- 4 months ago
Susan Calman's Grand Day Out Season 9 Episode 1
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00:00I'm on my travels again.
00:02Oh look, season's back!
00:04No!
00:06Enjoying all this wonderful country has to offer.
00:09Woohoo!
00:11It's absolutely gorgeous!
00:13And of course, I'm in my beloved camper van,
00:15named after one of my favourite people, Helen Mirren.
00:19That man looked very jealous of you, Helen!
00:21We're hunting for treasures.
00:23Now that's a set of keys.
00:25This is incredible!
00:27Finding new pastimes.
00:28Hello, I've got a call.
00:30One and two.
00:32Discovering unexpected local customs.
00:35Oh God, oh my God!
00:37And making new pals along the way.
00:39Good morning, madam.
00:41Hiya!
00:42You having a grandie out, Rupert?
00:44Yes, I am.
00:45We're taking in the sights.
00:47Ta-da!
00:48That's a castle.
00:49Nailed it.
00:50And the sounds.
00:52You can't hear anything.
00:54Loving every moment.
00:56This is a country filled with delights.
01:02Oh, that's lovely.
01:04Cheers.
01:05Cheers.
01:06This is exactly the experience I want.
01:09So come along.
01:11On my grand day out.
01:13Come on.
01:13Yes!
01:14Yes!
01:20This time, I'm in the heart of England.
01:23I'm slightly terrified, but I like it.
01:27Revisiting my roots.
01:28Climbia, Elin.
01:30Hunting out hiding places.
01:32Oh, for goodness sakes.
01:33And trying new challenges.
01:35Did I do it?
01:36That's it.
01:36Yeah, you got it.
01:37Going fast.
01:38Woo-hoo-hoo!
01:41Slow.
01:42Look how beautiful this is!
01:44And somewhere in between.
01:45Oh, remember to breathe, Susan.
01:47The heart of England, spanning Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and much of the Midlands, is
02:01a brand new adventure for me.
02:04Hi!
02:06People excited to see Helen there.
02:10From the marvellous Malvern Hills to medieval manor houses and magnificent must-sees.
02:16There's so much to take in here.
02:19It is a really beautiful part of the world, this.
02:22And I haven't ever really explored it.
02:25I think because it's a destination of many, which is quite nice.
02:30So instead of going to one specific place, we're spreading ourselves out a little bit.
02:34As an area of outstanding natural beauty, the Malvern Hills offer stunning vistas across
02:40several counties.
02:41So that's where I'm starting.
02:43Ta-da!
02:43I mean, what a view.
02:46It's gorgeous.
02:48And this is quite an interesting adventure for Helen and I because it's a smorgasbord of
02:53places.
02:54We're in a few different counties.
02:55We're seeing a few different things.
02:56But that makes it quite exciting.
02:59It's like those great pick and mixes.
03:00You used to get it all worse.
03:02And the ancient rocks that lie within these here hills contain a particularly tasty and
03:11yet free roadside refreshment that just needs boiling and it's delicious to drink.
03:17Can you hear it?
03:20Malvern is famous for its springs.
03:22There's lots of different ones, but this one has a convenient little place that Helen
03:26can pull up.
03:27So I want to get some water for a cup of tea later on.
03:32It's quite a fast-flowing spring.
03:36Thank you, nature.
03:37You're very welcome, Susan.
03:39My spectacularly scenic route will take me across Worcestershire, in and about Dudley
03:49and back south again, meandering all around from the bottom to the top of this incredible
03:55county.
04:00Right, Helen.
04:01Back on the road again.
04:03Some quite narrow little lanes for driving along.
04:06But it's nothing in comparison to the challenging journey that Helen and I are about to navigate.
04:16The village of Shelsley Walsh is home to the world's oldest motorsport venue, still on
04:21its original course.
04:23We're taking on its famously fiendish hill climb.
04:29Right.
04:31Let's see who I can find.
04:32Who better to get me up to speed than archivist David, who's been coming to the track, run
04:38by the Midland Automobile Club, since he was three.
04:42So David, tell me about this hill.
04:44In the early days of motoring, cars weren't very good at climbing hills.
04:47So it was a big thing advertising that your latest car could climb hills.
04:53Right.
04:54And so when the club was formed in 1901, they were looking for places to go and demonstrate
05:00such things.
05:01OK.
05:02So they were doing it on a public road.
05:04That didn't last long.
05:05No.
05:05So we had to find somewhere where we could be off the public road, and this is perfect.
05:10The 1,000-yard track is part of an estate's private drive that the club has rented since
05:171905.
05:19Testing cars soon turned into racing them, which today allows them to claim it as the
05:24world's oldest motorsport track still running on the original course, one even older than
05:29Le Mans.
05:30The fastest car that's gone up here looks like a Formula One car.
05:36Really?
05:36And you will see when you go up in Helen that the S-Bend up there, they go into that at 140
05:43miles an hour.
05:45Don't listen, Helen.
