Heart of the Country [Programme 217]

Description

For the first item Sophie Aldred reports from Carsington Water in Derbyshire about the use of sheep to maintain grassland. The sheep are transported by boat to islands on the reservoir where they eat the grass in a more natural way than using a powered mower. Sophie talks to the naturalist Colin Green, John Wiilson who is described as the 'sheep mariner', and sheep farmer Pete Oldfield. We see the sheep in their boat crossing the water and then shots of them trying to make a break for it by swimming back to the shore.

The next item from Laura Martin is about Bottesford church in Leicestershire which is claimed to be the most haunted in the country. The church contains the tombs of the Duke of Rutland's ancestors and includes a plaque which mentions witchcraft claiming two of their lives which has led to much interest amongst visitors. Reverend Geoffrey Spencer talks about his concerns about the increase in interest in witchcraft. Historian Michael Honeybone tells the story which begins with three women worked at Belvoir Castle in the seventeenth century. When one was accused of stealing bedding the trio were dismissed and it is then alleged that they took their revenge by witchcraft. They were arrested and confessed. Shots of Belvoir Castle and Bottesford Church including the tombs plus reconstructions of three women in costume using a buried cursed glove to kill one of the sons of the Duke of Rutland. The Duke of Rutland talks about the alleged curse on his family. Exterior of the Dr Fleming Hospital in Bottesford which was dedicated to women, apparently in honour of the witchcraft connection. Churchwarden Reg Boyce talks about still hearing ghostly voices in the church.

Next Wendy Leavesley looks at the legend of mermaids in Shropshire. She visits Bomere Pool near Condover where storyteller Richard Walker tells the tail. We also see a statue of a mermaid at Quarry Park. Historian Jean Hughes also talks about another legend at Child's Ercall involving a mermaid offering a block of gold. Brief shot of Condover Hall and shots of a woman dressed as a mermaid alongside Bomere Pool.

For the next item Tony Francis visits Chinnor in Oxfordshire and drops in at the Bird in Hand pub where he talks to a group of older men playing dominoes. The pub is notorious locally for putting on afternoon strip shows featuring 'exotic dancers'. Tony talks to drinkers in a rival pub and to people in the street about the unsavoury image of the pub. There are also some covertly filmed shots of men entering the pub for the session and women arriving who are presumed to be the performers.

For the final item Wendy Leavesley visits the Royal Oak pub at Wetton in Derbyshire which hosts the toe wrestling 'world championships'. She talks to Brian Holmes who explains the rules and to champion Alan Nash. She also talks to local man Bill Gates, a former school teacher who has become the King of Redonda, an uninhabited island in the Caribbean by an obscure and disputed hereditary link and is now known as King Leo. Demonstration of toe wrestling in the pub. Wendy then meets Michael Peach in his nearby brewery who makes a beer for the pub called Ankle Cracker.

Credits

Camera: Tony Freeman; Pete Smith; Ian O'Donoghue; Barry Gregory; Chris Weaver
Sound: Michael O'Flynn; Gordon Nightingale; Brian Greene; Dennis Fitch
VT Editors: Justin Eely; Peter Mason; Glyn Shakeshaft
Graphics: Martin Greenbank
Dubbing: Robin Ward
Research: Holly Tatham
Co-ordinator: Sue Freeman
Reporters: Sophie Aldred; Wendy Leavesley; Laura Martin
Location Directors: John Dickinson; Fran Groves
Series Producer: Tony Francis

Notes

Production number CEN/25820/015