Original subtitles

(wind howling)

(dramatic music)

Narrator: Seen from above,

Britain is a green and pleasant land.

Full of treasures often hidden in plain sight.

Which is the grandest?

Which is the most beloved?

Which tells us the most about this united kingdom?

The white cliffs of dover,

Scotland's great glen,

The heights of snowdonia,

Or northern ireland's remarkable giant's causeway?

We reveal the wonders that put the great

Into a nation like never before.

(light music)

(birds chirping)

(light music) (gulls cawing)

Kent's white cliffs of dover is the iconic image of britain.

The essence of the uk as a rock solid haven

Of freedom of democracy.

For 2,000 years, dover has been a gateway to britain.

Today it's one of the world's leading ferry ports.

When the roman emperor claudius sent

His galleys to invade britain, the white cliffs

Were what they saw first.

Dover castle didn't exist at that time in this form,

But the roman's would've seen the fortification

From the iron age on this site.

They added to it, and the castle's roman lighthouse

Is now the oldest building in England.

(light dramatic music) (waves crashing)

After the romans landed in southern britain in 43 a.D.,

It took them four years to conquer the tribes

Of the south and another 30 to gain control

Of the west country and wales.

This is a roman military base near the village of caerleon.

It was once home to 5,000 elite troops.

And nearby are the remains of an even greater treasure,

A great oval amphitheater.

It was built about 90 a.D.,

47 years after the romans first landed.

6,000 people were gathered here to watch gladiators

Fight to the death.

The romans were in wales for more than 300 years.

This is the first welsh town they founded,

Venta silurum, now called caerwent.

(light music)

Sections of the original city wall still exist

And are generally acknowledged to be one

Of the most perfectly preserved roman fortifications

In northern europe.

Parts are around 17 feet high.

The romans left many things.

This is arguably the most impressive.

Hadrian's wall.

It's 73 miles long, stretching from the banks of

The river tyne in the east to the solway firth in the west.

It took six years to build the limestone wall,

On the orders of emperor hadrian.

It was intended to protect the province of brittania

From the northern ancient britons.

Many believe it marks the true border

Between England and scotland.

In fact, it lies entirely within England.

Hadrian's wall was a great achievement.

But chatsworth house, in the derbyshire dales

On the river dent, would have left

The roman emperor gobsmacked.

(light music)

Occupying 35,000 acres, this family seat

Of the dukes of devonshire is repeatedly

Voted britain's best stately home.

In its heyday, chatsworth had a 126 rooms

With 40 staff looking after the family's every whim.

It's sad two window cleaners work continuously,

Day-in and day-out,

To maintain a pristine view of the dales.

Chatsworth's 100-acre garden was redesigned

By capability brown, britain's foremost landscape

Architect in the 18th century.

At the time, 100 gardeners kept the grounds neat and tidy.

And there is a gemstone within the treasure,

Though a relatively modern one.

This maze is made up of 1200 small yew trees.

It was created in 1962 for the 11th duke of devonshire.

Not all stately homes of the aristocracy are houses.

This one is a palace, blenheim.

It's the principal residence of the dukes of marlborough.

Blenheim is set in about 2,000 acres

Of oxfordshire parkland, in woodstock,

And is a world heritage site with over 300 years of history.

It's also the only house in England to be given

The title palace other than the royal family

Or anglican church.

Blenheim has 187 rooms.

Its english baroque architecture is sought after

By tourists and movie-makers alike.

James bond's "spectre" and "transformers - the lake knight"

Were filmed here.

Blenheim is also the birthplace of britain's

Most revered modern wartime leader,

Sir winston churchill.

As prime minister during world war ii,

Churchill made this iconic palace his second home.

Originally built for the duke of buckingham in 1703,

Buckingham palace has been the official london residence

Of the reigning monarch since the days of queen victoria.

And seeing the 11 a.M changing of the guard

From this vantage point makes it all the more impressive.

(light music)

In the 13th century, the monarch of the day, edward I,

Chose leeds castle as his favorite residence.

Often called the loveliest castle in the world,

It was built on islands in a lake near maidstone in kent.

Dating back to norman times,

It has more than 900 years of history.

And like chatsworth house, it also has a maze made

Of yew trees, 2,400 of them, set in a square

Representing a queen's crown.

This was once the home of catherine of aragon,

First wife of king henry viii, and queen of England.

But it's not just England that boasts castles

Fit for queens and kings.

In fact, the part of the uk with more castles

Than any other country in the whole of europe is wales.