05:46It's not going to happen.
05:46Don't listen, for goodness sakes.
05:48So the record is 22.38 seconds.
05:54Takes me that long to start up, but never mind.
05:56I've been in a Formula One car once on a racetrack.
05:59Oh, right, yeah.
06:00And the guy said, press the button if you want me to slow down.
06:03And after about five seconds, I was pressing the button, and he just shouted back to me,
06:07I'm not even going fast, because the speed is so low to the ground.
06:12Yep.
06:12The lower you are, the faster it seems.
06:13It's incredible.
06:15It must be quite skillful drivers who are driving those kind of cars.
06:18We've had all sorts of stuff going up here.
06:20We've had bubble cars, tractors.
06:23Tractors?
06:23How did the tractor do going up?
06:25The tractor managed just under 92 seconds.
06:2792 seconds.
06:28Yes, that's probably the time to beat then.
06:30A tractor is probably the time to beat.
06:33Ordinarily, you have to sign up for one of the events here, but I've been given special
06:37permission to try and break, or possibly just set, the record for the fastest time in a
06:43flowery camper van.
06:45Do you have any hints for me?
06:47Try and keep your foot on the throttle as much as you can.
06:49I don't think you'll need the brakes very much.
06:51I don't need the brakes.
06:52I'll be lucky to get up it.
06:54Okay, I'm going to try my best.
06:56Good luck.
06:58Its steepest point has a 16% gradient, which in Helen will feel more like Ben Nevis.
07:04In three, two, one.
07:10That was a fast start.
07:12Second gear.
07:15She's a blur.
07:16She's a blur.
07:18Okay, oh, it's getting quite steep.
07:20It's getting quite steep.
07:21When you're in a hefty camper, even a gentle incline is a push.
07:25Come on, Helen, you can do it.
07:26Okay, round the corner.
07:28Round the corner.
07:29Foot down.
07:30Foot down.
07:33Okay, there's a bend coming up.
07:34There's a bend.
07:34We're staying in a second.
07:35You can do it, Helen.
07:37Lewis Hamilton, eat your heart out.
07:40Remember to breathe, Susan.
07:42Oh, jeez.
07:43Oh, my goodness.
07:44Oh, come on.
07:46We may not be at Formula One speeds for the notorious S-bend.
07:51But it's feeling fast to us.
07:53Is this the finish line?
07:55Yes, this is the finish line.
07:56Throwing ourselves over.
07:58Yes.
07:59Woo!
08:01The crowd go wild.
08:04I'll pull over here.
08:06But hopefully my heart rate will get a little calmer.
08:09That was a thrill.
08:10Let's see what the time was.
08:13The fastest time anyone's done was about 22 seconds.
08:17The tractor did it in 92 seconds.
08:20And I can officially confirm that myself and Helen Mirren did this.
08:25In 90 seconds, we beat a tractor.
08:29Can I have that crowd go wild again?
08:39Helen's now part of the history of this iconic racing track.
08:43And the two of us know exactly how to celebrate.
08:45So, Helen, I promised you an ice cream.
08:52I'm just checking for you.
08:54That's all right.
08:56But, and you'll like this, Helen.
08:58This is to certify that Susan and Helen completed a run of the hill climb and did very well.
09:09We beat a tractor's time, for goodness sakes.
09:13Shall I just finish this off, Helen?
09:14Yeah.
09:14Thanks.
09:24Coming up, I discover Dudley's depths.
09:27Wow, look at that.
09:29That is incredible.
09:31And immerse myself in the black country of yesteryear.
09:34Oh, look at it.
09:35It's absolutely gorgeous.
09:36I'm having an extraordinarily grand day out with my faithful friend, Helen, around the
09:52Malvern Hills in the heart of England.
09:57Where are we now?
09:59I'm waving my way out of Worcestershire to the wondrous West Midlands, with a whole village
10:06that feels like you're returning to an earlier era.
10:11This is a thrill, because we are actually, genuinely, totally, and completely about to time travel.
10:19I've been told that we're about to drive through history.
10:24Oh, it's good to see potholes haven't changed through history.
10:37Set within 29 acres, the Black Country Living Museum has recreated shops, homes and businesses
10:44from the Industrial Revolution to the post-war period, which alongside historical characters
10:50bring the West Midlands of yesteryear back to life.
10:54And I've found the most magnificent parking spot for Helen.
11:04Better go and speak to the authorities.
11:06Which today is Weights and Measures Inspector Jess.
11:10Hello.
11:10Hello.
11:11Now, I've just driven my delightful van, Helen, onto something, which I think is a weybridge,
11:17is that right?
11:17A weybridge, that's right, yeah.
11:18We acquired it in 1967, when it was no longer used in Dudley.
11:22Well, what were they weighing?
11:23Well, they were weighing things to make sure they weren't over the legal limit for the
11:26roads.
11:27Does it still work?
11:28It does still work, yes.
11:29So do you know how much Helen Mirren weighs?
