For many of us, summertime means heading for the outdoors,
getting close to nature and taking in our Great British countryside.
We'll be uncovering top tips, insights and inspiration
to help you make the most of the season.
From growing your own...
I don't need to go to the shop for my lunch.
..to getting close to wildlife...
My goodness me, look at that.
..and sharing good times.
And good food.
Amazing.
We'll guide you through the delights of the British countryside
at this very vibrant time of year.
And in today's collection of summery delights, James Martin
invites his friend and fellow chef Pierre Koffmann
to cook his favourite roast chicken on the barbecue.
Looks pretty good, that.
Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin are in beautiful Ceredigion
in west Wales, watching a rare wildlife feeding frenzy.
It's raining kites.
And Nadiya takes a classic summer bake and adds some tropical flavours
to create her own summer cream tea with a twist.
It's like sunshine on a plate.
First, though, a new take on the great summertime tradition
of camping and nights out under the stars.
This is not glamping, it's champing,
and here's Jules Hudson to tell us more.
Now, unlike glamping, where you might find yourself
bedding down for the night in a yurt or a tepee,
well, tonight, Teddy and I have found something
altogether a little more special.
Come on, lad.
It's champing - the latest trend in the ever expanding
outdoor accommodation sector.
It's basically camping in a church.
All Saints in the village of Aldwincle in Northamptonshire
is one of the first to offer it.
Peter. Hi, Jules. Nice to see you. Nice to see you, too.
The man we've been looking for.
It's the grand idea of Peter Ayres,
who's come to show me my unusual accommodation.
Now, the Churches Conservation Trust has championed this idea
of champing. How did it all come about?
Well, it came from a charity.
I work for the Churches Conservation Trust.
We look after 350 historic churches across England
that aren't used for regular worship any more.
They remain consecrated and we open them to the public.
We've got to find a way to get people interested
in these buildings.
They need people who are looking out for them and really love them.
And when people love them, they find a way to look after them.
So what do you get when you check in? Come with me and I'll show you.
Come on, Teddy.
Come in.
Wow.
JULES CHUCKLES
Oh, it's wonderful without the pews, isn't it? Yeah, it's amazing.
You get a real appreciation of the space... Look at that.
..and the architecture. Yeah.
And there you have your beds all laid out for you ready.
Teddy's quite excited by this, I think.
And do you know what I love about the fabric of this one?
You can really see architecturally how they were put together,
because so much of the plaster has come off and you can see
the stonework and the way the roof structure works.
It's lovely on a day like today with the light flooding through.
Waking up to this, I mean, I actually can't wait.
But I'm also really intrigued to see what it's like at night.
This is the point where a lot of people go,
"It must be really spooky", but actually it feels quite cosy.
The Trust is currently offering 12 churches that people can stay in
and they're attracting adventurous travellers
from all over the UK and abroad.
At a price from £39 per adult,
this year there are already over 1,300 bookings for the summer.
I like a country hotel.
They are replete with some fantastic facilities.
What do you do for washing and all that sort of thing?
Facilities aren't quite up to country house hotel standards,
but we've found a way to deliver a very comfortable stay for you
with the necessary ablutions that you require.
You've got a means to boil your kettle for hot water -
a little stove, and then we've got these fantastic
Swedish composting loos.
And although there's no functioning kitchen,
that doesn't mean breakfast is off the menu.
COW MOOS
As a result of the church's new role,
a local farmer has been quick to spot a business opportunity.
Tim Hankins' family have been farming here for three generations.
As well as growing crops,
he also keeps a herd of Hereford cattle
and has branched out into the B&B business.
Hello, Tim. Hello, Jules. Very nice to meet you, mate. How are you?
Fine, thank you. These all look very happy and healthy. Yeah.
These are the last lot of heifers and cows to calve.
Now, Tim, diversification is the foundation of many modern farms.
What persuaded you to get involved with helping out the church?
We thought, why not? We can... Another string to our bow.
We can supply breakfast to the people down the church.
We'll jump in and give them a hand.
So have you ever stayed in the church yourself? Not yet.
No. I am going to some time.
It's just getting the rest of the family to agree to come with me.
At least you know where breakfast is going to come from. Oh, definitely!
So you've got the cattle, you've got your arable. Yes.
