Countryfile - Bradford - City of Culture
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LifestyleTranscript
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00:09Breathe it in, Sean, that sweet West Yorkshire air.
00:12Isn't it magnificent?
00:13It's amazing, and what a view.
00:15You're like a creature in its natural habitat, aren't you?
00:17I am. This is my landscape.
00:19And Bradford isn't too far away from here.
00:21City of Culture 2025.
00:23And the landscape has an important part to play in the celebrations.
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00:54this year bradford is taking on one of the most prestigious and transformative titles
01:09city of culture 2025
01:11a year-long celebration of creativity is taking place throughout the bradford district
01:18which covers 141 square miles across west yorkshire
01:23when people think of bradford they think of a northern city maybe mills markets music but the
01:30story of bradford begins here in the countryside and it's a story of grit and wool the city is built
01:39from the gritstone of these moors and that same grid runs through the people that live here and
01:48wool from the sheep that have grazed these hills for centuries their fleeces fueled a global trade
01:54with bradford right at its heart
01:55these elemental forces the lands the weather and the animals didn't just shape the countryside they
02:05helped build the foundations for a city full of culture color and creativity yes and as bradford
02:11celebrates its year a city of culture we're heading out to discover how the hills the moors and the
02:17people of the countryside helped weave the story of a modern cultural powerhouse the fabric of
02:25bradford's wool legacy begins on the moors go and follow your blood right bro that's a good feeling
02:31isn't it when you get writing like that it's a landscape that sparks the imagination and stirs
02:38the soul we've just asked everybody what does it mean to be northern and we just put it all together
02:43in one huge song we thought let's celebrate all the brilliant good stuff about being in the north
02:49the wild spaces here are sparking new connections the bird man you've obviously got a calming influence
02:56are you feeling warm there guys brilliant well done and it takes a hardy breed to thrive in this
03:03rugged yorkshire landscape it's one of the best sights isn't it you know you look how happy they are
03:09they're giddy their tails are up they're galloping round yeah just tremendous absolutely love it
03:20see you back here later on absolutely look i can see some art over there i'm going to go check it out
03:24and i'm going to bring you something to contribute to one of those pieces of art sounds great see you
03:27later enjoy
03:40growing up in west yorkshire these wiley and windy malls are a familiar stomping ground for me
03:47and to mark bradford's cultural achievements these panoramic views are providing the backdrop
03:53to a very special art exhibition artist and filmmaker shenaz ghulzar is the creative director
04:01of bradford 2025 which includes wild uplands a striking collection of temporary artworks installed
04:09across peniston hill each artist has been inspired by this landscape but in such different ways it's been
04:17a joy to curate this work i absolutely love this what a surprise to find these uh mythical creatures
04:27just appearing on peniston hill this is by monira monira is an artist who each work is quite unique to
04:34the site and the thing that really inspired her about this landscape was the story of the cottingley
04:39fairies you know how more bradford can you get two little girls claiming that they've seen fairies at the
04:45bottom of their garden so she kind of took the myths and legends that this landscape's inspired
04:50and she's like right i want to create a magic wonderland up here on peniston hill you know that
04:57is just going to bring people's imagination to life just think about the writers that are going to be
05:01inspired the children are going to be inspired by this work i love them me too making me smile
05:07imagine you know this character in a story in an animation in yorkshire in yorkshire yeah in this
05:14landscape four leading artists have been invited to create new pieces here which take inspiration from
05:23the area's natural and industrial heritage this one's still being installed yes it is what is it this looks
05:31beautiful so this is called 99 butterflies and it's by uh meher nisa assad these butterflies represent
05:39resilience and transformation and that's what this landscape is that's what meher took from the
05:43landscape wow look how beautiful colors this can i touch it is it yeah yeah you can touch it tactile
05:48isn't it it is very it's marble it is marble natural stone so this is this is using the pattern of the
05:56natural marble and stone and these butterflies here you can see that the inlay work has been done
06:02and this is like traditional arts and you know crafts of you know pakistan and the pathan community
06:08this is being revived and saved by meher it's beautiful and this is her ode to this landscape
06:16using traditional arts and crafts and to bring it to life here it just it felt right it was a it felt
06:24right and it felt like a real offer back to bradford and the uk yeah it's a gift i think it's such
06:29a great idea to bring the art up here yeah over the next five months they will it will shift and
06:35change as the landscape shifts and changes as the heather starts to bloom and so they'll see it in a
06:41different light again what do you want people to take away from all of this i want them to see
06:45their landscape through the eyes of the artists who've created the work because you you kind of become
06:51desensitized to a space that you know but these artists have taken it and reframed it and that's
06:58what i'd like people to take away from it i was born and brought up in keithley and this landscape has
07:04always given me uh comfort imagination the minute you set foot in it every single one of us we are of
07:12it and it is of us correct yeah so lucky so lucky installation of the artwork is almost complete
07:21but there's still a flurry of activity going on around the exhibition's tallest sculpture
07:29it's the work of internationally renowned environmental artist steve messam and it's massive
07:42so it's a tower and and it's covered in the fleece of around 500 uh locally bred sheep they're from
07:57farm you can just about see me over my shoulder there oh fantastic so these are all the the local