11:31I do.
11:32Not the real Helen Mirren!
11:33Because that's a horrific thing to ask a lady how much she weighs.
11:36I'm sure she doesn't weigh much.
11:37Can you tell me how much Helen weighs?
11:38I can.
11:39About 1,110 kilograms.
11:42Which is just over a tonne.
11:44I mean, that's obviously, it's quite heavy, but that can't be the heaviest thing that's
11:48ever been measured on that weybridge.
11:50No.
11:501949, Dudley Zoo decided to weigh an elephant called Mina.
11:55Right.
11:55So Mina tipped the scales at just over three tonnes.
11:59I suppose that's a way of weighing your elephant, isn't it?
12:01How else are you going to weigh an elephant in the 1940s?
12:04Exactly.
12:04There are over 250 years of history to experience, but I know precisely where I want to begin.
12:15I'm starting my journey through time in the late 1920s and I can feel it, I can feel it
12:22coursing through me already.
12:23Oh, I'm changing, I'm changing.
12:24Hold on.
12:26Do you know what I am?
12:27I'm a flapper girl.
12:28In my dreams, anyway.
12:33But aside from the dancing halls in the 20s, the UK High Street was at its peak, packed
12:39with all manner of big brands, alongside a variety of independent shops, including chemists
12:45like this one.
12:47Hello.
12:47Hello.
12:48I'm Susan.
12:48What's your name?
12:49I'm Anne.
12:50This is the most incredible bottle you can possibly imagine.
12:53Clark's, world-famed.
12:56It is.
12:56I love the way they advertise things in those days.
12:58World-famous.
12:59Absolutely.
13:00Blood mixture.
13:01What is a blood mixture?
13:04Well, it cures absolutely everything from pimples to leg problems.
13:09But you mustn't have it with pastry, it says.
13:11You mustn't have it with pastry?
13:13No, I don't have it with pastry.
13:14Well, that's not what's the point then.
13:16If I've got a bad leg, I want a pie.
13:19You've got a mortar and pestle here.
13:20Did they make up pills and things?
13:22Absolutely.
13:22They used what we would now consider very dangerous substances.
13:27You could get them arsenic, things like that, because they thought there were health benefits.
13:32Arsenic was commonly used for rat poison.
13:35We used it in cosmetics.
13:37At one time it coloured sweets.
13:39People used to drink bottles of arsenic because they thought it would help their health.
13:43I'll leave the blood mixture for just now if that's okay.
13:46Maybe later.
13:46I think I'm probably okay.
13:47I'll see you later on.
13:48Bye.
13:48While I'm here, I'm making the most of pretending I'm Doctor Who.
13:57My time travel continues and I'm in the late 1940s now, which automatically makes me talk like this,
14:03because that's how they talked in the movies in the 1940s, with a very clipped English accent like this.
14:07Oh my goodness, there's a co-operator.
14:09Now, like a lot of people, the co-operative loomed large in my life.
14:19I remember my granny talking about it a lot.
14:21What's special about this is the start of self-service supermarkets.
14:26This, this would have been a revelation to people, to be able to come in, get your own basket, choose what you wanted.
14:32I mean, really, it was very, very exciting.
14:35Tea, of course.
14:36Coffee, if you were lucky.
14:38And I'll say, hello, how are you?
14:39Hello, how are you?
14:39I'm Susan, what's your name?
14:41I'm Kit, nice to meet you.
14:42Kit, lovely to meet you.
14:43Can you tell me about the co-operative?
14:44Well, the co-operative was an incredibly important part of the lives of people.
14:49I love the way you say co-operative.
14:51Because I'm from Scotland, I say the co-operative.
14:53It's big distinction is really that it was the only place where you were going to get money back.
15:01Because you were a member, you weren't just a customer, and you had your dividend.
15:06The dividend.
15:06Yeah, or the divvy as they call it here.
15:08The co-operative, or the co-op as it's still known, essentially invited customers to become members
15:14and take a small share of their profits every few months.
15:17The more they spent, the more money they earned back, making a big difference to people recovering
15:23from the Second World War.
15:27So, you know, a family might pick up four or five pounds every six months when it was given
15:32a day.
15:33It was an awful lot.
15:34You could buy your children's shoes for the year with that.
15:36So, it was really something that everybody relied on.
15:40When the war ended, rationing didn't end, did it?
15:42No, no, it didn't.
15:43No.
15:43You're not talking about the end of rationing completely until 1954.
15:48Such an important and difficult thing.
15:50It was.
15:51I love these kind of things because it's living memory for a lot of people.
15:54It is, yeah.
15:55See you again soon.
15:56See you later on.
15:59And there's another part of this journey through history I don't want to miss out on.
16:04Oh, look at it.
16:05It's absolutely gorgeous.
16:06A trip on an iconic 1960s double-decker.
16:10Hi, driver.
16:12Can you get on the back?
16:13Hello.
16:13Can I get on the bus, please?
16:14Thank you very much indeed.