You've got your B&Bs, your holiday lets, but something else
is on the go which I'm particularly intrigued about. Yeah.
Do you want to go and have a look? Come on, then. Yeah.
COW MOOS
Diversification has become an important part of the rural economy,
with farms generating up to a third of their income
from alternative sources.
And here's a bit of a clue to one of Tim's more unusual crops.
Well, Tim, this is a beautiful spot by the water here
with these wonderful willow trees.
What are you doing on this part of the farm?
Well, we're using the river down here to grow cricket bat willows.
It's a really interesting area of diversification.
I mean, willow famously will take just from a twig, won't it?
It will. If you get it the right way up.
There's a secret to it - you've got to plant it the right way up.
We found that they grow better on the river banks
with the flowing water in their roots. So there is a chance, then,
that that tree right there could one day be carried out...
..onto the square at Lord's or the Oval?
It could well be and I will never know, because...
I never know who they sell the bats to.
Tim's willows are harvested every five years,
making up to 4,000 cricket bats for the world market.
Oh!
LAUGHTER
It is a chaotic game of cricket, but I suspect the best of the day
has yet to happen, because Teddy and I have got our night
in the church to come, haven't we, mate? Come on.
OWL HOOTS
With all that fresh air and exercise, we should sleep soundly.
Well, I have to confess that when I knew that Teddy and I would be
spending the night in a church, I honestly didn't think
it would be this comfortable.
But, look, I've got a glass of wine, I've got my book, I've got my dog,
and I've got this entire church to myself.
Well, I hope.
Unless the ghosties come.
OWL HOOTS
Well, as you can see, we have survived our night
sleeping in the church,
and I have to say it was very comfortable.
We were not disturbed.
And waking up when the light was streaming through the windows,
really quite magical,
although I was rather glad to go back to sleep again
and have a bit of a lie-in, but it is still only...
Five to seven.
KNOCK ON DOOR
We'd better get up.
Good morning. Hello, Tim. How are you?
Tim's brought a delicious breakfast. Just what a hungry camper needs.
Mm, yes. Is that bacon and eggs? Bacon, eggs, sausages...
Oh, fantastic. Look at this. ..bread roll.
Thank you very much indeed. You're welcome. Enjoy it all.
Well, this breakfast is the perfect end to my stay here
in this beautiful church. When you think about it,
the church's role has always been about providing shelter
and sanctuary, and that, of course, is exactly what this new initiative
is trying to champion with champing.
There is no doubt that whatever your age, whatever your belief,
you've now got a chance to come here and experience these buildings
on your own terms, in your own way.
I think it's a brilliant idea.
And as for the breakfast, well...
..you can't beat it.
Good boy.
Well, Jules might think that breakfast can't be beaten,
but here's someone who'd like to have a go.
It's James Martin, and he's in the garden with an old friend
and showing us how to make a chicken dish
that's sheer summer succulence.
Long summer days are for sharing as well as cooking,
so today I've invited my Michelin-starred mate
Pierre Koffmann around to help me with the culinary duties.
Ah! How are you doing, buddy? How are you?
We're going to rustle up a dish that reminds me of summer,
no matter what time of year I make it.
And, luckily, it's one of Pierre's all time favourites.
So, I know you love roast chicken. Yes.
With my grandmother at the farm, you know, every Sunday
they roast two chicken on a spit, and that was my grandfather's job.
It was to sit next to the fire, sweating like a pig, if you want,
turning the machine. We were not allowed to touch the chicken.
My grandmother would cut a piece off the string,
so you put it in your mouth and chew it for 15 minutes.
It was full of juice and salt and it was fun. It was very nice.
Good memories.
Well, before I get some string for Pierre to chew on,
we're going to make a marinade for the poussin.
Chop up some lemongrass and coriander, then some garlic,
red chillies and ginger.
And cooking side by side with Pierre feels natural now,
but as a shy, spotty teenager,
I desperately wanted to work for him.
I remember coming to London and, seriously,
I've got old cookbooks of yours, and I remember thinking,
"Right, where do I go and work in London?" And I remember thinking,
"Well, it's no good me writing to you and asking for a job.
"The best way to do that is to knock on the door."
It's always better to show your face.
And I remember knocking on the door with...
My knife kit, I couldn't afford any knife kit,
it was a tea towel rolled with three knives and I just put it under...