08:02breeds these are all derbyshire gritston uh and lunk uh kind of a mix of the two and where did the idea
08:09come from for this i like this this relationship between landscape and the city you wouldn't have
08:14the cities of culture if you didn't have these rural landscapes so the the wool that's used on
08:19that is basically the wall that started the wool industry in bradford so it's the kind of building
08:24blocks of what made bradford bradford and then the actual forms are inspired by the rock formations
08:32that we see us around here on this old quarry and what's it like for you to be standing here watching
08:37this bit of the process watching it actually coming to life i mean it's fantastic to see it all taking
08:43shape yeah i've made a few of these kind of fleece covered structures in the past but nothing on this
08:48scale and and nothing in this kind of landscape sheep farming communities it's it's where i live
08:56and every landscape has its different breeds of sheep for me i always find it fascinating to look
09:01at landscapes in terms of relationship between sheep and landscape what do you hope people's reaction is
09:07well i know what they're going to take from me they're going to take a bit of wool every time
09:09they will is that okay we don't want to encourage that no we don't want to go but people will be
09:14and it's nice you know it is tactile and there's something about the piece which you'll find when
09:19we get closer that when you stand next to it you you can smell it you feel the scale of it it is
09:26tactile even from here i want to just go and stroke it later i'll be helping steve put the finishing
09:32touches to his fleece clad tower i think we're going to need a bit more wool
09:48bradford's rolling moors have long been a grazing ground for sheep
09:53their fleeces putting the city at the heart of a global wool trade
09:57although the mills are full and silent and the skyline has changed sheep still need shearing
10:05and sometimes the old ways are the best
10:10water clay his sister rachel and her son george have been grazing gritstone sheep on this land for
10:16several decades so how long have the family been on the farm where i live now where where my great
10:24grandparents came to so george's great great grandparents is straight on the horizon there
10:30probably one of the highest points around called walter and martha moore so they came in 1900
10:37they said at time people said that nobody stays long here because it's uh winters are too hard and
10:42winds too strong um but anyway they stayed and and like george is now fifth generation they said that
10:49it wouldn't last and you're you're still here pretty proud that we're still here and still going
10:54obviously farm somewhat bigger than what it was then this lump of ground stretching from a sort of
11:00as far as you can see that way to where more ends that way i believe there were possibly over 20 families
11:06farming uh but i think in them days people had a little farm they kept a few cows a few pigs a few
11:14sheep chickens and they also had a job at mill at the same time why have you gone for gritston sheep
11:20well they're a solid strong sheep they're really well suited to this harsh ground really that are
11:27up here unlike other l breeds we have a tight coated fleece so in bad snow storms they don't ball up
11:35with snow like a lot of your longwood types um they get heavy and yeah yeah yeah yeah but on this
11:42mall and my dad very much knew that gristons were suited to it and they're stuck with them when
11:48other people were moving out and they're stuck with them and they were always known as grit men
11:56how many sheep have you got here
12:01what are you loving that's akin to asking somebody how much they haven't banked oh no i'm not meant to
12:05ask that am i oh gosh i'm so sorry don't ever ask an elf farmer how many sheep he has okay lots of
12:12farms all the money is tied up in livestock yeah you know everything it's all on four legs might be
12:17a bit old-fashioned in that way i think in which i was been brought up so it's the start of shearing
12:23season what are we picking george this old i'm hoping this is an opportunity for me to redeem myself
12:31by lending a hand what skills do you need then main thing with shearing it's just growing up around
12:37shearing when when i were a kid we started off by hand shearing and you get to know the sheep's body
12:44you get to know and and by the time you've clipped a few hundred by hand to clip with a machine is a lot
12:50easier nobody starts off with hand shears anymore it's just a thing of the past yeah they're just not
12:55quick enough um like george now in the quick quite a lot of sheep but he's still a very young novice
13:02shearer it's hard work isn't it yeah it's a young man's game why do you think i'm studying george's
13:11shearing so do you want to jump in then sean yeah see what see what you can do yeah i'll have a go i mean
13:18get a leg where where george has got one yeah and then another leg around this other side and i hold
13:25on here yeah yeah keep hold up leg right if you want it's gonna like follow the skin follow the skin
13:30around okay like blimey this is this is hardcore isn't it like that yeah yeah right flick your foot
13:39your wool away and then going again yeah go on and then here this is the hard bit isn't it yeah don't
13:48be scared oh to go right in to keep your blade onto your skin all right so again yeah that's it that's it
13:59now if you clear if you clear this leg off your fleece is falling away
14:02going full of your blade right through okay there that's a good feeling isn't it when you get
14:11when you get right in like that she's having the confidence with your animal
14:16right so if you just stand back now she'll go on her own wow
14:22wow that was hard work is that your first ever shape yeah and i only did about a quarter of it
14:32well well well done give you that thank you george thank you very much well you did most of the work
14:38george did all the work i just finished off just another thousand you might get the hang of it
14:43so rachel what do you think i've uh i've played played a small part in getting this fleece
14:48yeah you've not done a bad job make sure it's a clean fleece and then we'll wrap it up and then
14:53bag it and then it'll be ready to go to wallboard gritstone fleeces are processed by the wallboard
15:01and generally sold onto carpet manufacturers but this one is playing its part in the cultural celebrations
