Susan Calman's Grand Day Out Season 9 Episode 1

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Transcript

00:00I'm on my travels again.

00:02Oh look, season's back!

00:04No!

00:06Enjoying all this wonderful country has to offer.

00:09Woo-hoo-hoo!

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!

00:26Finding 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 grand day 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.

01:14Yes!

01:14This 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, the

02:17so much to take in here.

02:19It is a really beautiful part of the world, this, and 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!

02:44I 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

02:53of places.

02:54We're in a few different counties, we're seeing a few different things, but that makes it

02:57quite exciting.

02:59It's like those great pick and mixes you used to get at Woolworths.

03:02And the ancient rocks that lie within these here hills contain a particularly tasty and yet free roadside refreshment that just needs boiling and it's delicious to drink.

03:16Can 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 can

03:26pull up.

03:27So I want to get some water for a cup of tea later on.

03:30It's quite a fast-flowing spring.

03:34Thank you, nature.

03:37You're very welcome, Susan.

03:39My spectacularly scenic route will take me across Worcestershire, in and about Dudley and back south

03:50again, meandering all around from the bottom to the top of this incredible county.

03:56Right, Helen, back on the road again.

04:03Some quite narrow little lanes for driving along.

04:07But it's nothing in comparison to the challenging journey that Helen and I are about to navigate.

04:15The village of Shelsley Walsh is home to the world's oldest motorsport venue, still on its

04:21original course.

04:23We're taking on its famously fiendish hill climb.

04:26Right, let's see who I can find.

04:33Who better to get me up to speed than archivist David, who's been coming to the track, run by

04:39the 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 the 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.

05:09And this is perfect.

05:10The 1,000-yard track is part of an estate's private drive that the club has rented since 1905.

05:19Testing cars soon turned into racing them, which today allows them to claim it as the world's

05:24oldest motorsport track still running on the original course, one even older than Le 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

05:42140 miles an hour.

05:45Don't listen, Helen.

05:45It's not going to happen.

05:46Don't listen, for goodness sakes.

05:48So the record is 22.38 seconds.

05:54It takes me a lot long to start up, but never mind.

05:56I've been in a Formula One car once on a racetrack.

05:59Oh, right.

06:00Yeah.

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.

06:28That'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.

06:52I'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.

07:05In three, two, one.

07:08That 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.

07:22When you're in a hefty camper, even a gentle incline is a push.

07:25Come on, Helen.

07:26You can do it.

07:26Okay, round the corner.

07:28Round the corner.

07:29Foot down.

07:30Foot down.

07:31Okay, 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.

07:40Oh, remember to breathe, Susan.

07:42Oh, jeez.

07:43Oh, my goodness.

07:44Oh, come on.

07:45We may not be at Formula One speeds for the notorious S-Bend, but 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.

08:05But 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?

08:31Helen Mirren is now part of the history of this iconic racing track.

08:43And the two of us know exactly how to celebrate.

08:47So, 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.

09:15Thanks.

09:16Coming 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.

09:36It'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.

11:11Now, I've just driven my delightful van, Helen, onto something, which I think is a way bridge.

11:17Is that right?

11:17A way bridge, 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

11:26road.

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 a heavy, but that can't be the heaviest thing that's

11:48ever been measured on that weigh bridge.

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.

12:31In my dreams, anyway.

12:32But 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.

12:48I'm Susan, what's your name?

12:49I'm Anne.

12:50This is the most incredible bottle you can possibly imagine.

12:53Clark's world famed.

12:55It is.

12:57I 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 at one time.

13:37It coloured sweets.

13:39People used to drink bottles of arsenic because they thought it would help their health.

13:42I'll leave the blood mixture for just now, if that's OK.

13:46Maybe later.

13:46I think I'm probably OK.

13:47I'll see you later on.

13:48Bye.

13:52While I'm here, I'm making the most of pretending I'm Doctor Who.

13:55My time travel continues, and I'm in the late 1940s now, which automatically makes me talk

14:02like this, because that's how they talked in the movies in the 1940s, with a very clipped

14:06English accent like this.

14:07Oh, my goodness, there's a co-operative.

14:14Now, 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.

14:25This, this would have been a revelation to people, to be able to come in, get your own

14:30basket, juice what you wanted.

14:32I mean, really, it was very, very exciting.

14:34Tea, of course.

14:36Coffee, if you were lucky.

14:37And 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.

14:41Kit, 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.

14:51And because I'm just going to say the co-operative, that's what they say.