Cardiff castle, in the heart of the welsh capital,

Was also built by the normans as early as 1081,

15 years after william the conqueror invaded England.

This castle, like many others,

Is a mixture of medieval and modern.

In the 19th century, the great victorian architect,

William burgess, added new towers, a roof garden,

And this magnificent clock tower.

In north wales, one particular group of castles

Was constructed with a less glamorous

And more strategic mission.

Caernarfon castle, built by edward I,

Is the medieval jewel in the crown of a group

Of eight castles, known as the ring of iron.

Caernarfon is recognized by many as one

Of the greatest buildings of the middle ages.

(triumphant music)

It was part of edward's bitter english war

With welsh princes in the 13th century.

It took 47 years to build and cost

A staggering 25,000 pounds.

(upbeat music)

This is another of edward's ring of iron castles

In north wales, harlech.

It lies almost 30 miles along the coast from caernarfon,

On a spur of rock near the irish sea.

It took 20 years to build,

But cost edward a mere 8,000 pounds,

At least eight million pounds in today's money.

Edward's castles helped him defeat the princes

And put an end to welsh independence,

Paving the way for wales to become

Part of the united kingdom.

(light music)

(light music)

Scotland can also lay claim to castles

That are national treasures.

One of the smallest, but most beautiful,

Lies on a tiny island in loch leven,

Just north of edinburgh.

Its claim to fame is that in 1567,

It was used as a prison for mary queen of scots.

She was held there for almost a year,

And complained it was not fit and proper

For someone of her rank.

She eventually managed to escape,

But 20 years later was beheaded in England.

Loch leven castle can claim to be one

Of britain's smallest castles.

But back in north wales, near colwyn castle,

Is britain's smallest house.

(playful music)

Quay house, as it's known, was built in the ancient castle

Walls in the 16th century and remained in use until 1900.

Its last owner was a six foot three fisherman,

Who moved out because he couldn't stand up

In any of the rooms.

(dramatic music) (waves crashing)

(light music)

Northern ireland has its fair share

Of breathtaking castles.

In county antrim, dunluce castle rests on

The steep cliffs overlooking the atlantic.

"game of thrones" fans know it as the fictional

"house of greyjoy," the great castle of pike.

(dramatic music)

Long ago, dunluce was the stronghold of

The irish and scottish clans, mcdonnel and macdonald.

Today it's protected as a national monument.

Dunluce is also said to have inspired the writer,

C.S. Lewis, when he created the capital

Of the kingdom of narnia.

"game of thrones" enthusiasts will recognize

This evocative coastline as one

Of the show's seven kingdoms, "westeros".

This is one of the most beautiful

And impressive parts of the uk.

And it features at least one seascape that would qualify

As a top national treasure, the giant's causeway.

(dramatic music)

One of the most distinctive rock formations on earth,

The causeway was formed around 60 million years ago

During a volcanic eruption.

There are around 40,000 interlocking lava columns

That have been weathered by wind and waves

Into this dramatic landscape.

It's northern ireland's only world heritage site.

Legend has it that the causeway is what's left

Of a land bridge between ireland and scotland.

It was created by a good irish giant,

Finn mccool, after he was challenged to a fight

By a bad scottish giant, benandonner,

Who wanted to levy high taxes on the irish.

The myths has it that mccool was the winner

And the causeway was his legacy.

(light music)

The causeway also has another unique feature.

One of the uk's smallest railways links it

With the historic town of bushmills,

The oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world,

Founded in 1608.

The giant's causeway is not the only landmark

To have ancient myths and legends attached.

Britain is full of places that have inspired writers

And creative geniuses.

(dramatic music)

One of the most enduring legends of them all

Is said to have begun here in north cornwall,

In tintagel castle, on this dramatic headland.

Here, according to medieval folklore,

King arthur was conceived with a little help

From the equally mythical magician, merlin.

The legend of camelot resonates to this day.

The story of the chivalrous knights of the round table,

Arthur's magical sword, excalibur,

And the search for the holy grail.

(dramatic music) (waves crashing)

The real tintagel castle was built by

The fabulously and wealthy richard, earl of cornwall

Between 1225 and 1233.

But the legend of king arthur ensures it's on

The bucket list of many who visit the west

Of England every year.

(gulls cawing)

Tintagel may have a devoted fan base,

But glastonbury tor, in somerset,

Is a destination for those on a more spiritual quest.

This is where, it's said, the holy grail,

The cup used by jesus at the last supper, was once located.

