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00:00Across the UK country estates have been transformed from private homes into national
00:10treasures where history and heritage because you get to play in the biggest historical
00:19sweetie shop in the world are surrounded by breathtaking landscapes it's magical it's
00:26absolutely magical I would actually stay up here in this series we'll soar above some of Britain's
00:33greatest estates the view it's just fantastic we'll watch as the seasons change meet those
00:43whose families have owned them for generations it's an enormous responsibility but a great honor
00:49as well this place is constantly evolving constantly changing and the people working
00:53to conserve and restore them it is a huge undertaking it's about holding on to what
01:01is important and making sure it survives there's a huge amount to do and we will get it done well
01:07we'll get most of it done encompassing over 10,000 acres of Lincolnshire countryside surrounding the
01:22market town of Stamford is Burley estate it's home to one of the grandest examples of 16th century architecture
01:31Burley house was built by Queen Elizabeth the first Lord treasurer William Cecil as a statement of his
01:42political and intellectual prowess it houses one of the largest art collections in the country and its ceilings are adorned with 17th century murals
01:55the house is framed by a capability brown parkland of sweeping vistas and each year the park hosts one of the most prestigious
02:08equestrian events in the world welcome to Burley estate
02:13it's winter and frost stretches across Burley's 1300 acres of parkland the park has been landscaped over the
02:28centuries by some of the most influential designers today it's managed by head forester peter glassy
02:36so this is more who's my little border terrier she is the brains of the forestry outfit I love her very much
02:44and she comes to work with me every single day peter has lived and worked on the estate for over 30 years
02:50no days ever the same on an estate like this I love having this as my office I love my trees I'm love
02:57landscape I love nature so what more can I say really so very very lucky I know the park and the
03:05estates incredibly well like the back of my hand actually because I've been here so long so this is
03:14Queen Anne's Avenue and this was originally planted between 1619 and 1702 this mile-long avenue of lime
03:23trees was commissioned by the fifth Earl John Cecil who was inspired by the continental fashion for
03:29formality he instructed that 5,000 trees should be planted in radiating avenues by the 18th century
03:41fashions had changed and the ninth Earl Brown low Cecil employed eminent designer capability Brown to create a more
03:50naturalistic landscape Brown cleared almost all the avenues of trees creating new vistas to frame the
03:59house he dug the 25 acre serpentine lake and built the lion bridge across it I think he was a genius and I
04:11think he has created a beautiful landscape today Peter and Maud are on their way to renovate one of
04:23the estates smallest properties it's looking slightly dilapidated I've got to say depends how fussy your owls are
04:36around here really Peter has called in tree surgeon Harry Ashman to replace a 12 year old barn owl nesting
04:44box a lot of countryside barns and are being developed so barn owls have often lost their places where they
04:51can nest and so pole boxes really in this area I think nationally are the savior of the barn owl in
04:58the last century barn owl populations across the UK declined by 70 percent to help replace lost habitats
05:07conservationists encouraged landowners to put up whole boxes over the last 40 years 20,000 of these boxes
05:17have gone up around the country so this old this old box is full of detritus this is a barn owl pellet here
05:28look and sometimes you'll see exactly what they've been eating the real creme de la creme of a barn owl
05:33diet is a field vault this is a skull of a vole nice juicy fat nugget of carbohydrate
05:40just get me those safety glasses oh yeah
05:47you want these safety glasses oh yes I'll get them for you you don't have to wear them
05:58we need to manage for wildlife and nature and Burley Park is an ideal area it's just got so much
06:10habitat here and we can do our bit to encourage these species so we just now need some bedding
06:16just to keep their their bums warm with some wood chips added to the box for insulation the new
06:24build is complete all done it's got a chic to it shall be chic
06:40burley house was built by Queen Elizabeth's most trusted advisor William Cecil the first Lord Burley
06:49Cecil's prodigy house took him 32 years to build its symmetrical form ornate stonework and glass
07:00features combined a classical influence with modernity its centerpiece is an obelisk clock tower
07:08the clock tower was the grandest statement of all the obelisk represents knowledge and power both of
07:19the Queen and of William Cecil himself John Culverhouse is Burley's curator when the clock
