Open Country

Roadside Verges

30 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Britain's roadside verges rarely get much attention, but can play host to a whole range of plant and animal species. In this programme Martha Kearney ...

Welsh Incident in Criccieth

23 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jon Gower is in Criccieth in Gwynedd, to explore the area’s connection to Robert Graves’s 1929 poem, Welsh Incident. Robert Graves wrote the poem ...

Deer Stalking in Essex

16 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Britain’s deer population has surged to around two million. These iconic animals are well-loved, but their growing numbers are putting real pressure...

Carrifran Wildwood

09 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Martha Kearney visits one of the UK’s earliest environmental restoration projects. Southern Scotland was once covered in broadleaf woodland, rich sc...

In Celebration of the Daffodil

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Thriplow Daffodil Weekend in Cambridgeshire started as a way of raising money for a church roof in 1968. Nearly sixty years later, it is thriving. Mor...

Restoring Wallasea's Wild Coast

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Martha Kearney visits Wallasea Island in Essex, the largest manmade coastal nature reserve in Europe. It was created from the 3 million tonnes of Lond...

Stroudwater's missing mile

19 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Stroudwater canal in Gloucestershire was built in the 1770s. It brought coal to the mills along the Stroud valleys, which had become an important ...

The Rock Houses of Staffordshire

12 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Martha Kearney visits the unique cave dwellings at Kinver Edge that were lived in until the 1960s. Cosy cottages were built into the soft red sandston...

Hedgerow havens

05 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Hedges are such a traditional part of the British landscape that most of us don't give them a second thought. They're usually associated with the encl...

Savernake Forest

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It's an ancient hunting ground with thousands of 'veteran' trees. Henry VIII visited often as it was the seat of the Seymour Family at nearby Wolfhal...

The Mourne Mountain Fires

20 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Mourne Mountains in County Down are home to Northern Ireland’s highest and most dramatic peaks - a landscape often shrouded in cloud and rain. Y...

Black Poplars: How to Save a Tree

02 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever heard of a black poplar? You've probably seen one, at least in a painting, even if you didn't recognise it as such. The black poplar is ...

The Stones of Snuff Mills

25 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tucked away in a wooded valley on the outskirts of Bristol is a magical woodland nature reserve, Snuff Mills. Helen Mark discovers what lies beneath t...

Fair Isle

18 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Halfway between Orkney and Shetland, Fair Isle is one of Britain’s most isolated inhabited islands. It's famous for knitting and birds, and those s...

The Menai Strait

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Martha Kearney visits the Menai Strait - the stretch of water which separates Ynys Môn or Anglesey from mainland Wales. She learns about its treacher...

Pingos and Pool Frogs

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Martha Kearney discovers the Ice Age ponds in Norfolk, called pingos, which are being brought back to life, and provide a home for the Northern Pool F...

Exploring the Lakes by wheelchair

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Caz Graham tries out Miles without Stiles, a scheme which helps disabled people access the Lake District. She joins a group of people in a fleet of mo...

Aeolian harps on Wicken Fen

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire is one of the few remaining fragments of England’s original fenland. A place loved by naturalists for generations, it w...

Flutterings on the Fleet

15 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tucked in behind Dorset's famous Chesil Beach is a unique and beautiful place - the Fleet Lagoon. Martha Kearney explores a thousand year history of h...

Shipshape and Bristol Fashion

08 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Mark visits the port of Bristol – finding out how it changed the local landscape, and how the landscape in turn shaped it. She learns how and ...

Wild and Windy Fylde

01 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Fylde peninsula stands between Morecombe Bay, the Bowland Hills and the Irish Sea. Its position means that it's a very windy spot. Windmills have ...

The People's Forest

24 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Mark hears the story of how the ancient Epping Forest was fought for, and saved by, the people of East London. In the late 19th century, Epping ...

Time travel on Orkney

17 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Rose Ferraby visits Orkney to discover the rich history of a stretch of coastline on the small Island of Rousay. She joins archaeologists from the Uni...

Shifting Sands of Sefton

10 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Sefton coastline stretches for around twenty miles between Liverpool and Southport. It has one of the largest sand dune systems in the country, bu...

Cornish Mining

03 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Martha Kearney takes a trip through the past, present and future of mining in Cornwall, finding out how it has shaped the landscape. After crouching i...

