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In 1840, one man
transformed travel in Britain.

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His name was George Bradshaw.
And his railway guides inspired
the Victorians to take to the tracks

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Stop by stop,
he told them where to travel,
what to see and where to stay.

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Now, 170 years later, I'm making a
series of journeys across the length

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and breadth of the country to see
what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

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I've been travelling from
Tyneside to the Midlands

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and I'm now embarking
on the final stretch.

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I'm completing my railway journey
across the northern half of England.

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My Bradshaw's guide has made
clear to me how the region's natural

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resources, coal, water and iron, made
the Industrial Revolution possible

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and how its inventors, entrepreneurs
and craftsmen made it happen.

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I'm trusting that my Bradshaw's
will help me uncover more

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of the intriguing history
of the heart of England.

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On this leg, I'll be learning
the secrets of one of Victorian

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Britain's favourite cheeses -
stilton. You turn that very well.

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I can't turn an omelette,
let alone a thing like that.

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Finding out how the railways
transformed a traditional
British sport.

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Special carriages were built to
take these hunters from the middle

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of London right up to
the shires of Leicestershire.

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And attempting to mould an authentic
Melton Mowbray pork pie.

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Oh dear. Mine doesn't look
like yours, but never mind.

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It's a good job it's
a three year apprenticeship!

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I'm nearing the end of a journey
which started in the North East
of England and has passed through

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the manufacturing cities
of Leeds and Sheffield.

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Now I'm continuing south,
into the Midlands, where I'll

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be exploring the region's rich
industrial and rural heritage.

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This final stretch starts just
outside Nottingham at Langley Mill,

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before crossing into Leicestershire
and finishing up at the county's
food capital, Melton Mowbray.

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The first part of the route
skirts the city of Nottingham,

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of which Bradshaw says, "Silk,
cotton stockings and bobbin-net lace
are the staple manufactures."

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When industrialisation came,
Nottingham made its fortune out
of textiles, and lace in particular.

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In fact, it became known as
the lace capital of the world.

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The lace machine
was invented in the city,

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but most of the manufacturing was
done in towns and villages outside.

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The Erewash valley, near the city,
got its first railway in 1847.

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Soon lace factories sprang up
all along the line.

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By 1900 there were more than
40 mills in the vicinity,

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sending their finished
lace into Nottingham by rail.

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I'm getting off at Langley Mill,
to find out what's become of
the Victorian lace industry.

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I'm visiting an old family
firm that's been doing business

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since Bradshaw's day, run
by managing director, Charles Wood.

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Morning Charles, very good to see
you. I can just about hear you.

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How long has your family been in
the textile business?

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Since 1831, probably
a little bit before.

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The company was founded by three
brothers who started making textile
machine parts and then eventually

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finished products and really this
was at the absolute outset of

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Industrial Revolution, certainly
as far as textiles were concerned.

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Before the 19th century,
lace-makers were skilled artisans.

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It could take two hours to create just
an inch of handcrafted lace, making
it one of the most expensive fabrics.

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Then in 1813, John Levers invented
a lace-making machine.

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Mass-produced lace was affordable
to the middle classes and came to
be used in all kinds of clothing.

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This is one of the products
which the company produced.

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Silk lace, pure silk lace.

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So they produced silk lace shawls
and also silk lace gloves.

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A tiny hand.

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Yes, a tiny hand.

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It's interesting that there's no
textile machinery today that could
produce that product. Really?

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No. And we have to bear in mind
that this is not done by hand,
this is done on a machine.

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Yes. And that is the miracle of it.
Yes, absolutely.

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The Erewash valley became a
centre of machine lace production.

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Midlands coal fuelled the factories,

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and the local metal industry was
a ready source of machine parts.

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Everywhere I go I find
it's the same story,

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a combination of metals,
of coal, of water,

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of brilliantly inventive people.

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And railways? And railways,
absolutely, I mean the lace market

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in Nottingham was the central trading
point for lace really throughout
Europe and, in many cases, the world.

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And I would say the railways
were instrumental in building the
brand of Nottingham lace which has

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become so famous and
well known to this day.

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To keep up with the times,
Charles's family firm invested in
ever more sophisticated machines.

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Like this one, which transformed
lace making

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and surprisingly pointed the way
towards the age
of information technology.

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Goodness, what a fantastic
museum piece.

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This is a Jacquard machine for making
silk lace from probably the 1840s,
which is pretty unique.

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I'm intrigued by these things,
what are they?

