Kingfisher Television Tales from the Country 2007 Factsheets

 

Tales from the Country Episode One
Tales from the Country Factsheet – Ep1 of 10
7.30pm 4th January 2007 ITV1 Anglia, Central and London

Selina Scott and Tony Francis present a new series taking a look at the people and places of the English countryside.

This week’s episode kicked off with a look at the world of harvesting – which in this case meant three very differing ‘crops’ of mohair, rape seed oil and worms!

The programme started with a look at Selina’s personal love – her own herd of angora goats.

Records mentioning angora goats date back to the 14Century BC – but despite these ancient origins the first angora goat did not arrive in the UK until 1981! There are now around 5-6000 angora goats in Britain. But remember angora wool does NOT come from goats, but from angora rabbits!

The main reason behind this delay was a ban placed on the export of the breed and their fleece by the Sultan of Turkey – a ban which stayed in place until the 19th Century.

The goats, which are generally shorn twice a year, produce the soft mohair which can go into a range of luxury clothing lines.

The programme followed Selina’s mohair to one of the few remaining independent sock manufacturers left in the UK, J Alex Swift Ltd in the Leicestershire village of Hathern.

Although their technology maybe slightly old fashioned, Swifts make luxury socks for some of the best known companies in England.

For more on angora goats please visit the website of the British Angora Goat Society at www.britishangoragoats.org.uk For more on the sock factory J Alex Swift call 01509 842284.

Selina’s own socks are available to purchase via her homepage on the internet.

Meanwhile Tony Francis was in Suffolk to meet the farmer trying to get us to ditch the olive oil and try his healthier alternative – extra virgin rape seed oil.

The oil is taken from oil seed rape, and farmer Sam Fairs is one of only three producers of cold pressed extra virgin oil here in the UK. Sam points to the health benefits of the crop – for instance a 6% saturated fat content as compared to 14% of most olive oils.

The oil is stocked in many places across the UK. Tony visited Emmett’s of Peasenhall, who not only sell the oil, but are famous for their hams which they supplied by royal appointment to the late Queen Mother.

For more information on the rape seed oil visit www.hillfarmoils.com or call 01986 798 660. Emmett’s deli can be contacted via their website at www.emmettsham.co.uk

Finally Tony visited the farm in West Kent diversifying into the world of worms. With more and more us becoming aware of ‘green issues’, farmer Tobin Bird is producing the worms which householders can use to turn their kitchen waste into compost.

Tobin is hoping to harvest some 7 tons of worms a year, with most of this years ‘crop’ ending up in a Norfolk landfill site.

Worms are available to buy from Tobin at Woodside Farm in Benenden. For more you can call him on 0777171 0134.

To purchase the bi-product of wormcast, visit www.thewormcastcompany.co.uk

For more details on any of these stories contact the Tales from the Country team at info@kingfishertv.co.uk or call 0115 945 65 81.



  Tales from the Country Episode Two
Tales from the Country Factsheet – Ep2 of 10
7.30pm 11th January 2007 ITV1 Anglia and London

How do fancy living next door to a nuclear power station, at the end of a airport runway or betwixt a major motorway and a main railway line?

Selina Scott and Tony Francis went in search of the communities who co-exist with England’s industry.

The programme began with Selina taking a look at life in the hamlet of Sizewell – a quiet Suffolk fishing backwater which sprang to prominence when in 1961 a nuclear power station was built on its coast.

Sizewell ‘A’, as it was called, was seen as a godsend by the local population. The major employer in the area, the famous traction engine makers Garrett’s of nearby Leiston, was in trouble, and jobs were scare. The new power station was welcomed with open arms.

Now Sizewell A is closed, and the process of decommissioning has begun. According to the British Nuclear Group, who own the power station, the hall and buildings will be demolished by 2017, and the final site clearance completed by 2110 – 103 years time. The site is now home to Sizewell ‘B’ and potentially Sizewell C.

For more on Leiston-cum-Sizewell visit www.leiston.com

Tony Francis was in the Middlesex villages of Harmondsworth and Sipson to see how they cope with their own unmissable neighbour, Heathrow Airport.

Back in the late 1940’s there stood a tiny hamlet nearby named Heath Row. As the name suggests, it was a small row of rural terrace houses, surrounded by farmland which supplied numerous vegetables to London’s Covent Garden market.

With the end of World War Two looming, the men from the ministry arrived looking to find a home for a new runway capable – they said – of handling the Americans huge long range bombers in their fight against the Japanese.

Compulsory purchase orders were pushed through the doors of the home owners, their houses bulldozed into the ground – London’s first airport was born.

Now it is the world’s busiest international airport, complete with 4 terminals, with a 5th in the offing.

