All this week, we're bringing you the top countryside stories
that define our British summer.
The team has been travelling the length and breadth of the UK...
Wow. ..discovering the seasonal stories that affect you.
Welcome to our marine litter museum.
This could be retribution for all the terrible
thunderstorm forecasts I've given.
Aah! Ooh!
Oh, there we are! Look, straight there!
Wow!
If I want to help you with your meadows,
I don't need to move in any animals?
I can just do the window box for now?
This is Countryfile Summer Diaries.
BIRDS TWEET
And here's what we've got for you on today's programme.
Margherita investigates why our fondness for flowers
depends on foreign imports.
With so many stunning flowers readily available in Britain,
why do we buy so few of them?
Keeley reveals just how much sun we actually need in the summer.
Stand by to be surprised.
And I'll be showing you how you can turn your leftover firewood
into home-made charcoal for your summer barbecue.
Here on the Gower Peninsula in south Wales, the sounds of summer
are all around us. The buzzing of the bees, the singing of the birds.
But there's one man-made sound of summer which has a certain magic to it
and it's the sound of an industry worth £1 billion a year.
Here's Jules.
ICE CREAM VAN JINGLE PLAYS
I do love to be beside the seaside.
And, come the summer, what's better than sand, sea
and lashings of this stuff?
There we are, madam.
Let's be honest, any trip to the seaside really isn't the same
without it, but it can't be doing us any good.
Or can it?
85% of us Brits eat ice cream.
Half of us still prefer a good old-fashioned tub,
while one in every four ice creams are sold from the popular van.
But what if I was to tell you that by eating it in the summer,
it might be doing more for us than just tantalising our taste buds?
Joe's Ice Cream Parlour has been producing ice cream in the Gower
for more than 100 years and their secret for good ice cream is milk.
It was set up by Joe Cascarini.
The family have ice cream in their blood.
Rico Cascarini has worked here for more than 40 years.
Now, Rico, you've been making ice cream for a very long time here.
Tell me how the business started on the Gower.
Well, it started from Italian immigrants who, as you know,
left during the Victorian times, especially.
They left Italy in large numbers
and my grandfather was one of them.
He ended up in Swansea and that was in 1898.
What's the secret to your ice cream?
Fresh ingredients and freshly frozen.
So the ice cream you buy is at most, maybe, four hours old.
The other thing is, of course, the blend of the ingredients.
But just how crucial is the milk to your product?
It's the basis of our ice cream.
It really is. Fresh milk, without it we couldn't make the product.
In order to source the freshest milk,
it's all supplied from Welsh dairy farms.
Off you go.
Just along the coast, Janet Davies' farm is one of them.
She keeps a herd of 380 Holsteins,
with each cow producing, on average, 25 litres of milk a day.
How often do you have to milk them?
We milk them twice a day.
We milk them at 4.30 in the morning and then also
at 3.30 in the afternoon. So it's a long old day?
It is a long day, yes.
Sometimes it's quite a struggle to get out of bed.
Between April and October, Janet produces summer milk
when her cows are kept outdoors feeding on grass.
But in winter, the lack of growing grass means the cows
are moved indoors and fed a mixture of silage, grain and cereals.
But what I want to know is -
does the difference between their summer and winter diet
affect the milk these girls produce?
John Horsman thinks so.
He's been collecting milk from Janet's and other local farms for
processing for 40 years.
John is to milk as the finest connoisseurs are to wine.
He can tell the real thing with just one sniff.
If anyone can taste the difference between the subtle,
summer grass-fed cow's milk flavour and the full-bodied winter indoor
cow's milk, he can.
Now, we've arranged a not entirely scientific test here, John.
We've got four bottles of milk.
Two each. One contains milk from cows which are grazing on grass...
Yep. ..and one doesn't. Have you ever done a test like this before?
Never. Shall we give it a go?
Yes. So, let's go for the outside one first.
OK. Right then. Here we go.
Quite a high fat content in that sample.
Very pleasant either way, whichever one it is.
Shall we try the second one?
Cheers.
I know what I think that is.
I think this is the grass.
Do you? Yes. Let's have a look at your label.
Grass, it is!
So, what gave it away? Purely the fat content.
It's fresher, it's lighter.
Because it hasn't got so much fat in it,
it doesn't stick to the tongue in the same way
and it's probably a more refreshing drink, actually.
