We take a detailed look at some of the best places to visit around the country.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome to this special insider's guide where we explore some of the most fascinating and
00:07lesser known spots in the UK. Our journey begins in Birmingham, inside a 17th century
00:12house that has seen it all.
00:14So Stratford House is at Camp Hill in Birmingham. Camp Hill, named Camp Hill, just because of
00:21the family that owned the land here, which were the Kemp family. But it's also associated
00:25with the Civil War in Birmingham, and some people think it's called that for that reason.
00:30But what you can see behind me is a half-timbered, or a black and white house, which was finished
00:36in 1601 for Bridget and Ambrose Rotten. And we know that because they carved their initials
00:44in the beam above the front door, which is quite touching really. And it's had an amazing
00:51history. It survived for hundreds of years. Network Rail tried to demolish it. They wanted
00:58to use it as a siding for the local railway yard, and then tried again in the 1950s to
01:05destroy it. Fortunately, that didn't happen. It was narrowly missed by bombs during the
01:12Second World War that fell nearby. And now we have this fantastic building that it's
01:19really hard to see because it's surrounded by roads. And I think that's a really very
01:23Birmingham thing about it. So Bridget and Ambrose Rotten, when they got married, they
01:29came to live here and there were 20 acres of land. And they would have kept animals.
01:34And it's hard to imagine that now because of the road system that's been put in. In
01:40the 1980s, it was home to a musical instrument repair company. It then became home to Network
01:49Records, one of the really important publishing companies that bought house music from Detroit
01:56into Britain. 2015, it became a swingers club called the Tudor Lounge. And they held what
02:03were called leather and lace parties here. There was even a dungeon in the cellar. I
02:09would have liked to have been here the night it was robbed. Armed robbers broke in and
02:15apparently swingers in all kinds of states of undress spilled out onto the main road.
02:21And it would have been quite a sight. The same year, there was a fire here and the whole
02:26of the inside of it was gutted. Fortunately, the owners spent a fortune on repairing it.
02:34The whole interior was replaced and it's still here today for us all to see. One of
02:40the interesting things about it, it had what was called an insurance plate on the outside
02:45of it. It used to be that if your building caught fire, the local fire service would
02:51come out. If you had an insurance plate, they'd put the fire out for free. If you didn't,
02:58it's probably very much like the AA or the RAC. They'd negotiate on the spot for a fee
03:04before they would put the fire out.
03:08From the echoes of history within a 17th century house in Birmingham, we now travel to the
03:12sacred halls of Bristol Cathedral, where centuries of stories have been preserved in stone.
03:18Welcome to Bristol Cathedral. I'm Ellie. Come and have a look inside.
03:24So I Am Here stood right in the heart of Bristol Cathedral, a monument that has withstood the
03:30test of time, being in the city for almost 900 years. But why has it become so iconic?
03:36It has a sort of formal civic role, so major civic services and so on would be held here.
03:42But I'm very proud of the fact that the cathedral increasingly is trying to help the city around
03:50it. Outreach for the homeless, for example, opening its doors to people of all faiths
03:55and none, just trying to be useful to the people of Bristol everywhere.
04:00Life is very unstable. Things are changing all the time. One thing that hasn't changed
04:05in almost 900 years is Bristol Cathedral. Why do you think it's become kind of a pillar
04:13of Bristol?
04:14I think that people find a lot of peace here, in the building, in being with other people.
04:23I think it's just a peaceful, calming place to be.
04:26When people come in as visitors, it depends very much what particularly interests them.
04:32That's what I like to tell them. Some people are very interested in the stone snail, which
04:37you can find on the leaves in the entrance to the Berkeley Chapel, for example. Got a
04:42snail about so long, which is effectively a sort of individual signing off by some medieval
04:47mason.
04:48I've been trying to take a photo of the window and I can't quite get it lined up. It's a
04:53bit wonky. Could you tell me a little bit why?
04:56Yeah, of course. You'll find that the top of the east window doesn't line up with the
05:02centre of the choir screen there, which is what I imagine you've been trying to line
05:06up. I had a debate with a visitor here once who was insistent that the Victorian workmen
05:13who built this part had had a liquid lunch and turned up and got the string in the wrong
05:19place and that's why the church isn't quite straight. This isn't true. We know that the
05:25Victorian architect knew that the building was dog-legged on the original medieval plan
05:31and it's not unusual. There are churches elsewhere in Europe with the same kink in it.
05:35Bristol Cathedral still has regular church services every day and regular events.
05:41Bristol Cathedral is very busy. You've got services all the time. You have lots of events.
05:46Tell me about them.
05:47So we try and offer events for all different kinds of people. We have a lot of things going
05:53on for families, so we do a lot of like history trails where kids can get involved. There's
05:58a music trail around cathedral music and the organ restoration. We have crafty cathedral
06:04events which are free and accessible for everyone.
06:10The human race survives. It's going to need buildings like this and it's going to need
06:14communities like this.
06:16After exploring the spiritual and architectural beauty of Bristol Cathedral, we shift gears
06:20to Liverpool, where beneath the city's surface, hidden markets and tunnels reveal another
06:24side of its rich history.