For more information on the history of Heathrow and its surrounding villages see the book ‘Heathrow - 200 Years of History’ by Philip Sherwood. For more on that visit http://middx.net/hayes/history/heathrow.htm

Finally the programme went to Watford Gap, a hole in the Northamptonshire hills first spotted by the Roman engineers, who built the Watling Street, otherwise known as the A5.

The gap has proved popular with engineers and builders over the years, and is now the home to Grand Union Canal, the West Coast Railway Mainline and the M1.

It is here on this tiny strip of land between the railway and motorway, lies the inhabitants of Whilton Marina. The marina is now home to a number of residential narrowboat owners, plus a chandlery, and boats of all sizes and prices.

For more on the marina visit www.whiltonmarina.co.uk

For more details on any of these stories contact the Tales from the Country team at info@kingfishertv.co.uk or call 0115 945 65 81.

 

Tales from the Country Episode Three
Tales from the Country Factsheet – Ep3 of 10
7.30pm 18th January 2007 ITV1 Anglia and London

This week’s episode looked at life for the invaders, that group of plants and animals from over there doing very nicely over here.

First up in the programme was the mink – a native American if ever there was one. The mink was brought over from the USA in 1929 to be farmed for its fur. Numerous escapes – some deliberate, some not – later the mink had found its way into the British countryside.

The mink has no natural predators here in the UK, although otters have been known to ‘take’ mink. But the decline of the otter during the last 50 years, have meant one less barrier for the mink to overcome. In such conditions the animal has flourished.

A mink will eat a wide range of prey from eels to rabbits. It is thought the mink has had a devastating effect on the native population of water voles in the UK. The vole makes it home deep in riverbank burrows.

Unfortunatley these burrows are mink sized and provide a perfect food source for the American invader. Action is being taken in an attempt to curb mink numbers and the effect they have on the wider wildlife.

Japanese knotweed, now known as a ‘superweed’, was lauded when it first came to the UK.

The man we have to thank was one Phillip Von Siebold, a Bavarian physician in the Dutch East Indies Army who brought the plant back to Europe in the mid-18th Century.

From there cuttings were introduced into England, with the ‘London Horticultural Society’ obtaining its first specimen in 1825, and the plant won a award for the “most interesting newcomer” at a European flower festival.

Thanks to its fast growing nature the plant was used to cover Victorian privies. Knotweed was being hailed as a wonder plant. Then it began popping up across the country where it was not wanted.

Amazingly all of the Japanese Knotweed plants in Europe are female, and all can be traced back directly to Von Siebald’s original plant. Such is the growth of the knotweed that it is only absent in the Orkney Islands within the whole of the UK.

CABI, is a not for profit organisation dedicated to the study of ‘life sciences’ Amongst their projects is a Berkshire based study into Japanese Knotweed, and CABI scientists are attempting to find a bug or a disease which will kill the knotweed once and for all.

Tests are ongoing at present within a mini-version of Japan, where chunks of knotweed are being assaulted by insects and blights of various incarnations.
For more on their work visit http://www.cabi-bioscience.org/ismindex.asp

For more on Japanese Knotweed take a look at the ‘Japanese Knotweed Alliance’ website – which comes complete with recipes! Visit http://www.cabi-bioscience.org/html/japanese_knotweed_alliance.htm

A number of companies specialise in the removal of Japanese Knotweed from commercial sites. Such is the weeds hardiness, it can take 3 years worth of spraying to kill it off. An alternative is to dig the weed out. But with roots plunging deep into the ground this can be a long and laborious process.

The company we featured working on a site was the Brighton based Phlorum. For more on them visit http://www.phlorum.com/knotweed.htm

Finally the programme was in the fens to look at the history of the zander and how this fish came to inhabit our rivers and canals. The zander, a predatory fish native to Eastern Europe, was first brought to the UK by the 9th Duke of Bedford back from Germany to his home at Woburn.

The 23 fish remained in his lake at the country estate, joined by some more in 1910 when the 11th Duke followed suit.

Come the early 1960’s and the then Great Ouse River Board decided to stock some zander in the river to provide new sport for anglers. By 1975 the zander had colonised the whole catchment area, and as a fish-eating fish, the zander was soon public enemy number 1 in the eyes of some anglers blaming it for falling stocks.

Other anglers though were entranced by this new addition to our waterways. Many were moved under cover of night and slipped into the canal network to provide new sport for anglers away from the fens. The zander thrived in the murky canals thanks to its reflective retina allowing it so see in very poor light conditions.

In some places culls still take place in relation to the zander, but these are becoming increasingly rare as the zander is left to its own devices, and cleaner rivers allow other species to thrive alongside it.

In the programme Tony fished with zander expert Mark Barrett. He offers tours of the Fens as an angling guide for those looking to fish for zander. For more on Mark visit www.kestrelguides.co.uk or call 07733306921.

Tony also spoke with Neville Fickling, a legendary zander fisherman. Nevillle, who owns a tackle shop in Gainsborough, even wrote a book on the subject entitled Zander.