But taste is only one part of the story.
Milk is seen as an important source of calcium and other nutrients.
So, does the seasonal change in milk have any impact
on how health giving it is?
Gillian Butler is a nutritionist at Newcastle University.
She's carried out research into both summer and winter milk.
You've made quite a detailed study.
So what are the big findings?
There's growing evidence that dairy fats,
like butter and ice cream, are not as bad for us
as we've thought for a number of years.
And there's certainly a lot of good fats in there.
When we feed the cows on grass and clover,
we get a higher level of these good fats.
And when we put them in in the winter, on silage diets,
that causes the milk to have more saturated fats,
ones that are not so good for us.
So, what's the verdict?
I think if the cows are eating grass,
then we can eat the ice cream with a clear conscience.
And it's just as well because, on average, each person in the UK
eats six litres of ice cream every year.
That's a lot of ice cream.
So, there you have it.
It's official. Summer milk is best.
And if, like me, you enjoy eating ice cream whatever the season, well,
perhaps now there is no better time than summertime
to indulge your fancy.
No excuses needed.
In recent years, we've all been warned of the dangers
of getting too much sun.
But with nearly half the UK population now believed to have
low levels of vitamin D, which you get from sunshine,
and with the government's health advisers recommending that we take
vitamin D supplements in the autumn and winter,
should we now be making more of the summer sun?
Keeley has been to Scotland to investigate.
It might not always feel like it,
but in Britain we get more sunshine than ever before.
Compared with 50 years ago,
we now get an extra 90 hours of sunshine each year.
For decades, we've been warned about the dangers of exposing our skin to
the sun. But could stripping off and soaking up the rays in moderation
actually be an essential part of our wellbeing?
Well, sunshine is the major source of vitamin D.
Without it, the body struggles to absorb calcium,
which is vital for bone development.
There are lots of things we can do to help boost our vitamin D levels.
Eating foods rich in it, like oily fish,
eggs and fortified cereal and, crucially,
getting out in the summer sunshine.
So, are we as a nation becoming too sun shy?
Dr Helga Rhein thinks so.
She's an Edinburgh-based GP and is seeing more people
becoming vitamin D deficient, including herself.
But why?
Much to my surprise, I found many people in my practice
being grossly deficient with vitamin D.
I thought, "Impossible."
I couldn't be vitamin D deficient because I eat fish a lot.
But I was also deficient.
Not as extreme as some others but I was deficient.
I was below the now accepted cut-off.
Severe vitamin D deficiency can lead to a disease thought to have been
consigned to the past - rickets.
Rickets is the extreme
vitamin D deficiency in babies, in children,
who then develop bendy legs, which are not growing properly.
Nationally, rickets has increased more than fourfold
in the last ten years.
But extreme vitamin D deficiency also occurs in adults.
People with very vague symptoms, tiredness, feeling a bit low,
depressed and aches and pains in the legs and back.
So, what should people do then?
The answer - get as much sun as you can get.
But we've always been told to stay out of the midday sun,
to cover up and to wear suntan lotion.
I'm sure we shouldn't get burnt, that's for sure.
But small amounts frequently of sunshine is definitely good for you.
It is linked to the immune system.
A healthy immune system needs a certain amount of vitamin D.
Also, take supplements.
Take vitamin D supplements, and if in doubt,
if you have illnesses where you really want to make 100% sure
that your levels are healthy
and good, get a blood test to have it checked.
Whatever the season, there are things we can do,
like taking supplements or altering our diet.
But for most of us, 90% of our vitamin D is from sunshine.
And with our notoriously changeable weather,
how can we make sure we're getting enough?
For half the year, the sun simply isn't strong enough for us
to absorb the rays that we need to make vitamin D.
But now, summertime, is when we need to get out and start stocking up on
that sunshine.
And some of us are going to find that easier than others.
The sunniest spot is the Channel Islands.
People living on the south coast of England
enjoy almost double the amount of sunshine
compared to those living in the north-west of Scotland.
And the best place to top up your rays is the coast.
There is a growing body of evidence that sunshine could provide us with
other health benefits as well as vitamin D.
Dr Richard Weller has been conducting studies
into the potential wider health benefits of sunshine.
He's come up with some surprising, controversial results.
So, what made you start this research?