14:54Its big distinction is really that it was the only place where you were going to get

15:00money back.

15:01Yes.

15:02Because 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

15:14members and take a small share of their profits every few months.

15:18The more they spent, the more money they earned back, making a big difference to people recovering

15:23from the Second World War.

15:25So, you know, a family might pick up four or five pounds every six months when it was

15:32given a day.

15:32Which is a lot.

15:33It was an awful lot.

15:34Yeah.

15:34You could buy your children's shoes for the year with that.

15:36So, it was really reluctant, something that everybody relied on.

15:40When the war ended, rationing didn't end, did it?

15:42No, no it didn't.

15:43No.

15:44You'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.

15:56And 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.

16:11Can you get on the back?

16:13Hello.

16:13Can I get on the bus, please?

16:14Yes, of course.

16:14Thank you very much indeed.

16:15I'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.

16:26Nothing beats my Helen.

16:37And at my next stop back in Malvern, I'm hoping I'll be privy to another gem from a bygone era.

16:43One of the things I've really learned is that sometimes it's absolutely cracking to go to,

16:51you know, one of the top ten tourist destinations in a place.

16:53But even more exciting, actually, are the little unknown places, the hidden gems,

17:00because it gives almost bragging rights that you've found somewhere that's a bit secret.

17:06Even better when it's Calman-sized, like the Theatre of Small Convenience.

17:12Do you want to look down the hill to see you?

17:14Hello.

17:14How are you?

17:15Laws is the artistic lead of this Victorian venue.

17:19But it didn't start out as a theatre.

17:21In fact, it had altogether humbler beginnings.

17:24Before it was a theatre, what was it?

17:26It was a gentleman's toilet.

17:28A gentleman's toilet.

17:29Hence the name, Theatre of Small Convenience.

17:31OK.

17:32And Dennis Neill, 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.

17:41When 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 is. It's in the Guinness Book of Records.

18:02Is it?

18:02Yeah, yeah.

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 roofing put in, we've got to buy an inch up our sleeves in case there's a contender.

18:13You see, I like that forward thinking. I like that forward thinking.

18:17Interproofed, 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. And Malvern's quite an arty kind of a place. There's people queuing up already.

18:26Really?

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 out.

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.

18:53Laws and the team have raised £17,000 to repair and update the 5x3 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.

19:21Ah yes, I feel it now.

19:23Doctor Theatre coursing through my veins.

19:25Back 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.

19:36We had a grand day out, didn't we, Ellen?

19:41Yes, very well, Ellen.

19:43Yes, very well, Ellen.

19:44Yes, very well, Ellen.

19:49Bravo!

19:50Encore!

19:51Bravo!

19:52Let's call it a work in progress.

19:56With plans to reopen in the very near future, hopefully the next people treading the boards will have a slightly larger crowd.

20:06This is a lovely road, this one.

20:07When I was younger, my dad had an old Citroen car with quite interesting suspension, quite like Helen.

20:24And my brother used to love it, and I'd be like, Dad, stop it, I feel sick, I'm going to be sick.

20:31And then my mum would say, don't you dare be sick in this car.

20:34So I wasn't, because this thing 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.

20:51Hello!

20:52Hello, Susan, you're OK?

20:53Hiya, nice to meet you.

20:54Can I just slip up on here?

20:55This 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.

21:18It's 2,887 metres in length.

21:22Uh-huh.

21:23And it is drippy.

21:24It's drippy?

21:25Really drippy.

21:26See, no one warned me it was drippy.

21:28Yeah.

21:29And it seems very, very dark.

21:31My goodness.

21:32Yes.

21:33Very impressive.

21:34Why were the tunnels built?

21:35Why 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.

21:55The Earl of Dudley opened this canal in 1792 and it was used for commercial traffic for 170 years. Now 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 towpath.

22:15Yeah.

22:16He couldn't do that in the tunnel so this is where the boats were leg through.

22:21Legging 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.

22:30You could pay a professional legger like Jack Wheeler.

22:34Right.

22:35He was 12 when he started legging.

22:36Right.

22:37He was 76 when he retired.

22:39Goodness 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.

23:03Yes.

23:04You 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 these bricks.

23:14Over 80,000 people visit Dudley's canals each year,

23:18attracted by its special themed events,

23:20immersive experiences and rather surprising spectacles.

23:25Look at this.

23:27This is Shirts Mill Basin.

23:30Uh huh.

