Original subtitles

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- Our journey begins in the port of Avonmouth

on the Bristol Channel.

Before following the river

to the historic city and port of Bristol itself.

Our journey then heads south

towards the Mendip Hills

and one of England's greatest natural treasures,

Cheddar Gorge, the largest canyon in the country.

We'll then continue south to explore the Somerset levels,

an area of wetlands that have been inhabited by man

for half a million years.

We cross the sandstone hills of the Quantocks

before passing over the resort town of Minehead

and into the Exmoor National Park

and its dramatic coastline of wooded cliffs

and sandy beaches.

We then cross the park to the north Devon coast

and the picturesque,

world famous hillside village of Clovelly,

where our journey ends.

On the Severn Estuary at the mouth of the River Avon,

lies a small town called appropriately enough Avonmouth.

The port here was first opened in 1877

and today is one of the UK's major facilities of its kind

for chilled foods.

Another vital commodity that comes in is coal

and Avonmouth has the capacity to unload

10,000 tons a day.

The port was created here to compete

with the success of Liverpool

as larger 19th century ships could not get up to Bristol

through the narrow Avon gorge.

And spanning the gorge,

as it has done for more than 150 years,

is the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Designed by the great Victorian engineer

Isambard Kingdom Brunel,

it suffered a number of setbacks on its way to completion,

including the Bristol riots

which erupted only days after its construction began

in June of 1831.

As a result of these delays,

Brunel, sadly, did not live to see his masterpiece finished,

it was completed as his memorial

and finally opened with a grand ceremony

on the 8th December 1864.

It has stood as the very symbol of Bristol ever since.

Renowned for its beauty,

the bridge has also played host to a number

of significant events including the very first

modern bungee jump in 1979.

And despite being built to accommodate

19th century horse drawn carriages,

Clifton Suspension Bridge is still today

able to meet the needs of the four million cars

that cross it each year.

The largest city in the South West of England

is the newly revitalized Bristol.

Thanks in part to its most infamous son,

the mischievous street artist known only as Banksy,

what began as a simple port town

has in recent decades,

become a thriving artistic center

with a rich connection to its own exciting history.

And one of the most beautiful pieces of that history

is the S.S. Great Britain.

She now stands as a floating museum

in the dock where she was built in the 1840s.

The first iron hull steamer to cross the Atlantic.

Not far from the city proper is the village of Clifton.

With its hilltops crowned by picturesque rows

of curving Georgian terraces.

This former spa resort

remains Bristol's most elegant suburb.

Rising out of the lush green forests of North Somerset,

a few kilometers south west of Bristol

is the stunning gothic revival house

known as Tyntesfield.

This fairytale like mansion,

punctuated by frequent pinnacles and turrets

actually began life as a simple hunting lodge,

but was transformed into a luxurious country house

in the 1860s by businessman William Gibbs

after he purchased the land 30 years earlier.

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This tour de force of 19th century architecture

remained virtually unknown to the outside world

until very recently.

In 2002, with the death of Tyntesfield's last owner,

Richard Gibbs, the entire estate was in danger of collapse

and may have been once again, lost to private wealth

or even demolished had the National Trust

not swept in at the eleventh hour to purchase the mansion

and restore it to its former glory.

And only 10 days after the purchase,

Tyntesfield was open to the public

so all could experience the wonder

of this hidden treasure house from the Victorian age.

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Nearby is the hill fort Cadbury Camp.

The picturesque grass embankments

encircling approximately 28,000 square meters

are manmade fortifications.

The exact details of the origin

of this iron age hill fort are unknown.

But it's believed to have been constructed

by the local Dobunni tribe in the 6th century B.C.

Archeological discoveries of the camp

have indicated that the site was inhabited

well before the fort was built,

dating it back to the last days of the stone age.

Just to the south west on the shores of the Severn estuary

is the resort town of Clevedon and its historic pier.

Stretching across the water for 312 meters,

this magnificent structure was built

from 370 tons of man handled wrought iron

and officially opened to the public

on Easter Monday 1869.

Thanks to a pain staking restoration,

the pier continues to be a popular place

for visitors to stroll along

and anglers to leisurely while away the days.

Traveling south we continue to the breathtaking

limestone cliffs of Cheddar Gorge.

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Carved into the landscape by the waters of melting glaciers

during the last Ice Age,

this is the deepest natural canyon in England.

Rising in some places as high as 138 meters above the road

that snakes through the nearly five kilometer long ravine.

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The cliffs that comprise the gorge

offer some 350 officially graded rock climbing routes.

There are caves in the rock face

and several are open to the public.

And it was in one of these in 1903

that Briton's oldest complete human skeleton was found.

Simply named Cheddar man,

it was shown to be 9,000 years old.

