大象传媒

Ellie Harrison is in Howarth, home of the Brontes, to discover how this part of West Yorkshire has inspired artists, musicians and, of course, authors. She starts her journey at the Bronte parsonage where the three sisters, Emily, Anne and Charlotte, wrote some of the classics of British literature. Then Ellie heads up to the moors to meet Arthur Butterworth. Arthur is a composer, conductor and trumpeter who has written numerous pieces of classical music inspired by the landscape. With the aid of his trumpet, he shows Ellie how the Yorkshire Moors helped him to write "A Dales Suite" in the 1960s. Ellie moves on to Top Withens, a lonely part of the moors which is said to be the setting for Wuthering Heights. Here she meets artist, Ashley Jackson, who shares his own passion for the moors 聽鈥� and gives her a few painting tips. Finally, Ellie and Ashley head back down to Howarth for a spectacular finale.聽

While in the Lake District, Julia Bradbury delves into the lesser known talents and aspirations of Windermere鈥檚 most celebrated author, Beatrix Potter. As an astute young woman, Beatrix鈥檚 interests lead her to study fungi and her illustrations can still be found in scientific identification books, today. Her love for the countryside near her home in Cumbria also saw her buying up farms with her own fortune, so that local people could continue to work the land. Julia catches up with the Mallett family, new tenant farmers on the land that encapsulates Beatrix鈥檚 legacy.

Shepherds鈥� huts were commonplace in the time of author Thomas Hardy. His character, Gabrielle Oak, uses one in 鈥楩ar from the Madding Crowd鈥�. John Craven meets Eileen whose father was a shepherd and can still remember him using huts like this when she was a young girl. He then goes to see Richard and Jane who are building new huts and restoring old ones. On the wall of one of the original shepherd鈥檚 huts John discovers the fascinating scribblings - or graffiti - left there by its previous occupants.

The rugged North East is no stranger to dramatic landmarks. The region is defined by vast man-made projects like Hadrian鈥檚 Wall and the Angel of the North. Helen Skelton went to visit the area just as they were putting the final touches onto another one. Northumberlandia is the world鈥檚 largest human landform. It is the brainchild of world-renowned landscape artist Charles Jencks. Helen gets in touch with her inner artist to provide some last minute help. As a special treat, she also takes to the skies to get a birds-eye view of this amazing sculpture.

From the low chalk hills of the Wolds to the dramatic Holderness coastline, the East Yorkshire landscape has inspired one of our country鈥檚 best-known artists 鈥� David Hockney. Ellie meets the man himself at his studio in Bridlington where many of these works are created. She also gets a guided tour of the stunning landscapes that he has made world famous. Ellie finds out how he鈥檚 embracing new technologies and asks David what he loves most about living and working here.

Matt visits Holmfirth in Yorkshire to find out how this former mill town once rivalled Hollywood. At the turn of the 20th century, Holmfirth was home to filmmaker James Bamforth, an early pioneer of motion pictures with a real genius for slapstick. 鈥ㄢ�╓ith help from theatre group co-ordinator Chris Squire, Matt gets into character to create his own Bamforth-inspired film in the park opposite the movie man鈥檚 original studio. 鈥ㄢ�═hen, he and Julia invite some local people to celebrate the town鈥檚 movie-making tradition with a special showing of one of Bamforth鈥檚 films, 鈥淏oys Playing In The Snow鈥�.