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00:00We do do sponsor Neven's English food tour too.
00:06The gas part is only part of it.
00:30Northumberland is England's most northerly county.
00:53It's also the county that has the largest amount of castles in it.
00:56And this has got to be one of the most spectacular.
00:59Bamber Castle.
01:17Elizabeth, this has got to be the most stunning castle I've ever seen.
01:19And the location.
01:20I know, it's amazing.
01:22So we have our lovely 12th century keep up here.
01:25It's a beautiful square tower.
01:27It's probably started sometime after our siege here in 1095.
01:30Further along we have the 18th century renovation work.
01:33Probably started under Lord Crue but finished by Dr John Sharp.
01:36And finally we have the 19th century restoration started by the first Lord Armstrong.
01:42We even have a few fragments from our 13th century castle.
01:45Probably constructed under Henry III.
01:47The 13th century is when it was first built here?
01:49Well, we've had something here for at least 3,000 years.
01:52We believe we've got fragments of an Iron Age roundhouse down in the west ward.
01:57People have lived here throughout.
01:58We've had the kings of Northumbria living here as well.
02:00Including Saint Oswald, the very famous king who invited Saint Aidan over and Christianised Northumbria.
02:06I know it's got a lot of history but I believe there's people still living in the castle.
02:09There are indeed.
02:10So the Watson Armstrong family still look after our castle today.
02:13It came into the Armstrong family when the first Lord Armstrong bought it in 1894.
02:17His wife had died the previous year.
02:19He needed a bit of a project.
02:21And what better to do than to buy a castle?
02:23So, welcome to the King's Hall.
02:37This is one of the most spectacular rooms in the entire castle.
02:40The roof here is just incredible.
02:43It's a false hammer beam.
02:45The hammer beam roofs were quite typical on some of the palatial size architecture that we have.
02:50Such as Westminster Hall, Windsor Castle.
02:53This one is slightly different because we don't have the hammer beam.
02:56And for the Victorian Armstrong twist, it's made of teak, not oak.
03:01Teak.
03:02Teak being a very difficult wood to work.
03:03There's about 300 tonnes of the stuff up there.
03:05We know that it took five years for about 30 men to complete the construction of it.
03:10And it's all held together with 1,300 oak pegs.
03:13There's not a single nail or screw in it.
03:15That's impressive.
03:16It is.
03:17It's jolly impressive.
03:18But it's the medieval building techniques.
03:19And they knew what they were doing.
03:20Mm-hmm.
03:21We do have a lot of the castle left to see.
03:22Do you want to come with me?
03:23Absolutely.
03:24So, welcome to the Keep Hall.
03:34We are at the base of that 12th century keep, that beautiful square tower that we saw earlier.
03:39And this is the reason that we are here.
03:41This is the Anglo-Saxon well.
03:43It was dug through 45 metres of volcanic rock.
03:47And how they did that is just beyond us.
03:50This would have been storage rooms for food in case of a siege.
03:54We have different things being stored in here.
03:55So, there would have been wheat and barley, which were used for very different things.
03:58The wheat was used to produce bread for high-status people.
04:01The barley probably for lower-status people, but also to brew our own ale.
04:04We had our own brew house on site.
04:06And up in the inner ward, the higher-status area, we found different kinds of bones, different kinds of grain.
04:12Mostly wheat up there.
04:13Down in the Westward, which was the much more industrial area, where most people were doing work like blacksmithing and weaving and different kinds of trades.
04:22That is where we find different kinds of bones and also more of the barley.
04:26So, they were probably eating the lesser-used cuts, maybe, were they?
04:28They are.
04:29So, down in the Westward, again, they found things like hoofs, which does give us an idea that they are definitely not getting the choicest bits of meat.
04:36Whereas up here, they're more likely to be eating the much more tender, rich pieces of meat.
04:41It's amazing what archaeology can tell us about what people ate centuries ago.
04:46And you could happily spend a whole day in the castle.
04:49There's so much to see and discover.
04:51Banborough Castle dominates the town that shares its name.
04:58And even on a grey, overcast day, it looks picturesque.
