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PODCAST

Open Country

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

science nature

All Episodes

24:43

The John Muir Way

Open Country ·

2014/09/04

A young boy - John Muir - spent his early years in Scotland, playing along Dunbar's coast and scrambling across rocks. This early fascination with nature and 'wild places' later saw him campaign to protect them. When his family emigrated to the USA it led him on a path that would see him appeal directly to the president and help create the National Parks. Today he's known by most American schoolchildren but he is not so widely known in the UK. Helen Mark sets off on the new coast to coast John Muir

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24:15

The Needles, Isle of Wight

Open Country ·

2014/08/28

Helen Mark visits one of the Isle of Wight's great attractions, those famous chalk cliffs, The Needles, at the western end of the island. These iconic white stacks march out to sea, back towards the Dorset coast, that they used to be joined to a mere 10,000 years ago. Tony Tutton of the National Trust shares the great views across the Solent with Helen, describing how treacherous the waters beneath them can sometimes be to competing sailors, and how vicious the winds can be. Helen also unpicks a

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24:27

Cheshire Salt

Open Country ·

2014/08/21

Look at any map of the district around Northwich in Cheshire and you'll see that it's dotted with numerous lakes, called flashes. What have these got to do with salt? Felicity Evans is astonished to learn that they've been created by the unregulated extraction of rock salt, which has been exploited for industrial as well as culinary purposes since the 1700s. We'll hear that salt crystals were evaporated from brine in huge pans at numerous salt works across the county, the firewood for which saw the

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24:15

Chalk Streams

Open Country ·

2014/08/14

Revered by fly fishermen, Helen Mark visits the famous chalk streams of Hampshire and Wiltshire to find out about their particular ecology. With their trademark gravel beds and gin-clear waters, chalk streams are one of the very few habitats that are almost entirely exclusive to England.Helen begins at Salisbury's Harnham Water Meadows, close to the city's cathedral, with its well known limestone spire, from the spot where Constable painted his view of the scene. She hears that the meadows act like

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24:45

The Bournville Legacy

Open Country ·

2014/08/07

As the Cadbury family sought to expand their growing chocolate business in the late 19th century they also developed their vision for a better quality of life for the people of Birmingham. Buying 300 acres of land they created a model village they called Bournville, helping people escape the slums to good quality housing with gardens and fruit trees, green open spaces, churches and sports facilities. Today the Trust that runs the estate has expanded it to a thousand acres and residents often speak

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24:17

Slate Mines, Snowdonia

Open Country ·

2014/07/31

Snowdonia's slate once roofed the world, employing thousands of workers across scores of mines in North Wales. But that was in its heyday, in Victorian times. Today, whilst the industry still exists, it employs just 350 people.Helen Mark finds out what's become of the abandoned slate quarries and caverns today. Some are now places of leisure, with zip wires above ground, trampolines in underground slate caverns, and with scuba diving opportunities in flooded quarries, but others, as Helen discovers

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24:30

Butser Ancient Farm, Hampshire

Open Country ·

2014/07/24

How did people live on the land 2,000 years ago, during the Iron Age? Helen Mark finds out when she visits Butser Ancient Farm near Petersfield in Hampshire, very much a living experiment in practical archaeology.Founded 42 years ago by Peter Reynolds, Helen hears that Butser still operates as a kind of laboratory that looks into how our ancestors lived. For example, Butser's thatched roundhouses are built according to the exact dimensions found at digs in the vicinity, along the wooded hills and

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24:17

Hafod, Mid Wales

Open Country ·

2014/07/17

Once, the Hafod estate near Aberystwyth was one of Wales' most popular attractions, but that was 200 years ago. Then the grand stately home burnt down, and by 1950 the landscaped grounds (inspired by visions of classical Italy - unlikely as that might sound, given the extremely high annual rainfall in mid-Wales!) had fallen into disrepair, off the map, and out of the guidebooks. That's when the Forestry Commission bought the estate and planted it with conifers.As Felicity Evans finds out, in recent

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24:33

Rural Murals in Dumfries and Galloway

Open Country ·

2014/07/10

"Turn right at the psychedelic hay barn". The new landmark is easy to spot and has brought a smile and a surprise to many passing through Newton Stewart. The British landscape has inspired thousands of artists and Helen Mark travels through Dumfries and Galloway to see how teams of street artists have been working on 'rural murals' adorning old hay barns, slurry tankers and horse coats offered up by locals as a new canvas. While they may divide opinion, those on the Mull of Galloway say it's helped

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24:40

Tour de Yorkshire

Open Country ·

2014/07/03

With the whole of Yorkshire gearing up to welcome the pelotons of the Tour de France, Helen Mark heads for the scene of Le Grand Depart in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Travelling at a somewhat slower pace than the Yellow Jerseys, she soaks up some of the history of this beauty spot in 'God's Own County'.The first stop is to Aysgarth Falls, a cascading flight of tumbling waterfalls carved out by the River Ure. National Parks Ranger Cathy Bergs tells us about the geology of the 'triple falls'

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24:47

Life on Coquet Island

Open Country ·

2014/05/15

Helen Mark visits Coquet Island, a sanctuary for some of Britain's rarest nesting sea birds. It's also home to the world's first 'puffin piano'...Coquet Island is an RSPB reserve which due to the rarity of some of its winged visitors, is protected under European Law and no-one is allowed to set foot on it without special permission. There's no running water and no mains electricity, but every summer a small, dedicated team of wardens and volunteers lead by Paul Morrison take up residence on Coquet

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24:46

Brooklands Racetrack

Open Country ·

2014/05/08

With the growing Formula 1 schedule and following, there's an increasing appetite for motor racing. Helen Mark heads to Weybridge in Surrey to visit Brooklands - claimed to be the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit to hear how one Hugh Locke-King's passion for speed led him to have the track designed and built on his land, almost bankrupting him. The site was used for land speed records even before the first race and also became a centre for aviation development. It reached its heyday

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24:31

The Avon Gorge, Bristol

Open Country ·

2014/05/01

With Brunel's iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge towering over head, pull on your hiking boots and join Felicity Evans as she steps away from Bristol's busy city streets and delves into the dense undergrowth of the Avon Gorge.As a haven for rare plant species, it's been classed as one of the top three botanical sites in England and with peregrine falcons circling overhead and goats roaming the land below, you could be forgiven for thinking you are in the most wild of rural landscapes - but in reality

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24:37

Walking on Water, Isles of Scilly

Open Country ·

2014/04/24

Without quite walking on water, Helen Mark uses a very low spring tide to walk between Tresco and Bryher, two of the Isles of Scilly. She meets people who delight in what is revealed on the seabed, such as 3,000 year old Neolithic field walls, indicating the time when the islands were a single landmass. Local harbour master Henry Birch stands with Helen at the mid point between the islands which normally sits 5 meters below the sea.Helen hears how it's all possible because of what must surely be one

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334 results

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