About this programme

16/20. Michael Portillo embarks on the first leg of a journey to London from Buxton, Derbyshire, where he discovers how railways inspired a building craze and boosted tourism. In the Peak District, he joins a team of volunteers repairing damage done to ancient peat landscapes during the industrial revolution, and near the quarries of Stanton Moor he learns how trains transported Derbyshire's famous sandstone all over England.