Rick Stein's Cornwall

Rick begins at his family home in Trevose Head on the north coast, where as a child he would go fishing with his father.

Rick meets a family who make some of the best Gouda cheese in Britain, and uses their creations to make a tortilla dish with caramelised apples and onions. In the fishing village of Mevagissey, he discovers the origins of the sea shanty and the history of the pilchard fishing industry, when shoals of pilchards were so large they would attract killer whales.

Rick meets chef Tom Adams, who runs Combeshead Farm, a leading field-to-fork restaurant where they grow and produce all of their own food, from sourdough bread to pork pies, as well as rearing a small herd of Mangalitsa pigs, a hairy, old-world breed that produces exquisite hams. Rick tries out a new recipe - pork chops with a sloe berry sauce - before moving on to the village of Rock, where his son Jack holds a clam bake on the shore of the Camel Estuary.

Rick discovers an unusual superstition and a rare type of Norman castle in Launceston, before meeting musicians Graham Fitkin and Ruth Wall in the far west of Cornwall.

Rick meets his good friend, the actor and comedian Barry Humphries, who fell in love with Cornwall in the 1960s when he escaped London to develop his famous character Dame Edna Everage. Barry talks about his friendship with British poet John Betjeman, and asks Rick to review his home-made fishcakes. Rick also goes fishing for crab, before cooking a simple yet delicious crab omelette. The host then takes a dip in the chilly north Atlantic with an eccentric group of wild water swimmers called the Perranporth Blue Tits.

Rick journeys inland from the majestic Camel Estuary to one of Britain's finest vineyards, where he joins in harvesting the grapes to discover that the Cornish weather is perfect for making some of the best wine in the country.

Just off Pentire Point, as the sun sets, Rick rides the gentle swell of the North Atlantic with an old friend, casting his line to hook Britain's fastest fish, before firing up the barbecue to cook his catch with a recipe inspired by a trip to Goa.

Rick joins Tim Smit, best known for starting the hugely successful Eden Project, who reveals to Rick his new and ambitious idea in Cornwall.

Rick explores one of Cornwall's hidden secrets, the secluded and stunning Fowey Estuary, joining his friend on a boat trip to learn about the history of the area and getting a unique view of the beautiful buildings along the river bank.

Downstream, after a meal of crab scotch eggs at a fashionable new restaurant, Rick discovers that the historic town of Fowey was once a hotbed of piracy. Just above the town is a family making a prize-winning Cornish vodka, which Rick uses to make a delicious pancake with a wild blackberry compote and Cornish clotted cream.

On the wild north Atlantic coast, Rick heads out to sea to go fishing for lobsters with his old friend and celebrity chef Nathan Outlaw and learns about a revolutionary new conservation programme which is making lobster fishing a sustainable enterprise. In the historic and pretty harbour town of Port Isaac, Rick and Nathan cook up a fabulous lobster risotto.

At Tresillian House, near Newquay, Rick meets with head gardener John Harris to find out more about his Victorian walled garden, an oasis of calm where Rick discovers how harvesting by the phases of the moon means better tasting veg. Rick cooks a Cornish Briam, a tasty slow-cooked dish of fresh vegetables.

At Golitha Falls, where the River Fowey tumbles down to the sea, Rick meets Dawn French, Britain's queen of comedy, who has made Cornwall her home.

In the shadow of Devonport Dockyard, he boards the world's busiest chain ferry to cross the wide River Tamar, the ancient watery boundary between the counties of Devon and Cornwall, where he discovers an unusual event involving an elephant from the circus. And in a small pocket of the county is a man who thinks he's discovered the next superfood, which Rick uses to cook up a delicious duck dish.

Rick heads into the bowels of Cornwall, deep into the china clay pits to discover what is known locally as white gold, one of this county's most important industries. He then climbs the Cornish Alps, huge slag heaps created by the clay mining and some of Cornwall's highest land.

After a wild swim at one of Cornwall's picturesque hidden coves, Rick cooks a simple sea bass recipe, telling us all how to make the perfect homemade mayonnaise. In the far west of the county, on the Land's End peninsula, Rick introduces us to his niece, a modern artist who explains her deep spiritual connection to Cornwall.

Rick explores the beating heart of the postwar British modern art movement in the seaside town of St Ives, the home of leading artists such as Barbara Hepworth and Terry Frost.

At the Lizard Peninsula, known locally as the graveyard of all shipping, Rick heads out to sea to fish for a delicious seasonal visitor, the red mullet. And on the wild coast at Land's End, Rick discovers that Cornwall has a rather unusual animal as its emblem.

Rick is on the beautiful Roseland Peninsula. He begins his journey at a spot thought to have been visited by Jesus, which inspired the hymn Jerusalem. At the picturesque town of St Mawes, he embarks on a tour of the bay with Alex and Olga Polizzi, who own one of Cornwall's most luxurious hotels.

At one of the county's oldest butchers, Rick looks into the ancient practice and benefits of ageing meat, before showing us how to properly cook a steak and make the perfect Bearnaise sauce. And in the attractive harbourside village of Mousehole, Rick meets a potter who finds inspiration in the Cornish landscape.

Rick is at Tintagel, Cornwall's most mythical location, where he discovers that it was an important trading port with Europe and the birthplace of perhaps Britain's greatest legend, the tale of King Arthur.

At Camborne, once the richest mining area in the world, Rick explores how the Methodist religious movement was so important to Cornwall, and how Methodists would cook a rather unusual bun during special feast days. And on the Roseland Peninsula, Rick meets a family who are continuing the surprisingly ancient tradition of growing the exotic spice saffron.

West Penwith is as far west as it is possible to go in mainland England. Here Rick explores its rich and diverse history, from Lamorna Cove, made famous through song and art, to the UNESCO protected tin and copper mining area of Botallack, where Rick talks with a mining explorer.

With the Atlantic sea mist enveloping the landscape, Rick follows an ancient track in search of Cornwall's oldest building. And from the safety of his kitchen, Rick tells us how, as a young lad on the Lizard Peninsula, he fell in love for the first time and tasted his first exotic French fish stew, known as a bouillabaisse.

As Rick's Cornish odyssey comes to an end, he takes a city break in Truro, where he discovers an unusual ghost story and tours the magnificent cathedral.

Deep in the Cornish countryside is a family passionate about offal, who prepare Rick a delicious meal of pickled ox tongue and beef heart tacos. In Cornwall's most northerly parish, Rick tells the story of an eccentric vicar, Robert Stephen Hawker, who would retrieve and bury the bodies from nearby shipwrecks in his church, and who is credited with writing what has become Cornwall's unofficial national anthem.