(majestic string music)
Britain's great outdoors.
Look at that view.
Breath-takingly beautiful.
It's just absolutely incredible.
Dazzling in its diversity.
It really is a beautiful part of the world.
There's no better way to explore it
than on foot.
Come, Milo.
With a faithful, four-legged friend.
Come on, come on!
(woman laughing)
Do you not want to get your paws wet?
Yeah, no, I love you too.
What do the dogs see?
Can we get a dog's-eye view?
You are now camera dog.
From stunning mountain treks.
Oh thank you, kiss of life.
Ah, Molly.
To meandering country walks.
Arpert, come here.
And rugged clifftop rambles.
That was quite a climb, but it was worth it.
Join us, and our best canine pals,
as we experience some incredible
and unique walks with our dogs.
Wow, I mean there are views, and then there's this.
This is as near to heaven as I'm likely to be.
(upbeat music)
Some of my earliest memories
are of holidaying in the Scottish islands,
visiting my grandparents.
I've brought Albert, my 11-year-old dog,
so he can savor the delights of paddling
in the freezing cold water this time,
so I don't have to.
Fetch, Albert!
I'm on Mull, it's an island of rugged beauty,
and it's home to some spectacular wildlife.
That's definitely an eagle, isn't it?
Well it's a fantastic,
what's going to come now?
Rhino?
(dog barks)
Come on Billy, let's go and explore.
Big Ass Show comedian Katy Brand
normally lampoons modern celebrities,
but today she's in search of an iconic figure
born in the 18th century.
Come on doggie, good girl.
I'm with my black lab Billie,
visiting Constable Country,
discovering the inspiration for his most famous work.
I mean, it's just magical to just walk in
and there it is, it's kind of suddenly a 3-D painting.
But first, as TV royalty goes,
Phil Spencer is surely the king of property,
and today he's in a truly majestic location.
(acoustic music)
Hello, you two.
It's a job to know who loves Windsor Great Park the most,
royal watchers, or dog walkers.
And although I've been coming here for years,
there's still a large chunk I barely know.
It is a huge park, it's nearly 5,000 acres.
It's about 8 square miles.
It is a fantastic place for a dog walk.
I've got my two here, which is Jessie and Scout.
They're happy to make some new friends.
I'm sure they will, 'cause there's lots of people walking.
Come, we'll see what we can find.
My two cocker spaniels make any walk more pleasurable.
They're very different ages.
Jessie is eight,
and Scout is a four and 1/2 month old puppy.
But both have the typical spaniel cheery nature,
that makes them the perfect dog to spend time with.
Today we're plotting a course through
a three and 1/2 mile section
of this rather regal recreation ground,
taking in a world-famous garden on the way,
before ending up at the shimmer and delight
that's Virginia Water.
We're walking through woods which were first made
private royal hunting grounds by William the Conqueror
almost a thousand years ago.
The park's full of history.
This obelisk here was put up in the 1750s
and it says it was on the command of King George II,
commemorating the services of his son,
William, Duke of Cumberland.
The Duke of Cumberland was one of the early park Rangers,
the title given to a member of the royal circle
responsible for the park's upkeep.
Today's head honcho is none other
than the Duke of Edinburgh.
He was instrumental in bringing a sport to the park,
that with it's royal links,
can claim to be a real-life Game Of Thrones, polo.
Jamie!
We're following the sound of thundering hooves
to visit the Guards Polo Club,
a place where, despite its royal connections,
spectators and well-behaved dogs
can wander in to enjoy the show,
and surprisingly, all for free.
(whistle blows)
I'm more of a cricket man,
so I'm hoping Neil Hobday, the club's chief executive,
will help me understand the rules.
It's an incredible skillful game,
there's an awful lot going on at high speed.
It's impressive stuff.
There's a lot of things that combine,
I mean there's the man and horse and the stick
and the different shots they have to play,
tactics, team tactics, the individual skills.
So it takes a high level of learning to play at this level.
The game has roots which stretch back
more than 2,000 years to warriors in Central Asia.
Now, it's about agile thoroughbreds
carrying highly-skilled riders,
who wield mallets like medieval knights
brandished broadswords in combat.
The aim, to vanquish your opponent
by scoring more goals than them.
On big match days,
these fields are full of spectators and their dogs,
but today, it's just my two.
Puppy Scout is transfixed but elder stateswoman Jessie
finds it all a bit of a bore,
despite the sport's high-rolling status.
It's got such a glamorous image, hasn't it, polo?
