It's an icy cold morning and you're walking through a once-waterlogged meadow now made crisp by frost. Low winter sun slants across the surrounding hills, picking out shadows and contours, silhouetting lone trees. As you descend into a shallow valley, distant rooks call from an ancient woodland. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Fergus Collins, i...
Feb 02, 2024•8 min
Hidden in a peaceful corner of the Monmouthshire countryside is a site steeped in blood, treachery and revenge. Plodcast host Fergus and his son Owen set out one cold January morning to uncover the secret of medieval Castell Arnallt (Castle Arnold) - and track down what remains of this ill-fated and now forgotten Welsh castle. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected]. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could...
Jan 30, 2024•47 min•Season 17Ep. 18
You are on high country farm road in the Hakataramea Valley in deepest South Canterbury, New Zealand. Skylark song pours from the heavens, cascading over paddocks of ewes with noisy lambs at foot. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Nick Allen. Image by Getty. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: editor@...
Jan 26, 2024•13 min
We're beachcombing on Orkney this week. Plodcast regular Annabel Ross meets Martin Gray who has been finding curiosities on the seashore here for several decades. What will they find today? And what are the greatest treasures Martin has ever found? Listen on for more tales from the landscape. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected]. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a ...
Jan 23, 2024•38 min•Season 17Ep. 17
You're walking a muddy track beside a farm on the edge of a vast expanse of flooded land, the water perfectly reflecting a rare January blue sky. From the barns, a heady odour of sweat and dung rises from the cattle within. Across the marshes, swans sail, occasionally taking to the air on heavy, whoomping wingbeats. And from out of the ancient landscape, the eeries cries of cranes rise above tractor and quad bike engine. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from t...
Jan 19, 2024•10 min
The Plodcast goes fishing this week with plodcast regular Kevin Parr and author and TV presenter Will Millard. Host Fergus meets them on his local waterway, the Monmouthshire and Breconshire Canal, to talk about why fishing matters to much to them. It's the perfect combination of gentle adventure, chat and humour. But will they catch any fish? Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected]. If your letter, email or message is read out on th...
Jan 16, 2024•45 min•Season 17Ep. 16
You're walking beside a stream swollen by rain, which tumbles through a wooded valley, crashing over rocks and weirs. Dippers chatter and dive for food, a heron hunts eels in the mill leat and watery sunlight breaks through the leafless canopy. A heavy scent of deep winter leaf decay fills the air. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Fergus Collins...
Jan 12, 2024•10 min
Plodcast host Fergus joins historian and battlefield tour guide Julian Humphrys at the site of a Civil War battlefield in the hills just north of Bath. It's a dark winter's day and fog descends creating an atmosphere of 'gunsmoke' and eerie sounds. Listen on to hear about how the dramatic battle unfolded... Find out more about the Battlefields Trust of which Julian is a trustee at https://www.battlefieldstrust.com. And Julian's own website is full of great information: http://www.julianhumphrys....
Jan 09, 2024•58 min•Season 17Ep. 15
After weeks of rain, it's a clear, calm rosy sunrise. A pair of robins in neighbouring gardens welcome the early sun with wistful phrases as if chatting over the fence. It's a duet to warm the soul in the depths of winter. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Fergus Collins. Image by Getty Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of ...
Jan 05, 2024•23 min
Plodcast host Fergus joins broadcaster, writer and, best of all, brilliant birder Stephen Moss on a wild stretch of the Somerset coast to look for winter birds on the marshes and mudflats. Stephen also talks about his time as a BBC Natural History Unit producer and his lifelong love of wildlife. But what did they discover today? Stephen's new book The Owl: A Biography is published by Square Peg. Link https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/455675/the-owl-by-moss-stephen/9781529908268 Image by Getty Cont...
Jan 02, 2024•55 min•Season 17Ep. 14
This week we're on the Ceredigion coast - a lonely cove of shingle with the Irish sea rolling with a soothing rhythm. No one else is around, no one that is apart from a seal bobbing just offshore. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Catrin Collins. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: editor@countryfile....
Dec 29, 2023•8 min
What is it like to swim outdoors under a full moon in the depths of winter? Maria Hodson braves the inky waters of Clevedon Marine Pool with the Bristol Blue Tits to learn about what cold water swimming can do for you. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected]. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team. Visit the Countryf...
Dec 26, 2023•57 min•Season 17Ep. 13
Where the Somerset Levels meet the sea, broad, marshy pastures and forgotten fields host gulls, rooks, crows and egrets, foraging for food stirred up cattle and horses wintering here. But the birds are ever watchful – there are hunters here, peregrines roving the overcast sky ready to strike. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Fergus Collins. Emai...
Dec 22, 2023•10 min
Join Plodcast host Fergus and regulars Kevin Parr and Annabel Ross as well as editor Dan Kramer-Arden for a lighthearted look back at a year of recording nature – and take part in Kev's great Christmas quiz! Plus plenty more natural silliness to enjoy. Wild wishes from the Plodcast team and have a very merry Christmas. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected]. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a P...
Dec 19, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 17Ep. 12
You're in a wintry valley following a boisterous stream high into the Welsh hills. After recent rain, the water boils and churns and the river's song is wild and free. Fighting against the current are huge salmon, leaping lightning fast through the rough waters to reach the calmer spawning grounds. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Fergus Collins...
Dec 15, 2023•9 min
Come with us deep into the Welsh hills, to Gilfach Farm, a magical Radnorshire Wildlife Trust reserve in Powys. Here, in the tumbling River Marteg, salmon still leap waterfalls and rapids to reach their spawning grounds. Will plodcast host Fergus spot this incredible natural spectacle. With huge thanks to naturalist Megan Shersby and Radnorshire Wildlife Trust's head of conservation Sylvia Cojocaru for the wildlife insights and expertise. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings ...