15:10so i'm going to be taking that to anita actually and she's going to be putting it on this new sculpture
15:16that's just on the hill over there what what do you think of that it's good it's all bradford getting
15:20this city of culture we're less than nine mile out out of the very center of bradford yeah far is it
15:27yeah this doesn't look like city does it you know bradford basically we're built up wool trade
15:34that's what made bradford in the very beginning so the artwork has supposedly sort of come full circle
15:41back to what made bradford yeah right should i take that off your hands then yeah there you go
15:45thanks rachel and thanks very much for the uh cheering lesson right thank you take this to a good home
16:03the farming and industry of these hills have long shaped bradford's rich cultural scene
16:22from literature and sculpture to song
16:25boff wally is a singer and songwriter playwright and activist an avid fell runner and was the lead
16:36guitarist of the band chumba wumba
16:42these days boff is the creative force behind the commoners choir who are the commoners choir
17:01about 150 people signed up to it now and it's just a big motley collection of people who share a few basic
17:06ideas sing about what's going on in the world and do unexpected shows and performances just to kind of
17:14celebrate ordinary people you know coming together to do something that's that's like bigger than the
17:19sum of the parts kind of thing grit the stone beneath us grit to say we dare grit that built our cities
17:29grit the badge we wear and uh you write all the songs we we actually write them collectively i write the
17:35music but we have discussions about what we ought to be singing about what's going on in the world
17:39that we ought to sing about we dance between the libraries and the galleries we skipped across
17:45the earth a compass for a heart the needle points to the song true north tell me about it
18:03we wrote true north because somebody asked us to be part of the great exhibition of the north which
18:09was up in gateshead and we just asked everybody what does it mean to be northern and we just put it
18:14all together in one huge song and then all sang it together like over a hundred of us and we thought
18:21let's celebrate all the brilliant good stuff about being in the north out along the country lays by
18:26nature or design there's home up past the meadows and there's home we left behind we climb to life
18:35what's the involvement of the commoners choir in uh the city of bradford city of culture we've written
18:40a kind of special song about the idea of progress and we're going to walk along across the moor like
18:46four or five miles and uh singing all the way singing acapella you know singing without instruments
18:52in landscape it's about kind of rooting yourself to the earth and to the land and to the landscape
18:58if i'm conducting the choir i get to hear the whole thing and if i can hear it and i can actually hear
19:18birds singing at the same time and you can hear the wind blowing i just think this is what this
19:22choir is made for this is where we should be history's needle points to knoll
19:35history's needle points to knoll
19:52from the moorlands of west yorkshire to the dales further north adam's meeting a farmer with some
20:03proper hardy stock
20:05today i'm in hellifield meeting andy lambert who's a tenant beef and sheep farmer and he's
20:11been farming the uplands and moors here since he was about 16.
20:14andy works every bit of this landscape from down in the valley here on the farm to the uplands right
20:23above it i'm here to see how that shapes the way he does things it's absolutely gorgeous up here in
20:29yorkshire isn't it it is it's a lovely part of the country you know we absolutely love living around
20:35the farming around here so tell me about the farm men andy what have you got here we rent this farm and
20:41we sort of have the highland bulls the cows the dexter's and we run a pedigree flock of textual
20:48sheep and you manage moorland and uplands as well yes there's a lot of land up there isn't there
20:54yes with 125 acre on the low mower and then with 600 acre on the highland my word they just shot
21:01about 800 acre all in tall yeah incredible and i have to ask why have we got so many highland bulls
21:07yeah why have we got so many highland bulls we have 10 bulls that go out on hire we hire the bulls
21:14out to separate farms they pay so much per head get cows in calf they can't the bull will come back to
21:20us and then if somebody else needs that bull later in the season he's available to go to them as well
21:25so he just travels around as a stud bull getting small folds of highlands in calf he's got the good
21:31life he has isn't he that's a great little business isn't it moving those bulls around it's it's a
21:38unique business alongside a few bulls and steers being prepped for market andy also keeps a handful
21:45of dexter's a small breed prized for its top quality beef today these dexter cows and their highland
21:52cross calves are heading out to fresh spring pasture and for the calves it's their very first taste of life
21:58outdoors how can i help double to stand outside if you stand outside adam in the yard there i'll
22:05open chase them uphill yes if that if that works no problem it's great isn't it it's so lovely when
22:14they're turning animals out in the spring go on little calves don't get left behind it's one of the best
22:20sights isn't it you know you look how happy they are they're giddy their tails are up they're galloping
22:25round yeah just tremendous absolutely love it they're thrifty little animals aren't they charging
22:30about loving it absolutely loving it yes summertime now we can sort of start chilling out and enjoying
22:36what we've actually produced through the winter and yeah and were you born and bred farming no no my
22:41granddad was a farmer my dad helped on a local farm where we used to go as kids always liked it but
22:47i've tried one or two different things in life but the pull of the livestock just kept bringing me back to
22:51farm really yes yeah just and when did you start helping out probably three or four year old really
22:58you've had the bug ever since then yes i think it's just always been there deep down and eventually
23:02we've had a chance to to get out of some land and buildings and sort of move forward from there really
23:08and how long have you been here we've been here 15 years i have to ask why dexter's we have the dexter