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That's a Jacquard card, so that's
the patterning device which would
determine the patterns for the lace.

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And this is the sort of coding,
which would determine which needles
were knitted and which weren't.

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The machine was turned over by hand,
so they didn't have to do so
many stitches of the pattern,

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and then they come and change
the card and do the next section
with a different pattern.

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So in fact there were limitless
possibilities in terms of patterning.

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Punched cards like these
were used in the first computers.

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But not everyone welcomed the
mechanisation of the lace industry,
as my Bradshaw's guide explains;

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"The frame-work knitters
and twist hands broke out

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"under the name of Luddites
and went about destroying
machinery."

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And at the beginning of
the 19th century

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they smashed up machines
in Nottinghamshire, didn't they?

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Yes, that's right. The Luddite
movement was up in arms about the
mechanisation, the industrialisation

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of the textile industry,
removing their jobs, removing
the requirement of so much labour.

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And of course this affected
many, many families, so they

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smashed up machines and burnt down
Nottingham Castle!

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And they sent in the army
to deal with this people?

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Yes, they did. It was, in
terms of industrial revolts that

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we see today,
that was nothing in terms of what
happened in the Luddite revolution.

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The government's tough line
including executions and
transportation crushed

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the Luddites by 1817, leaving the
textile industry to grow and bring
great wealth to Nottinghamshire.

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Today, Charles's firm remains at
the forefront of textile technology.

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It's developed 3D knitting
techniques, that produce

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extra strong fabrics for clothing
like police body armour.

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That's the protected area.

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OK, have a lunge.
Yes, just have a lunge.

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I don't feel good about this but
I'll have a go. There we are.

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You see, not really a blemish at all.
No, not a blemish.

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It's vital in protecting
our police officers.

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The company's fabric is also
used in motorcycle jackets
with built-in airbags.

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There's a CO2 canister
in the jacket.

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So I'm going to pull
this lanyard here quite hard.

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There will be a loud bang and
then the air bag will be inflate.

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How do I get into these things?!

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OK. Here we go. one, two, three.

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Ooh! Wow, I feel
lots of pressure around me.

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Masses of protection.
Masses of protection.

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That's a great invention.

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It's a fantastic invention.

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With his great respect for
innovation, I'm sure George Bradshaw

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would have been excited
by these high-tech fabrics.

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Now it's back to Langley Mill
to continue my journey south
towards Leicestershire.

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My route takes in some
important railway heritage.

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The wrought iron Bennerley viaduct
is 1400 foot long and was built
in 1877 to serve the coal trade.

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But, as ever, the railways soon
adapted to be used for leisure.

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Along this railway line in 1841,

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a devout Leicestershire business man
organized an excursion
for 500 people

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to go from Leicester to Loughborough
for a temperance fair,

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and then the following year,
he organized a Sunday

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school trip to get kids out of
Leicester to Derby on a day when
there were races in Leicester.

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And then he organized trips to North
Wales and Snowdonia, and in 1851

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big excursions to the
Great Exhibition in London.

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All that was made possible
by the railways.

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And that man has become a byword
for organized travel,

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because his name was Thomas Cook.

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Thomas Cook negotiated
cheap train fares for

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his customers, to go from the North
of England to the Great Exhibition

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in the Crystal Palace
with entrance included
for as little as five shillings.

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Mass travel had begun in earnest.

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In Bradshaw's time,
the Midlands' railways also enabled

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the upper classes to travel to their
favourite sport of fox hunting.

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But what do today's
passengers know about
the region's hunting tradition?

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Do you live in
the Nottinghamshire area?

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No. I'm about to move here.

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Cos there's quite a lot of hunting
around the middle part of England.

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I wasn't really aware
of it to be honest, but,
as a principle, I don't like it.

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I feel like, even if
there's a lot of people who depend
on it in the countryside,

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I feel that I find it uncomfortable
the whole kind of blooding

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young people on their first hunt
and things like that.

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When I went to boarding school
people used to get the afternoon off
to go fox hunting, and if I

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wanted to do anything we were never
allowed to take the afternoon off
to go and do that.

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My next stop is Barrow upon Soar,
in rural Leicestershire.

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In Bradshaw's time,
was at the heart of an enthusiastic
fox hunting territory.

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Bradshaw says we're in the finest
fox hunting ground in England.

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That's because the good quality soil
is good for the scent

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and he says most of the land is
pasture rather than being ploughed.