These Debatable Lands

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Mark visits 50 square miles that were neither England nor Scotland. The Debatable Lands, between Carlisle and Gretna, were home to untameable cr...

The 100 Mile Wildlife Corridor

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Martha Kearney follows the River Ouse, from the High Weald to the Sussex coast and - finally - into the sea itself. Along the way, she discovers how o...

Night under the Stars

22 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For young carers, it can be difficult to find time to get away from home and enjoy the great outdoors. In this programme Helen Mark meets a group of 1...

Aberaeron's Mackerel Festival

12 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jon Gower is in Aberaeron, Ceredigion, to explore how mackerel (and other fish) have shaped the people and landscape. Jon joins the pretty harbour tow...

Wildlife Watching on Mull

05 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The growth of wildlife documentaries and social media has boosted our interest in wildlife. Footage of whales, birds and mammals shot by keen nature ...

Writing Wildness

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Mark heads to the Shropshire hills to discover how to write about nature at The Hurst, a place dedicated to artistic practice. She meets auth...

Battery Rocks

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Mark discovers a wilderness in the heart of Penzance, in West Cornwall. It's a rocky headland loved by local people, with steps into the open w...

Football Falcons Rookies and Rooks

22 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nadeem Perera presents this week's Open Country from Richmond Park. He's with two young footballers from West Ham and Birmingham City. Nadeem is natur...

The Sound of The Fens

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

Anneka Rice and Maggi Hambling in Suffolk

13 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Unlikely as it sounds Anneka Rice has long been part of a small painting group run by the extraordinary artist, Maggi Hambling. Over the years they've...

Wiltshire's white horses

06 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wiltshire has more chalk hill figures than any other county in the UK, with no fewer than eight white horses carved into its rolling hills. They're al...

Shivering Sands

30 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Martha Kearney visits Whitstable to discover the fascinating and mysterious story behind Guy Maunsell’s sea forts at Shivering Sands. Built in the s...

Bats on Punts

23 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Martha Kearney is in Cambridge to explore wildlife at night. She takes an evening trip on a punt to see and hear the creatures which come out after th...

Gibraltar Point

16 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Martha Kearney explores the shifting sands of Gibraltar Point on the Lincolnshire coast, to witness the effects of beach erosion on both birds and peo...

Mapping Britain's Holloways

09 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Mark is in Dorset to investigate the county's ancient sunken roads, known as holloways. They're deep, steep-sided tracks formed when soft rock ...

Darwin's Childhood Garden

02 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jude Piesse moved to Shrewsbury in Shropshire when her job changed, but it was only when she went for a walk alongside the river near her new house th...

Diving Gannets and Raging Seas

25 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Martha Kearney hears stories of recovery from the Firth of Forth. First, she takes to the water with guide Maggie Sheddan and skipper John McCarter to...

Postal Paths and Corpse Roads

18 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Up until the 1970s, postmen and women in rural areas walked their delivery rounds - taking routes through the hills dubbed "postal paths". Some routes...

Britain’s deadliest footpath

11 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Broomway has been dubbed the “deadliest footpath in Britain”, claiming more than a hundred lives. Helen Mark takes a cautious walk along this...

Field notes from Mars

04 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rose Ferraby joins geologist Dr Claire Cousins, visual artist Ilana Halperin and art historian Dr Catriona McAra as they explore the artistic and scie...

Tales from the Quoile Riverbank

09 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the centuries the River Quoile has carried Vikings, steam ships and cargoes of coal and timber from as far afield as the Baltic and Canada. Today...

Reed cutting at Cley

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Bernard Bishop has lived and worked on the Cley marshes for his whole life. It's the Norfolk Wildlife Trust's oldest reserve and home to a plethora of...

The changing river with Philippa Forrester

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For over two decades presenter and wildlife expert Philippa Forrester has lived in a house with a river flowing through the garden. It's home to an a...

Mabel's mountain trip with hares

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"In the winter when the snow is there it's a different world, escaping into the silence. It has a hint of the forbidding too because you feel you're g...

Return of the Derry Girl

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Derry/Londonderry has a conflicted past but is fiercely loved and celebrated by its inhabitants. In the 21st century, it's shaping a new identity and ...