07:29is working it can be heard all over the estate all over the major home park for nearly five centuries the
07:36clock tower bells have chimed on the quarter hour but now the clock has fallen silent as major
07:43restoration works are underway it's like an old friend in the background it's lovely I miss it
07:49and it'd be really wonderful when the bells go back in Burley house was built to host members of the
08:00the court political allies and royalty it's been open to the paying public since 1958 but every winter
08:09the house is put into hibernation we cover them to keep them free of dust over winter and to protect
08:18from light as well today textile conservators Melinda Louise and Kelly are waking the house from its winter slumber I enjoy getting it ready for the season because you kind of forget how amazing the textiles are
08:40it's not restoration it's not restoration it's not making things look new it's about sort of holding on to what is important and making sure it survives
08:46and it's sometimes a bit tempting to kind of try and make things look as shiny and new as possible and that's not what we do
08:53the house has over a hundred rooms including 18 state rooms intended to host visiting royalty
09:05the team are working in one of the state bedrooms which hosted Queen Victoria and Prince Albert for a
09:13three-day visit in 1844 right so did we decide which side was starting on its centerpiece is a state bed
09:23fit for a queen it's gold answer is for a bling and really very splendid so this is a lovely one
09:32this bespoke four-poster bed was built in 1795 and was given a royal upgrade at vast expense in preparation
09:42for Queen Victoria's visit extra gold gilding was added along with a royal crest and an ornate carving
09:52of lovebirds I have some pins for me just just mind the air for the bed lovely all of this gilded carving
10:03is incredibly fragile and so it's the case of being really careful about everywhere that your hands are
10:09and where the fabric is just mind your right curator John has come to inspect Queen Victoria's golden bed
10:16good morning ladies good morning wow revealed again how wonderful doesn't get any less impressive does
10:29it because it's so tall and the ceiling so high it just makes it so grand and it's just nice and shiny
10:34and pretty it's astonishing a royal visit is a very special thing we were lucky enough to have her majesty
10:44come here during her jubilee year and it just is very very special it really is and i imagine at the
10:53time of the victorian visit it felt the same the house opens in a fortnight's time and it's exciting
11:01every year it's good fun we get to see all the beds and the tapestries and all the furniture again
11:07and yeah it does feel like spring it's definitely spring cleaning
11:17just to the east of the house along the bank of the serpentine lake is burleigh's sculpture garden
11:23here over 30 contemporary works of art are displayed across 12 acres
11:33this spring the gardening team are creating a new wildflower bed to provide a backdrop to these unique
11:39works of art
11:43after stripping and rotavating the hundred meter long bed head gardener joe whitehead and gardener
11:51warren bloodworth are getting to work sewing the wildflower seed mix i'm just mixing with sand so
11:58it bulks out a bit because i've got to make this last this hundred meter strip and not run out because
12:04it costs a lot of money probably my 32nd year of being a gardener so i've been doing it for a long time
12:12so i'm just figuring that i've got it right to this point and it won't go wrong joe must sow the seeds
12:19evenly to get a consistent and dense covering of flowers
12:25this will not be subtle this will be in your face can't miss it there's 15 to 20 different
12:32varieties of of plants in here you can see like the slightly bigger seed and the larger ones there
12:37that's cornflower and we've got a schultzier seed but in amongst that a tiny dust-like seed of poppies
12:45so there are there are millions of seeds in here so it will be one massive long nectar bank for insects
12:52yeah it looks quite bland at the minute come back in a few weeks time it's just going to look so different
12:57with a bit of spare it's like i know what i'm doing
13:06look at that one hey hey we'll wait and see on this one so we'll see how good he is that's why
13:12he's got some spare bits left in his bucket just in case we need to top up he always says i'm going
13:15to run out um it does normally in just a few weeks time these millions of seeds will germinate
13:23and by the summer should be a bank of color so yeah so that's great job done
13:29it's early morning on burley estate and a very special delivery is making its way toward the west
13:43front of the house burley's 300 year old golden gates have been off-site for extensive restoration
13:53and conservation with temporary gates masquerading as the real deal
13:57today heritage maintenance manager glenn dalrymple i'm really quite excited to get them back i think