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And this he says is where the famous
Quorn hounds are kennelled, for this

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is the property of Sir R Sutton,
baronet, this is Quornden hall.

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Many people claim that modern
foxhunting was born at Quorn
in the late 18th century, when

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faster hounds were bred here.
In the 19th century, the hunt's

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popularity grew as the railways
made it easier to travel to meets.

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Soon rail companies
were targeting the sporting

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fraternity with special services.

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The Quorn ceased its pursuit of
live foxes in 2005, but it's still
an important local institution.

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Some of today's hounds
are directly descended from the
specimens used in Bradshaw's day.

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Hello, gentlemen. Good afternoon.

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I'm Michael, very nice to see you.

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And this is the famous pack
of Quorn hounds?

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Indeed it is.
Beautiful creatures, beautiful.

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I'm joining huntsman Peter
Collins and Rad Thomas, a lifelong

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member of the Quorn Hunt,
as they exercise the hounds.

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So here we are on a blazing summer's
day. No hunting this time of year.

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So what do the hounds do?

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Basically this time of year we're
keeping them fit.

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You can see, we've got this many
hounds in the kennels all day,
they've got to be exercised.

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And how fit do these
hounds have to get?

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By the time it comes to the season,
these hounds could run anything
up to 100 miles a day. 100 miles?

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And they would probably
hunt two days a week.

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So that would be pretty good
training for a marathon runner,
wouldn't it? It would.

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My Bradshaw's guide says that
this is the best hunting territory
in England, in fact he quotes a

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columnist in a sporting paper called
Nimrod, and Nimrod apparently said
of all the hunts this is the belle.

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Is that still the case?
I think so, and many others

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do as well and it's a history of
the topography of the county, which
meant that the sport was faster,

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more scary, and that attracted
the interested people who were
prepared to come and hunt.

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And of course a lot of them
came by train to enjoy that sport.

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Tell me more - how did
the railways affect hunting?

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Before the railways
you had to set your stall out
and go for the whole season because

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it took so long to get there and get
all your equipment and your servants
and your horses and everything else.

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Now the railways have arrived, the
easier routes up to Leicestershire

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from the swells of London,
and so they could do it in a day.

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How did they get
their horses up here?

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On specially built carriages,
which were equipped for the horses

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and room for the grooms and all
the provender that went with it.

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Not only to get them here,
but also to get them back of course.

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The rapid expansion of the Quorn
boosted local businesses.

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Hunting lodges and gentlemen's clubs
sprang up to serve the influx

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of wealthy visitors.

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Even today, the hunt looms large
in the local economy.

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On an average day
there's 100 horses out,

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all those horses have got to be fed
hay, hard feed, got to be shod,

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everyone's got to buy
their riding clothes.

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So all the local millers,

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all the people that produce
the food, hay, straw.

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It's a very, very big thing.

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If that were gone, it would make
a big hole in the community.

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It's time to continue my journey
through Bradshaw's Britain

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to a town which greatly benefited
from both hunting and the railway,

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Melton Mowbray.

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My next train takes me east,
from Leicester Station.

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Good morning.
Any tickets from Leicester, please?

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00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:33,600
Thank you very much.
Thank you. It's a wonderful day.

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Absolutely.

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In the 19th century, the fertile
land through which I'm travelling

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was the source of much wealth.

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Its yield helped Melton Mowbray
blossom into a thriving market town.

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The railway reached Melton Mowbray
in 1846 and Bradshaw says,

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"Melton is the centre
of a famous hunting country.

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00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:02,680
"Horses are bred here.

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00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:07,440
"Its pork pies and stilton cheese
are also valuable productions."

214
00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:10,760
I'm here to hunt
for those valuable productions.

215
00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:15,080
The area around Melton Mowbray

216
00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:19,920
promotes itself as a centre
of gastronomic excellence,

217
00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:23,200
a reputation launched by Stilton.

218
00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:28,000
That magnificent blue cheese dates
back at least to the 18th century,

219
00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,840
but the railways magnified
the business.

220
00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,200
In the second half
of the 19th century,

221
00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:36,760
many new dairies sprang up
to meet increased demand.

222
00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:43,120
Webster's Dairy, which opened
in 1890, is in production still.

223
00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:57,600
Manager Mark Frapwell
has worked here for 27 years.

224
00:17:57,600 --> 00:17:59,720
Hello, you're Mark? Yes.

225
00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,040
I'm Michael.
Morning. Nice to meet you.

226
00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:05,480
How do you do? I see your cheese
making is well under way here.