Well, we knew that people who lived closer to the equator
had lower blood pressure and we knew that, in summer,
people's blood pressure is lower than in winter
and there's less heart disease in summer than winter.
So, there's lots of factors leading us to think that maybe sunlight has
benefits on high blood pressure.
So, tell me about your work and the findings in connection
with sunshine.
We shone about as much ultraviolet as you'd find in 40 minutes
in Cornwall in summer
at people and that lowered their blood pressure for about an hour.
We're about to start a big clinical trial about giving people
ultraviolet twice a day to see if we can produce
a worthwhile long-term fall in blood pressure.
And that will have benefits in terms of cardiovascular health and stroke.
Stroke is the second highest cause of death in this country.
So that really matters at a population level.
So, do you think people need to rethink their attitudes towards
being out in the sunshine? There are real risks to sunshine.
Some people are at higher risk of skin cancer.
Sunburn in childhood is probably the major risk factor for that.
So, with children, you should be careful about sun exposure.
You shouldn't get sunburnt.
Redheads, people with a family history of skin cancer.
And I think the advice for them remains fairly conservative.
But for the rest of us, I suspect the benefits
are outweighing the risks,
although that's work which is really in progress at the moment.
There may be a way to go,
but in light of the work of Dr Weller and others,
it could be that letting the correct amount of sunshine into our lives
doesn't just enhance our mood,
it could officially be good for our health.
Now, this beautiful stretch of Gower is home to some of
our most popular wild creatures, like the otter.
But catching a glimpse of these notoriously secretive animals
can be tricky. Anita got the chance to get up close to some of them
when she visited a sanctuary in Derbyshire,
which has a surprising mission - breeding giants.
Amongst the trees and the shaded walkways,
you might come across one of Britain's best-loved species.
Fierce, elusive and famously playful, it's the otter.
Hello, Carol.
Hi. How are you? I'm very well.
Carol Heap has been caring for otters most of her life.
Why otters, Carol?
How did your love for otters begin?
Well, it began by reading Tarka The Otter at school
and it wasn't a very big step to start volunteering at the Otter Trust.
We were then fortunate enough to buy this land in the early '80s
and, as I say, the rest is history.
It just grew and grew.
It wasn't long before the otters became part of the family.
What type of otters are these? These are Asian short-clawed otters,
which are the smallest of all the otters.
And what other otters do you have here?
We have four species.
Asian short-clawed, the North American river otter,
the Eurasian otter,
and that's our otter, the one that lives in England.
But then we have the most amazing otter, the giant otter.
The exotic cousins of our native otters,
giant otters come from South America,
where they live on the flood plains
of the Pantanal and the Amazon River.
So, Derbyshire is a long way from home.
Right, entering the giant otter enclosure.
I can't see any from here, though.
Hi, Kirsty.
Hiya. I can't see any giant otters.
And are we safe if they were actually here?
You're perfectly safe. They're all locked in, yeah.
'Kirsty Lee has been looking after the giant otters for 15 years.'
Just going to replenish this sandpit.
So if I pass you some over...
Please. ..if you could just open them up and tip them out for me.
No problem. Why do giant otters require a sandpit?
Basically, this is to simulate what they'd have naturally in the wild.
They'll come out of the water, they'll play,
they'll dig, they'll fight,
and then on sunny days they'll just bask in here and enjoy the sunshine.
OK, so shall we get out and let the otters out
to enjoy their new sandpit? I think that's a great idea.
OK. Let's do it.
'With the sand in place,
'it's time to release the otters and beat a hasty retreat.'
OTTERS WAIL
Here they come.
Wow, they're amazing!
They're enormous, aren't they? They're enormous!
Yeah. But they're so cute, Carol. THEY LAUGH
Well, I never get fed up of watching them.
Look at them! They are just such special animals.
Oh, look, it's on its hind legs.
Yes.
Here comes one. Hello!
Hello! This is Panambi.
Hello, Panambi. Have you come to say hello?
She's come to say, "Can we have some fish, please?"
So they're hungry? Very hungry.
What have we got here? These are roach.
Here we go. Who wants it?
In we go. Oh, well done, you.
Yes! Off they go!
How are they different to the otters that we have, native otters?
They are huge. Yes.
I mean, these are coming up to nearly two metres, tip to tail.
