Now the clocks have gone back in the UK and we’re heading into the dark days of winter it feels like a good time to let a burst of light and song into our lives. So this week we’re heading back to spring and an adventure I took in the New Forest with naturalist Dominic Couzens. Dominic is brilliant at recognising birds by their song and he give some clever tips to help you learn them too – a neat trick for impressing friends and family on your next spring walk. Image by Getty. Look out for Domin...
Nov 08, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast To be in an autumn woodland after rain is a tonic for a great many ills. Perhaps it’s the simple joy of the leaves so lustrous with rainwater, or the way the mosses swell like lungs. Or the maybe it’s the scent of the Earth – of leaf litter and microbes and fruiting fungi – that seems to connect the ground with the air, and thus you with all of it. It’s certain that the streams appear contented. A short walk through woodland brings you to a small waterway, where you pause for a while and breathe...
Nov 04, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jenny Agutter has been a household name since her starring role in the 1970 film The Railway Children. This year, she reprises her role in The Railway Children Return, set 30 years later in 1940. Hear all about her connections to the countryside and her very surprising choice of favourite wildlife species. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: editor@countryfile.com. If read out on the show, you could win a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countr...
Nov 01, 2022•43 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast You open the back door and look out into the garden. Rain streaks down, steady and hypnotic. From a bush a robin sparks up occasionally but nothing else stirs in the downpour. It's a day to cosy up indoors by the fire. 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 Maria Hodson, presented by Hannah Tribe. Image from Getty. Email the Plodcast team – and send y...
Oct 28, 2022•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast We return for a second episode at the Folk by the Oak Festival in Hertfordshire. Annabel Ross talks to Karine Polwart from Spell Songs and we hear their song Jay. We also meet nature guide and folklorist Sherloak as he leads a tour in Hatfield Forest and finish with an interview with the great Proclaimers – and listen to two of their most famous songs. We'd like to say a huge thank you to the organisers and the musicians for their time and beautiful music. Photo by Tammy Marlar Contact the Plodc...
Oct 25, 2022•51 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast Enjoy a relaxing experience paddleboarding on a stretch of the River Wye in Herefordshire, where a flock of about 300 Canada geese begin an extraordinary evening chorus. The gentle swish of the paddle and the evocative cries of the wildfowl create a haunting river music. Pure delight. 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 Maria Hodson, presented by H...
Oct 21, 2022•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Enjoy the delights of the Folk by Our festival In part one of two brilliant episodes, Annabel Ross visits the Folk by the Oak festival in Hertfordshire to meet musicians and hear music steeping in landscape, wildlife and countryside lore. In this podcast, you’ll hear Magpie by The Unthanks, Trouser Worrier by We are the monsters and The Same Land by Salthouse. But first Annabel talks to Caroline and Adam Slough who founded Folk by the Oak… We'd like to say a huge thank you to the organisers and ...
Oct 18, 2022•49 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Besieged by gales and restless sea, a rocky peninsula holds firm on the northern Anglesey coast, unchanged through many millennia of daily assaults. Meanwhile, seals sleep in the quiet bays that it protects. Beyond the breakers, the Skerries lighthouse keeps watch from the largest of a group of raw-looking islets. 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 a...
Oct 14, 2022•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Catch up with writer, presenter, farmer, forager and campaigner Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, 20 years after his first adventures into smallholding which inspired millions to grow their own, keep chickens and live the good life. Plodcast regular Annabel Ross heads to River Cottage HQ on the Dorset/Devon border to walk around the farm and learn how Hugh's new book River Cottage Good Comfort offers healthier – and tastier – takes on classic country dishes. There are plenty of adventures along the w...
Oct 11, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast Between the great, lumbering bulk of the Cambrian Mountains and Shropshire’s autumn-kissed hills there is a landscape of quiet repute. Here the ground rolls and tilts. Sheep graze the knolls, and between these there are cwms; pinched, deep and green. You make your way into one, leaving the low autumn sun for the coolness of a mossy, earthy woodland. At its bed is a stream, so vibrant and cheerful that not even the end of rain could quell its tune. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a w...
