BBC Two Rick Stein's Food Stories visits Cumbria and Lake District

Monday's episode saw the famous chef begin his new UK food tour in 'one of the top foodie destinations in the country'.

Rick has been a chef for over 50 years and lives in Padstow in Cornwall, where he opened his first restaurant in 1975.

The chef travelled to Cumbria, describing the county as a part of the UK he 'loves' for 'fierce, strong culinary traditions', 'superb modern food and fantastic homegrown produce.'

Rick first visits the Rebanks family, who run a sheep farm that has been going for over 600 years.

Up in the fells James Rebanks, his wife Helen and daughter Molly, raise Herdwicks, a hardy sheep breed that has been native to the landscape since the Bronze Age.

Farmer and author James is described as the 'most influential farmer in the UK' due to his bestselling books and beliefs about food production.

James said: "The way food is produced adds enormously to the flavour and the health of it and the quality of it."

The Rebanks revealed that their Herdwick meat is most popular with British Asian customers as the lamb goes well in curries and Kebabs.

Rick then joined the Rebanks family for a 'world class' hot pot lunch, starring meat from a ten-year-old ewe cooked with parsnips and potatoes.

While cooking for her family, Helen has also published a book that features recipes passed down over several generations. She said: "It doesn't have to be complicated and it doesn't have to cost the earth."

James said it gives him a 'real buzz and real pride' to eat food he knows has come from a good source.

Next Rick journeyed to what he described as the 'pretty, little market town' of Ulverston.

After visiting the statue of famous comics Laurel and Hardy, whom Rick is a 'great fan' of, the chef revisited an old friend.

Twenty years ago, while filming a show that focused on sea food, Rick met fisherman Ray Edmondson and tasted Morecambe Bay shrimp for the first time.

While working on the series, Rick spent some time at sea with Ray, who retired from engineering to fulfill his dream of becoming a fisherman.

Ray owns a shop in Morecambe where his 'legendary' pots of brown shrimp are marinated in a secret recipe of spices.

The chef braved Morecambe Bay's treacherous mud flats to meet a shrimp fisherman, called Ray Porter,  who collects the fruit of the sea with an ancient tractor and a specially adapted trailer he customised himself.

Ray modelled his creation on a horse and cart design called the Tra-La-La, which was popular in the 18th century until the 1960s.

Despite dangerous tides, he drives between two and five miles out every day to trawl the shallows, saying: "On a nice day, there's nowhere better."

Rick walked a short distance out onto the flats, saying he felt 'uneasy' in this 'desert'.

Back home in his kitchen, Rick showed viewers how to turn potted shrimp into something 'worthy of a place at any modern table.'

He put together a 'nice, little starter' of a freshly made crumpet, topped with a poached egg and 'lovely, juicy' shrimps cooked in butter.

The chef tucked in, saying this sort of dish is 'designed to cheer you up' and that growing up in the 60s, getting potted shrimp was 'luxurious'.

Rick said: "It's quite exotic in a funny sort of way, but very British as well. Just the right thing for a rainy lunch."