They have much stronger whiskers on them,
so that they can feel the fish in the water.
They look like seals, don't they?
Well, that's what I thought when I first saw them.
I was surprised at how they looked.
What are they doing here?
These are native to a tropical climate, South America.
Why are they in Derbyshire?
Conservation. Absolutely.
These otters are now endangered, and their numbers are decreasing through
loss of habitat, deforestation, the usual things.
The usual.
'Carol's giant otters are part of a captive breeding programme
'designed to boost numbers.
'It's hoped that their offspring can one day
'be released back into the wild.'
We are very, very proud to say that we were the first collection
to breed giant otters in the UK.
And this pair, Panambi and Manoki,
have had two sets of litters.
Are you positive about their future?
You've got to be. If you weren't positive, you wouldn't do it.
And you just keep chip, chip, chip away.
Eventually, something will happen.
Yeah. And we will be able to get them back.
Giant otters face an uncertain future.
But this family, at least, have found a safe haven here.
And perhaps one day,
their cubs will return to their natural habitat.
There's nothing quite like flowers when it comes to bringing
some natural colour and beauty into our gardens and into our homes.
In fact, we spend around £2 billion a year on cut flowers,
but only 10% of those are produced in the UK.
But now a new breed of British growers
is determined to change that.
Margherita reports.
Peonies, delphiniums, English roses, sweet pea, this vibrant larkspur,
or this gorgeous feverfew.
For me, these British blooms are a sure sign summer is here.
It's one of the things I love most about this time of year.
There is no better way of bringing a home alive than with freshly cut
flowers, a simple celebration of the season.
We used to take enormous pride in our home-grown cut flowers.
But today around 90% of the flowers we buy are imported,
some of them travelling over 3,000 miles to get to us.
And yet, we've got a climate here ideally suited for growing them.
Many of us are used to seeking out
seasonal and locally-grown fruit and veg.
We've cottoned on to the fact that by buying locally,
we're likely to get better quality and fresher ingredients.
But why doesn't that apply to our cut flowers?
It seems we Brits don't quite take the same care
in the sourcing of our blooms as we do our food.
But is that right?
There's stuff here that's good quality.
It's always fresher. It always tastes better.
You're looking for seasonal produce as far as your food is concerned.
Lovely to think that that extends into the flowers, too.
With more than 20 years' experience in horticulture,
Claire Brown believes there's money to be made growing British blooms.
Four years ago she planted an acre and a half of flowers on her farm,
and now business is blooming.
Claire, great to see you. Hi, nice to see you.
How are you? Fine, thank you.
'But it's not all been plain sailing.
'She understands why the public have been slow
'to take up home-grown flowers.'
A lot of it's to do with seasonality.
We can't supply everything all the time.
You have to be a lot more open to what's available
at different times of the year.
And also, I think that a lot of people don't know
that flowers are imported through Holland from a long way away.
And have you seen a growing demand for British flowers?
Definitely, yes.
I have a range of customers who are florists,
and who are brides wanting events,
and local customers wanting bouquets as well.
And what is it you think the public love about British flowers?
Well, there's lots of scent, because they haven't had to travel,
they haven't had to be refrigerated.
There's real freshness about the flowers.
And there's a wide variety.
I grow lots of things that wouldn't suit travelling long distances.
But because they don't have to go anywhere, it's absolutely fine.
Claire, so what are we cutting today?
So, today we're going to cut achillea,
which is a lovely summer flower.
We're looking for flowers which are completely open,
and then we want to pick them as low as we can,
and then we're going to strip off the leaves.
How many varieties of flower do you actually grow?
We grow over 280 varieties during the year.
We have a whole range of flowers all year round,
but mostly between April and October.
Who are we picking these ones for today?
These are going to Vanessa, one of my florists,
and we need to get them in water in the barn so that they're conditioned
by the time she gets here.
One of the biggest and fastest-growing areas
of Claire's business is supplying weddings,
and Vanessa Birley's finding that more and more of her brides
are asking for seasonal, local flowers.
Vanessa, good to see you.
I believe this is your order.
Thank you. How long have you been buying flowers from Claire?
Three years.
So, I found Claire and her lovely flowers,
and it's really changed the way that I design flowers.
And what is it about the cut British flower that people love so much?
They love the unusual varieties that you don't see in other places.
They love that they've come from a short distance away,
a car journey rather than being flown.