16:16I'll see you in a bit.
16:17Well, I always enjoy travelling in vintage treasures.
16:23And this should get me back to my own.
16:34Nothing beats my Helen.
16:37And at my next stop back in Mulvern, I'm hoping I'll be privy to another gem from a bygone era.
16:42One of the things I've really learned is that sometimes it's absolutely cracking to go to, you know, one of the top ten tourist destinations in a place.
16:54But even more exciting, actually, are the little unknown places, the hidden gems, because it gives almost bragging rights that you've found somewhere that's a bit secret.
17:06Even better when it's calm.
17:07Even better when it's calm and sized, like the Theatre of Small Convenience.
17:12You're running down the hill to see you.
17:13You're running down the hill to see you.
17:14Hello.
17:14How are you?
17:15Laws is the artistic lead of this Victorian venue, but it didn't start out as a theatre.
17:20In fact, it had altogether humbler beginnings.
17:24Before it was a theatre, what was it?
17:27It was a gentleman's toilet.
17:28A gentleman's toilet.
17:29Hence the name, Theatre of Small Convenience.
17:31OK.
17:32And Dennis Neil, who's a local kind of outsider artist, had this brainwave that it should be a theatre.
17:38And in 1999, he did his first show, which he created.
17:42When Dennis retired in 2017, the theatre closed and fell into disrepair.
17:48It was further damaged by a fire the next year.
17:51But now Laws and a team of volunteers are working hard to restore it to its former glory.
17:58It must be one of the smallest theatres in the world.
18:01It's in the Guinness Book of Records.
18:02Is it?
18:02Yeah.
18:03Is it the smallest theatre?
18:04It is the smallest theatre.
18:05The smallest theatre.
18:06And we've actually, now we've had the damp proofing put in, we've got about an inch up our sleeves in case there's a contender.
18:14You see, I like that forward thinking.
18:15I like that forward thinking.
18:17Interproved, yeah.
18:18Is it something you think that the local community will be really into to come and see performances in here again?
18:22Yeah, they love it.
18:23And Malvern's quite an arty kind of a place.
18:25There's people queuing up already.
18:27Really?
18:27Who want to do shows in it, yeah.
18:28I can see lots of different types of shows, puppets, comedy.
18:32And as a performer, this place would make me really excited.
18:36Well, no escape from the audience.
18:38I remember once, I was doing a show at the Fringe and there were the sides of the stage, but there was no outs.
18:44Yeah.
18:44So I used to have to stand like this at the end of the show as the audience got out until they'd all left.
18:49Yeah.
18:50Is it possible for me to go and have a wee look inside?
18:52Absolutely.
18:52Laws and the team have raised £17,000 to repair and update the five by three metre, 12-seater venue.
19:03Wow.
19:03This is so beautiful.
19:08They've done an incredible job restoring it.
19:11This is so glorious.
19:13And I think this must be the stage here.
19:15And I mean, it would be remiss of me not to christen this wonderful theatre with a performance.
19:20Oh yes, I feel it now.
19:23Doctor theatre coursing through my veins.
19:26Back in a minute.
19:27And I warn you, I'll be unrecognisable.
19:32All my comedy career training has been building to this very moment.
19:38We had a grand day out, didn't we, Ellen?
19:41Yes.
19:44Très bien, Ellen.
19:50Bravo.
19:51Encore.
19:53Bravo.
19:54Let's call it a work in progress.
20:01With plans to reopen in the very near future, hopefully the next people treading the boards will have a slightly larger crowd.
20:11This is a lovely road, this one.
20:20When I was younger, my dad had an old Citroen car with quite interesting suspension, quite like Helen.
20:28And my brother used to love it and I'd be like, Dad, stop it, I feel sick, I'm going to be sick.
20:32And then my mum would say, don't you dare be sick in this car.
20:35So I wasn't.
20:35Because nothing makes me stop feeling sick more than my mother threatening me.
20:41No sick bag needed today, though, as I'm popping back to the wonderful West Midlands, where there's an enchanting underground realm waiting for me.
20:50This part of Britain, once at the heart of the Industrial Revolution, is known for its extensive canal network that was used to transport trade across the country.
21:05Now it's popular with day-trippers and I'm getting my own special tour with Mark of the Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust.
21:13So tell me about where we're about to go.
21:15We're going into the second longest canal tunnel in Britain.
21:19It's 2,887 metres in length.
21:22Uh-huh.
21:22And it is drippy.
21:24It's drippy?
21:26Really drippy.
21:27See, no one warned me it was drippy.
21:29And it seems very, very dark.
21:31My goodness.
21:32Yes.
21:33Very impressive.
21:34Why were the tunnels built?
21:36The Earl of Dudley owned steelworks and foundies around these parts.
21:41He obviously used limestone to make steel in his steelworks.
21:45So when he found out there was vast quantities of limestone underneath Dudley, he built the tunnel to gain access to that limestone and remove it by boat.