23:31These are the two oldest limestone mines in Dudley.

23:33That is, this 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 loudymorph 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.

23:58The tunnels were constructed between these cavernous basins

24:01that have become natural wonders in their own right.

24:04And having been here for 18 years,

24:06Mark is brimming with all manner of limestone related facts.

24:10If you've been on the telly, like you have,

24:13you've been in the limelight.

24:14Because limestone burns very brightly

24:16and was used in early theatre lighting

24:18to illuminate the actors on stage.

24:21I've never heard that before.

24:22Thanks very much indeed.

24:23Mark, fond of all knowledge.

24:25And he's not done yet.

24:27So all this is pure limestone.

24:30Wow, look at that.

24:31Yeah.

24:32That is incredible.

24:33You've got the stalactite on the roof

24:35where the water's dripping.

24:36Yeah.

24:38This is all done without electricity.

24:40Yeah.

24:41By candlelight.

24:42Yeah.

24:44By nine year old.

24:45But that's the thing.

24:46Young kids are working here, aren't they?

24:49Yeah.

24:50Very physical job.

24:51Very tiring job.

24:52Very dangerous job.

24:53Mm-hmm.

24:55These young children not only helped build

24:57and mine the tunnels,

24:59they helped to rig explosives

25:00to expose the limestone too.

25:02Thankfully, that practice is long gone

25:05and all mining eventually stopped in these tunnels in 1924.

25:10The only way to really appreciate the conditions

25:15that you're talking about

25:16and what they did and the vastness and the scale

25:18is to come down and see it.

25:19Yeah, yes, of course.

25:20This is the way to do it.

25:21Yeah, yeah.

25:22It's this really strange combination of a place

25:25that makes you think a lot about what happened here,

25:28but then also enjoy it as a journey.

25:31And it's actually really, really beautiful.

25:33Yeah.

25:34A fascinating insight into industrial history

25:37mixed with jaw-dropping splendour.

25:40A grand day out indeed.

25:42Coming 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.

25:53I think this is the grandest of grandiotes I've ever had.

25:56Aww.

25:57I'm back on the road again, exploring the heart of England

26:12in and around the Malvern Hills.

26:15Whenever I go on a day out, I do a very specific thing

26:18when I'm in the car park.

26:19I like to have a nice look at all the other cars.

26:22And indeed, when Helen parks up, she often draws quite the crowd.

26:27She's a show-stopper, shall we say.

26:30So no matter what other vintage, posh, expensive voitures

26:35are in a car park, none of them beat Helen Mirren.

26:40But there are some that come close.

26:42And this part of Britain is a global hub

26:45for some of the most prestigious names on the road.

26:48The Morgan Motor Company has been based in Malvern

26:51for 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

27:14classic British motor cars 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

27:22a name I've heard, but I don't know a lot about

27:25where 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.

27:33He was very interested in motoring.

27:36HFS built his first car known as the Morgan Runabout in 1909,

27:43just over 20 years after the first ever car was built.

27:47It 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.

28:00Yeah.

28:01Yeah.

28:02And she said, oh, a Morgan.

28:03Yeah.

28:04Because it meant something, didn't it?

28:05Of course it did.

28:06Of course it did.

28:07It was very, very early motoring.

28:09It was pioneering.

28:10But at that time, early 1900s, cars weren't that commonplace at that point, were they?

28:16Nope.

28:17So the sight of someone zipping about the place must have been quite unusual.

28:22Absolutely right.

28:24Morgan 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.

28:38And this is where it all starts.

28:40It's incredible.

28:41Is each car hand built?

28:43Yes.

28:44Right.

28:45Absolutely.

28:46And 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.

28:56Do 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.

29:02But underneath it, you know that it's there.

29:06The pride is still taken.

29:07Many of these frames will end up on the plus four car, first designed over 70 years ago

29:13and still their best known model.

29:15How 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 four, 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.

29:36Is that inclusive of that, Nick?

29:38Yes.

29:39That's inclusive of everything.

29:42What I'll do is I'll just get a piece of paper, jot down some figures.

29:46I've never been in one of these cars before.

29:49Do 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.

29:57Well, we're in the right place for that.

29:59Oh, that needs a nice sound.

30:00Oh.

30:01Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo.

30:02What a car.

30:03This is just gently.

30:04This is just a gentle poodle along.

30:06You know, on a day like this, you don't need to be going hell for leather.

30:22No, you don't.

30:23It'll do that.

30:24Just the joy of sitting in amongst all this craftsmanship.