Oct 07, 2022•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode podcast host Fergus Collins heads to a wild island off the coast of Scotland. Called Handa, it is managed entirely for wildlife by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and is an enchanting, sometimes haunting place to explore. The main quest was to witness the massive seabird cities – but there were plenty of other wildlife surprises along the way. You’ll also hear the voices of fellow explorers Joel Burden and Gavin Meredith. So come us for a very privileged wander into a truly wild plac...
Oct 04, 2022•50 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast It's a lazy September afternoon on a Somerset canal. You've found an enchanted place to rest beside a bridge – where a robin's wistful song sweetens the stillness. Even the dragonflies are dawdling. Clouds puff in the blue sky, perfectly reflected in the water and the last of summer's house martins are hawking for small insects high above. Nearby, a pair of anglers are catching small fish. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax...
Sep 30, 2022•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to a new season of mindful escapes into the green outdoors in search of wildlife and wild people. As well as heading out into beautiful landscapes as autumn stretches into winter, we’ll be enjoying some episodes that the team and I recorded over the spring and summer – so expect some soothing escapism at this dark time of the year. Our first episode is one such adventure. Plodcast regular Annabel Ross heads to a fabulous meadow in Oxfordshire with a remarkable young botanist Leif Berswed...
Sep 27, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Deep in a wooded cwm in Powys, there’s a spot down by the brook, half in the trees, half out, where the sunlight falls in ribbons onto the water. You go to it and settle on the pebble bank. Somewhere above, hidden among the broken canopy that staggers up the steep valley, a robin reels out its morning song. 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 Danie...
Sep 23, 2022•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Season 14 of the Plodcast is all about mindful explorations of wild places – so you can get close to nature and feel like you're walking in wild places, even if you're stuck at work or on the commute. Come with us to the wild islands of Seil, Tiree and Anglesey as well as the New Forest and the Welsh Borders. Plus we have special guests including Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and Leif Bersweden as well as music from The Unthanks and the Proclaimers. So join the Plodcast team of Fergus, Jack and Ha...
Sep 20, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's early morning in a secretive bay on northern Anglesey. You're walking on a shingle bank that separates a serene, reed-fringed lagoon from the restless rising tide. The pipes and skirls of oystercatchers, redshanks and curlews rise over the wash of the waves but above them all, the sulphurous scents of beached seaweed. 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. R...
Sep 16, 2022•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast We return to gin makers Warners in the Northamptonshire countryside to roam the gardens and grounds with conservation and sustainability officer Johnny Easter. Planting a huge variety of herbs, aromatics and fruits has the knock-on effect of attracting extraordinary numbers of insects and other life – so enjoy this magical safari and learn about how gins are flavoured using natural ingredients. Later, join the Plodcast team in the studio where they test a special bottle of Plodcast host Fergus's...
Sep 13, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast It's a sultry summer's night on a lowland heath in southern England. A warm waft of heather and the gentle chirrup of a cricket break the stillness. And then, as the moon rises, the mechanical churr of a nightjar. 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 Kevin Parr, presented by Hannah Tribe. Image from Getty. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sou...
Sep 09, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Head deep into the Northamptonshire countryside to visit the Warners Gin distillery near Rothwell, Northamptonshire. Warner’s Gin was set up by Tom and Tina Warner on their family farm in 2012 with an emphasis on natural, locally grown ingredients. Since then, things have taken off – especially the transformation of much of the farm for nature. Hear Tom’s fascinating insights into why "booze made humanity" and explore the history and lore around gin. Later we meet Rachel Sutherland, who has the ...
Sep 06, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast You're in Dorset and it's dusk beside a lily-strewn tench pool. The light fades, moths begin to flutter and the martins and swallows cede the sky to the dance of pipistrelle baits. These are the curious calls of these nocturnal flyers as picked up on angler Kevin Parr's bat detector. 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 Kevin Parr, presented by Hann...
