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The Lee Valley is known as the 鈥済reen lung鈥� of London and the Lea Valley Growers have played a key role in shaping the landscape. Matt Baker spends the day discovering that the region is home to a number of Italian families who brought their growing know-how to the Lea Valley in the 1950s. Matt meets a Sicilian family who have been growing cucumbers for three generations and finds out how, from humble beginnings, the industry has become a high-tech business. It now produces five million cucumbers a year, as well as fruit to suit a more Mediterranean taste.听

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After the wettest winter on record, floods are becoming more familiar and the RNLI are increasingly being called out to rescue civilians trapped in stranded vehicles. Ellie Harrison joins the RNLI in training at the Lee Valley White Water Centre and experiences first-hand what it is like to be stuck inside a vehicle as the flood water rises. Ellie is also shown how the RNLI rescue civilians from a variety of flood situations and discovers that more and more of us are taking risks by driving through waterlogged roads.听

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There are fewer than two hundred chalk streams in the world and 85% of those are found in England. Ellie finds out about the restoration work being done to protect the River Ash, a chalk stream on the edge of the busy and congested capital. Ellie speaks to a farmer who has been helping to restore the river by creating areas of fast and slow moving water, an ideal habitat for invertebrates such as the mayfly. She also joins volunteers monitoring water quality by surveying specimens found in the river.听

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Adam Henson is hoping to find a new bull to replace Isaac, his beautiful Gloucester. But that鈥檚 not easy as the breed, which gets its name from Adam鈥檚 home county of Gloucestershire, is rare. In his search for a new bull, Adam meets two farmers and a butcher who are just as passionate about the breed as he is. 听They鈥檝e got together to promote the benefits of locally produced Gloucester beef. But will they have a bull for Adam?听

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Despite being on the doorstep of London, the Lee Valley is full of open meadows, woods and man-made lakes ideal for wildlife. Seventy Acres Lake, a former gravel pit, has been transformed into a perfect breeding ground for the common tern and Ellie helps park officers prepare gravel rafts to help the birds nest. Ellie then visits another man-made lake, with an island that has become a paradise for nesting grey herons. Ellie joins the park鈥檚 conservation team to assist with ringing the heron chicks.听

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We鈥檝e all heard the sometimes frightening predictions about the impact that climate change will have on the future of our planet. But what about today? Tom Heap looks for hard evidence that shifts in our weather are already having an affect on the British countryside. Tom discovers birds that are moving north, trees that are blossoming early 鈥� and a beetle that survived an ice age, yet seems to be struggling to adapt today. But do cases like these really amount to proof that climate change is already impacting on our countryside?听听

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The Lee Valley White Water Centre is where Team GB made Olympic history at London 2012, winning both gold and silver in the men鈥檚 double canoe slalom. Ellie, with the help of gold medallist Tim Baillie, has a go at traversing one of the courses. Meanwhile, Matt goes behind the scenes to explain how the course has been engineered. He takes the controls just as Ellie is tackling the white water, which rapidly leads to a dramatic ending!

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