227
00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:08,680
Yes, we're working hard this morning
and bringing the milk in.

228
00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:10,320
Why did it all happen here?

229
00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:14,000
Why did Stilton cheese happen
in the area of Melton Mowbray?

230
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:18,240
A rich farming area,
excellent pastures, good climate,

231
00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,160
so a traditional dairy area.

232
00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:23,880
Farmers' wives would make cheese.

233
00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,240
At some point blue cheese
became more popular

234
00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:28,120
or certainly commanded more money.

235
00:18:29,120 --> 00:18:30,440
Without modern methods

236
00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:33,280
it was actually very difficult
to make cheese go blue.

237
00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:36,120
Once you'd learnt,
you didn't tell people about it,

238
00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:39,760
they kept within the Melton area the
secrets of how to make blue cheese,

239
00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:41,240
that commanded a greater price.

240
00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:45,440
To create Stilton's
characteristic blue veins,

241
00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:47,320
a special mould is added.

242
00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:52,840
That tiny amount into this enormous
vat makes everything happen?

243
00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:53,920
Yes, that's right.

244
00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:57,840
Then the cheese is packed
into cylindrical hoops to mature.

245
00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:03,200
Webster's is one of only six
producers licensed to make Stilton.

246
00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:05,360
To be allowed to use the name

247
00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:08,680
they are bound to follow
a precisely stipulated method.

248
00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:13,160
The hoops are removed and the cheese
is smoothed with a knife.

249
00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:15,280
This is Amy. Hello, Amy.

250
00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:17,000
What are you doing there?

251
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,760
Basically, it's to keep the blue
inside the cheese.

252
00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:21,640
To keep the blue inside the cheese.

253
00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:24,840
So you're removing the holes
on the outside?

254
00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:26,680
Yes.

255
00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:29,240
You turned that very well.

256
00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:31,960
Did you get that right
the first time you tried it?

257
00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:33,840
No, I didn't!

258
00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:36,880
I can't turn an omelette,
let alone a thing like that.

259
00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:39,840
Takes a lot of practice.
I bet it does.

260
00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:42,360
Proper Stilton is made
only in Derbyshire,

261
00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:44,800
Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.

262
00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,960
But strangely, it takes its name
from a village in Cambridgeshire.

263
00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:53,080
I've come to the village of Saxilby,
but this is Stilton cheese.

264
00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:54,560
Why is it called Stilton?

265
00:19:54,560 --> 00:20:00,440
Because Stilton was sold mostly
from the village of Stilton,

266
00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:02,440
which was on the old
Great North Road,

267
00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:04,880
and it was the main point
from Melton Mowbray

268
00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:06,680
to deliver your cheese to London.

269
00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:09,520
So that was in the days
when it went by stagecoach?

270
00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:13,200
That's correct, yes. And then after
that obviously it went by railways.

271
00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:16,080
Were railways an advantage
to Stilton? I think so, yes.

272
00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:19,480
Stilton compared with other cheeses
is a lot more problematic.

273
00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:20,960
It's much softer,

274
00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:26,520
it's prone to weep and deteriorate
if it's not transported quickly.

275
00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:29,040
So the faster it goes,
the better it is. Yes.

276
00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,680
The more places it can reach.
That's right, yes.

277
00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:39,400
The railways allowed city-dwelling
Victorians to enjoy Stilton
in peak condition for the first time

278
00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:43,320
and it became a favourite luxury
for Christmas and special occasions.

279
00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,600
Why do you think it's associated
with Christmas?

280
00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:49,360
Because sometimes
some of the best milk

281
00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:52,280
is from what we call
the second bite of grass,

282
00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:54,800
which is the second growth
after the summer.

283
00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,680
That will produce very good
September milk,

284
00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:01,360
and also calving then happens,
produce a higher protein content,

285
00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:04,200
therefore that cheese would be
perfect for Christmas.

286
00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,640
And if it's a thing you're only
going to have once a year,

287
00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:09,280
you could only afford it
once a year,

288
00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:11,280
Christmas would be the perfect time
to have it.

289
00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:13,760
Pile up your table
with luxury goods.

290
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:18,440
It takes eight weeks for the cheese
to develop its blue veins.

291
00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:21,560
Then, it's ready to taste.

292
00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:23,240
They're all brought upstairs.

293
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:25,680
Into this extremely pungent room.

294
00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:28,800
Wow, what a smell of cheese!
Ammonia. Ammonia, is it? Yes.