23:13basically because the beef we supply them all goes down into london to top end restaurants the eating
23:19quality is just exceptional you can't beat the restaurants love it yeah absolutely love it andy's
23:24whole approach is about working with what the land can naturally give there's not much space down here
23:30for grazing or growing winter feed so only the sheep and the little herd of dexters are here year round
23:37the rest of the herd live the high life up on the dales
23:40what a sight andy they look gorgeous don't they don't they just adam yeah absolutely fantastic up
23:50here an ideal setting for them and they just sort of help the moorland transform back to a bit more
23:56greenery andy's got a few belted galloways another hardy native breed but it's the highlands he's come
24:02to depend on from very little beginnings really we've we've built up to quite a big number i think
24:09we're running somewhere about 195 highlands wow which a lot of them will be going for beef so yeah
24:16we'd like to get to 50 or 60 cows carving which i think is enough for what we want and the highlands
24:22being so hardy can cope with the conditions yes they're very thick skin they've got a long shaggy hair
24:29they can cope with any weather conditions you put them out in the heat is probably the worst thing
24:33for them sure the cows will summer here they'll get in calf when the bull comes out in in june
24:39we'll pd them in september that's pregnancy testing them pregnancy diagnosis yes take the
24:44calves off their mums then they'll stop up here till maybe november december and then the cows will take
24:51up onto the high island and they'll winter up there with minimal intervention from us and the calves
24:57are looking really fit and healthy so were these born in this field or up on the top no these calves
25:02were born up on the top any cows that have carved we bring back down home and give them all the vet
25:06checks and then they come into this field or the next field up for the summer where the grass is a
25:11little bit better and they can produce more milk yeah it costs us probably tenfold to keep them in the
25:16shedders to put the cows up on the hill wow it's incredible isn't it when most farmers will be
25:21bringing their cattle indoors you're turning yours out onto high country yeah it's like a 600 acre shed
25:28would you say that you're using the breed of cattle to suit the farming system here then we've fallen
25:35into that system that they're a very low input low output animal so you don't really start with a big
25:41investment and you don't necessarily finish with a big investment but the bit in the middle where the
25:45costs are usually when they come inside is where we lose the money sure so by keeping them out all year
25:51around they have little intervention and cost and that's where we seem to be able to make that money
25:58in the morning i cannot get out of bed fast enough to to go and come and do my job we sort of try and
26:03work with nature as much as we can because these are sort of slow maturing and don't need a lot of
26:11intensive feed they sort of work hand in hand with nature do you think farmers looking on um admire
26:17your system you know it's quite unusual isn't it i don't think they do at all i think they wonder
26:21what we're doing you're nuts but for me it's not about about the system as much as being able to pay
26:29the bills yeah with money that these are making yeah do you mind me asking no is you making money
26:34is it profitable yeah we're making money we're doing all right yes i can honestly say that yeah
26:38that's great isn't it so have you got many cows left to carve yeah i think there's five left up on the hill
26:44which you know whether there's any calves up there this morning i don't know shall we go and have a
26:48look we'll go and have a look yes okay with 600 acres to cover andy's picking up his quad bike from
26:56the yard his wife sarah and their grandson are coming along for the ride too then it's up to the top of
27:02the dales to check if any new calves have arrived wow sarah this is incredible up here isn't it it's
27:08lovely i love coming up here andy's got plenty of ground to cover but he's already spotted two
27:14groups of cattle and he's off on the quad bike to coax them in with a feed bag every farmer's go-to trick
27:24before long they're heading our way but is there a calf hiding in there somewhere
27:29it's a bit mucky in the field it is a bit isn't it so they just come in because they think you're
27:36going to give them a bit of grab yes it's an easy way of managing and keeping hold of the numbers
27:40they come to us rather than us spending two hours trailing around looking for them so how many
27:44working for sarah all together we've got 25 up here 26 there's a little calf as well oh yes the
27:51one's carved 25 25 plus one how many days old is that it'd be four or five days old looking at it
27:58yes yeah and it's fit and healthy and doing well isn't it yes yes wonderful you know the beauty
28:04about bringing them up here in good condition it renders them down renders them down what puts them
28:09on a bit of a diet yeah put them on a diet up here yes and they can carve on their own up here because
28:13they're in good condition but so not over fat not over fat yeah so they'll carve easily because they're
28:18a little bit leaner yes and then they go down onto the better pastures and start to produce lots of
28:23milk and they grow on yes yes as the calf grows they produce more milk and yeah they can take it then
28:28it's a great system isn't it well the cow here adam is just bagging up underneath look you can see
28:34yeah got a bit of milk coming into her there so she'll be carving sort of this next week 10 days
28:40probably and yeah well thanks for showing me around it's been really interesting to find out
28:45how you run your cattle and this is so far detached from what most beef farmers are doing at home
28:51i'll leave you to it all the best thanks bye little man bye bye take care
29:07bradford is known as the uk's wool capital earlier i learned how to shear a gritstone sheep
29:17at rachel and walters farm who sent all their fleeces to british wool's bradford headquarters
29:22i'm following the fleece on its journey to the wall depot just 10 miles down the road from the farm
29:29where it's going to be graded the depot handles over three million kilos of wool a year and farmers
29:36can drop it in directly but where the wall ends up is all in the very skilled hands of a very small group