Creative Island with Anneka Rice

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Anneka Rice’s favourite place on earth is the Isle of Wight. As an accomplished and enthusiastic painter, its landscape and atmosphere have inspire...

Seeking asylum in nature

28 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Mark joins a group of asylum seekers as they help with a tree-planting project in Denbighshire. She hears how - without a car, and with rural bu...

Music of the Gloucestershire landscape

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The rural landscapes of Gloucestershire have inspired many classical composers - including Herbert Howells, Gerald Finzi, Ralph Vaughan Williams and I...

Wintertide in Hartlepool

20 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sally Rodgers from electronic musical duo ‘A Man Called Adam’ takes us to the Headland of Hartlepool to explore the landscape, culture and history...

Unearthing the past at Vindolanda

08 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

At the major Roman site of Vindolanda, just south of Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, excavations have unearthed artefacts from nearly two thousand y...

Wilder London

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dan O’Neill is a wildlife expert and biologist. He’s also the first openly gay wildlife presenter. In this Open Country he’s in London to discov...

Shaky Toun

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Highland Boundary Fault runs diagonally across Scotland, dividing the Highlands from the Lowlands. In this programme, Helen Mark finds out what im...

Caves and Dragons: Pembrokeshire by Paddleboard

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Anna Jones paddleboards the rocky coastline of Pembrokeshire, listening to the mysterious growling sounds of the sea caves. As the tide rises, water s...

Mountain Rescue

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The mountain rescue team in Wasdale in the Lake District have recorded their busiest year so far with some of the harshest winter months still to come...

Hutting

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

At Carbeth, just north of Glasgow, there are around 170 simple wooden huts tucked into an area of woodland. Basic and off-grid, they are part of Scotl...

Felixstowe with Carolyn Quinn

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Carolyn Quinn has family links to Felixstowe, a place she’s visited frequently over the years, enjoying walks along the Edwardian seafront, soaking ...

Fieldnotes from Eternity

07 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Evans explores the rich folklore and natural history of St Melangell church near Llangynog in Powys for a new piece of nature writing. Paul is on...

Stone Circles and Dark Skies in County Tyrone

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As a child, Mary McKeown played hide and seek amongst the Beaghmore Stone Circles in her native County Tyrone. It's a mysterious, mystical site with ...

Highlands with Horses

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mary-Ann Ochota joins a group of walkers, riders and horses as in the Scottish Highlands as they follow St Columba’s Way, a pilgrim route from St An...

Sound and Light at Dungeness

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The landscape of Dungeness, at the south-eastern tip of England, is an unusual one. In this programme, Helen Mark finds out about stories surrounding ...

Oban Cliff Mystery

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

"They rise up suddenly out of fields, they're next to roads and they're even in the middle of the town golf course." Oban resident Antonia Quirke is i...

The Isle of Man

03 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Thousands of years ago, large parts of Britain were covered with temperate rainforest - also known as "Atlantic woodland" or "Celtic rainforest". It's...

Stories of Sea and Stone

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The town of Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast has long been associated with fossils. In this programme, Rose Ferraby finds out about new geological ...

The Maelor

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

"When I was a kid, a little junior baby map addict, it always worried me enormously - Flintshire (detached). Why is it detached? What's wrong with it?...

Tiny's Cairn

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's a land of standing stones, burial cairns and circles in the fields - Glen Lonan beside Loch Nell. Lupi Moll and Ivan Nicholson, who've known the ...

Inspiration on the Tay

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dougie Vipond visits the River Tay, which runs from its source in the Highlands, past Dundee and out to sea. For centuries, the Tay estuary has shaped...

Wartime Secrets of Coleshill

11 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Mark visits Coleshill in Oxfordshire to learn about its wartime secrets. In 1940, with fear growing that Britain could be invaded by the German ...

Rhondda valley: a landscape of change

04 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The landscape of south Wales has been shaped and defined by coal. In this programme, Helen Mark explores the Rhondda valley – finding out about is h...

Chasing Jamie Allan

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jamie Allan was a celebrated musician and friend of the aristocracy, but also a thief, bigamist, and deserter. Known as "The Dukes Piper", he is the s...

Herefordshire's Golden Valley

25 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ian Marchant is time-travelling through Herefordshire’s Golden Valley in springtime. He learns about "the wine of the west" in cider-maker Denis Gwa...