I imagine it's not a cheap sport to play.
No it's not, the horses are very well-bred and trained,
and they command quite a high price.
(whistle blows)
The Guards is the largest polo club in Europe,
and matches here attract the cream of the sport's
horsemen and women from all over the world.
People can come in and watch
international sport very easily.
That's the remarkable thing about it, as a public park,
you have sort of value of horses of
hundreds and hundreds of pounds being played here,
and the public can just walk in,
and have lunch and be seen and dress up
and also then watch the best players
in the world perform in front of them.
Terrific.
Covering almost 10 acres,
this is the largest pitch in all organized sport.
Too big for ground staff to repair alone,
so Jessie, Scout, and I offer to help,
avoiding the steaming divots, of course.
The horses go so fast, and they stop and turn so quickly,
that they tear the turf up, understandably.
So at half time, the spectators come out
and do what's called treading in,
which is to flatten the sods back in.
So the second half, they've got
a relatively even surface.
So you actually encourage a pitch invasion.
Absolutely.
I always thought polo was so civilized.
Yeah, no. 10-15,000 people coming out onto the pitch.
Really? -: Oh yeah.
And how do the ladies with high heels,
are they any use?
With difficulty, but that doesn't stop them.
(Phil laughs)
After all that wild excitement,
it's time for me and my own priceless thoroughbreds
to hoof it.
400 miles north, broadcaster and comedian Clive Anderson
and his faithful four-legged friend Albert
are on their way to a far more rugged place,
the magical Isle of Mull.
Scotland, especially its west coast,
has a spectacular landscape.
And the Isle of Mull,
not to be confused with the Mull of Kintyre,
has plenty of beauty spots.
From the summit of Ben More, Mull's highest peak,
to the crystal-clear waters that frame the shoreline,
it's a magical setting.
With me on the ferry is my canine companion, Albert,
who is a terrier.
Well, mixture of several sorts of terrier, actually.
He's used to coming to Scotland with me,
though not so experienced at being on boats.
Practically my first memory is of being
on a Caledonian MacBrayne ferry
going from the west of Scotland up to one of the islands.
I've been here before, but not Albert.
He's very much looking forward to it, aren't you Albert?
He's about 11 years old now,
but he's still very energetic, rather puppy-like, really,
and quite an obedient dog,
unless there's food anywhere within a mile or so,
in which case he's keen to go and eat that.
And food, he has a wide definition of food.
It's anything you'd recognize as food,
anything that's been close to food,
frankly, anything that's been food, he'll eat it.
Come then, Albert, let's get to shore.
You okay with these steps?
Well done, not too fast.
Our walk starts at Ardmore Bay in the north,
and uses four and 1/2 miles of ancient lanes,
paths, and bridleways,
to wind its way to the colorful capital, Tobermory.
The path soon dips down to the shoreline,
with Albert bravely leading the way
as we head to the haunt
of one of Britain's most ruthless predators,
the spectacular white-tailed sea eagle.
Come, Albert.
It's Britain's biggest bird of prey,
with wings as wide as a man is tall,
and it's making a comeback
after being persecuted to extinction
almost a century ago.
(upbeat fiddle music)
And when it comes to birdwatching,
it looks like I've got some beginner's luck.
That's definitely an eagle, isn't it,
but how do you tell the difference?
Is that a golden eagle?
White, has it got a white tail?
That's definitely an eagle, isn't it?
Are you impressed with this, Albert?
You're not paying attention.
You know those pigeons that you chase, and never get?
Well, this is a big one of those.
Thankfully, Dave Sexton from the RSPB
knows more about the eagles of Mull
than anyone else around.
Hi, I've just seen an eagle, haven't I?
I know, you have.
Yeah, was that a golden eagle?
No. -: Or a white tail?
That was an adult white-tailed eagle,
and it flew right over our heads.
I would have said it was probably the male,
going out hunting, and then--
Males are smaller than the females?
Yep, they're about 25% smaller.
True to form, Albert has found some food.
But it was the eagles' hearty appetites
that led to their downfall,
with gamekeepers killing them on sight
to help protect the local game bird population
on an island very popular with shooting parties.
White-tailed eagles became extinct
as a breeding species in 1918,
and that was them, gone.
Dreadful.
For 70-odd years.
It was at a time when everything with a hooked beak
and a beady eye and sharp teeth
was being removed from the landscape,
so the sea eagle succumbed to that.
And when did you reintroduce them?
1975 they came back.