21:57The Earl of Dudley opened this canal in 1792 and it was used for commercial traffic for 170 years.
22:05Now it's mainly used for boat trips like this one.
22:08But back in the day they wouldn't have an electric barge, so was it pulled by horses?
22:12On the open water they were pulled by horses on the tailpath.
22:16He couldn't do that in the tunnel, so this is where the boat were leg through.
22:22Legging involved boatmen lying on their backs on top of the boat and walking along the tunnel's walls, pushing the boat forward along the canal.
22:31You could pay a professional legger like Jack Wheeler.
22:34Right.
22:34He was 12 when he started legging.
22:37Right.
22:37He was 76 when he retired.
22:40Goodness me.
22:40But before leg power was used, there was another option.
22:44What are the marks on the walls that I can see?
22:47Originally they would have pushed the boat through with one of these.
22:50It would have had a metal spike on the end.
22:52Uh-huh.
22:53You can actually see which way there was travelling.
22:56These are 200-year-old holes.
22:58So the boatman would have been pushing his boat.
23:01That way?
23:02Forwards.
23:02Yes.
23:03You can see it all.
23:05And this is why the Earl of Dudley banned this from being used.
23:09Because of the damage to the wall?
23:10It was causing his bricks.
23:14Over 80,000 people visit Dudley's canals each year, attracted by its special-themed events, immersive experiences, and rather surprising spectacles.
23:24Look at this.
23:28This is Shirts Mill Basin.
23:30Uh-huh.
23:30These are the two oldest limestone mines in Dudley.
23:33That is...
23:33This is really beautiful.
23:35It wouldn't have been like this 200 years ago.
23:37No.
23:38It would have had a roof on it.
23:39Right.
23:40But the miners blew the roof off round about 180 years ago.
23:44So that was an underground loading roof at one stage.
23:47This is incredible, Mark.
23:49I know you see it all the time.
23:51Look how beautiful this is.
23:53This is my favourite basin.
23:54This is Castle Mill Basin.
23:57The tunnels were constructed between these cavernous basins that have become natural wonders in their own right.
24:04And having been here for 18 years, Mark is brimming with all manner of limestone-related facts.
24:11If you've been on the telly, like you have, you've been in the limelight.
24:14Because limestone burns very brightly and was used in early theatre lighting to illuminate the actors on stage.
24:22I've never heard that before.
24:23Thanks very much indeed.
24:23Mark, font of all knowledge.
24:26And he's not done yet.
24:28So all this is pure limestone.
24:30Wow, look at that.
24:31That is incredible.
24:33You've got the stalactite on the roof where the water's dripping.
24:36Yeah.
24:37This is all done without electricity.
24:40Yeah.
24:40By candlelight.
24:41Yeah.
24:41By nine-year-old boys, 12-year-old girls.
24:45But that's the thing, young kids are working here, aren't they?
24:49Yeah.
24:50Very physical job, very tiring job, very dangerous job.
24:53Mm-hmm.
24:55These young children not only helped build and mine the tunnels, they helped to rig explosives to expose the limestone too.
25:03Thankfully, that practice is long gone, and all mining eventually stopped in these tunnels in 1924.
25:09The only way to really appreciate the conditions that you're talking about and what they did in the vastness and the scale is to come down and see it.
25:19Yeah, yes, of course.
25:20This is the way to do it.
25:22And it's this really strange combination of a place that makes you think a lot about what happened here, but then also enjoy it as a journey.
25:31And it's actually really, really beautiful.
25:33A fascinating insight into industrial history, mixed with jaw-dropping splendour.
25:40A grand day out indeed.
25:45Coming up, I explore a mysterious medieval manor.
25:49Can we go into the House of Secrets?
25:50Yeah, of course you can, yeah.
25:51And go for the ride of my life.
25:54I think this is the grandest of grand day outs I've ever had.
25:57I'm back on the road again, exploring the heart of England in and around the Malvern Hills.
26:15Whenever I go on a day out, I do a very specific thing when I'm in the car park.
26:19I like to have a nice look at all the other cars.
26:23And indeed, when Helen parks up, she often draws quite the crowd.
26:27She's a showstopper, shall we say.
26:30So no matter what other vintage, posh, expensive voitures are in a car park, none of them beat Helen Mirren.
26:40But there are some that come close.
26:43And this part of Britain is a global hub for some of the most prestigious names on the road.
26:48The Morgan Motor Company has been based in Malvern for over 110 years.
26:54This is an incredible beauty parade of cars.
26:59Even I can see one of these and think how glorious it is.
27:05I mean, look at it.
27:06The design is iconic.
27:10Morgan hand-make up to around 800 individually built, classic British motorcars each year.
27:17And Nick is giving me a look behind the scenes.
27:20I wanted to ask you about Morgan, because it's obviously a name I've heard.
27:24But I don't know a lot about where it started from.
27:27Well, it started with a young man called Harry Frederick Stanley Morgan.
27:31HFS, as he was known to family and friends.