And, in fact, I've got a couple who are getting married in December
who want exclusively all-British flowers and foliage
for their wedding. They care about the environment.
They're really going the ecological route.
I know you've got a bride waiting for these particular blooms,
so I won't get in your way.
I can't wait to see what the bouquet looks like when you've made it up.
'Whether it's a bridal bouquet,'
or a splash of colour to brighten up the home, increasingly,
we Brits are taking notice of the provenance of our flowers.
Seasonality has become fashionable again,
and you can't beat a British summer bouquet.
A resurgence in British flower growers has seen farms like Claire's
springing up across the country, and with sights like these,
that can only be a good thing.
So next time you're wanting to buy flowers,
perhaps consider our fields and farmers for your seasonal blooms.
As the temperature rises,
it's tempting to throw on shorts and a T-shirt
and head for the great outdoors.
But there's danger lurking in the long grass -
the tick, which carries Lyme disease.
With around 1,000 new cases in the UK each year,
there's to be a major review of the illness,
but how could we deal with ticks?
Here's Adam.
Like humans, all animals are susceptible
to disease and parasites.
And it's important that we look after the welfare of our animals,
not only because we care about them, but also because happy,
healthy animals are productive animals,
producing lots of good quality meat and milk and rearing their young.
So we keep a careful eye out for all sorts of bugs, really,
and there's one that really makes my skin crawl.
Ticks - these bloodsuckers are some of the worst.
On a global scale,
they come second only to mosquitoes as transmitters of disease.
They've been around for millions of years,
as have some of the diseases they carry.
One man who knows all about ticks and the problems they can cause
is Dr James Logan, an entomologist
from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Hi, James. Hi, Adam.
I see you've come armed with some ticks.
I have indeed, yes.
These are some we've got off the dogs on the farm.
OK, brilliant. So tell me about them - they're horrible little creatures, aren't they?
Yeah, they are indeed.
Ticks are arachnids, so they're related to spiders -
they've got eight legs, so they're not actually insects.
They can be found in the vegetation, and they go on our pets,
our dogs and cats, and livestock as well.
But they also climb onto us.
The big problem is that they suck our blood,
and when they do that, they can also transmit disease.
One of the biggest problems that we have in this country
is Lyme disease, which is transmitted by a tick.
It can become quite serious, and you can get neurological problems.
it could even develop into meningitis in some cases.
Worth being aware, but just because you've had a tick on you doesn't mean you'll get Lyme disease.
That's right, so not every tick will have Lyme disease,
but if you do get any symptoms quite soon after being bitten,
like a rash that spreads, or flu-like symptoms,
go to your GP, get some advice. They'll give you the medication.
It's very simple to treat early on.
So is this fairly typical?
The sheep go into the deep vegetation to get out of the sun,
to get into the shade - would they be picking up ticks?
Yeah, absolutely.
This is exactly the type of habitat that you'd find ticks.
So these ones are dead, most of them.
So if I tip one out onto the cloth, you can...
It's quite an art getting them off, once you've got a tick on, isn't it?
It is. So, using one of these dead ones,
because obviously I don't want to put a live one on your hand
and let it attach itself to you, how do you remove them?
OK, let me show you. So basically when the tick is attached,
its mouth part is deeply embedded in your skin.
The best thing to use are fine-tipped tweezers.
You want to get in as close to the skin as possible,
and you want to grab hold of the mouth parts,
and then you want to just pull very firmly...
..with even pressure, upwards.
So there's no twisting involved at all when you use tweezers,
and that is the best way to remove ticks.
Ticks can carry a whole host of diseases.
Lyme disease is one for us humans to look out for,
but animals can also come under attack,
as Mark Hoskins found out on his dairy farm in Wiltshire.
When did you realise you had a tick problem here?
About three and a half years ago, when we took this parcel of land on.
We moved some cows to this particular field, actually,
and I came to check them one day,
and there was an animal stood on its own.
On further investigation, I noticed it was passing urine,
it was deep red.
So we contacted the vet straightaway, and went from there.
And what was it?
It proved to be redwater,
which is a parasite passed on from ticks called Babesia.
As the tick latches onto the animal to feed,
it passes the parasite through to the bloodstream.
This then ruptures the red blood cells, hence the red water -
the passing of the red urine.