Saint michael's tower is all that remains

Of a 14th century church.

The tor is one of britain's most ancient

And spiritual sites where pagans and christians

Have worshiped for centuries.

According to arthurian legend, this was the isle of avalon,

Where arthur slept, ready to return to his people

In their hour of need.

(light music)

In the very heart of England lies sherwood forest,

Home of mythical figure robin hood.

He hid here amongst the giant oak trees

As he stole from the rich to give to the poor

While battling the sheriff of nottingham

And evil prince john.

(light music) (birds chirping)

In the late 15th century,

When richard iii was on the throne,

Sherwood forest covered at least 100,000 acres.

Today, only around a thousand acres remain.

In 2002 it was declared a national nature reserve.

In the middle of the forest sits an ancient oak tree

Measuring 33 feet around its base.

It's so big it's been supported by scaffolding

Since victorian times.

Approximately 800 years old, this is the tree,

According to the legend, that sheltered robin

And his merry men as they slept.

Just outside of the forest, in the nottinghamshire

Village of edwinstowe, lies another landmark in the story.

It's said that here, in the church of saint mary

Built in the 12th century,

Robin hood and maid marion were married.

The peaceful north yorkshire fishing village of whitby

Attributes its modern day popularity to a novel.

It's a famous place with an infamous fictional character.

This is where, in 1890, the irish author bram stoker

Is said to have conceived one of the greatest fiends

In literature, count dracula.

(dramatic music)

The novelist was inspired by the 16th century abbey ruins,

Intrigued by the ever changing light on the walls

And the thousands of bats nesting in the shadows.

Local folklore has it that stoker randomly chose

A book from the village library

Which mentioned a mysterious transylvanian count

And envisioned a bloodthirsty vampire

Who enthralls and frightens in equal measure.

(thunder cracking) (crow cawing)

Not all of britain's legends are people.

This is loch ness.

23 miles long and nearly 800 feet deep.

It's home, so they say, to the loch ness monster,

Or "nessie" as she is more affectionately known.

Rumors of a monster in the loch first circulated in 565.

But nessie became an international sensation

In 1934 when a photograph appeared in the press,

Purportedly showing a long necked monster

Swimming in the loch.

It later turned out to be a hoax.

(dramatic music)

But that hasn't diminished the loch ness monster business

And the legend continues to draw many thousands

To the highlands every year.

(light music) (birds chirping)

Some british historical treasures

Don't just evoke the past.

They carry on in the present.

This is the village of gretna green in scotland.

Here, couples from all over britain, and the world,

Run to get married.

It's scotland's capital of romance.

It all began in the 18th century.

In England, strict marriage laws relating to age

And parental consent led to an exodus

Of couples wishing to wed.

They raced here to take advantage of scotland's

More relaxed rules.

Gretna green is just over the border.

All that's required to get legally hitched here

Is a simple declaration in front of two witnesses.

Back then, the father-of-the-bride

Was usually in hot pursuit.

The first building a couple usually reached

Upon arrival was the blacksmith's,

So the lovers quickly tied the knot here.

And although that practice is long gone,

There doesn't seem to be any letup.

Every year at least 5,000 couples from all over

The world get married at gretna green.

Great britain is not always a green and pleasant land.

When the winter months come,

Its national treasures take on a different light.

And scotland is one part of the united kingdom

That usually wears harsh winters well.

(light music)

Snow turns attractions like glencoe,

The great glen, into a vast icy amphitheater

Reminiscent of its bloody past.

It was here, in February 1692,

That soldiers under the orders of king william iii

Of England ambushed and slaughtered 38 members

Of the clan macdonald.

Many of those who escaped the massacre perished

In the snow and ice surrounding the glen.

Ever since, glencoe has been scotland's most famous glen,

But recently it's also been voted the most romantic.

Romantics in search of aquatic activities

Need not look any further than the storied loch lomond.

It's the largest loch in scotland and probably

The most well known after loch ness.

It's in a valley surrounded by wooded landscapes

All within the trossachs national park.

And this loch has its very own paddle steamer,

The maid of the loch.

It's the last of a long line of paddle boats

That worked the loch in early 19th century.

Having been left to rot for decades,

The maid has now been fully restored and relaunched

To help make this place even more romantic.

(light dramatic music)

One of the uk's 15 national parks,

The trossachs is an area of outstanding natural beauty.

It contains 700 square miles of lakes,

Woodlands, and 21 mountains.

And the daddy of them all is ben nevis.