29:43of people grading wool is a specialist skill and there are fewer than 45 people at british wool
29:51qualified to do this role colin jarvis is one of those his hands are attuned to the roughest and
29:57finest of fleeces he's assisted today by his apprentice kyle forger got some wool from rachel and
30:07walters farm i need to grade this is that going to be easy can we do that here yeah i'll do it on the
30:12table right the first thing when we look at a fleece is we're giving it an overall analysis
30:17initially first impression is it is it a nice looking fleece um i'm quite nervous now is it all
30:24right is it nice looking it is a nice looking place because it's very white you're just saying
30:28that yeah no i'm not just saying that wool can be sorted into more than a hundred grades within these
30:35it will come under one of six categories with so many breeds of sheep in the uk 60 plus
30:4190 including the crossbreeds um we we can't make a grade for every different breed of sheep
30:48so what we need to do is lump them together into groups or types as we call them and and that then
30:56can put them into commercially viable lumps to be sold on
31:01the type of wool determines what product it's used for so this is the fine type like your suffolks
31:15your south towns those kind of breeds so these are ideal for duvets because of the spring they've got
31:23when we go up into the medium types again ideal for sort of apparel clothing knitwear going more into
31:31that we've got here a very fine luster an example of a blue face leicester very thin fine fleece micron
31:44is very low on these it's a very valuable fleece this as well um very sought after and what would
31:50these be used for so these will be used very often for um knitwear or suits those type of things such a
32:00fine fiber and what about this one what would this be used for so this one's what we'd class as a mountain
32:06type um a lot coarser a lot hardier for the terrain for the mountains so this one would go into carpets
32:15again or insulation the bradford depot sees more walls through its doors than any other hub in the
32:22country reflecting the importance of sheep farming to this area past and present gareth jones is head of
32:29member engagement at british wool so gareth why choose bradford as the headquarters of british wool
32:36and and this flagship death i know well bradford has been the hub of the british wool industry since
32:42the 19th century back in the 1700s and 1800s it was actually known as the wool capital of the world
32:48so there was a wool from all over the world being imported into bradford in order to be processed
32:53that history is important to to the company is it it is you know we're a farmer organization we've got
32:5930 000 farmers across the uk you know we want to support farmers but we equally want to support
33:04a thriving wool sector here in the uk and bradford and yorkshire although it's shrunk a lot in in in
33:09in recent years as some of the traditional industries have it's still very much a significant
33:14industry here in bradford and yorkshire so you work with 30 000 farmers yes and you know ultimately it's
33:20like having 30 000 bosses but on a serious note we're very proud to be representing all our farmers
33:26across the uk every farmer can deliver their wool into a depot such as this we've got seven others
33:31across the uk and uh equally they can come and watch it being graded
33:38back at the table it's time for my fleece to be assessed to see if it makes the grade for steve
33:44messham's artwork so what grade are we looking for for this artwork so we're looking to probably put this
33:53into a 601 maybe a 602 so we're going to have to investigate a little bit more is 601 better than 602
34:00or is it just the different types just different types so the 601 is the finer end of the gritstone
34:05and 602 is the more medium style for this fleece to be included in the sculpture it needs to be graded
34:12at one end of category six as a 601 a test two for apprentice kyle it's a fine fleece as you can tell
34:22by its staples and the staples are usually short they get quite blobby as well if that makes sense
34:27to you blobby so you can like feel lumps in it yeah yeah so this is more of your medium fleece and they
34:32tend to get a lot longer the staples i see you see that one there it's interesting when you put the
34:38two together it's really quite clear see there's a lot difference in the length yeah yeah what grade
34:43would you give it then firstly i'd give it a 601 601 which is what we need for the sculpture that's
34:49really good genuinely yeah yeah yeah i mean that's the apprentice about the the master would you agree
34:56i do agree yeah yeah it's got all the qualities we'd be looking for characteristics i mean i'm interested
35:02you're an apprentice how long have you been an apprentice for uh i've been doing it for two and
35:06half a year now and how long do you need to do it before your career course oh so you're almost
35:09there yeah how long would it take you to grade one of these fleeces they usually uh can take you
35:15around three seconds normally because you're working at a fast pace yeah yeah well we're expected
35:20to do six tonne of wool a day so why did you want to become an apprentice here in bradford it's
35:24just a unique job isn't it um it's somewhat different you don't really hear about wool graders
35:29you know what i mean so i just found it really interesting to be fair yeah i'm judging your accent are
35:33you are you from bradford i am from bradford so i'll be taking this to anita so it can be part
35:37of the sculpture and that she's looking at how many of the fleeces that are going to be going into
35:43that have come through this depot 300 300 fleeces yes and how many have come from uh water and rachel's
35:51farm 150 so half of them right can i just take this as it is yes absolutely right um gosh i feel like
35:58a sheep walking off like this sean the sheep
36:18i'm very happy here
36:19i know this landscape very well my grandfather moved to west yorkshire to bradford in the early
36:281950s and my parents set up a manufacturing business and they were hard-working northern people
36:36and just like all the generations before to get out of the city we as a family would escape to the moors
36:45every weekend my mom my dad me and my little brother and to me being on the moors i describe
36:52as therapy on tap
36:56as well as the landscape the literature of the land is very important to me and the brontes
37:03have always been a big part of my life they were feminist thinkers a little bit punk