14:06they're all their glory as they should be you know and heritage architect chris cotton are welcoming
14:12these iconic gates back to burley today is a very exciting day because these are one of the treasures
14:19of a burley house the gates were commissioned by the fifth earl in the late 17th century
14:26for the princely sum of 150 pounds nearly 30 000 pounds today he enlisted renowned metal worker john
14:34tijoux to design him some baroque style gates crafted in iron and covered in gold over three centuries
14:45later the gates were in urgent need of repair the gates were in really quite a poor state the iron
14:52work was beginning to rust and corrode and moisture had got beneath the paint coatings that were beginning
14:57to fail and they were essentially eroding away over the last eight months the gates have been painstakingly
15:06repaired and regilded they sat in here not to move that around a bit careful with that stanley knife
15:27fantastic incredible details i'm really impressed really impressed not easily impressed they look
15:36incredible we've been looking forward to this for so long to see it actually happen it's wonderful
15:46with the frame and two doors in position the team move on to the most challenging part of the installation
15:52i think this is the uh the time when everybody holds a breath for a few minutes to them whether
16:00just try and get this top crescent in position this overthrow is is many ways the star of the show
16:07it's got the burley emblem in there and it's the most sort of sculptural part of the whole thing
16:13you just have to be exceptionally careful because things can go wrong
16:22so you've got glass behind well the risk of it falling this way if it goes this way and it comes
16:29off there could damage all sorts so this is quite challenging um operation because it's
16:37you know it's difficult unwieldy piece of metal work to to manhandle
16:41it's all in yeah it looks good good days won't yet it's incredible absolutely incredible to see
16:56them as they as they're meant to be seen you know as to as you would have intended them good stuff
17:03they're just extraordinarily beautiful objects really and it's uh it's great to see them come back
17:09and be together again with the house
17:18it's february
17:21i heard on the radio that this the first swallows are down in the south of england
17:25and spring is just around the corner everything's pairing up and getting ready for this wonderful
17:32race of nature which is to reproduce last spring a rare pair of ospreys nested in this burly oak tree
17:39and they had two chicks they were the first osprey on the estate since ospreys were persecuted to
17:46extinction in england in 1847 these piscivorous birds of prey are making a comeback but there are still only
17:5640 breeding pairs in england and they remain a protected species
18:01peter is hoping that the pair will return this spring but their nest has become unstable over
18:10the winter and if they do return it could collapse threatening their chances of successfully breeding
18:17yeah i think what's happened is one of those uprights that was supporting the nest has obviously come
18:21away there's so much weight it just it's just gone the osprey could return any day and conservationist and
18:30osprey expert tim mccrill who has a license to work with ospreys is going to rebuild the nest
18:37this is the all-important material for the nest so with some slightly thicker stuff
18:42for the base and then these sticks are actually collected from underneath another osprey nest so
18:47they're proper authentic sticks so only the finest stick for the for the burly ospreys pete oh definitely
18:53amazing all right if you guys can get well out the way of the tree it'll be great
19:01before tim can get to work on the nest tree surgeon harry will remove the old nest and the unstable
19:07deadwood surrounding it oak trees have a very durable heartwood normally so they retain their deadwood for
19:15quite a long time but this particular tree has had a decay rock called chicken of the woods which
19:22actually has made the tree quite friable and quite quite brittle so we're hoping that in the next few
19:27weeks both the two birds who bred here last year will come back the key thing is to remove what was
19:33there there's just this new nest on a platform that's really secure and that's what they'll use
19:38they only have one chance each year so it's really crucial that we give them the best possible chance of
19:42success well he's getting on well yes he's doing well yeah he's leveled off that upright is that height
19:51about right yeah it looks perfect with the old nest and brittle branches removed
19:58tim and harry can secure a stable platform and construct a brand new nest
20:03right you hop yourself in first all right ready yeah there you go burley hasn't had an osprey since
20:151800 or 1820 and to have ospreys back at burley estate is just so exciting nature's been so denuded in
20:24my lifetime to see so to see stuff coming back it's just so exciting who do you think builds a better
