Knockando woolmill, near Aberlour on Speyside, has produced fabric since 1784. Its original machinery has supported families down the centuries and the mill has retained a place at the heart of the local community, working with wool from local sheep and weaving tweed and blankets for the flocks' owners. A break had to come, though, for renovation and renewal work which, it is hoped, will allow it to continue its work into the next century and beyond. The trust which runs the mill is determined t...
Jan 05, 2012•24 min
The fisherman’s gansey (a word thought to derive from ‘guernsey’) is a seamless woollen pullover worn by generations of seamen for work and at leisure. It was comfortable, practical and tough enough to provide some protection from the elements, and every community had its own pattern (possibly in an effort to identify drowned fishermen) although these patterns were seldom committed to paper. The ganseys of the Moray Firth coastline, the 500 miles between Duncansby Head and Fraserburgh, have beco...
Dec 29, 2011•25 min
This is one of the busiest times of year on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland Coast. Almost 1,500 seal pups are being born and almost half of these will die in their first three weeks. Since 1951, wardens have been counting and tagging the pups born on the Farne Islands. During this time, the number of pups born has trebled, from 500 to 1499, making it the largest English colony of Atlantic grey seals. When the survey began, scientists knew almost nothing about how seals bred, what they a...
Dec 22, 2011•25 min
The Search and Rescue Dog Association (SARDA) Wales is a specialist element of Mountain Rescue in England and Wales responsible for the training and deployment of dogs to search for missing people in the mountains and on the moorlands of Britain as well as lowland, rural and urban areas. When someone is missing in a rural or mountain environment, a dog team can be more effective than 4 teams of people, covering large areas much faster and effectively. For the handlers and trainers who bring thei...
Dec 15, 2011•25 min
Does the British landscape hold the key to a new and revolutionary form of energy? Jules Hudson is in Lancashire to find out about shale gas, a by-product of shale rock which forms much of the geology of the county's landscape. Using a technique known as 'fracking', which involves using a high pressure combination of water, sand and chemicals, the rock is then fractured in order to release the gas. For Cuadrilla, the company responsible for the drilling, these are exciting times. But opponents t...
Dec 08, 2011•25 min
British Waterways is responsible for over two thousand miles of canals and navigable rivers across the country. Next year, it is just one of many bodies preparing to become a charity due to Government cuts. As part of this new status, the organisation is launching a recruitment drive for volunteers to train as lock keepers. Today's Open Country, is from Caen Hill locks in Devizes, one of the most impressive and iconic canals in the country. Jules Hudson finds out how important volunteers will be...
Dec 01, 2011•25 min
In the second of two programmes on the Channel Islands, Open Country visits Jersey to find out what it was like to live on the Island during the German occupation in World War 2. The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be seized and for five years, residents lived under Nazi rule. Now a file of papers which spent decades stuffed in the back of a wardrobe has been found revealing graphic accounts of some of those who were deported to Germany after being caught in acts of re...
Nov 24, 2011•24 min
Today on Open Country, Richard Uridge visits what's known as the jewel of the Channel Islands. Herm stretches just a mile and a half long. The whole island is leased by one couple, who own everything on it from the hotel to the beach café's and all the houses. 58 people live on the Island and all work for the same employer. Richard Uridge finds out what it's like to live in such a close-knit community and to all work for the same company. Presenter : Richard Uridge Producer : Anna Varle....
Nov 17, 2011•25 min
It's been dubbed the foot and mouth of the tree world. Phytophthora ramorum or sudden oak death as its commonly known is ravaging forests across the UK resulting in millions of trees being cut down. The disease has spread from the South West to Wales, the peaks and even as far north as the Isle of Mull. But experts say they are finding fewer and fewer new outbreaks. Today on Open Country, Helen Mark visits The South West, the region that's hardest hit, to find out what impact this disease is con...
Nov 10, 2011•25 min
Helen Mark is in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire to find out how horses and the natural landscape of Royal Deeside are helping wounded and serving military personnel. Set up by ex-marine Jock Hutchison and his wife Emma, Horseback UK is a charity aiming to provide a safe and secure environment for soldiers returning from active service or those that have already left, many of whom have suffered injury or acute stress as a result of active service. The charity uses equine therapy and the value of the great...