And you've been very much involved in this project
almost from the word go?
Yeah, my first year on Mull was 1984,
when the first pair tried to breed,
and they failed that year,
and then tried again in '85 and we got our first chick,
and that was the beginning of it all, really.
So you thought they're a bit like pandas,
first of all, they weren't gonna mate.
They did, yeah,
'cause they'd been 10 years without breeding,
and people started to think,
is this ever gonna happen, you know?
So how many have we got now?
We've now got 100 pairs nesting across Scotland,
which is just fantastic,
and 20 pairs on Mull.
Oh, just here, right? -: Yeah.
I'm doing that awful thing
that people do at cocktail parties,
I'm looking over your shoulder the whole time,
'cause I want that eagle to come back
with a, possibly with a gull in his mouth.
There are two birds up there,
but I suspect they are--
Here it comes!
Oh it is, oh, well I've spotted it, fantastic.
It's coming back behind us,
and it's got food.
Has it?
So that's the adult, it's gone out,
and it's caught something,
and it's got something, and it's in its talons,
it's carrying, it's a bird of some sort,
Can you do better than that? -: I can't quite work it out.
No, it's-- -: Some sort of bird.
It'll be some sort of seabird.
I've got a good sight of it now
with your binoculars.
You can see the white tail.
(Albert barking)
Albert, you excited?
Are you excited?
He's picking up on the excitement,
though to be honest I'm not sure he knows why.
(Dave laughs)
Or what it's about.
Well it's a fantastic,
what's going to come now?
(Dave laughs)
Rhino?
Well, you never know what's hiding in this bracken.
Well this has been brilliant.
I see a sea eagle that way, sea eagle that way.
I think I'm going to leave you to your peace and quiet here,
if we have as much excitement as the rest of the walk,
that's going to be brilliant.
Enjoy Tobermory.
Thank you very much.
Okay, bye. -: Bye-bye now.
(uplifting string music)
Well, that was a great start to the walk.
I wasn't expecting to get that,
especially on such a misty day like this.
I hope we can match that later on.
(uplifting string music)
Next, we'll be back in Windsor Great Park,
where the pounding hooves of polo ponies
is replaced by the total tranquility
of a world-class garden.
This is just the most awe-inspiring place
to wander 'round.
Plus, comedian Katy Brand and her lab Billie
make a splash in Constable Country.
Want to go in the water?
Go on then, off you go.
Yeah!
(upbeat music)
We're exploring Britain's great outdoors,
on foot and paw.
My cocker spaniels, Jesse, Scout, and I
are getting the royal treatment in Windsor Great Park.
I'm on the Scottish island of Mull,
with my old friend Albert.
And in Suffolk, Comedy Lab star Katy Brand
is stepping out with her black lab, Billie.
(uplifting music)
It's rare for such a beautiful landscape
to be associated with just one person,
but this is Constable Country.
I love art and history,
so I'm going on the perfect walk today,
because here around the Dedham Vale
was where one of our most renowned artists, John Constable,
painted some of Britain's best-loved pictures.
(uplifting music)
Framed by picturesque villages and lush water meadows,
it's an enchanting place for a walk at any time of year.
On two legs, or even four.
This is Billie, she's my seven-year-old Labrador.
We got her as a puppy from a farm in Devon,
and she's from working stock,
but she's a very kind, patient dog,
but if she sees a rabbit, then the chase is on.
Come on Billie, let's go and explore, come on.
(mellow music)
On today's 4 1/2 mile amble from Dedham Vale,
we'll be enjoying the iconic views
that so inspired Constable,
visiting the site of his most famous work,
and ending up at the village of East Bergholt,
the place where, in 1776, Constable was born.
It's hard to define exactly what people think of
in terms of English countryside,
is it the peaks of the Lake District,
or the rugged moors of Yorkshire,
or the Jurassic cliffs of Dorset?
But I think, in terms of international recognition,
this is probably the quintessential English countryside.
Ancient trees, a soft-flowing river.
It's just so beautiful,
there's a kind of real calm, stillness to it.
We're striding out to Fen Bridge,
one of the most idyllic spots
in the whole of the Stour Valley.
Are you enjoying your day in Suffolk, Billie?
It's nice, isn't it, lovely.
And on such a perfect summer's day,
who can resist a little messing about on the river?
Not Billie, and with a camera on her back,
I can enjoy a refreshing dip without actually getting wet.
Okay, my dog Billie does like to go in the water,
so I thought maybe we'd send her in
and see what she can find.