27:34He was very interested in motoring.
27:36HFS built his first car, known as the Morgan Runabout, in 1909, just over 20 years after the first ever car was built.
27:48It had two wheels at the front and one at the back.
27:51Soon after, family and friends wanted him to make them one too.
27:55And it wasn't long before Morgan became a household name.
27:58I told my mum I was coming here.
28:01Yeah.
28:01And she said, oh, a Morgan.
28:03Because it meant something, didn't it?
28:05Of course it did.
28:06Of course it did.
28:06It was very, very early motoring.
28:08It was pioneering.
28:10But at that time, early 1900s, cars weren't that commonplace at that point, were they?
28:16No.
28:16So the sight of someone zipping about the place must have been quite unusual.
28:22Absolutely right.
28:25Morgan is known across the world for its craftsmanship.
28:28So this isn't your average car factory.
28:31I wasn't quite expecting so much wood in a car factory.
28:36We have a wooden frame for the car.
28:39And this is where it all starts.
28:40It's incredible.
28:42Is each car hand built?
28:43Yes.
28:44Absolutely.
28:44And each car is being made for somebody.
28:47Somebody's told us exactly what they want for their car.
28:49Oh, my goodness.
28:50Each frame is made using sustainable ash from Lincolnshire, as it's strong and light.
28:57Do you know what I love about craftsmanship like this?
28:59Is it when someone gets the car, they won't see this because it's covered.
29:03But underneath it, you know that it's there.
29:06The pride is still taken.
29:08Many of these frames will end up on the Plus 4 car, first designed over 70 years ago, and
29:14still their best-known model.
29:16How long does it take to build one of these cars?
29:19Six to nine months.
29:21Just ballpark, Nick.
29:24What are we talking about?
29:26If we look at a Plus 4, that will start roughly at around about 80,000 to 85,000 pounds.
29:33It can go up to over 100.
29:35I'm going to ask the traditional question, is that inclusive of that, Nick?
29:37Yes, that's inclusive of everything.
29:42What I'll do is I'll just get a piece of paper, jot down some figures.
29:46Figures, yes.
29:46I've never been in one of these cars before.
29:50Do you have one you could take me out for a wee trip on?
29:52I would be delighted.
29:53Is that okay?
29:54We'll go and find a Morgan.
29:55Well, we're in the right place for that.
30:02Oh, that makes a nice sound.
30:04What a car.
30:15This is just gently.
30:17This is just a gentle poodle along.
30:19You know, on a day like this, you don't need to be going hell for leather.
30:23No, you don't.
30:23And that, just the joy of sitting in amongst all this craftsmanship.
30:27Oh, it's beautiful.
30:28And it just...
30:29I think this is the grandest of grandi-outs I've ever had, Nick.
30:33It really is.
30:34I'm just thrilled to bits then.
30:36What a treat.
30:38And I'm sure Helen won't mind.
30:44But with normal travel service resumed,
30:47we're now making our way to a village deep in the lovely Worcestershire countryside
30:51with a rather intriguing story.
30:57And as I turned off the road into here,
31:00I saw a sign that said,
31:01House of Secrets.
31:04And there's nothing better
31:06than when you arrive somewhere and you go,
31:08I wonder what this is.
31:11I wonder what the secrets are.
31:13I'm slightly terrified,
31:15but I like it.
31:16This, at first glance,
31:22may seem like a traditional Elizabethan manor house,
31:26but Harvington Hall is the epitome of subterfuge.
31:29And no one knows that more than hall manager Phil,
31:32who's been fascinated with the place
31:34since visiting as a teenager.
31:37Phil, tell me about when this place was actually built.
31:40The house we're looking at now
31:42is actually built in the 1570s, 1580s.
31:44Okay.
31:44But sure, you've already noticed
31:46there's a moat surrounding the house.
31:47I did, yes.
31:48So the moat around the house
31:49actually dates to the 1270s.
31:50Really?
31:51Yeah.
31:51It's quite higglety-pigglety, isn't it?
31:54It's been done that way on purpose.
31:56Has it?
31:56Is that where the House of Secrets comes in?
31:58Sure is.
31:59Can we go into the House of Secrets?
32:00Yeah, of course we can, yeah.
32:03This confusing construction
32:05was built by the wealthy Catholic Humphrey Packington,
32:09and much of it is unaltered,
32:11leaving its secrets intact.
32:14So we're now in the withdrawing room.
32:16The withdrawing room?
32:18Yes.
32:18You have withdrawn from the great chamber next door
32:21into this room.
32:22I love this, Phil.
32:23I want to have a withdrawing room in my house.
32:26But what I really want to know is,
32:27why is it the House of Secrets?
32:29The secrets are that this was a Catholic house
32:31during the reign of Elizabeth I and James I.
32:33Now, that is very dangerous in that period.
32:37Catholics have been persecuted.
32:38It is now high treason for a Catholic priest
32:41to be in England.