30:27Oh, it's beautiful.

30:28I think this is the grandest of grandy-outs I've ever had, Nick.

30:33It really is.

30:34I'm just thrilled to bits, then.

30:36What a treat.

30:37And I'm sure Helen won't mind.

30:41But with normal travel service resumed, we're now making our way to a village deep in the

30:50lovely Worcestershire countryside with a rather intriguing story.

30:57And as I turned off the road into here, I saw a sign that said, House of Secrets.

31:04And there's nothing better than when you arrive somewhere and you go, I wonder what this is.

31:10I wonder what the secrets are.

31:13I'm slightly terrified, but I like it.

31:20This, at first glance, may seem like a traditional Elizabethan manor house.

31:25But Harvington Hall is the epitome of subterfuge.

31:29And no one knows that more than hall manager Phil, who's been fascinated with the place since visiting as a teenager.

31:37Philip, tell me about when this place was actually built.

31:40The house we're looking at now is actually built in the 1570s, 1580s.

31:44Okay.

31:45But I'm sure you've already noticed there's a moat surrounding the house.

31:47I did, yes.

31:48So the moat around the house actually dates to the 1270s.

31:50Really?

31:51Yeah.

31:52It's quite higglety-pigglety, isn't it?

31:54It's been done that way on purpose.

31:56Has it?

31:57Is that where the House of Secrets comes in?

31:58Sure is.

31:59Can we go into the House of Secrets?

32:00Yeah, of course you can, yeah.

32:03This confusing construction was built by the wealthy Catholic Humphrey Packington.

32:09And much of it is unaltered, leaving its secrets intact.

32:14So we're now in the withdrawing room.

32:16The withdrawing room?

32:17Yes.

32:18You have withdrawn from the great chamber next door into 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, why is it the House of Secrets?

32:29The secrets are that this was a Catholic house during the reign of Elizabeth I and James I.

32:33Now that is very dangerous in that period.

32:36Catholics have been persecuted.

32:38It is now high treason for a Catholic priest to be in England.

32:42So Catholic families have to alter their houses to 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 broke away from the Catholic one in Rome, known as the Reformation.

32:59Anyone caught practicing Catholicism was punished.

33:04To try and conceal any evidence of their faith, many Catholics created hiding places called 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 are higglety-pigglety?

33:23Yeah.

33:24It's done on purpose.

33:25That's a deliberate piece of architecture.

33:27Yeah.

33:28So the priest hunters would measure the house from the outside and the inside.

33:31And if the measurements don't match, they know there's a hiding place within.

33:34So what people tended to do was build hiding places in the middle of the house, away from the outside wall.

33:40And the best way to then confuse people is to fill the house with windows.

33:44The beauty of this room is this window that we can see in front of us.

33:47If you were sitting in here 450 years ago and you see a group of men on horseback galloping this way, the priest hunters are on the way.

33:53Everything 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.

34:08And of course, they're listening for the hollow knock.

34:10Could you imagine the fear of being a priest hiding and 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?

34:19It is terrifying.

34:20Quite terrifying.

34:21Yeah.

34:22Are there any priest holes in this room?

34:24There is.

34:26In the corner.

34:27Just have a look under the floor there.

34:29There?

34:30Yeah.

34:31Now, of course, you can see it now, but 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.

34:38And so the priest would go down there, floorboard back on top again,

34:44and just have to sit in utter silence.

34:46It could be over a week.

34:49In there?

34:50In there.

34:51In the darkness?

34:52In 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.

35:04Arvington Hall has seven different priest hides, more than any other house in England,

35:09but apparently the best one is in the library, if I can find it.

35:14Okay.

35:15Can't immediately see anything that's out of place.

35:28Now, it has to be easily accessible as well.

35:31If it was easy to find, it wouldn't be much of a priest hide.

35:36Up here.

35:45That sounds different, doesn't it?

35:46But could that just be an old wall?

35:48Ah, found it.

36:02There is a long, small room.

36:06It would have been dark, it would have been frightening.

36:08You would have heard people clattering around this house, trying to find out where they were.

36:14Imagine what you would have to go through to do that, in order to be ready for when the priest hunters came to hide in it.

36:23Goodness me, what a place.

36:28A house of secrets indeed.

36:34Coming 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.

36:43So.

36:56I'm on the last leg of my grandy out in and around the Malvern Hills in the heart of England.

37:01Why?

37:03Revving the engine!

37:07And this most excellent engine is taking me to 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 because 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.