Sep 02, 2022•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Head to the garden of England – the country of Kent – to visit family run Terlingham vineyard. Jackie Wilkes only moved to the UK from South Africa in 2007 but since then she and her family have converted the land to grow vines and they farm without herbicies and pesticides. This is their story of their journey and why they farm in harmony with nature. Recorded in June 2022. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: editor@countryfile.com Visit the Countryfi...
Aug 30, 2022•50 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast It's a warm summer's evening and after a tiring day you relax by the crackling campfire. The damp wood from the previous day's storm sizzles from the heat and the popping of twigs fills the peaceful space. You look up at the bat fluttering around plucking insects from the air. With a warm drink in hand you stop and reflect. 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. ...
Aug 26, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Film-maker Peter Byck (left) reveals how cattle can be farmed to enhance the soil and biodiversity – and offer solutions to climate change. Annabel Ross interviewed him at a special screening of his films Roots So Deep at The Lost Gardens of Heligan with environmentalist Tim Smit. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: editor@countryfile.com Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.com PPA Podcast of the Year! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri...
Aug 23, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast The two-day spell of rain is reaching its conclusion. You've settled in your tent for the night listening to the final drops of rain bounce off the top of the canvas. The gentle rumble of late-night traffic accompanies the flourishes of water falling from the trees, drumming onto the fabric above you. All is quiet. 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 ...
Aug 19, 2022•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this extraordinary episode, we head to the edge of the New Forest to meet Debs 'Totty' Cruttenden – a self taught beekeeper who rescues wild swarms of honeybees. She’s a quite magical person and her deep knowledge of the lives and behaviour of honeybees. We begin in the garden of neighbour who has spotted a swarm in a conifer tree. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: editor@countryfile.com Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.com PPA ...
Aug 16, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast High above the summertime bustle of Pembrokeshire’s south coast, the lanes are quiet. No people here, just wind and hedge and crops for miles. It’s now noon, and after several hours of walking you look for a place to rest a while. A corn field beside a reef of yellow and white chamomile catches your eye. Here you sit, the corn stems crowding around you, their leaves rustling against themselves. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you ...
Aug 12, 2022•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Wilfred Emmanuel Jones shares his gripping story of his life's journey – from arriving from Jamaica and living in inner city Birmingham to owning a farm on the Devon-Cornwall border. His brand – The Black Farmer – has been a huge success and now he wants to encourage other children from ethnic minority or deprived backgrounds into finding careers in the countryside: The New Face of Farming. Listen on for more understanding of town vs country attitudes, race in the countryside and the two things ...
Aug 09, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast It's a welcome cool, overcast day by the River Usk – there is rain in the air. The water is clear and bubbling through a small set of rapids in a gently calming series of swirls and eddies. A dipper flies upstream low over the water. 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, presented by Hannah Tribe Contact the Plodcast team and send you...
Aug 05, 2022•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Head to the sleepy hamlet of Shepton Montague in Somerset to meet Oliver Dowding – dairy-farmer-turned-cider-maestro. Discover the magic of apple trees and their different characters and learn the lore of Somerset cider making. Plus, Oliver reveals a novel – and natural – method of rodent control. Annabel Ross is your host. Later the Plodcast team discuss cider vs beer, taste a Dowdings tipple and hear a rare Sound of the Week. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the coun...
Aug 02, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast It’s summer, yet the bruised skies and pulsing winds don’t seem to know it. As if blown over by the squalls; a farm gate clunks. After walking the fields, you drop into a deep sunken lane and a version of quiet hits you, the wind no longer on your skin, in your ears. You sit on the grassy, furrowed lane and take breath. Around you now are tall hedgerows of hawthorn and blackberry. A wren sings from a tree above. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countr...
Jul 29, 2022•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
