The Plodcast

As the human world just begins to stir, you gaze across a quaint pond. It’s teeming with life. But There’s no-one else around, just you, with robins for company. Listening closely, you pick out the distant cooings of a tawny owl.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com <...

Adventurer Dave Hamilton has travelled widely across the UK to find some of its weirdest sites. This week, he joins Plodcast host Fergus Collins in the ex-industrial heartlands of South Wales to walk on one of the largest and strangest earth sculptures in Europe: Sultan the Pit Pony. It is a moving memorial to the thousands of ponies that worked in pitch black deep in the mines during the great 19th-century coal rush.Dave Hamiton's new book Weird Guide: 300 Curious Corners, Wild Wonders and Sublime Structures in published by Wild Things PublishingGet in touch on...

 You've woken up in a Scottish castle early enough to see the sunrise. It's going to be a crisp, clear morning. As the steam rises from your gently cooling tea, you watch a pheasant gathering his breakfast and a wood pigeon sings in the day.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com </p...

Join a foraging adventure on the Dorset coast with Rachel de Thample, searching for wild ingredients for her inspiring and health-giving fermenting recipes. From kombucha to kimchi, and sauerkraut to sloe olives, Rachel provides a wonderful insight into culinary delights that are simple to prepare and utterly delicious. But what's more, they help rewild our microbiome, helping our immune and digestive systems and can prevent serious illness. Plodcast host Fergus Collins joined Rachel on a clifftop quest.Rachel's new book is The Fermentation Year: Everyday Techniques and Recipes to Rewild Your Microbiome (Bloomsbury)Get in touch...

 You're on the edge of the Firth of Tay. It's a preternaturally still afternoon. You're deep inside the wood, but the leaves hardly rustle. Instead, the space between the trees is filled with bright sunlight and birdsong.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choice...

Enjoy a mellow, beautiful ramble with herbalist and healer Brigit Anna McNeill and find gentle joy in the wild plants we find in our gardens, parks and hedgerows. Brigit offers Plodcast host Fergus Collins deep insight into the medicinal uses of common wayside wildflowers and why we should change our approach to the idea of 'weeds'. Beautiful, meditative and healing. Read Brigit's wonderful book The Wild Within, published by September books Get in touch on Facebook! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or join the discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/groups...

After the rains, a mountain stream giggles once again. You pause beside it, marvelling that so tiny a flow should, over the years, have carved a deep cleft in the hillside that is home to gorse, rowans and stunted oaks. A raven circles overhead, its croak almost as old as the hills.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe.Email the Plodcast team – and send your so...

Head out on an incredibly mindful, soothing – and rather wet – adventure at Budleigh Salterton estuary in Devon with celebrated ethno-botanical researcher Robin Harford. Robin has an astonishing knowledge of plants and reveals, through a technique he calls Domei, how we can all get closer to understanding the wild plants around us. Find out more about Domei here: https://thewayofdomei.com/ Robin is talking with Annabel Ross, who is your host this week. Find out more about Robin and his many publications at his website: https://www.eatweeds.co.uk Get in t...

You follow a path through woods, high above a stream. There is wind high in the trees but you can hear falling water. Suddenly the path opens into a wide glade and find yourself beside high waterfalls tumbling into the Pwll y Wrach: the Witches' Pool.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: thep...

The Plodcast celebrates the start of autumn with a visit to deepest Herefordshire to go foraging with expert Liz Knight. Liz extols the power of plants we tend to despise: docks, nettles and thistles and shares some wonderful wisdom about the importance of making connections with people and nature. It's a joyous expedition interrupted by one of the great Plodcast wildlife visitations of the year!Liz's latest book is A Forager's Guide to Wild Drinks: Ferments, infusions and thirst-quenchers for every season, published by SkittledogLiz's website is: https://www.foragefinefoods.com/Get in touch...

Recent rain has revived the woodland and you are compelled to take an evening walk in search of fungi along a stream and through the crunchy leaf litter. The strong, earthy scent of mushrooms fills the gloaming beneath beech trees, while grey wagtails skitter along the water.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to...

Sometimes it's vital to take some time out and reconnect with nature and the present moment. The Sharpham Trust on the River Dart in Devon offers nature-based, mindful retreats at its beautiful 500-acre estate. As well as helping visitors find a more meaningful life, the Trust practices regenerative farming and is rewilding much its land.Plodcast host Fergus Collins meets with Director of the Trust Julian Carnell to explore the power of nature and reconnection, wander in nature and discover the importance of giving ourselves permission to take time out to heal.Julian's book is Becoming the...

After months of heatwaves and drought, it's blissful to wander through a wooden valley listening to rain falling on leaves. And as if summoned by the falling water, a rare marsh tit makes its sneezing call.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your...

The Plodcast heads to the Cotswolds this week in search of King Arthur. Historian and artist Amy Jeffs has written a new study exploring the earliest origins of the legendary king. Why was he so important to medieval people and what relevance does he have today? Plodcast host Fergus Collins meets Amy in her Cotswold homeland to walk and talk all things Arthur, while searching for a Roman villa that may hold important clues to the story. Plus, if we're very lucky, Amy might sing live on the Plodcast... Amy's book: Arthur: A New Life is published...

It's the morning after a storm on the island of Sark and you've followed a narrow track along a wooded valley that opens into a tiny cove. Taking shelter in a sea cave, you watch the animated waves roll onto the shingle.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com <...

This week, the Plodcast heads to Sharpham Park Farm in the Somerset Levels to join the 'Pickle Me Walnuts' day of harvesting and preparing young walnuts to make an ancient delicacy. Roger Saul is the owner of Sharpham Park and the inspiration behind the walnut grove and he talks to Plodcast host Fergus Collins about the importance of walnuts in our diet and culture. While the walnut harvest is blessed by Bishop Michael, bishop of Bath and Wells, Fergus hears about the incredible nutritional powers of walnuts from author Lucy Williamson, learns about...

On the crunchy parched grass of the Clifton Downs, you join the crowds gathering to witness the 2026 solar eclipse. As the atmosphere builds, people deploy eclipse glasses, colanders and home-made cardboard contraptions to view the astonishing event – culminating in a rousing round of applause.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com</p...

“A fulmar once vomited in my eye!” Writer and naturalist Stephen Rutt recalls his adventures following s raindrop from source to sea for his new book The Waterlands. This week's Plodcast host is Annabel Ross, who joins Stephen on the River Thames to hear his extraordinary tales – and some wonderful birdsong among a plethora of inspiring watery wildlife encounters. Stephen's book, The Waterlands: Follow a Raindrop from Source to Sea is published by Elliott and Thompson and is out now. Get in touch on Facebook! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodca...

There's nothing better on a hot afternoon than sitting in the cool of the reedbeds beside a lake. As you relax, wildlife emerges – waterbirds gossiping, bees and dragonflies buzzing and flitting, and curious plops and rustles from creatures that you can't see. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com </p...

This week we welcome award-winning novelist and nature diarist Melissa Harrison to the Plodcast for the first time. Melissa's new novel, The Given World, is a dark and beautiful insight into the complexities of rural life in a rapidly changing world. Plodcast host Fergus Collins meets Melissa in deepest Suffolk to walk and talk about her love of the natural world and provide a glimpse into how she goes about creating her stories.The Given World by Melissa Harrison is published by Cornerstone. Get in touch on Facebook! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or...