37:08i read wuthering heights as a teenager and jane eyre and loved them yeah i feel very proud to be
37:18from bronte country yeah
37:24but what is it about this defining landscape that influences writers and artists like the brontes so
37:30deeply the parsonage social walking club or the parsonips as they're known are a group from the
37:39local bronte museum and today they're setting off from a spot steeped in history we're in howarth
37:47walking through the churchyard which sits just below the parsonage and this is the church that brought
37:52the brontes to howarth and they are buried within the church ruth sam mia and stewart love getting
38:03out into the wilder side of bradford we're heading out on one of the favorite walks of the bronte sisters
38:10we're heading up to the bronte waterfalls it's about two three miles from here we're going to cross peniston hill
38:16brontes were able to to get into the countryside up onto the moors very easily
38:28and it influenced their books in in very important ways
38:34it's a beautiful often bleak but romantic landscape
38:41we do it because it's good for the soul and we do it because it helps us understand the brontes
38:46better and we can communicate that to our visitors at the museum we all love this landscape because
38:53in the spring and summer the moors are bursting with life from july into august it's a sea of purple
39:01come the winter there's endless mornings of white when the blankets of snow stretch from horizon to
39:07horizon it's absolutely fabulous out here
39:18up way up on the hillside you can see top withens it's just a very small tree right on the horizon
39:25top withens is a ruined abandoned farmhouse that many believe to be the setting for wuthering heights
39:32in emily bronte's 1847 novel and if you head up there it's a very wild and desolate place you can understand
39:40the connection it's just got the couple of sycamore trees
39:48well we've made it to the bronte pools or the bronte bridge anyway
39:51and i can imagine they came here to write get inspiration have a bit of escapism as well
40:00and it's still inspiring artists like mia today i've always loved drawing since i was a kid really
40:08and i grew up in south yorkshire in doncaster but i think moving up here you know being in this landscape
40:15kind of made me move to landscape paintings a bit more i think what's nice about drawing outside is
40:23that you're taking that time to stop and just sit and really kind of connect with the nature and just
40:29actually look at things and notice what's in front of you the bronte did lots of artwork and lots of
40:35artwork inspired by nature there's a drawing that's of a nice landscape with some trees
40:41and you can see there's raindrops on the actual paper which kind of shows that she was painting
40:49outside whether it was on one of her walks or just in the parsonage garden that's why i filled up the
40:54water with the water from the stream because i think it's nice to have a bit of the landscape
40:59actually in the artwork which is quite fun it's very untouched landscape you can come here and you
41:07could be going back in time when you look at the horizon it hasn't changed from the time that
41:11the bronte so you know you're looking at exactly what they looked at to come here and to sit and
41:15think that that's where emily bronte sat and was inspired to fight wuthering heights so i think when
41:20people have been here they do feel like they've been in the novel for a couple of hours unless they've
41:26got lost in which case it would be quite a few hours they may still be here
41:41you might not expect it but two-thirds of bradford's landscape is rural for those living in the city
41:55though using green space is thought to be below national average now a new era of connectivity
42:02between the people of the city of bradford and the countryside is beginning as west yorkshire
42:07as its very first national nature reserve across the urban fringes of the city the new bradford pennine
42:15gateway national park makes around five square miles of green space all open to the public
42:22and the aim is to make this a hub for nature to thrive but there's work to be done if we're to measure
42:29its success as a hub for nature for years even decades to come we need to establish what's here now
42:35and who better to take on the job than the next generation of nature's custodians
42:42seven miles away from the reserve students from bradford college are ditching their desks
42:48for the great outdoors morning everyone how are you feeling it's quite early isn't it yeah too early
42:54so we're on our way to a nature reserve we're going to probably see some some birds what sort of birds
42:59do you have you do see normally like pigeons magpies uh i've seen a woodpecker but i don't really
43:06like to like in the pictures yeah so michael are there any birds that you think you could probably
43:10identify if you saw them today i know a pigeon and a seagull brilliant are you up for identifying
43:17different birds and being told and taught about some different birds of a message
43:20it's a good opportunity we learn every day so it's fine it's always good to learn more
43:26craig ralston from natural england is a licensed bird ringer leading the new reserves first data
43:32collection welcome to england's newest national nature reserve it's great to have you along today
43:37and i understand you're going to help us actually collect some really valuable data on some of the
43:42wildlife that lives here and thrives on our national nature reserves and then we can use that data to help
43:49us look after it so i have a bird in this bag we put them in the bags because it just keeps them calm
43:54what we're going to do is get this bird out we're going to put a small tiny metal ring on its leg
43:59which has got the address for the british trust for ornithology and a unique number so we can recognize
44:06this bird wherever it might go in the world so think of it as a little car registration plate people
44:12always ask me does bird ringing bother the birds and my answer to that is the whole reason for
44:18doing this is to collect really good data on what wild birds do in the wild because if we understand
44:24that we can actually help look after them so not anyone can do this so not everybody can do this
44:29yeah you need to have a license and training and there's our bird does anyone know what that is
44:37so this is a dunnock it's a lot smaller than expected yeah does that bird live here all year or