Nov 05, 2011•25 min
On the 22nd July 1937 the 6 man crew of Heyford K6875 were briefed to carry out a night cross country exercise from RAF Leconfield in east Yorkshire, the weather that night was poor, with low visibility. The crew were seen to fire flares to illuminate the ground beneath to hopefully see a feature they could recognise, this proved fruitless as the aircraft flew up the Vale of Edale striking Broadlee Bank Tor just below the summit. Jim Watson's Uncle Jim Barker was one of the crewmen lost that nig...
Nov 03, 2011•25 min
75% of heather moorland is found here in the UK. The North York Moors are perhaps best known for their glorious purple carpets and on Open Country Jules Hudson explores the past and the potential future of this rare habitat. Heather moorland relies on management. Created over centuries of sheep grazing and man management the blooms require regular burning to remain healthy and attractive to the varied wildlife that makes its home on the moors. Sometimes controversially this management is often o...
Sep 10, 2011•25 min
The 'Big Society' is alive and well in Pembrokeshire conservation. As grants are cut more organisations rely on volunteers to help keep our rarest habitats thriving and Skomer Island is no exception. Neptunes Army of Rubbish Cleaners are a group of divers who give up their time to keep the Pembrokeshire coastline clean. Manmade debris at the bottom of the sea can affect marine life and their work removing fishing tackle and other litter helps to keep the sea healthy. This is vital work when you ...
Sep 03, 2011•24 min
17th Century Scotland was a troubled time. Immortalised by Sir Walter Scott the cavernous 'Devil's Beeftub' and the spectacular 'Grey Mare's Tail' waterfall became hiding places for Border Reivers and Covenanters as the countryside became a battleground for clans and religious factions. Alistair Moffat has written about the infamous Reivers. They hid the cattle they stole from either side of the border in the 'Beeftub' as it provided a perfect vantage point to see any approaching armies. Theirs ...
Aug 27, 2011•25 min
Just off the coast of Mull lies the tiny island of Ulva. For 200 years it has been virtually abandoned. The Highland Clearances saw the removal of most of the 800 people who had been scraping a living from its shores and its farmland. Today a shot of energy is pulsing through the island, giving this beautiful place a chance of economic and natural revival. The manager of the island, Jamie Howard has just married field biologist and broadcaster, Tessa McGregor. Together they've come up with a pla...
Aug 20, 2011•25 min
The Wye historically has been England's greatest salmon river. However stocks have declined massively as a result of drift nets at sea, estuarine putchers, and continuous removal of stocks caught on rod and line. In the early sixties a few hundred barbel were released in the River Lugg. These found their way into the Wye and quickly established themselves from Hay on Wye down to Brockwier. Today The Wye holds a remarkable population of very long large finned lanky and hard fighting barbel. The b...
Aug 13, 2011•25 min
Ordnance Survey, the organisation responsible for mapping every inch of land in England, Scotland and Wales, was set up in 1791 as a military mapping service based in the Tower of London. It was used to create maps of Britain during the Napoleonic Wars to protect England from the French invasion and the art of map making subsequently played a major role in both World Wars. Now based in Southampton, the agency has moved from the paper-based hand-drawn maps of its origins, to technologically advan...
Aug 06, 2011•25 min
Dale Farm Traveller site in Essex was started in the 70's. It's now the largest Irish Traveller site in the UK and as the site has grown so has local opposition. Today Basildon Council have issued a notice of eviction but the Travellers say they will not leave without a fight. Helen Mark looks beyond the headlines to ask what this means for the countryside. Some argue that with the urgent need for housing in the South East we need to look again at our greenbelt land. The Travellers themselves ar...
Jul 30, 2011•25 min
How are the people of Cramlington reacting to the open cast mining in their area and to the creation of the largest replica of the human body in their landscape? Will it attract tourists and put Cramlington on the map or will they become the laughing stock of Northumberland? For this week's Open Country, Jules Hudson visits Cramlington in the north east where work has started on a giant sculpture of a naked woman which is to be carved into the Northumberland landscape. It will be made from 1.5 m...