05:01With pretty houses, a church that's more than 800 years old, and plenty of places to find good food.
05:10A very popular restaurant is the Potted Lobster.
05:13And like so many pubs, restaurants and hotels in this part of England, it's very pet-friendly.
05:18All the dogs were so well-behaved that it seemed quite normal for them to be in the restaurant.
05:24Richard, this looks so lovely, so it does.
05:30No, thank you.
05:31You have such a busy place here.
05:33They keep coming in, they keep coming in, they must be doing something right.
05:36So tell me, it's called the Potted Lobster.
05:38Yeah.
05:39We're going to talk about the lobster in a minute, but tell me about the business here.
05:41We started ten years ago.
05:43Ten years in November, we've been going.
05:45It started as a bit of a hobby.
05:47We're just going to do a couple of nights a week, and we now employ 25 staff, seven day a week operation.
05:53And of course the speciality is the lobster here.
05:55The lobster, the local seafood.
05:58That's what we try to do as much as possible.
06:00So how did you cook this?
06:01Now I'm going to taste this.
06:02So, we kill them before we boil them.
06:04They're humanly killed, you know, we're basically either a sharp prong or a sharp knife between the eyes,
06:09and then straight into a roll and boiling water.
06:10Yeah.
06:11Big handful of salt, it's a secret when you're cooking lobster.
06:13The rule of thumb is, we put them into water, and then when it comes to the boil,
06:17two minutes on the boil, off, and plunging into cold water, just to set it.
06:22So that'll set, it sets it in the shell, so when you're working on with it.
06:26And then you took it out, and you prepped the...
06:28Yeah, just do it right.
06:29There's a little sack at the top, which all the sort of shells and bits and pieces in.
06:32And then that's sort of...
06:33And you serve the claw and all in there.
06:34Yeah, the claw and the head, the claw and the head, yeah, yeah.
06:36There's nothing like that, isn't there?
06:37When it's fresh, it's just amazing.
06:39And then the tail, you know, try the tail, it's got a different texture.
06:42Yeah, different texture.
06:43Yeah.
06:44And tell me, this is very simply done, but you do other things.
06:46Yeah, for my dog, we do garlic butter, we do a nice one with...
06:50We do with breadcrumbs, parmesan, and some grated truffle.
06:53And what would you normally...
06:54Like, I saw some of the lobster going out with chips and just salad.
06:56Yeah, just chips and salad.
06:57And garlic butter.
06:58Is it popular on the menu here?
07:00It is.
07:01An average week, we'll sell 250 lobsters.
07:03That's a lot of lobsters.
07:04It's a lot of lobsters, yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:06That is popular.
07:07Now, one thing I know you're very passionate about is game.
07:10When it's in season, it's just up the room for you, isn't it?
07:12It's literally, you know, it flies over our head, you know.
07:14We're right on the coast here.
07:16We've got, you know, a beautiful Lindisfawn sort of reserve.
07:19And, you know, we've got game reserves all the way down the coast,
07:21you know, for the migratory birds.
07:23And what game would you put on your menu now?
07:25Everything from sort of...
07:26There's some teal with some scallops that we're going to try in a minute.
07:28A lot of wild ducks, sort of mallards, widgeon, pheasant's porridges, obviously.
07:33And you said this is teal?
07:34Teal, yeah.
07:35I have never eaten teal.
07:36I've eaten mallard.
07:37Yeah, just about half the size of a mallard, a wild duck.
07:40And you just pan-fried these?
07:41Pan-fried with a little bit of seaweed butter on just to give it that extra sort of saltiness to it.
07:45And then just roast it.
07:46A little bit of quince to sweeten it up.
07:48And see, when you're cooking the full bird, do you cook it whole?
07:50Yeah, always.
07:51With teal and wild ducks, you always want to cook them on the bone.
07:54Grouse the same.
07:55Cook them on the bone and then take them off the bone.
07:57It just retains that moisture, you know?
07:59Would this be a dish on your menu now?
08:01Yeah, we do like a game taste in evenings and things like that.
08:04I want to get some of this here.
08:05We use quite a lot of it, you know?
