Part of the Youth Hostels Association Collection, this is a promotional film to encourage hostels to discover some of the lesser-known parts of the UK. Title card - ‘Breaking New Ground’ overlaying sheep in a field. Title card - ‘Photographed and produced for the Youth Hostels Association (England and Wales)’ overlaying the YHA logo. Title card - ‘by W. Cowen, Keswick’ overlaying a lake. Intertitle - ‘The object of this film is to encourage hostellers to discover some of the less well-known...

Part of the Youth Hostels Association Collection, this is a promotional film to encourage hostels to discover some of the lesser-known parts of the UK. Title card - ‘Breaking New Ground’ overlaying sheep in a field. Title card - ‘Photographed and produced for the Youth Hostels Association (England and Wales)’ overlaying the YHA logo. Title card - ‘by W. Cowen, Keswick’ overlaying a lake. Intertitle - ‘The object of this film is to encourage hostellers to discover some of the less well-known parts of Britain which are well worth a visit.’ Two men are shown chatting in the street. One of them is sitting on a bike. Intertitle - ‘The more popular districts may be crowded during July & August - look at these rejected bookings’. The man on the bike flicks through a pile of envelopes which are all stamped with ‘sorry full’ on them. A woman (Janine) walks down the street; the two men wave at her and gesture her over. Intertitle - ‘Hello Janine, we’re discussing holidays’. The man on the bike hands Janine the envelopes; she responds. Intertitle ‘Well, my bookings are alright.’ Janine opens her handbag and shows the men her letters/envelopes. Intertitle - ‘But you’re going to East Anglia - it’s easy to get in there, it’s so flat.’ She puts them back in her handbag and gets out some more papers to show the men. Intertitle ‘Oh no! We had a grand time there last year. It was jolly good.’ Janine shows the men some photographs from her trip. Intertitle - ‘Bert started at High Roding’. A man (Bert) wearing a rucksack is shown walking into a large old building. Inside, he signs a book and a man sitting at a desk stamps a card. A group of men are shown playing with a dog outside the building. Bert walks away from the building and down the road. He reaches a signpost and follows the direction. He continues to walk down the road. Fungi growing on a tree trunk is shown. Bert walks down a street by some old buildings. Intertitle - ‘Thaxted, The Guildhall has dominated the scene for 500 years’. Bert is shown walking into the Guildhall in Thaxted. He is shown walking down a grassy bank past a signpost and onto a road. He crosses the road. Intertitle - ‘Audley End the noblest house in Essex, on the banks of the Granta.’ Landscape shot of Audley End. Bert stands on a bridge near the house. He watches as a group of swans swim in the river under the bridge. A small rodent is shown on a concrete ledge. Bert continues to walk across the bridge. Intertitle - ‘Saffron Walden with old houses in every street.’ Bert walks through the streets of Saffron Walden. Old buildings and monuments can be seen. Intertitle - ‘The Sun Inn with its gabled front, here Cromwell stayed.’ The Sun Inn building is shown. People are walking down the street outside it. Intertitle - ‘We joined forces at Saffron Walden. The hostel is a 15th century house.’ Bert walks into the youth hostel. Janine is shown walking into the youth hostel shortly afterwards. Janine is shown washing and peeling potatoes in a bucket, whilst sat on a bench. Bert joins her and does the same. They chat and smile. The youth hostel building is shown. Intertitle - ‘Duties completed we started on our new adventure. Breaking new ground in East Anglia.’ The couple walk out of the youth hostel and down the road. They walk down a track next to some horses. They continue walking and point out some flowers. As they walk down a small track between some trees, Bert points at a tree. Intertitle - ‘We saw evidence of a busy woodpecker.’ Bert points up the tree with a stick while Janine touches the hollow areas of the tree caused by the woodpecker. The pair bend down and play with the sawdust at the bottom of the tree. Intertitle - ‘Finchingfield is a delightful Essex village.’ Bert and Janine are shown heading down the road towards the village. Bert playfully sits down with his legs in ankle stocks. The pair continue walking past a while cottage and a windmill. They reach a signpost and head in the direction of Wethersfield, Hedinghams and Braintree. Intertitle - ‘Castle Hedingham a piece of Medieval England. Clustering round its castle walls.’ Bert and Janine walk down a street; the castle can be seen in the background. They enter a youth hostel. Intertitle - ‘Janine claims a bed in the half timbered dormitory’. Janine unpacks her things onto the bed and makes the bed. The pair are shown lighting a stove and cooking bacon in a pan. Janine serves the bacon on a plate then cracks eggs into the pan. The eggs are also served up. Janine is shown sitting at the table eating the food; Bert appears and pours her a cup of tea from a teapot. He then steals some of her food using his spoon. Intertitle - ‘After supper we have a stroll in the village.’ Bert and Janine walk down a street and into a churchyard. Intertitle - ‘The massive Norman keep is 600 years old.’ The pair walk up to the keep. Intertitle - ‘Lavenham. The wool town, every street has its wonders.’ Bert and Janine are shown walking through the village streets. Intertitle - ‘ Lavenham Church is very elaborate and spacious.’ Lavenham church is shown. Intertitle - ‘Along pleasant field paths to Long Melford.’ Bert and Janine are shown walking across fields. Bees are shown on a flower. Bert and Janine continue walking. Intertitle - ‘The smithy is thatched.’ The pair walk over to a building with a thatched roof and admire the horseshoes attached to a wooden beam outside. They take their rucksacks off and sit down outside the building. A wooden shutter swings open and hits Bert’s head. A man walks in front of them and fixes the shutter open in place. Janine sees a kitten on the floor and picks it up. She plays with it on her lap. A man walks down the street with a horse. He attaches the rope from the horse to the wooden beam outside the building. Janine walks over and strokes the horse. Intertitle - ‘We helped the blacksmith to shoe a Suffolk Punch.’ Bert and Janine watch as a blacksmith uses a hammer and anvil to shape a horseshoe. The shoe is shown being held in the forge before back on the anvil again, and then being attached to the hoof of the horse. The same is repeated on another leg. The horse is untied from the wooden beam. Intertitle - ‘We had lunch in the Hayfield.’ Bert and Janine are shown walking down the road and into a field of working tractors. The pair sit by a bale of hay eating sandwiches. Intertitle - ‘Bury St. Edmunds.’ Bert and Janine walk into town past a signpost. Lots of people can be seen on the pavements and there are a few cars on the road. Intertitle - ‘Norwich Castle is a large square Norman keep.’ The pair are shown wandering around the busy town and heading up to the castle museum. Intertitle - ‘From the top of Norwich Castle the new City Hall and the ancient Guildhall.’ Views from the top of Norwich Castle are shown. Intertitle ‘Norwich Cathedral.’ A view of Norwich Cathedral from the top of Norwich Castle is shown. Bert and Janine walk back through the town. Intertitle - ‘The countryman comes to town - Norwich on market day’. A crowd is gathered around boxes of live chicks. Bert and Janine put their hands in the box to stroke the chicks. Boys eating ice-cream are shown also standing looking over at the boxes of chicks. Livestock is shown being moved into a barn from the back of a truck. A group of people are crowded around looking at livestock in pens. Bert and Janine walk across a road and admire a lion statue. Views of the city are shown. Intertitle - ‘The Saturday Market.’ People are shown bustling around at the market. One man pushes a large cart of veg up the street. Bert and Janine walk through the market. The streets are crowded. Intertitle - ‘North East of Norwich we soon reach the Broads’. Bert and Janine walk past several boats on the water. One of the boars is shown travelling across the water away from a pier, with a smaller boat attached to the back. Various other people are shown out on boats. Bert and Janine are shown chatting to some men on a boat. A man and a woman are shown getting out of a rowing boat. Janine chats to a man holding the rope attached to the boat, as he pulls the boat in to dock it at the pier. Intertitle - ‘We reached the coast at Sheringham and met a good crowd at the hostel.’ The large hostel building is shown. Bert and Janine are shown walking up a track alongside a large crowd of cyclists. Bert, Janine and two others are shown clambering up through some bushes. Landscapes of the hills and coast are shown. A group of people look out of a hostel window. A group of people are shown sitting around a bowl where they are peeling potatoes. A group of people are shown cleaning wooden tables outside. A group of people are shown cleaning the hostel exterior windows. Bert and Janine walk through the grassy area outside the hostel and look at the poppies. They continue down the small track on the grass and through a gate. A group of people are shown at the beach. A woman runs down the sand to the sea. People play in the shallow waves. People are shown getting dry with towels behind some deck chairs. A small child is shown playing with sand and a bucket. Intertitle - ‘Cley-next-the-Sea once a whaling port.’ Bert and Janine are shown reading maps in a field. A windmill can be seen in the background. A closer view of the windmill is shown. Bert and Janine sit down to have a snack in front of a rowing boat, which is parked up on the ground. They are then shown walking away from the windmill. Intertitle - ‘Across to the bird sanctuary at Blakeney.’ A large group of people are shown going out onto the water in a large boat. Bert and Janine are shown stepping into a boat and then travelling across the water. A large group of people are shown walking around a gravelled area. Intertitle - ‘The Ringed Plover’s eggs are well camouflaged.’ Bert and Janine are shown looking at some eggs on the gravelled ground which look very similar to pebbles. The couple plus another man are shown walking across some sand dunes. Bert and Janine have fun sliding down the dunes. They join a man with binoculars who points in the distance. Bert and Janine find a baby bird. Janine picks it up and Bert strokes its head. They release it onto the ground. Intertitle - ‘The Common Tern with her young.’ A tern is shown walking around on the sand. She goes over to its nest and sits on her babies. Bert and Janine are shown laying down in the dunes, enjoying the sun. Janine starts flicking a strand of grass on Bert’s face. People are shown on boats on the water. Janine and Bert are helped into a boat on the edge of the water. They are shown enjoying the journey across the water. The people in the boat are shown getting out at the back. Bert and Janine are shown watching a herd of brown cows in a field. They carry on walking down the road. Intertitle - ‘Peddar’s Way. A track much older than Roman Roads.’ Bert and Janine are shown walking down a grassy track. A moth and a fly are shown on a thistle. The couple reach a signpost and follow the direction for Peddar’s Way. They continue walking down a grassy track. Long grass is shown. Intertitle ‘It takes us to Castle Acre Priory’. Bert and Janine are shown walking on the grounds of the priory. They walk through an archway and down some steps. The priory ruins are shown. A sign reads ‘Welcome to the city of Ely’. The pair walk past some buildings. Intertitle - ‘Ely Cathedral is tall and graceful’. Various shots of the Cathedral are shown. Intertitle - ‘King’s Cliffe Hostel, just off Great North Road.’ Bert and Janine are shown leaving the youth hostel. Another man sees them off. The pair walk down the street and through a red gate. Bert tries to turn the wheel design in the gate. They walk past a horse and cart. A dog is sitting on the cart. They walk past a church and some buildings. They stop at one which says ‘Apethorpe Post Office’ above the window downstairs, and a dog sits in the window upstairs. Bert goes inside whilst Janine looks through the window. The couple start walking across a bridge. They stop halfway, visibly eating something as they look over the side of the bridge. Swans are shown swimming in the river underneath the bridge. Bert and Janine walk down a road as traffic and cyclists pass by. They walk up the road and stop at a rock which reads ‘To Huntingdon 6 miles’. They sit down and eat. A blue bus is shown driving over a stone bridge. A stone building (school) is shown. Janine is looking at a sign which reads ‘Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth attended this school about 1610.’ Buildings are shown. Bert and Janine walk down a street of old buildings. Intertitle - ‘Houghton Mill Hostel is delightfully situated on the Great Ouse.’ Houghton Mill Hostel is shown overlooking the river. A man is shown fishing on the riverbank opposite the hostel; his dog is sitting with him. Two young men are shown on the river in a small rowing boat. A larger group of people in swimwear are shown on the river in the larger boat. People are shown having fun on the bridge outside the hostel, checking a map. They all grab some bikes and cycle away over the bridge. The youth hostel is shown again. Intertitle - ‘Cambridge, The University City, where we ended our tour of Eastern counties.’ Views of the streets of Cambridge are shown. Bert and Janine are shown buying choc-ices. Janine eats hers whilst Bert has a smoke on his pipe. More views of Cambridge city streets are shown. Intertitle ‘Clare and King’s from the River Cam’. Views of Clare College and King’s College of Cambridge University are shown. Intertitle - ‘Trinity College’. Views of Trinity College of Cambridge University are shown. People are shown on boats on the river. Bert and Janine walk down the path next to the river. Intertitle - ‘Sauntering back along the “Backs” with its bridges and boating.’ Bert and Janine continue on the path by the river then sit down on the riverbank. People are shown on the river in boats. Bushes of flowers are shown in full bloom. Intertitle ‘St. John’s College’. Views of St. John’s College of Cambridge University are shown. Intertitle - ‘The Bridge of Sighs’. Views of the Bridge of Sighs are shown. Bert and Janine are looking over at it. Intertitle - ‘East Anglia was jolly good, this year I’m going to South Wales.’ Janine and the two men from the beginning of the film are shown talking in the street again. Intertitle - ‘A friend of mine has just come back from South Wales. He started at Malvern Hostel.’ Malvern Hostel is shown. Intertitle - ‘Start on a full stomach.’ A man is shown emptying a tin of beans into a bowl. He adds other items into a sizzling pan such as tomatoes. He then cracks an egg into the pan. He boils the kettle and pours it into a teapot. He and his family all sit down to eat the food at a dining table. Intertitle - ‘Hostel duties’. A group of men are shown chopping wood/sawing logs. Intertitle - ‘British Camp - where Caractacus made his last stand against the Romans.’ British Camp is shown. Countryside and mountain landscapes are shown. The man walks up a hill. Intertitle - ‘From Crickhowell we can explore the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains.’ Views of landscapes, streets and a bridge are shown. Intertitle - ‘There is always plenty of room in the hostels earlier in the season.’ People with bikes pass a signpost. Places displayed on the signpost include Brecon, Llandovery, Crickhowell, Talyllyn, Llancorse, Llanfrynach, and Talybont. Intertitle - ‘The Brecon Beacons sometimes have snow in late Spring.’ Landscape views of snow on the mountains are shown. A group of men on bikes cycle away. Cows are shown in a field. Intertitle - ‘The roofless ruins of Llanthony Abbey.’ Views of Llanthony Abbey are shown with mountains behind. Intertitle - ‘Capel-y-Ffin Hostel is the heart of the black mountains.’ Views of Capel-y-Ffin hostel and the mountains are shown. Views of the nearby village streets and more landscapes such as mountains, grass, and river are shown.’ Intertitle - ‘The wooded Towy Valley offers delightful walking.’ Landscapes of the mountains and countryside are shown. The man walks down the path, past some houses and onto a bridge. He walks over a wall to a chapel. Intertitle - ‘A tiny chapel in the hills.’ The man walks through the graveyard of the chapel. He then walks over a bridge above a stream and through the countryside along various paths. The man runs into some people on a pathway; one of the men is on a horse and is followed by several dogs. Intertitle - ‘By Bwlch-y-Ffin Farm we enter the ‘Welsh Desert.’ Landscapes of the hills and countryside are shown. The man carries on walking through the fields and over a river. He reaches a large white building and peers through the window. He carries on walking. Flowers and butterflies are shown. The man is shown standing on a hill looking over the valley. He sits on a hillside for a short while and carries on walking. Intertitle - ‘A good day in the Doethie Valley.’ The man climbs up a rocky area above a gushing river/stream. He interacts with a shepherd who is walking with his dogs and a flock of geese. Intertitle - ‘The shepherd poses for his photograph’. The shepherd is shown posing as the man takes his photo on a camera. The pair are shown looking at a notebook. The shepherd carries on his way. The man continues walking and looking at the views. Mushrooms/toadstools are shown. Intertitle - ‘The River Teifi at Cenarth.’ The River Teifi is shown flowing; trees and mountains are in the background. The man encounters some fishermen at the river. Intertitle - ‘The Coracle of the ancient Britons is still used to fish salmon.’ One of the fishermen shows the man some nets and a boat outside a building. He then demonstrates how he carries them on his back to the river. He puts it down on the water and uses the oar to sail off downstream. Intertitle - ‘St. David’s Head Hostel gives easy access to delightful coast scenery.’ The man reaches the hostel and goes in, followed by some other men who arrive on bicycles. Views of the coast are shown. The man and someone else from the hostel walk up a rocky hill. At the top they admire the views. Intertitle - ‘St. David’s Cathedral was founded in 1180.’ The man walks around the grounds of the cathedral. Intertitle - ‘Whitesands Bay is only 600 yards from St. David’s Head Hostel’. Views of the coast and sea are shown. The man runs down the hill and admires the coastal view. A group of people are shown playing cricket on the beach. Views of the coast and people having fun on the beach are shown. The man walks out of a building. Sunset views are shown. Intertitle - ‘Port Eynon Hostel in the old lifeboat house on the Gower Peninsula.’ The man is shown outside a youth hostel as another group are shown outside putting their rucksacks and jackets on. A sign on the building reads ‘Y.H.A. The Old Lifeboat House. Porteynon.’ Intertitle - ‘A day on the windswept cliffs.’ The man is shown leaving the hostel with another family. They walk down the path and are then seen walking up the rocky cliffs, overlooking the beach. The man and the family walk through fields of sheep. Intertitle - ‘Rhossili Bay with four miles of glorious sand.’ Landscape shots of the bay are shown. Intertitle - ‘Worms Head - a rocky promontory. Home of many wild birds.’ Landscape shots of Worms Head are shown. Intertitle - ‘Carmarthen Fans - a delightful mountain area.’ A landscape shot of mountains and fields is shown. Intertitle - ‘And so farewell to South Wales’. The man walks down a large rock formation after admiring the view of the mountain landscapes. Meanwhile, Janine and the two men in the street from the beginning of the film continue talking. Another man on a bicycle joins them. The group all walk off together down the street. End credits - ‘Be Adventurous by YHA “Breaking New Ground” ‘ overlaying a map of the south of England and Wales.