But carbon dating points to the caves

having been inhabited for many thousands of years

before he lived and died here.

Today Cheddar Gorge is visited

by more than half a million people each year

and regularly included in virtually every list

of Britain's greatest natural attractions.

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These are the Somerset levels.

They are very flat and largely below sea level.

And one of England's largest natural wet lands

covering 70,000 hectares across the county of Somerset.

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The Romans were the first to build flood defenses

digging an intricate network of channels and ditches

to drain the levels and protect the land

from the tides of the Severn estuary.

In the Middle Ages,

it fell to monks from nearby monasteries

to draw off the waters and manage the land.

In the 17th century,

Dutch engineers took over the complex job

and today the levels are maintained by drainage boards

and local farmers.

At the mouth of the River Parrett and Bridgewater Bay

is the popular resort of Burnham-on-Sea.

Until the arrival of the railway in 1858,

Burnham was little more than a few cottages and a church.

But by the 1860s,

this sleepy seaside village had woken up to a new identity

as a holiday destination.

Also on the north Somerset coast

is the decommissioned Hinckley Point nuclear power station

which was built in 1965.

In late 1999, Hinckley Point was shut down

following a safety review.

But a new plant will be brought to life here in 2023

and which will remain in operation for another 60 years.

Inland from the coast are the majestic sandstone hills

called the Quantocks.

Drawing a 19 kilometer crescent along the edge of Somerset.

A mixture of valleys, moors and ancient wilderness,

they have been designated

as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

and are beloved by hikers and cyclists

who come by their thousands each year

to explore this beautiful landscape,

including pristine summits and deep woods.

All of which have been inhabited since pre-historic times.

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This is the West Somerset Railway.

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It was originally opened in 1862

to accommodate journeys between Taunton and Watchet.

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Four to six trains carried passengers and cargo

along this route for more than 100 years

until the line was closed in 1971.

Only five years later,

it was re-opened as a private concern

and today it remains the longest

standard gauge heritage railway in the United Kingdom.

Perched dramatically on a wooded hill overlooking the coast

is Dunster Castle.

This stronghold began as a simple hill fort

and has been occupied for more than a millennium,

600 years of which saw it owned by the Luttrell family.

In 1650, following a fierce siege and occupation

during the English Civil War,

Cromwell's parliamentary forces ordered

that the still defensible fortress be demolished.

200 men spent 12 days smashing the castle walls to rubble.

But fortunately, the mansion was left standing

and is now open to the public.

Moving north up the coast,

we find the seaside town of Minehead,

offering residents and visitors a cafe lined promenade,

sandy beaches and the starting point

of the nation's longest countryside walking trail.

Minehead serves as the gateway to the expansive,

uninterrupted serenity of Exmoor National Park,

one of the UK's greatest treasures.

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Here, huge wide open skies serve as a perfect backdrop

to coal black cliffs containing exposed fossils

inside sheer walls that plunge down

to the golden sand beaches and sheltered bays

of the Bristol channel.

One of the most striking vistas in Exmoor

is the pebble beach breakwater at Porlock Weir.

This is a popular hiking trail

which leads to the small harbor of the same name,

which has a history stretching back over 1,000 years

to the days of the Ango-Saxons who plundered the area.

Later centuries saw coal delivered from the Welsh mines

and in World War Two,

the surrounding forest produced thousands of pit props

which went back to Wales as coal production increased.

The Exmoor coastline is one of the most remote

in all of the UK,

stretching for nearly 60 kilometers.

It's also the highest in England and Wales

with Culbone Hill rising to 433 meters above the sea.

Tucked away here on the border between the counties

of Somerset and Devon is the secluded Glenthorne house.

Built in 1930 by the Reverend Walter Halliday

who traded his clerical collar for a fine estate

when he inherited his father's vast fortune,

the house remains in the Halliday family to this day.

A few miles to the west,

the dramatic coastline of north Devon

leads to the picturesque twin towns of Lynton and Lynmouth.

The sleepier Lynton sits atop steep, wooded cliffs

overlooking the lively seaside town of Lynmouth

nearly 200 meters below.

A water powered cliff side railway,

driven by the West Lyn River more than a mile away

connects the two villages offering a charming

and convenient mode of transport.

Renowned for their unblemished beauty,

Lynton and Lynmouth has hosted a number of legendary guests

over the years.

Including the writer C.S. Lewis

and the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Sadly, the towns have seen tragedy as well.

On the 15th August 1952,

after a day of torrential rainfall,

the powerful West and East Lyn Rivers

overflowed their banks,

crushing a number of homes in their paths.

All told, 28 souls were lost to the floodwaters that day.

Just over a kilometer from Lynton

finds us inside the extraordinary stone world

known as the Valley of the Rocks.