Jul 23, 2011•25 min
The chalk hills of the South Downs and the rolling Sussex landscape are rich in history, culture and a traditional way of life. The valleys, the woods, the hills and the coastline have inspired people, poets, artists and musicians down the centuries. For this week's Open Counry, Helen Mark takes a musical journey across Sussex and the South Downs talking to some of the people who have put their love of this landscape into song and music or simply been inspired creatively by its existence. Helen ...
Jul 16, 2011•25 min
Why has a new scheme to encourage people onto our national trails upset some people? For the first of two programmes from Sussex, Helen Mark has her running shoes on along the South Downs Way to find out about a project to encourage long-distance runners out into the countryside. The scheme has sparked controversy with a petition launched against the installation of electronic boxes on several of our 15 national trails. Trailblaze is a pilot project which has been launched by events company Endu...
Jul 09, 2011•25 min
When we hear about the threat to some of our precious and important habitats, our minds often turn to the polar ice cap or the rainforests of the Amazon. But one of our most threatened natural environments is right here in the UK and that is the traditional upland hay meadow - fields packed with grasses and wild flowers, alive with bird song and the buzz of bees. Sadly these meadows have almost disappeared from our landscape. There are less than 4 square miles of this habitat left in the UK and ...
Jul 02, 2011•25 min
When Foot and Mouth disease struck the UK in 2001, it caused a major crisis in agriculture and the British countryside. Hundreds and thousands of sheep and cattle were slaughtered in an attempt to halt the disease, footpaths were closed and the countryside effectively closed down. Cumbria was one of the worst affected areas of the country and many farmers found themselves at the very heart and soul of the crisis as mass livestock burials and plumes of black smoke from burning pyres destroyed the...
May 14, 2011•25 min
Helen Mark takes a ride on the new Welsh Highland Railway, which eaves Caernarfon and takes in the stunning Snowdonian landscape, before arriving at its destination in Porthmadog. Along the way Helen hears about the back-breaking work undertaken by hundreds of volunteers to get the railway up and running and about the history of slate mining in the area, which used to rely so heavily on the railways. She also stops off at the RSPB's Osprey Project at Glaslyn to catch sight of the only breeding p...
May 07, 2011•25 min
Barra, Vatersay and Mingulay are three of the southernmost islands of the Outer Herbrides and their shared history is one of survival by moving with the times. In 1912 the last inhabitants of Mingulay left the island for Barra after the turbulent seas had claimed a boat full of the fishermen who the island relied upon. Today Mingulay's waters are back in discussion as it has become a proposed area of conservation due to ancient corals which lie beneath. The islanders of Barra fear that this cons...
Apr 30, 2011•25 min
Richard Uridge is in Herefordshire at the annual film festival to hear why it's important to bring the cinema experience to rural areas. On a farm outside the city of Hereford, he discovers a recently rehoused international film archive containing 80,000 documentaries including several old films on life in the Herefordshire countryside dating back to the 1930s that are being preserved as part of our rural heritage.
Apr 23, 2011•24 min
For this week's Open Country, Richard Uridge is in the Birklands area of Sherwood Forest finding out about its ancient past when he visits Thynghowe, an ancient open-air meeting place where hundreds of Vikings gathered to make important decisions. Presenter: Richard Uridge Producer: Helen Chetwynd.
Apr 09, 2011•25 min
The shores of the Durham coastline were once as black as the coal that was tipped into the waves that crashed onto them. But in recent years an amazing transformation has taken place. Helen Mark finds out about the Durham Heritage Coast.
Apr 02, 2011•25 min
Richard Uridge explores the Edgelands around Manchester with poets Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts, who urge us to love the disregarded spaces between the city and countryside.
Mar 26, 2011•24 min
Ponies have roamed the moors of Dartmoor and Bodmin for years and are as much a part of the moors as the heathers that grow there. But is the very survival of the Dartmoor pony, which is the symbol of the National Park, now under threat? Helen Mark is on Dartmoor to meet some of the people whose lives revolve around the ponies and who are fighting to preserve them and ultimately the moorland on which they roam.
Mar 19, 2011•25 min