295
00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:32,440
And hopefully the cheese
are ready for grading.

296
00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:35,080
By putting the iron in and turn.

297
00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:38,120
And you can see all that blue grain.

298
00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:40,760
I can just sample that?
You can, yes.

299
00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:44,240
And if you take a little bit
from that end. Just off there.

300
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:50,920
You've got a winner there,
that's lovely.

301
00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:53,360
It'll be even better
in two or three weeks' time.

302
00:21:53,360 --> 00:21:55,080
It gets better still?
Yes, it will.

303
00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:58,640
That taste makes me crave more,

304
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:03,080
but I must abstain because Stilton
isn't the only local delicacy.

305
00:22:04,120 --> 00:22:08,160
In Bradshaw's time,
trains leaving for London

306
00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:11,520
were also packed
with the town's famous pork pies,

307
00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:15,080
cooked in the bake houses
surrounding the station.

308
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:19,480
With Stilton and pork pies
exported from Melton Mowbray

309
00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:21,600
to the rest of the country,

310
00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,800
I'd like to know whether
locals appreciate them.

311
00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:27,080
Are you a fan of Stilton
and pork pies?

312
00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:28,800
I'm a big fan of the pork pie,

313
00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:32,120
but Stilton is not my favourite,
it's a bit bitter.

314
00:22:32,120 --> 00:22:35,160
No, I don't like Stilton cheese
and I don't like pork pies.

315
00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:39,320
I thought to live in Melton Mowbray
it was compulsory to like both. No.

316
00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:43,080
I don't like Stilton cheese, I'm
afraid. The Stilton cheese is nice.

317
00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:45,720
I'm vegetarian so I don't eat meat.

318
00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:50,000
OK, so no pork pies for you
and no Stilton cheese for you.

319
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:51,040
I'm afraid not.

320
00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:52,360
What about the pork pies?

321
00:22:52,360 --> 00:22:54,040
The pork pies are nice from Melton.

322
00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,640
The evolution of Stilton and
pork pies alongside each other

323
00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:02,560
isn't a coincidence.

324
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:07,080
It goes back to Bradshaw's era
and it's connected with hunting.

325
00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:11,200
Farmer Ian Jalland can explain.

326
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:13,600
Ian. Hello, Michael.

327
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:16,800
Lovely to see you, what a
beautiful looking shop. Thank you.

328
00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:18,680
Full of temptations, isn't it? Yes.

329
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:22,720
But you're famous for
your Melton Mowbray pork pies.

330
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:24,560
How long have they been around?

331
00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:28,000
Well, Melton Mowbray pork pies
have been around for 200-300 years.

332
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,880
Historically.
Why were there pork pies here?

333
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,320
Leicestershire
is a grassland county.

334
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:36,080
There's a lot of livestock.

335
00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:38,360
Stilton cheese became quite
a big industry

336
00:23:38,360 --> 00:23:41,480
and a by-product of the production
of Stilton cheese was whey,

337
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:43,640
and whey was fed to the pigs.

338
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:45,840
So there's a lot of pigs,
a lot of pork,

339
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:50,160
and people decided a good use
of that was to make a pie.

340
00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:52,760
Now I'm always interested
in railways,

341
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:56,400
so railways were pretty important
for pork pies here, were they?

342
00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:00,280
It was the railways that brought
the hunting fraternity

343
00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:02,440
from London to Melton Mowbray.

344
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:07,040
The hunt's servants often carried
these pies in their pockets

345
00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,240
to keep them going
on a hard day's hunting

346
00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:10,840
looking after their master.

347
00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,480
And someone from London noticed
that they were eating these pies,

348
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:17,360
and tried them, liked them,
thought they were great,

349
00:24:17,360 --> 00:24:20,000
and started taking them back
to London by train.

350
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,880
And hence the popularity
of the Melton Mowbray pork pie.

351
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:28,160
I saw as I came in that
you are looking for a pie maker,

352
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:30,360
and I thought I might
offer my services.

353
00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:33,000
We've been trialling apprentices
for a while now.

354
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,760
I'm sure Lee would like to entertain
you as an apprentice pie maker.

355
00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:40,040
Shall we put on funny clothes?
Yes, follow me.

356
00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:43,520
Ian's bakery is one of just nine

357
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:47,120
still making traditional
Melton Mowbray pork pies.

358
00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:50,080
Michael, this is Lee.
Head of production.

359
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,280
Hello, Lee. Hi, Michael.

