Episode Four

The typically restrained English tourist guides merely described them as 'pleasant, rolling hills' that were 'ideal for all rambling enthusiasts'. That, and the 'charming, unspoilt beauty' and 'opportunities to view rare and diverse wildlife in its natural habitat' were usually enough to have the area swarming, during the summer months, with tourists from both Britain and abroad.

But what the tourist guides frequently forgot to mention was that the Cheviot Hills in Northumberland were also famous in English mythology for their connection with Arthurian history as well as the more fanciful folklore of the type Shakespeare had brought into his play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. The hills were famous for their sightings of faeries, goblins and unicorns. Many students of English legend flocked to the area to see if they could be the ones to finally photograph or paint members of the Otherworid community.

In the mid-sixties, however, a massive blot was built upon the landscape. The Darkmoor Experimental Nuclear Research Station was opened amidst a blaze of bad publicity and open hostility from nearby businesses. Partly funded by money from the private sector, the project took far longer to complete than the British Government had anticipated and after a serious assault by a terrorist gang known as the Reavers, the plant was closed down. The resulting publicity, organized jointly by the Northumberland Health Authority, CND and Greenpeace, was massive. Having been shamed, the Government agreed to leave their nuclear capabilities in the proven hands of Dungeness, Sizewell and Windscale. The plant was dismantled four years later.