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HEIGHAM HOLMES – NORFOLK
In the stunning waterways of the Norfolk broads there are still secret places hidden from view. The island of Heigham Holmes is a place so secret that you can’t even see it from the water. The National Trust open the island to visitors only one day every September, otherwise the only people allowed to visit are the warden and the farmer’s grazing cows.
It’s important to plan a visit to Heigham Holmes carefully. Visitor numbers are strictly limited on the open day as this is an important nature reserve. For more information please contact the National Trust for the East of England or the Broads Authority. -
CHALK SPRINGS – LINCOLNSHIRE WOLDS
The Lincolnshire Wolds aren’t well known but this gentle undulating landscape is just as picturesque as its more famous Southern neighbours. These soft hills have their own secrets - unique chalk springs. To find them you have to scramble down banks and underneath hedgerows before emerging into a magical sun dappled oasis. These fairy glens are like lost worlds in miniature.
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THE ROACHES – STAFFORDSHIRE near LEEK
On the South Western Edge of the Peak District is a sharp gritstone escarpment rising up from the landscape. Named from the French word ‘roche’ meaning rock, this ridge is known as the Roaches. Every boulder here holds a legend. Like the ‘winking man’, a rock with a gleam in its eye that’s supposed to help women get pregnant. Or the ‘bawdstone’ which you can crawl under to get the devil off your back.
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LUD CHUCH – STAFFORDSHIRE
This hidden mossy chasm is a revelation in the landscape; a rocky cleft 400 feet long and 50 feet deep. Legend has it that this crevice was made by the devil slashing the earth with his fingernail, creating a deep wound. There are tales that many of history’s renegades took refuge in Lud Church and it’s fairly certain that in the Fifteenth Century one group of runaways did hide here. The Lollards were religious dissenters, widely condemned as heretics. On the run from their oppressors this is where they met and worshipped in secret.
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RUDYARD LAKE – STAFFORDSHIRE MOORLANDS
Near Lud Church, the river Dane flows down into Rudyard Lake. At first glance, this landscape appears beautifully natural but in fact, it’s man made and that’s not the only way in which appearances are deceptive. Now a quiet backwater, this was once a tourist mecca with over 25,000 visitors a day. Amongst those thousands of tourists two fell in love and married in 1865. They named their first born after the lake. He became one of Britain’s greatest writers. Rudyard Kipling.
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MIDDLETON MOOR AND MINE – DERBYSHIRE
On the vast beautiful expanse of Middleton moor there’s little to betray the secrets below. A winding wheel and a perfectly shaped hollow in the ground are the only clues you get. Hidden under the moor is the only limestone mine in the UK. This limestone was prized for its purity and the mine once produced 120,000 tonnes of it a year. The mine closed in 2005 but it’s left its mark on the moor above.
In the 1970’s two sections of the mine collapsed causing a huge shift in the landscape. On the moor the earth moved to form an almost perfectly shaped hollow, an epitaph to the rockfall in the mine below. -
CWM IDWAL – SNOWDON
Snowdonia National Park is one of Britain’s great treasures and this imposing peak draws over half a million visitors a year, but there’s a secret on these slopes that few ever stop to enjoy. The hanging gardens of Cwm Idwal. This is the most southerly place in Britain where arctic plants still grow. At 2000 feet rose root, mossy saxifrage and even a mountain ash cling on to the edges of these chilly crags. It’s a lost world and a hidden gem.
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BOSHERSTON LILY PONDS – PEMBROKESHIRE
Tucked away behind Broadhaven beach is one of Pembrokeshire’s unexpected treasures. Hidden behind the rugged coastline is a genteel world of water lilies. These eighty acres of pond are all man made, created in the Eighteenth Century by the Earls of Cawdor who once owned the valley. They wanted a garden pond on a grand scale and they got one. Now the water lilies burst into bloom each June, a beautiful contrast to the dramatic and rocky coast beyond.
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CASTLEMARTIN – PEMBROKESHIRE
Castlemartin Firing Range is just one of many places where the army practice their manoeuvres. Home to some of the finest sea cliffs in the country it’s a Range with spectacular views. Like other MoD ranges, Castlemartin isn’t always open to visitors but when it is, it’s worth the wait.
This eight mile stretch of coast offers climbers of all levels a chance to get close to nature. The sea has created cracks, gullies and overhangs in the limestone cliffs – a climber’s paradise. It’s a doorway to a different world. A vertical landscape to share with the seabirds.
It’s important to plan a visit to Castlemartin carefully. Visitors should consult both the MoD’s website and the bylaws to check on range activity. Range warning signs should be obeyed at all times.
Credits
- Presenter
- Matt Baker
- Presenter
- Julia Bradbury
- Producer
- Sarah Gibbs
- Executive Producer
- Bill Lyons