What happened to the cow? We actually lost the cow,
but I saved a further five, so at least those are still living.
Are you not nervous grazing all your calves down here now, then?
We have to get them onto the pasture
within the first eight months of life,
and then that creates an immunity to redwater,
and we haven't had a problem since.
Ticks have always been part of our countryside,
brought over by animals that colonised the land
before we were even an island.
'Of course, you can't insecticide the whole countryside
'to get rid of them, so it's a case of being more aware,
'and making sure you wear long trousers in tick areas.'
There's little definitive data on the number of ticks across the UK,
and that's why Jolyon Medlock and Micah Peach
from Public Health England have been collecting and studying
these creepy-crawlies for the last ten years.
Got a couple of nymphs over here.
We use these fine forceps to pick them up.
There's an adult female down here.
Goodness me, she's a bit mega, isn't she?
Yes, she is, yeah. She looks quite red.
Her body distends about 200 sizes.
When she's fully fed, she'll be on the animal for about a week,
she'll drop off into the vegetation,
then over the next month lay about 2,000 eggs,
and really sustain that population.
So now you've got the little critters in there, what happens now?
Now we take these back to the lab to identify them.
OK.
'Back at Tick HQ,
'the tick surveillance team can get a closer look at these beasties.
'And while we can't eradicate them from the countryside,
'we can at least identify what we've found.'
The nymph here is detecting our presence here by carbon dioxide,
heat and changes in light, and it's walking towards its meal.
It wants to come and get a feed off us. Yeah. Urgh!
And once they've fed,
if I change this over, you can see the kind of size that they get to.
So here is a fully engorged female. Oh, my word!
And you can barely see her legs and the rest of her features,
because that's now full of blood.
And what species is this one?
This is Ixodes ricinus female, which is the sheep or deer tick.
So that's the sort of common one?
Yes. This is our most common, widely distributed, most abundant species,
and it is that because it feeds on pretty much anything -
reptiles, birds and mammals, and it's very well adapted.
And if people find ticks, then, you want them to send them into you?
Yes, we're on the tick recording scheme.
Anybody can send us the ticks.
Farmers, vets, members of the public.
We ask them just to record some information
on where they found the tick, and it all goes into our database.
'So if you find a tick making a meal out of you,
'or your animals,
'rather than flush it down the loo, pop it in the post instead,
and you'll be helping this lot
build a map of ticks across the country.
Ticks have been around for millions of years,
and they're likely to be around for millions more.
But, hopefully, with all the research that's going on,
we should learn how to protect our animals and ourselves
from these horrible little bloodsuckers.
I don't know about you - I'm feeling a bit itchy.
I'll be giving myself a good check-over when I get home.
Even with the weather as changeable as it is in Britain,
we never need much of an excuse for cooking and eating outdoors.
And with two out of every three households owning a barbecue,
it's become the number one leisure activity in the UK,
worth a staggering £7 billion.
And on his Wiltshire smallholding,
Paul has been learning the skills of making your own charcoal.
Let's face it, dads love an opportunity to build a fire.
The average family spend around £30 on a single barbecue meal.
And the majority of that 30 quid goes on this stuff - charcoal.
But what exactly is charcoal, and how do you get from this to this?
'Every year I end up with a surplus of firewood.
'And this summer, with the help of Dorset charcoal producer Jim Bettle,
'I want to see how easy it is to turn it into charcoal.'
What we're doing here is we're just making them suitable size.
Basically, you're looking for about that length.
Perfect.
You can make charcoal out of anything.
If it's a good firewood, it will make good charcoal.
But what you've done is you've driven all of the water and oil
out of the wood,
and you're left with something which is nearly 90% carbon.
So the heat you get from a kilo of charcoal,
compared with a kilo of wood, is nearly three times as much.
And that's what it's all about, isn't it?
Absolutely what it's all about,
and that's why it's such a good barbecue fuel.
'The best charcoal is made from hardwoods like hickory and oak.
'But if you don't have access to hardwood,
'then offcuts from a local sawmill
'are an excellent and cheap place to source wood
'for your home-made charcoal kiln.
'You don't need an expensive kiln, either.
'An old oil drum will do.'
Love the oil drum. Where can you pick one up?
Well, this one I got from the industrial estate.
You might have to do some cleaning-up of the barrel
by having a burn in a corner of a field somewhere
till the paint's come off it.