20:32nest yourself tim or the osprey i always think is it's amazing that the ospreys are able to build these
20:39huge structures and we've got cable ties yeah they're good at what they do yeah i'm sure the ospreys would
20:44very great once established a breeding pair will often return to the same nest some nests will be
20:54used for 10 years or more young ospreys prefer to take over established nests and so human-built
21:02nests have encouraged ospreys to spread into new areas nests are lined with leaves grass and other mulch
21:14and compact it all yeah the ospreys will do the rest brilliant
21:22what do you reckon tim looking good yeah if i was an osprey i would you you'd nest on it i would
21:28well done they better come back well yeah it's too right after all this effort yeah
21:34burley house is built in limestone quarried from across the estate
21:47in 1554 william cecil assembled a team of stonemasons to craft his elaborate design
21:55the ornate stonework includes pepperpot domes doric column chimneys and decorative urns and castles
22:04today headstone mason mick teal looks after burley's historic stonework
22:11there's work everywhere for us it doesn't mean we always stay on the house
22:14we can do walls on the the land we can go to the properties that we own we could be anywhere
22:21we we don't try and hide what we've done and replaced we wanted to shine it would have shown the
22:26whole building would have shown at one point apprentice ben is working on a replacement for one of the
22:31decorative urns on burley's roof it starts off square and you work it to make it octagonal
22:40and then you start to work it round so far i've done about 40 hours on this as you can see i'm not
22:45quite finished just yet so i don't know how long it will take it is a first year apprentice and it is
22:51it's not an easy thing to do anything that's round and cylindrical is hard ben is not only
22:57mick's apprentice he's also his son it's really important to keep the ot skills and learn the
23:04trades because there's there's not just burley there's other historic houses there's all sorts
23:09out there that needs looking after i thought i'd go into something completely different but just as
23:13life's progressed i fell into it more and more and i've started to enjoy it so it's only when he
23:18don't listen that's the problem when he doesn't listen to me we can have a laugh and that is the
23:23good thing about going to work you can have a laugh we spend a lot of time together he's all right at
23:27times
23:34spring has sprung at burley estate and there's good news
23:39tim's osprey nest has welcomed a female osprey and her mate
23:47hopes are high that they will successfully breed in their brand new nest
23:57three miles from the nest groundsman george burnham is doing his rounds
24:04if you come in the morning and you look down at the lake and the house
24:09and what more do you want it's just magnificent it is like to be buried upon on the bank
24:20george has been mowing the grass at burley for nearly 40 years
24:24he has a pivotal role in the estate's most important event of the year
24:30since 1961 the estate has hosted the burley horse trials
24:36a four-day event combining dressage jumping and cross-country it has grown to become one of
24:43the most prestigious equestrian events in the world
24:46when i first came to do the horse trials the mowing we used to use a whole set of gang mowers behind a tractor
24:57the course is roughly 22 acres four miles long
25:03when you think horses are worth thousands of pounds the surface there can't be any
25:13holes or it's all got to be gone round and all be absolutely pristine it has it's got to be spot on
25:21to ensure the four mile cross-country course is perfectly conditioned and the grass exactly
25:31two and a half inches tall george will mow continuously with a four-wheel drive seven decked mower
25:37oh it's not hard work to me no no it's not hard work to me no this is hard work
25:51as well as being a spectacle from the outside
26:09burley house is home to one of the finest art collections in the country
26:13it was begun in the late 17th century by john cecil
26:25who traveled extensively to italy collecting over 300 works of art
26:33inspired by his continental travels he commissioned tapestries wood carvings
26:40and baroque ceiling frescoes depicting ancient mythology
26:50the heaven room and the hell staircase
26:59but art at burley is not confined to the house
27:04today a new art exhibition is being installed in burley's sculpture garden
27:10alongside gardener joe's freshly sown wildflower bed
27:15which is just starting to show signs of life
27:19if you look closely there are thousands of little seedlings all
27:23erupting from the ground so yeah it's doing really well um thankfully
27:32mark beattie is burley's sculpture garden curator
27:35i think it's really nice to bring contemporary art into such a traditional place because it's not
27:41necessarily expected the exhibition will showcase the work of artists catherine boroski and lee baker