You'd get arrested walking around London like that now.
I remember knocking on the door and you sort of walk into the restaurant
and I remember legging it. Yeah?
And that's the one regret I have in my career.
Anyway, before I embarrass Pierre or myself any more,
I'll finish off the marinade with the juice of two limes
and some veg oil.
Once I cover the poussins with this, they're ready to spit roast.
So, I've got these sticks.
Now, these have been soaking in the bath overnight.
That's what you want. A broom handle.
And then what we're going to do is basically just put the chicken
through the broom handle, through here.
Get the little space there.
Straight through there. It's like camping, when you've got to...
JAMES LAUGHS
Camping with a broom handle?
You can find a branch. Exactly. It would be the same.
Stick this through here as well. I'll let you season it up.
I'm not taking control of the seasoning on this one.
Before roasting, secure them onto the pole with some string,
just like Pierre's grandmother once did.
Right, happy with that? It looks good.
How good does that look?
Right, stick it on the fire.
When preparing any raw chicken,
always have a good wipe down afterwards.
Now, to go with the poussin, we're making a very simple salad.
For the dressing, start with an egg yolk and a good spoonful of mustard.
Never use English mustard.
I think English mustard... What's wrong with English mustard?
It should be banned, you know, it's so bad. So bad.
JAMES LAUGHS
What do you mean, it's bad?
It's burning. It kills the food.
OK, English viewers, please direct any complaints to Pierre, not me.
Next, add walnut vinegar, some water and season.
The difference between good food and bad food is a pinch of salt.
Then whisk everything together while adding 300ml of veg oil.
Don't use olive oil. Olive oil is not good.
I don't like olive oil mixed with mustard.
It takes a strange taste.
The salad is only a chopped up red cabbage.
It doesn't get any simpler than that.
Then mix it together with the dressing
and leave it for about 20 minutes,
by which time the poussin will be done.
It looks good, the chicken. You've done a good job.
I'm going to regret you didn't come to work for me now.
JAMES LAUGHS
Would you put me on pot wash? To start, yes.
And peel...peel potatoes.
THEY LAUGH
The best way to check the chicken, I always find,
particularly on a spit like this, is just using a carving fork,
thickest part, which is generally in by the thigh, right in.
Tough your lip.
If it burns your lip, which that has done, it's cooked.
As always, Ralph just knows when something tasty is ready.
It looks pretty good, that.
I can see the juice running on top of the vegetables.
On top of the salad. It's beautiful.
And the last one.
Right, do you want a piece? Yes, I would love one, yes.
British summertime, cooking on an open fire.
I'm sorted.
Yes, it doesn't get much better than this.
Fantastic food with great company.
Next time the sun shines, get out there and cook
and share it with friends and family.
It's what summer is all about.
Time for some gardening inspiration
and a look at how you can create your own quiet green haven.
This is an extraordinary space that's so unique
and been such a labour of love, there's no denying that the man
behind it really is king of the jungle.
My name is Nick and this is my view.
My view represents 20 years of work creating the jungle garden.
The reason I created the jungle garden across so many years
was that I'm not over-bothered about flowers
and I'm not very keen on mowing grass.
What you can see when you look out of the window
is the start of a jungle pathway
and it's sort of leading you on, enticing you.
What's around the corner? What can I see?
What can I discover?
Like an imaginary place where games are played out
and memories are made.
It almost takes you back to being a child,
because you can just think of being lost in a wood.
What's around this corner? What's going to come next?
What, shall I go that way or this way?
It's about creating a sense of theatre and drama.
To look at our house from the front,
most people can't believe what's behind the garden gate.
Some men have train sets in their loft, my train set is outside.
It's the selection of plants.
They're just enormous, preposterous, jungly leaves.
It's a bit of smoke and mirrors. It's a bit of sleight of hand.
With the injection of searing spots of colour every now and again,
it leads you to think that you're in a jungle.
For me, the garden's not so much a spiritual place.
When I sit in the jungle lodge, just enjoying the buzzing of the bees,
a ladybird crawling across a leaf, I'm more at one with nature.
The garden is possibly a reflection of my personality.
It's almost a stress buster.
You can sometimes hear a car in the distance,
but for much of the time you can just hear birds twittering away,
and I'm not in Leeds any more, I'm in Bolivia or somewhere.