32:42So Catholic families have to alter their houses
32:45to trick the priest hunters.
32:47It's quite brave, though.
32:48This is a really dangerous time, isn't it?
32:52The 16th century was when the English church
32:55broke away from the Catholic one in Rome,
32:58known as the Reformation.
33:00Anyone caught practicing Catholicism was punished.
33:03To try and conceal any evidence of their faith,
33:06many Catholics created hiding places
33:08called priest hides or holes within their homes
33:12to stow away both clergymen and religious items.
33:17The house is just completely being altered to trick people.
33:21So is that why all the windows at the back
33:22are higglety-pigglety?
33:23Yeah.
33:24It's done on purpose.
33:25That's a deliberate piece of architecture.
33:27Yeah.
33:27So the priest hunters would measure the house
33:29from the outside and the inside.
33:31And if the measurements don't match,
33:32they know there's a hiding place within.
33:34So what people tended to do was build hiding places
33:37in the middle of the house,
33:38away from the outside wall.
33:40And the best way to then confuse people
33:41is to fill the house with windows.
33:43The beauty of this room is this window
33:45that we can see in front of us.
33:47If you were sitting in here 450 years ago
33:49and you see a group of men on horseback
33:51galloping this way,
33:52the priest hunters are on the way.
33:54Everything needs to be removed.
33:55So rosary beads, Latin Bibles, images of saints.
33:59More importantly, the priest needs to be hidden.
34:01They'd come into the room and they'd start going...
34:07And of course, they're listening for the hollow knock.
34:10Could you imagine the fear of being a priest hiding...
34:13If you're in there.
34:13And hearing that noise coming towards you,
34:15thinking that next knock is going to be my death sentence.
34:18Quite terrifying, actually, isn't it?
34:20It is terrifying.
34:20Quite terrifying.
34:21Yeah.
34:22Are there any priest holes in this room?
34:24There is.
34:26In the corner.
34:28Just have a look under the floor there.
34:29There?
34:30Yeah.
34:30Now, of course, you can see it now,
34:32but I've had a floorboard over the top.
34:34There's just some rudimentary stairs.
34:36It's a pit, basically.
34:37It's a pit.
34:39And so the priest would go down there,
34:42floorboard back on top again,
34:43and just have to sit in utter silence.
34:46Could be over a week.
34:49In there?
34:50In there.
34:50In the darkness?
34:51In the dark.
34:53Minimal food.
34:55Not a lot to drink.
34:57And also, you need to go to the toilet in there as well.
35:01Goodness me.
35:01Harvington Hall has seven different priest hides,
35:07more than any other house in England,
35:09but apparently the best one is in the library,
35:12if I can find it.
35:16Okay.
35:21Can't immediately see anything that's out of place.
35:23Now, it has to be easily accessible as well.
35:31If it was easy to find,
35:33it wouldn't be much of a priest hide.
35:35Up here.
35:45That sounds different, doesn't it?
35:46But could that just be an old wall?
35:58Ah!
35:59Found it.
36:01There is a long, small room.
36:06It would have been dark.
36:07It would have been frightening.
36:08You would have heard people clattering around this house,
36:11trying to find out where they were.
36:13Imagine what you would have to go through to do that
36:17in order to be ready for when the priest hunters came
36:20to hide in it.
36:26Goodness me, what a place.
36:29A house of secrets, indeed.
36:35Coming up, a loom with a view.
36:37It's like the inside of a piano.
36:40And I tie up some loose ends.
36:42Okay, so...
36:44I'm on the last leg of my grandy-out
36:58in and around the Malvern Hills
37:00in the heart of England.
37:02Why?
37:03Revving the engine now!
37:05And this most excellent engine is taking me
37:09to Worcestershire's historic market town of Kidderminster,
37:13once known as the carpet capital of the world.
37:18We actually don't have any carpets apart from one
37:21because we have seven cats.
37:23And cats and carpets are just a ridiculous thing.
37:25So I love looking at carpets.
37:27It's just I can't have any.
37:28Where better to indulge my inner carpet enthusiast
37:33than the Museum of Carpet?
37:35A ready supply of wool from sheep on the nearby hills,
37:38its central location and transport links,
37:41meant by the 1850s,
37:43Kidderminster was producing the majority of carpets in Britain,
37:46even earning a place in the Great Exhibition of 1851.
37:50Will you look at the size of this?
37:54There must be 20 or so colours there.
37:57By the mid-20th century,
37:59changes in fashion and competition from overseas
38:02led to a decline in demand
38:04and many mills closed, like this one,
38:07which now houses mementos of this bygone era.
38:11Alan spent 50 years working in the trade.
38:14Alan, tell me a little bit about
38:16how important making carpets was in Kidderminster.
38:20Well, to this town, it was very important
38:22because most people,
38:24when you come to leave school,
38:26they knew where they were going to go to work.
38:28And how many factories at one point?
38:30I think there was 33 factories
38:33either involved in making yarn or making carpet.
