a perpetrator
or as a victim, most often a victim

656
00:37:04,140 --> 00:37:06,380
of domestic abuse or sexual abuse.

657
00:37:06,380 --> 00:37:09,020
Lots of times, women just come
and say, "Life is really hard.

658
00:37:09,020 --> 00:37:10,660
"I don't really know what what's
wrong.

659
00:37:10,660 --> 00:37:12,860
"Life's really, really difficult."

660
00:37:12,860 --> 00:37:15,540
Some areas of Barrow are
among the most deprived

661
00:37:15,540 --> 00:37:17,540
in the whole country.

662
00:37:17,540 --> 00:37:19,580
Women often bear the brunt.

663
00:37:20,620 --> 00:37:23,020
The Barrow Women's Community
Matters Clothes Bank.

664
00:37:23,020 --> 00:37:24,220
Yes.

665
00:37:24,220 --> 00:37:26,020
Oh, my goodness!

666
00:37:28,740 --> 00:37:30,940
It's a little
warehouse you've got in here.

667
00:37:30,940 --> 00:37:36,900
Yeah, we do babies, girls and boys,
lots of women's clothes.

668
00:37:39,460 --> 00:37:42,980
I think we've, we've given out
more than a quarter of a million

669
00:37:42,980 --> 00:37:45,380
items in the last few years.

670
00:37:45,380 --> 00:37:49,220
A quarter of a million items? Yes.
Sorry, I'm just rolling with that.

671
00:37:49,220 --> 00:37:53,460
Yeah, yeah! You've got clothes
over here, three to four years old,

672
00:37:53,460 --> 00:37:55,420
four to five years old.

673
00:37:56,540 --> 00:38:00,380
You know, we know that you can get
clothes in this country for a quid

674
00:38:00,380 --> 00:38:02,980
a top, really, in some places.
Yeah. Can't you?

675
00:38:02,980 --> 00:38:05,260
It's not just a - pound is a lot,
an awful lot of money

676
00:38:05,260 --> 00:38:07,340
to lots of people who are living
on a budget.

677
00:38:07,340 --> 00:38:09,980
And if you've got no money, where do
you get just a pound from?

678
00:38:09,980 --> 00:38:11,380
It doesn't exist.

679
00:38:11,380 --> 00:38:15,220
And if your choice is
between buying a child a top

680
00:38:15,220 --> 00:38:19,500
or feeding them, or putting
electricity on the meter, well,

681
00:38:19,500 --> 00:38:22,140
there's no, there's no choice.

682
00:38:22,140 --> 00:38:24,580
Lots of poverty is hidden.

683
00:38:24,580 --> 00:38:26,940
We have women who go
without toiletries, sanitary

684
00:38:26,940 --> 00:38:29,260
products... Sanitary products?

685
00:38:29,260 --> 00:38:31,100
Yeah, that's a real big issue.

686
00:38:31,100 --> 00:38:33,500
Again, if you've got a limited
amount of income, women

687
00:38:33,500 --> 00:38:36,180
have to regard that as a luxury.
It shouldn't be a luxury.

688
00:38:36,180 --> 00:38:37,780
They're a necessity.

689
00:38:37,780 --> 00:38:40,620
You can't not have tampons
and sanitary pads,

690
00:38:40,620 --> 00:38:45,740
so they're just free for, for women
and girls, young girls to take.

691
00:38:45,740 --> 00:38:51,180
People haven't got enough money
to live, to eat, to provide

692
00:38:51,180 --> 00:38:53,860
what they want to provide
for their children.

693
00:38:53,860 --> 00:38:57,540
I'm quite struck by the fact
you are, you're just on the edge

694
00:38:57,540 --> 00:39:02,100
of the Lake District here, a tourist
destination for millions

695
00:39:02,100 --> 00:39:06,740
and millions of people every year -
Barrow feels like a very different

696
00:39:06,740 --> 00:39:09,500
part of Cumbria.

697
00:39:09,500 --> 00:39:13,180
I think the Lake District
is beautiful, but we're only seeing

698
00:39:13,180 --> 00:39:14,780
the top court.

699
00:39:14,780 --> 00:39:17,780
We're not seeing real life and real
people and who are the people

700
00:39:17,780 --> 00:39:20,660
behind all of those beautiful places
and little tea shops and things

701
00:39:20,660 --> 00:39:22,500
that we visit.

702
00:39:22,500 --> 00:39:23,700
Where are the real people?

703
00:39:23,700 --> 00:39:25,740
Well, some of them are living
here and their lives

704
00:39:25,740 --> 00:39:27,780
are really, really difficult.

705
00:39:27,780 --> 00:39:30,020
They're an inspiring bunch
at this centre.

706
00:39:30,020 --> 00:39:32,740
Through the first year of the
pandemic, they kept helping local

707
00:39:32,740 --> 00:39:35,660
women and children, even
as more than 900 sought help

708
00:39:35,660 --> 00:39:37,140
for domestic abuse.

709
00:39:37,140 --> 00:39:39,980
Has Barrow
struggled during Covid?

710
00:39:39,980 --> 00:39:43,220
Have women here struggled
during the pandemic?

711
00:39:43,220 --> 00:39:47,260
Massively so. We saw a 60 to 70%
increase in people looking

712
00:39:47,260 --> 00:39:49,100
for help and support,

713
00:39:49,100 --> 00:39:52,140
the numbers of people accessing
support for domestic abuse.

714
00:39:52,140 --> 00:39:54,700
And I know that's across
the country, but we really,

715
00:39:54,700 --> 00:39:58,980
really felt that the numbers
quadrupled.

716
00:39:58,980 --> 00:40:01,380
As well as offering community
support,

717
00:40:01,380 --> 00:40:03,660
Rebecca is running an emergency
service.

718
00:40:05,140 --> 00:40:08,780
So sometimes if women are fleeing
from domestic abuse situations,

719
00:40:08,780 --> 00:40:11,060
you know, sometimes
they have to flee immediately

720
00:40:11,060 --> 00:40:13,700
and they've literally only
got what they're stood up in.

721
00:40:13,700 --> 00:40:15,300
That's all they've got.

722
00:40:15,300 --> 00:40:19,300
So we always have some flee bags
available, so that we can just pull

723
00:40:19,300 --> 00:40:21,620
them, pull them off the shelf.

724
00:40:21,620 --> 00:40:25,860
It's just got the essentials
in, so underwear, set of sanitary

725
00:40:25,860 --> 00:40:30,380
products, pyjamas and...

726
00:40:30,380 --> 00:40:32,900
..basic toiletries.

727
00:40:32,900 --> 00:40:36,660
You have to have these ready
to go, like a grab bag?

728
00:40:36,660 --> 00:40:38,260
You call it a flee bag.

729
00:40:38,260 --> 00:40:41,420
When somebody is running
for their life, you haven't got time

730
00:40:41,420 --> 00:40:42,940
to be messing about.

731
00:40:42,940 --> 00:40:44,540
That is the most dangerous time.

732
00:40:44,540 --> 00:40:47,140
That is when they're at risk
of being killed.

733
00:40:47,140 --> 00:40:50,220
Killed? People don't, don't leave
just because they think

734
00:40:50,220 --> 00:40:51,460
they might have to.

735
00:40:51,460 --> 00:40:55,340
People leave because they are
frightened for their life

736
00:40:55,340 --> 00:40:58,380
they're running for their life
they're fleeing for their life.

737
00:40:58,380 --> 00:41:00,460
That's horrific.
Yeah, it is.

738
00:41:00,460 --> 00:41:04,060
It is horrific. When women
share...share their story,

739
00:41:04,060 --> 00:41:07,500
I know what that feels like.

740
00:41:07,500 --> 00:41:11,580
I've been to lots of those places,
within myself, and I know

741
00:41:11,580 --> 00:41:14,260
what it is to experience
some of that.

742
00:41:15,820 --> 00:41:19,020
A man pushed my mum down the stairs
and used her head like a football,

743
00:41:19,020 --> 00:41:20,620
left her for dead.

744
00:41:20,620 --> 00:41:24,060
I don't want that to happen
to anyone else, to anyone else's mum

745
00:41:24,060 --> 00:41:26,380
or to any other woman.

746
00:41:26,380 --> 00:41:30,660
And if I can do that much every day,
to mean that doesn't happen,

747
00:41:30,660 --> 00:41:33,100
then I will.

748
00:41:33,100 --> 00:41:34,900
Oh, my goodness. Mm.

749
00:41:46,140 --> 00:41:49,340
Like so many of Britain's
post-industrial towns,

750
00:41:49,340 --> 00:41:52,740
Barrow has suffered from chronic
underinvestment.

751
00:41:52,740 --> 00:41:55,740
Successive governments failed
to come up with any real plan

752
00:41:55,740 --> 00:41:59,980
for what should replace traditional
industrial jobs, while the country's

753
00:41:59,980 --> 00:42:02,780
economy has tilted inexorably
towards services

754
00:42:02,780 --> 00:42:04,580
and the south-east of England.

755
00:42:06,380 --> 00:42:10,260
Like everywhere, people here work
hard to support their families,

756
00:42:10,260 --> 00:42:13,660
but a lack of solid careers
and opportunities can leave some

757
00:42:13,660 --> 00:42:16,420
with less hope and confidence.

758
00:42:16,420 --> 00:42:20,020
Here on the edge of the Lake
District, I went to visit a charity

759
00:42:20,020 --> 00:42:23,300
who are trying to use the power
of nature to help local youngsters.

760
00:42:26,940 --> 00:42:30,180
I met up with Youth Development
Officer Alesha Moore, who grew

761
00:42:30,180 --> 00:42:31,620
up in Barrow.

762
00:42:31,620 --> 00:42:34,020
Morning. Hello.

763
00:42:34,020 --> 00:42:36,900
The fact they're here is the main
thing. And they all looked at me

764
00:42:36,900 --> 00:42:40,540
this morning with, "Why have got me
up so early?"

765
00:42:40,540 --> 00:42:43,340
How old are you all?
16. 16. 16?

766
00:42:43,340 --> 00:42:45,460
17. 17. 16.

767
00:42:45,460 --> 00:42:48,180
Have you been up into the Lake
District before?

768
00:42:48,180 --> 00:42:49,380
Not really. No.

769
00:42:49,380 --> 00:42:51,500
It's not your cup of tea. No.

770
00:42:51,500 --> 00:42:53,140
What is your cup of tea, then?

771
00:42:53,140 --> 00:42:55,820
I just stay in my room.

772
00:42:55,820 --> 00:42:58,380
You're stepping out of it now,
aren't you? Yeah.

773
00:42:58,380 --> 00:43:00,420
If you can chuck your masks on...

774
00:43:00,420 --> 00:43:03,820
Alesha was taking her group
up into the Lake District,

775
00:43:03,820 --> 00:43:07,100
to a centre run by the charity,
the Brathay Trust.

776
00:43:07,100 --> 00:43:08,780
We'll follow behind.

777
00:43:08,780 --> 00:43:11,140
We'll see you at the other end.
Enjoy the journey.

778
00:43:11,140 --> 00:43:13,140
Thank you.

779
00:43:13,140 --> 00:43:16,100
Almost all these youngsters
have left school and now face

780
00:43:16,100 --> 00:43:18,900
the challenge of finding
their path in life.

781
00:43:18,900 --> 00:43:20,740
Some don't have a clear direction.

782
00:43:20,740 --> 00:43:22,540
So they're crossing the bridge

783
00:43:22,540 --> 00:43:25,620
and then on their way
to the Lake District.

784
00:43:29,500 --> 00:43:32,020
I think it's so impressive
these youngsters have come today

785
00:43:32,020 --> 00:43:34,300
on this trip. So often in life...

786
00:43:35,580 --> 00:43:37,980
..it's just about turning up.

787
00:43:39,580 --> 00:43:43,900
We headed to glorious Windermere,
the largest lake in England.

788
00:43:43,900 --> 00:43:47,540
From their base there, the
Brathay Trust takes youngsters

789
00:43:47,540 --> 00:43:51,700
who haven't been born into privilege
on activities and adventures.

790
00:43:51,700 --> 00:43:55,620
It helps expand horizons and gives
confidence and self-esteem.

791
00:43:57,740 --> 00:44:00,900
Well, I'm putting in a vote
for this being gorgeous.

792
00:44:00,900 --> 00:44:02,980
Phoebe's pausing to look around.

793
00:44:04,220 --> 00:44:06,220
Loving it, Bob!

794
00:44:06,220 --> 00:44:07,900
Are we going that way?
Yeah.

795
00:44:07,900 --> 00:44:10,340
Can you see, as you look
over to the right, you've got

796
00:44:10,340 --> 00:44:13,180
all the trees and then there's the
kind of green area. That's ages
away.

797
00:44:13,180 --> 00:44:15,700
Come on, Bobby.
Pretty well, pretty effectively,

798
00:44:15,700 --> 00:44:17,980
together, we can get there
in reasonable time,

799
00:44:17,980 --> 00:44:20,660
I'd have thought. You're a positive
type, Andy. I hope so.

800
00:44:22,380 --> 00:44:25,020
Well, I thought it was all rather
inspiring.

801
00:44:25,020 --> 00:44:29,220
We didn't cross an ocean or climb
a mountain, but still, any activity

802
00:44:29,220 --> 00:44:32,180
in the natural world that pushes us
out of our comfort zone,

803
00:44:32,180 --> 00:44:33,900
can make a difference.

804
00:44:33,900 --> 00:44:36,100
Right. Final push.

805
00:44:37,220 --> 00:44:39,180
Come on, guys.

806
00:44:39,180 --> 00:44:41,420
There's quite a few rocks
around there, so we're just going

807
00:44:41,420 --> 00:44:43,820
to need to thread our way
through to get to the beach.

808
00:44:43,820 --> 00:44:45,540
Yeah. Now, forward...

809
00:44:48,300 --> 00:44:50,100
Magnificent.

810
00:44:50,100 --> 00:44:51,140
OK.

811
00:44:52,780 --> 00:44:54,900
Get yourselves up the beach.

812
00:44:56,020 --> 00:44:57,660
It's definitely fun.

813
00:44:57,660 --> 00:45:00,620
I thought so. I think, I think
Phoebe definitely thought so.

814
00:45:00,620 --> 00:45:02,100
What's the purpose of this?

815
00:45:02,100 --> 00:45:03,740
What are you trying to achieve?

816
00:45:03,740 --> 00:45:06,180
We've been working a lot,
like, in the last few months,

817
00:45:06,180 --> 00:45:09,820
on personal development and how,
like, how they think, and how you

818
00:45:09,820 --> 00:45:12,700
guys view situations, don't we?
Helping them to become...?

819
00:45:12,700 --> 00:45:17,660
I think if you stay in one place
for a long time, you become that.

820
00:45:17,660 --> 00:45:20,700
This is a place that
they don't often get to.

821
00:45:20,700 --> 00:45:23,620
Even though it is so close.
And it's different. It's different.

822
00:45:23,620 --> 00:45:25,260
Yeah, it is different.

823
00:45:25,260 --> 00:45:28,340
The further you go, the more
open-minded you are, I think.

824
00:45:28,340 --> 00:45:30,740
Does it help to make your world
bigger?

825
00:45:30,740 --> 00:45:31,940
Definitely.

826
00:45:31,940 --> 00:45:34,780
You feel cramped at home because
you're only stuck in your room.

827
00:45:34,780 --> 00:45:37,900
Get out here -
it's scary that it's really big.

828
00:45:37,900 --> 00:45:40,500
Cos
you don't realise it at all.

829
00:45:40,500 --> 00:45:42,540
And then I actually want to get
out to places like this.

830
00:45:42,540 --> 00:45:44,460
And then you end up talking
about it for weeks,

831
00:45:44,460 --> 00:45:47,020
don't you? How much...
And looking at the pictures.

832
00:45:47,020 --> 00:45:50,060
I mean, you're saying it feels
like your world is quite small,

833
00:45:50,060 --> 00:45:53,260
but for you to be aware
of that, to even be conscious

834
00:45:53,260 --> 00:45:55,460
of that, is a massive step.

835
00:45:55,460 --> 00:45:57,780
We didn't... I don't know where we'd
be.

836
00:45:57,780 --> 00:46:01,020
Do you see your future in Barrow?
No. Hope not.

837
00:46:01,020 --> 00:46:03,580
It's not that good for job
opportunities.

838
00:46:03,580 --> 00:46:05,500
I think I'd have to go
to Manchester for

839
00:46:05,500 --> 00:46:07,100
what I want to do.

840
00:46:07,100 --> 00:46:09,060
I think. But I hate cities.

841
00:46:09,060 --> 00:46:12,820
I hope I can come here, somewhere
like this, to do a job, hopefully.

842
00:46:12,820 --> 00:46:16,420
Well, forgive me for saying,
you're very impressive.

843
00:46:16,420 --> 00:46:17,860
OK?

844
00:46:17,860 --> 00:46:19,700
That hasn't been said in a long
time.

845
00:46:19,700 --> 00:46:21,580
Years go by without anyone
saying it.

846
00:46:21,580 --> 00:46:24,940
You show up and tell us that we're
actually very intelligent for our
age.

847
00:46:24,940 --> 00:46:26,580
Come on, you're great.

848
00:46:26,580 --> 00:46:27,820
Thank you.

849
00:46:29,660 --> 00:46:31,900
Just keep going backwards.

850
00:46:31,900 --> 00:46:34,100
Well, I think it's wonderful

851
00:46:34,100 --> 00:46:37,940
that coming here can help to give
the youngsters a sense of the

852
00:46:37,940 --> 00:46:42,500
options and opportunities are open
to them in life.

853
00:46:42,500 --> 00:46:47,140
I think it's also really important
that we all feel that the

854
00:46:47,140 --> 00:46:52,020
National Park partly belongs to us,
especially those who live

855
00:46:52,020 --> 00:46:54,020
just around its edge.

856
00:47:06,820 --> 00:47:10,940
For hundreds of years, farming
has been the natural career choice

857
00:47:10,940 --> 00:47:13,340
for many teenagers growing
up in the Lake District.

858
00:47:15,780 --> 00:47:18,420
I headed to meet some of the next
generation of farmers.

859
00:47:18,420 --> 00:47:19,900
Might not fit the first time.

860
00:47:19,900 --> 00:47:23,700
If you turn it the other way
up, you can get it to fit.

861
00:47:23,700 --> 00:47:27,700
You've always got to think
about the next course going up.

862
00:47:27,700 --> 00:47:31,740
Watching them closely
was Peter Armstrong, a respected

863
00:47:31,740 --> 00:47:34,060
farmer who also teaches
at Cumbria's

864
00:47:34,060 --> 00:47:36,100
famous agricultural college.

865
00:47:38,740 --> 00:47:40,740
This is dry-stone walling.

866
00:47:40,740 --> 00:47:43,860
I suppose some people would say,
"It's the 21st century."

867
00:47:43,860 --> 00:47:46,860
But it is still, I mean, it's not
just the landscape, it's not

868
00:47:46,860 --> 00:47:48,860
just how the landscape looks, is it?

869
00:47:48,860 --> 00:47:51,140
This is a tool, really, as well
for farming, isn't it?

870
00:47:51,140 --> 00:47:53,580
And these guys will tell you why.
Why have we got these walls,

871
00:47:53,580 --> 00:47:55,820
guys, what's good about
having these walls?

872
00:47:55,820 --> 00:47:58,100
If you've got, like, in the winter,
if it's bad weather,

873
00:47:58,100 --> 00:47:59,580
it's good for their shelter, so.

874
00:47:59,580 --> 00:48:02,060
The shelter they get
behind here can be the difference

875
00:48:02,060 --> 00:48:03,500
between life and death,

876
00:48:03,500 --> 00:48:06,700
really, for a young lamb. That's
teaching me something. It's kind

877
00:48:06,700 --> 00:48:09,220
of the trick is, just to try and
keep them a level course through,

878
00:48:09,220 --> 00:48:12,020
and then it's easier for the next
course, thinking about where the

879
00:48:12,020 --> 00:48:14,020
next level is going.

880
00:48:14,020 --> 00:48:17,740
These are a few of the 500
or so students at Newton Rigg

881
00:48:17,740 --> 00:48:21,300
agricultural College, founded
a century ago to train

882
00:48:21,300 --> 00:48:23,820
up Cumbria's young farmers.

883
00:48:23,820 --> 00:48:27,260
Yet Newton Rigg had been deemed
financially unviable

884
00:48:27,260 --> 00:48:29,340
and was set to close.

885
00:48:29,340 --> 00:48:33,580
If you weren't studying at Newton
Rigg,

886
00:48:33,580 --> 00:48:35,780
where else could you study?

887
00:48:35,780 --> 00:48:39,460
Probably just wouldn't go to
college. Really? Yeah.

888
00:48:39,460 --> 00:48:42,300
Yes. It's a sad, sad situation for
Cumbria, really,

889
00:48:42,300 --> 00:48:45,220
because it's been such a great asset
for the county.

890
00:48:45,220 --> 00:48:49,620
And it needs it because primarily
we are a livestock county

891
00:48:49,620 --> 00:48:53,540
and you know, you can see
how fantastic

892
00:48:53,540 --> 00:48:56,220
it is and we need to invest
in that, and we need to invest

893
00:48:56,220 --> 00:48:59,380
in these guys, and we need to make
it as accessible as we can for them

894
00:48:59,380 --> 00:49:01,620
to progress in their careers.

895
00:49:03,220 --> 00:49:06,340
Angus, am I right in thinking
that you're now, you're running

896
00:49:06,340 --> 00:49:08,300
the family farm?
Yeah.

897
00:49:08,300 --> 00:49:09,940
And how old are you?

898
00:49:09,940 --> 00:49:12,780
18. 18 years old?
Yeah.

899
00:49:12,780 --> 00:49:17,660
Goodness me. It's not
just your future, then, is it?

900
00:49:17,660 --> 00:49:21,340
It's the, it's the future
of the land as well.

901
00:49:21,340 --> 00:49:25,540
It's the future of rural Britain
in this area that we're talking

902
00:49:25,540 --> 00:49:28,020
about, with, with the college.

903
00:49:28,020 --> 00:49:31,260
Is that fair? Probably very fair.
Yeah.

904
00:49:33,500 --> 00:49:37,980
Surely now more than ever, farming
needs new blood, new skills,

905
00:49:37,980 --> 00:49:40,780
and we need farmers who are trained
to produce both food and look

906
00:49:40,780 --> 00:49:43,220
after the environment.

907
00:49:43,220 --> 00:49:46,100
Angus has said we can come and visit
his farm, so we're just heading

908
00:49:46,100 --> 00:49:48,500
up there now.

909
00:49:48,500 --> 00:49:50,140
Oh, my goodness.

910
00:49:51,820 --> 00:49:54,620
I'm sure that was once a remote
little farmstead.

911
00:49:54,620 --> 00:49:58,060
And now it's a very lonely
old building on a very bleak

912
00:49:58,060 --> 00:50:00,300
and barren bit of moor.

913
00:50:05,060 --> 00:50:09,140
Angus farms 1,000 feet up
on the fells, in one of the toughest

914
00:50:09,140 --> 00:50:11,500
places to be a hill farmer.

915
00:50:11,500 --> 00:50:14,900
There's a saying here - you get nine
months of winter and three months

916
00:50:14,900 --> 00:50:16,340
of bad weather.

917
00:50:18,180 --> 00:50:21,220
For once, I brought a bit
of sunshine.

918
00:50:21,220 --> 00:50:22,660
DOG BARKS

919
00:50:22,660 --> 00:50:23,900
Angus?

920
00:50:25,940 --> 00:50:27,500
Angus.

921
00:50:27,500 --> 00:50:29,340
Hello, mate.

922
00:50:29,340 --> 00:50:31,620
All right, where to? The shed.

923
00:50:31,620 --> 00:50:34,020
You've got a fair bit of land
here, haven't you?

924
00:50:34,020 --> 00:50:37,900
1,500 acres and just over
1,000 breeding yows.

925
00:50:37,900 --> 00:50:39,860
LOUD BLEATING

926
00:50:44,180 --> 00:50:46,660
How many are in here now,
do you know?

927
00:50:46,660 --> 00:50:48,340
116.

928
00:50:48,340 --> 00:50:49,860
In all these big pens this morning.

929
00:50:49,860 --> 00:50:51,860
Where do you sell to?

930
00:50:51,860 --> 00:50:54,740
Where does your, where do your
lambs, where does your meat end up?

931
00:50:54,740 --> 00:50:58,380
Pretty sure some of that goes
in to Aldi and Asda.

932
00:50:58,380 --> 00:51:00,180
And Lidl, I think.

933
00:51:00,180 --> 00:51:05,300
I just hadn't understood the size
of what you're, what you're doing.

934
00:51:05,300 --> 00:51:09,180
I mean, this is, this is a big,
it's a big farm.

935
00:51:09,180 --> 00:51:13,220
How do you come to be running
the family farm pretty much

936
00:51:13,220 --> 00:51:14,820
on your own?

937
00:51:14,820 --> 00:51:19,740
Dad was on the road on a quad
bike, four years ago.

938
00:51:19,740 --> 00:51:21,780
He was knocked off.

939
00:51:21,780 --> 00:51:26,420
Hit his head on the tarmac
and he was in ICU for a month.

940
00:51:26,420 --> 00:51:30,060
Not long after, me mum
was diagnosed with stomach cancer,

941
00:51:30,060 --> 00:51:34,660
and sadly she died last
March, 9th of March.

942
00:51:35,860 --> 00:51:39,220
So and then me dad - don't know the
day it was, but he just died this
year,

943
00:51:39,220 --> 00:51:40,700
end of March.

944
00:51:41,740 --> 00:51:43,300
The end of March?

945
00:51:43,300 --> 00:51:45,580
Yeah, it was. Weeks ago.

946
00:51:45,580 --> 00:51:49,580
Aye. I mean, nobody would expect
you to cope after that.

947
00:51:49,580 --> 00:51:51,420
Just got to get on with it,

948
00:51:51,420 --> 00:51:52,820
the farm and stuff.

949
00:51:54,260 --> 00:51:57,140
The yows still need feeding,
still need looked after.

950
00:52:04,220 --> 00:52:08,140
It's quite hard for any of us,
really, to fully understand

951
00:52:08,140 --> 00:52:11,220
the burden that that young
man is carrying.

952
00:52:12,740 --> 00:52:16,940
He has lost both his parents
in a very short space of time.

953
00:52:18,020 --> 00:52:23,580
And he's got all this life
to shepherd and care for

954
00:52:23,580 --> 00:52:25,540
and look after.

955
00:52:28,980 --> 00:52:31,820
Take these? Take that. That pen
there. Just shake it about.

956
00:52:31,820 --> 00:52:35,660
Angus had wanted to continue
at college to be given the essential

957
00:52:35,660 --> 00:52:39,460
know-how and education he needs
to keep the farm going.

958
00:52:39,460 --> 00:52:42,980
With so much at stake, he was
relying heavily on school friends

959
00:52:42,980 --> 00:52:44,660
to help out.

960
00:52:44,660 --> 00:52:47,020
We just started coming last year
in lockdown and we haven't

961
00:52:47,020 --> 00:52:48,900
really stopped, so...

962
00:52:48,900 --> 00:52:50,580
Me and my friend are both in sixth
form.

963
00:52:50,580 --> 00:52:53,180
So, whenever it's like holiday
time or last year

964
00:52:53,180 --> 00:52:56,420
because it was lockdown, it was
maybe like twice or three times a
week.

965
00:52:56,420 --> 00:52:57,860
So you're in sixth form now?

966
00:52:57,860 --> 00:53:00,940
Yeah. You're doing your A-levels.
Yes. Which makes you 17?

967
00:53:00,940 --> 00:53:03,300
Yeah.

968
00:53:03,300 --> 00:53:04,740
How old are you, Ewan?

969
00:53:04,740 --> 00:53:06,180
17.

970
00:53:06,180 --> 00:53:08,820
What would you say your principal
role is here - keeping them alive?

971
00:53:08,820 --> 00:53:10,260
Yeah...

972
00:53:11,460 --> 00:53:14,340
Make sure they're all all right, and
fit and healthy.

973
00:53:15,500 --> 00:53:18,340
I'm quite struck by this scene
here - you've got the three

974
00:53:18,340 --> 00:53:23,460
of them, these three relative
youngsters doing the farm

975
00:53:23,460 --> 00:53:25,860
and the farming.

976
00:53:25,860 --> 00:53:29,060
Remember, in this county
and country, the average age

977
00:53:29,060 --> 00:53:31,420
of a farmer is about 59.

978
00:53:33,180 --> 00:53:36,620
They are the new young blood and yet
their means of getting a proper

979
00:53:36,620 --> 00:53:38,860
education in farming is
being taken away.

980
00:54:00,340 --> 00:54:05,020
It's been born dead. It's eyes
are... All cloudy. Stillbirth.

981
00:54:07,700 --> 00:54:12,140
That's the reality. Now he's got to
try and keep the other one alive.

982
00:54:12,140 --> 00:54:13,780
Trying to breathe.

983
00:54:21,100 --> 00:54:24,180
SHEEP CRIES

984
00:54:24,180 --> 00:54:25,780
Is that to clear the airway?

985
00:54:25,780 --> 00:54:27,260
Yeah, yeah.

