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The Source of the Thames
The lifeblood of the South East, the River Thames supplies drinking water to one quarter of the UK population, and along its course from deep in the Cotswolds it sustains industry, irrigates fields, and provides a wealth of leisure and recreation. Ellie Harrison takes a trip downstream, helping the Environment Agency to keep any eye on the water levels in the rivers, visiting the Blue Cross Centre in Burford to meet the grooms getting the resident horses fit for re-homing, and learns how Blenheim Palace, an icon of the Oxfordshire countryside, works to maintain its legacy of land-ownership.
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Sourcing the River Thames
It’s hard to believe that the majestic Thames, winding its way through Oxfordshire and sweeping out to sea through London, first starts life trickling past a dairy the rolling Cotswold Hills. Ellie is meeting up with the Environment Agency on the hunt for its ever-shifting source, discovering that close monitoring of the water level and quality is vital to keeping up with the annual demand of 4000 billion litres of water.
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Burford Blue Cross Equine Centre
The economic downturn has had an enormous impact on horse owners, with the price of hay reaching an all-time high and grain being in short supply, meaning that rescue centres like the Blue Cross Equine Centre are gearing up to tackle a possible increase in welfare cases. Ellie Harrison helps the grooms with some behavioural rehabilitation before saying goodbye to one of the centre’s biggest success stories as Stumpy the pony heads off for a new life with his new owners.
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Photo: Ellie Harrison
Ellie Harrison talks to staff at the Burford Blue Cross Equine Centre.
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Blenheim Palace
An iconic picture of pastoral England, Blenheim Palace is probably most famous as the accidental birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. Ellie meets the dedicated staff working to keep the estate going, and gets to grips with a chainsaw as she helps the team building the jumps and prepare the grounds for Blenheim’s 20th International Horse Trials – just one of many events that are essential to financing the estate and conserving its secret treasure of ancient oak woodland.
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Photo: Ellie with John Hoy
Ellie meets John Hoy, chief executive at Blenheim Palace
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Photo: Chainsaw Ellie
Ellie Harrison gets a chainsaw lesson from David Evans, chief course builder for the Blenheim Horse Trials.
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Food Import Controls
Following recent reports that the offspring of cloned cows from the US has ended up on the dinner plates of British families, John Craven asks: how safe is our food chain? He joins the Port Health Authority at Southampton whose job is to make sure rogue meat and other sub-standard foodstuffs from abroad don’t get through. He discovers that although there are thorough checks on meat, around 96 per cent of other foodstuffs aren’t scrutinised at all. And he meets those who believe that much stricter controls are needed to prevent another major food scare.
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Photo: John Craven in Southampton
John Craven in Southampton where he joined the Port Health Authority to check on food imports.
Credits
- Series Producer
- Andrew Tomlinson
- Presenter
- Ellie Harrison
- Presenter
- John Craven
- Presenter
- Adam Henson
- Executive Producer
- Andrew Thorman