Do you want to go in the water?
Yeah, go on then, off you go.
Yeah!
(Katy laughs)
Is that nice?
Nice and cool.
You like a good swim, don't you.
Nice water doggie, Labrador.
(Katy laughs)
Apparently they have webbed feet, Labradors.
When they used to pull in the nets on fishing boats,
and they've got this otter's tail
that acts as a kind of rudder.
Billie, Billie, come here!
There's a good gal.
If I was suspicious, I'd say Billie's Oscar-worthy
performance of an otter was her auditioning to join my act.
Go on, doggie, good girl.
I often go for a walk with Billie
when I need to mull over my scripts,
especially when writer's block hits.
I'm fascinated by how language is constantly changing.
LOL.
'Lo! Hello!
Hi. -: Good to see ya.
A man who shares my passion is Neil Catchpole.
You look very, very well in place there.
I'm Katy.
I'm Neil.
Dressed in a natty old ploughman's outfit
complete with original horse hoof buttons,
he's an expert in the dialect and traditions
that Constable would have recognized.
Just like the ominous-looking liquid you've got there.
Bottle of cold tea,
which is what the old horsemen would've drunk.
Okay. -: Out in the fields.
It would of been kept under the hedge.
Keep it cool with perhaps a sack put on top of it.
Keep it wet and cold.
Well I come from a long line of agricultural workers.
Do you?
So yeah, let's say cheers to my ancestors and yours.
Cheers, here's to the countryside.
To the countryside.
Now in terms of dialect and language,
that's something you're quite passionate about isn't it?
I am and the dialect words and phrases,
they're dying out rapidly.
So if you were to say something
in a really broad Suffolk accent
what would it sound like?
Well let's try this. -: Okay.
Just imagine that your out for a walk with your dog
and you meet a youngster coming across the bridge
and he's a bit scared,
and you say, "Come on boy you'll be alright."
And he'll look at you and he'll say,
"I doesn't misses."
I doesn't misses?
That means, "I daren't."
He might then ask, "Do it bite?"
Mm-hmm.
And you would then say, "Ho bah."
Ho ba. -: Bah.
Bah. -: That's it.
Ho bah. -: Ho bah.
Which means friend or neighbor.
Oh.
That 'on't touch ya.
Almost ( both laugh)
Ho bah, that 'on't touch ya.
That's it very good. -: Ya
Ya let's keep it moving alright
I feel like I'm communing with my ancestors.
Whether they'd be able to understand me
or not is another matter.
Bu bye Bye
(mellow music)
I could natter to Neil all day but Billie's eager
to get going, and there's lots more traditions
and landscape of Constable country for us discover.
That's good wasn't it.
(cheerful music)
Jessie heel.
I'm 2 miles into my walk in Windsor Great Park,
with Jessie and Scout my 2 very energetic cocker spaniels.
Heel Scout, Scout, Jessie.
Scouts the latest edition to our family,
and at just 4 and 1/2 months, she's excitable.
But I don't want to wear her out so time
to take things down a notch.
But next stop on our little tour of
Windsor Great Park is The Valley Gardens.
From what I'm told some of
the finest gardens in the country.
I've never even heard of them,
so we're going to see what it's all about.
(cheerful string music)
Scout and Jessie have to be kept on a tight lead here
because it's full of exotic plants from around the world
that demand careful human, not doggy attention.
How do you do?
One of the people making sure they get it
is gardener Harvey Stevens.
Oh lovely to be here, what a special spot.
Such a beautiful part of the park, but and yet so quiet,
it's as if we're the only people here.
Ya absolutely the Valley Gardens are a tranquil gem
here within Windsor Great Park.
It must be a pretty special place to work.
It's a ever so special.
I keep pinching myself almost each day.
The estate has team of almost 180 staff,
that look after the building the forests,
as well as the gardens.
The Valley Gardens are spread over
250 acres of carefully manicured woodland.
Bursting with color in spring and summer,
it's home to national collections of ornamental plants
including rhododendron and hydrangea.
And as any gardener worth their wellies will tell you,
there's always something that needs to be done.
Obviously what your doing here is on such a big scale,
and you must be thinking almost sort of generationally.
Ya, we are, ya constantly whilst we have
daily weekly planning and that kind of thing.
A lot of the time is spent looking at the horizon,
and looking at the skyline and thinking of trees
that are gonna be on that skyline in 50, 100 years time.
Strictly speaking, Harvey's boss
is the Duke of Edinburgh.
