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| | | From Shetland to the Scilly Isles, Open Country travels the UK in search of the stories, the people and the wildlife that make our countryside such a vibrant place. Each week we visit a new area to hear how local people are growing the crops, protecting the environment, maintaining the traditions and cooking the food that makes their corner of rural Britain unique.
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This week Helen's in the Lake District in the rain. But this doesn't stop her discovering a real "good news" story. For the second time in 150 years the wild ospreys overlooking Bassenthwaite (the only ones in England) have produced chicks - and for the first time they have twins. Ospreys are one of the world's most spectacular and popular raptors, famed for its dramatic fishing technique of plunging into water with wings swept back, talons thrust forwards at the last minute to snatch a fish below the surface. Helen meets Graeme Prest of the Forestry Commission who's been involved with the project team involved with the ospreys from the start. Bird watching is his hobby, and he has helped to build the artificial nest, manage view points and is thoroughly excited at the new chicks. The chicks are little balls of fluff at the moment, but growing fast. They are fed on high protein fish and are expected to fledge in August. The nest has to be protected, but it's possible to watch the birds through high-powered telescopes from a safe distance - and pictures are being beamed to a visitor centre and to the internet.
Lake District Osprey Project
Seeing the white dots of sheep on the fells is as much part of the Cumbrian scenery as the fells themselves. And after the culls for FMD, re-stocking has done much to restore this familiar sight. But if Pat Bentley has her way, you will come to expect to see the landscape covered in alpacas. She went on holiday to Peru in 1974 and fell in love with an alpaca outside the walls of Cousco City. Smitten with their lovely soft fleece and gorgeous eyes, Pat decided that when she retired she would breed alpacas, and that's what she now does. Helen visits her at the Alpaca Centre at Stainton near Penrith and learns that these peaceful creatures with their wonderfully strange mooing sounds, are a kind of South American camel, but they're just as happy on the heights of Cumbria as they are in the High Andes.
The Alpaca Centre
Blackmore Vale Alpacas
There can't be anyone who's been out walking in Cumbria who hasn't tasted Kendal Mint Cake. Helen visits the tiny factory (naturally, near Kendal!) where Romney's of Kendal have been making the confectionery by hand for four generations. The famous hiker's snack was developed by accident - the ingredients are the same as in transparent mints and it's believed that the sugar boiler in charge of the mixture stirred the liquid for too long and made it cloudy. Rather than deciding to throw it away, he poured it into the copper pan and it set - and hence the mint cake was discovered. It was Shane Barron's grandfather who really spotted the gap in the market and in 1953 he offered it to Sir Edmund Hillary's Everest expedition. Hillary was quoted as saying: "We sat on the snow and looked at the country far below us…we nibbled Kendal Mint Cake." A member of the successful Everest expedition wrote: "It was easily the most popular item on our high altitude ration - our only criticism was that we did not have enough of it." It has remained very popular with walkers because no matter if it's boiling hot weather or freezing cold, the Mint Cake and its texture remains consistent. The sweet is still made in the old-fashioned way in small batches, using 80 year old copper pans. And Helen discovers the power of mint essence when it's added to boiling sugar!
Romney's of Kendal
C R Ashbee wrote that 'the proper place for the Arts and Crafts is in the country'. So Helen visits Blackwell House - one of England's most important surviving houses from the turn of the 20th century. Designed by M H Baillie Scott between 1897 and 1900, it's an excellent example of Arts & Crafts architecture. The Movement developed in 19th-century Britain as a rebellion against the fashion for inventive sham and over-elaborate design and as an attempt to reverse the growing dehumanisation of work in society. It was based on simple forms, truth to materials and the use of nature as the source of pattern. Young London-based architects were inspired by the ideas of John Ruskin and William Morris. They founded the Art Workers' Guild in 1884 to break down barriers between architects, artists, designers and makers. The Movement included both the romanticising of rural life and an attempt to preserve its surviving heritage. Cherry Trelogan has been involved in the restoration of Blackwell house. She shows Helen around and explains that under the influence of Ruskin, who had a house nearby, the Lake District became a centre for Arts and Crafts practitioners - traditional rural crafts were restored, and new ones developed, to international acclaim.
Blackwell House
And it's not just the fells and lakes that make up the Cumbrian landscape - the forests are important too. But psychologists have told the Forestry Commission that folklore, fairytales and films like the Blair Witch Project have been causing tourists to steer clear of woods. So work is being carried out to brighten up the forests - it means the appearance of cleared paths, neatly manicured glens and strategically placed water features. One of the first woodland makeovers has taken place at Grizedale Forest (the largest forest within the Lake District) and recreational manager Penny Nock explains to Helen that they have started developing more areas where people can feel safe, with dappled shade and open areas where flowers such as bluebells can spread. And to lessen people's fear from all things scary they've set up an education programme to introduce children, particularly those not used to playing unsupervised, to the forest.
Forestry Commission
Grizedale Forest Park
This week's competition
Apart from Mint Cake, Kendal is also associated with a particular colour - what is it?
Last week's competition winner is Mrs Pia Reynolds of Harpenden, who correctly said that the Woodland Trust was founded by Kenneth Watkins in 1972.
Submit your entry by emailing [email protected] -->
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