At almost four and a half thousand feet high,

It's the number one peak in all of britain.

And this is the uk's second highest, mount snowdon.

It's the tallest in wales,

With links to the legendary king arthur.

(dramatic music)

This part of the mountain is known in welsh

As (speaking foreign language), which,

Loosely translated means grave.

(dramatic music)

In mythology, it's believed to be the final resting place

Of a fearsome giant slain by arthur.

And glaslyn lake, which lies to the east of the mountain,

Is where arthur's magical sword, excalibur, was thrown.

(dramatic music)

And where there are mountains there are waterfalls.

This one is known as one of the seven wonders of wales.

With its 240 feet of graceful, cascading water,

Pistyll rhaedr is britain's tallest waterfall.

Truly a gem, rarely seen from above.

(water splashing)

(light music)

The storied lake district is home to England's highest peak,

Scafell pike, a popular destination for walkers.

(light music)

And dominating the lake district,

What is often called the most beautiful

Lake in britain, ullswater.

This is also known as wordsworth country.

The great early 19th century romantic poet,

William wordsworth, was born here.

For many years, he lived in dove cottage at grasmere

Just north of lake windermere.

Windermere is the longest body of water in England.

Wordsworth described it as the loveliest spot

That man hath ever found.

(light music) (birds chirping)

Wordsworth spent his most productive years here.

His appreciation of nature and his devotion

To living simply and thinking deeply

Put the lake district on the map forever.

(light music)

Another famous wordsmith is william shakespeare,

Generally acknowledged as England's greatest playwright.

His birthplace, stratford-upon-avon,

Was once a small provincial elizabethan town.

Now, millions of people celebrate his life and work

By visiting the town every year.

Shakespeare was born in this humble house

On henley street in April, 1564.

Although he was raised in the town,

He didn't pen his masterpieces here.

After attending stratford's grammar school,

He left to find his fortune in london.

But he is buried here, in stratford-upon-avon's

Holy trinity church, where he was baptized.

When he died he was 52 years old

And had written more than 37 plays.

Among them, "hamlet," "macbeth," "the merchant of venice"

And "much ado about nothing."

Many of shakespeare's greatest works

Were history plays involving kings and queens

And the intrigues of british royalty.

And this, perhaps the most valuable jewel

In britain's tourist crown, was the setting

For the evil deeds depicted in shakespeare's "richard iii".

(light music)

The tower of london has existed since the middle ages,

Thanks to william the conqueror, who built the white tower.

It now belongs to britain's monarch of the day.

It's actually a royal palace,

But is better known as a fearsome fortress

With its ravens and beefeaters guarding the crown jewels.

The magnificent westminster abbey dates back

To the 11th century and edward the confessor.

It's been the setting for nearly every coronation

Since william's in 1066.

And his was on christmas day.

It's a church dedicated to worship

As well as a unique part of the pageantry of british life.

It also serves as a final resting place or memorial

For prominent citizens as well as many kings

And queens of the realm.

(upbeat music)

One future king of England commissioned

His own personal national treasure in the 18th century.

When george iv was prince of wales in 1787,

He commissioned a royal residence on

The south coast in brighton.

Now known as the royal pavilion,

His seaside retreat was built in three stages.

It was intended to invoke the spirit of india

And the british raj with architecture

In the indo-gothic style.

The domes and minarets are the work of the architect

John nash, who expanded the building in 1815.

George the iv died in 1830,

But the pavilion continued to be used by the royal family.

Finally, in 1845, queen victoria wrote to her aunt

That the people of brighton were indiscreet and troublesome.

Its days of royal glory were over.

(whooshing) (light music)

Scotland experienced centuries of royal

And parliamentary rule and all the castles, myths,

And legends that accompany it.

Scone palace, near perth, is one of scotland's

Most notable sites.

Once the center of power of the ancient kingdom of alba,

Scone was the home of the scottish parliaments.

And, for more than eight centuries,

It was the place where scotland's kings were crowned.

Not in the palace itself, but a short distance away,

Here on a grassy mount known as moot hill.

This is a replica of the stone of scone

Where the monarch stood to receive the crown.

Legend has it that the stone is sacred,

Having been used by jacob as a pillow when,

According to the bible, he beheld a vision of angels.

The replica stone is the result of royal machinations.

In 1296, edward I of England took the original

And placed it in westminster abbey

So it could be used for all coronations there.

Today, the stone of scone resides here,

In edinburgh castle, scotland's capital since 1437,

When it replaced scone.

Wales has an ancient capital too.