And his royal highness takes a hands on,
clean fingered approach.
It's wonderful to have the royal family
take such an interest in everything
that goes on here within the park.
He knows it very well?
He knows it extremely well,
and is regularly down in the office.
Just checking out what's going on
in a particular part of the park.
To have that support and interest being shown
by members of the royal family,
is the icing on the cake really for the job here at Windsor.
I think you've got a new friend.
Jessie what about me.
It's just the most awe inspiring place to wander around.
The dogs and I have just had a complete ball.
It is a magical place for dogs to enjoy.
Lots of lovely natural scents and that kind
of thing for them to all pick up on.
Well very nice to meet you Harvey,
thank you for your time, we must continue on our walk.
Come on you two.
(light hearted string music)
Relaxing here has give me
and the girls a much needed breather.
Now leaving the gardens, they can come off the lead
as we continue to explore this princely park.
On Mull, Clive Anderson and his dog Albert
are a mile into their walk .
Actually Albert is an old hand at television,
we met 9 years ago on a TV dog training show.
We didn't win, he was a bit too excitable for dog training,
or maybe that was me.
But I got to keep him afterwards.
Come on Albert.
He certainly loves walks, almost as much as he loves food.
(adventurous music)
As we continue through the lush greenery,
it's easy to forget what a harsh environment this can be.
But for generations people peeked out a living here,
in a place they were happy to call home.
Alright, that's top of the valley, the glen I suppose.
There's some building, what a great place to live.
I mean obviously nobody lives here anymore
because all the buildings are in ruin.
This is the abandoned settlement of Penalbanach.
This ghostly deserted village used to be on the patch
covered by retired wildlife ranger Steve Erven.
Until when was that occupied would you say?
They were built in about 1850/1860, and only lasted
up until about the 1920's, you know they were vacated.
Yes.
Impoverished sheep farmers left
to be eventually replaced by forestry.
But that was just the latest chapter
in the struggle to live off this rain soaked land.
(mellow acoustic music)
In the early 1800's people here harvested kelp
from the seashore, and then crafters
were forced to make way for sheep during
the infamous highland clearances.
How many people were living on Mull
at the height of its population would you say?
I think at the height was around about the 10,000 mark,
all over Mull and that was going down quite substantially.
10,000 down to what?
Well we're about down to 3,000,
3 and a half now, I would think you know.
It was hard, hard for these peoples.
And they had to go off to Canada or America?
Well some moved on down to Tobermorry,
you know to get off the land.
But through time some of them did immigrate.
Well now they come back as tourists.
Well that's right.
Making a bug instead of a golf club or whatever they do.
(both laugh)
This place is a stark reminder of how life moves on,
and It's now time for Albert and me to do the same thing,
leaving the stunning views of Ardmore behind us.
This is a marvelous place for a dog walk,
because Albert can run wild and free.
And when you see the world through his eyes,
it all looks a lot of fun.
But he better save some of that energy for later.
Next in Windsor Great Park, Jessie
and Scout are also in an excited mood
as we head to meet doggy royalty.
Is there a noun for a collection of corgis
A squirm I think.
A squirm of corgis!
And in Suffolk, Billie and I plow on
through the fields to meet a piece
of living Suffolk history.
(calm music)
I'm taking in the big skies
and rugged coastline of Mull with my dog Albert.
And Jessie, Scout and I are discovering the ancient woods,
exotic gardens and sweeping park lands
that put the great into Windsor Great Park.
While in Suffolk my lovable Labrador Billie
and I, are following in the footsteps
of the great landscape painter John Constable.
It's funny to think we're walking the same
couple of miles the young painter would
have taken every day on his way to school.
Perhaps bunking off lessons at the picture perfect
Dedham grammar, to head out into the country to sketch.
In his day this area would have been alive
with agricultural workers, and the huge Suffolk punch horses
which appear in many of his oils.
Apparently the breed is critically endangered
and it's only survived because
of a group of dedicated enthusiasts.
I used to ride ponies as a girl but I don't think
I could've handled one of these horses.
They're the oldest of Britain's native horse breeds
and can weigh nearly a ton.
Our walk takes us past a farm
where there's a thriving example.
And he's with his handler Bruce Smith
of the Suffolk Punch Trust.
Hi Bruce, it's really nice to meet you,
and who's this amazing chap?
This is Colony Oaken.
Uh huh, and this build, I mean how high is he?
He's about 17 and a half hands.
Wow, why do you think it's so important
to take care of the Suffolk Punch horses?