986
00:54:27,260 --> 00:54:29,260
Just to get any liquid
out of the lungs?

987
00:54:29,260 --> 00:54:31,540
Yeah.

988
00:54:31,540 --> 00:54:32,940
Are you hopeful?

989
00:54:32,940 --> 00:54:34,380
It's taking breaths, like.

990
00:54:36,180 --> 00:54:38,900
They lift their head up,
they're going to be right.

991
00:54:38,900 --> 00:54:42,860
Just taking a few
breaths and then stopping.

992
00:54:44,420 --> 00:54:47,100
It's not what you would call
fighting for it, is it? No. No.

993
00:54:49,260 --> 00:54:52,420
Just to put it right.
You're going to put

994
00:54:52,420 --> 00:54:53,860
it in the warm box?

995
00:54:53,860 --> 00:54:55,020
Yeah, just for a bit.

996
00:54:55,020 --> 00:54:57,060
Oh, it's holding its head
a bit more now, isn't it?

997
00:54:57,060 --> 00:54:59,340
Yeah, it looks better than it did
before.

998
00:54:59,340 --> 00:55:03,340
So he's taking it to put
it in the warm box.

999
00:55:03,340 --> 00:55:07,260
Which I presume does what it says
on the tin.

1000
00:55:07,260 --> 00:55:11,380
Is this an official bit of kit
or has this been made yourselves?
That's home-made.

1001
00:55:11,380 --> 00:55:14,780
Somebody's old fleece over the top?
Yeah.

1002
00:55:18,220 --> 00:55:20,860
And you've got the heater
fan added on the side.

1003
00:55:20,860 --> 00:55:23,740
Yeah.
And that can really work, can it?

1004
00:55:23,740 --> 00:55:25,420
Yeah. You've saved like that?

1005
00:55:25,420 --> 00:55:28,540
Yeah, fetch them round.
Back from death?

1006
00:55:28,540 --> 00:55:30,020
Just about. Yeah.

1007
00:55:30,020 --> 00:55:32,060
Good Lord.
It's really good.

1008
00:55:42,780 --> 00:55:45,260
This is the room for the night for
me.

1009
00:55:47,780 --> 00:55:50,300
You know, I just cannot...

1010
00:55:50,300 --> 00:55:54,180
I cannot
get over the level of responsibility

1011
00:55:54,180 --> 00:55:58,620
this young man, this lad,
has taken on.

1012
00:56:09,140 --> 00:56:15,380
What a lad he is. He's choosing
to, he's choosing to rise

1013
00:56:15,380 --> 00:56:19,460
to an immense challenge
and attempt to carry it forward.

1014
00:56:19,460 --> 00:56:23,380
What can you have for that other
than enormous respect?

1015
00:56:30,500 --> 00:56:32,940
HE CHUCKLES

1016
00:56:35,180 --> 00:56:36,820
I love that.

1017
00:56:38,860 --> 00:56:43,100
Essential supplies!
Good on them.

1018
00:56:43,100 --> 00:56:44,740
SIMON GROANS

1019
00:56:58,140 --> 00:57:00,100
BANGING AND CREAKING

1020
00:57:06,220 --> 00:57:09,020
It's 5:43 on a Friday
morning.

1021
00:57:10,100 --> 00:57:12,460
Morning. Morning.

1022
00:57:12,460 --> 00:57:14,380
Angus is up, he's about to do
the rounds.

1023
00:57:14,380 --> 00:57:16,340
I need to get my boots on.

1024
00:57:21,140 --> 00:57:26,340
Have they been popped out?
Right there and there, and there at
the top.

1025
00:57:27,540 --> 00:57:29,060
Oh, wow.

1026
00:57:29,060 --> 00:57:31,580
Five births in the last few
hours? Yeah.

1027
00:57:33,620 --> 00:57:34,980
LAMB BLEATS

1028
00:57:34,980 --> 00:57:38,180
What happened to the one from last
night that went in the warming box?

1029
00:57:38,180 --> 00:57:42,220
That one there. It was this one? It
was that one. It looks a lot better
than what it was.

1030
00:57:42,220 --> 00:57:43,620
What a difference.

1031
00:57:43,620 --> 00:57:45,660
From starting to...

1032
00:57:45,660 --> 00:57:48,100
..it's made it through the night.

1033
00:57:50,340 --> 00:57:53,180
I reckon Angus will make
a great success of his farm,

1034
00:57:53,180 --> 00:57:55,220
despite all the challenges.

1035
00:57:56,660 --> 00:57:58,660
Good luck, mate.
Thanks.

1036
00:57:58,660 --> 00:58:00,900
Cumbrians are certainly
a hardy people.

1037
00:58:02,980 --> 00:58:05,900
But I do worry that the Lake
District and much of the British

1038
00:58:05,900 --> 00:58:08,580
countryside is becoming
a tougher place for young people

1039
00:58:08,580 --> 00:58:10,220
to work and thrive.

1040
00:58:12,500 --> 00:58:16,060
Yet this seems like just the time
for us to support farming, young

1041
00:58:16,060 --> 00:58:18,420
farmers and rural communities.

1042
00:58:19,980 --> 00:58:21,980
Shall we go? Come on, Jess.

1043
00:58:21,980 --> 00:58:25,700
Next time - lockdown is ending
and the Lakes are filling up.

1044
00:58:25,700 --> 00:58:28,540
It was a busy time in the Lake
District this summer, and you take

1045
00:58:28,540 --> 00:58:30,620
accommodation wherever
you can get it.

1046
00:58:30,620 --> 00:58:31,980
You have arrived.

1047
00:58:32,980 --> 00:58:35,620
So I think this...is it.

1048
00:59:07,400 --> 00:59:11,000
The Lake District. This is one
of the most romantically beautiful

1049
00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:14,240
regions in the entire country.
It's spectacular here.

1050
00:59:14,800 --> 00:59:19,680
At the heart of Cumbria, magnificent
mountains, glacial valleys...

1051
00:59:20,680 --> 00:59:21,720
You love it!

1052
00:59:21,720 --> 00:59:24,600
..16 glorious lakes and meres.

1053
00:59:24,600 --> 00:59:27,840
This is England's
largest national park.

1054
00:59:27,840 --> 00:59:30,520
Almost a thousand square miles.

1055
00:59:30,520 --> 00:59:32,920
One of the great wonders
of the country.

1056
00:59:32,920 --> 00:59:34,360
Look at this!

1057
00:59:34,360 --> 00:59:38,000
This ancient landscape is seeing
huge changes.

1058
00:59:39,760 --> 00:59:42,920
With millions more Brits now
enjoying the benefits

1059
00:59:42,920 --> 00:59:46,560
of the great outdoors and an influx
of wealthy outsiders...

1060
00:59:46,560 --> 00:59:49,920
That's a car worth as
much as a house.

1061
00:59:49,920 --> 00:59:52,400
..a whole way of life
is under threat.

1062
00:59:53,440 --> 00:59:56,840
I would be better off financially
if I was going and stacking shelves.

1063
00:59:58,120 --> 01:00:01,280
I'll be meeting the people fighting
to preserve and regenerate

1064
01:00:01,280 --> 01:00:03,360
this unique British landscape.

1065
01:00:04,840 --> 01:00:08,000
Look at this! You're standing
on a raft of sphagnum moss.

1066
01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:10,120
And outside the national park,

1067
01:00:10,120 --> 01:00:12,720
I'll be seeing the sights
in the county around it.

1068
01:00:12,720 --> 01:00:14,520
They want me to be the bad guy.

1069
01:00:15,600 --> 01:00:18,000
Step forward against the door!
Get behind the door!

1070
01:00:18,000 --> 01:00:19,240
EXPLOSIONS

1071
01:00:21,280 --> 01:00:25,360
I'm going to be exploring the county
of Cumbria, from its wild coast

1072
01:00:25,360 --> 01:00:29,120
to its soaring peaks and,
of course, its iconic lakes.

1073
01:00:39,200 --> 01:00:42,960
On this second leg of my journey,
I'm starting in the western side

1074
01:00:42,960 --> 01:00:45,400
of the Lake District National Park.

1075
01:00:45,400 --> 01:00:48,320
Lesser visited and utterly stunning.

1076
01:00:48,320 --> 01:00:50,600
I'm finding out more about water
in Cumbria.

1077
01:00:51,600 --> 01:00:53,360
That is bloody gorgeous.

1078
01:00:55,360 --> 01:00:57,440
So this is Wastwater.

1079
01:00:57,440 --> 01:00:59,480
Deepest lake in England.

1080
01:00:59,480 --> 01:01:02,520
Of course, there's water
everywhere in the Lake District.

1081
01:01:02,520 --> 01:01:04,960
After all, Cumbria has some
of the highest rainfall

1082
01:01:04,960 --> 01:01:06,560
of any English county.

1083
01:01:10,640 --> 01:01:14,680
Few people know these meres, lakes
and tarns better than Sarah Barnes,

1084
01:01:14,680 --> 01:01:17,400
one of Britain's best-known
wild swimmers.

1085
01:01:17,400 --> 01:01:19,640
Hardy souls whose idea
of a good time

1086
01:01:19,640 --> 01:01:23,120
is plunging into sometimes freezing
cold water every morning.

1087
01:01:25,640 --> 01:01:27,600
This is completely spectacular.

1088
01:01:28,720 --> 01:01:31,760
Buttermere, tucked away in an
isolated valley,

1089
01:01:31,760 --> 01:01:34,880
is one of the more hidden jewels of
the Lake District.

1090
01:01:34,880 --> 01:01:36,680
It's utterly glorious.

1091
01:01:36,680 --> 01:01:39,120
That view there -

1092
01:01:39,120 --> 01:01:43,920
that is archetypal
Lake District perfection.

1093
01:01:43,920 --> 01:01:47,600
Part of me thinks,
why spoil it with a swim?

1094
01:01:47,600 --> 01:01:50,480
But I think Sarah would think
otherwise.

1095
01:01:50,480 --> 01:01:55,520
No! When you're walking into here,
just think about your breathing.

1096
01:01:55,520 --> 01:01:58,440
Sarah insists newbies pop on an
extra layer,

1097
01:01:58,440 --> 01:02:01,840
but I still felt the full, chilly
pleasures of wild swimming.

1098
01:02:06,720 --> 01:02:09,160
This is completely spectacular.

1099
01:02:09,160 --> 01:02:12,720
I mean, that is the only
appropriate word, really. Mm-hm.

1100
01:02:14,600 --> 01:02:16,440
It's because it's pristine.

1101
01:02:18,760 --> 01:02:22,480
Wild swimming has become something
of a phenomenon in recent years,

1102
01:02:22,480 --> 01:02:24,640
especially during the pandemic,

1103
01:02:24,640 --> 01:02:28,280
encouraged in part by studies that
suggest it really can have

1104
01:02:28,280 --> 01:02:31,480
a powerful impact on mental
and physical health,

1105
01:02:31,480 --> 01:02:33,200
helping a range of conditions.

1106
01:02:34,600 --> 01:02:37,240
Some people find it transforms
their lives.

1107
01:02:39,240 --> 01:02:45,600
There's definitely that clamping
shock, almost, of the cold. Mm-hm.

1108
01:02:45,600 --> 01:02:48,640
But only for about 20 seconds.

1109
01:02:48,640 --> 01:02:50,840
Now you need to just let your mind
enjoy it.

1110
01:02:52,360 --> 01:02:54,920
Is that a big part of it to you?
Absolutely.

1111
01:02:54,920 --> 01:02:58,920
I lost my mobility through
an operation on my legs,

1112
01:02:58,920 --> 01:03:03,160
but it's taken me four years,
really, to walk again without pain.

1113
01:03:03,160 --> 01:03:04,760
Wow.

1114
01:03:04,760 --> 01:03:06,760
And this was for your
osteoarthritis, was it?

1115
01:03:06,760 --> 01:03:08,640
Is that right?
Yes, that's right.

1116
01:03:11,040 --> 01:03:14,160
I knew I needed to do something
to get me back outside,

1117
01:03:14,160 --> 01:03:17,680
and a friend suggested
I tried swimming.

1118
01:03:17,680 --> 01:03:20,880
It was just stunning to be able
to move again.

1119
01:03:20,880 --> 01:03:23,160
It must have been amazing.
It was.

1120
01:03:23,160 --> 01:03:25,000
The feeling was just amazing.

1121
01:03:26,480 --> 01:03:28,160
You know, it numbed the pain.

1122
01:03:28,160 --> 01:03:32,040
And I think cold water reduces
inflammation, which can cause pain.

1123
01:03:32,040 --> 01:03:34,640
And of course, it helps me
emotionally,

1124
01:03:34,640 --> 01:03:38,640
to think that you're back doing
something out here that you love.

1125
01:03:38,640 --> 01:03:41,920
Like a proper mind and body
experience, then?

1126
01:03:41,920 --> 01:03:44,240
Absolutely. Yeah.
Working together.

1127
01:03:47,120 --> 01:03:50,480
Buttermere has a fabulous
glacial beauty.

1128
01:03:50,480 --> 01:03:52,320
Clean, clear.

1129
01:03:52,320 --> 01:03:57,000
Perfect for the soul-enhancing,
life-changing joy of a wild swim.

1130
01:04:03,120 --> 01:04:05,880
We headed to one of the most
famous of all the lakes.

1131
01:04:09,520 --> 01:04:12,800
This is Derwentwater,
just by Keswick.

1132
01:04:12,800 --> 01:04:15,840
I came to Derwentwater a couple
of times when I was young,

1133
01:04:15,840 --> 01:04:17,720
and it still looks spectacular.

1134
01:04:17,720 --> 01:04:20,360
Is this somewhere you swim
or have swum?

1135
01:04:20,360 --> 01:04:23,800
In the past, years and years ago,
I used to swim here,

1136
01:04:23,800 --> 01:04:27,840
but at the moment you can see
there's a big issue. Oh, right.

1137
01:04:42,080 --> 01:04:43,920
So it's not very nice, is it?

1138
01:04:45,120 --> 01:04:46,480
No, it is not.

1139
01:04:48,040 --> 01:04:49,760
This is the problem.

1140
01:04:49,760 --> 01:04:52,480
It's called New Zealand pigmyweed.

1141
01:04:52,480 --> 01:04:56,360
It's brought here to go in people's
aquariums for their fish tanks.

1142
01:04:56,360 --> 01:04:58,120
Oh, dear. It's an invasive species.

1143
01:04:58,120 --> 01:05:00,640
It's a non-native invasive species.

1144
01:05:00,640 --> 01:05:03,840
So this is it here? Yes.
And at the moment,

1145
01:05:03,840 --> 01:05:06,680
it's starting it's really vigorous
cycle of growth.

1146
01:05:06,680 --> 01:05:08,520
This? Yeah.

1147
01:05:08,520 --> 01:05:11,000
When it's in deep water it can...

1148
01:05:11,000 --> 01:05:15,000
It just kind of wafts about
and grows quite slowly.

1149
01:05:15,000 --> 01:05:18,480
And then when it comes closer to the
surface, it starts shooting out

1150
01:05:18,480 --> 01:05:20,800
all the little tendrils
and becomes just a mat.

1151
01:05:20,800 --> 01:05:24,560
But what it does, it reduces
the amount of oxygen in the water,

1152
01:05:24,560 --> 01:05:29,760
for one thing, so that kills the
native species, eventually.

1153
01:05:29,760 --> 01:05:34,000
Here, it's concentrated in a way we
can really see it clogging. Yes.

1154
01:05:34,000 --> 01:05:36,560
But is it then much
further out as well?

1155
01:05:36,560 --> 01:05:39,560
Oh, yeah, it's all over.
It's all over the lake.

1156
01:05:40,840 --> 01:05:46,080
New Zealand pigmyweed was brought to
the UK in 1911 as an aquarium plant.

1157
01:05:46,080 --> 01:05:49,560
First recorded in the wild
in Essex in 1956,

1158
01:05:49,560 --> 01:05:53,800
by 1996 it was detected
here in Derwentwater.

1159
01:05:53,800 --> 01:05:56,880
Its spread has been ferocious,
clogging Derwent

1160
01:05:56,880 --> 01:05:59,560
and several of the major lakes
in the park.

1161
01:05:59,560 --> 01:06:04,280
The thing is, even if we spent
the next ten years of our lives,

1162
01:06:04,280 --> 01:06:06,880
24/7 trying to pull it out,

1163
01:06:06,880 --> 01:06:12,280
if you can't get rid of
every single bit of it, you know,

1164
01:06:12,280 --> 01:06:17,880
it only takes, like, a teeny-weeny
amount to be left in the water

1165
01:06:17,880 --> 01:06:19,400
and it will come back.

1166
01:06:19,400 --> 01:06:22,440
And there's people coming and going
all the time.

1167
01:06:22,440 --> 01:06:25,080
Increasingly, as, you know,
more people come,

1168
01:06:25,080 --> 01:06:26,720
more people have paddleboards.

1169
01:06:26,720 --> 01:06:29,480
You perhaps paddle through
a clump of it.

1170
01:06:29,480 --> 01:06:32,000
You don't know you have,
and it's caught round the fin.

1171
01:06:32,000 --> 01:06:34,840
And then the next day you go off to
another lake

1172
01:06:34,840 --> 01:06:36,680
and it just takes
a tiny little bit.

1173
01:06:38,040 --> 01:06:39,760
So if you're a visitor or tourist,

1174
01:06:39,760 --> 01:06:43,040
Sarah wants you to make sure
you're not spreading the weed.

1175
01:06:49,440 --> 01:06:52,720
The impact of humans
is everywhere here.

1176
01:06:52,720 --> 01:06:55,080
There's tourism, of course, but also
over centuries,

1177
01:06:55,080 --> 01:06:57,800
this whole landscape has been shaped
by farming,

1178
01:06:57,800 --> 01:07:00,640
mining and human engineering
of the environment,

1179
01:07:00,640 --> 01:07:02,400
including some of the lakes.

1180
01:07:02,400 --> 01:07:04,480
Flippin' 'eck!

1181
01:07:04,480 --> 01:07:06,320
So this is Thirlmere.

1182
01:07:06,320 --> 01:07:11,160
This is one of three man-made lakes
in the Lake District.

1183
01:07:12,520 --> 01:07:14,880
An enormous reservoir.

1184
01:07:16,640 --> 01:07:17,960
Look, there!

1185
01:07:17,960 --> 01:07:21,040
In there is a valve
that controls the flow of water

1186
01:07:21,040 --> 01:07:23,880
from this reservoir to the cities
of the North West.

1187
01:07:25,200 --> 01:07:26,840
There you go, Manchester.

1188
01:07:26,840 --> 01:07:31,440
There is a tap in there
that can turn off your water supply.

1189
01:07:32,560 --> 01:07:35,040
We overlook and often ignore
the importance

1190
01:07:35,040 --> 01:07:38,120
of this sort of national
infrastructure now,

1191
01:07:38,120 --> 01:07:40,640
but this is...
This is absolutely critical.

1192
01:07:42,280 --> 01:07:44,600
It's these high fells
we have to thank

1193
01:07:44,600 --> 01:07:47,440
for providing millions of us with
drinking water.

1194
01:07:47,440 --> 01:07:51,640
They fill the reservoirs and provide
the flow for rivers that tumble

1195
01:07:51,640 --> 01:07:54,200
and pour through Cumbria's
villages and towns.

1196
01:07:55,440 --> 01:07:59,600
Several of the rivers converge
on the county's only city, Carlisle,

1197
01:07:59,600 --> 01:08:01,240
which is where I headed next.

1198
01:08:03,520 --> 01:08:05,240
Really like this city.

1199
01:08:05,240 --> 01:08:08,680
It's a bit of an underrated gem,
I think, Carlisle.

1200
01:08:11,720 --> 01:08:13,160
Look at this.

1201
01:08:14,560 --> 01:08:15,960
Carlisle Castle.

1202
01:08:17,200 --> 01:08:18,640
Portcullis entrance.

1203
01:08:20,320 --> 01:08:23,720
The Romans built a fort here
nearly 2,000 years ago.

1204
01:08:23,720 --> 01:08:27,400
The first castle dates back to
1092.

1205
01:08:27,400 --> 01:08:30,040
It's been continuously occupied
ever since.

1206
01:08:30,040 --> 01:08:34,280
Somebody very rudely described this
as the ugliest castle in Europe.

1207
01:08:34,280 --> 01:08:36,880
HE SCOFFS
I do not see that at all.

1208
01:08:36,880 --> 01:08:40,520
I mean, it's certainly not
a flimsy vanity castle.

1209
01:08:40,520 --> 01:08:43,640
It's a proper fortress of a place,

1210
01:08:43,640 --> 01:08:47,440
and it's got a raw beauty
to it and such history.

1211
01:08:48,920 --> 01:08:52,400
Mary Queen of Scots was held
here, for goodness' sake.

1212
01:08:54,400 --> 01:08:57,520
This castle was once a vital
fortress on England's border

1213
01:08:57,520 --> 01:09:00,480
with Scotland, just ten
miles to the north.

1214
01:09:00,480 --> 01:09:03,240
It is said to be the most besieged
building in the country.

1215
01:09:03,240 --> 01:09:04,440
Wow.

1216
01:09:05,760 --> 01:09:08,400
So Scotland is that way...

1217
01:09:10,040 --> 01:09:12,840
..the city of Carlisle
is really just through here.

1218
01:09:12,840 --> 01:09:14,600
Look, there's the cathedral.

1219
01:09:17,680 --> 01:09:21,760
More than 100,000 people live here
and the population is growing.

1220
01:09:21,760 --> 01:09:24,840
Historically, the city's
importance has been partly based

1221
01:09:24,840 --> 01:09:28,920
on its strategic position at the
junction of three major rivers -

1222
01:09:28,920 --> 01:09:32,120
the Caldew, which has its source
high in the Lake District,

1223
01:09:32,120 --> 01:09:34,240
along with the Eden and Petteril.

1224
01:09:34,240 --> 01:09:38,040
That's produced a healthy economy,
but water can bring problems.

1225
01:09:40,520 --> 01:09:44,800
So just over there, there's one
of our finest biscuit factories.

1226
01:09:46,400 --> 01:09:49,240
I'm slightly disappointed...
HE SNIFFS

1227
01:09:49,240 --> 01:09:51,240
..can't smell biscuits
at the moment.

1228
01:09:51,240 --> 01:09:54,760
Now the factory there,
and indeed much of the city,

1229
01:09:54,760 --> 01:09:57,960
was inundated in 2015.

1230
01:09:57,960 --> 01:10:02,240
A terrible flood that hit Carlisle,
you may remember.

1231
01:10:02,240 --> 01:10:05,680
The factory had to close
for several months.

1232
01:10:05,680 --> 01:10:08,680
Caused a bit of a national
biscuit shortage.

1233
01:10:10,760 --> 01:10:14,880
Everybody had said that it was a
one in 600 year flood,

1234
01:10:14,880 --> 01:10:19,480
that it couldn't possibly happen,
but it did.

1235
01:10:21,120 --> 01:10:25,800
Carlisle is one of the UK cities
most vulnerable to flooding.

1236
01:10:25,800 --> 01:10:27,560
In the last couple of decades,

1237
01:10:27,560 --> 01:10:30,200
it's been hit by catastrophic floods
three times.

1238
01:10:33,800 --> 01:10:37,400
Each time, the city's firefighters
have been at the forefront

1239
01:10:37,400 --> 01:10:39,360
of the emergency response.

1240
01:10:43,480 --> 01:10:46,720
Youth Offending Services
or Fire Service?

1241
01:10:46,720 --> 01:10:48,960
Oh. Hey. Hello, Conrad.

1242
01:10:48,960 --> 01:10:51,200
Conrad, come on.
Let's have a little elbow bump.

1243
01:10:51,200 --> 01:10:52,520
Good to meet you, finally.

1244
01:10:52,520 --> 01:10:54,640
Conrad Leather, the station manager,

1245
01:10:54,640 --> 01:10:58,560
was on duty and in the water
during the floods of 2015.

1246
01:10:58,560 --> 01:11:01,520
What happened was the floods,
originally in Carlisle,

1247
01:11:01,520 --> 01:11:04,200
half the city was underwater
and we weren't prepared.

1248
01:11:04,200 --> 01:11:06,480
We didn't have equipment,
we didn't have the training,

1249
01:11:06,480 --> 01:11:08,440
we didn't have the people
and the knowledge.

1250
01:11:08,440 --> 01:11:11,240
We literally had a fire kit.
That was it.

1251
01:11:13,320 --> 01:11:16,120
So this is footage from 2015.

1252
01:11:16,120 --> 01:11:18,080
OK, yeah. Look at that.

1253
01:11:19,600 --> 01:11:21,320
You can see how high the river
is here.

1254
01:11:21,320 --> 01:11:24,480
There's just a fraction
under the bridge showing.

1255
01:11:27,240 --> 01:11:29,360
Look, there's the castle.

1256
01:11:29,360 --> 01:11:32,360
You can see, look, the water's
all around it. It's a moat.

1257
01:11:34,000 --> 01:11:35,600
Look at all the houses here.

1258
01:11:35,600 --> 01:11:38,440
This is right into the centre
of Carlisle

1259
01:11:38,440 --> 01:11:41,760
and you've got this dual
carriageway here

1260
01:11:41,760 --> 01:11:44,960
with the water lapping right up
along it.

1261
01:11:44,960 --> 01:11:47,000
It's a proper disaster zone.

1262
01:11:47,000 --> 01:11:48,520
You couldn't get into the town

1263
01:11:48,520 --> 01:11:51,320
because the road just went
straight underwater.

1264
01:11:51,320 --> 01:11:56,040
So the city of Carlisle, one
of the oldest cities on our island,

1265
01:11:56,040 --> 01:11:59,120
was effectively cut off.
From the north, yeah.

1266
01:12:00,600 --> 01:12:04,920
The 2015 disaster shattered UK
rainfall records,

1267
01:12:04,920 --> 01:12:09,000
notching the single wettest
48-hour period ever.

1268
01:12:09,000 --> 01:12:12,520
It was the worst flood
for more than 500 years.

1269
01:12:12,520 --> 01:12:15,880
Across the North West,
50,000 homes were affected.

1270
01:12:17,320 --> 01:12:20,160
It was everything
from Appleby, Carlisle.

1271
01:12:20,160 --> 01:12:23,080
I live in Kendal
and we were flooded.

1272
01:12:23,080 --> 01:12:27,160
So you just feel personal when all
the people you're talking to,

1273
01:12:27,160 --> 01:12:29,280
you know, we're also affected
as well.

1274
01:12:29,280 --> 01:12:31,520
Now, because of
the climate change and suchlike,

1275
01:12:31,520 --> 01:12:34,840
we have long periods of dry
droughts even in Cumbria here,

1276
01:12:34,840 --> 01:12:36,400
where it's meant to be wet!

1277
01:12:36,400 --> 01:12:39,640
And then we have extreme conditions
where it just starts raining,

1278
01:12:39,640 --> 01:12:42,360
doesn't know when to stop
and we have to respond to that.

1279
01:12:42,360 --> 01:12:45,360
You very quickly said
climate change there. Yeah, yeah.

1280
01:12:45,360 --> 01:12:48,200
You think there is a direct
correlation?

1281
01:12:48,200 --> 01:12:50,600
There's a direct connection?
You see that?

1282
01:12:50,600 --> 01:12:53,560
Yeah, no doubt. For us, we never
experienced anything like

1283
01:12:53,560 --> 01:12:56,400
we've experienced now.
It's just unprecedented.

1284
01:12:58,160 --> 01:13:01,360
The causes of the climate crisis
are something we all need

1285
01:13:01,360 --> 01:13:05,440
to now address because
we're feeling the impact.

1286
01:13:05,440 --> 01:13:08,280
The Fire Service here has had
to massively increase their training

1287
01:13:08,280 --> 01:13:10,160
and equipment for flooding.

1288
01:13:10,160 --> 01:13:12,760
It's so frequent, some of their fire
appliances now carry

1289
01:13:12,760 --> 01:13:15,400
inflatable boats
and outboard engines.

1290
01:13:15,400 --> 01:13:18,360
Following the last disaster,
the Government announced yet another

1291
01:13:18,360 --> 01:13:22,600
upgrade to Carlisle's flood defences
- a £25 million scheme

1292
01:13:22,600 --> 01:13:26,920
to create a ring of flood walls,
raised embankments and barriers

1293
01:13:26,920 --> 01:13:30,880
to try to contain the river
and stop it bursting its banks.

1294
01:13:30,880 --> 01:13:33,880
Across the country, we spend
hundreds of millions of pounds

1295
01:13:33,880 --> 01:13:36,720
on such projects each year,
and that's set to double.

1296
01:13:36,720 --> 01:13:40,880
But many experts think we can't
just keep building higher walls

1297
01:13:40,880 --> 01:13:44,400
and that possible solutions
to our growing flooding problem

1298
01:13:44,400 --> 01:13:46,600
lie further upstream.

1299
01:13:46,600 --> 01:13:49,360
I headed back into
the Lake District.

1300
01:13:49,360 --> 01:13:52,440
I'm just following one of the rivers
that flows through Carlisle,

1301
01:13:52,440 --> 01:13:55,640
back out of the city, upstream.

1302
01:13:55,640 --> 01:13:59,560
I'm hoping to meet up with two
scientists who are trying to change

1303
01:13:59,560 --> 01:14:01,920
the entire way we think
about our rivers.