08:07So this is the breast here?
08:08The breast, yeah.
08:09They're just cooked nice and pink and then hand-dived scallops.
08:12There's nothing better than hand-dived scallops, is there?
08:15Nothing in the world, you know what I mean?
08:16If it's possible to hand-dive them, the difference is chocolate and cheese, you know?
08:20It is.
08:21The texture.
08:22But that combination is just so good.
08:24There's no salt, there's no grittiness to it.
08:26Yeah, yeah.
08:27You know, them guys, they're going down, they're individually picking.
08:29There's no collateral damage to anything when they hand-dived, you know?
08:33This is actually beautiful.
08:34Beautiful.
08:35Come on, you get stuck in here.
08:36Thank you so much.
08:37No brother, thank you.
08:42We do, do sponsor this show, too.
08:49We do, do sponsor this show, too.
08:56This is Craster, one of the small number of little villages on Northumberland's coast, which used to be full of fishing boats.
09:04The fishing industry moved to much larger ports decades ago, and places like this are now busy with tourists and visitors.
09:11The village has kept one very strong connection with times past, and it's a busy smokehouse, where herring have been smoked for over 170 years.
09:22Neil, how did Craster become associated with kippers?
09:25Mainly because as the herring passed this part of the coastline, they were probably at their best.
09:30As you probably know, the herring shoal away north up in Scotland, they followed the east coast down.
09:35Okay.
09:36And as it came past probably Highmouth in the north to maybe Whitby in the south, the herring were getting ready to spawn, so they still had plenty of oil in them.
09:46So as they came past us, they were at their best, and that gave us an advantage, if you wish, in the kipper industry.
09:53Tell me about the whole smoking process. Has this village always been associated with smoking kipper?
09:58Yeah, well, we were one of five smokehouses. We're the last surviving. They haven't been for a long, long time now.
10:05And nowadays, would the herrings be caught here before they're smoked?
10:08Well, we don't get any herring from the east coast at all now.
10:11There is a few landed up in Scotland, but we tried them a few years ago, and the quality just wasn't good enough for what we required.
10:19So I get all mine from Norway.
10:21So when did the smoking of it start?
10:23Well, the smokehouse was built in 1856, and it originally belonged to the Craster family, and was rented out to anybody who thought they could make a go of it in the relatively short season that was going on.
10:35My great-grandfather, he rented it, and he must have had a couple of good years, because we've been in it ever since, since 1906.
10:45My grandfather, he took it over the business, and then my father and uncle took it over, and now I'm in charge, and I've got two daughters, hopefully they'll be, so they could be the fifth generation going to do it now.
10:57That's the master plan. Whether it works out or not, you never know, of course, do you?
11:01Neil, nowadays you can smoke all year round, and where do you export your kippers to?
11:04We don't export abroad at all. It's all just in the UK. Our biggest customer is Waitrose, but we do also supply probably about another 50 or 60 customers throughout, and we do a mail order business, which has taken off very much.
11:21So we've got a good spread of customer base. We supply markets in the UK, and also we supply farm shops and small retailers.
11:32I know in the restaurant they're very popular, especially for breakfast.
11:35Yes, they are popular. We've branched out, though, because it's not everyone's cup of tea, a kipper with the bone in the head on, so we do the boneless variety now.
11:44Why don't you pop up and have a look at the smokehouse for yourself?
11:47Thanks very much, Neil. Thanks for your time.
11:56So, Graeme, this is the first stage of the process. What are they doing here?
11:59Yes, they split the herring, they open them up, ready to be cleaned, pickled, and tended.
12:06Where do these fish, where are they caught?
12:08They are caught in the North East Atlantic by Norwegian boats.
12:10What's the next stage after this?
12:12The next stage is cleaning the guts, getting rid of the guts out of them.
12:15Okay, and they're doing this over here?
12:16They're doing this over here.
12:17Let's go.
12:18So, after the fish are cleaned, the inners are removed, what's the next stage here now?
12:21The next stage would be to go into the brine. We do fillets as well as the whole herring.