44:43does it travel around dunnocks live in the uk all year round but they probably do move around as well
44:48so this might go further south in the in the winter and that's it now the bird's ringed we can identify
44:54this as an individual so we can follow where it goes to how long it lives whether it stays in the same
45:00place all sorts of things dunnocks it's a bit harder but at this time of year females will be sitting
45:06on eggs or feeding young so what they get is a brood patch which is where they lose all the feathers
45:12on the tummy so they can get the eggs right up against the skin and get all that heat to them
45:17to incubate them so if i blow on its belly we'll see if this has got a bear patch okay are we watching
45:24oh so there you go so this is a female and that's where it's lost its feathers you know we catch them
45:34we process them quickly we let them go because this is obviously probably got a brood that it's feeding
45:39so the sooner we can get this back into the wild the better so if you just pop your hands out like that
45:44gosh it's over in a flash now so quick yeah
46:01okay we've got got another one here that i've just got out the net and this is
46:07going to be an interesting one it's a dunnock and this one i don't know whether you can see it if you
46:13come in a bit and have a look you see how it's really really fluffy yeah yeah like its feathers are
46:18all loose that's because this is a young one so this one's probably only just left the nest in the
46:24last couple of weeks so i'm going to do what i did earlier we're going to pop a ring on this one
46:30take a wing length okay if you could just read that out for me 67 and then we'll take a weight
46:36it can you read that 18.1 pound coin something like that i guess okay so i'm just going to place
46:45it there you don't need to do anything and then we'll just let him go oh
46:52other than he likes you the bird man you've obviously got a calming influence
46:57oh there he goes so how did that feel everyone interesting yeah you'd recognize it would you do
47:06you think michael yeah i've got much more of an appreciation for birds now than i did before
47:10it was a nice change of pace to day-to-day life yeah
47:16widening access to nature is a passion for dr rachel palfrey senior project manager at natural england
47:24well rachel this is this is a wonderful place i'm going through the nature reserve there are so
47:29many different spots it's it's just breathtaking i mean the perception is that the bradford area is
47:35is quite built up but there is quite a lot of green space around isn't there there is a lot of green
47:39space around the periphery and edges of bradford and if you've ever been into bradford city centre
47:44you feel like you can reach out and touch that moorland and touch that nature and it's just at your
47:49fingertips bradford as the city of culture this year yeah what role does nature have to pay in that
47:54bradford is shaped by the nature and the landscapes in which it sits in the moors and
47:59the countryside and the rivers and the becks of bradford's powered the mills that created the textiles
48:05industry that made bradford boom in the industrial revolution so i think the environment and the
48:11land where bradford sits and that natural heritage is so important to the culture and the lives of
48:16the people that lived here then and live here now how important is it that we inspire a new generation
48:22to take on the work that you're doing bradford is the youngest city in the uk so 25 of the population
48:29are under 18. that's an enormous young population to inspire and to engage in nature and through
48:36interacting with them and getting them to spend time in nature like we have done today with bradford
48:40college students we hope to inspire that future generation of conservationists we can harness their
48:46energy and enthusiasm their skills they can only like make places like this better
49:07here in west yorkshire the weather is wild and windy with a bonus bit of blue sky just as it should
49:12be but what's it looking like for the week ahead here's the country file forecast
49:23good evening it's the first of june it's the first day of meteorological summer so let's take a look
49:29back at those months of spring this is what we know so far it's already a record breaker spring 2025
49:35it's been the sunniest and the warmest on record and although we've not seen that much in the way of
49:40significant rain it doesn't look likely to be the driest on record we haven't quite got all the
49:44statistics in for the last couple of days but it looks likely to be the sixth driest since records
49:50began now we have got some rain in the forecast for the next few days so if you are desperate and
49:54keeping a close eye this is rainfall accumulation anywhere with the darker blues suggests that we could
49:59see at least 50 millimeters a couple of inches of rain maybe more in the far northwest of scotland so
50:05some welcome rain for all of us at some point as we go through the week ahead and the reason being
50:11low pressure which is going to stay with us for the next few days the lows tend to sit to the far
50:16northwest we'll have some unseasonably windy weather which is going to be a bit of a nuisance
50:20and some more welcome rain for central and southern england perhaps as we move into thursday more on
50:25that in just a moment but this brief ridge of high pressure will keep things relatively quiet for
50:30monday monday is likely to be the driest day of the week a few isolated showers and the wind
50:35strengthening to the west by the end of the day temperatures perhaps peaking around 16 to 21 celsius
50:41that'll feel pleasant enough in some shelter with that sunshine but that wet and windy weather arrives
50:47some welcome much needed rain for all of us at some point during monday into the early hours of
50:53tuesday morning there will be some heavier bursts and you'll be sitting to the east of the pennines
50:57first thing on tuesday a coolish start to tuesday morning so that rain has yet to clear away it will
51:04do so to the east of the pennines so a wet and windy start here and then closest to the center of the
51:10low we'll see a real rush of showers being blown in by a stiff northwesterly wind quite unusually windy
51:16really for the early half of june we could see gusts of winds close to 50 miles an hour that's going to
51:21be playing havoc with some of the summer plants that are now starting to bloom but it will also take the edge