1304
01:14:03,120 --> 01:14:06,000
I went to see internationally
renowned river experts

1305
01:14:06,000 --> 01:14:08,560
from the School of Science,
Engineering and Environment

1306
01:14:08,560 --> 01:14:10,240
at the University of Salford -

1307
01:14:10,240 --> 01:14:14,720
Dr George Heritage
and Dr Neil Entwistle.

1308
01:14:14,720 --> 01:14:18,800
They've been studying the Caldew
River for the best part of a decade.

1309
01:14:18,800 --> 01:14:21,840
You look around us here,
it's a rural idyll,

1310
01:14:21,840 --> 01:14:24,640
you know, it's a long, long way
from Carlisle.

1311
01:14:24,640 --> 01:14:27,760
But the thing about the river is,
what happens up here

1312
01:14:27,760 --> 01:14:31,680
transfers very, very quickly
down to Carlisle.

1313
01:14:31,680 --> 01:14:34,280
And part of the reason
for that transfer is the fact

1314
01:14:34,280 --> 01:14:36,760
that we've actually changed
this rural landscape.

1315
01:14:36,760 --> 01:14:39,720
So if you look just over here,
just behind George,

1316
01:14:39,720 --> 01:14:42,360
you can see these big embankments.
Yeah.

1317
01:14:42,360 --> 01:14:46,400
And essentially, that's trying
to keep water in this channel

1318
01:14:46,400 --> 01:14:50,560
rather than allowing that river to
fundamentally flood the flood plain.

1319
01:14:53,680 --> 01:14:55,320
Look at the height of it!

1320
01:14:56,560 --> 01:15:00,360
So at this point, look, I mean,
that's nearly...

1321
01:15:00,360 --> 01:15:02,360
This is six foot down.

1322
01:15:02,360 --> 01:15:06,320
I mean, this river, this is
a fabulously engineered river,

1323
01:15:06,320 --> 01:15:09,880
as are most of our rivers in this
country, to be honest with you.

1324
01:15:09,880 --> 01:15:13,640
You know, we feel we're in a rural
landscape, but in fact,

1325
01:15:13,640 --> 01:15:17,280
it's been managed - changed
and managed - over centuries.

1326
01:15:18,920 --> 01:15:20,880
Take this one. That's a feed from...
Oh, right.

1327
01:15:20,880 --> 01:15:23,360
It's going to be the viewing screen.
That's right. Thank you.

1328
01:15:25,000 --> 01:15:28,920
George and Neil use drones to study
and illustrate just how engineered

1329
01:15:28,920 --> 01:15:30,680
Britain's rivers actually are.

1330
01:15:30,680 --> 01:15:33,320
How we've shaped and straightened
hundreds of them.

1331
01:15:33,320 --> 01:15:37,320
My God! You can see it straight
across the middle of the screen.

1332
01:15:37,320 --> 01:15:40,840
So the river is like an arrow.

1333
01:15:40,840 --> 01:15:43,080
Straight, almost like
an arrow, for...

1334
01:15:44,080 --> 01:15:46,120
It must be for more than a mile.

1335
01:15:46,120 --> 01:15:49,160
That river is perfectly straight.

1336
01:15:49,160 --> 01:15:51,720
You've got the embankments,
both sides of the river,

1337
01:15:51,720 --> 01:15:54,880
to funnel that water
through this environment

1338
01:15:54,880 --> 01:15:58,240
and off to Carlisle
as quick as possible.

1339
01:15:58,240 --> 01:16:01,120
So it's turning the river
into a pipe, really.

1340
01:16:01,120 --> 01:16:03,600
A really quick flume, yeah.

1341
01:16:03,600 --> 01:16:06,840
Straightening a river means
more land for farming.

1342
01:16:06,840 --> 01:16:09,920
Building up the sides means
the river won't flood the fields

1343
01:16:09,920 --> 01:16:12,320
and damage fragile modern crops.

1344
01:16:12,320 --> 01:16:15,360
Neil says more than 60%
of the UK's rivers

1345
01:16:15,360 --> 01:16:17,800
have been modified and engineered.

1346
01:16:17,800 --> 01:16:21,000
So this is the river just there.

1347
01:16:21,000 --> 01:16:24,840
At the very least,
it should be bendy. Bendy. Bendy.

1348
01:16:24,840 --> 01:16:27,360
Wiggly? Meandering, wiggly, bendy.
Yeah.

1349
01:16:27,360 --> 01:16:29,800
Because nature is not straight,
is it?

1350
01:16:29,800 --> 01:16:31,000
No, absolutely.

1351
01:16:31,000 --> 01:16:35,520
We've basically just tried as hard
as we can to keep the river

1352
01:16:35,520 --> 01:16:39,760
in the channel and the rest
of the flood plain for farming.

1353
01:16:39,760 --> 01:16:42,440
This is something
we often fail to understand,

1354
01:16:42,440 --> 01:16:44,200
is that the river itself,

1355
01:16:44,200 --> 01:16:47,440
the wet bit and the flood plain
work together.

1356
01:16:47,440 --> 01:16:50,280
These embankments prevent that.

1357
01:16:50,280 --> 01:16:52,360
And the other issue that we have

1358
01:16:52,360 --> 01:16:55,720
is that the vegetation
is now very unnatural.

1359
01:16:55,720 --> 01:16:57,880
We have a managed grassland
system here.

1360
01:16:57,880 --> 01:17:00,440
When the water comes out
of the river,

1361
01:17:00,440 --> 01:17:04,560
it can flow over that almost as fast
as it does in the river itself.

1362
01:17:04,560 --> 01:17:07,080
So everything is moving
really, really quickly

1363
01:17:07,080 --> 01:17:09,000
down towards Carlisle.

1364
01:17:09,000 --> 01:17:11,160
And in fairness to farmers
around here,

1365
01:17:11,160 --> 01:17:13,680
this is something that's happened
over hundreds of years.

1366
01:17:13,680 --> 01:17:19,160
It was encouraged, led and some
of it paid for by the Government,

1367
01:17:19,160 --> 01:17:23,120
which wanted to create more farmland
to feed our country

1368
01:17:23,120 --> 01:17:26,880
on our little island.
Yes, absolutely. That is right.

1369
01:17:26,880 --> 01:17:32,800
This was fundamentally driven
through grants, capital aid.

1370
01:17:32,800 --> 01:17:37,560
And as a result of that money, we
see the landscape that we have now

1371
01:17:37,560 --> 01:17:40,920
and we see the problems that we have
now in our urban areas.

1372
01:17:43,480 --> 01:17:46,120
I think what I've learnt
here has made me realise

1373
01:17:46,120 --> 01:17:50,240
that all of the changes that have
been made to this landscape

1374
01:17:50,240 --> 01:17:53,480
mean that when there is a storm,
the water gets into this river

1375
01:17:53,480 --> 01:17:57,360
and it hurtles down towards
a settlement like Carlisle.

1376
01:18:01,800 --> 01:18:05,040
Neil and George took me to see
what the Caldew River can look like

1377
01:18:05,040 --> 01:18:07,280
when nature is allowed
to take its course.

1378
01:18:07,280 --> 01:18:09,160
It's lovely.

1379
01:18:09,160 --> 01:18:11,520
Certainly different.
Looks great.

1380
01:18:11,520 --> 01:18:14,240
It's because it's natural.
It's absolutely natural.

1381
01:18:14,240 --> 01:18:17,000
We're only three miles away
from Carlisle, believe it or not.

1382
01:18:17,000 --> 01:18:18,280
Wow.

1383
01:18:18,280 --> 01:18:21,880
All the river's done here is to do
what it wants to do naturally.

1384
01:18:24,320 --> 01:18:26,280
So what a contrast now.

1385
01:18:26,280 --> 01:18:28,840
Straight away, you see the bend.

1386
01:18:28,840 --> 01:18:31,080
And look at that great big
gravel bar there now,

1387
01:18:31,080 --> 01:18:34,400
and that just wasn't there before,
in the old box channel.

1388
01:18:34,400 --> 01:18:35,920
I can even see on this,

1389
01:18:35,920 --> 01:18:39,360
there aren't giant embankments
holding the river in place.

1390
01:18:39,360 --> 01:18:41,560
Lots of little islands as well.
Thank you for this.

1391
01:18:41,560 --> 01:18:44,320
That river's been allowed to have
that little element

1392
01:18:44,320 --> 01:18:47,920
of being dynamic. Yeah. To be
natural. To carve its own path.

1393
01:18:47,920 --> 01:18:51,800
That's absolutely the opposite of
what we saw up at Mosedale.

1394
01:18:51,800 --> 01:18:54,600
You see, look at the bend
in the river here.

1395
01:18:54,600 --> 01:18:57,760
Anything, when you put bends in,
on a road or a river,

1396
01:18:57,760 --> 01:19:00,040
stuff has to slow down, doesn't it?

1397
01:19:00,040 --> 01:19:01,720
And the vegetation.

1398
01:19:01,720 --> 01:19:05,200
More importantly, the vegetation
that's on this area here

1399
01:19:05,200 --> 01:19:07,840
is much... You can see it.
It's taller than we are.

1400
01:19:07,840 --> 01:19:11,200
During a flood event, when the
river's covering all this area,

1401
01:19:11,200 --> 01:19:13,920
it will be slowing that flow
of water down towards Carlisle,

1402
01:19:13,920 --> 01:19:16,120
so it's absolutely a win-win.

1403
01:19:18,800 --> 01:19:22,400
After a series of floods, George
helped persuade the landowner here

1404
01:19:22,400 --> 01:19:25,200
to leave the river to bend
and meander its natural way

1405
01:19:25,200 --> 01:19:27,200
and to let the trees grow back.

1406
01:19:27,200 --> 01:19:29,960
It's also been a massive boost
for biodiversity

1407
01:19:29,960 --> 01:19:34,000
as the slower, wiggly river provides
new habitat for plants, birds,

1408
01:19:34,000 --> 01:19:35,800
insects and fish.

1409
01:19:35,800 --> 01:19:38,040
We've tried to engineer our way

1410
01:19:38,040 --> 01:19:41,560
and manage our way out of problems
for decades now.

1411
01:19:41,560 --> 01:19:44,800
You know, if we have a flood, we go
back and we repair the damage

1412
01:19:44,800 --> 01:19:47,840
and we build the walls higher.
That's not the answer.

1413
01:19:47,840 --> 01:19:52,520
What we have to do is to start
to understand and work with nature

1414
01:19:52,520 --> 01:19:55,880
and realise that nature
has the answers.

1415
01:19:55,880 --> 01:20:01,400
We researched this and we've shown
that this is brilliant

1416
01:20:01,400 --> 01:20:05,840
for helping Carlisle and its
mitigation of future flooding.

1417
01:20:05,840 --> 01:20:08,160
And we're just talking Cumbria here,
are we?

1418
01:20:08,160 --> 01:20:10,440
We certainly are not
just talking Cumbria.

1419
01:20:10,440 --> 01:20:13,000
We suffer floods across
the whole of the country.

1420
01:20:13,000 --> 01:20:14,840
The river knows what it wants

1421
01:20:14,840 --> 01:20:17,960
and if we give the river
that opportunity, it will take it.

1422
01:20:17,960 --> 01:20:19,440
Believe me.

1423
01:20:19,440 --> 01:20:23,000
And we will see more of this
and I will be even happier.

1424
01:20:23,000 --> 01:20:25,680
Make George a happy man!
Make me a happy man!

1425
01:20:25,680 --> 01:20:28,160
Yes, it's not easy,
but it will happen.

1426
01:20:28,160 --> 01:20:31,120
Now your whole demeanour's
changed. Indeed, indeed.

1427
01:20:31,120 --> 01:20:35,520
This is not taking too much
out of the resources

1428
01:20:35,520 --> 01:20:37,680
that we have in the country,

1429
01:20:37,680 --> 01:20:40,560
but it's giving back
an enormous amount.

1430
01:20:44,080 --> 01:20:46,560
George and Neil are geomorphologists

1431
01:20:46,560 --> 01:20:50,400
who study how the landscape is
shaped, especially by rivers.

1432
01:20:50,400 --> 01:20:52,760
After years of banging on
about this stuff,

1433
01:20:52,760 --> 01:20:55,480
George feels people are finally
beginning to listen.

1434
01:20:56,920 --> 01:21:00,560
There are now projects across
the country to restore

1435
01:21:00,560 --> 01:21:03,800
the natural flow of our rivers.

1436
01:21:03,800 --> 01:21:06,520
Rewiggling our rivers!

1437
01:21:08,520 --> 01:21:11,680
Rewiggling a river
is a form of rewilding,

1438
01:21:11,680 --> 01:21:14,600
taking it back
to a more natural state.

1439
01:21:14,600 --> 01:21:18,240
I drove to the top of the Ullswater
Valley, where the River Goldrill

1440
01:21:18,240 --> 01:21:21,080
has been engineered and channelled
to run straight as a die

1441
01:21:21,080 --> 01:21:23,520
alongside the A592.

1442
01:21:23,520 --> 01:21:25,560
In recent years,
it's repeatedly flooded,

1443
01:21:25,560 --> 01:21:27,560
blocking a major transport link.

1444
01:21:28,840 --> 01:21:30,640
With Doctors George and Neil,

1445
01:21:30,640 --> 01:21:33,640
I met up with Becky Powell,
who works for the National Trust.

1446
01:21:35,640 --> 01:21:39,360
She's running a huge new rewiggling
project George has devised.

1447
01:21:40,920 --> 01:21:42,760
So what's happening here?

1448
01:21:42,760 --> 01:21:46,080
So, today between these two posts,

1449
01:21:46,080 --> 01:21:48,800
we're breaking ground on this part
of the new channel.

1450
01:21:48,800 --> 01:21:51,680
You're creating a new river.
Yes.

1451
01:21:51,680 --> 01:21:54,800
It's astonishing
and it's happening now.

1452
01:21:54,800 --> 01:21:56,400
It's happening right now.

1453
01:21:56,400 --> 01:21:59,000
This feels a bit ceremonial,
doesn't it? Yes.

1454
01:22:01,640 --> 01:22:04,520
There we go. But I'm not going to
get very far with a spade.

1455
01:22:04,520 --> 01:22:06,160
LAUGHTER

1456
01:22:10,960 --> 01:22:14,720
The plan is to break the artificial
banks that hold in the river

1457
01:22:14,720 --> 01:22:17,760
and allow it to flow out
through this flood plain.

1458
01:22:17,760 --> 01:22:21,480
To give it a helping hand, they're
digging a rough, curved new channel.

1459
01:22:23,520 --> 01:22:25,080
It makes an absolute mess.

1460
01:22:25,080 --> 01:22:29,560
Of course it does initially,
but in such a short space of time,

1461
01:22:29,560 --> 01:22:33,600
nature will find it a new balance,
a new niche and hole.

1462
01:22:35,440 --> 01:22:38,080
The tenant farmers here
are getting a new government grant

1463
01:22:38,080 --> 01:22:40,480
for this scheme, called,
appropriately enough,

1464
01:22:40,480 --> 01:22:42,480
Making Space for Water.

1465
01:22:42,480 --> 01:22:45,800
Instead of providing incentives for
farmers to straighten

1466
01:22:45,800 --> 01:22:49,080
and control rivers, now they're
being encouraged and compensated

1467
01:22:49,080 --> 01:22:52,240
for returning some of them
to their natural state.

1468
01:22:53,920 --> 01:22:56,760
What's the plan? It looks as though
it's quite shallow at the moment.

1469
01:22:56,760 --> 01:22:59,120
We're used to seeing
very deep channels

1470
01:22:59,120 --> 01:23:01,600
because we're used to seeing
very artificial channels.

1471
01:23:01,600 --> 01:23:03,360
So walled, straight and deep.

1472
01:23:03,360 --> 01:23:06,520
Whereas what we should be used to,
and what we'll get here,

1473
01:23:06,520 --> 01:23:09,840
is a much wider and shallower
river channel.

1474
01:23:09,840 --> 01:23:13,520
So water will spill out
over the sides? Yeah.

1475
01:23:13,520 --> 01:23:16,960
Naturally, deliberately.
Naturally, deliberately. Yeah.

1476
01:23:16,960 --> 01:23:19,920
We're giving the river and
the water a nudge

1477
01:23:19,920 --> 01:23:23,960
to then do what it would like to do
across this whole area.

1478
01:23:29,480 --> 01:23:33,280
And see, behind me, there's two bits
of open water. Right.

1479
01:23:33,280 --> 01:23:36,240
The river will flow down both
of those channels.

1480
01:23:36,240 --> 01:23:40,200
It will meet again and become one
just in front of that woodland.

1481
01:23:40,200 --> 01:23:44,760
And through that woodland, it will
split into lots of small channels

1482
01:23:44,760 --> 01:23:47,640
and really create a very wet
woodland habitat.

1483
01:23:49,160 --> 01:23:52,760
More than a mile of river is being
restored as a bendy, wiggly channel

1484
01:23:52,760 --> 01:23:56,280
that would once have meandered
through this landscape.

1485
01:23:56,280 --> 01:23:58,800
It's the biggest project
of its kind,

1486
01:23:58,800 --> 01:24:03,120
but thousands of miles of our rivers
have been artificially straightened.

1487
01:24:03,120 --> 01:24:06,920
So, like George and Neil,
Becky hopes this is just the start.

1488
01:24:06,920 --> 01:24:12,920
The more we do, the more we can chip
away at these modified systems

1489
01:24:12,920 --> 01:24:15,880
and work with water
rather than against it,

1490
01:24:15,880 --> 01:24:18,000
the better chance
we're going to have,

1491
01:24:18,000 --> 01:24:20,240
both for the environment
and for climate change.

1492
01:24:20,240 --> 01:24:23,240
How does this help mitigate
climate change?

1493
01:24:23,240 --> 01:24:26,320
We're seeing much wetter winters

1494
01:24:26,320 --> 01:24:30,560
and also much more frequent
summer flooding events.

1495
01:24:30,560 --> 01:24:32,000
It'll help with that.

1496
01:24:32,000 --> 01:24:34,200
There's a nodding Neil,

1497
01:24:34,200 --> 01:24:37,920
and George is looking romantically
into the distance

1498
01:24:37,920 --> 01:24:40,200
at the future you're creating.

1499
01:24:40,200 --> 01:24:43,400
Again, a happy face.
Yeah? Yes, yes. Brilliant!

1500
01:24:44,920 --> 01:24:48,480
Before the water is diverted
into the new wiggly channel,

1501
01:24:48,480 --> 01:24:50,720
the team here needs to make sure
the inhabitants

1502
01:24:50,720 --> 01:24:53,320
of the existing river
aren't left high and dry.

1503
01:24:56,800 --> 01:25:00,560
This is to make sure that before
we do anything to this channel,

1504
01:25:00,560 --> 01:25:03,520
when the new one's connected,
that there's no fish

1505
01:25:03,520 --> 01:25:07,720
or very few fish in, and they've all
been relocated to a safe place.

1506
01:25:07,720 --> 01:25:11,040
You are moving the fish?
Moving the fish.

1507
01:25:11,040 --> 01:25:14,480
What's he got? It's like
a Ghostbusters pack on here.

1508
01:25:14,480 --> 01:25:18,960
That's an electrical rod that puts
an electrical current in the water.

1509
01:25:18,960 --> 01:25:22,200
No! Stuns the fish and then
they can lift them out.

1510
01:25:22,200 --> 01:25:23,760
Doesn't harm the fish at all.

1511
01:25:25,800 --> 01:25:28,520
As part of this, we don't want to be
damaging the ecosystem

1512
01:25:28,520 --> 01:25:30,120
that's already here. Yeah.

1513
01:25:30,120 --> 01:25:34,000
They've been pulling out a lot of
variety of fish, mostly quite small.

1514
01:25:34,000 --> 01:25:37,840
In the engineered channel, they
can't cope with the fast flows.

1515
01:25:37,840 --> 01:25:40,480
Right. They eventually get taken
downstream.

1516
01:25:40,480 --> 01:25:43,640
But what we will be creating
is a whole series of channels

1517
01:25:43,640 --> 01:25:46,520
and areas which are faster,
areas which are slower.

1518
01:25:46,520 --> 01:25:49,160
Those fish can move into those
slower areas

1519
01:25:49,160 --> 01:25:51,600
and they stay in this habitat.

1520
01:25:55,480 --> 01:25:58,360
I think we've caught somewhere in
the region of 5,000 fish to date,

1521
01:25:58,360 --> 01:26:01,200
during the rescues.
SIMON CHUCKLES

1522
01:26:01,200 --> 01:26:03,800
A really good example
of a lovely trout there.

1523
01:26:03,800 --> 01:26:06,200
And we've also got Atlantic salmon.

1524
01:26:06,200 --> 01:26:09,560
You've got Atlantic salmon?!
Here's a tiny little salmon.

1525
01:26:09,560 --> 01:26:13,200
The new habitat that's being created
is going to be absolutely fantastic

1526
01:26:13,200 --> 01:26:16,920
for the fish and for, you know,
a wealth of wildlife as well.

1527
01:26:16,920 --> 01:26:19,480
Atlantic salmon is one of
the species that has taken

1528
01:26:19,480 --> 01:26:24,360
an absolute hammering in recent
decades, declining 70% in 25 years.

1529
01:26:25,800 --> 01:26:28,800
As well as reducing flooding, these
river rewiggling schemes

1530
01:26:28,800 --> 01:26:31,480
offer a massive boost for wildlife.

1531
01:26:31,480 --> 01:26:34,680
They're ready to go? Yeah. In the
new channel that's been constructed

1532
01:26:34,680 --> 01:26:36,960
there'll be some wonderful gravels
in there,

1533
01:26:36,960 --> 01:26:39,400
and hopefully it will come back
and spawn in that new channel.

1534
01:26:39,400 --> 01:26:42,320
And that's what the project's all
about - improving the habitat.

1535
01:26:42,320 --> 01:26:43,840
That's the whole idea. Yeah.

1536
01:26:45,080 --> 01:26:46,840
Lovely big trout,
getting away there.

1537
01:26:53,800 --> 01:26:56,800
I left the river valleys
and headed up into the hills.

1538
01:26:59,520 --> 01:27:03,040
The wildest part of the Lakes
is surely the high fells,

1539
01:27:03,040 --> 01:27:05,640
some of the greatest mountain
landscapes in the country.

1540
01:27:12,480 --> 01:27:17,720
Over all these summits towers one
formidable mountain - Scafell Pike,

1541
01:27:17,720 --> 01:27:20,000
the highest peak in England.

1542
01:27:20,000 --> 01:27:21,600
Time to go for a hike.

1543
01:27:23,440 --> 01:27:25,120
All right, Penny.

1544
01:27:25,120 --> 01:27:27,120
I've faffed. I put my boots on.

1545
01:27:27,120 --> 01:27:29,560
I think I'm sort of ready.
Looking good. Yes.

1546
01:27:29,560 --> 01:27:32,600
I've got a waterproof. Uh-huh.
Definitely sensible. You never know.

1547
01:27:32,600 --> 01:27:35,440
Where we're going it's going to be
ten degrees colder

1548
01:27:35,440 --> 01:27:37,440
than it is down here, and windier.

1549
01:27:37,440 --> 01:27:40,720
Are we ready? We are.
Shall we go? Come on, Jess.

1550
01:27:40,720 --> 01:27:44,600
Penny Kirby is a leader
of the mountain rescue team here.

1551
01:27:44,600 --> 01:27:47,840
She and her search dog, Jess,
had offered to be my guides

1552
01:27:47,840 --> 01:27:49,920
and look after me
on the three-hour trek

1553
01:27:49,920 --> 01:27:53,000
to the top of what's often locally
called "Scawfell".

1554
01:27:58,560 --> 01:28:00,280
Come on, lovely.

1555
01:28:00,280 --> 01:28:02,120
Jess! Come on.

1556
01:28:03,880 --> 01:28:05,680
But I'm bloody loving it!

1557
01:28:05,680 --> 01:28:07,120
It's an absolute delight.

1558
01:28:07,120 --> 01:28:09,800
Thank you so much for bringing
us up here.

1559
01:28:09,800 --> 01:28:11,640
You superstar!

1560
01:28:11,640 --> 01:28:14,560
Did you make it to the top?
Yes, we did.

1561
01:28:14,560 --> 01:28:16,480
Enjoy your climb.
We'll try. You too.

1562
01:28:17,680 --> 01:28:19,720
Thank you. Thanks.

1563
01:28:19,720 --> 01:28:21,760
Thank you. Sorry for keeping you.

1564
01:28:23,600 --> 01:28:25,240
Sorry, thank you.

1565
01:28:26,640 --> 01:28:29,240
It's not the place to go
if you want to get away from folk.

1566
01:28:31,440 --> 01:28:35,560
This is one of the most heavily
used footpaths of its kind

1567
01:28:35,560 --> 01:28:38,000
in the world, I think, isn't it?

1568
01:28:38,000 --> 01:28:39,640
And not just Scawfell.

1569
01:28:39,640 --> 01:28:42,920
Helvellyn, and places like that,
the big ones.

1570
01:28:42,920 --> 01:28:45,520
They attract a lot of attention.

1571
01:28:45,520 --> 01:28:47,560
And if you look at that path

1572
01:28:47,560 --> 01:28:51,240
that's disappearing round the
hillside there... Mm.

1573
01:28:51,240 --> 01:28:53,280
A few years ago,
it was three foot wide,

1574
01:28:53,280 --> 01:28:55,840
and by the following summer
it was ten foot wide.

1575
01:28:55,840 --> 01:28:58,040
And then you've got a little
motorway.

1576
01:28:58,040 --> 01:28:59,760
There's so much pressure
on them now

1577
01:28:59,760 --> 01:29:02,560
because they're having to
accommodate more and more visitors.

1578
01:29:02,560 --> 01:29:07,040
I was stunned by how many people
were walking, but also delighted.

1579
01:29:07,040 --> 01:29:11,160
We need more exercise and outdoors
in our lives.

1580
01:29:11,160 --> 01:29:13,960
We have to make it possible
and sustainable.

1581
01:29:15,600 --> 01:29:17,280
Oh, right, look.

1582
01:29:17,280 --> 01:29:18,720
"Fix the Fells."

1583
01:29:21,120 --> 01:29:22,880
Hello, hello.

1584
01:29:22,880 --> 01:29:24,520
Hello, Simon! I'm Jack.

1585
01:29:24,520 --> 01:29:26,720
Jack! Yeah. Hello. Nice to meet you.

1586
01:29:26,720 --> 01:29:28,600
What are you doing and why?

1587
01:29:28,600 --> 01:29:31,000
Well, the original paths
were a bit more meandering

1588
01:29:31,000 --> 01:29:32,560
with smaller, cobbly stone.

1589
01:29:32,560 --> 01:29:35,360
So nowadays we get sort of broader,
flatter surfaces

1590
01:29:35,360 --> 01:29:37,120
that are more easy to walk on.

1591
01:29:37,120 --> 01:29:39,680
Added to that, we're having to make
it wider as well

1592
01:29:39,680 --> 01:29:42,920
because 30 years ago, if a couple of
hundred people walked up the hill

1593
01:29:42,920 --> 01:29:44,640
in the morning, that was a busy day.

1594
01:29:44,640 --> 01:29:46,880
Now, on a busy day you get
a thousand people,

1595
01:29:46,880 --> 01:29:49,120
so we need a wider path.
A thousand a day?!

1596
01:29:49,120 --> 01:29:52,360
Yeah, yeah. In the course of a year,
100,000 walk up this route.

1597
01:29:52,360 --> 01:29:53,800
Are you Ian?

1598
01:29:53,800 --> 01:29:56,840
I'm Ian, yeah. I've been...
Have you been Ian forever?

1599
01:29:56,840 --> 01:29:59,840
Well, well into the last century!
When I started doing this job,

1600
01:29:59,840 --> 01:30:02,120
Margaret Thatcher was still
Prime Minister.

1601
01:30:02,120 --> 01:30:04,280
This is the guy who knows
exactly when he laid

1602
01:30:04,280 --> 01:30:06,120
all these sections of path.

1603
01:30:06,120 --> 01:30:08,360
All right, Ian, what can I do?

1604
01:30:08,360 --> 01:30:10,640
Well, it might be handy
if I get a...

1605
01:30:11,840 --> 01:30:14,480
Ian and his team are one of four
groups of rangers

1606
01:30:14,480 --> 01:30:17,880
employed all year round to maintain
the tracks.

1607
01:30:17,880 --> 01:30:20,000
Every year, they move tonnes
of rock around

1608
01:30:20,000 --> 01:30:21,360
to help rebuild the paths.

1609
01:30:23,000 --> 01:30:24,400
I'll grab this one.

1610
01:30:24,400 --> 01:30:25,960
Tipping over?

1611
01:30:25,960 --> 01:30:28,280
Yeah, I'm sort of thinking
that flat top there.

1612
01:30:28,280 --> 01:30:30,960
It's quite a good face, that,
because it's got a rough surface.

1613
01:30:30,960 --> 01:30:33,840
There's a bit of grip.
What happens if you don't do this?

1614
01:30:33,840 --> 01:30:36,600
The narrower cobbled paths,
they just get ignored

1615
01:30:36,600 --> 01:30:39,040
or after a while, everyone's
wearing away the sides,

1616
01:30:39,040 --> 01:30:40,520
so the path's getting even wider.