12:27Okay, and he's moving them around just to get them all submerged in there.
12:31Just to make sure that they all get a little bit of that salty water into them.
12:35Okay, and this is obviously going to flavour them as well as the smoke?
12:37It does give them a bit of flavour.
12:39Yeah, probably.
12:40Just to cure them.
12:41After the fish have been brined, they're pinned onto racks armed with sharp hooks.
12:48I'd say many fingers have been hurt over the years doing this.
12:52It's a time consuming and laborious process, all done by hand.
12:57Each rack is placed onto a frame, but instead of wheeling the whole frame into the smoking chamber,
13:03which might be quicker and easier, each rack is taken off the frame again and hung individually,
13:09high up into one of the smoking chambers.
13:16Again, it's all done by hand.
13:18And when the final rack has been hung, wood shavings are placed in piles on the floor,
13:22and these are topped off with a scoop of oak sawdust.
13:27So this is where the magic happens.
13:29It is.
13:30Well, your shavings gives you the base for the fire,
13:33and then the oak sawdust actually controls the burn of the fire.
13:37And it's interesting, you're not all over the floor.
13:39You've done little piles of it.
13:40Yes.
13:41Okay.
13:43They kind of catch and light very quickly.
13:45Yes.
13:46I've never seen this before. This is brilliant.
13:49Brilliant.
13:51Now.
13:52Well, I have a go. Do you trust me?
13:53Yes.
13:54So go just down here.
13:55Yes.
13:56The only time I use a blowtorch is for doing crème brûlée.
13:59Here now too?
14:00Yes.
14:01Okay.
14:03Now, we're up and running.
14:05So how long will they be smoked here now?
14:07These fires will be two and a half, maybe three hours.
14:12And then once they're out, there'll be another set of fires put down.
14:16And then once they're out again, after about three hours.
14:19So you have to keep checking?
14:21Yes.
14:22Now, look, it's getting smoky now.
14:23We'd better not stay in here or we'll be smoked.
14:25Yes, true.
14:26True.
14:27Woo!
14:28That's smoky.
14:29Unreal.
14:30Unreal.
14:46So that's them?
14:47That's them.
14:48Firm as grass.
14:49And how long does it take now to smoke them?
14:51They're normally in the smokehouse between 14 and 16 hours.
14:54So they would have been smoked yesterday?
14:55Yes.
14:56They went in as herring yesterday and come out today as kippus.
15:00So what's the black in there now?
15:02It's just tall.
15:03That's it?
15:04That's it.
15:05Years and years.
15:06Yeah, it just builds up over the years.
15:08Like how old are these smokehouses?
15:09These smokehouses are about 170 years.
15:14Don't they take on an amazing colour from the smoke?
15:16They can, yes.
15:17It's all the colours and there's nothing added to them.
15:20There's no dye put in anything.
15:22It's just purely smoke and salty water.
15:25So really, apart from being packed, this is the end product here.
15:28Yeah, that's it.
15:29They're ready to go.
15:30It's great to come here and see the way you fillet the fish, the whole process,
15:33how many hands and stages it takes to end up with this beautiful product.
15:37Well done.
15:38Thank you very much.
15:39You're a great man.
15:40Thank you very much.
15:41This really is a beautiful part of the country and in a fun and exciting way to explore it is on a bike.
15:50And these are the sidecar guys.
15:52Boys, how are you?
15:53Good now and how are you?
15:54So we have Matt and we have Reece here.
15:55Isn't that right?
15:56Yeah, nice to meet you.
15:57Reece, tell me about the beautiful bike you have.
15:58So, yeah.
15:59So this is a Euro motorcycle and sidecar.
16:01They're as a business or as a company they've been going for 80 years.
16:05Started out in World War II and they were used really to fight the Germans, fight the Nazis.
16:10They had their own motorcycles and sidecars.
16:12They had BMWs and sidecars and really these were built off the back of them.
16:16That's where they took their inspiration from to sort of rival them in war.
16:20Fast forward 80 years, they're now the HQs in Seattle, just north of Seattle in the States.
16:26And we use them in glorious Northumberland to take them on amazing rides, don't we?