06:26Merseyside has a thriving visitor economy, but today we're looking at some of the more
06:31hidden gems in Merseyside.
06:34Redbrick Market is one of the region's best-kept secrets. First opening in 2018, the market
06:40is a hub of independent traders, local artists and start-up businesses.
06:45In 2023, they relocated to a huge new venue in the Baltic Triangle.
06:50When I go abroad, I like to go and find flea markets and local bits and bobs and even the
06:54odd car boot sale. They're always better abroad. But it's a kind of blend of Camden Market,
07:00things I've seen overseas, like the markets in Barcelona, things like that. So I've tried
07:06to pick little bits and bring as much as I can of that. But it's really a space just
07:10to champion small, local, independent businesses who can't go and get a big shop on the high
07:15street with a stupid lease and silly rates.
07:17Western Approaches is an underground labyrinth that was the headquarters for the battle at
07:22the Atlantic and other engagements in World War II. You were once required to sign the
07:26Official Secrets Act to enter the building. Now it's open to visitors.
07:31Today the wartime bunker has been restored to exactly how it used to be and is open to
07:36the public as a memorial to those who died to save Britain and the rest of Europe. Visitors
07:43can take a step back into history to the original building where the battle was fought and won.
07:50The Williamson Tunnels were built in the first few decades of the 1800s under the control
07:54of retired tobacco merchant Joseph Williamson. The purpose of the Tunnels' construction's
07:59not completely known, though it is thought it was to offer work to the unemployed of
08:03the district.
08:04I think people who first rediscovered some of Williamson's underground places soon after
08:10he died couldn't make any sense of it at all. And really, as a poet, it's not surprising.
08:15And a lot of really silly stories evolved and they became the myths and they were passed
08:21on from one person to another through the years without ever being challenged. But actually
08:26it's taken us, the Friends of Williamson's Tunnels, all the work we've done since about
08:341999 to actually make sense of the actual story.
08:39Ron's place in Beckenhead is a treasure trove of outsider art. Concealed for over 30 years,
08:45it remained a secret until Ron's death in 2019. Though currently closed to the public
08:49to allow for essential works, it is expected to open to visitors.
08:54Ron died just before the lockdown and his niece discovered, after he died, when she
09:00came in, she discovered this amazing emporium dedicated to Greek, Egyptian and Roman art
09:07that her uncle Ron had created.
09:10This ground floor flat was rented by Ron Gittins in 1986 and he spent the next three decades
09:16creating a visionary environment. With limited formal artistic training, he developed his
09:21own particular world.
09:24From secret galleries and underground tunnels in Liverpool, we now head to the iconic Time
09:27Bridge, a marvel of engineering that stands as a testament to Newcastle's industrial
09:32past and a gateway to the future.
09:35While the Time Bridge is Grade II listed, meaning it's on the National Heritage List
09:38for England, where structures and buildings are protected by regulations that preserve
09:43their historical and architectural significance. This means they are legally protected from
09:48being demolished, extended or inappropriately altered and if we look closer to the history
09:53of the Time Bridge, you can understand why.
09:56The Time Bridge was built for the new age of the motorised vehicles and to help cope
10:00with increasing traffic crossing the River Tyne. The bridge was officially opened on
10:04the 10th October 1928 by King George V. The King and Queen were the first to cross the
10:10bridge on the King's horse-drawn carriage as thousands of people lined the streets
10:14for the ceremony and 20,000 schoolchildren across the region had been given the day off
10:19to mark the special occasion. The bridge being made of steel and granite was a major engineering
10:23achievement for the early 20th century and at the time of construction, the Time Bridge
10:27was the world's largest span bridge.
10:30Sadly, a gentleman named Nathaniel Collins, who was 33 years old, lost his life during
10:35the construction. He was the scaffolder for himself shields who fell from the bridge during
10:40a shift. His family remembered that he had worked as a ship's plater and then served
10:44in the First World War. They stated he was a man who knew no fear.
10:50Construction began in August 1925 using ship building techniques by local shipyard workers
10:55and was regarded as a prototype for the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which alongside the Opera
10:59House is widely regarded as the iconic image of Sydney. So as you can expect, both the
11:04Time Bridge and Sydney Harbour Bridge had the same design team. Within that design team
11:09was a woman named Dorothy Buchanan, who was the first woman to gain entry to the industry
11:14of civil engineers.
11:16In March 2024, a commemorative plaque was unveiled on the Time Bridge in honour of Buchanan.
11:21The Mayor of Gateshead at the time, Councillor Eileen McMaster, revealed the plaque. The
11:25plaque contains a quote from Buchanan herself, stating,
11:28I felt that I represented all the women in the world. It was my hope that I would be
11:32followed by many others.
11:35Buchanan may have got her wish after all. On the bridge's 90th birthday, over 90 female
11:40engineers from across the country gathered in Newcastle to celebrate the anniversary
11:44of the opening of the Time Bridge and the female engineer behind the design.
11:49From hidden histories to monumental landmarks, we've journeyed through some of the UK's
11:52most intriguing places, but these stories don't end here. They're waiting for you
11:56to uncover them in person.