1617
01:30:40,520 --> 01:30:42,520
So if you can keep them to the path

1618
01:30:42,520 --> 01:30:45,320
you're reducing the overall
erosion... Oh, yeah. Definitely.

1619
01:30:45,320 --> 01:30:47,200
..of the mountain.

1620
01:30:47,200 --> 01:30:49,840
It's got a pretty good
sort of, position.

1621
01:30:49,840 --> 01:30:52,040
So now it's just a case
of actually getting it flat.

1622
01:30:52,040 --> 01:30:53,800
He wants you to stick
to the path.

1623
01:30:53,800 --> 01:30:55,920
Just so you know. Cheers! Thanks.

1624
01:30:58,560 --> 01:31:01,600
People who wouldn't normally climb
a mountain have to do Scafell Pike.

1625
01:31:01,600 --> 01:31:03,800
It's one of those things
you have to do just because.

1626
01:31:03,800 --> 01:31:06,920
We don't want to be making things
too much like parks to visit.

1627
01:31:06,920 --> 01:31:09,960
You have to sort of avoid
making them too accessible.

1628
01:31:09,960 --> 01:31:12,200
We can't make everything
perfectly safe.

1629
01:31:12,200 --> 01:31:14,600
We've got to the point now,
it's touching that one.

1630
01:31:14,600 --> 01:31:16,640
Just about touching
that touching that one there.

1631
01:31:16,640 --> 01:31:19,200
So, yeah. So now...
Feel free to test this one.

1632
01:31:19,200 --> 01:31:22,120
To see what you think.
You can give him some feedback.

1633
01:31:22,120 --> 01:31:23,760
He's been restoring it.

1634
01:31:23,760 --> 01:31:26,440
Oh, yeah. Yes? Sturdy, isn't it?
That's good.

1635
01:31:26,440 --> 01:31:29,880
I always fall over there,
trying to get across. Yeah, yeah.

1636
01:31:29,880 --> 01:31:33,120
You're doing a great job.
Thanks. Bit of feedback there, Ian.

1637
01:31:33,120 --> 01:31:35,520
It's good to hear, isn't it?
Absolutely, yeah.

1638
01:31:35,520 --> 01:31:37,640
Cheers, guys. Good luck with it.

1639
01:31:37,640 --> 01:31:40,360
I'll enjoy your handiwork
on the way down, hopefully.

1640
01:31:40,360 --> 01:31:42,000
Sorry. That's all right.

1641
01:31:44,280 --> 01:31:47,120
On a lovely day like this,
the trek isn't too taxing,

1642
01:31:47,120 --> 01:31:49,360
but the weather can turn, brutally.

1643
01:31:50,400 --> 01:31:53,440
Some walkers can be woefully
unprepared or terribly unlucky.

1644
01:31:55,040 --> 01:31:56,840
The mountain rescue teams
in the Lakes

1645
01:31:56,840 --> 01:31:58,440
are the busiest in the country.

1646
01:31:58,440 --> 01:32:00,240
They're all unpaid volunteers.

1647
01:32:00,240 --> 01:32:02,480
Penny's a retired social worker.

1648
01:32:02,480 --> 01:32:05,880
Highly skilled, they're summoned
by 999 call.

1649
01:32:05,880 --> 01:32:08,680
Yet they receive
no government funding

1650
01:32:08,680 --> 01:32:12,320
and rely on donations to run their
24-hour public service.

1651
01:32:12,320 --> 01:32:15,720
So when people get lost up here,
and they do regularly,

1652
01:32:15,720 --> 01:32:18,200
there's a path junction,
and very often in bad weather,

1653
01:32:18,200 --> 01:32:20,720
you've got your hood up,
you're just looking at the ground.

1654
01:32:20,720 --> 01:32:22,760
You miss the turning off to the left

1655
01:32:22,760 --> 01:32:26,320
and you come down here and...
Oh, my goodness.

1656
01:32:26,320 --> 01:32:29,280
SIMON GASPS
Quite impressive, isn't it?

1657
01:32:29,280 --> 01:32:30,920
Yes, it is. Yeah.

1658
01:32:30,920 --> 01:32:33,640
This is Piers Gill. Piers Gill.

1659
01:32:33,640 --> 01:32:35,840
It's one of our accident
black spots.

1660
01:32:37,240 --> 01:32:41,640
On a map, the ravine can look like a
short cut down Scafell Pike,

1661
01:32:41,640 --> 01:32:46,040
but in reality it's a treacherous
route with several sheer drops.

1662
01:32:46,040 --> 01:32:49,280
Penny wants to warn people
against trying it.

1663
01:32:51,160 --> 01:32:54,720
People get lost and it sucks
you in at the top and you think,

1664
01:32:54,720 --> 01:32:56,600
"Oh, this is a nice way down,"

1665
01:32:56,600 --> 01:33:01,160
but it turns into several waterfall
pitches that you cannot climb down.

1666
01:33:02,480 --> 01:33:05,320
A guy fell into here, broke a leg

1667
01:33:05,320 --> 01:33:09,800
and he survived for three weeks
on water and berries.

1668
01:33:11,200 --> 01:33:15,560
Quite astounding. That's the sort of
you hear from remote Alaska

1669
01:33:15,560 --> 01:33:17,720
or the Australian outback, isn't it?

1670
01:33:17,720 --> 01:33:20,000
You wouldn't expect that to be here.
Yeah.

1671
01:33:20,000 --> 01:33:24,400
Another party were coming down
that side in appalling weather

1672
01:33:24,400 --> 01:33:27,040
and one of them slipped and fell in.

1673
01:33:27,040 --> 01:33:29,920
The weather was so, so bad.
It had got steadily worse

1674
01:33:29,920 --> 01:33:34,160
through the day and the water
was just running off the ground.

1675
01:33:34,160 --> 01:33:38,240
The water level in here
was just unbelievable.

1676
01:33:38,240 --> 01:33:41,800
We had people being lowered
over the edge on ropes.

1677
01:33:41,800 --> 01:33:44,160
People were being lowered
over the edge, what,

1678
01:33:44,160 --> 01:33:47,120
to look for somebody who'd fallen
in? Into that torrent, yeah.

1679
01:33:47,120 --> 01:33:49,160
In the dark, in the rain.

1680
01:33:49,160 --> 01:33:51,440
And that was one of the very,
very few rescues

1681
01:33:51,440 --> 01:33:53,480
where we had to bail out.

1682
01:33:53,480 --> 01:33:55,680
We had to abandon it
until the morning. Too dangerous?

1683
01:33:55,680 --> 01:33:57,240
Yeah, yeah.

1684
01:33:59,880 --> 01:34:04,200
Came back in the morning
and he was found. Um...

1685
01:34:04,200 --> 01:34:05,880
But he didn't survive.

1686
01:34:07,280 --> 01:34:09,040
He didn't survive, sadly.

1687
01:34:11,360 --> 01:34:12,800
And...

1688
01:34:12,800 --> 01:34:16,440
Do you still... You've been doing
this for a long time, but does it...

1689
01:34:16,440 --> 01:34:18,600
Yeah, it's getting to me now.
Does it get to you?

1690
01:34:18,600 --> 01:34:21,560
Yes. It's getting to me now.
Yeah.

1691
01:34:23,320 --> 01:34:27,200
I'm in awe of the dozens of mountain
rescue volunteers like Penny,

1692
01:34:27,200 --> 01:34:30,440
who put their own lives on the line
and have sometimes been seriously

1693
01:34:30,440 --> 01:34:34,320
injured trying to help walkers
when they get into trouble.

1694
01:34:34,320 --> 01:34:37,320
But one of the reasons to come up
here is to experience nature

1695
01:34:37,320 --> 01:34:41,200
in all its wildness, to push
and test ourselves.

1696
01:34:41,200 --> 01:34:45,880
So there's a fine balance to be
found between making a mountain

1697
01:34:45,880 --> 01:34:49,720
like this and paths like these
as safe as possible,

1698
01:34:49,720 --> 01:34:52,880
and still making them a little bit
risky enough

1699
01:34:52,880 --> 01:34:55,200
to be interesting and exciting.

1700
01:34:55,200 --> 01:34:58,880
And I think we mustn't underestimate
the fundamental importance

1701
01:34:58,880 --> 01:35:02,400
of a bit of risk, of pushing
ourselves out of our comfort zone

1702
01:35:02,400 --> 01:35:06,200
and achieving something physical
in Mother Nature.

1703
01:35:06,200 --> 01:35:09,640
There is an incredible value
and importance in that for us

1704
01:35:09,640 --> 01:35:12,240
as individuals and for our society.

1705
01:35:20,000 --> 01:35:21,360
Look at this.

1706
01:35:27,520 --> 01:35:32,960
The top of Scafell Pike,
the highest mountain in England,

1707
01:35:32,960 --> 01:35:36,000
and such a sense of achievement,

1708
01:35:36,000 --> 01:35:40,320
such a sense of joy,
such a boost for the heart,

1709
01:35:40,320 --> 01:35:42,560
for the head, for the health.

1710
01:36:19,720 --> 01:36:22,960
A record number of visitors and
day trippers are descending

1711
01:36:22,960 --> 01:36:24,520
on the Lake District now.

1712
01:36:24,520 --> 01:36:27,640
Around 20 million a year
at the last count.

1713
01:36:30,680 --> 01:36:32,240
Sorry.

1714
01:36:34,320 --> 01:36:36,000
I'll go back up here.

1715
01:36:36,000 --> 01:36:39,800
It means after London, the lakes,
mountains and narrow country roads

1716
01:36:39,800 --> 01:36:43,080
here are classed as the most popular
tourist attraction in the UK.

1717
01:36:46,720 --> 01:36:49,040
Mass tourism is relatively new here.

1718
01:36:49,040 --> 01:36:52,840
For centuries, the Lake District was
a place where, first and foremost,

1719
01:36:52,840 --> 01:36:55,880
people actually lived
and worked in farming or mining.

1720
01:36:55,880 --> 01:36:59,960
But those traditional industries
have been in decline for years,

1721
01:36:59,960 --> 01:37:02,560
and inevitably, young people
especially have moved away

1722
01:37:02,560 --> 01:37:04,560
to the big towns and cities.

1723
01:37:07,440 --> 01:37:09,920
The National Park is
a World Heritage Site.

1724
01:37:09,920 --> 01:37:13,160
At its heart is the beautiful
Langdale Valley.

1725
01:37:13,160 --> 01:37:16,520
I was heading for what's now
the biggest employer in the area -

1726
01:37:16,520 --> 01:37:19,640
a sprawling holiday complex
called the Langdale.

1727
01:37:22,760 --> 01:37:24,720
So this is Brimstone Hotel.

1728
01:37:24,720 --> 01:37:28,560
16 luxury suites,
all with lovely balconies,

1729
01:37:28,560 --> 01:37:30,800
and that's fully booked.

1730
01:37:30,800 --> 01:37:34,320
The top bit of that green building
is all spa with an outdoor pool,

1731
01:37:34,320 --> 01:37:38,040
sauna, steam rooms, and that's
fully booked as well.

1732
01:37:38,040 --> 01:37:41,440
And the biggest part of the site is
we've got 100 time-share

1733
01:37:41,440 --> 01:37:46,440
and self-catering properties dotted
across about 35, 40 acres of land.

1734
01:37:46,440 --> 01:37:48,880
And they're all fully booked
as well?

1735
01:37:48,880 --> 01:37:51,960
Everything's... Everything's
fully booked.

1736
01:37:51,960 --> 01:37:54,520
Dan Visser is the director
of sales and marketing.

1737
01:37:54,520 --> 01:37:56,800
Sounds like he's doing a good job.

1738
01:37:56,800 --> 01:38:00,480
What will these set you back
at peak season?

1739
01:38:00,480 --> 01:38:04,760
Peak season - it'll be between
£1,000 and £2,000 for a week.

1740
01:38:04,760 --> 01:38:06,840
£1,000 to £2,000 for a week.
Yeah.

1741
01:38:06,840 --> 01:38:08,760
It's not a cheap place to holiday,

1742
01:38:08,760 --> 01:38:11,120
but it's not a cheap place
to operate either.

1743
01:38:11,120 --> 01:38:13,840
The costs of operating here
are high.

1744
01:38:13,840 --> 01:38:17,520
The biggest challenge is staffing
our business at the moment.

1745
01:38:17,520 --> 01:38:21,320
We employ 250 staff and there's
absolutely no way

1746
01:38:21,320 --> 01:38:24,800
we could employ all those people
from the local area.

1747
01:38:24,800 --> 01:38:28,760
We wouldn't be able to operate this
business on the scale that it is

1748
01:38:28,760 --> 01:38:32,160
without running a full bus service
for some of our staff.

1749
01:38:32,160 --> 01:38:37,080
So you have to bus people in,
but presumably at massive cost.

1750
01:38:37,080 --> 01:38:41,280
Yeah, well over £100,000 a year
for the contract to run the bus.

1751
01:38:41,280 --> 01:38:42,880
Oh, my goodness. Right.

1752
01:38:44,000 --> 01:38:46,080
So this is one of the buses
bringing in the staff.

1753
01:38:46,080 --> 01:38:48,280
So these guys getting off here
predominantly work

1754
01:38:48,280 --> 01:38:50,360
on the time-share
and self-catering units.

1755
01:38:50,360 --> 01:38:53,160
We've got 30 that
depart and arrive today.

1756
01:38:53,160 --> 01:38:54,640
There's proper work to be done.

1757
01:38:54,640 --> 01:38:56,480
And they've going to be done
quickly as well.

1758
01:38:56,480 --> 01:38:57,960
Morning, morning!

1759
01:38:57,960 --> 01:38:59,520
Morning, Chris.

1760
01:38:59,520 --> 01:39:01,320
You all right?
How are you doing?

1761
01:39:01,320 --> 01:39:02,800
Morning to you.
Nice to meet you.

1762
01:39:02,800 --> 01:39:04,840
Chris, can I do an elbow?

1763
01:39:04,840 --> 01:39:07,520
Melissa. Elbow. Ah!

1764
01:39:07,520 --> 01:39:10,160
Hello. Hi.
Where have you come from?

1765
01:39:10,160 --> 01:39:12,800
Workington.
Workington, on the coast? Yeah.

1766
01:39:12,800 --> 01:39:14,840
Wow. So that was how long
on the coach?

1767
01:39:14,840 --> 01:39:16,480
Just over an hour.

1768
01:39:16,480 --> 01:39:18,920
The other bus is pulling up
with our other staff now.

1769
01:39:18,920 --> 01:39:20,720
Oh, right.

1770
01:39:20,720 --> 01:39:23,960
Before Brexit, the hospitality
industry across the country

1771
01:39:23,960 --> 01:39:27,000
relied on hundreds of thousands of
workers from abroad.

1772
01:39:27,000 --> 01:39:31,640
In the capital, up to 75% of waiting
staff were EU nationals.

1773
01:39:31,640 --> 01:39:35,600
Here, the Langdale always try
to employ staff from the area,

1774
01:39:35,600 --> 01:39:38,520
but there simply aren't enough local
people left in the actual

1775
01:39:38,520 --> 01:39:41,560
Lake District, so they bus them
100 miles a day

1776
01:39:41,560 --> 01:39:44,320
from Cumbrian towns
outside the park.

1777
01:39:44,320 --> 01:39:45,640
Hello.

1778
01:39:46,760 --> 01:39:49,120
Only done beds so far.

1779
01:39:49,120 --> 01:39:51,880
We've got Melissa downstairs.

1780
01:39:51,880 --> 01:39:55,920
I'll work upstairs and we'll just
crack on between the two of us.

1781
01:39:58,240 --> 01:39:59,800
Where did you grow up, Chris?

1782
01:39:59,800 --> 01:40:02,560
Workington. You're Cumbrian
born and bred? Yeah.

1783
01:40:02,560 --> 01:40:05,200
That's where my Cumbrian
accent comes from

1784
01:40:05,200 --> 01:40:07,640
and some of the things that I tend
to say...

1785
01:40:07,640 --> 01:40:10,040
What's a Cumbrian thing
you tend to say?

1786
01:40:10,040 --> 01:40:13,240
Aye. Or, all right, marra.

1787
01:40:13,240 --> 01:40:14,520
Stuff like that.

1788
01:40:14,520 --> 01:40:17,160
And am I right in thinking
you're a bit of a veteran?

1789
01:40:17,160 --> 01:40:19,920
Ten year, I've been here now.

1790
01:40:19,920 --> 01:40:22,280
And what other work have you done,
Chris?

1791
01:40:22,280 --> 01:40:26,320
Have you been in hospitality,
tourism, the whole time?

1792
01:40:26,320 --> 01:40:30,520
Where I was brought up, it was more
like steelworks, coal,

1793
01:40:30,520 --> 01:40:36,320
stuff like that. So there was a lot
of jobs back then,

1794
01:40:36,320 --> 01:40:42,560
but it's just harder to find work in
the local town than it is to travel.

1795
01:40:42,560 --> 01:40:46,800
And do you know people who used to
be steel workers

1796
01:40:46,800 --> 01:40:52,040
or coal miners who... My dad worked
at the steel industry for years.

1797
01:40:52,040 --> 01:40:57,280
Is hospitality work seen as a
proper job?

1798
01:40:57,280 --> 01:40:59,160
It depends on who you speak to.

1799
01:40:59,160 --> 01:41:04,080
I tend to find that people
tend to look down upon on you

1800
01:41:04,080 --> 01:41:07,760
if you're a cleaner as such,
where to me,

1801
01:41:07,760 --> 01:41:13,080
you earn the wage, you're getting
paid to do what you do.

1802
01:41:13,080 --> 01:41:18,120
You should be at least taking a bit
of pride in what you do. Yeah.

1803
01:41:21,760 --> 01:41:24,320
Do you ever get a chance to just
stop and pause

1804
01:41:24,320 --> 01:41:27,680
and look out and admire it?
Oh, yeah.

1805
01:41:27,680 --> 01:41:30,320
I love it at the end of the day,
when I'm complete

1806
01:41:30,320 --> 01:41:33,480
and I can just look at the views
like this.

1807
01:41:33,480 --> 01:41:36,480
This is great.
It's a nice place to work.

1808
01:41:41,280 --> 01:41:44,280
So why are there so few people
in the Lake District available

1809
01:41:44,280 --> 01:41:47,160
to work in places like the Langdale?

1810
01:41:47,160 --> 01:41:49,400
One reason can be found
just up the road

1811
01:41:49,400 --> 01:41:52,240
in the beautiful village
of Chapel Stile.

1812
01:41:55,120 --> 01:41:57,480
Jean Birkett is the daughter
of a sheep farmer,

1813
01:41:57,480 --> 01:41:59,720
and she's lived here her whole life.

1814
01:41:59,720 --> 01:42:01,640
She's one of just a handful
of locals

1815
01:42:01,640 --> 01:42:03,560
who still call the village home.

1816
01:42:05,720 --> 01:42:09,240
So considering what it was years
ago, there's not a lot left here.

1817
01:42:09,240 --> 01:42:13,160
We had three shops. This was one
of them, and the post office here.

1818
01:42:13,160 --> 01:42:16,640
It's a bit of a clue there.
The Old Post Office. Ha! Yes!

1819
01:42:16,640 --> 01:42:19,640
Now look, the Old Post Office
has a sign in the window,

1820
01:42:19,640 --> 01:42:22,520
says, "Sleeps six, two double
bedrooms, one twin room.

1821
01:42:22,520 --> 01:42:25,960
"For all inquiries..."
There's a website. Yes.

1822
01:42:25,960 --> 01:42:28,520
So that's a holiday let.
That's a holiday let.

1823
01:42:28,520 --> 01:42:32,080
Are many of the homes here now
holiday lets or second homes?

1824
01:42:32,080 --> 01:42:35,120
There's 28 houses all the way
up there.

1825
01:42:35,120 --> 01:42:38,440
There's only two that's
lived in full time.

1826
01:42:38,440 --> 01:42:41,080
The rest are all holiday lets.
Wow.

1827
01:42:41,080 --> 01:42:44,400
All these others, there's only
three houses that's lived in,

1828
01:42:44,400 --> 01:42:46,720
in all those around there.

1829
01:42:46,720 --> 01:42:50,080
What, they're all second homes?
Second homes, yes.

1830
01:42:50,080 --> 01:42:53,240
At least 70% of the houses in
Chapel Stile,

1831
01:42:53,240 --> 01:42:56,760
including what were once cottages
for farm workers and miners

1832
01:42:56,760 --> 01:42:59,720
are now thought to be second homes
or holiday lets.

1833
01:42:59,720 --> 01:43:02,960
In a village down the valley,
it's 85%,

1834
01:43:02,960 --> 01:43:05,440
and the prices are astonishing.

1835
01:43:05,440 --> 01:43:08,400
That house on the end there...
Yeah. ..that one.

1836
01:43:08,400 --> 01:43:12,480
That was sold last year,
it went for half a million.

1837
01:43:12,480 --> 01:43:17,320
The far left one. There's no houses
here under half a million pounds.

1838
01:43:17,320 --> 01:43:18,760
Wow.

1839
01:43:18,760 --> 01:43:21,720
The wages round here don't pay for
that sort of house any more,

1840
01:43:21,720 --> 01:43:25,120
do they? And there's nowhere else
for them to live.

1841
01:43:25,120 --> 01:43:27,240
No rented accommodation.

1842
01:43:27,240 --> 01:43:30,480
When the locals can't afford to buy
something, they have to move out.

1843
01:43:30,480 --> 01:43:34,200
Yeah. What is the future
for this village?

1844
01:43:34,200 --> 01:43:36,200
This is it. Tourists.

1845
01:43:37,680 --> 01:43:40,920
I have a new name for the
World Heritage Site.

1846
01:43:40,920 --> 01:43:44,160
That's the World Heritage Dump,
because that's what we feel like.

1847
01:43:44,160 --> 01:43:46,800
We've been dumped on. Yeah.

1848
01:43:51,440 --> 01:43:54,520
It's so hard because, of course,
I can completely see why people

1849
01:43:54,520 --> 01:43:58,200
want to come here - look at it.
I want to come here.

1850
01:43:58,200 --> 01:44:02,440
And a lot of locals here are really
fed up about it.

1851
01:44:02,440 --> 01:44:05,360
They feel like it's the...

1852
01:44:05,360 --> 01:44:08,480
The visitors to the guest house
who've taken over.

1853
01:44:08,480 --> 01:44:10,960
The so-called National Park Premium

1854
01:44:10,960 --> 01:44:13,360
is at its greatest in
the Lake District.

1855
01:44:13,360 --> 01:44:15,200
That means a house in the park

1856
01:44:15,200 --> 01:44:17,920
costs more than double
the same home outside.

1857
01:44:17,920 --> 01:44:21,480
Combine that with local rentals
being turned into Airbnbs,

1858
01:44:21,480 --> 01:44:24,800
which have exploded in number,
and the result is local villages

1859
01:44:24,800 --> 01:44:26,400
almost emptied of locals

1860
01:44:26,400 --> 01:44:29,640
and hardly anyone left to work
in the tourism industry.

1861
01:44:29,640 --> 01:44:32,400
Hello. How are you doing?

1862
01:44:32,400 --> 01:44:35,160
Sorry to interrupt. No, go on.
Is one of you David?

1863
01:44:35,160 --> 01:44:37,440
Yeah, I'm David. Yeah.
Would you show us the house?

1864
01:44:37,440 --> 01:44:39,440
Yeah. Come on.

1865
01:44:39,440 --> 01:44:43,040
Not all the remaining locals are
hostile to tourism and second homes.

1866
01:44:43,040 --> 01:44:46,880
Yeah. So here it is,
our dream three-bedroomed house

1867
01:44:46,880 --> 01:44:49,160
for me and Mary and my daughter.

1868
01:44:49,160 --> 01:44:50,960
That we've built.

1869
01:44:50,960 --> 01:44:53,400
David is actually Jean's son.

1870
01:44:53,400 --> 01:44:56,040
He's in construction,
and he's currently building a home

1871
01:44:56,040 --> 01:44:59,840
for his own family right here
in the village where he was born.

1872
01:44:59,840 --> 01:45:03,400
There's a lot of people here,
maybe mum included... Yeah.

1873
01:45:03,400 --> 01:45:06,200
..who thinks the community
doesn't entirely exist any more.

1874
01:45:06,200 --> 01:45:07,680
Well, I think she's wrong.

1875
01:45:07,680 --> 01:45:10,280
It still is a very active place,
but just differently active.

1876
01:45:10,280 --> 01:45:11,720
You know, we kind of...

1877
01:45:11,720 --> 01:45:14,920
All my friends are into the kind
of trade, building trade,

1878
01:45:14,920 --> 01:45:17,360
building expensive houses
for people.

1879
01:45:17,360 --> 01:45:19,640
We're very lucky. The Lakes a
beautiful place

1880
01:45:19,640 --> 01:45:23,080
and all people are always
going to come to the Lake District.

1881
01:45:23,080 --> 01:45:26,960
But the main industries of what
traditional people think are here,

1882
01:45:26,960 --> 01:45:30,800
they've gone. So you will have
travelled through

1883
01:45:30,800 --> 01:45:34,080
these deprived mining towns
of Great Britain.

1884
01:45:34,080 --> 01:45:36,720
Langdale and
the Lake District has...

1885
01:45:36,720 --> 01:45:38,960
Is lucky enough to have tourism.

1886
01:45:38,960 --> 01:45:41,160
So in one sense for you, then,

1887
01:45:41,160 --> 01:45:45,440
what we have here
is an almost post-industrial...

1888
01:45:45,440 --> 01:45:47,960
Yeah, yeah. ..culture.
Very, very much.

1889
01:45:47,960 --> 01:45:50,520
An area that's been
saved by tourism.

1890
01:45:50,520 --> 01:45:55,160
Actually, if there was no a second
homes here, me and all my friends,

1891
01:45:55,160 --> 01:45:57,520
all my work colleagues,
we wouldn't be here

1892
01:45:57,520 --> 01:46:00,640
because that's our whole wage,
you know, that's what we do.

1893
01:46:06,120 --> 01:46:08,080
David's a lucky man.

1894
01:46:08,080 --> 01:46:10,360
He's found a way of making
a living while staying

1895
01:46:10,360 --> 01:46:12,440
in his beautiful home village.

1896
01:46:12,440 --> 01:46:14,240
But he's unusual.

1897
01:46:14,240 --> 01:46:17,360
Many of the loveliest parts of rural
Britain are becoming the preserve

1898
01:46:17,360 --> 01:46:19,760
of the middle class and the wealthy.

1899
01:46:19,760 --> 01:46:21,880
Some embed themselves
in their community

1900
01:46:21,880 --> 01:46:25,760
or visit every weekend, but others
only come for part of the year.

1901
01:46:25,760 --> 01:46:29,480
And that can mean many of the
traditional pillars of village life

1902
01:46:29,480 --> 01:46:33,320
- shops, schools, pubs and
churches - struggle to survive.

1903
01:46:44,120 --> 01:46:46,800
It was a busy time in the Lake
District this summer, and you take

1904
01:46:46,800 --> 01:46:50,240
accommodation wherever you can get
it, which is why I am driving

1905
01:46:50,240 --> 01:46:53,880
down a narrow country lane
in the darkness

1906
01:46:53,880 --> 01:46:57,120
at quarter to 11
on a Friday night.

1907
01:46:58,120 --> 01:46:59,760
You have arrived.

1908
01:47:01,880 --> 01:47:03,960
There's so much demand
for accommodation,

1909
01:47:03,960 --> 01:47:06,600
it seems every corner of the Lake
District has been turned over

1910
01:47:06,600 --> 01:47:08,080
to tourists.

1911
01:47:10,320 --> 01:47:12,160
This is it.

1912
01:47:14,800 --> 01:47:16,840
Well, this was a first for me.

1913
01:47:25,760 --> 01:47:27,640
It's not spooky at all, honestly.

1914
01:47:39,360 --> 01:47:40,560
Goodness me.

1915
01:47:42,200 --> 01:47:44,240
So this is champing.

1916
01:47:45,320 --> 01:47:47,520
It's camping in a church.

1917
01:47:56,720 --> 01:47:59,680
What a sign of the times, eh?

1918
01:47:59,680 --> 01:48:02,120
"Welcome to St Mary's Church.

1919
01:48:02,120 --> 01:48:05,200
"You have access to our sleeping
equipment in the church,

1920
01:48:05,200 --> 01:48:08,400
"cooking and eating facilities
in the community hall opposite

1921
01:48:08,400 --> 01:48:09,880
"and access to the toilets.

1922
01:48:09,880 --> 01:48:12,480
"Enjoy your stay
in this wonderful place."

1923
01:48:14,600 --> 01:48:19,000
There are dozens of churches
like this now around the country,

1924
01:48:19,000 --> 01:48:24,680
which used to be at the centre
of busy communities

1925
01:48:24,680 --> 01:48:27,160
and which now find themselves
not forgotten, but...

1926
01:48:28,320 --> 01:48:30,120
..not very often used.

1927
01:48:32,240 --> 01:48:37,040
By staying somewhere like this,
we are helping to keep these old

1928
01:48:37,040 --> 01:48:39,280
and ancient buildings alive.