51:27off the feel of the weather as well so slightly fresher story as we go through the day on tuesday
51:3311 to 19 celsius the overall high now as we move out of tuesday into wednesday that low pressure is
51:38still with us still centered to the far northwest and plenty of ice bars to the southern flank of the
51:43low that's where the strongest of the winds and that will continue to blow in a real rash of showers
51:49particularly to the northwest some of them into western areas the best of any drier weather is likely to
51:54be into the sheltered east but again those temperatures still ranging from 13 to 19 degrees
52:00and as we move out of wednesday into thursday this is when we could see more significant rain across
52:05central and southern england so if this is what you want you'll need to keep a close eye on the forecast
52:10a lot of uncertainty to the positioning of that rain at the moment it's a long way off but there is the
52:16potential for some wet weather to move its way steadily in across england and wales and as a result
52:22eastern scotland and northern england perhaps a little bit drier but under the cloud the wind
52:26and the rain disappointing 16 or 17 at the very best that rain will tend to ease away during the
52:33day on friday but we look out to the west for the next system to push in so there's no respite really
52:39we will continue to see some unsettled weather so if you haven't already got the message yes showers
52:45or longer spells of rain through the week ahead windy at times and cool for all good night
53:08we are celebrating bradford this year's city of culture and exploring the landscape that's inspired
53:14art and music encouraged wildlife and built industry
53:26on the high moorland west of bradford is peniston hill now home to an eye-catching set of temporary art
53:33installations
53:36artist steve messham is constructing a 10 meter high tower
53:41that explores the building blocks of the landscape and their role in shaping bradford itself
53:49it's covered in the fleece of local gritstone and long sheep to reflect
53:54the natural landscape up here but also the importance of the wool industry on bradford itself and i
53:59i'm going to get involved
54:07hey i'm ready gloves are on right what we're doing right big big chunk that's one fleece lovely
54:13oh that is a fleece but the thing is it's been compacted in in the bales so it's been really
54:19really compacted can i smell it oh wow smells amazing so i'm gonna have to shake it out until
54:25we can start to see it loosen out it's got a nice color is this kind of thing am i messing it up no
54:30it's getting there it's getting there where is this from where was where did this sheep live where
54:34does it live that sheep came from probably we don't know yonder but just within eyesight over here
54:40okay this is either going to be gritstone or long and then we just kind of tease it out and see we
54:45can cover the entire board so how long did this take from like the initial idea like what how long
54:53before you get to this point well it's taken about a year right just to kind of fine-tune everything
54:58get the shape working work out how we're going to do it and because i mean every panel has been
55:05calculated and drawn up so we know the size of every single panel yeah that's going on there
55:10perfect fits every single one and this is your team yeah well yeah i've been working with these
55:16guys for about 10 years now they understand you and your wacky ideas yeah and they're like yes
55:23steve we can do it well they keep coming back so they must enjoy it um have you made every single
55:28one of these panels yourself uh no i haven't we had a team of people who were working every day and
55:33we've had people out of the the office from bradford 2025 we had um 30 of the young farmers come up
55:41one evening they did all those panels and they did the whole lot in three hours brilliant they're good
55:45on the young farmers but they know what they're doing with the police they really enjoyed being
55:49part of it and it's great because they can come up here and go we did that how long is it going to
55:55stay up for so it's here until the beginning of october lovely and then what happens to it
56:00um so the whole thing is is recycled all the fleece is is going to environmental projects
56:06it will all have a life after this it's all got a home yeah nothing goes to waste
56:18it is a bit of art isn't it yeah yeah you can sign it one that you did yeah and say
56:22lovely artwork signed it's just a matter of hanging our masterpiece with the others
56:33are you ready for another one yeah right where are we putting it so this one's going to go up here
56:38all right here we go ready gentle one first and push in a bit yes keep pushing in there we go all
56:46right so i should take the weight one's in this is fun look how quickly you did yes perfect i think
57:00that's nice and well in there what do you think steve it's in it's looking good yeah yeah it looks
57:06really good hopefully it won't be the first one to fall out sean am i too late not at all this is
57:21brilliant steve we've got another fleece where's it from straight off the back of a sheep i was
57:25shearing it it was incredible i felt really good and then i took it to the bradford wall depot got it
57:29graded it meets the grade so here you are fantastic and now it's going to be part of that incredible
57:34art installation here on the mall that is brilliant do you feel cultured sean i was born here i was
57:38born in bradford therefore born cultured that explains so much doesn't it now next week matt and
57:43margarita will be exploring farming innovation in herefordshire so that's a little squeeze that's
57:50the little squeeze there yep and we've got oh that's a fern berry what you're going to start it
57:54from your phone oh yeah this is mad isn't it an off-ready goat here is your broom handle hi-tech get
58:01going margarita we need to get this done less of this chit chat we've got work to do
58:08and does the toughest job on the did does do the toughest job on the farm
58:12am i allowed to taste tests oh wow that's really juicy wow that's so juicy
58:20that's next sunday at 5 30. don't forget to join us then goodbye bye should we put this on come on
58:27i'll race you look at you skipping through the feather
58:37to find out more about bbc content celebrating bradford go to bbc.co.uk
58:45next watch out for the river dragon we're walking with dinosaurs
58:57and we're going to be talking about bbc.co.uk
59:03so
59:04you