Open Country Podcast
Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles
Episodes to download
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Opening Up County Down
Thu 1 Dec 2022
Helen Mark finds out how ancient woodland in County Down is being opened up to the public.
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Rutland Water: What lies beneath?
Thu 24 Nov 2022
Rutland Water is a reservoir with a prehistoric past life, as Helen Mark discovers.
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Matlock Bath Illuminations
Thu 17 Nov 2022
As Matlock Bath Illuminations celebrate 125 years, Helen Mark explores the waters.
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The Mushroom Man
Thu 10 Nov 2022
How to spot Porcini and leave Destroying Angel mushrooms in the woods.
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The Plock
Thu 27 Oct 2022
Helen Mark hears about plans to regenerate a community parkland close to the Skye Bridge.
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Frampton Country Fair
Thu 20 Oct 2022
Elver eating, sheep racing, and men with axes - it's one of the last fairs of the season.
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Gedling Colliery: From Pit to Park
Thu 13 Oct 2022
Rose Ferraby visits Gedling Country Park near Nottingham.
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Beefeater Bend on the Tour de France
Thu 25 Aug 2022
We're in the French Alps with five men from Essex dressed as Beefeaters... and it's hot.
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Cornwall with Helen Glover
Thu 18 Aug 2022
How growing up in and around Newlyn shaped and inspired an Olympic champion.
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Finding Balblair
Thu 11 Aug 2022
Helen Mark explores the 'lost' village of Balblair in the Scottish Highlands.
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Radical Essex
Thu 4 Aug 2022
Emily Knight explores the radical history of back-to-the-land pacifist communities.
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A new road for Kerrera
Thu 28 Jul 2022
Antonia Quirke travels 400 metres across the sea from Oban to the tiny island of Kerrera.
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Uncharted Stories of the Causeway Coast
Thu 21 Jul 2022
Helen Mark is in Northern Ireland to hear little known histories about the Causeway Coast.
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Aberystwyth Inspiration
Thu 14 Jul 2022
Niellah Arboine returns to her university town of Aberystwyth, which inspired her so much.
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The Search for Summer Snow
Thu 7 Jul 2022
Iain Cameron and Andrew Cotter climb the Scottish Highlands in search of snow.
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The Book, the Fish and the Dove
Thu 30 Jun 2022
The River Dove inspires this tale of Izaak Walton: fisherman, philosopher and writer.
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Erland Cooper's Orkney
Thu 16 Jun 2022
Composer Erland Cooper takes us on a tour of his Orkney homeland.
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Bath Workhouse Burial Ground
Thu 28 Apr 2022
We visit a field in Bath, once used as the burial ground for a 19th-century workhouse.
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The Wash
Thu 21 Apr 2022
We visit the Wash, where the interests of fishing and conservation are finely balanced.
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Mammoth Hunting on the Norfolk Coast
Thu 14 Apr 2022
Emily Knight takes a walk along the Norfolk coast, on the trail of ancient mammoths.
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Husky Sledding in the Cairngorms
Thu 7 Apr 2022
Helen Mark explores the Aberdeenshire countryside - from the back of a husky-pulled sled!
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California's Giant Cousins
Thu 27 Jan 2022
Felicity Evans discovers how Europe's largest Redwood grove came to be in mid-Wales.
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Goats on the Gun Batteries
Thu 20 Jan 2022
Helen Mark explores the landscape of Purdown on the edge of Bristol.
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Ancient Dartmoor
Thu 6 Jan 2022
Ian Marchant explores Dartmoor, one of the UK's most important archaeological landscapes.
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Reflections and Connections
Thu 30 Dec 2021
As the year turns, four individuals reflect on their relationship with the landscape.
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Bright lights and bees at Blenheim
Thu 23 Dec 2021
Helen Mark explores the parkland and green spaces of Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.
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The Wall
Thu 16 Dec 2021
Inspired by Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, our relationship with walls is explored.