1929
01:48:40,880 --> 01:48:42,320
It's been a long day.

1930
01:48:43,360 --> 01:48:44,720
Goodnight.

1931
01:48:51,320 --> 01:48:53,720
You can't top this for breakfast,
can you?

1932
01:48:53,720 --> 01:48:55,560
Doesn't that look glorious?

1933
01:48:57,840 --> 01:48:59,960
Apparently, this is the valley

1934
01:48:59,960 --> 01:49:04,040
that inspired the setting
for Postman Pat, no less.

1935
01:49:05,720 --> 01:49:08,280
You can just imagine him coming
over the hills down there,

1936
01:49:08,280 --> 01:49:11,600
with his black and white cat,
Postman Pat.

1937
01:49:17,720 --> 01:49:21,160
The Lake District has a unique place
in the British imagination.

1938
01:49:21,160 --> 01:49:25,040
Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter
immortalised it as a kind

1939
01:49:25,040 --> 01:49:30,280
of pastoral idyll, but farming,
mining, engineering rivers,

1940
01:49:30,280 --> 01:49:34,160
building reservoirs, introducing
weeds and modern mass tourism -

1941
01:49:34,160 --> 01:49:38,480
all have changed and reshaped
the area and its communities.

1942
01:49:38,480 --> 01:49:42,480
And more than anything, it's nature
that has paid the price.

1943
01:49:42,480 --> 01:49:44,400
Tree cover is woeful.

1944
01:49:44,400 --> 01:49:48,520
Wildlife habitats in the high fells
are classed as "generally poor".

1945
01:49:48,520 --> 01:49:51,640
Birdlife is in steady decline.

1946
01:49:51,640 --> 01:49:55,080
The last golden eagle in Cumbria
died five years ago.

1947
01:49:55,080 --> 01:49:58,920
Shockingly, more than half the lakes
and almost all the rivers

1948
01:49:58,920 --> 01:50:02,200
in England's biggest and most famous
national park

1949
01:50:02,200 --> 01:50:06,280
are classified as being in an
unfavourable condition or worse.

1950
01:50:07,400 --> 01:50:08,680
It's not good.

1951
01:50:11,800 --> 01:50:14,440
The state of many of Cumbria's
rivers and lakes

1952
01:50:14,440 --> 01:50:17,040
is really disheartening.

1953
01:50:17,040 --> 01:50:19,680
But there are pockets of light.

1954
01:50:19,680 --> 01:50:21,440
And we're off to see one now.

1955
01:50:28,000 --> 01:50:32,440
I met up with Paul Waterhouse
from the Cumbria Wildlife Trust.

1956
01:50:32,440 --> 01:50:34,320
So, Paul, where are we?

1957
01:50:34,320 --> 01:50:36,720
We're at Foulshaw Moss
Nature Reserve,

1958
01:50:36,720 --> 01:50:40,040
right on the very southern edge of
the Lake District National Park.

1959
01:50:40,040 --> 01:50:42,160
It really is an amazing place.

1960
01:50:42,160 --> 01:50:45,280
What we're going to see
over the top of here, Simon, is...

1961
01:50:45,280 --> 01:50:47,400
Oh, wow. A wetland.

1962
01:50:47,400 --> 01:50:49,360
Wow!

1963
01:50:49,360 --> 01:50:54,000
The Foulshaw Moss Wetland
extends across nearly 900 acres.

1964
01:50:54,000 --> 01:50:57,240
Once drained and used for commercial
forestry and farming,

1965
01:50:57,240 --> 01:51:00,160
it's now been restored
to its former glory.

1966
01:51:03,680 --> 01:51:05,760
There's a real scale to this here.

1967
01:51:05,760 --> 01:51:09,800
Yeah, amazing to think that a decade
ago, these were just silage fields.

1968
01:51:09,800 --> 01:51:11,560
So what did you do?

1969
01:51:11,560 --> 01:51:15,120
Instead of draining the land,
what we've done

1970
01:51:15,120 --> 01:51:18,360
is we've locked up the drains
to retain the water

1971
01:51:18,360 --> 01:51:21,920
and the land has naturally
become wet again.

1972
01:51:21,920 --> 01:51:25,840
It's a very inspiring and hopeful
story, really,

1973
01:51:25,840 --> 01:51:30,680
because a lot of the time we think
there's no way back

1974
01:51:30,680 --> 01:51:35,640
from the...apocalypse
we've inflicted on Mother Nature.

1975
01:51:35,640 --> 01:51:39,400
But actually getting out of the way

1976
01:51:39,400 --> 01:51:43,320
or nudging can create new habitat.

1977
01:51:43,320 --> 01:51:47,840
So, yeah, it's amazing to think
that we can reverse that historical

1978
01:51:47,840 --> 01:51:51,680
management and not recreate it
exactly as it once was,

1979
01:51:51,680 --> 01:51:53,880
but near as dammit.

1980
01:51:55,480 --> 01:51:59,960
In the last 100 years, we've lost
90% of this sort of wetland habitat

1981
01:51:59,960 --> 01:52:02,280
in the UK.

1982
01:52:02,280 --> 01:52:06,320
Globally, we're losing our wetlands
three times faster than our forests,

1983
01:52:06,320 --> 01:52:08,320
and they really matter.

1984
01:52:11,040 --> 01:52:13,600
It's very spongy. It is.

1985
01:52:13,600 --> 01:52:15,440
And that is what we want.

1986
01:52:16,440 --> 01:52:18,360
Look at this.

1987
01:52:18,360 --> 01:52:21,360
A bog should be wet
and it needs to be wet.

1988
01:52:22,560 --> 01:52:24,640
I can see it moving
all the way over there.

1989
01:52:25,760 --> 01:52:28,640
Oh, this is astonishing.
It's so spongy.

1990
01:52:28,640 --> 01:52:32,920
Look at this! It is. We're standing
on a raft of sphagnum moss.

1991
01:52:32,920 --> 01:52:35,040
Are you stuck?
No, I'm not stuck.

1992
01:52:35,040 --> 01:52:37,160
I'm having fun, frankly.

1993
01:52:37,160 --> 01:52:38,800
And you can see the cotton grass

1994
01:52:38,800 --> 01:52:40,840
just coming up through the sphagnum
there.

1995
01:52:40,840 --> 01:52:43,680
We've got these lovely pink
flowers on the top there.

1996
01:52:43,680 --> 01:52:46,720
This is bog myrtle,
which is a small shrub.

1997
01:52:46,720 --> 01:52:51,600
And here we have bog rosemary.
All the way.

1998
01:52:51,600 --> 01:52:54,040
You can see all these
different colours.

1999
01:52:54,040 --> 01:52:56,040
There's different species
of sphagnum moss

2000
01:52:56,040 --> 01:52:58,120
and it covers this entire area.

2001
01:52:58,120 --> 01:53:00,880
Lots of our most important
and specialist species

2002
01:53:00,880 --> 01:53:02,320
rely on wetland habitat.

2003
01:53:02,320 --> 01:53:05,600
Once you've restored the habitat,
the species then return as well.

2004
01:53:08,480 --> 01:53:12,640
40% of the world's wildlife relies
on wetlands.

2005
01:53:12,640 --> 01:53:16,640
In just a few years, the wetland
here has become a vital habitat

2006
01:53:16,640 --> 01:53:18,040
for all sorts of species.

2007
01:53:18,040 --> 01:53:19,600
What have we got up there?

2008
01:53:20,960 --> 01:53:24,720
Red kite. So we get peregrine
falcons nesting nearby as well,

2009
01:53:24,720 --> 01:53:27,840
and marsh harriers as well,
associated with wetlands.

2010
01:53:31,200 --> 01:53:34,040
And there's a big gap there,
and there's a tree beyond there.

2011
01:53:34,040 --> 01:53:36,400
It's quite a distance,
but if you look very closely,

2012
01:53:36,400 --> 01:53:39,400
you can see something
just in the top of that tree.

2013
01:53:39,400 --> 01:53:41,600
What is that? Quite a big bird.

2014
01:53:42,960 --> 01:53:44,720
They are ospreys.

2015
01:53:44,720 --> 01:53:47,200
You've got ospreys here,
for goodness' sake!

2016
01:53:47,200 --> 01:53:49,680
We're really fortunate that
this pair have now bred here

2017
01:53:49,680 --> 01:53:52,800
for the past eight years.
A breeding pair of ospreys.

2018
01:53:52,800 --> 01:53:57,400
That's right, yeah. And they've now
fledged 18 chicks from this nest.

2019
01:53:57,400 --> 01:53:58,920
Oh, my goodness.

2020
01:54:00,000 --> 01:54:01,680
It's quite a long way away,

2021
01:54:01,680 --> 01:54:04,120
so there's no risk of any
disturbance at all.

2022
01:54:04,120 --> 01:54:06,960
They need a little bit of privacy,
don't they? Absolutely right.

2023
01:54:06,960 --> 01:54:11,160
So ospreys are, I suppose,
they're one of the great icons

2024
01:54:11,160 --> 01:54:13,840
of conservation in this country,
aren't they?

2025
01:54:13,840 --> 01:54:16,280
Because we managed to wipe them out.
That's right.

2026
01:54:16,280 --> 01:54:19,760
Yeah, they were wiped out as a
breeding species in the early 1900s.

2027
01:54:19,760 --> 01:54:22,800
Not a single pair of ospreys
in the whole of Great Britain.

2028
01:54:22,800 --> 01:54:26,440
And then a pair returned
and the population has slowly grown

2029
01:54:26,440 --> 01:54:29,880
to where we now have ospreys
breeding in northern England.

2030
01:54:29,880 --> 01:54:31,640
Is that one returning above?

2031
01:54:31,640 --> 01:54:33,560
Oh, it may well be.

2032
01:54:33,560 --> 01:54:35,920
Well, there's one way we can check.

2033
01:54:35,920 --> 01:54:37,600
Webcam? Webcam.

2034
01:54:39,280 --> 01:54:42,040
So this is live.
And there's... Look!

2035
01:54:42,040 --> 01:54:44,960
That's mum there.
That's mum there, yeah,

2036
01:54:44,960 --> 01:54:48,200
and three almost fully-grown chicks.
Wow.

2037
01:54:48,200 --> 01:54:50,200
Five weeks old now, they are.

2038
01:54:50,200 --> 01:54:52,960
It's totally amazing.
The size of their nest.

2039
01:54:52,960 --> 01:54:56,080
It's more like a...
More like a treehouse!

2040
01:54:56,080 --> 01:54:58,240
They're really, really large.

2041
01:54:58,240 --> 01:55:01,480
They're a metre and a half
across, those nests.

2042
01:55:01,480 --> 01:55:03,480
They exclusively eat fish,

2043
01:55:03,480 --> 01:55:06,920
and they're highly adapted
for catching their prey.

2044
01:55:06,920 --> 01:55:08,520
Amazing eyesight

2045
01:55:08,520 --> 01:55:11,560
and incredibly powerful talons
for holding on to the fish.

2046
01:55:11,560 --> 01:55:15,760
in about a week or so's time they'll
start flapping their wings lots.

2047
01:55:15,760 --> 01:55:18,280
Once they've developed
enough muscles. Right.

2048
01:55:18,280 --> 01:55:20,200
And they'll do that
for a number of weeks

2049
01:55:20,200 --> 01:55:23,040
before they build up enough strength
to take their first flight.

2050
01:55:23,040 --> 01:55:26,440
The male stays around to continue
to feed the young

2051
01:55:26,440 --> 01:55:29,240
right up until they migrate.

2052
01:55:29,240 --> 01:55:34,000
And we've had bird-watchers over in
West Africa take a photograph

2053
01:55:34,000 --> 01:55:36,280
of a Foulshaw Moss osprey.

2054
01:55:36,280 --> 01:55:39,960
A chick from this nest sat
on a beach in The Gambia.

2055
01:55:39,960 --> 01:55:43,200
What a commute and migration
that is.

2056
01:55:43,200 --> 01:55:44,640
What's that?

2057
01:55:46,480 --> 01:55:48,520
On this part of my journey
through the Lakes,

2058
01:55:48,520 --> 01:55:51,520
I'd been inspired
by rewiggled rivers,

2059
01:55:51,520 --> 01:55:54,200
mountain rescue, geomorphologists

2060
01:55:54,200 --> 01:55:56,040
and a wild swim.

2061
01:55:56,040 --> 01:55:59,720
But nothing shines quite such
a powerful ray of hope

2062
01:55:59,720 --> 01:56:03,040
as the return of ospreys
here to this wetland.

2063
01:56:03,040 --> 01:56:07,480
Wetlands like this are among the
planet's most biodiverse ecosystems.

2064
01:56:07,480 --> 01:56:12,680
They're vital for protecting
wildlife, but also our climate.

2065
01:56:12,680 --> 01:56:16,640
Freshwater wetlands cover roughly
6% of Earth's surface,

2066
01:56:16,640 --> 01:56:20,600
but they hold up to 30% of the
carbon contained in soil.

2067
01:56:22,040 --> 01:56:26,480
Perhaps as much as any landscape
on planet Earth,

2068
01:56:26,480 --> 01:56:29,360
as much as rewilding our forests,

2069
01:56:29,360 --> 01:56:33,040
as much as reintroducing
exotic animals,

2070
01:56:33,040 --> 01:56:36,120
we need to restore these
critical wetlands.

2071
01:56:37,480 --> 01:56:40,520
I think what they've done here
and what they show here

2072
01:56:40,520 --> 01:56:43,960
is that we can get
quite a lot back.

2073
01:56:45,200 --> 01:56:49,440
We don't have to sail off the edge
of the cliff into defeat.

2074
01:56:49,440 --> 01:56:51,520
We can rebuild.

2075
01:56:54,360 --> 01:56:55,800
Next time...

2076
01:56:55,800 --> 01:56:57,800
GUNFIRE

2077
01:56:57,800 --> 01:57:00,360
It's like a set for a Bond film.

2078
01:57:00,360 --> 01:57:03,280
..just a few miles outside the park,
on the coast,

2079
01:57:03,280 --> 01:57:05,880
I visit one of the most
extraordinary and toxic sites

2080
01:57:05,880 --> 01:57:07,200
in the world.

2081
01:57:07,200 --> 01:57:09,280
So where I'm going now,
as far as we know,

2082
01:57:09,280 --> 01:57:11,080
TV cameras have never been.

2083
01:57:43,400 --> 01:57:44,720
The Lake District.

2084
01:57:44,720 --> 01:57:48,080
This is one of the most romantically
beautiful regions

2085
01:57:48,080 --> 01:57:50,800
in the entire country, it's
spectacular here.

2086
01:57:50,800 --> 01:57:52,760
At the heart of Cumbria,

2087
01:57:52,760 --> 01:57:54,440
magnificent mountains,

2088
01:57:54,440 --> 01:57:56,240
glacial valleys...

2089
01:57:56,240 --> 01:57:57,520
You love it.

2090
01:57:57,520 --> 01:58:00,560
..16 glorious lakes and meres,

2091
01:58:00,560 --> 01:58:04,040
this is England's largest
national park.

2092
01:58:04,040 --> 01:58:06,480
Almost 1,000 square miles.

2093
01:58:06,480 --> 01:58:08,680
One of the great
wonders of the country.

2094
01:58:08,680 --> 01:58:09,680
Look at this!

2095
01:58:10,840 --> 01:58:15,200
It's ancient landscape is seeing
huge changes

2096
01:58:15,200 --> 01:58:17,640
with millions more Brits
now enjoying the benefits

2097
01:58:17,640 --> 01:58:19,840
of the great outdoors

2098
01:58:19,840 --> 01:58:22,040
and an influx of wealthy outsiders.

2099
01:58:22,040 --> 01:58:25,720
That's a car worth as much as a
house.

2100
01:58:25,720 --> 01:58:28,600
A whole way of life is under threat.

2101
01:58:28,600 --> 01:58:33,680
I would be better off financially
if I was going to stack the shelves.

2102
01:58:33,680 --> 01:58:37,000
I'll be meeting the people fighting
to preserve and regenerate

2103
01:58:37,000 --> 01:58:38,960
this unique British landscape.

2104
01:58:40,320 --> 01:58:43,800
Look at this! Just standing on a
raft of Sphagnum moss.

2105
01:58:43,800 --> 01:58:45,840
And outside the national park,

2106
01:58:45,840 --> 01:58:48,520
I'll be seeing the sights
in the county around it.

2107
01:58:48,520 --> 01:58:50,320
They want me to be the bad guy.

2108
01:58:51,720 --> 01:58:54,080
SHOUTING

2109
01:58:57,040 --> 01:58:59,880
I'm going to be exploring the county
of Cumbria

2110
01:58:59,880 --> 01:59:02,520
from its wild coast
to its soaring peaks

2111
01:59:02,520 --> 01:59:04,920
and, of course, its iconic lakes.

2112
01:59:23,440 --> 01:59:25,800
I'm starting this last leg of my
travels

2113
01:59:25,800 --> 01:59:28,520
around the Lake District National
Park and Cumbria

2114
01:59:28,520 --> 01:59:30,960
on the rugged west coast
of the county.

2115
01:59:32,160 --> 01:59:35,600
There's more than 100 miles
of coastline between Morecambe Bay

2116
01:59:35,600 --> 01:59:39,680
and the Scottish Borders, a remote
and wild part of the country.

2117
01:59:43,720 --> 01:59:45,240
Spectacular.

2118
01:59:46,600 --> 01:59:48,680
The coast of Cumbria.

2119
01:59:50,520 --> 01:59:52,120
This is not what you imagine

2120
01:59:52,120 --> 01:59:56,120
when you think of the Lake District
National Park, is it?

2121
01:59:56,120 --> 01:59:58,480
But this is very much part
of the park.

2122
01:59:58,480 --> 01:59:59,520
I'm in it.

2123
02:00:01,440 --> 02:00:04,480
Towering sand dunes stretch
for miles along this part

2124
02:00:04,480 --> 02:00:06,440
of the Cumbrian coast.

2125
02:00:06,440 --> 02:00:09,560
It's a rich habitat for plants
and wildlife.

2126
02:00:10,960 --> 02:00:14,600
Conservationist Eve Mulholland
grew up just yards from the dunes

2127
02:00:14,600 --> 02:00:16,240
she now helps look after.

2128
02:00:19,920 --> 02:00:21,920
Where is everybody?

2129
02:00:21,920 --> 02:00:24,920
It's so quiet, it's probably one of
the most remote spots, I think,

2130
02:00:24,920 --> 02:00:26,600
in the Lake District National Park.

2131
02:00:26,600 --> 02:00:30,480
It's such a vast space and you can
see how far the dunes extend.

2132
02:00:30,480 --> 02:00:32,880
Eve worked for Dynamic Dunescapes,

2133
02:00:32,880 --> 02:00:36,720
a new project in England and Wales
that aims to protect these important

2134
02:00:36,720 --> 02:00:39,000
but fragile ecosystems.

2135
02:00:39,000 --> 02:00:41,640
And every time you come to the sand
dune systems, really,

2136
02:00:41,640 --> 02:00:43,640
you're looking really closely around
you.

2137
02:00:43,640 --> 02:00:45,800
There's always something special.

2138
02:00:45,800 --> 02:00:47,320
You love your dunes, don't you?

2139
02:00:47,320 --> 02:00:50,600
I do love my dunes, yeah. It's nice
to just come out for a walk

2140
02:00:50,600 --> 02:00:53,960
and sometimes just explore
yourself, as well.

2141
02:00:55,680 --> 02:00:58,960
Dunes are a crucial part
of the coastal ecosystem.

2142
02:00:58,960 --> 02:01:02,360
They protect beaches from erosion
and help prevent flooding

2143
02:01:02,360 --> 02:01:05,640
and storm surges in coastal towns
and villages.

2144
02:01:05,640 --> 02:01:09,080
But like so much of the natural
world, they're under threat.

2145
02:01:09,080 --> 02:01:11,720
More than a third of our sand dunes
have disappeared

2146
02:01:11,720 --> 02:01:14,520
in the last century, and that's a
disaster,

2147
02:01:14,520 --> 02:01:18,560
especially for one of the rarest
coastal animals we have.

2148
02:01:18,560 --> 02:01:21,520
I've just found a natterjack toad
down here.

2149
02:01:21,520 --> 02:01:24,120
So I don't know if you can see it...
No, you haven't.

2150
02:01:24,120 --> 02:01:25,680
..down there in little...

2151
02:01:25,680 --> 02:01:27,440
Huh! Have you got it?

2152
02:01:27,440 --> 02:01:29,240
There it is!

2153
02:01:29,240 --> 02:01:30,800
A natterjack toad.

2154
02:01:30,800 --> 02:01:32,160
How rare are they?

2155
02:01:32,160 --> 02:01:35,880
That's amazing. Well, they are one
of the rarest amphibians in the UK

2156
02:01:35,880 --> 02:01:39,160
at the moment, so we are really
lucky to have found this creature.

2157
02:01:39,160 --> 02:01:42,000
Thy blend so well into their natural
environment,

2158
02:01:42,000 --> 02:01:44,720
they're so well adapted to live
in these sand dune conditions.

2159
02:01:44,720 --> 02:01:47,640
With that yellow stripe
down the back, it really does mimic

2160
02:01:47,640 --> 02:01:50,240
all this grass in the area
around it.

2161
02:01:50,240 --> 02:01:53,960
How would you describe the sort of
state they're in as a as a species?

2162
02:01:53,960 --> 02:01:56,440
Are they doing all right here?
Or are they in trouble?

2163
02:01:56,440 --> 02:01:59,440
So natterjack toads, they're
a protected species.

2164
02:01:59,440 --> 02:02:02,080
So it's very important that we keep
our distance from them

2165
02:02:02,080 --> 02:02:03,720
and don't disturb them.

2166
02:02:03,720 --> 02:02:06,360
And, now, they're rare and protected
because their habitat,

2167
02:02:06,360 --> 02:02:09,040
these sand dune habitats where they
live,

2168
02:02:09,040 --> 02:02:12,240
they're the habitat most at risk
in Europe now for biodiversity loss.

2169
02:02:12,240 --> 02:02:14,880
And that's for a range of reasons
from...

2170
02:02:14,880 --> 02:02:16,720
The most at risk in Europe? Wow.

2171
02:02:16,720 --> 02:02:20,320
Absolutely, yes, because they've
become overgrown with vegetation

2172
02:02:20,320 --> 02:02:23,000
and stabilised, and there's a
variety of reasons

2173
02:02:23,000 --> 02:02:24,680
which have contributed to this,

2174
02:02:24,680 --> 02:02:27,440
and one of the larger ones
is climate change.

2175
02:02:27,440 --> 02:02:29,280
So we've seen an increase
in rainfall,

2176
02:02:29,280 --> 02:02:32,960
an increase in temperature, and
this has all accelerated the growth

2177
02:02:32,960 --> 02:02:34,560
of all of this vegetation,

2178
02:02:34,560 --> 02:02:37,200
all this ramp vegetation
that we see around us.

2179
02:02:37,200 --> 02:02:40,600
And this actually outcompetes
many of the other specialist species

2180
02:02:40,600 --> 02:02:43,560
that live in this sand dune
system that need to thrive.

2181
02:02:43,560 --> 02:02:45,720
And the natterjack toad
is obviously one of those.

2182
02:02:45,720 --> 02:02:48,600
It really likes open-bay
sand habitats.

2183
02:02:48,600 --> 02:02:52,040
It likes pools that don't have much
vegetation in and around it,

2184
02:02:52,040 --> 02:02:54,080
to be able to burrow or to hibernate

2185
02:02:54,080 --> 02:02:56,520
or to crawl along to find their
prey.

2186
02:02:59,840 --> 02:03:03,040
I love this remote Cumbrian
coast.

2187
02:03:03,040 --> 02:03:05,440
Just a few miles away, there are
millions of people

2188
02:03:05,440 --> 02:03:08,000
tramping around the national park
every year,

2189
02:03:08,000 --> 02:03:10,520
but only a small proportion make it
out here

2190
02:03:10,520 --> 02:03:12,560
for the largely empty beaches.

2191
02:03:18,480 --> 02:03:20,520
It's easy to forget

2192
02:03:20,520 --> 02:03:22,880
that this stretch of the country,
for centuries,

2193
02:03:22,880 --> 02:03:27,600
was an industrial coastline

2194
02:03:27,600 --> 02:03:32,560
producing coal, steel, energy
and jobs.

2195
02:03:32,560 --> 02:03:35,080
I travelled north along the
beautiful coastal railway

2196
02:03:35,080 --> 02:03:37,360
that also acts as a commuter route

2197
02:03:37,360 --> 02:03:39,800
for what's now Cumbria biggest
private employer.

2198
02:03:45,280 --> 02:03:50,360
Oh, it's a beautiful part
of the world, but it's also home

2199
02:03:50,360 --> 02:03:55,080
to one of the most secure
sites in the entire country.

2200
02:03:55,080 --> 02:04:00,280
This is Sellafield, a huge nuclear
industrial complex next to the sea.

2201
02:04:02,120 --> 02:04:03,120
Morning.

2202
02:04:03,120 --> 02:04:05,400
Morning. Welcome to Sellafield.

2203
02:04:06,920 --> 02:04:10,680
It's very strange, isn't it, to come
up the coast of Cumbria

2204
02:04:10,680 --> 02:04:13,480
and from the beautiful Lake District

2205
02:04:13,480 --> 02:04:18,720
and suddenly find this barbwire site
heavily armed and heavily guarded?

2206
02:04:18,720 --> 02:04:20,800
If you're not from around here
and local,

2207
02:04:20,800 --> 02:04:24,640
it probably is a bit
strange and out of the ordinary.

2208
02:04:24,640 --> 02:04:27,600
The specialist firearms
officers guard and protect

2209
02:04:27,600 --> 02:04:30,160
the entire Sellafield facility.

2210
02:04:30,160 --> 02:04:32,960
It's one of the most complex
and hazardous nuclear sites

2211
02:04:32,960 --> 02:04:34,640
in the world.

2212
02:04:34,640 --> 02:04:38,880
Sellafield was set up originally
with one specific aim,

2213
02:04:38,880 --> 02:04:41,600
to take Britain into the atomic age,

2214
02:04:41,600 --> 02:04:45,600
to build an atomic weapon for the
UK.

2215
02:04:45,600 --> 02:04:48,000
Five kilos of weapons-grade
plutonium

2216
02:04:48,000 --> 02:04:50,480
is enough to make a nuclear bomb.

2217
02:04:50,480 --> 02:04:54,960
At Sellafield Britain has 140
tonnes of plutonium.

2218
02:04:54,960 --> 02:04:58,400
It is the largest single stockpile
of plutonium on the planet.

2219
02:04:58,400 --> 02:05:00,000
COMMS: Morning, can I help you?

2220
02:05:00,000 --> 02:05:01,560
Hello, its police.

2221
02:05:01,560 --> 02:05:04,720
The Civil Nuclear Constabulary
is an elite armed force,

2222
02:05:04,720 --> 02:05:07,320
tasked with protecting Britain's
nuclear facilities

2223
02:05:07,320 --> 02:05:10,080
against intruders,
attacks or terrorism.

2224
02:05:10,080 --> 02:05:11,400
This is quite a sight.

2225
02:05:11,400 --> 02:05:13,480
It is. A great facility here.

2226
02:05:14,480 --> 02:05:18,120
I was being taken inside their
brand-new state of the art

2227
02:05:18,120 --> 02:05:20,840
£40 million
live fire training centre.

2228
02:05:20,840 --> 02:05:24,600
Bloody hell, it's like a set
for a Bond film.

2229
02:05:28,840 --> 02:05:30,880
They train for the unthinkable,

2230
02:05:30,880 --> 02:05:33,640
terrorists
on the loose within Sellafield.

2231
02:05:33,640 --> 02:05:35,960
Martin is one of the lead
instructors here.

2232
02:05:35,960 --> 02:05:39,200
So now we're in our live fire
search facility.

2233
02:05:40,280 --> 02:05:43,840
Is this meant to look like the
inside of parts of Sellafield?

2234
02:05:43,840 --> 02:05:46,360
Yes. And all these kind of things
replicate

2235
02:05:46,360 --> 02:05:49,600
what is actually used
on site on a daily basis.

2236
02:05:49,600 --> 02:05:52,240
They've got to bear in mind the
backdrop when they're taking shots,

2237
02:05:52,240 --> 02:05:54,440
because if they obviously shoot
through a pipe,

2238
02:05:54,440 --> 02:05:56,680
we don't know what the consequence
of that might be.

2239
02:05:56,680 --> 02:05:58,720
So, again, it's all about
positioning of where

2240
02:05:58,720 --> 02:06:01,160
they're going to stand and how
they're going to actually

2241
02:06:01,160 --> 02:06:04,040
take that shot on. My goodness.
You're talking real world pipes.

2242
02:06:04,040 --> 02:06:07,480
Absolutely, yeah.
Real world pipes in Sellafield.

2243
02:06:07,480 --> 02:06:10,560
If you guys had a situation where
somebody was inside

2244
02:06:10,560 --> 02:06:14,040
who shouldn't be, who's threatened
to blow up themselves

2245
02:06:14,040 --> 02:06:16,200
or the facility in some way,

2246
02:06:16,200 --> 02:06:18,640
and you've got to assault
it and clear them out...