Kite flying, kite surfing -
they're both perfect for a sunny day.
But if you don't fancy exerting yourself, why not try kite watching?
That's what Chris and Megan are doing next,
as these majestic birds get a classic British summer soaking.
You're in for a treat.
When they all swoop down, you get close views
and also a great demonstration of their aerial alacrity.
I did read on the sign coming in that the kites don't like mist,
don't really like rain,
and we've got quite a bit of mist and rain.
It's undeniably lush, but... Undeniably rainy.
I'm just going to have a peep out the back of the hide
to see if I can see anything. OK, go on, then.
There's a herring gull... Oh, no, there's a kite right over the hide.
Oh, there's another. How many?
Oh, blimey! 13, 14, 15, 16, 17...
..18, 19, 20, 21, 22... What?! ..23, 24, 25, 26, 27.
You're joking? No, I'm not joking.
Ooh, hello.
There must be 50.
SQUAWKING
They're putting some food out. Oh, look. Oh, my goodness!
Instantaneously.
Oh, my goodness. Look at that!
They're huge. There's a constant stream.
Wow. Look, it's raining kites.
Honestly. That's amazing.
How fantastic. Look how pale their tail is.
It's incredible. All those different colours.
You never see that from the sky, all of those different colours.
Because you're always looking up. But that is beautiful.
Look... They snatch it off the ground. It's like a conveyor belt.
They're much larger... That is very spectacular. ..than I thought
they would be this close. I'd forgotten how good it was.
My goodness me, look at that.
There must be about 40 kites in view at once. Look at that!
Look at that little wagtail. It's swooped right into the middle
of the... He's brave. ..of the whole crowd of kites,
pinched a little bit of meat and flown out.
Yeah, I'd do that in a hurry if I was him.
They must come from far and wide, you know, because...
I think about 25 miles, don't they? Is that right? I think so.
About 25 miles they can travel from.
It's still a long old way, isn't it? Yeah.
But if you're guaranteed a meal... Well, exactly.
Some people criticise kites, don't they, because they are so numerous?
Oh, it annoys me.
You know, but just because something is abundant,
it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a nuisance.
If you'd have said to the 15-year-old me,
you know, shivering in the woods on a cold March morning,
guarding those last nests,
that, you know, 45 years later we'd be standing here,
you know, with I don't know how many red kites just ten metres away,
I would never have believed you.
I mean, it's got to be said that this is one of UK conservation's
most successful projects - the reintroduction of these kites.
I've always known them to be relatively abundant.
Obviously they've increased within my lifetime, but they were never
at the state that they were when you were young. No.
No.
Do you know what? I'm kited out. Oh, don't be ridic...
How could you be kited out? They've eaten everything.
It's pretty good, isn't it? It's not bad. Not bad at all.
The party's over.
SQUAWKING
The weather has a big bearing on our next film, too.
Here we're looking at the gardening world's response to the big issue
of climate change and how designers are planning gardens
fit for the future.
As gardeners, we're always observant of the weather,
because it affects everything that we do.
The impact of climate change affects the extremes of weathers
and we've seen that over the last few weeks, even days.
Here at the show is a garden designed with just that in mind.
So, Andy, tell me, what is this garden all about?
OK, so the garden takes its inspiration from a recent report
by the RHS on the impacts of climate change on our gardens,
looking to the future.
We've got two gardens here. We've got the garden of today
and we've got the garden of the future, where we're looking
at a much more turbulent climate, where it's going to be drier,
warmer, but we're going to get heavy downpours and heavy rain,
so these plants need to be much more resilient to that environment.
What I was also drawn to was this boundary edge.
It's not a traditional fence panel that you've put up. Why is that?
What we're trying to do here is recognise that it's going to be
more stormy, more windy, as it has been here
for the last couple of days. It certainly has, yeah.
So the garden edge actually takes on a sort of zigzag.
It becomes much stronger because of that,
but also you can see that we've got these very thin slats of wood
and that's to allow the wind to rush through,
but it also gives us a space that we can grow plants on,
so it gives us more space for planting.
The other thing that I've seen, which I think is brilliant,
are these trees in their little greenhouse elements.
What we're trying to do here using these little glass structures
is create a space where those more tender plants,
we can take them out, but we can also slide them back in.
So if it gets stormy or if it gets colder, we can push them away.
