An English market town on the Welsh border, Ludlow is small, landlocked and remote. Yet it has more listed buildings than anywhere else its size in Britain; not one, but two Michelin-starred restaurants; and a fairytale castle which was once the capital of Wales. Geographer and adventurer Nicholas Crane discovers how such a cut-off town came to be packed with so many treasures, and asks whether it really is as perfect as it first appears.
A Yorkshire coastal town, Scarborough has had more ups and downs than a roller-coaster. It once had the biggest fish fair in Western Europe, it was a leading health spa and holidaymakers flocked to Britain's first seaside resort. Geographer and adventurer Nicholas Crane finds out what has happened to the town since its heyday and whether our fondness for foreign holidays has left this port high and dry.
The gateway to the Scottish highlands, Perth is a town packed with history. It has been a royal burgh since 1124, has survived a regicide within its walls and rebuilt itself after devastating floods. It is also a town that wants to be a city, and geographer and adventurer Nicholas Crane is on a journey to find out why, what benefits that brings, and what the town has to do to achieve its ambition.
A Saxon river town in South Devon, Totnes is one of the UK's oldest towns. It has seen tough times through its long history, but adversity has taught it to innovate. Geographer and adventurer Nicholas Crane visits the home of one of the greatest social experiments of the 20th century, and uncovers the test bed for an ambitious new idea that aims to change our urban life forever.
Gateway to the spectacular beauty of the Western Isles, the port of Oban is a major rail terminal and ferry port, but is it anything more? Geographer and adventurer Nicholas Crane looks behind the transit-lounge image to find a town with a dramatic past, including a surprising role in the Cold War of the 1960s and a world of adrenalin-fuelled adventure, great seafood, and inspiring scenery.
An attractive market town within easy commuting distance of London, Saffron Walden has some of the best preserved medieval architecture in the country. However its heritage is now under threat. Nicholas Crane discovers what gave this town its unique name and how the UK's housing crisis is affecting its future.
The geographer explores Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, where former prime minister Harold Wilson was born and the place where rugby league is regarded as having been founded. He learns how an out-of-the-way village was transformed into a manufacturing centre during the Industrial Revolution, as well as how it might once again be about to prompt radical changes in the textile business. The presenter learns that the town's residents have a strong sense of identity, and actor Patrick Stewart recalls his childhood in the area.
Nicholas Crane visits the most westerly town in the UK, Enniskillen.