2247
02:06:18,640 --> 02:06:20,880
Yeah. ..then you've got to think
about what you might hit.

2248
02:06:20,880 --> 02:06:22,720
Yeah, and then you've got to think
about

2249
02:06:22,720 --> 02:06:25,960
obviously what's in the backdrop
that you could potentially cause.

2250
02:06:25,960 --> 02:06:28,760
So it's a lot for them to sort
of deal with, really,

2251
02:06:28,760 --> 02:06:30,960
in one live situation.

2252
02:06:30,960 --> 02:06:34,760
Anything going seriously wrong at
Sellafield

2253
02:06:34,760 --> 02:06:38,360
could have a colossal impact on a
great swathe of the country.

2254
02:06:38,360 --> 02:06:40,320
They want me to be the bad guy.

2255
02:06:47,840 --> 02:06:51,400
The CNC are our front line
defence against an attack

2256
02:06:51,400 --> 02:06:53,760
with almost unimaginable
consequences.

2257
02:06:59,400 --> 02:07:02,280
SHOUTING

2258
02:07:02,280 --> 02:07:04,680
Step forward up against the door,
keep your hands up.

2259
02:07:04,680 --> 02:07:06,840
See the red dot on the wall?

2260
02:07:06,840 --> 02:07:08,800
That is a 50,000 volt Taser.

2261
02:07:08,800 --> 02:07:10,920
Put the hands on the small of your
back.

2262
02:07:10,920 --> 02:07:12,880
SHOUTING

2263
02:07:16,720 --> 02:07:18,720
Thank you. Happy.

2264
02:07:18,720 --> 02:07:20,800
Relax, PPA!

2265
02:07:20,800 --> 02:07:22,280
OK?

2266
02:07:22,280 --> 02:07:23,720
CHUCKLES

2267
02:07:23,720 --> 02:07:25,240
It was a real shock.

2268
02:07:27,560 --> 02:07:29,600
I mean, even though I knew
what was going to happen,

2269
02:07:29,600 --> 02:07:32,280
my heart is still absolutely racing.

2270
02:07:32,280 --> 02:07:35,080
More CNC officers are stationed
at Sellafield

2271
02:07:35,080 --> 02:07:37,280
than any other UK facility.

2272
02:07:37,280 --> 02:07:41,800
It's considered the most complicated
nuclear site on the planet,

2273
02:07:41,800 --> 02:07:43,800
and I was being allowed inside.

2274
02:07:46,520 --> 02:07:49,000
So now we're going into Sellafield.

2275
02:07:50,520 --> 02:07:54,720
Sellafield covers an area of almost
two and a half square miles.

2276
02:07:54,720 --> 02:07:58,600
It houses more than 200 individual
nuclear facilities

2277
02:07:58,600 --> 02:08:02,680
and the largest stock of untreated
nuclear waste on Earth.

2278
02:08:03,680 --> 02:08:06,480
The scale of this place
is incredible.

2279
02:08:06,480 --> 02:08:09,840
There's 10-11,000 people
working here.

2280
02:08:09,840 --> 02:08:13,160
It has its own transport
system, roads, buses.

2281
02:08:15,000 --> 02:08:16,440
During the Second World War,

2282
02:08:16,440 --> 02:08:19,080
they built
an explosives factory here.

2283
02:08:19,080 --> 02:08:20,360
Then it became Windscale,

2284
02:08:20,360 --> 02:08:22,760
where plutonium was produced for
nuclear weapons.

2285
02:08:22,760 --> 02:08:24,760
And, nearby, the site of the world's
first

2286
02:08:24,760 --> 02:08:28,200
proper commercial
nuclear power station.

2287
02:08:28,200 --> 02:08:31,200
In 1957, fire swept through
Windscale

2288
02:08:31,200 --> 02:08:34,520
and terrible disaster was
only narrowly averted.

2289
02:08:34,520 --> 02:08:36,760
Some scientists believe much of
northern England

2290
02:08:36,760 --> 02:08:39,200
could have become a nuclear
wasteland.

2291
02:08:39,200 --> 02:08:42,840
It's still one of the worst
nuclear accidents ever.

2292
02:08:42,840 --> 02:08:45,880
Renamed Sellafield, the site became
a global centre

2293
02:08:45,880 --> 02:08:49,360
for reprocessing
or recycling spent nuclear fuel.

2294
02:08:49,360 --> 02:08:51,360
All that has now stopped.

2295
02:08:51,360 --> 02:08:54,200
They no longer generate
any electricity here.

2296
02:08:54,200 --> 02:08:58,800
All that's happening is a colossally
expensive clean up.

2297
02:08:58,800 --> 02:09:01,000
I'm now heading inside to what's
been described

2298
02:09:01,000 --> 02:09:04,800
as the most hazardous industrial
site in Western Europe.

2299
02:09:09,280 --> 02:09:12,520
The complex is now a jumble of
ageing buildings,

2300
02:09:12,520 --> 02:09:16,120
chock a block with all sorts of
nuclear waste.

2301
02:09:16,120 --> 02:09:20,240
This is now the site of the biggest
decommissioning process in history.

2302
02:09:20,240 --> 02:09:23,240
Where I am at the moment, I'm in a
C-0 Zone,

2303
02:09:23,240 --> 02:09:27,960
which means a very low level risk of
potential contamination.

2304
02:09:27,960 --> 02:09:32,000
When we go down through there we'll
be going into a C-1 Zone.

2305
02:09:32,000 --> 02:09:34,080
Beyond that, there's a C-2 Zone

2306
02:09:34,080 --> 02:09:36,880
and then there's a C-3 Zone
further inside

2307
02:09:36,880 --> 02:09:41,560
where there is the highest risk of
potential contamination

2308
02:09:41,560 --> 02:09:45,800
and to enter this area, I had to
completely change everything

2309
02:09:45,800 --> 02:09:47,440
down to the underwear.

2310
02:09:47,440 --> 02:09:49,880
So, I have to put this... What's
called a dosimeter.

2311
02:09:49,880 --> 02:09:52,360
It measures my exposure to radiation

2312
02:09:52,360 --> 02:09:55,160
and I need to put that
close to my heart.

2313
02:09:58,680 --> 02:10:00,240
All right? Yeah.

2314
02:10:03,400 --> 02:10:07,000
The Sellafield clean-up is expected
to take 100 years

2315
02:10:07,000 --> 02:10:10,600
and cost the country
almost £100 billion.

2316
02:10:10,600 --> 02:10:13,920
It's a staggeringly complex task.

2317
02:10:13,920 --> 02:10:17,320
Few of the facilities here were
built with decommissioning in mind,

2318
02:10:17,320 --> 02:10:19,600
and some nuclear materials could be
radioactive

2319
02:10:19,600 --> 02:10:22,160
for another 100,000 years.

2320
02:10:24,200 --> 02:10:26,920
Dorothy Gradden is the nuclear
engineer in charge

2321
02:10:26,920 --> 02:10:29,920
of decommissioning Sellafield's
most hazardous site.

2322
02:10:29,920 --> 02:10:30,960
Bloody hell.

2323
02:10:32,960 --> 02:10:34,600
Are you all right with heights?

2324
02:10:34,600 --> 02:10:37,440
I'm all right with heights. OK.

2325
02:10:37,440 --> 02:10:40,560
Pretty much. It's not the height,
it's the...

2326
02:10:40,560 --> 02:10:41,880
What you're seeing?

2327
02:10:44,560 --> 02:10:49,800
I've seen this described as the most
hazardous industrial site

2328
02:10:49,800 --> 02:10:51,400
in Western Europe.

2329
02:10:51,400 --> 02:10:53,240
Is that something you would
agree with?

2330
02:10:53,240 --> 02:10:54,880
I would.

2331
02:10:54,880 --> 02:10:56,480
What is in there?

2332
02:10:56,480 --> 02:10:57,920
It is nuclear material.

2333
02:10:57,920 --> 02:11:00,360
It is safely stored under water.

2334
02:11:00,360 --> 02:11:03,560
There is material left in here
that couldn't be reprocessed

2335
02:11:03,560 --> 02:11:05,160
for technical reasons.

2336
02:11:06,160 --> 02:11:08,360
This is basically a giant swimming
pool,

2337
02:11:08,360 --> 02:11:12,360
into which highly radioactive
material was dumped decades ago

2338
02:11:12,360 --> 02:11:15,040
into what's now more than 1,000
skips,

2339
02:11:15,040 --> 02:11:17,560
often without leaving proper
records.

2340
02:11:17,560 --> 02:11:19,680
We've had to put chemical
treatment in.

2341
02:11:19,680 --> 02:11:21,600
This improves the visibility.

2342
02:11:21,600 --> 02:11:24,240
It's really important
that we understand where all of our

2343
02:11:24,240 --> 02:11:27,600
containers are and, then,
what's in them.

2344
02:11:27,600 --> 02:11:31,640
Are you saying we don't know
exactly what's in this pond?

2345
02:11:32,880 --> 02:11:34,320
Back in the early '90s,

2346
02:11:34,320 --> 02:11:37,560
we didn't have a good idea
as to what was here.

2347
02:11:37,560 --> 02:11:42,080
Now we've done surveys with our
remote operated vehicles

2348
02:11:42,080 --> 02:11:46,720
and we now have a record of all
the material.

2349
02:11:46,720 --> 02:11:50,640
We have a significant amount
of nuclear material

2350
02:11:50,640 --> 02:11:52,960
stored in ageing facilities.

2351
02:11:52,960 --> 02:11:56,440
And our job is to understand
what we have,

2352
02:11:56,440 --> 02:12:00,360
to recover it and to put it into
modern storage

2353
02:12:00,360 --> 02:12:03,320
and safe storage on some of our
newer facilities on site.

2354
02:12:03,320 --> 02:12:06,200
And we need to do that in a timely
fashion.

2355
02:12:06,200 --> 02:12:10,880
Dorothy leads hundreds of staff
working to decommission the pond

2356
02:12:10,880 --> 02:12:13,440
full of the most lethal
material imaginable,

2357
02:12:13,440 --> 02:12:15,560
still corroding and decaying.

2358
02:12:15,560 --> 02:12:18,240
It's just one of the clean-up sites
at Sellafield.

2359
02:12:18,240 --> 02:12:21,200
So in this area,
and we don't linger long here,

2360
02:12:21,200 --> 02:12:25,000
this is where we are sourcing
some of our fuel skips

2361
02:12:25,000 --> 02:12:26,480
and consolidating them,

2362
02:12:26,480 --> 02:12:29,120
so you can hear that your radiation
detectors

2363
02:12:29,120 --> 02:12:31,040
are chirping a little bit faster.

2364
02:12:31,040 --> 02:12:34,840
We do have a more consolidated area
of fuel here,

2365
02:12:34,840 --> 02:12:36,840
which obviously has higher
radiation,

2366
02:12:36,840 --> 02:12:38,880
so we move on.

2367
02:12:38,880 --> 02:12:41,360
Water shields most radiation,

2368
02:12:41,360 --> 02:12:45,480
but the pond's above ground,
with an ageing concrete wall,

2369
02:12:45,480 --> 02:12:48,840
and it's open to the elements
and corrosive salty sea air.

2370
02:12:48,840 --> 02:12:50,280
If the water leaked,

2371
02:12:50,280 --> 02:12:53,680
some have worried nuclear fuel
inside could burn.

2372
02:12:53,680 --> 02:12:55,400
It can't stay like this.

2373
02:12:56,600 --> 02:12:58,600
So, where I'm going now, as far as
we know,

2374
02:12:58,600 --> 02:13:00,840
TV cameras have never been.

2375
02:13:00,840 --> 02:13:04,920
I was heading into restricted areas
of the Magnox Storage Plant,

2376
02:13:04,920 --> 02:13:07,960
where engineers are carrying out
the slow, painstaking task

2377
02:13:07,960 --> 02:13:11,640
of actually removing
the radioactive material.

2378
02:13:11,640 --> 02:13:12,880
What's that noise for?

2379
02:13:12,880 --> 02:13:15,320
It's what's called a reassurance
monitor.

2380
02:13:15,320 --> 02:13:18,280
So these measure radiation
in the buildings.

2381
02:13:18,280 --> 02:13:21,520
So it tells us all the time
that the systems are working.

2382
02:13:21,520 --> 02:13:23,160
They're almost like a heartbeat.

2383
02:13:23,160 --> 02:13:24,200
Correct.

2384
02:13:25,200 --> 02:13:27,120
What's going on there, Dorothy?

2385
02:13:27,120 --> 02:13:31,280
What we're doing now is creating
a new tent

2386
02:13:31,280 --> 02:13:33,920
so we can bring some
of the material out,

2387
02:13:33,920 --> 02:13:38,600
put it into the tent to understand
the material characterisation.

2388
02:13:41,480 --> 02:13:42,760
Look at this.

2389
02:13:42,760 --> 02:13:46,480
"Do not loiter in this area as
elevated levels of radiation exist

2390
02:13:46,480 --> 02:13:48,600
"around the balustrade."

2391
02:13:48,600 --> 02:13:50,400
Please don't lean on the handrails
here

2392
02:13:50,400 --> 02:13:53,240
because we certainly don't want
anything dropped in the pond here.

2393
02:13:53,240 --> 02:13:56,480
But this is the pond? Correct.

2394
02:13:56,480 --> 02:13:58,080
Just in there
is your...

2395
02:13:58,080 --> 02:14:01,960
..is the radioactive material you've
got to clean up? correct.

2396
02:14:01,960 --> 02:14:04,800
Am I right in thinking, therefore,
if you drop anything over there...

2397
02:14:04,800 --> 02:14:07,280
It's in there.
..it becomes radioactive waste.

2398
02:14:07,280 --> 02:14:10,120
It would become radioactive waste.

2399
02:14:10,120 --> 02:14:11,920
That is astonishing.

2400
02:14:11,920 --> 02:14:14,040
The state of the site you've got
here,

2401
02:14:14,040 --> 02:14:16,400
I mean, it's very rusty,
it's crumbling.

2402
02:14:18,920 --> 02:14:21,280
This wall here, God, this is
where...

2403
02:14:21,280 --> 02:14:25,960
The fuel would have come into here
and been dismantled, taken apart,

2404
02:14:25,960 --> 02:14:28,000
ready to go for reprocessing.

2405
02:14:28,000 --> 02:14:31,080
So, fuel from the nuclear reactors
has been placed in here

2406
02:14:31,080 --> 02:14:33,600
and is still in there? And there is
still some in there. Yes.

2407
02:14:33,600 --> 02:14:35,760
So this is a future clean-up? Yes.

2408
02:14:35,760 --> 02:14:39,520
BUZZING AND CLICK

2409
02:14:39,520 --> 02:14:41,920
That sound gives me the goose
bumps.

2410
02:14:41,920 --> 02:14:44,600
And so it should.
This is a scary place,

2411
02:14:44,600 --> 02:14:47,920
but it is also a phenomenal national
endeavour

2412
02:14:47,920 --> 02:14:50,920
to clear up the problems
and mistakes of the past.

2413
02:14:54,000 --> 02:14:57,680
The water seemed to have its own
sinister glow.

2414
02:14:57,680 --> 02:15:01,280
Dorothy thinks it could take another
ten years to clear the pond,

2415
02:15:01,280 --> 02:15:03,800
but her team are actually
ahead of schedule.

2416
02:15:03,800 --> 02:15:07,840
I went to meet the specialists
operating the robot submersibles.

2417
02:15:07,840 --> 02:15:10,520
Jack and Liam. Jack and Liam.
This is Simon.

2418
02:15:10,520 --> 02:15:12,600
And who's who?
Who's Jack and who's Liam?

2419
02:15:12,600 --> 02:15:14,960
I'm Liam. You're Liam.
You're Jack.

2420
02:15:14,960 --> 02:15:17,840
And what on earth are you doing?

2421
02:15:17,840 --> 02:15:22,000
Getting rid of any debris or fuel
we find on the pond floor.

2422
02:15:23,400 --> 02:15:26,720
What an extraordinary job
you're doing.

2423
02:15:26,720 --> 02:15:29,560
You look as though you're operating
on the surface of Mars.

2424
02:15:29,560 --> 02:15:33,560
The nearest thing you can think
of is one of those fairground games

2425
02:15:33,560 --> 02:15:35,400
when you go to get the teddy.

2426
02:15:35,400 --> 02:15:37,560
I know exactly what you mean.

2427
02:15:37,560 --> 02:15:40,480
So, unfortunately, they're not
recovering soft toys.

2428
02:15:40,480 --> 02:15:41,800
How old are you, Liam?

2429
02:15:41,800 --> 02:15:43,120
I'm 23.

2430
02:15:43,120 --> 02:15:45,240
23. Jack, how old are you, mate?

2431
02:15:45,240 --> 02:15:46,760
24.

2432
02:15:46,760 --> 02:15:48,000
Are you both big gamers?

2433
02:15:48,000 --> 02:15:50,040
Like, it's the question
you get asked a lot, like,

2434
02:15:50,040 --> 02:15:51,680
"is it just like playing video
games?"

2435
02:15:51,680 --> 02:15:53,080
In a sense, you can kind
of say, yeah,

2436
02:15:53,080 --> 02:15:55,520
but this has real life consequences.

2437
02:15:55,520 --> 02:15:58,040
So you see the fundamental
difference between the two.

2438
02:15:58,040 --> 02:16:00,360
I mean, how can you not?
Look at what's in that skip.

2439
02:16:00,360 --> 02:16:03,440
On the screen here, are those
actually fuel rods?

2440
02:16:03,440 --> 02:16:06,240
Nuclear fuel rods? Yeah.

2441
02:16:06,240 --> 02:16:09,200
These guys are proper on the front
line here, in a sense.

2442
02:16:09,200 --> 02:16:10,960
Aren't they?
Well, not just in a sense.

2443
02:16:10,960 --> 02:16:12,960
They absolutely are on the front
line

2444
02:16:12,960 --> 02:16:14,960
and these are the future
of the industry.

2445
02:16:16,640 --> 02:16:21,720
My sense is you don't want
this legacy to almost contaminate,

2446
02:16:21,720 --> 02:16:24,760
frankly, our view of nuclear now.

2447
02:16:24,760 --> 02:16:28,440
So I fundamentally believe
nuclear has got a part to play

2448
02:16:28,440 --> 02:16:31,440
in our balanced energy policy.

2449
02:16:31,440 --> 02:16:33,680
The country did not understand,

2450
02:16:33,680 --> 02:16:36,600
the world did not understand nuclear
and radiation

2451
02:16:36,600 --> 02:16:39,400
when we built these first
facilities.

2452
02:16:39,400 --> 02:16:41,080
And this is the consequences.

2453
02:16:41,080 --> 02:16:42,840
And this is some
of the consequences of it.

2454
02:16:42,840 --> 02:16:44,480
Liam and Jack sorting it out.

2455
02:16:44,480 --> 02:16:45,600
Absolutely.

2456
02:16:51,560 --> 02:16:54,880
When we embarked on nuclear energy
in the 1950s,

2457
02:16:54,880 --> 02:16:57,920
it offered a glimpse
of a utopian future.

2458
02:16:57,920 --> 02:17:00,960
Some thought it would even
gift us free power.

2459
02:17:00,960 --> 02:17:05,000
But as pioneers in the industry,
we didn't understand the true costs.

2460
02:17:05,000 --> 02:17:07,040
And as a nation, we're now
paying the price.

2461
02:17:09,640 --> 02:17:11,080
Goodness me.

2462
02:17:12,480 --> 02:17:15,960
Sellafield no longer generates any
power,

2463
02:17:15,960 --> 02:17:19,000
yet clearing up the past means
it's likely it will still be

2464
02:17:19,000 --> 02:17:22,240
a major employer in Cumbria 100
years from now.

2465
02:17:23,280 --> 02:17:24,880
23. 23.

2466
02:17:24,880 --> 02:17:28,960
Despite mishaps, accidents,
disasters and sky-high costs,

2467
02:17:28,960 --> 02:17:33,040
it seems the story of nuclear
power is far from over...

2468
02:17:33,040 --> 02:17:36,960
Yeah, that's it. ..because modern
nuclear power is fairly reliable,

2469
02:17:36,960 --> 02:17:39,920
fairly safe and, crucially,
low carbon.

2470
02:17:39,920 --> 02:17:42,960
Some think it is part of
the solution to climate change,

2471
02:17:42,960 --> 02:17:46,880
even though wind and solar power
are a fraction of the price.

2472
02:17:46,880 --> 02:17:51,280
Modern nuclear power stations
are hugely expensive, but sensibly,

2473
02:17:51,280 --> 02:17:53,560
they're designed
with decommissioning in mind.

2474
02:17:53,560 --> 02:17:55,160
That's a relief.

2475
02:17:56,160 --> 02:17:59,200
Dorothy took me to a bunker-like
warehouse

2476
02:17:59,200 --> 02:18:02,280
containing 120 enormous concrete
cubes,

2477
02:18:02,280 --> 02:18:05,000
each weighing around 50 tonnes

2478
02:18:05,000 --> 02:18:08,560
and each holding the lethal remains
of an entire nuclear reactor

2479
02:18:08,560 --> 02:18:11,440
that was cut up in the 1980s.

2480
02:18:11,440 --> 02:18:13,080
They're stored under the watchful
eye

2481
02:18:13,080 --> 02:18:15,680
of head of operations
Richard Edmondson.

2482
02:18:15,680 --> 02:18:18,320
They've still got radioactive
symbols on them.

2483
02:18:18,320 --> 02:18:22,560
Yes. The contents of some
are ferociously radioactive.

2484
02:18:22,560 --> 02:18:25,400
Is that right? Yes, the levels of
radiation at the time

2485
02:18:25,400 --> 02:18:28,080
could have been up
to 100 sieverts.

2486
02:18:28,080 --> 02:18:29,280
And what that means,

2487
02:18:29,280 --> 02:18:31,760
you could kill a man ten times over
with 100 sieverts.

2488
02:18:31,760 --> 02:18:33,560
It will decay over time.

2489
02:18:33,560 --> 02:18:37,520
Some has decayed quite quickly over
five, six, ten years.

2490
02:18:37,520 --> 02:18:40,840
Some materials in there may take
thousands of years to decay.

2491
02:18:40,840 --> 02:18:42,880
Which are which? Do we know,

2492
02:18:42,880 --> 02:18:45,160
or has it all been pretty much
put in together?

2493
02:18:45,160 --> 02:18:47,280
Yeah, we've got records of each
box,

2494
02:18:47,280 --> 02:18:50,640
every item that went in, the
radiation of each item.

2495
02:18:50,640 --> 02:18:52,440
The guys who came
up with the records

2496
02:18:52,440 --> 02:18:55,240
thought of when the records would
need to be read

2497
02:18:55,240 --> 02:18:59,360
and deliberately didn't record them
on any technology of the day.

2498
02:18:59,360 --> 02:19:03,840
So there were no floppy discs
or anything like that or tapes.

2499
02:19:03,840 --> 02:19:05,760
It's recorded on a special paper

2500
02:19:05,760 --> 02:19:08,320
that can be read for hundreds
of years

2501
02:19:08,320 --> 02:19:13,560
and stored in special copper-lined
bags so that...

2502
02:19:13,560 --> 02:19:16,240
We don't know what we're
going to read in 200 years' time.

2503
02:19:16,240 --> 02:19:18,640
We don't know how we're going
to read in 200 years' time.

2504
02:19:18,640 --> 02:19:21,880
But we've got it in special paper
that you will be able to read.

2505
02:19:21,880 --> 02:19:24,120
What a message to the future that
is.

2506
02:19:31,640 --> 02:19:33,880
I've found this place...

2507
02:19:33,880 --> 02:19:36,760
..horrifying and astonishing.

2508
02:19:36,760 --> 02:19:40,600
There is some really heroic work
being done here

2509
02:19:40,600 --> 02:19:44,440
to clean up our national problems.

2510
02:19:44,440 --> 02:19:47,080
Nuclear power has got lots of
advantages.

2511
02:19:47,080 --> 02:19:52,120
It doesn't emit vast
quantities of carbon pollution.

2512
02:19:52,120 --> 02:19:54,400
But if Sellafield's anything,

2513
02:19:54,400 --> 02:20:00,000
it is surely evidence of the
astonishingly long term costs

2514
02:20:00,000 --> 02:20:02,320
of nuclear power as well.

2515
02:20:10,200 --> 02:20:12,680
The UK has enough nuclear waste
to fill

2516
02:20:12,680 --> 02:20:16,560
a shopping bag for every single
person in the country.

2517
02:20:16,560 --> 02:20:19,600
Many experts conclude the only long
term solution

2518
02:20:19,600 --> 02:20:23,440
for dealing with our nuclear waste
is to bury it deep underground

2519
02:20:23,440 --> 02:20:28,040
in what's called a geological waste
facility, possibly in Cumbria.

2520
02:20:28,040 --> 02:20:31,080
Building that facility
will be an enormous engineering feat

2521
02:20:31,080 --> 02:20:34,240
that could be as expensive
as the Channel Tunnel.

2522
02:20:35,920 --> 02:20:38,560
I was missing the national park.

2523
02:20:38,560 --> 02:20:41,040
It was bizarre how I could drive
just a few miles

2524
02:20:41,040 --> 02:20:43,480
from the toxic shell of Sellafield

2525
02:20:43,480 --> 02:20:46,800
and find myself back inside
the Lake District.

2526
02:20:46,800 --> 02:20:50,480
Grazing sheep felt a world away
from brutal industrial buildings,

2527
02:20:50,480 --> 02:20:52,680
but the Lake District itself
was once home

2528
02:20:52,680 --> 02:20:55,320
to some pretty heavy industry.

2529
02:20:55,320 --> 02:20:59,120
It can be so hard to remember that,

2530
02:20:59,120 --> 02:21:02,880
as with other upland parts
of the country,

2531
02:21:02,880 --> 02:21:07,760
this is as much a post-industrial
landscape as it is a place

2532
02:21:07,760 --> 02:21:12,200
which historically was home for
grazing cattle and sheep.

2533
02:21:14,840 --> 02:21:18,400
Rich deposits of iron ore, copper
and slate

2534
02:21:18,400 --> 02:21:20,920
once built communities in a thriving
industrial economy

2535
02:21:20,920 --> 02:21:23,560
in the Lake District.

2536
02:21:23,560 --> 02:21:25,760
At the spectacular on Honister Pass,

2537
02:21:25,760 --> 02:21:27,600
now a popular tourist attraction,

2538
02:21:27,600 --> 02:21:30,000
I met 24-year-old Prentice Weir.

2539
02:21:30,000 --> 02:21:32,520
His family still run a working
mine here.

2540
02:21:34,160 --> 02:21:37,360
You're going to have to hang
on for your lives, it's quite bumpy.

2541
02:21:39,560 --> 02:21:41,040
You love it.

2542
02:21:42,680 --> 02:21:47,120
Mind your shoulders. Sorry, lads.

2543
02:21:47,120 --> 02:21:50,360
Slate has been mined at Honister
for at least 400 years

2544
02:21:50,360 --> 02:21:53,840
and once provided more than
100 local jobs.

2545
02:21:53,840 --> 02:21:56,880
My grandparents had worked
there previously

2546
02:21:56,880 --> 02:22:00,040
and the whole of Borrowdale used to
work up here,

2547
02:22:00,040 --> 02:22:04,000
but it just it just completely got
shut down for about 20 years.

2548
02:22:05,200 --> 02:22:09,280
The mine closed in the 1980s,
but was given a new lease of life

2549
02:22:09,280 --> 02:22:12,280
a decade later when Prentice's
father reopened it again

2550
02:22:12,280 --> 02:22:14,560
on a smaller scale.

2551
02:22:14,560 --> 02:22:17,800
You're the only working
slate mine in England.

2552
02:22:17,800 --> 02:22:20,440
In England, yeah. The only one left
now, yeah.

2553
02:22:20,440 --> 02:22:22,080
It's quite odd.

2554
02:22:22,080 --> 02:22:25,320
Is that an honour or a
responsibility or both?

2555
02:22:25,320 --> 02:22:27,200
I guess it's a bit of both, really.

2556
02:22:27,200 --> 02:22:31,760
My dad blew all these tunnels open
big enough to drive through.

2557
02:22:34,640 --> 02:22:36,040
Woo-ah-ah!

2558
02:22:36,040 --> 02:22:37,920
Yeah, it's a bit chilly.

2559
02:22:39,760 --> 02:22:41,160
Hello, Nelly.

2560
02:22:41,160 --> 02:22:43,600
How we doing?
Nelly, I'm Simon.

2561
02:22:45,160 --> 02:22:50,280
Nelly Nelson was part of the team
that reopened the mine 25 years ago.

2562
02:22:50,280 --> 02:22:54,160
Slate from here is cut in
to roofing tiles, worktops,

2563
02:22:54,160 --> 02:22:55,960
signs and gravestones.

2564
02:22:57,840 --> 02:23:00,040
It's not just any old slate
you bring out of here, is it?

2565
02:23:00,040 --> 02:23:03,240
No, it's the best in the world,
Honister Slate, yeah.

2566
02:23:03,240 --> 02:23:06,360
It's on Buckingham Palace, St Paul's
Cathedral, all sorts of stuff.