27:49we've been working on this project for 12 months so this is the culmination of 12 months of site
27:54visits of drawing of designing and it's all leading up to today catherine and lee's graphic art exhibition
28:03is inspired by flowers in the estate gardens
28:09and floral works of art from burley's historic collection
28:15i absolutely love and have been influenced by historical art but obviously i'm an artist in the
28:2421st century so you know i think the opportunity to be able to marry the two
28:30is absolutely ideal the art installation is called botanic tapestry and includes fabric tree wraps a
28:38giant print suspended between two douglas furs
28:43and 24 graphic flags that will sit along joe's wildflower bed
28:50i think this is about as excited as i've been by one of the collections you know for a long time
29:04because of my link to the you know it's all botanical and and we grow these plants and
29:08and i can even think when they were some of these plants were put in or how we grew them it's amazing
29:11that art is depicting what's all around us because the dam is so uneven it's taken a lot for us to get
29:19everything level this one's level yeah yeah double check it the other way this is the sixth banner
29:27so it takes a while to keep them all level but we're making good progress
29:32big job the big job and also getting them level my god they've done amazing work
29:38we've got another 14 to go so it'll be uh yeah another few hours up here i think but we'll get there
29:54it's midsummer at burley estate and three weeks ago the osprey pair welcomed three chicks
30:02who have been devouring a steady supply of fish in burley park with just two months to go until the burley
30:10horse trials george continues to prepare the ground
30:14and work has begun on building the obstacles that will line the four-mile cross-country course
30:24there are 31 fences in total overseen by clerk of the course philip herbert how many is that
30:32four four yellow pull four okay you better pull those today philip's team are installing the birch brush
30:40on one of the most challenging fences of the course the cotsmoor leap it's one of the iconic fences that's
30:49been on the course here at burley for well over 20 probably over 30 years and it is one of the biggest
30:56fences on the course this is silver birch and it lasts about three years and so it's done its term now and
31:06it's being replaced we pull the birch up with the machine to get it nice and tight
31:15okay boss and getting them tight is what then creates the the right amount of brushiness in the top
31:20okay if it's not tight enough the birch is too soft and the horse will brush through it too easily and
31:33there is a danger of a horse getting a leg in the frame if it is too tight and then it doesn't actually
31:39brush there's too much resistance to the horse brushing through it later on we'll be cutting the
31:44cutting the top off in a straight line to create that obstacle that we're looking for you think
31:49you got enough now are you going to put another couple in looking all right isn't it dude pretty
31:54good with a huge emphasis what we do is about safety we're trying to make it so that horses and
32:01riders have a good experience and don't get hurt in any way you happy with that adrian yeah good
32:08initially it was crossing the country as you found it so jumping hedges ditches post and rails and
32:17things like that which were the natural obstacles in the countryside and that's pretty much what it
32:21was in the early days here in the 1960s but it's evolved hugely since then and we've built obstacles
32:29because the competitors are so good now to create a good competition we have to keep thinking of new
32:33things all the time so it will hold it tight well well done team that that's good that's good yeah i
32:40think that's just exactly right it's nice birds to that isn't it yeah yeah good yeah very good
32:54good yeah
32:59burly's three osprey chicks are now six weeks old right p let's get the stuff can i ask you to take
33:06that yes thank you conservationist tim and head forester peter have returned to the nest to check
33:13on the health of the chicks and to ring them for future monitoring the female ospreys are protecting the
33:20chicks the whole summer and she's just taken off as we've approached and what she's going to do she'll
33:24just circle around watching us and as soon as the chick of chicks are back in the nest she'll go back
33:29onto the nest and it will be as if nothing's happened the key thing for this is to do this whole process
33:35as quickly as possible because the welfare of the birds is absolutely the most important thing tree
33:40surgeon harry is on hand to help tim reach the nest all right ready to go yep ready to go brilliant
33:50i was so chuffed to see the birds return it was absolutely thrilling when we finally got
33:54a pair that actually settled on that nest it was so good and some chaps tim has a special license
34:02which allows him to ring the chicks and collect data to help protect this rare species