37:29Where better to indulge my inner carpet enthusiast than the Museum of Carpet.

37:35A ready supply of wool from sheep on the nearby hills, its central location and transport links,

37:41meant by the 1850s, Kidderminster was producing the majority of carpets in Britain,

37:47even earning a place in the Great Exhibition of 1851.

37:52Will you look at the size of this? There must be 20 or so colours there.

37:55By the mid 20th century, changes in fashion and competition from overseas led to a decline in demand and 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 how important making carpets was in Kidderminster.

38:19Well to this town, it was very important because most people, when you come to leave school, they knew where they were going to go to work.

38:29And how many factories at one point?

38:31I think there was 33 factories either involved in making yarn or making carpet.

38:38It's a huge amount of people that must have been employed.

38:4115,000.

38:4315,000?

38:45Yeah.

38:46When did you start working?

38:48I started working when I left school at 15.

38:5115?

38:52Yeah.

38:53Straight into the factory?

38:54Well, I did.

38:55My father was a policeman, he said, you don't want to be a policeman, he said, get in the factory, he said.

39:00And by the time I was 17, I was earning more than my dad.

39:02Really?

39:03Yeah.

39:04Often.

39:05When you start off working on the back of one of these looms.

39:10This huge Wilton loom needed two people to operate it.

39:14At the back would be the creeler, who replaced the bobbins of yarn as they ran out.

39:19Tying knots called thumb knots in their ends as they went back on.

39:24Some bloke says to me, sit in that corner somewhere and learn to tie a thumb knot.

39:27And I'd sit in a corner all day learning to tie a thumb knot before you can do anything, before you can put a bobbin in.

39:34Because once you've learned to tie the thumb knot, you can work on the back then.

39:39And once you'd mastered the back, you could work your way up to the front as the weaver.

39:44So as the weaver at the front of it, you're the captain of the ship, aren't you?

39:48You're having to keep an eye on absolutely everything that's happening.

39:50Well, it's listening as well, because you can just tell if it's all running right.

39:53Sometimes things do go wrong and you've just got to be pretty quick to stop the loom and put it right.

39:58There could be up to 90 looms running at the same time.

40:02And Alan's giving me a taster of what just one sounds like.

40:09Apparently factory workers even learned to lip read, as speaking over the noise was all but impossible.

40:16Now here, you can see different parts that are moving.

40:20The carpet's pattern is stamped into a series of cards with holes and filled spaces called blanks,

40:28which tell the needles which 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 hours every day in a factory with that level of noise?

40:46It's pretty incredible.

40:50Just as he had to do when he first started as an apprentice, Alan has a challenge for me.

40:56Normally, before we let anybody go out of here, they have to learn to tie a thumb knot.

41:01And I take any challenge very seriously.

41:04OK, so.

41:06Yellow over the green.

41:08Yellow over the green.

41:09Round.

41:11Up through, in between.

41:16Come on, Kalman.

41:17You can do it.

41:18Yellow over green.

41:19Yeah.

41:20Yeah.

41:21Tramp in between the thumb.

41:22Put it round.

41:23Round.

41:25How's that?

41:26Right, you can go.

41:27Is that it? Did I do it?

41:28That's it, yeah, you got it.

41:30Thank you so much, Alan, you're a superstar.

41:31You're welcome.

41:32Real pleasure to meet you.

41:33I'll see you soon.

41:34See you later, Alan.

41:35And I'd say, after all that noise, the rattle from Helen's engine won't sound quite so loud.

41:41An awesome end to a trip full of delightful discoveries.

41:51There's been a lot going on under the surface in this adventure.

41:54Things you can't really see but are nonetheless beautiful and important.

42:00Like the workings of a car or the looms in a factory or tunnels.

42:05And a lot of hidden gems as well.

42:08You know, in the morning when you get up and you open the curtains and the sun is shining

42:12and the world just looks completely different.

42:15That's what this has been like for me and Helen.

42:18I've done this.

42:19Hello world.

42:21You're amazing.

42:23Because it is.

42:30Next time, I'm discovering more about one of my favourite places.

42:34It is exquisite.

42:37It's beauty.

42:38It's nature at its absolute finest.

42:41It's charm.

42:42And this is Helen.

42:44One and two.

42:45Along the way I'll meet two of my favourite northerners.

42:48Just iconic.

42:51After all, this feels like Wallace and Gromit country.

42:54It's great to be in wonderful Yorkshire.

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