Lost Norfolk

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Norfolk has around two hundred abandoned villages and more ruined churches than any other county. In this programme, Lawrence D'Silva explores some of...

Saving Our Wild Spaces

06 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

From oyster monitoring in Northern Ireland, to beach cleaning in the North East of England, and from wildlife gardens in Felixstowe to tree-planting i...

Seahenge

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Seahenge is an extraordinary early Bronze Age timber monument which was found on a beach in North Norfolk. Formed of a giant up-turned tree trunk surr...

East Neuk of Fife

23 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ruth Sanderson visits the East Neuk of Fife on the east coast of Scotland. "Neuk" is the Scots word for a nook or corner, and Ruth finds plenty of int...

Winter Wonder in East Lothian

12 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For this week’s Open Country, Helen Mark is in East Lothian in Scotland to revel in the beauty of the winter landscape. On the outskirts of Haddingt...

Folk on the Hills

05 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Folk musician Johnny Campbell is recording an album of songs from the summits and industrial hotspots of northern England. Jez Lowe joins him at Kinde...

Ulster Canal: the missing link?

29 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Ulster canal was built in in the mid 19th century across the north of Ireland, linking Lough Neagh in the east with Lough Erne in the west. Like m...

St Just in Midwinter

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Mark tries to live in the moment at a deserted cliff edge chapel, hears carols that have deep ties to Cornwall's tin mining heritage, and comes ...

Belfast's Alleyways and Orchards

15 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Arts consultant Amberlea Neely and architect Aisling Rusk are on a mission to re-imagine Belfast's residential alleyways. Originally built over a cent...

The Mendip Hills

08 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Mendip hills stretch across the landscape south of Bristol and Bath, running from Weston-super-Mare in the west to the Frome valley in the east, w...

Rutland Water: What lies beneath?

06 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Rutland Water is home to a rich array of wildlife, including osprey, but beneath the water there may be much more natural history to discover. Last ye...

Opening Up County Down

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Mark is in County Down, where woodland which has been in private hands for centuries is being opened up to the public. Mourne Park was owned by ...

Matlock Bath Illuminations

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 1897, the Matlock Bath Illuminations were first held to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Supposedly, a young Princess Victoria looked ou...

The Mushroom Man

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

"Mushroom fans, foragers like myself - and mycologists even more so - hate the word toadstool because it's basically just yet another example of Briti...

Tolkien Land

07 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Tolkien once remarked that reviewers, "seem to think that Middle-earth is another planet!" In fact the Shire, Isengard and the horses of Rohan are muc...

The Plock

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Plock of Kyle is a promontory on the North West coast of Scotland, beside the Skye Bridge and close to the villages of Plockton and Kyle of Lochal...

Frampton Country Fair

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The terrier racing is the highlight, "because they are so badly behaved". But before then there are the otters, plus the otterhounds, hunting from hor...

Gedling Colliery: From Pit to Park

13 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Gedling Colliery, in the Nottinghamshire coalfield, closed in 1991 after nearly a hundred years of activity. At its peak, the pit produced more than a...

Beefeater Bend on the Tour de France

25 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Over a decade ago, two friends from Essex decided to break off from work and drive down to the Alps. Neither knew much about cycling but the plan was ...

Cornwall with Helen Glover

18 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Glover returns to her beloved childhood patch of Newlyn and Penzance in Cornwall to explore the area where she grew up and discover how it’s c...

Finding Balblair

11 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Mark is in Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands, where she discovers the "lost" village of Balblair, visits the spectacular Corrieshalloch Gorge a...

Radical Essex

04 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Emily Knight uncovers an unexpectedly radical story, hidden in the Essex countryside. In the 1940s, men and women horrified by the violence of war, di...

A new road for Kerrera

28 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's so close to the mainland that most people don't even realise it is there, but Kerrera in early summer is a jewel, and Antonia Quirke - who lives ...

Uncharted Stories of the Causeway Coast

27 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Mark is in Northern Ireland to hear little known histories about the Causeway Coast. A new project is gathering stories from the local community...

Aberystwyth Inspiration

15 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Writer Niellah Arboine returns to her university town of Aberystwyth, to remember the landscape which inspired her writing so much. She recalls how sh...