Say, because it's critically endangered
on the rare breeds list, because nobody needs them,
farmers don't need them anymore.
Does anyone ride these?
They have started doing that, yes.
Which is good because it does give another market.
Yes.
This is the problem there's no good breeding,
what you can't sell, and if farmers don't need them anymore.
By introducing them into riding classes,
more people are buying them for that.
Ya.
Specially bred for their power and stamina,
these horses have been part of Suffolk life for centuries.
With farmers reputations resting
on who can produce the very best.
When he's being got ready for a show the raffy
or the bess is plaited up with this
traditionally Suffolk way of doing it.
Ya.
And they have the flights,
and each farm would've had their own color.
Ah, so what's the significance of the gold and blue then?
They'd be our colors, for the Suffolk Punch Trust.
Billies used to a simple collar,
but the Suffolk Punch needs something far more elaborate.
And what's this huge piece of kit round his neck.
Oh the collar?
Ya.
This collar is made to protect the horses shoulders,
so when he's plowing or something like that,
it needs to be nicely padded
so he doesn't end up with a sore neck.
And each horse would've had
their own collar made to fit that horse.
It's like a pair of shoes really.
Ya.
You know your shoes wouldn't suit my feet,
my bunions in your shoes would be uncomfortable.
(Katy laughs)
And it's the same for the horse,
he got used to his own collar
and he pulled it into shape really.
Colony Oaken is certainly a fine specimen.
Suffolk punches like him were among Constables
favorite subjects, and Billie and I are now walking
towards the spot where his incredible painting
made one of them immortal.
Jessie, Scout and I are past half way
on our Windsor walk, heading for the park's southern tip.
It's new territory for all of us,
and that's one of the things I love about having dogs.
They're the perfect excuse to explore.
And up ahead there's one woody joint
that certainly calls for a further inspection.
The enormous Canadian totem pole.
Cut from a single 600 year old western red cedar,
it was given to the queen in 1958.
And at 100 feet tall, and a few faces wide,
it presents quite a spectacle.
And while I might not have been lucky enough
to meet the queen, Jessie and Scout are about
to get their own royal appointment.
(marching band music)
A parade of Her Majesties favorite breed of dog, the corgi.
Hello everybody, goodness me look at this.
Well I've got to say it's very fitting
to find a collection of corgis in a royal park, isn't it?
Isn't it ever.
Spaniels you'll probably yes a bit shy.
They're outnumbered.
Suddenly they're outnumbered by the corgis.
Diana King is chairwoman of the Welsh Corgi League.
Tell me about them as a breed, where do they come from.
They originated in Wales, there's two types,
there's the Pembroke and the cardigan.
These are Pembrokes.
All of them?
All of them.
Pembrokes and the cardigans
were both used by the welsh farmers.
The Pembrokes are used for herding the cattle,
because they're low enough to the ground
so they can nip the heels of the cattle,
and when the cattle kick back they can duck down.
Okay, okay.
And the cardigans we used for driving them to market.
I imagine Her Majesties a great
kind of ambassador for them.
Is she ever, yes.
She had her first corgi as,
I think it was a seventh birthday present.
What's a kind of typical corgis attributes?
They're very inquisitive and they're very sturdy dogs,
they can keep going they're got a lot of stamina.
If you want to go on a 10 mile hike
a corgi will keep up with you.
And is there a noun for a collection of corgis?
A squirm I think.
A squirm of corgis! (laughs) I think I like that.
It's been great meeting canine aristocracy.
Bye Bye.
But Jessie and Scout's brush with the blue bloods
has left them slightly underwhelmed.
Corgis eh?
Rather be a spaniel.
Perhaps they'll find their prince charming
the deeper into the park we go.
(relaxing Scottish music)
So far Albert and I have something of
a walk on the wild side on Mull.
I don't know what we're going to see, Tobermory.
But for the last leg of our tour we're heading into town,
more specifically into Tobermory, the islands capital.
Well it's really quite a gorgeous place, Tobermory,
it's got a natural harbor and range round
the natural harbor are some fisherman's cottages.
Painted in a variety of colors, blues, reds, everything.
Where's everything else in the west of Scotland
you find sort of white houses, bit of blue paint,
bit of black paint, but this is really quite colorful.
But it's a fine spot.
You okay with that Albert?
You're not interested are you?
Tobermory is quintessentially, Caledonian.
Say you imagine the sound of bagpipes always fills the air.
It certainly does today.