2567
02:23:06,360 --> 02:23:09,240
Yeah. Just because of the way
it's been formed over the years,

2568
02:23:09,240 --> 02:23:11,800
it's the hardest
and splits the thinnest,

2569
02:23:11,800 --> 02:23:14,080
so you get the best coverage
for your roofing slates.

2570
02:23:14,080 --> 02:23:17,720
You know, you don't offer a three
year guarantee on your slate,

2571
02:23:17,720 --> 02:23:21,520
you offer a 300 year
guarantee on the slate.

2572
02:23:21,520 --> 02:23:25,240
Absolutely, the timbers will rot
before the slate will be no good.

2573
02:23:25,240 --> 02:23:29,200
So 300 year guarantee is
what you offer?

2574
02:23:29,200 --> 02:23:32,400
Yeah. That's... There'll be no-one
around to chase it up after that.

2575
02:23:32,400 --> 02:23:35,200
I think that's the idea
behind that one.

2576
02:23:36,640 --> 02:23:38,440
What are you working
on at the moment?

2577
02:23:38,440 --> 02:23:39,840
A big slab by the look of it?

2578
02:23:39,840 --> 02:23:42,920
A big piece of stone. It's obviously
too big to get out the tunnel.

2579
02:23:42,920 --> 02:23:46,600
So we'll drill a series of holes
right across the width of the rock.

2580
02:23:46,600 --> 02:23:49,400
We put what's called plugs
and feathers in the holes,

2581
02:23:49,400 --> 02:23:52,680
and then we hit them with a hammer
individually

2582
02:23:52,680 --> 02:23:54,080
till they all tighten up,

2583
02:23:54,080 --> 02:23:55,920
and hopefully we'll have a nice,
clean break

2584
02:23:55,920 --> 02:23:57,400
right down the middle of the rock.

2585
02:23:57,400 --> 02:23:59,320
You will break the whole rock?

2586
02:23:59,320 --> 02:24:01,600
Hopefully. Wow. Fingers crossed.
Fingers crossed.

2587
02:24:01,600 --> 02:24:03,160
Fingers crossed, OK.

2588
02:24:06,680 --> 02:24:08,600
That's a hell of a bit of kit,
isn't it?

2589
02:24:08,600 --> 02:24:12,120
It's made a huge difference for the
production in the mine, definitely.

2590
02:24:12,120 --> 02:24:13,880
How much does it cost?

2591
02:24:13,880 --> 02:24:15,640
A quarter of a million pounds.

2592
02:24:15,640 --> 02:24:17,120
A quarter of a million?! Yeah.

2593
02:24:21,320 --> 02:24:23,120
That's it?

2594
02:24:23,120 --> 02:24:24,760
Hopefully, yes.

2595
02:24:24,760 --> 02:24:26,800
We're going to put some of these in
the holes.

2596
02:24:26,800 --> 02:24:29,960
When I say, you just slide that
in ever so gently...

2597
02:24:31,920 --> 02:24:34,120
..and push it down.
That's it.

2598
02:24:34,120 --> 02:24:36,520
Some of these are actually
older than me, I think.

2599
02:24:41,200 --> 02:24:43,240
All right. OK.

2600
02:24:43,240 --> 02:24:47,080
Hit that one, that one,
that one, that one, that one.

2601
02:24:47,080 --> 02:24:48,920
And so on. All right.
And so on.

2602
02:24:48,920 --> 02:24:49,920
Gently first, or...?

2603
02:24:49,920 --> 02:24:52,360
Yeah. Nice and gently.
Yeah.

2604
02:24:52,360 --> 02:24:55,440
And then as you get your swing,
a bit harder.

2605
02:25:02,360 --> 02:25:04,960
You can see it's started. Oh,
my God, look!

2606
02:25:04,960 --> 02:25:06,280
Look at this.

2607
02:25:07,720 --> 02:25:09,160
Whoa!

2608
02:25:13,160 --> 02:25:15,640
There we go. Wow.

2609
02:25:15,640 --> 02:25:16,960
Fantastic.

2610
02:25:16,960 --> 02:25:18,120
Wow.

2611
02:25:18,120 --> 02:25:20,400
And then that'll do you. Sorted.

2612
02:25:22,400 --> 02:25:24,920
I mean, that is almost a
comedy cartoon crack.

2613
02:25:24,920 --> 02:25:26,320
THEY CHUCKLE

2614
02:25:26,320 --> 02:25:28,920
We've changed so much as a nation.

2615
02:25:28,920 --> 02:25:32,600
This has gone from an industry
to a specialist little business.

2616
02:25:32,600 --> 02:25:34,960
It's not as though we don't
want slate,

2617
02:25:34,960 --> 02:25:38,080
the UK imports 20% of the entire
world's slate,

2618
02:25:38,080 --> 02:25:39,680
more than almost any other country.

2619
02:25:39,680 --> 02:25:41,240
Wow.

2620
02:25:42,760 --> 02:25:45,200
Look at it, go.

2621
02:25:45,200 --> 02:25:48,480
It's like a meat tenderizer
on that side.

2622
02:25:48,480 --> 02:25:50,680
There you go.

2623
02:25:50,680 --> 02:25:52,720
Slate is now largely mined
abroad,

2624
02:25:52,720 --> 02:25:55,800
including in countries like Brazil,
China and India,

2625
02:25:55,800 --> 02:25:58,200
where labour is cheap and there
are fewer protections

2626
02:25:58,200 --> 02:26:00,440
for workers in the environment.

2627
02:26:00,440 --> 02:26:04,080
It has all but consigned this
once-great Lake District industry

2628
02:26:04,080 --> 02:26:05,480
to the history books.

2629
02:26:05,480 --> 02:26:08,000
Just on the other side of the
valley there,

2630
02:26:08,000 --> 02:26:10,720
you can see all these old slate
workings.

2631
02:26:12,200 --> 02:26:14,240
Those date back about 100 years.

2632
02:26:14,240 --> 02:26:19,560
There's 11 miles of tunnels
and shafts over there, apparently.

2633
02:26:19,560 --> 02:26:24,200
People have been mining
and quarrying slate here

2634
02:26:24,200 --> 02:26:26,480
since at least Roman times,

2635
02:26:26,480 --> 02:26:29,680
and in the 15, 16, 17, 1800s,

2636
02:26:29,680 --> 02:26:34,080
there were hundreds and hundreds
of people employed in mining slate,

2637
02:26:34,080 --> 02:26:36,800
but also copper as well,
and iron ore.

2638
02:26:36,800 --> 02:26:40,480
There was a huge industry
in the Lake District.

2639
02:26:40,480 --> 02:26:43,880
And now, certainly in terms of
slate,

2640
02:26:43,880 --> 02:26:46,120
it's just this one mine left.

2641
02:27:04,800 --> 02:27:06,880
On my travels around Cumbria,

2642
02:27:06,880 --> 02:27:10,280
I'd seen how many traditional
industries have declined,

2643
02:27:10,280 --> 02:27:14,480
and some communities are struggling
with a lack of solid jobs.

2644
02:27:14,480 --> 02:27:17,440
I'm heading back to the coast of
Cumbria.

2645
02:27:17,440 --> 02:27:20,440
It's a really industrial part
of the county,

2646
02:27:20,440 --> 02:27:23,640
with many communities that were
built on the backs of coal seams

2647
02:27:23,640 --> 02:27:25,680
that run deep underground.

2648
02:27:27,800 --> 02:27:32,240
Just up the coast from the dunes
of the National Park and Sellafield,

2649
02:27:32,240 --> 02:27:35,680
on the outskirts of the coastal
town of Whitehaven,

2650
02:27:35,680 --> 02:27:39,920
this is the Haig Colliery,
which last produced coal in 1986.

2651
02:27:40,960 --> 02:27:42,800
Look at the size of that.

2652
02:27:46,040 --> 02:27:49,400
Below the surface, tunnels
stretch more than four miles

2653
02:27:49,400 --> 02:27:51,120
beneath the Irish Sea.

2654
02:27:51,120 --> 02:27:54,800
The deep mine produced a high
quality coal called Anthracite,

2655
02:27:54,800 --> 02:27:58,480
which can be used as coking coal
to power the blast furnaces

2656
02:27:58,480 --> 02:28:00,320
that make steel.

2657
02:28:00,320 --> 02:28:02,200
I think this is one of the...

2658
02:28:02,200 --> 02:28:05,840
Almost like an elevator that miners
used to take

2659
02:28:05,840 --> 02:28:07,680
to go down the pit shaft.

2660
02:28:09,880 --> 02:28:14,280
It's astonishing to see
how quickly this is rusting away.

2661
02:28:16,520 --> 02:28:18,960
Even just a generation ago,

2662
02:28:18,960 --> 02:28:23,320
coal still employed thousands
of people in Cumbria.

2663
02:28:23,320 --> 02:28:28,160
And then, of course, cheaper foreign
imports meant the collapse of pretty

2664
02:28:28,160 --> 02:28:30,040
much the entire industry.

2665
02:28:31,160 --> 02:28:34,440
Now, of course, we know that burning
coal, which is one of the dirtiest

2666
02:28:34,440 --> 02:28:38,880
of all fossil fuels, has been
a major driver of global climate

2667
02:28:38,880 --> 02:28:42,960
change to the point where we now
face a worldwide crisis.

2668
02:28:42,960 --> 02:28:46,840
Rising temperatures
and more unpredictable weather

2669
02:28:46,840 --> 02:28:50,960
is a catastrophe for people and
ecosystems all around this world,

2670
02:28:50,960 --> 02:28:56,720
and leaving coal in the ground
has become a symbol in the battle

2671
02:28:56,720 --> 02:28:58,760
to save our planet.

2672
02:28:58,760 --> 02:29:01,160
So you can imagine the reaction
when plans were announced

2673
02:29:01,160 --> 02:29:05,960
for a new coal mine just near here
on the edge of the Lake District.

2674
02:29:05,960 --> 02:29:12,200
The firm West Cumbria Mining said it
would provide 500 good local jobs,

2675
02:29:12,200 --> 02:29:14,800
and the coal would simply replace
some of the millions of tonnes

2676
02:29:14,800 --> 02:29:17,840
of coal the UK imports every
year for the steel industry

2677
02:29:17,840 --> 02:29:21,320
from as far as Australia and Russia.

2678
02:29:21,320 --> 02:29:25,640
They argued that it would actually
be more environmentally friendly.

2679
02:29:25,640 --> 02:29:28,840
Critics said it would just increase
the amount of coal being burnt

2680
02:29:28,840 --> 02:29:32,240
globally, and we need cleaner
ways of producing steel.

2681
02:29:33,680 --> 02:29:36,560
Objections to the mine came
from around the world,

2682
02:29:36,560 --> 02:29:38,480
even from the White House.

2683
02:29:38,480 --> 02:29:42,040
How could Britain, with its pledge
to reduce carbon emissions,

2684
02:29:42,040 --> 02:29:45,080
possibly open a new coal mine?

2685
02:29:45,080 --> 02:29:47,480
Cumbria Council gave a green light.

2686
02:29:47,480 --> 02:29:50,360
But the British government
ordered a public inquiry.

2687
02:29:50,360 --> 02:29:52,280
It's a global controversy

2688
02:29:52,280 --> 02:29:55,320
with real consequences in the
Cumbrian town of Whitehaven.

2689
02:29:58,960 --> 02:30:01,120
There's quite a few grand buildings
here.

2690
02:30:04,680 --> 02:30:08,480
They're a reminder of how much money
flowed through here in the past.

2691
02:30:11,560 --> 02:30:15,000
This town was partly built
on the coal industry.

2692
02:30:15,000 --> 02:30:18,280
Thousands of tonnes of the stuff
was shipped out through the port,

2693
02:30:18,280 --> 02:30:21,240
which at one point a few hundred
years ago, by tonnage,

2694
02:30:21,240 --> 02:30:24,840
was the second busiest in the entire
country.

2695
02:30:24,840 --> 02:30:28,520
These days, it's Sellafield that's
the biggest employer.

2696
02:30:28,520 --> 02:30:30,120
I went for a wander in the town

2697
02:30:30,120 --> 02:30:34,040
and popped in to see local business
leader Gerard Richardson,

2698
02:30:34,040 --> 02:30:35,880
who'd invited me for a tasting.

2699
02:30:35,880 --> 02:30:37,520
Knock knock.

2700
02:30:37,520 --> 02:30:39,960
Hello. Gerard. Hello, mate.

2701
02:30:39,960 --> 02:30:42,160
Oh, thank you very much
for letting us come to visit.

2702
02:30:42,160 --> 02:30:43,560
Oh, no. Delighted to have you.

2703
02:30:43,560 --> 02:30:45,240
What a beautiful shop you have.

2704
02:30:45,240 --> 02:30:47,640
Thank you. It's a collection of
curiosities.

2705
02:30:47,640 --> 02:30:49,480
Yeah. Well, aren't we all?

2706
02:30:49,480 --> 02:30:50,680
Adult sweet shop, I think.

2707
02:30:50,680 --> 02:30:52,560
An adult sweet shop. I like this.

2708
02:30:52,560 --> 02:30:53,880
Goodness me.

2709
02:30:53,880 --> 02:30:56,000
You know, this is a rum town. A rum
town?

2710
02:30:56,000 --> 02:30:58,880
Yeah, we can taste some wine, but
you've got to try the rum first.

2711
02:30:58,880 --> 02:31:01,640
So rum is a big part of the story of
Whitehaven, isn't it?

2712
02:31:01,640 --> 02:31:05,240
Yeah, and at one point, Whitehaven
was the third most important town

2713
02:31:05,240 --> 02:31:07,160
in the UK for the importation.

2714
02:31:07,160 --> 02:31:09,000
The only thing that let us down,
ultimately,

2715
02:31:09,000 --> 02:31:10,600
was the depth of the harbour.

2716
02:31:10,600 --> 02:31:13,440
Ships got bigger,
the harbour didn't.

2717
02:31:13,440 --> 02:31:15,680
And, you know, it all went
to Liverpool in the end.

2718
02:31:15,680 --> 02:31:17,680
Liverpool and Glasgow.

2719
02:31:18,920 --> 02:31:20,680
Very caramel.

2720
02:31:20,680 --> 02:31:22,600
That's delicious.

2721
02:31:24,640 --> 02:31:29,720
The stereotype of Whitehaven
is that it is isolated,

2722
02:31:29,720 --> 02:31:32,080
quite cut-off from the rest of
Cumbria,

2723
02:31:32,080 --> 02:31:33,920
let alone from the rest of the
country.

2724
02:31:33,920 --> 02:31:36,160
But, clearly, I mean out here,

2725
02:31:36,160 --> 02:31:38,840
this defies the conventional
stereotype

2726
02:31:38,840 --> 02:31:41,400
of a post-industrial town,
doesn't it?

2727
02:31:41,400 --> 02:31:43,680
It doesn't look as though
it's down on its heels.

2728
02:31:43,680 --> 02:31:45,760
No, we have people working
at Sellafield

2729
02:31:45,760 --> 02:31:48,200
and some of the industries
supporting Sellafield,

2730
02:31:48,200 --> 02:31:53,880
and it's quite common to have people
there on wages of 50, 60, 70,

2731
02:31:53,880 --> 02:31:56,880
well in excess, in fact
of £100,000 a year.

2732
02:31:56,880 --> 02:32:00,200
But at the other end, we've got
a higher than average number

2733
02:32:00,200 --> 02:32:02,200
of people who are struggling
on the poverty line.

2734
02:32:02,200 --> 02:32:04,920
The divide is more noticeable
here than anywhere else,

2735
02:32:04,920 --> 02:32:06,280
I think, in the country.

2736
02:32:06,280 --> 02:32:08,080
So the situation is skewed, almost,
then,

2737
02:32:08,080 --> 02:32:11,480
cos you've got people who are
earning a surprisingly high amount,

2738
02:32:11,480 --> 02:32:14,600
potentially working in one
of the few industries that's left.

2739
02:32:14,600 --> 02:32:17,240
And then you've got people,
perhaps next door,

2740
02:32:17,240 --> 02:32:19,080
but certainly in the same street and
community

2741
02:32:19,080 --> 02:32:20,720
who really haven't got access

2742
02:32:20,720 --> 02:32:24,400
to those... That employment
or opportunities. Yes.

2743
02:32:24,400 --> 02:32:27,400
It's hard to take the pulse of a
town,

2744
02:32:27,400 --> 02:32:29,680
but Gerard was as good a person as
any

2745
02:32:29,680 --> 02:32:34,320
to give me a sense of local feeling
regarding the proposed coal mine.

2746
02:32:34,320 --> 02:32:36,920
How would you characterise
what the community feels,

2747
02:32:36,920 --> 02:32:40,040
the town feels about the prospect
of the new coal mine?

2748
02:32:40,040 --> 02:32:42,160
I would imagine if you did a survey,

2749
02:32:42,160 --> 02:32:45,680
you would find well over 90% support
for the mine.

2750
02:32:45,680 --> 02:32:48,360
You've got to have coking
coal to produce everything.

2751
02:32:48,360 --> 02:32:51,400
Why should that coking coal be dug
out in unsafe conditions

2752
02:32:51,400 --> 02:32:54,840
in a third world country when we can
dig it out of Whitehaven

2753
02:32:54,840 --> 02:32:58,600
in world-class conditions and
create jobs in the process?

2754
02:32:58,600 --> 02:33:02,120
I understand that point,
but to be straight with you,

2755
02:33:02,120 --> 02:33:04,360
I'm not sure about the mine because,
first of all,

2756
02:33:04,360 --> 02:33:07,240
there are alternative technologies
for creating steel

2757
02:33:07,240 --> 02:33:08,640
that we need to invest in,

2758
02:33:08,640 --> 02:33:10,720
and that would be a wonderful
thing to do around here.

2759
02:33:10,720 --> 02:33:15,360
But there's already enough coking
coal out there in the world,

2760
02:33:15,360 --> 02:33:19,200
more than enough than
we need to make that transition

2761
02:33:19,200 --> 02:33:21,720
to new forms of steel-making.

2762
02:33:21,720 --> 02:33:26,880
But the reality is, if a UK
steel-maker ordered 1,000 tonnes

2763
02:33:26,880 --> 02:33:28,760
of coking coal from another country,

2764
02:33:28,760 --> 02:33:30,760
they're not just going to take
it from stocks,

2765
02:33:30,760 --> 02:33:32,400
they still do dig it out.

2766
02:33:32,400 --> 02:33:36,600
Your position results in an enormous
amount

2767
02:33:36,600 --> 02:33:39,080
of carbon pollution, doesn't it?

2768
02:33:39,080 --> 02:33:40,920
Yeah.
Employment but pollution.

2769
02:33:40,920 --> 02:33:42,560
The argument against the mine is
strong

2770
02:33:42,560 --> 02:33:45,400
and the argument against the mine
has been truly international.

2771
02:33:45,400 --> 02:33:48,440
I would never have thought the White
House would have got involved,

2772
02:33:48,440 --> 02:33:50,480
but none of these people are saying,

2773
02:33:50,480 --> 02:33:53,360
"Hang on, look, guys,
we've got an alternate."

2774
02:33:53,360 --> 02:33:57,080
If the came offered us two
or three mini Rolls-Royce reactors

2775
02:33:57,080 --> 02:34:00,240
for Sellafield, maybe the focus
would be elsewhere,

2776
02:34:00,240 --> 02:34:01,800
but they're not.

2777
02:34:01,800 --> 02:34:04,680
You can't dangle 500 jobs to an area
like West Cumbria

2778
02:34:04,680 --> 02:34:07,720
and then say, "Ah, you shouldn't
do it because of conscience."

2779
02:34:07,720 --> 02:34:10,360
Conscience goes out the window
when it comes to the economy,

2780
02:34:10,360 --> 02:34:11,600
we're half a mile away

2781
02:34:11,600 --> 02:34:14,400
from one of the most deprived parts
of the UK. You know?

2782
02:34:14,400 --> 02:34:18,880
It sounds like it's not really the
mine specifically that you want,

2783
02:34:18,880 --> 02:34:19,920
it's the jobs.

2784
02:34:19,920 --> 02:34:23,000
Yes, it's got to come down
to what matters most.

2785
02:34:23,000 --> 02:34:26,880
Feelings in London about how they're
going to look on the world stage

2786
02:34:26,880 --> 02:34:29,280
or feelings around here with
people's jobs,

2787
02:34:29,280 --> 02:34:30,920
and this wins all the time.

2788
02:34:50,000 --> 02:34:53,880
I don't think anybody doubts
that there's a need for more...

2789
02:34:53,880 --> 02:34:57,520
..jobs and careers up here.

2790
02:34:57,520 --> 02:35:01,160
The north of England is being
particularly badly hit

2791
02:35:01,160 --> 02:35:04,360
by the decline in fossil fuel
industries,

2792
02:35:04,360 --> 02:35:06,120
but opponents of the new mine point
out

2793
02:35:06,120 --> 02:35:09,280
that there are other resources
in Cumbria

2794
02:35:09,280 --> 02:35:12,760
that can be used
to provide lots of employment.

2795
02:35:12,760 --> 02:35:16,600
One industry that can tackle
unemployment and climate change

2796
02:35:16,600 --> 02:35:20,000
is green energy, which can also
deliver green jobs,

2797
02:35:20,000 --> 02:35:24,240
and the government already has a ten
point multibillion pound plan

2798
02:35:24,240 --> 02:35:27,240
for nothing less than a green
industrial revolution.

2799
02:35:27,240 --> 02:35:28,800
Morning. Morning.

2800
02:35:28,800 --> 02:35:31,040
Cumbria could be at the heart of it.

2801
02:35:31,040 --> 02:35:33,080
In the early light, I headed
out to sea

2802
02:35:33,080 --> 02:35:35,920
off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness.

2803
02:35:35,920 --> 02:35:38,840
The waters here are relatively
shallow, and it's very windy.

2804
02:35:38,840 --> 02:35:41,360
And out of sight of the rest
of the country,

2805
02:35:41,360 --> 02:35:45,440
this has already been the scene of
an extraordinary energy revolution.

2806
02:35:45,440 --> 02:35:49,720
This is now known
as the "energy coast".

2807
02:35:49,720 --> 02:35:51,640
Look at the scale of this!

2808
02:35:51,640 --> 02:35:54,920
It's like being in a sci-fi movie.

2809
02:35:58,640 --> 02:36:03,520
Until recently, this was the biggest
offshore wind farm in the world,

2810
02:36:03,520 --> 02:36:05,960
until the title was nabbed
by a rival wind farm

2811
02:36:05,960 --> 02:36:07,800
off the coast of Yorkshire.

2812
02:36:07,800 --> 02:36:10,840
Offshore wind is a game-changer.

2813
02:36:10,840 --> 02:36:15,640
In the UK, we are doing pretty well
with our wind farms.

2814
02:36:15,640 --> 02:36:20,880
On some days, more than half our
power, half our electricity

2815
02:36:20,880 --> 02:36:23,440
is generated by wind.

2816
02:36:23,440 --> 02:36:26,280
That's incredible.

2817
02:36:26,280 --> 02:36:28,640
Renewable energy used to be a niche.

2818
02:36:28,640 --> 02:36:30,880
Now it's powering Britain.

2819
02:36:30,880 --> 02:36:35,000
The wind turbines are dramatically
bigger, better and more efficient

2820
02:36:35,000 --> 02:36:37,120
than even just a few years ago.

2821
02:36:37,120 --> 02:36:41,360
Each can generate enough electricity
to power thousands of homes.

2822
02:36:41,360 --> 02:36:42,560
To keep these turning,

2823
02:36:42,560 --> 02:36:45,360
engineers work shifts all
year round.

2824
02:36:45,360 --> 02:36:47,400
It is a field, isn't it?

2825
02:36:47,400 --> 02:36:49,880
It's turbines for evermore. Yeah.

2826
02:36:49,880 --> 02:36:51,520
It's like they're breeding.

2827
02:36:51,520 --> 02:36:52,680
SIMON LAUGHS

2828
02:36:52,680 --> 02:36:54,720
So, you're heading towards this one

2829
02:36:54,720 --> 02:36:56,280
and a team are going on there,
I think.

2830
02:36:56,280 --> 02:36:57,760
And what's happening with that?

2831
02:36:57,760 --> 02:36:59,760
It looks to me like it's working.

2832
02:36:59,760 --> 02:37:01,720
So, at the minute, the turbine's
working,

2833
02:37:01,720 --> 02:37:03,800
but it's just a bit of preventive
maintenance

2834
02:37:03,800 --> 02:37:05,160
to stop it going down in future.

2835
02:37:05,160 --> 02:37:07,760
So there's just a couple of little
jobs that'll want doing

2836
02:37:07,760 --> 02:37:10,800
on there just to keep it ticking
away and keep it productive.

2837
02:37:10,800 --> 02:37:13,800
The British government has said
it wants the UK to become

2838
02:37:13,800 --> 02:37:16,640
the Saudi Arabia of wind power.

2839
02:37:16,640 --> 02:37:19,280
But one thorny issue for the UK,
at least,

2840
02:37:19,280 --> 02:37:21,400
is that the people who build these
incredible things

2841
02:37:21,400 --> 02:37:24,640
aren't usually British.

2842
02:37:24,640 --> 02:37:29,080
They are so much bigger
when you're underneath them

2843
02:37:29,080 --> 02:37:30,680
than they are from a distance.

2844
02:37:30,680 --> 02:37:34,720
I mean, they are utterly colossal.

2845
02:37:34,720 --> 02:37:38,080
The company that owns and runs
this cutting edge wind farm

2846
02:37:38,080 --> 02:37:43,480
is called Orsted, but it's not
some Silicon Valley tech giant,

2847
02:37:43,480 --> 02:37:46,520
it's Danish, mainly owned
by the government of Denmark,

2848
02:37:46,520 --> 02:37:51,440
and running this with two
old-fashioned Danish pension funds.

2849
02:37:51,440 --> 02:37:54,840
Many of the components come
from Denmark and Germany.

2850
02:37:54,840 --> 02:37:58,400
Some turbine blades are manufactured
in Britain,

2851
02:37:58,400 --> 02:38:01,160
and this farm provides hundreds of
good jobs in Cumbria,

2852
02:38:01,160 --> 02:38:03,640
but I can't help feeling
there could have been more.

2853
02:38:03,640 --> 02:38:07,360
The company behind this
was, for years,

2854
02:38:07,360 --> 02:38:11,760
pumping oil out of the North Sea and
then they saw what was happening.

2855
02:38:11,760 --> 02:38:14,360
They decided,
with Denmark as a country,

2856
02:38:14,360 --> 02:38:18,600
but the company as well decided they
needed to do something greener.

2857
02:38:18,600 --> 02:38:21,640
And so they invested in wind

2858
02:38:21,640 --> 02:38:23,480
and they innovated,

2859
02:38:23,480 --> 02:38:27,960
and now they are world leaders in
generating wind power.

2860
02:38:27,960 --> 02:38:29,760
And it does great.

2861
02:38:29,760 --> 02:38:31,040
Just a little bit.

2862
02:38:31,040 --> 02:38:33,840
But this is a Danish company who've
done this,

2863
02:38:33,840 --> 02:38:37,480
it feels a shame that we couldn't...

2864
02:38:37,480 --> 02:38:39,920
..we couldn't do this for
ourselves, almost.

2865
02:38:49,080 --> 02:38:51,440
I headed back
towards the Lake District.

2866
02:38:53,760 --> 02:38:56,520
Greener energy has to be our future.

2867
02:38:56,520 --> 02:39:00,920
The Climate Change Act commits
the UK to net zero by 2050,

2868
02:39:00,920 --> 02:39:04,880
so we'll absorb as much
carbon as we emit.

2869
02:39:04,880 --> 02:39:07,560
Many experts feel that's not
ambitious enough,

2870
02:39:07,560 --> 02:39:09,440
but to achieve even that target,

2871
02:39:09,440 --> 02:39:11,600
we need to do a whole lot more than
change

2872
02:39:11,600 --> 02:39:14,400
how we produce electricity.

2873
02:39:14,400 --> 02:39:17,120
Perhaps some solutions and answers
can be found here

2874
02:39:17,120 --> 02:39:18,760
in the Lake District.

2875
02:39:19,960 --> 02:39:22,000
I travelled up into
the national park

2876
02:39:22,000 --> 02:39:23,880
to a remote area above Coniston

2877
02:39:23,880 --> 02:39:28,200
to meet Simon Thomas from
Cumbria Wildlife Trust.

2878
02:39:28,200 --> 02:39:32,120
He's leading a project to restore
peat bogs.

2879
02:39:32,120 --> 02:39:35,200
What is peatland and what is peat?

2880
02:39:35,200 --> 02:39:37,480
Peat is essentially pickled
vegetation

2881
02:39:37,480 --> 02:39:40,040
that's been building up for
thousands of years under our feet,

2882
02:39:40,040 --> 02:39:41,680
and it's innerfilling,

2883
02:39:41,680 --> 02:39:43,920
this would have been probably a pond
or a lake here.

2884
02:39:43,920 --> 02:39:46,160
It's storing vegetation,
which is building up,

2885
02:39:46,160 --> 02:39:48,600
building up and making a huge carbon
store,

2886
02:39:48,600 --> 02:39:51,040
which obviously most of the work
we're doing here

2887
02:39:51,040 --> 02:39:53,280
is aimed at trying to protect that
carbon store,

2888
02:39:53,280 --> 02:39:56,120
stop it being lost into
the atmosphere.

