Alec Clifton-Taylor introduces Chichester and the series as a whole by stating that he'd like the programme to be an exercise in looking: "looking at the changing styles, and fashions, and at the traditional building materials of England."
The exploration of Stamford begins roughly three miles south of the town, in Collyweston, a small village in Northamptonshire. Collyweston is the only place in England to still make limestone roof slates, slates still popular in Stamford.
Alec Clifton-Taylor visits Totnes in Devon, a town he wouldn't claim as one of the most beautiful of England's small towns, but "one of the most distinctive".