16:31Yeah, we don't have the machine gun anymore.
16:33So now it's got, yeah, yeah.
16:34So now it's just the two wheel drive bit that we use.
16:36And tell me how you started all these tours.
16:38Like this is very unique and fun.
16:40Yeah, yeah.
16:41Well, me and Reece went around the world on a scooter with a sidecar.
16:43So we hold the very niche Guinness World Record for the longest ever journey on a scooter with a sidecar.
16:47And then we ended up as the sidecar guys, didn't we really, mate?
16:50Yeah, so we just do everything on sidecars.
16:53And part of that is running tours around Northumberland on motorbikes and sidecars.
16:57So we've got these ones that are off-road capable.
16:59And we do sidecar safaris and things like that on green lanes.
17:03And then we also do a lot of road-based ones.
17:06We go and see all the amazing castles we've got here in Northumberland and things like that.
17:10And a bit in the forest.
17:12And just enjoy the beautiful county of Northumberland, really.
17:15And Reece, I'm sure people that are into bikes love this.
17:17But it's not all about being into bikes.
17:18It's about exploring and looking at the beautiful scenery.
17:21No, genuinely.
17:22I'm probably a bit biased.
17:24But if you're sounding a sidecar for me, you've got a 360 view of the whole countryside
17:28when you're going along.
17:29You get all the smells, all the senses of the countryside as you're going.
17:32And people love it as well.
17:34If you sort of want to smile and wave at people as you go.
17:37I kind of find you get three sort of emotions out of people when you sort of see people standing by.
17:42They either look curious, concerned, or maybe just baffled, actually, by sidecars.
17:48They're just confused. That's it.
17:49Yeah.
17:50God, I'm looking forward to it.
17:51So who's taking me today now?
17:52Are you taking me?
17:53I'm going to take you today, yeah.
17:54I'm your victim.
17:55Yeah, you're my victim.
17:56Let's see what happens.
17:57Where are we going to go?
17:58So today we're going to go up the coast a bit.
17:59We're going to go on our Coast and Castles tour.
18:01So we'll go a little bit along the Northumberland coastline.
18:04And then we'll find ourselves in the fishing village of Amble and then maybe make our way up to Walkworth Castle.
18:09So that should be nice, yeah.
18:10That sounds fantastic.
18:11Just enjoy the coast.
18:12And there's a helmet for you.
18:13Thank you very much.
18:14Have fun, guys.
18:15Catch you later.
18:16See you later, mate.
18:17Wish us luck.
18:18OK.
18:19A pair of gloves for you.
18:20Gloves on, too?
18:21Yeah, might as well, mate.
18:22Safety first.
18:24OK, mate.
18:25Wow.
18:26So, yeah.
18:27You all good in there?
18:28Yeah, very good.
18:29Comfy, snug.
18:30Emergency exit is to your left.
18:31OK.
18:33And we're there.
18:34Way down.
18:35Let's do it.
18:36Woo-hoo!
19:02In.
19:03In.
19:04Yeah.
19:05Way down.
19:06That was awesome.
19:07We're the mismo power still in Toronto, too.
19:09This is where we're in.
19:10diesem Fall.
19:11The Libertad.
19:12Can you всu percent say we're leaving now our street to encourage you?
19:15To the city?
19:16To the city?
19:17To do for Boxdar, please anyнымTON.
19:18To the city?
19:19To the city?
19:20Okay, right.
19:21The city?
19:22Go black,стве tile, zoo, whatever the city?
19:24And the city people Whoa!
19:25To the city?
19:26Let my big fan.
19:27We're there.