360
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:55,560
These pies are special because
they're not baked in a tin,

361
00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:57,800
but moulded round a wooden dolly.

362
00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:01,000
You place your dolly
into the centre of your pastry.

363
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,080
Start lifting the pastry up.

364
00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,520
As you're lifting it, you want to
be turning your pastry. Turning.

365
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:08,240
That's going nicely.

366
00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:09,360
Yep, mm-hm.

367
00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:12,080
Most pork pies are factory-produced

368
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,320
but here, to this day,
they're made by hand.

369
00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:18,320
Now you want to release
the pastry from off the dolly.

370
00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:21,680
Right, you're a bit
quicker than I am. OK.

371
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:25,000
It's all practice. Yeah, I know.

372
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,120
OK. A nice pizza!

373
00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:30,480
That's it!

374
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:32,920
Oh, dear. Mine doesn't look like
yours, but never mind.

375
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:36,000
Whilst most pork pies
contain cured meat,

376
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,440
a traditional Melton Mowbray pie
contains fresh pork.

377
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:43,080
When it's cooked,
the filling looks grey, not pink.

378
00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:45,480
Throw it in to take all the air out.

379
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:48,800
Right, OK. That's fine.

380
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,400
Then you place your lid
on top of your meat.

381
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:54,480
Mm-hm.

382
00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:58,080
And then you want to go
all the way around your pie.

383
00:25:58,080 --> 00:25:59,520
Crimping...

384
00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,480
Are you pulling faces? No, no!

385
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:04,800
Good job it's a three-year
apprenticeship.

386
00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:08,080
A couple of little holes...

387
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:12,120
It takes skill and a light touch
to make the perfect pie.

388
00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:14,880
Qualities I fear have passed me by!

389
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,120
Right. Mine are not particularly...
LAUGHTER

390
00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:21,160
Would you stop laughing,
Ian, please!

391
00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:24,120
My pie is a sorry sight,

392
00:26:24,120 --> 00:26:27,440
disgraced by the perfection
of Lee's.

393
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,640
Now, this doesn't go in a tin,
it just bakes as it is?

394
00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:36,480
Yes, that's why you get such a crisp
finish when you're cutting the pie.

395
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:38,960
You see how crunchy it was,
cutting through it,

396
00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:43,160
and that's what gives you the taste.
Wonderful.

397
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:44,880
Impeccable.

398
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:46,680
My Bradshaw's guide said

399
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:50,560
that a Melton Mowbray pork pie
was a valuable production,

400
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:51,760
and indeed it is.

401
00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:52,840
Thank you very much.

402
00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,480
At the end of my rail trip
from the North East of England

403
00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:03,680
to the Midlands I've been strongly
reminded that in Bradshaw's day

404
00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:05,960
the railways made Britain shrink.

405
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,600
Whether it was the new
mass-produced goods

406
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:12,880
or delicacies that had been
available only locally,

407
00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:18,160
trains allowed the nation to enjoy
the specialities of central England.

408
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:21,600
Using my Bradshaw's guide
on my long journey

409
00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:26,240
from Newcastle to Melton Mowbray
has opened my eyes to history

410
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:28,320
that I never fully knew

411
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:32,960
and to people and industries
that I never fully understood.

412
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:37,240
I've made this journey
after a long career in public life.

413
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:38,680
My only regret is

414
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:42,280
that I didn't make it
before setting out on that career.

415
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:47,520
On my next journey,

416
00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:51,080
I'll be exploring
the scenic railways of Kent.

417
00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:55,080
Starting in London, I'll travel
south east through Canterbury,

418
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,760
and around the coast to Hastings.

419
00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:00,600
Along the way, I'll be finding out

420
00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:03,800
how the trains synchronised
time across Britain...

421
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:07,320
If you wanted to catch a train and
you had your watch set to local time,

422
00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:09,760
and they had train timetables
on London time,

423
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:12,200
you needed to know that
otherwise you'd miss your train.

424
00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:15,640
..Exploring the history
of a seaside swim.

425
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:19,080
If you were staying in Margate,
you'd come out of your lodgings

426
00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:21,160
and you would wait for a bathing
machine to be ready.

427
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,120
Which apparently always smelt
like rotting carpet,

428
00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:25,800
that kind of horrible smell.

429
00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:29,440
..And hopping with excitement,
Victorian style.

430
00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:30,840
I just yank this, do I?

431
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:32,080
Give it a good pull.

432
00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:34,720
HE LAUGHS

433
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:03,200
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