This is the medieval market town of machynlleth.

It was once the stronghold of rebel leader,

Owain glyndwr, a 14th century welsh patriot

Who led a revolt against England's king henry iv.

This building stands on the site of the welsh parliament

Where owain declared an independent welsh state

And was crowned prince of wales by his followers.

He was the last true welshman to claim that title.

Owain is still regarded as one

Of wales' most heroic figures.

Although rebellion failed, he was never betrayed,

And remained in hiding from the english

Until the day he died.

(water splashing)

(singing in foreign language)

Another treasured locale of wales

Is one of 50 welsh islands.

Caldey, the smallest of them all, lies in carmarthan bay.

Caldey has a long and rich history.

Some of the earliest monastic settlements

Were established here.

They were remote, protected havens

For contemplation and prayer.

Today, this tradition is maintained by a small community

Of cistercian trappist monks who

Have been here since the 1920s.

There might be only around 40 inhabitants,

But they have their own currency, known as a dab,

And also the issue their own postage stamps.

(water splashing) (gulls cawing)

It's said that caldey is a place for the soul

Where the heart of wales lies deep beneath the ground.

(light music)

Sometimes britain's national treasures

Reveal themselves after dark.

In 1879, blackpool became the first town on earth

To have a system of street lights powered by electricity.

It takes more than a million bulbs to create

This light show.

And it's fun fair and illuminations remain

A much-loved attraction to this day.

Blackpool tower, one of the north's most iconic landmarks,

Is world renowned as the location

Of tv's "strictly come dancing."

(dramatic music)

Another northern icon is the giant anthony gromley sculpture

Known as "the angel of the north".

Completed in 1998, it stands 65 feet tall on the site

Of a 200-year-old coalmine.

Made entirely of steel and weighing 150 tons,

It signifies the north's transition from

The industrial age to one of information technology.

It cost 800,000 pounds to make and is intended

To last 100 years.

When asked, "why an angel?",

Anthony gormley replied, "because no one has seen one

And we need to keep imagining them."

(light music)

J.M. Barrie had one of britain's most fertile imaginations.

Not for angels, but for peter pan,

The lost boys, and tinkerbell.

The house where he was born in 1860,

At kirriemuir in the scottish lowlands,

Has been preserved for the nation.

Barrie was moved to create peter pan

And the world of neverland following the death

Of his teenage elder brother, david,

Who was killed in an ice skating accident when j.M. Was six.

The statue of pan in the rear garden

Of the barrie house symbolizes eternal childhood.

(light music)

J.M. Barrie is one of only a handful of writers

Who've been given honorary degrees

By three of britain's universities.

Saint andrew's, sitting on the east coast of fife,

Is the third oldest university in

The english-speaking world and scotland's best known.

It became even more famous when william met kate here

And had a royal romance.

(light music)

J.M. Barrie received a degree from here in 1898.

Oxford university awarded him its honorary degree in 1926.

It is the oldest in the english-speaking world

And the world's second oldest continuous university.

This city of dreaming spires, as matthew arnold dubbed it,

Has been teaching students since 1096.

Cambridge, which gave barrie an honorary degree in 1930,

Has been going since 1209.

It started when a group of oxford scholars left

Their university after a dispute with local townspeople,

And walked the 80 or so miles to cambridge.

(light music)

Between them, oxford and cambridge have, to date,

Produced 42 british prime ministers

And 192 nobel prize winners.

Oxford leads cambridge in the prime ministerial stakes

With 20 to 14, but cambridge has a 120 nobel laureates

To oxford's 72.

Coach: Here we go, that's right.

Lovely strokes, yeah, lovely.

Lovely. (light dramatic music)

Narrator: This is port merrion,

In gwynedd, north wales.

It's a village solely for tourists,

Usually open to the public 364 days a year.

This bit of baroque Italy in wales was built

Between 1925 and 76.

In the 1960s, port merrion was used as the main location

For the cult sci-fi tv series, "the prisoner."

In it, patrick mcgoohan plays a british secret agent

Who is abducted, locked down, and given

The number six as his identity.

(light dramatic music)

In every episode he had to find ingenious ways

To escape from idyllic port merrion.

(dramatic music)

So, as we come to the end of our aerial journey

Around britain, these have been just some of the uk's

Most favorite national treasures.

We've seen manmade marvels and natural wonders.

Treasures celebrating royals and those

Who come from humble beginnings.

Legendary writers and mythical legends.

They are all part of great britain's

Rich and colorful history.