I'm hearing water in the background.
Tell me what is going on with this. So, in this climate of the future,
we've got to be more precious about how we treat water,
so what we're doing here is taking water off the canopy
and it's storing it in these large white plastic containers
that you can see, and that water can be used in periods of drought
to water and irrigate the garden. But what we've got here is a time
when we've got too much water, it's overspilling,
it's coming into a series of ponds and that's gradually being let out
into the garden, where it can soak away.
What we're trying to deal with there is storm water flooding.
We're trying to reduce the amount of water
going into our combined sewer system.
And then behind this wall, there's a separate area
which is taking all of that water off the houses.
In the future, we can imagine a time where housing regulations change
and we're allowed zero run-off, so we've got large attenuation tanks
that sit underneath the deck and that water might be
temporarily stored there and it might be for all houses.
Gradually that water could be released into a community wetland.
So we start to think about how we can integrate our gardens
and bring them into our public spaces as well,
so they're working together rather than seen as
isolated fragments of our urban landscapes.
I really love that idea.
I love the fact that our gardens actually can start to play
a wider role in the bigger environment.
So many ideas to take away from the garden.
Thank you so much, Andy. You're very welcome. A pleasure to meet you.
Thank you.
Lots to think about there.
And while we do, here's something to enjoy
that's a nice, familiar summertime favourite - the cream tea.
We're handing over to Nadiya Hussain,
who's shaking things up a bit.
No West Country adventure would be complete
without a cream tea,
and I'm going to put my own twist on this afternoon delight.
I have gone off-piste. I'm going tropical.
I've replaced clotted cream for coconut cream
and I'm making a fruity, fragrant pineapple jam.
It might be more West Indies than West Country,
but these sunshine flavours give my cream tea a taste of the exotic.
I'm starting with the jam,
and for that I'm using canned, crushed pineapple.
And the one thing you can guarantee with tinned pineapples
is that it is ripe and it's sweet.
Squeeze out the juice.
You want about 280g of the pineapple.
Put the pineapple on a high heat with an equal amount of jam sugar.
I've got my spice grinder. This is where it gets even more tropical.
For heat, I'm adding pink peppercorns.
And for a citrus hit, kaffir lime leaves.
Give that a whizz.
BLENDER WHIRS
It's getting pretty tropical in here.
Get those spices in quickly, because it only takes five minutes
to hit the 105 degrees the jam needs to set.
It's there. Right, turn that off.
Now leave it to cool.
Look at that pineapple jam with all the lovely flecks of lime.
Now it's on to my scones.
To the flour I'm adding caster sugar,
baking powder, salt and butter.
Mix all that butter through.
You don't want to use your whole hand, because your hands are warm,
whereas your fingertips are slightly colder,
so you just want to be quite gentle with it.
Very light touch.
When it looks like bread crumbs, add whole milk.
Gradually just bring that dough together.
Cream tea traditionalists,
if the pineapple jam wasn't shocking enough, look away now.
We're aiming for a square.
Yes, that is what I said, a square scone.
I want each one to be around five centimetres by five centimetres.
I am going to eyeball it.
No, I'm not going to eyeball it. I'm going to measure it.
Oh, wow. Look at that.
There is nothing wrong with being a cooking nerd.
And these aren't your dainty scones. These are going to be big ones.
A brush of milk and they're ready for the oven.
Now to further throw out the rule book with my coconut cream.
Most people would leave their coconut milk in a cupboard.
I keep mine in the fridge.
The fat in the coconut milk solidifies and comes to the top
and you're left with this delicious cream.
Look at that.
I could just eat it as it is.
But it's even better with icing sugar and vanilla bean paste.
That has to be the simplest,
most delicious cream ever.
And they are looking perfect.
Oh, that smell.
If golden could be a smell, that's what this smell is.
I mean, pineapple, coconut and delicious scones.
That is like a match made in heaven. It's like sunshine on a plate.
Now, you can have them cream first, jam second,
or the other way around. Just enjoy them.
There's a tropical treat in store for my brother and sister.
Scones, anybody? Me first, me first. I'm going to go jam first.
Rebel. Yes.
Thank you, West Country, for giving us the cream tea.
Thank you to Nadiya for that unique take on the summer cream tea.
That's it from us today, but do make sure that you join us next time
for more countryside summer specials.