It's believed that this incredible panorama

was crafted by the rushing waters of the West Lyn River

which once flowed through here

before the cliffs were dissected by coastal erosion.

A different aquatic force is responsible

for these incredible rock formations.

With outstanding names like Devil's Cheese Ring

and Ragged Jack, they were sculpted by the frigid hands

of glacier runoff during the last Ice Age.

The spectacular landscape has caught the eye

of a number of great poets over the years

including William Wordsworth and Robert Southey

who described the valley's rock faces as

"the very bones and skeletons of the Earth."

Exmoor National Park is much more

than just a beautiful coastline

as it encompasses a unique combination of moors,

forests, valleys and farms.

It was designated as a national park in 1954

and today, not only is the land here safe guarded,

so are the skies.

In 2011, Exmoor became the first place in all of Europe

to have been awarded special protected status

by the International Dark Sky Association.

The park is also home to a wide range

of plant and animal life,

non more majestic than the red deer.

These are the largest native land mammals in the UK

and though they have survived in very few places in Britain,

here in Exmoor, they continue to flourish

as they have done since pre-historic times.

Their stronghold in the park

is owed to the fact that Exmoor was once a Royal Forest

and hunting ground.

With strict laws prohibiting any unauthorized killing

of the deer.

As we head southwest, returning to the coast,

we pass over a patchwork of farms

where more than 1,000 different types of plants and grasses

grow in much the same fashion as they have

since medieval times.

Sheep, ponies and perhaps something

more mysterious and deadly roams the tranquil farm lands.

Local legend tells of an elusive cat like creature

known as the beast of Exmoor

that has prowled these grounds for decades

feasting on livestock whenever it likes.

Back by the sea,

we find ourselves over the sandy beaches of Braunton

on the north Devon coast,

which hosts the nation's first surf museum.

These long, flat beaches most some of England's best waves

and are famous for having once hosted

more than 700 wrought iron hospital beds on the cover

of Pink Floyd's 1987 album 'A Momentary Lapse of Reason'.

Braunton's beaches also played a significant role

in military history.

It was on these very sands

that Lieutenant Colonel Paul W Thompson

trained the United States forces

in preparation for their D-Day assault

on the heavily fortified beaches of Normandy.

But the area is certainly most famous

for its spectacular network of sand dunes,

known as the Braunton Burrows.

This is the largest system of its kind

in the United kingdom.

The dunes form the core of the North Devon Biosphere Reserve

held alongside the likes of Mount Vesuvius

and the Gobi Dessert for its international significance.

With fuel running low,

we have to divert to a small heliport

close to our next location.

It's the only place for us to re-fuel

in the part of the country.

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But soon enough we're back to our journey

and its Westward Ho!

Not just a turn of phrase,

it's the actual name of this small seaside village

on the south end of northern Burrows.

Aside from its odd name,

this place is primarily known for its pristine beaches

which are backed for more than three kilometers

by the remarkable Pebble Bridge.

Composed of fine grain sandstone,

the pebbles were made of boulders

that slipped into the ocean

were rounded into cobbles by crashing waves

and deposited between Westward Ho! and the tour estuary.

The town takes its unusual name

from the title of Charles Kingsley's

1855 novel which was set in a nearby village.

The book was hugely popular at the time

and the name was chosen by crafty hoteliers

to increase tourism in the area.

The idea eventually worked.

Prior to the publication of Kingsley's novel,

the land was home to little more than a single farm

and a few scattered cottages.

But was slowly developed into the holiday destination town

it remains today.

Westward Ho! is the only town in England

with an exclamation point as an official part of its name.

Continuing along the coastline

towards our final destination,

we take another look at the dramatic cliffs and rocks

of the north Devon coast.

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In 1959, every centimeter of this shoreline

was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

to ensure its protection.

Our last stop

is at the uniquely charming village of Clovelly.

The entirety of this small fishing harbor

is built along a steep, wooded hill side

and contains only a single street,

cobble stoned and clustered with small shops

and 16th century cottages

as it winds its way down to the ancient harbor.

Though the road is less than a kilometer long,

it sharply drops 122 meters along its way,

making it too steep for automobile traffic

so donkeys remain a popular and quaint transit system

within the small village.

Also unusual is the fact that the entire village

is privately owned as it has been since the middle

of the 13th century.

In the nearly 800 years that have followed,

only three families have held the deed to this place.

Sheltered from the outside world by thick woodland

and the Bristol channel at the port,

and with a population of only 443 people,

Clovelly has remained remarkably unchanged

for several centuries.

It's a beautiful reminder that even in the modern world,

a quiet, picturesque place like this can still exist.

And it's a perfect place to end our journey.

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