34:10oh wow okay pete right yeah let's get these chicks out okay
34:14oh he's taking they're so still because it's just this defense mechanism when they sense danger they
34:21just lie completely flat like this the most beautiful eyes aren't they yeah that orange eye
34:25so these juveniles have this orange eye that turns yellow when they're adults okay so i'm going to put
34:31the bto ring on first which is british trust for ornithology so if this bird was ever found dead
34:36or even injured you could read the inscription and you could trace where it was ringed
34:41the other ring is the color ring so this is crucial because this is how we can identify them from a
34:45distance you know this ring might be seen as this bird's migrating through france or spain maybe even
34:51in west africa i mean it's a tried and tested method of monitoring populations and to see them up close
34:56like this is so exciting such a privilege now there's a couple of measurements that we're going to take
35:02first one is the length of these primary feathers this is 340 and what you can see if you look on the
35:11underside and whim is that the feathers are still in the sheath that's how you can tell that this bird's
35:18not quite ready to fledge we know from the camera that the oldest of these chicks is 40 days old so
35:25they're about just under two weeks off flying it's a way to work out if they're male or female is the
35:31weight the females are slightly more well built 14 70 so perfect male weight and then we just got to
35:45repeat the process ospreys have been ringed since the 1960s and this monitoring has helped conservationists
35:53record the recovery of ospreys in britain 1765 so that's a female thanks to tim's expert nest building
36:04giving this breeding pair of osprey a strong foundation they have successfully reared three
36:10healthy chicks so we've got two girls and a boy that's fantastic they're all in really good condition
36:19so a very good brood of ospreys they're high class ospreys they are indeed absolutely fantastic we'll
36:26get them back up into the nest soon these osprey chicks will fledge the nest in search of warmer
36:32climates potentially navigating 3 000 miles to west africa now we've got an established pair together
36:41hopefully they'll keep coming back and uh so we'll have more more chicks coming off so it'd be absolutely
36:45fantastic really chuffed in about two weeks time they'll hopefully be flying yeah well fingers
36:51crossed for them i wish them luck well built nest hey yeah good luck guys good luck before long
36:58the female osprey is back with her chicks
37:01as summer stretches out across the estate in the sculpture garden beneath the flags of the botanic
37:20tapestry exhibition joe's wildflower bed is in full bloom
37:25i'd like to imagine that there was just hordes of insects flying from three counties
37:32away just to find this massive nectar bar it's beautiful to see some of this beautiful but
37:37equally it's amazing to see something that's doing so you know so much good for for the insect
37:42populations of burleigh you get the hard work at the start and it all looks very bland but it's worth
37:48it in the long run flags actually draw people up here onto the dam so yeah it's a huge bonus to me to
37:54have them there it all ties in lovely this is the best part of the job
38:06nobody can bother us up here we're up in the sky after weeks in the workshop
38:11ben's urn is finally ready i am looking forward to getting it on the building because when it's sat
38:16in the workshop you look at it and you're like i could just do this with it i could just do that with
38:20it so yeah to get it out and fitted would be better for me and it'll look nice as well when it's up
38:25there every urn on burleigh's roof is unique to the stonemason who crafted it
38:33and with the old urn removed it's time for ben's urn to take its place on burleigh's historic roof
38:41what's best way to lift it over over and down yeah you got it yeah all right that's it it's looking
38:48good it's uh it looks all right now it's on there doesn't it you gotta think it started from just a
38:55square block now it's cylindrical and it's fitted for a very long time hopefully so yeah very proud
39:01there's another new piece to it to keep it alive for another 100 200 years
39:11it's september and burleigh's historic parkland has been transformed
39:16the annual defender burleigh horse trials are underway of course we're having to dig all the cables in
39:24so we've got cables for tv cameras we've got cables for timing equipment for clocks and scoring
39:30equipment so it's um a real spider's web underneath there 31 specially designed obstacles are now set
39:39around the four mile cross-country course and riders are preparing by walking the course on foot
39:45i definitely wouldn't be able to design cross-country courses i just wouldn't have the imagination laura
39:54collett is an olympic gold medalist so we always walk through the water um just to check the footing