All we've done here is, using a coal chisel and a hammer,
tapped off the lid.
And then the other modification we've done
is just putting four holes in the end.
OK. So those, in effect, will act like the chimneys.
So we're going to burn the logs.
I mean, if you put all those in there it's all just going to go up in smoke, like a fire. Absolutely.
So what we're going to be doing is setting fire to it,
but controlling the amount of air that gets to it.
Slow-cooking it. That's the trick, that's the secret. Absolutely.
'Once the barrel's full of logs,
'light the fire, and then watch and wait for it to take.'
It's quite exciting.
I love fires. Yeah, yeah.
As long as they're controlled!
So we're going to...
We're going to tie the lid on.
OK. And I'm going to turn the barrel over.
And at the moment there's no heat around the metal,
so it's quite safe, isn't it?
It is. It's just there. The heat's on the lid, basically.
So we'll get this turned now, before it burns through the rope.
Right, here's a trick.
Look at that. Lovely.
How do you know you're controlling this properly?
What do you look for?
Well, what we know is happening inside
is by the colour of the smoke.
It's a thick white while we burn off all the moisture.
It disappears as steam.
Then it'll go through to a very dirty brown smoke.
This is when a lot of the oils, the wood oil,
is being vaporised and burnt off. OK.
And finally, it becomes a blue smoke.
Now we want to get to it before it turns blue,
because if you get blue smoke coming out,
you're burning all the charcoal away that you've tried to make.
'When you're confident it's smoking well,
'after about ten minutes or so,
'you need to pack the bottom with earth
'to reduce the amount of air getting in.
'This ensures the wood is slow-cooked and not burnt.'
You've made many charcoal fires in a barrel that size. Mmm.
Roughly how long will this take?
Because of what we've put in, it's going to be about four hours.
'Historically used by blacksmiths, charcoal is a versatile fuel.
'Today, over 90% of the charcoal we buy is imported.
'But buying British means it's from a sustainable, local source,
'reducing carbon emissions by 85%.
'While we wait, Jim has brought with him some charcoal he made earlier.
'But this stuff has a very different purpose.'
This is what we call biochar, or horticultural charcoal.
And this is dust up to about 10 mil pieces.
OK. And this is for adding into soil as a soil improver.
The charcoal is so absorbent,
it takes in all the nutrients that you want,
and then slow-releases them back into the soil.
But then when you get smaller, like this granular charcoal.
Now, as humans if we are unfortunate to get poisoned or have overdoses,
in hospital, they'll pump you full of charcoal.
The reason for that is it's so absorbent.
It's an inert substance that passes through the body,
but it'll soak up all the toxins.
Now, for animals such as a horse, that can't vomit,
it takes all the toxins out of the gut.
So it's a wonderful conditioner for horses.
'After four hours, it's time to put out our fire.'
The way we're going to put this out, is we have to starve it of air.
OK. So what I'll do to start with is I'll cover three holes,
leaving one hole just to vent off, to slow it down.
Gently, gently? Gently, gently.
'With the fire out, it's the moment of truth.
'Have we successfully turned wood into charcoal?'
Let's see what we've produced.
Look at these lovely coals.
That's fantastic!
That'll save you the best part of £20 in the shops.
'That's a pretty good first effort.
'Home-made charcoal like this is easier to light
'than commercial briquettes,
'and it's far safer to cook with,
'because it doesn't contain any chemical additives.'
So when will this be ready to use?
If you're burning on an afternoon, I'd leave it till the next morning.
'As a nation, we get through 60,000 tonnes of charcoal every year,
'and most of it is imported.
'So if you have access to firewood or offcuts from a mill,
'why not try cooking some yourself?
'It can be cost-effective,
'sustainable, and a fun way to fire up your summer barbie.
'I've left our charcoal to cool down overnight, and now it's good to go.'
Well, there we are. My home-made charcoal.
It's already taken, it smells fantastic,
and I reckon in about 10 to 15 minutes' time,
that charcoal will go white, and then we're ready to cook.
Time to put my freshly made and still scorching-hot charcoal
to the test.
It's barbecue time!
Who wants some sweetcorn in a minute?
Not me. Not you? Me!
You do? Good!
Now, summer is always a busy time on the nation's allotments,
and growing your own has never been more popular.