19:28This season has learned so far neandy,
19:29a little breather shall we thank you so much man that was so much fun it's great to take you out
19:37man pleasure yeah i thought first of all you were an amazing driver genuinely i felt safe
19:42i felt comfortable i felt it was floating which was really weird isn't it it's missing a wheel
19:46you're kind of floating down the road aren't you yeah yeah exactly yeah and also i loved
19:52being on the back road seeing the scenery there's so it's such a beautiful area it really is
19:56and where do we finish up where are we now so this is walkworth and uh walkworth's famous obviously
20:01for the castle what with castle it's like 1500s and um yeah got loads of castles in northumberland
20:07though really and this pretty much is the southern tip of the area of outstanding natural beauty which
20:12is northumberland coast and if you go all the way up to berwick along here just castle after castle
20:16and it's uh it's a beautiful place to explore it really is so if you're here for longer i'll take
20:21you up the coast of bambora lindisfarne and stuff like that um but yeah well i promise you i've got
20:26a taste for it i'll definitely be back and i'll be sharing it all with my friends yeah okay tell
20:29them come here yeah i'll tell you the two you're great hey while you're here you've got to have
20:34some some cake or something this side currying is all about snacks really coffee and snacks here i
20:39love it dive in oh my god this is like the best day ever oh my god he doesn't love this yeah
20:45thank you so much no worries now it's always been so close to the coast you'd expect to get really
20:58really good fish here and in bertram's what they specialize in fish but they have a huge variety
21:03and selection of meat local meat game steaks it's a really really busy restaurant where they do breakfast
21:09lunch and dinner seven days a week and there's always a great hum and a buzz here so there is
21:14but i went into the kitchen and james very kindly cooked me three dishes first of all the sardines
21:19so you can see they're whole they're obviously gutted out so there and just a little bit of oil
21:23touch of salt into the oven for a few minutes and then under the grill there's some beautiful locally
21:27made sourdough and then we have a tomato chutney which he was saying it's kind of a little bit of
21:32vinegar and sugar so it's kind of sweet and sour they really do eat beautifully and you just pull off
21:37look at the meat like that it's moist and when you cook it so fast a little bit of the chutney
21:44i was tasting this when he was doing this i thought the chutney was delicious
21:47oh you can see some sultanas there that's delicious because it's sweet i noticed that
21:55they finish this with a little bit of oil and it's kind of like a dill infused oil that they finish some
22:00other fish and of course dill is a great herb to serve with fish now lemon sole good value beautiful
22:07fish and the way he cooked it was really interesting so first of all he dried it off on some kitchen paper
22:11and he was really really particular that the pan is really hot i asked him to use any special oil
22:16no just a little bit of vegetable oil keep it very simple so on the pan just a touch of salt nothing
22:21else and then we finished it with some butter and then into the oven for about six to seven minutes
22:25and then we put in these beautiful crayfish so these are the crayfish here just in the butter
22:30these tiny little crayfish people get nervous about eating fish on the bone i think it keeps it really
22:35really moist and juicy that's sensational and i love butter i think we were joking because i cook with
22:44a lot of butter a little bit of lemon on the side and now because they have bedrooms these are the
22:49famous craster kippers which are just produced literally up the road so they are so when they get
22:53the kippers here they bring them to room temperature and just very simple there's no messing here on a
22:58tray a little bit of butter into the oven and i don't think they were even in there for 10 minutes
23:02and then just finished under the grill and like this is what i mean for being generous like this is for
23:06breakfast and a really really kind of rich kind of dark smoke
23:10strong moist you can really taste the tradition of natural smoke and it just hits you a bit of lemon
23:20and that that's all you need on some bread for me the showcases what's so good about this area is the
23:26local fish you know from the beautiful sardines that are in season them are beautiful lemon sole
23:31with the crayfish and the caper butter and then of course for breakfast are beautiful kippers just
23:37very simply grilled touch of lemon a bit of bread it's one thing not to do here they do lots of
23:41different menus food land sea but what they're showcased is the very best of local produce
23:48in the next episode i'll visit the holy island of lindisfarne a fascinating place which is cut off
23:54in the mainland twice a day by the high tide the food in this part of the country is really good
24:00and at the tempest head chef sheryl redwell cooks a delicious beef and cod dish for me
24:06this is northumberland's first legal whiskey distillery for more than 200 years and i play
24:11my part in the whiskey making process before going on a hike through the nearby hills and enjoying a
24:17very fancy riverside picnic i hope you'll join me
24:48we do do sponsor nevans english food tour too the gas part is only part of it
25:04you
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