That's because the local high school band
is hoping to catch the ear
and the odd contribution of passing tourists.
Thank you very much, well done.
Thank you, you're Calum?
Yes.
Or, perhaps I should call you Mr. McClain.
Oi, it's only the kids that do that.
Ya, well maybe they're got another name for you.
What has Mr. McClain got a nickname?
None you want to share at this point.
My school in London, I studied playing the pipes.
I couldn't get beyond chanter I'm afraid,
before I parted company with the cadet force
which the band was attached to.
Do you think you'd manage a tune now?
I've tried inflating bagpipes,
it's harder than, even harder than it looks.
Many a new year I've been humiliated by a piper
getting me to try to play his pipes.
Better cover your ears Albert, this could be painful.
(bagpipe plays out of tune) (dog barks)
It's forcing this down my throat as I go.
I've done this before and it always end unhappily.
I think I'm giving up on this Mr. McClain, so sorry.
Reckon you'd play us another tune?
If you give us a donation.
Oh, fair enough, yes.
Fair point, playing as tough as this.
Anyways, thanks a lot.
Bye bye.
(bagpipes and drums play)
Without me this young band came third in its class
in the Scottish school championships,
so looks like Mull's piping future is in safe hands.
And on that happy note, Albert
and can I continue on our way.
Next in Suffolk, my journey through
Constable country reaches the ultimate destination.
Gosh well there it is.
Absolutely, you've walked into a painting.
(Triumphant music)
And Jessie and Scout get a treat,
as we head towards the jewel in Windsor Great Park's crown.
Good Girl, don't shake near me.
Thank you very much.
(cheery acoustic music)
Billie and I are on the final
and most exciting part of our 4 and a half mile walk.
While this is the heart on Constable country
and even though I've never been here before in my life,
it all seems eerily familiar.
As well as absolutely stunning.
When I was a child, my grandmother had a copy
of The Hay Wain, the artists most famous work.
And at Flat Foot Mill, we're just
a stones throw from its inspiration.
To protect Constables legacy, the area is now
looked after by the National Trust,
and I'm hoping learn more about
the man himself from Simon Peachy.
The beauty of the place really inspired him even from a boy.
It did, absolutely and when you're looking
at his painting, you're looking at
what he understood and what he appreciated
about this beautiful place.
Ya.
At the time, there was kind of a very set formula
for how you painted landscapes, but he kind of tore that up
and he actually went into the open country side,
set up his easel and painted what he saw.
He would paint in the open,
and that was quite a complex process
and by doing that he got kind of the real colors of nature,
and artists hadn't done that before his time.
And yet, people think of him as a kind of,
quintessential, english painter,
almost very traditional but that sounds like
it's not actually a very accurate representation.
Absolutely he was really, really radical for his period.
So I know that the setting for The Hay Wain
is just around the corner from here isn't it?
It is.
And I'd really like to see it.
Let's go.
Alright.
Come on then Billie.
(soft piano music)
Constable loved water, and thought
long and hard about composition.
And the bend in the river near Willy Lott's cottage,
provided the perfect inspiration.
Gosh, well there it is.
Absolutely, you've walked into a painting.
So this is The Hay Wain, the view that inspired it.
Beautiful.
So this painting was painted in 1821,
and it's so lovely that these features are recognizable.
Well there's the house.
That's right, Willy Lott's house, that's right.
The oak trees in the middle area are in the right place too.
Yes!
And you've got the mill pond right in front of us here.
And if you look there's kind of an open area of land
on the right hand side and the trees
have been deliberately thinned a bit,
so you can look at the view through.
Just as Constable saw, all those years ago.
It's just magical.
[Gentle orchestral Music)
Just like a 3D painting.
We like to think this is the original view here
and the national gallery has got the copy.
Yes, of course, and there's even a dog.
There's even a dog, we mustn't forget the dog.
Well thank you, thank you for showing me,
and thank you for preserving it.
It's been great immersing myself
in the visual pleasures of Constable country.
But next there's a treat for the ears
as the end our walk is signaled
by the bells of his birth place.
(bells ring)
St. Mary's church in east Bergholt,
is unique in having a bell cage
where the bells are swung by pure force of hand.
(bells ring)
They're doing it down here because money troubles
in the 16th century when the bell tower
was being built meant no one ever
got round to completing it.
At 4 and a quarter tons, the heaviest
5 bell set in England, keeping them in tune is no mean feat.
But Billie and I have had the most beautiful walk
through Dedham Vale in Suffolk.