40:03but also to walk the line that we're going to be coming in on it's looking good and nice secure
40:09footing um and not too not too deep so just how we like it the dogs are always well exercised when
40:18they've been around here too katie mcgee is competing at burleigh for the first time i need to be able to
40:25picture the fences with my eyes closed because i don't want to make it any longer or any harder than
40:32i need to for the horse i'm riding katie and her husband kieran are walking the section of the course
40:39that includes the cotsmoor leap this fence is famously very wide so a lot of riders don't look
40:45too closely at it we tend to look at it from a distance i'll walk up to it to check the ground
40:50to make sure if there's a better place to jump it for the horse it's a beautifully presented fence and
40:57they've done an amazing job building it burleigh horse trials is one of the biggest and best events
41:05of the world it's been a childhood dream and to have a horse like wilf to bring round tomorrow is
41:12very very special and exciting
41:18clerk of the course philip is making final preparations for tomorrow's cross-country
41:26well this is this is the one bit of the cross-country course that we
41:30can't prepare until the last minute this is the start box which we've erected here and the horses
41:36go into the box and they get counted down from five four three two won't go so we've just got a little
41:41bit more string to put up on this side and i've got three or four more stakes to put in there but we're
41:46getting there now as the competitors get an early night there's one person on the estate who won't be
41:53sleeping i think i'll be finished by three o'clock in the morning i should say
42:01after nine months of mowing george is making his final round of the cross-country course
42:07and you can get silly people been drinking walking on the course
42:17when i get home we might get a drink something to eat and then i'll relax tomorrow yeah that's what i
42:27should do
42:36cross-country day at burleigh kicks off with a full english breakfast for the crew
42:42thank you all very much indeed for coming to help us today i know some of you come a considerable
42:46distance so you all need an armband
42:49so it's worth all of you taking a map because it's got the crossing point any questions anybody
42:55wants to ask the most important thing is that nobody gets hurt so when you're ready you could
43:01make your way to your stations and get set up who knows what will happen now
43:09it is the morning of mornings because it is ready for that big cross-country test
43:14that has almost no peer burleigh and the spectacular house which is the setting
43:22for one of eventing's most important three days 51 international competitors will take on the cross
43:30country course in front of over 85 000 spectators and cameras broadcasting around the world
43:38i will be in this tent here but we've got a whole bank of tv screens so that we can monitor what's
43:46going on and can react to anything that happens and dispatch the right people to deal with any
43:50situation that might arise and we are away at the frame of burleigh cross-country is on the way
44:00four miles of perfectly mowed grass paved the route across burleigh's historic parkland
44:08over the first two times the olympic gold medal laura colin away
44:17he has a great round by laura no wonder she's punching the air
44:21amazing and bling was incredible i couldn't have asked any more of her
44:26rider katie is about to take on the course for the first time
44:30she's had an amazing season so far so much class and ability oh it's amazing wilf was an absolute
44:42superstar he jumped around brilliantly and they've done an amazing job it's just lush green grass
44:48i hope we'll be back next year and look forward to him
44:51i was always a relief when we come to the end of the day and everybody's got around safely
44:58we've had some thrills and spills but no one's been hurt no horses have been hurt
45:02so pleased with how we've gone over the four days the estate has hosted 175 000 people
45:10and then on monday we start taking everything to bits and putting it away ready for use next year
45:25as the crowds and competitors leave burleigh estate hoping to return next year
45:31another of burleigh's residents are spreading their wings
45:43as the last of the osprey chicks fledged the nest
45:48it was amazing to see three ospreys really high and now they're off and the year's gone all of a
45:52sudden we're in the autumn and it does take you by surprise how quickly the seasons go and rumble on
45:58but it is lovely to feel the next season coming and it's a kind of peaceful calm
46:02time of the end of the year um before the cold and winter comes i think it's one of the nicest times
46:08of the year as this season at burleigh draws to a close nearly five centuries after william
46:16cecil designed his visionary house to impress his queen the estate continues to preserve its past
46:24and look to its future
46:35so
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