With long waiting lists for plots across the country,
Ellie came to Swansea to find out how an urban site
that once housed a football stadium has been transformed
into a vibrant community allotment.
In the heart of the city is Vetch Field.
Former home of Swansea City Football Club, it was demolished in 2011.
Often, redeveloped urban areas like Vetch Field
become new housing developments, office blocks,
or even abandoned as wasteland.
But on this occasion, the locals came together
to create something rather special.
'Vetch Field took on a whole new set of supporters.'
As part of the Cultural Olympiad,
the council assigned an area of Vetch Field
to the Sandfields community to be turned into allotments -
their own little piece of the countryside in the heart of Swansea.
Home to a wide variety of nationalities and cultures,
these allotments are now bringing the communities together.
'Alan Lloyd held a season ticket here
'to watch the Swans for many years.'
What's left of the old football stadium now, then?
Well, the area is still here.
I can more or less point out to where I used to sit.
Oh, really?
The stand was there, and I used to sit in the front row, row A.
So it must have been quite mixed feelings for you,
cos you were mayor as well when this place closed.
Yeah. I look on it as an outdoor community centre
where different communities in the Sandfields can meet, chat over.
There's a lot more talking goes on here than growing! SHE LAUGHS
But it's good for the community.
'Since its conception, Gerwyn Thomas has been part of the redevelopment.'
What does it mean to you to be able to come down here
and have this space?
To me, with the garden and everything,
it's an oasis in the middle of town.
This is brilliant, you know,
because I can come down here whenever I feel like it,
and meet people of different nationalities, really.
And their type of growing is totally different to the British, you know?
So you're learning a lot about other veggies? You definitely are, yes.
I must say, I'm really, really jealous.
I would love one of these near me.
The Bangladeshi ladies are going to do a curry this afternoon.
That's mine, that is. All right, then.
HE CHUCKLES Bagsie that one. It's yours.
'So, with a curry to be made, Bangladeshi-born Khadija and I
'need to harvest some more veg to add to Gerwyn's tomatoes.'
So, Khadija, what is it you love about coming to this place?
Everything, like vegetables and the people.
Like, when I talk to people, it's like feeling great, nice.
You come a second home! KHADIJA CHUCKLES
It's good just for hanging out, relaxing. Yeah.
I've got a big family, but still I manage to come here every day.
Summertime, yeah.
That's enormous!
We having that one? Yeah.
I can use the leaves to make... You know saag?
Oh, make saag with the leaves? Mmm.
How many leaves do you need?
Oh, loads!
'Food is a brilliant way of bringing people together.
'Vetch Field even has its own kitchen and cooking area.'
Goodness, it's like something from everybody's allotment in there.
That is a community curry, isn't it? Yeah, yeah!
Community curry.
ELLIE LAUGHS
How long does this need now? Ten minutes.
Ten minutes? Yeah. And then we'll be feasting!
'So, with the curry simmering away on the hob,
'I want to find out just what the redevelopment
'means to everyone here.'
I love coming over here. Do you? What do you love about it, then?
This feels like an extension of my back garden.
And how was it before, when this was a football ground,
if you lived on the edge? Oh, it was horrible.
The stand was so high, and then when it came down,
you could see the sky at night.
I can sit in my back garden and I can see the stars and the hill
and the lights on - it's amazing.
What do you like about having your plot here in the Vetch,
what about the community here?
Wandering through the allotment, I couldn't help but notice
this rather strange plant vessel.
This is my hanging bra-sket!
You can hold plenty in there, can't you?
It's an ample brassiere. That is fabulous, I love it!
'The terraces may be long gone,
'but a crowd has returned to feast on our curry.'
Thank you so much.
It's fantastic how a football pitch has maintained its team spirit.
But instead of sport, it's growing and sharing food
in their own little piece of the countryside
that's brought this community together.
Spicy? No, good. Good spice.
Well, that's all we've got time for today.
But, please, do try to join us again at the same time tomorrow
for more entries in our Countryfile Summer Diaries...
when Margherita discovers the secrets of our lost wild flower meadows...
In fact, they underpin our entire food chain.
..and Jules looks at plans to make a luxury summer favourite,
the lobster, into food for everyone.
It seems that now Britons can't get enough of them.
Demand is soaring.
So, until tomorrow, goodbye.