Heart of the Country [Programme 200 Version 2]

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Summary

Series about life in the countryside presented by Tony Francis.

Year:

1997

Duration:

0:25:00

Film type:

Colour / Sound

Company:

Kingfisher Television

Master format:

Digital Betacam

Description

The first item is about the author Sophia Creswell who lives and works on a canal boat on the Oxford Canal. She provides a commentary on her own feature about her lifestyle. We see her travelling along the canal, negotiating a lock, swimming, and cycling into Oxford. Inside the boat she works at a word processor. At Blackwell's bookshop in Oxford we see copies of her novel 'Sam Golod' and she talks about her experiences living in St Petersburg, Russia which inspired the book.

Next Tony Francis looks at the practice of putting the clocks back in the autumn. At Hoveringham in Nottinghamshire he talks to farmer Philip Plowright who likes the daylight saving change. We see him working in a field driving a machine that is lifting sugar beet. Then on Fernhill Farm at Colston Bassett Tony talks to dairy farmer Bill Hanbury who is less bothered by the change as he always starts milking his cows at 4.00am and the clocks changing makes no difference. We see the cows being milked and the milk which is destined for the nearby Stilton cheese factory. Vox pops with people on the street in Southwell about the clocks changing. Tony's next stop is the British Horological Institute at Upton Hall near Newark where we see their collection of antique clocks. He talks to curator Elliott Isaacs about the historical introduction of daylight saving during the First World War and the way the coming of the railways standardised British time (sepia tinted shots of trains on the Severn Railway line are used here).

For the next report Laura Martin visits the Vale of Evesham for an item about the traditional plum harvest which is thought to be in terminal decline. Shots of people picking plums in an orchard and a wild crop alongside a road. B/w stills of the industry and plum grower Walter Martin. Roy Jaynes talks about the history of the local crop. Views of Pershore town centre where the first local plum fair was being held. Laura talks to Ann Nicholas who shows how to make a plum flan, plum farmer Paul Hayward about the state of the industry, and John Edgeley of the horticultural society.

The final item is a repeat of a report from 1995 in which Anna Soubry met Roland Hoggart from Thurgarton in Nottinghamshire who collects and maintains clocks. We see Roland in his workshop with his collection of antique railway clocks. We then follow him as he journeys into Lincolnshire to maintain a number of village church clocks. He cycles to Thurgarton station, boards the train and gets off at Swinderby. Shots of him cycling past the closed RAF Swinderby and on to the village of Aubourn where he carries out work on the church clock. Next, he goes to South Hykham and examines the church clock. Finally we see him back in Thurgarton village where we see the ruins of the local priory and the village church.


Credits

Camera: Steve Trinder; Ian O'Donoghue; Roger Hough
Sound: Roger Guest; Brian Greene; Craig Barlow; Christian Allen
VT Editors: Justin Eely; Peter Mason; Saul Prolze
Dubbing: Robin Ward
Research: Holly Tatham; Jill Fraser
Reporters: Tony Francis; Laura Martin; Anna Soubry
Location Directors: Laura Martin; Judie Kellie
Series Producer: Tony Francis


Notes

Production number CEN/00938/2030