38:37It's a huge amount of people
38:40that must have been employed.
38:4215,000.
38:4415,000?
38:45Yeah.
38:46When did you start working?
38:48I started working when I left school at 15.
38:5015?
38:51Yeah.
38:52Straight into the factory?
38:53Well, I did.
38:54My father was a policeman.
38:56He said,
38:56you don't want to be a policeman.
38:57He said, get in the factory, he said.
38:59And by the time I was 17,
39:00I was earning more than my dad.
39:02Really?
39:02Yeah.
39:03And so where did you start off then?
39:04Well, you start off
39:05working on the back of one of these looms.
39:10This huge Wilton loom
39:11needed two people to operate it.
39:13At the back would be the creeler
39:15who replaced the bobbins of yarn
39:17as they ran out,
39:18tying knots called thumb knots
39:20in their ends as they went back on.
39:24Some bloke says to me,
39:25sit in that corner somewhere
39:26and learn to tie a thumb knot.
39:28And I'd sit in the corner all day
39:30learning to tie a thumb knot
39:31before you can do anything,
39:32before you can put a bobbin in.
39:33Because once you've learned
39:35to tie the thumb knot,
39:36you can work on the back then.
39:38And once you'd mastered the back,
39:40you could work your way up to the front
39:42as the weaver.
39:44So as the weaver at the front of it,
39:46you're the captain of the ship, aren't you?
39:48You're having to keep an eye
39:48on absolutely everything that's happening.
39:50Well, it's listening as well
39:51because you can just tell
39:52if it's all running right.
39:54Sometimes things do go wrong
39:55and you've just got to be pretty quick
39:56to stop the loom and put it right.
39:58There could be up to 90 looms
40:00running at the same time.
40:02And Alan's giving me a taster
40:04of what just one sounds like.
40:09Apparently factory workers
40:11even learned to lip read
40:12as speaking over the noise
40:14was all but impossible.
40:15Now here, you can see
40:19different parts of it are moving.
40:22The carpet's pattern
40:24is stamped into a series of cards
40:25with holes and filled spaces
40:27called blanks,
40:29which tell the needles
40:30which yarn to weave and when.
40:32It's like the inside of a piano.
40:35Oh, there we go.
40:37It's like the inside of a piano.
40:39Oh, my ears are ringing.
40:41Can you imagine spending
40:42hours every day
40:44in a factory with that
40:45level of noise?
40:47It's pretty incredible.
40:50Just as he had to do
40:52when he first started
40:53as an apprentice,
40:54Alan has a challenge for me.
40:56Normally, before we let
40:57anybody go out of here,
40:59they have to learn
40:59to tie a thumb knot.
41:01And I take any challenge
41:02very seriously.
41:04OK, so...
41:06Yellow over the green.
41:08Yellow over the green.
41:09Round.
41:10Up through, in between.
41:12Uh-huh.
41:13Uh-huh.
41:14Uh-huh.
41:15Uh-huh.
41:16Uh-huh.
41:16Come on, Kalman.
41:17You can do it.
41:18Yellow over green.
41:19Yeah.
41:20Yeah.
41:20Tramping between the thumb.
41:22Put it round.
41:22Round.
41:23Uh-huh.
41:25How's that?
41:26Right, you can go.
41:27Is that it?
41:27Did I do it?
41:28That's it.
41:28Yeah, you've got it.
41:29Thank you so much, Alan.
41:31You're a superstar.
41:31Real pleasure to meet you.
41:33I'll see you soon.
41:33See you later, Alan.
41:34Bye.
41:35And I'd say,
41:36after all that noise,
41:38the rattle from Helen's engine
41:39won't sound quite so loud.
41:41An awesome end
41:42to a trip full
41:43of delightful discoveries.
41:50There's been a lot going on
41:52under the surface
41:53in this adventure.
41:54Things you can't really see,
41:56but are nonetheless beautiful
41:58and important,
42:00like the workings of a car
42:02or the looms in a factory
42:04or tunnels
42:04and a lot of hidden gems as well.
42:08You know, in the morning
42:09when you get up
42:09and you open the curtains
42:10and the sun is shining
42:11and the world just looks
42:14completely different.
42:15That's what this has been like
42:16for me and Helen.
42:18I've done this.
42:20Hello, world.
42:22You're amazing.
42:23Because it is.
42:26Next time,
42:31I'm discovering more
42:32about one of my favourite places.
42:34It is exquisite.
42:37It's beauty.
42:38It's nature
42:39at its absolute finest.
42:41It's charm.
42:42And this is Helen.
42:44One and two.
42:45Along the way,
42:46I'll meet two of my favourite
42:47northerners.
42:49Just iconic.
42:51After all,
42:52this feels like
42:52Wallace and Gromit country.
42:54It's great to be
42:55in wonderful Yorkshire.
42:57We'll see you next time.
43:27I'll see you next time.
43:28I'll see you next time.
43:29Thanks.
43:29I'll see you next time.
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