This is constable country and I've seen the very place
where he painted one of his
most famous pictures The Hay Wain.
And now I'm hearing the bells
that would have sent him to bed,
and woken him up in the morning.
What a beautiful, beautiful walk we've had.
(upbeat Celtic music)
On Mull, Albert and I are also nearing our journeys end.
But there's time for one last, fishy, Scottish tale.
In 1588, a ship from the defeated Spanish armada,
the San Juan de Sicilia mysteriously sank in Tobermory bay.
And legend has it, it went down
with a hold full of treasure.
It's been a magnet for fortune hunters ever since,
and I'm hoping historian Olive Brown
can point me in the right direction.
Hello, hi, nice to meet you.
You're the expert on all
the sunken treasure that I can find.
Well it's still there possibly.
It's still there.
Possibly.
So what's on board this ship?
When it sank, nobody knew what was on board.
But maybe 50 years later, the heir Levar Gial,
was in Spain and he came across some papers in the archives
that said that onboard there was 30,000,000 of gold.
Alright.
That's a lot of money.
And 30,000,000 to reach the wreck,
Tobermory has attracted it's fair share
of deep sea divers over many years.
Let's cut to the chase on this though,
has anyone actually come up with hand fulls of gold?
No, the treasure has never been found.
But is this a little bit like the Loch Ness Monster,
is it just a myth that we like.
Yes.
Cause you've written books about it,
so you know what you're talking about.
Yes, and what we don't know
is what ever there in the first place.
Was it found really early on and put away?
Or is it still down there?
Yes, well thank you very much Olive
for explaining it all to me.
Thank you.
And I don't know if I'm inspired to do any diving,
but I might send Albert down, so see if he finds anything.
Well I hope Albert enjoys the rest of his walk.
Yes he will enjoy it, to be honest he's not a big fan
of swimming, though he will swim,
but I think going downwards
I don't think is his idea of fun.
But I'll try it out, thank you very much.
4 and a half miles in and our walk is at an end.
Come on let's have a look at the beach.
But Albert is still going strong.
So the beach beckons.
Come on Albert, come on.
Albert!
Bullion or no bullion it's a day I'll treasure.
And I'm sure so will Albert.
It's not my first visit to Mull,
but I hope it's not my last.
It's a fantastic island
and we've covered such a lot of things.
With the actually seeing the sea eagles, look at the past,
rather sad tale of the highland clearances.
And here in this fantastic colorful town of Tobermory,
and the prospect that I can just persuade Albert
to swim out a bit further and dig in the sand out there.
Well done Albert, you come right back,
go out there and we might be able to get the millions
of gold somethings from the Spanish.
Come on Albert get out, go and find it.
Gallant, Spanish money, Spanish gold, go get, go get.
Fetch, fetch, Albert.
In Windsor Jessie, Scout and I
are nearing the end of our walk in this great royal park.
It really is a dog walkers paradise, with the fresh smell,
new friend and stretch of grass around every corner.
And on a hot summers day,
there's always the chance of a quick dip.
I've put the camera on Jessie, see if you can go for a swim.
Come on Jess.
Scout you going in?
Jessie, go on, fetch in, fetch in.
Good girl, good girl.
At 8 Jessie is certainly the most experienced swimmer,
but in a game of fetch her
young friend Scout never gives up.
Good girl, good girl.
Don't shake near me, thank you very much.
With the girls now refreshed and ready to go,
we can carry on our way.
Come on you two.
That's cooled the dogs off.
Cocker spaniels love the water.
Here, Scout, is that better, is that better?
I can have an ice cream, all they can have is a swim.
Come on.
As our 3 and a half mile walk draws to a close,
the woodland starts to clear,
and we can enjoy views of one of the parks crowning glories.
Feeding into the river Bourne,
this great lake was completely drained
during the second world war, so German bombers
wouldn't recognize it's outline,
and make a beeline for Windsor castle.
And here is Virginia Water, always heard about it,
I've never seen it before.
But when it was built in 1753,
it was the largest man made lake in the country.
It is the end of my walk, but this is a good thing
because I've gotten a very tired puppy.
Little Scout, not the only tired one though,
and as dusk falls what better place to rest our weary legs
than the edge of the glistening lake with a nice cup of tea.
It's over 4 million visitors every year,
but it just doesn't feel it, because it's so big,
5,000 acres, is enough to get lost in.
Lakes and woodland and gardens and it's just a treat.
We've had a brilliant day, haven't we girls?
(orchestral music)