2889
02:39:56,120 --> 02:39:58,520
Peat is a bit of a miracle
substance.

2890
02:39:58,520 --> 02:40:00,800
When trees and vegetation die,

2891
02:40:00,800 --> 02:40:02,600
usually they turn into carbon
dioxide,

2892
02:40:02,600 --> 02:40:04,440
which warms the world.

2893
02:40:04,440 --> 02:40:06,720
But in places like this, instead
of rotting away

2894
02:40:06,720 --> 02:40:08,680
and releasing carbon
dioxide,

2895
02:40:08,680 --> 02:40:11,560
the peat stores it, locking
the carbon in the earth

2896
02:40:11,560 --> 02:40:14,160
and stopping it from heating the
planet.

2897
02:40:15,600 --> 02:40:21,280
Our peatlands, our bogs, our
marshes, our fens, our swamps,

2898
02:40:21,280 --> 02:40:24,880
they cover about 3% of the world's
land surface,

2899
02:40:24,880 --> 02:40:28,400
but they store more than twice the
amount of carbon

2900
02:40:28,400 --> 02:40:31,480
that is held in all
of the world's forests.

2901
02:40:32,680 --> 02:40:34,280
Isn't that incredible?

2902
02:40:37,280 --> 02:40:41,640
The peat here is thought
to be about three metres deep,

2903
02:40:41,640 --> 02:40:45,040
and it extends to the base
of the hills,

2904
02:40:45,040 --> 02:40:46,680
all the way round.

2905
02:40:46,680 --> 02:40:52,160
So just think of that huge area
and the size and depth of it.

2906
02:40:52,160 --> 02:40:56,640
A forest, of course, is sticks
of trees poking out of the ground,

2907
02:40:56,640 --> 02:41:02,040
but this is three metres
of density and of volume.

2908
02:41:02,040 --> 02:41:05,960
And that's what makes it such
an absolutely critical part

2909
02:41:05,960 --> 02:41:09,160
of the planet's ecosystem.

2910
02:41:09,160 --> 02:41:11,520
But, yet again, inevitably,

2911
02:41:11,520 --> 02:41:15,920
peat bogs are in trouble in Britain
and almost everywhere.

2912
02:41:15,920 --> 02:41:19,000
Many have been drained and, now,
instead of storing their carbon,

2913
02:41:19,000 --> 02:41:21,600
they're starting to release
it into the atmosphere.

2914
02:41:21,600 --> 02:41:25,120
This is peat soil, which is now
dried out, it's covered in grass.

2915
02:41:25,120 --> 02:41:26,680
It doesn't look at all boggy.

2916
02:41:26,680 --> 02:41:29,520
It's got the same things growing
on it as the surrounding hillside.

2917
02:41:29,520 --> 02:41:32,400
We can see here it is peat that's
literally drying out

2918
02:41:32,400 --> 02:41:34,600
and eroding before our eyes,

2919
02:41:34,600 --> 02:41:37,040
so you can see the edge of it here
eroding and it's fairly dry.

2920
02:41:37,040 --> 02:41:38,160
It's now solid.

2921
02:41:38,160 --> 02:41:40,920
What's the process, then,
how they release carbon?

2922
02:41:40,920 --> 02:41:44,160
If the peatland becomes drained,

2923
02:41:44,160 --> 02:41:47,040
the top players dry out over the
summer

2924
02:41:47,040 --> 02:41:49,640
and oxidation happens
essentially.

2925
02:41:49,640 --> 02:41:51,920
Like this? Yes. Yeah.

2926
02:41:51,920 --> 02:41:55,120
Yes, it's literally drying,
crumbling and oxidising.

2927
02:41:55,120 --> 02:41:58,800
It's a store of carbon,
carbon oxidises to carbon dioxide,

2928
02:41:58,800 --> 02:42:01,560
which is a gas that literally
disappears into the atmosphere.

2929
02:42:01,560 --> 02:42:03,480
The peat just disappears
and shrinks down.

2930
02:42:03,480 --> 02:42:07,120
So this, then, in many a way,
is our climate emergency.

2931
02:42:07,120 --> 02:42:10,760
Yeah. So the peatlands in this
country that are in a damaged state

2932
02:42:10,760 --> 02:42:14,000
like this are slowly emitting
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere

2933
02:42:14,000 --> 02:42:16,280
at a greater rate than the forests
in this country

2934
02:42:16,280 --> 02:42:17,720
are currently able
to absorb it.

2935
02:42:17,720 --> 02:42:20,440
So if we want to take advantage
of tree planting

2936
02:42:20,440 --> 02:42:22,960
as an action to tackle climate
change, then we have to tackle

2937
02:42:22,960 --> 02:42:24,280
this at the same time.

2938
02:42:25,840 --> 02:42:29,480
For hundreds of years, people cut
peat out of the land

2939
02:42:29,480 --> 02:42:31,840
to use as fuel to heat their homes.

2940
02:42:31,840 --> 02:42:33,960
Now we know it's too precious.

2941
02:42:33,960 --> 02:42:36,760
Yet, still, it's sold as compost in
garden centres.

2942
02:42:36,760 --> 02:42:39,400
There's huge evidence of peat
cutting all around here.

2943
02:42:39,400 --> 02:42:41,720
You can see on the side of the hill,

2944
02:42:41,720 --> 02:42:44,120
scars where they stopped peat
cutting

2945
02:42:44,120 --> 02:42:46,640
and they're several feet,
maybe metres even higher

2946
02:42:46,640 --> 02:42:48,560
than where we are currently. So...

2947
02:42:48,560 --> 02:42:51,120
So peat was actually up to our
heads, really?

2948
02:42:51,120 --> 02:42:54,840
Yes, and it's the same on the other
side as well, so...

2949
02:42:54,840 --> 02:42:59,040
Simon is in charge of repairing
and regenerating this bog.

2950
02:42:59,040 --> 02:43:01,760
He uses the chopper to shift
the vital materials,

2951
02:43:01,760 --> 02:43:05,160
and from it, he can survey the state
of the whole Lake District.

2952
02:43:05,160 --> 02:43:06,840
I hitched a ride.

2953
02:43:12,080 --> 02:43:14,160
You can see below where
we've been working,

2954
02:43:14,160 --> 02:43:17,760
the moorlands extends out over this
wide, flat area here,

2955
02:43:17,760 --> 02:43:20,600
which is full of a whole
complex of peat bogs.

2956
02:43:23,320 --> 02:43:26,920
Over decades, farmers were
encouraged and even told to dig

2957
02:43:26,920 --> 02:43:29,600
channels and drain the water
out of boggy land

2958
02:43:29,600 --> 02:43:32,760
to provide more dry pastures for
sheep and cattle to graze

2959
02:43:32,760 --> 02:43:35,080
and provide more food for Britain.

2960
02:43:35,080 --> 02:43:38,320
All of these areas across the Lake
District

2961
02:43:38,320 --> 02:43:40,800
really could all benefit from
peatland restoration.

2962
02:43:40,800 --> 02:43:42,840
We can see here, clearly, there's
a big channel

2963
02:43:42,840 --> 02:43:45,200
runs through the middle of this bog
draining it.

2964
02:43:49,520 --> 02:43:54,120
And we can see over to the right
there, a big pool, which is a former

2965
02:43:54,120 --> 02:43:55,840
peat cutting area that used
to be a bog,

2966
02:43:55,840 --> 02:43:57,840
but there's no longer a bog
there any more.

2967
02:43:57,840 --> 02:43:59,400
It's all been removed.

2968
02:43:59,400 --> 02:44:02,680
Again, all of this moorland
is typical of the British uplands

2969
02:44:02,680 --> 02:44:05,520
in that there's the pits of drainage
and bits of erosion

2970
02:44:05,520 --> 02:44:07,560
going on all across it.

2971
02:44:09,360 --> 02:44:13,080
Estimates suggest damaged UK
peatlands could be releasing more

2972
02:44:13,080 --> 02:44:16,720
than 20 million tonnes of carbon
dioxide a year.

2973
02:44:16,720 --> 02:44:20,360
If we're not careful, the emissions
from our peatlands could cancel out

2974
02:44:20,360 --> 02:44:24,640
all the carbon reduction achieved
through new and existing forests.

2975
02:44:24,640 --> 02:44:28,240
The best way to repair this one
is to block and dam channels

2976
02:44:28,240 --> 02:44:31,560
with rock, so water stays put
and the peat doesn't dry out

2977
02:44:31,560 --> 02:44:34,160
and then release its carbon
into the atmosphere.

2978
02:44:34,160 --> 02:44:36,680
The helicopter is delivering
one-tonne bags of stones

2979
02:44:36,680 --> 02:44:38,600
where we want the dams to be put in,

2980
02:44:38,600 --> 02:44:43,080
so, regularly along this channel,
so it's dropping them into position

2981
02:44:43,080 --> 02:44:45,560
so they can be easily put into the
drain.

2982
02:44:49,440 --> 02:44:53,280
So the digger's just put
a load if stone in here.

2983
02:44:53,280 --> 02:44:55,120
That's right.

2984
02:44:55,120 --> 02:44:58,160
But this won't in and of itself stop
the water, will it?

2985
02:44:58,160 --> 02:45:01,000
It's not holding water, the water's
still moving through,

2986
02:45:01,000 --> 02:45:02,400
it's moving through so slowly

2987
02:45:02,400 --> 02:45:04,640
that it's always keeping the
surrounding peat wet.

2988
02:45:04,640 --> 02:45:07,480
Damming drains to reset wet
and save peatlands

2989
02:45:07,480 --> 02:45:11,320
is a relatively simple way of
reducing our carbon emissions.

2990
02:45:11,320 --> 02:45:13,160
It's working, brilliant.

2991
02:45:15,680 --> 02:45:18,200
Very pleased.
Is that you're very pleased face?

2992
02:45:18,200 --> 02:45:20,680
That's my very pleased face, yes.

2993
02:45:20,680 --> 02:45:24,480
Simon and his team have a huge
amount of work ahead of them.

2994
02:45:24,480 --> 02:45:25,760
In the Lake District,

2995
02:45:25,760 --> 02:45:27,280
only a quarter of the peat bogs,

2996
02:45:27,280 --> 02:45:28,800
even in the most protected areas,

2997
02:45:28,800 --> 02:45:32,040
are classed as being in good
condition.

2998
02:45:32,040 --> 02:45:35,920
Across the country,
it's a similar picture.

2999
02:45:35,920 --> 02:45:38,800
There's a real scale to this
project.

3000
02:45:40,440 --> 02:45:44,280
I didn't know enough about our
peatlands.

3001
02:45:44,280 --> 02:45:48,240
I had no idea they were this...

3002
02:45:48,240 --> 02:45:49,960
..fundamentally important.

3003
02:45:56,440 --> 02:45:59,600
I was coming to the end of my
travels around the Lake District

3004
02:45:59,600 --> 02:46:01,240
and Cumbria.

3005
02:46:01,240 --> 02:46:04,080
At the heart of so many of the
stories I'd heard here

3006
02:46:04,080 --> 02:46:06,760
and issues I'd learnt about
is farming.

3007
02:46:06,760 --> 02:46:10,240
Farming is absolutely central
to all our efforts to preserve

3008
02:46:10,240 --> 02:46:13,200
and improve the national park
and the whole natural environment

3009
02:46:13,200 --> 02:46:14,520
of the country.

3010
02:46:14,520 --> 02:46:18,600
After all, more than 70%
of the UK is farmland.

3011
02:46:18,600 --> 02:46:21,480
How we manage the environment
and tackle climate change

3012
02:46:21,480 --> 02:46:25,520
while still producing food is now
one of our great challenges.

3013
02:46:25,520 --> 02:46:29,080
Farmers are often accused
of damaging our countryside.

3014
02:46:29,080 --> 02:46:31,200
I think that's really unfair.

3015
02:46:32,240 --> 02:46:37,520
For decades, farmers have just done
what we asked and governments told

3016
02:46:37,520 --> 02:46:41,920
them to do, which was produce
lots of cheap food.

3017
02:46:41,920 --> 02:46:46,440
Now, of course, we need to get them
involved in battling climate change

3018
02:46:46,440 --> 02:46:48,680
and protecting wildlife.
But how?

3019
02:46:55,280 --> 02:46:57,440
I went to meet a farmer
and shepherd whose family

3020
02:46:57,440 --> 02:46:59,600
have been here for centuries.

3021
02:47:01,080 --> 02:47:04,560
When he's not farming,
James Rebanks is writing.

3022
02:47:04,560 --> 02:47:05,920
Come, let's go in.

3023
02:47:08,040 --> 02:47:11,600
His beautiful, best selling books
chronicle how farming has changed

3024
02:47:11,600 --> 02:47:15,200
in the Lake District, but he also
argues some farming can change

3025
02:47:15,200 --> 02:47:17,160
for better into the future.

3026
02:47:18,480 --> 02:47:19,880
What have you got here?

3027
02:47:19,880 --> 02:47:23,200
So these are all basically
mature Herdwick ewes.

3028
02:47:23,200 --> 02:47:25,040
Come back! Come back!

3029
02:47:25,040 --> 02:47:28,720
And these are the native
sheep of the Lake District.

3030
02:47:28,720 --> 02:47:31,120
The sheep that Beatrix Potter made
famous

3031
02:47:31,120 --> 02:47:33,720
and the sheep that's loved
by many, many people.

3032
02:47:33,720 --> 02:47:36,840
The sheep that helped to shape
the Lake District?

3033
02:47:36,840 --> 02:47:39,880
Yeah. That gets a little bit
oversimplified

3034
02:47:39,880 --> 02:47:42,760
to it only being sheep that shaped
the Lake District.

3035
02:47:42,760 --> 02:47:45,280
Oh, Tosh, go on. I know it's hot,
mate, I know.

3036
02:47:45,280 --> 02:47:49,240
I know it's really a landscape
shaped by cattle and sheep

3037
02:47:49,240 --> 02:47:51,600
and forestry and mining
and all sorts of other processes.

3038
02:47:51,600 --> 02:47:54,080
Sheep are just one of the processes.

3039
02:47:54,080 --> 02:47:56,560
And you could argue by the 1990s
that strips...

3040
02:47:56,560 --> 02:47:59,120
..gets stripped back for all sorts
of reasons just to sheep

3041
02:47:59,120 --> 02:48:01,360
and probably too many sheep
in too many places doing

3042
02:48:01,360 --> 02:48:03,040
exactly the same thing.

3043
02:48:03,040 --> 02:48:04,800
And if we know one thing
from ecology,

3044
02:48:04,800 --> 02:48:06,720
it's too much of one thing
everywhere,

3045
02:48:06,720 --> 02:48:08,480
it's not a good idea.

3046
02:48:08,480 --> 02:48:12,160
For decades, many farmers like James
have struggled to make ends meet.

3047
02:48:12,160 --> 02:48:13,960
Supermarkets have driven
down prices,

3048
02:48:13,960 --> 02:48:16,800
and we've imported cheaper meat
farmed abroad,

3049
02:48:16,800 --> 02:48:18,920
often with less welfare controls.

3050
02:48:18,920 --> 02:48:22,880
Low cost processed foods comprise
a huge portion of our diets,

3051
02:48:22,880 --> 02:48:25,360
but with consequences
for the quality of what we eat

3052
02:48:25,360 --> 02:48:27,680
our health, farming
and the environment.

3053
02:48:27,680 --> 02:48:30,080
But producing proper food is costly.

3054
02:48:30,080 --> 02:48:32,840
So these are our, what we would call
the stock tups,

3055
02:48:32,840 --> 02:48:35,520
which is the fathers
of all the lambs on the farm.

3056
02:48:35,520 --> 02:48:38,200
He was the most valuable
Herdwick ever sold.

3057
02:48:38,200 --> 02:48:42,000
He was £10,000 when we bought him
and...

3058
02:48:42,000 --> 02:48:43,840
My jaw properly went there.

3059
02:48:43,840 --> 02:48:45,880
This particular ram here?

3060
02:48:45,880 --> 02:48:48,560
He was £10,000 when he was young,
yeah.

3061
02:48:50,680 --> 02:48:52,840
Are we addicted to cheap food?

3062
02:48:52,840 --> 02:48:55,000
I think to an extent we are.

3063
02:48:55,000 --> 02:48:57,440
We used to spend about a third
of our household income on food

3064
02:48:57,440 --> 02:49:00,760
in this country. It's now down to, I
think, 9 or 10%.

3065
02:49:00,760 --> 02:49:02,640
Some people would say that's
a good thing.

3066
02:49:02,640 --> 02:49:05,680
Yeah, but cheapening food does away
with small farmers,

3067
02:49:05,680 --> 02:49:07,560
which is a whole tranche of people.

3068
02:49:07,560 --> 02:49:09,840
It does away with small
businesses in town centres.

3069
02:49:09,840 --> 02:49:12,280
There's a whole bunch of jobs
associated with slightly

3070
02:49:12,280 --> 02:49:15,800
more expensive food that you do away
with to make it cheaper.

3071
02:49:15,800 --> 02:49:19,280
Rural economy, climate crisis,
biodiversity,

3072
02:49:19,280 --> 02:49:23,440
all that plays out and is decided
by what you as a farmer do,

3073
02:49:23,440 --> 02:49:26,280
what we as an agricultural
country do.

3074
02:49:26,280 --> 02:49:29,120
Yeah, I think so. I think the
world's playing out in our fields.

3075
02:49:29,120 --> 02:49:32,800
And if you think, really,
if you're thoughtful about my fields

3076
02:49:32,800 --> 02:49:36,040
or anybody else's fields in places
like this, you inevitably have to go

3077
02:49:36,040 --> 02:49:39,320
to those places, you have to think
about, OK, if we make more food

3078
02:49:39,320 --> 02:49:42,840
more expensive to look after our
landscapes, then how do you feed
the poorest people?

3079
02:49:42,840 --> 02:49:45,600
And I need you and everybody else
to care about this stuff

3080
02:49:45,600 --> 02:49:47,400
and to change things around me.

3081
02:49:47,400 --> 02:49:50,040
Otherwise, I can't look
after these fields properly.

3082
02:49:50,040 --> 02:49:54,320
For their own sake, for my sake,
or for all of our sakes.

3083
02:49:56,360 --> 02:49:58,160
Hey!

3084
02:49:58,160 --> 02:50:02,240
James wants us to care
more about farming and food.

3085
02:50:02,240 --> 02:50:05,920
His vision for the future is farms
that provide quality food

3086
02:50:05,920 --> 02:50:08,960
while also tackling our biodiversity
crisis

3087
02:50:08,960 --> 02:50:10,960
and climate change.

3088
02:50:10,960 --> 02:50:13,920
To that end, he turned to methods
more in sync with nature.

3089
02:50:13,920 --> 02:50:16,040
He's abandoned some modern farming
practices,

3090
02:50:16,040 --> 02:50:18,080
breaking the addiction to chemicals

3091
02:50:18,080 --> 02:50:21,480
and now has healthier grass because
he rotates his grazing sheep

3092
02:50:21,480 --> 02:50:24,240
more regularly, which gives his
fields a rest.

3093
02:50:24,240 --> 02:50:27,160
It's good for the grass,
but also, crucially, the soil.

3094
02:50:27,160 --> 02:50:31,120
The scientists are telling us
that a 0.4 increase in soil organic

3095
02:50:31,120 --> 02:50:34,320
matter around the world would trap
the overwhelming majority

3096
02:50:34,320 --> 02:50:37,360
of the carbon that we need to get
out of the atmosphere.

3097
02:50:37,360 --> 02:50:39,800
And in our fields, just by fairly
radically changing

3098
02:50:39,800 --> 02:50:42,440
the grazing management,
but in a way that's doable,

3099
02:50:42,440 --> 02:50:47,320
we got between 2-3% more organic
matter within three years.

3100
02:50:47,320 --> 02:50:50,280
James has also planted 6,000 trees,

3101
02:50:50,280 --> 02:50:53,920
rewiggled his rivers and areas
of the farm have been set aside

3102
02:50:53,920 --> 02:50:56,560
as flower meadows and wildlife
corridors.

3103
02:50:56,560 --> 02:50:59,080
There can be huge benefits
and not just for nature.

3104
02:51:02,080 --> 02:51:03,760
Thank you.

3105
02:51:03,760 --> 02:51:06,280
So what is this bit?

3106
02:51:06,280 --> 02:51:09,280
So, what we're finding, Simon,
is that there's bits of the farm

3107
02:51:09,280 --> 02:51:11,760
where inevitably we have to have
quite heavy grazing pressure,

3108
02:51:11,760 --> 02:51:13,880
particularly in the winter. But in
these areas,

3109
02:51:13,880 --> 02:51:15,400
we can let the next layer up happen.

3110
02:51:15,400 --> 02:51:18,440
We can let the little thorns start
to take place, the little trees come

3111
02:51:18,440 --> 02:51:21,800
through and in here you have a lot
of the spiders, you have a lot

3112
02:51:21,800 --> 02:51:23,520
of insects and grasshoppers.

3113
02:51:23,520 --> 02:51:25,920
Things like that have a huge
head start in the spring

3114
02:51:25,920 --> 02:51:28,840
and when, in the summer months, when
we have all the growth,

3115
02:51:28,840 --> 02:51:31,840
if we do the right kind of grassland
management on the rest of the farm,

3116
02:51:31,840 --> 02:51:34,480
the things that have wintered
in here very quickly,

3117
02:51:34,480 --> 02:51:37,120
as they begin to breed and have
thousands of offspring,

3118
02:51:37,120 --> 02:51:39,320
they spread quite quickly out into
the rest of it.

3119
02:51:39,320 --> 02:51:41,840
So, this is a sort of refuge, at
times,

3120
02:51:41,840 --> 02:51:44,800
from the inevitable farming
pressures around it.

3121
02:51:44,800 --> 02:51:47,880
And within months of doing this,
we had so much long grass

3122
02:51:47,880 --> 02:51:50,320
that we had an explosion of voles
and the barn owls came back

3123
02:51:50,320 --> 02:51:51,480
to our farm.

3124
02:51:51,480 --> 02:51:53,560
I completely get this is lovely.

3125
02:51:53,560 --> 02:51:55,200
Yeah. It's great.

3126
02:51:55,200 --> 02:51:58,640
Voles, owls, wonderful. Yeah.

3127
02:51:58,640 --> 02:52:02,040
As a producer of food,
how does this help?

3128
02:52:02,040 --> 02:52:04,120
The really cool thing is, we're now
learning that

3129
02:52:04,120 --> 02:52:06,440
if we have healthy soil and we
manage grassland

3130
02:52:06,440 --> 02:52:09,200
in the way that maximises
photosynthesis,

3131
02:52:09,200 --> 02:52:12,040
without any inputs,
we can grow 30% more grass...

3132
02:52:12,040 --> 02:52:18,120
30%? 30% more grass if you manage
grassland in the most effective way.

3133
02:52:18,120 --> 02:52:20,320
Cumbrian farmers are a tough
breed,

3134
02:52:20,320 --> 02:52:24,040
but James gets respect
because what he's done works.

3135
02:52:24,040 --> 02:52:26,160
Other farmers here are doing
the same,

3136
02:52:26,160 --> 02:52:29,200
but they want the rest
of us to support them.

3137
02:52:29,200 --> 02:52:32,360
Stewarding the land like
this doesn't come cheap.

3138
02:52:32,360 --> 02:52:35,040
As a nation, we're going to have to
decide what we really want

3139
02:52:35,040 --> 02:52:38,360
from our farmers and our countryside
and whether it's at a price

3140
02:52:38,360 --> 02:52:39,680
we're willing to pay

3141
02:52:39,680 --> 02:52:42,440
in government subsidies.
and at a check out.

3142
02:52:42,440 --> 02:52:44,400
What valley are we looking down
into?

3143
02:52:44,400 --> 02:52:47,200
We're in the valley of Matterdale
and my family have lived

3144
02:52:47,200 --> 02:52:50,240
around here for nearly 600 years,
just past the end of that fell.

3145
02:52:50,240 --> 02:52:52,280
And then we're looking into
Patterdale

3146
02:52:52,280 --> 02:52:54,680
and just literally over the top
of Gowbarrow Fell

3147
02:52:54,680 --> 02:52:56,320
you drop into Ullswater,

3148
02:52:56,320 --> 02:52:57,880
where Wordsworth wrote his...

3149
02:52:57,880 --> 02:53:00,160
Probably the most famous poem
in the English language...

3150
02:53:00,160 --> 02:53:01,800
His Daffodils.

3151
02:53:01,800 --> 02:53:03,640
As you look out at this,

3152
02:53:03,640 --> 02:53:05,800
what is the Lake District actually
for?

3153
02:53:05,800 --> 02:53:07,520
The way I see it, in the early-19th
century

3154
02:53:07,520 --> 02:53:10,360
through Wordsworth and other people,
this place changed the world.

3155
02:53:10,360 --> 02:53:13,200
It changed the way we think about
landscape. It would change the way

3156
02:53:13,200 --> 02:53:16,040
we think about public ownership of
landscape, that it belongs to you

3157
02:53:16,040 --> 02:53:18,080
and me because it's beautiful
and it's good.

3158
02:53:18,080 --> 02:53:20,280
And I think what's happening now is
that this place

3159
02:53:20,280 --> 02:53:21,760
is being reinvented again.

3160
02:53:21,760 --> 02:53:24,680
It's going to play a really vital
global role

3161
02:53:24,680 --> 02:53:26,600
in how we think about landscapes,

3162
02:53:26,600 --> 02:53:28,880
about how you can refit a
landscape

3163
02:53:28,880 --> 02:53:30,720
so the traditional farming survives,

3164
02:53:30,720 --> 02:53:32,960
but you can meet the climate change
crisis we're in

3165
02:53:32,960 --> 02:53:34,920
and put the biodiversity back that
we know

3166
02:53:34,920 --> 02:53:36,320
is disappearing from everywhere.

3167
02:53:36,320 --> 02:53:38,960
I believe passionately
in this landscape's,

3168
02:53:38,960 --> 02:53:41,240
not only its ability to do its own
thing,

3169
02:53:41,240 --> 02:53:43,440
but to resonate out
and change the world.

3170
02:53:55,440 --> 02:54:00,280
I think James's vision is
so important for the future,

3171
02:54:00,280 --> 02:54:02,800
for here and across the country,

3172
02:54:02,800 --> 02:54:07,600
farmers and rural communities now
have such a critical role to play

3173
02:54:07,600 --> 02:54:11,280
in giving nature a helping hand.

3174
02:54:11,280 --> 02:54:15,360
But to have a healthy and beautiful
countryside,

3175
02:54:15,360 --> 02:54:18,040
you've got to have a sound rural
economy.

3176
02:54:28,760 --> 02:54:32,800
At the moment, there's a risk
of people being forced out of here.

3177
02:54:32,800 --> 02:54:34,480
In a pretty valley like this,

3178
02:54:34,480 --> 02:54:37,000
so many of the houses are actually
second homes,

3179
02:54:37,000 --> 02:54:40,120
empty for much of the year,

3180
02:54:40,120 --> 02:54:43,920
and houses are really becoming
totally unaffordable

3181
02:54:43,920 --> 02:54:45,600
for many local people.

3182
02:54:46,880 --> 02:54:50,600
Public transport is very costly and
tricky.

3183
02:54:52,320 --> 02:54:56,400
And with empty villages, services
like local schools

3184
02:54:56,400 --> 02:55:00,960
start to disappear. It's almost
as if the Lake District and other

3185
02:55:00,960 --> 02:55:03,680
places like it around the country
are just becoming somewhere

3186
02:55:03,680 --> 02:55:06,000
for the middle class
and the wealthy.

3187
02:55:10,120 --> 02:55:14,600
As a national park, the Lake
District is completely priceless,

3188
02:55:14,600 --> 02:55:19,280
especially for the millions of us
who enjoy the great outdoors.

3189
02:55:19,280 --> 02:55:23,680
But it needs thriving farms and
functioning communities to better

3190
02:55:23,680 --> 02:55:28,480
steward and care for wildlife
and improve this precious landscape.

3191
02:55:28,480 --> 02:55:31,680
It has the challenges facing many
areas of rural Britain,

3192
02:55:31,680 --> 02:55:35,360
but it can also be a beacon
showing what's possible.

3193
02:55:36,600 --> 02:55:39,320
I've come to the end of my travels
around the Lake District

3194
02:55:39,320 --> 02:55:41,240
and what a place to finish.

3195
02:55:42,840 --> 02:55:46,160
This really is a world-class
national park,

3196
02:55:46,160 --> 02:55:51,240
as beautiful as anything I have seen
anywhere on this planet.

3197
02:55:51,240 --> 02:55:53,040
And while I've been here,

3198
02:55:53,040 --> 02:55:56,880
I've really learned how vital
the county of Cumbria is

3199
02:55:56,880 --> 02:55:58,600
to our national life,

3200
02:55:58,600 --> 02:56:03,120
how it's at the centre of
the struggle to provide green energy

3201
02:56:03,120 --> 02:56:05,400
and the battle for nature.

3202
02:56:05,400 --> 02:56:07,400
If we can get things right here,

3203
02:56:07,400 --> 02:56:10,080
that gives me such hope
for the future.