Dec 12, 2023•52 min•Season 17Ep. 11
It’s a chilly evening and you are gathered with a crowd of others next to a large bonfire. The warmth it provides is a welcome break from the chilly air and the glow lights up the faces of joy around the neighbourhood park. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Jack Bateman, presented by Hannah Tribe. Image by Getty Email the Plodcast team – and send...
Dec 08, 2023•10 min
Explore the magic and myth of the Ring of Brodgar – an astonishing neolithic stone circle on Orkney in the company of local ranger Sandra Miller and the Plodcast's own Annabel Ross. Enjoy a blend of history, mystery and folklore… Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected]. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team. Visit t...
Dec 05, 2023•50 min•Season 17Ep. 10
You're on the wild and windy beach of Orkney’s South Ronaldsay. You listen to the cry of turnstones, plovers, sanderlings and redshanks, competing for the lead solo part, as they take flight from the water’s edge with the grey seals peacefully watching on. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Annabel Ross, presented by Hannah Tribe. Image by Getty E...
Dec 01, 2023•8 min
Join Plodcast host Fergus and wonderful storyteller Duane Fitzsimons as they following in the footsteps of St Patrick along the coastline of Co Down. As they search for St Patrick's Well and his final resting place, Duane recounts tales of local folklore, shipwrecks and chilling ghost stories. This is the final episode of 4 in 2023 exploring St Patrick's Way in Northern Ireland. For more about Duane and the magical Lecale Peninsula see www.lecalepeninsula.com/ A huge thanks to Tourism Northern I...
Nov 28, 2023•57 min•Season 17Ep. 9
As the fluttering of pigeons' wings loosen the last beech nuts of the season, you stand under a gentle shower of nature’s crackles and pops, reminding us that autumn is in full flow. Majestic beech trees envelop you, offering up their fruits to passing wildlife. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Annabel Ross, presented by Hannah Tribe. Image by G...
Nov 24, 2023•9 min
Enjoy a night walk in an ancient forest in Gloucestershire with the Plodcast team of Fergus, Hannah and Jack. What is it like walking in the pitch black – and what stories and wild encounters will they experience? To help them in their quest, they deploy night vision scopes… The night vision devices used by the team were: Bushnell Equinox X650 Nightfox Corsac Night Vision Binoculars Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected]. If your le...
Nov 21, 2023•36 min•Season 17Ep. 8
Where the Burn of Latheronwheel meets the North Sea, you sit silently on the ancient harbour wall soaking in autumn sun, The waves draw the pebbles back down into the the depths of the peaty water. Once home to fifty boats, where salmon was a regular catch, Latheronwheel is now a ghost of its past, with the voices of long gone fishermen whispering onto the shore. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewher...
Nov 17, 2023•8 min
This week, the Plodcast tales are as ancient as can be. We’re in Dorset with Plodcast regular Annabel Ross hunting 500-million-year old fossils in the company of author and paelontologist Wolfgang Grulke, who has amassed an extraordinary collection of the strangest and rarest fossils on earth. Join them for a weird and wonderful adventure into prehistory. For more about Wolfgang Grulke, inclusing details on how to visit his collection, head to https://wolfganggrulke.com/author. Contact the Plodc...
Nov 14, 2023•59 min•Season 17Ep. 7
We’re in a little cottage deep in the Dorset countryside. The fire is lit. Steam swirls from a mug of tea. The curtains are drawn and we wait. Outside, there is a moment of calm as though the world is taking a deep breath. A storm is rolling in off the Atlantic, but before the wind comes the rain. Thudding into the brickwork and flicking off leaves and guttering. In the warm, we cosy up to listen. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help y...
Nov 10, 2023•15 min
Meet the new boss of Countryfile and learn about what he has planned for the UK’s most popular countryside TV show. Plodcast regular Annabel Ross takes Mark for a walk in a wonderful Mendip vale in north Somerset – listen on for some fascinating insight into rural passion and programme making. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected]. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a...
Nov 07, 2023•49 min•Season 17Ep. 6
We're following a narrow mountain path through thickets of inpenetrable birch. It's been a long, hot, footsore day and so you are easily seduced by the sound of a tumbling stream. From a rocky cleft, ice-cold clear water pours. You stop to bathe your feet and splash your face. It is delicious. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Fergus Collins, pre...
Nov 03, 2023•8 min
It’s dusk in a valley somewhere in Dorset. Plodcast regular Kevin Parr has joined a local deer stalker to talk about why – and how – he culls these large mammals. Join the Plodcast team later in the studio to discuss some of the issues raised. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected]. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the...
Oct 31, 2023•59 min•Season 17Ep. 5
We're resting on a field gate. Late summer warmth spills into the autumn. The sun slow to rise but blazing when it does. The overnight dew clings on in the shadows, while the long grass of the field margins rattle with the chirrup of grasshoppers. Flies and bees buzz. A nuthatch bubbles from the hedgerow. A last hurrah before the first frost. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever...
Oct 27, 2023•13 min
In our latest quest seeking tales from the British landscape, musician Tiny Leaves takes Plodcast host Annabel Ross onto a mysterious hill in Shropshire known as the Long Mynd. Here, Tiny Leaves has discovered a way of recording the songs of trees and plants and incorporating them into his music. But what do the ‘voices’ of trees sound like? Listen on to find out – it’s pure magic. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected]. If your let...
Oct 24, 2023•59 min•Season 17Ep. 4
