Open Country
Episodes
George Eliot Country
25 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
‘She was a woman ahead of her time, she pushed every boundary.’For this week’s Open County, Helen Mark heads to the Warwickshire landscape of Nu...
Changing Tides at Morecambe Bay
11 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Eden Project plans to bring its distinctive building design and appreciation for biodiversity to Morecambe. It's hoped that this Eden Project of t...
Surfing on Scotland’s North Coast
04 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The reef break at Thurso on the rugged North Coast of Scotland is one of the best waves in Europe. Helen Mark meets Thurso's surfing community, from t...
The Pub at the End of Easdale
31 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Easdale is a small, car-free island in the Firth of Lorn in Scotland. Once a centre of the British slate industry, Easdale Slate was exported around t...
The Changing Thetford Forest
17 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After the First World War the nation's timber stocks were at their lowest level with many trees being taken for the trenches and also used for coffins...
The Strawberry Line Community
03 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The first trains ran on the officially named Cheddar Valley Line after opening in 1869. A branch line providing a vital local link for farmers and gro...
Reservoirs and lost villages
27 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this programme Helen Mark is in Derbyshire to hear the stories of the reservoirs of the Derwent valley. Under one of them, Ladybower, lie the remai...
Moorland on the mend
20 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In July this year, pictures of burning moors were everywhere in the news. During one of the hottest summers for decades, hundreds of acres of moorland...
Leicester’s hidden gem - Bradgate Park - bought for the locals, but where’s all the archive?
13 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Just 5 miles from Leicester City Centre is Bradgate Park, 850 acres of natural landscape, an ancient deer park which was the home of Lady Jane Grey th...
Benjamin Britten's Aldeburgh
07 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The composer Benjamin Britten is closely associated with the Suffolk coast at Aldeburgh where he lived and worked for most of his life. This episode o...
Life on the canals at Foxton Locks
06 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Life on the canal is not just a place of leisure and tourism as Helen Mark finds out that more and more people are now full time residents on the wate...
Ash to Ash
22 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Ash trees are prolific in our landscapes and have long held an important place in our culture. Their long, straight trunks have been shaped into spear...
The Suffolk Maharajah
15 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Elveden is a quaint rural Suffolk village with an intriguing history as the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire was buried here in 1893. For almost two ...
Herodsfoot, Thankful Village
09 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark visits the 'thankful' village of Herodsfoot in Cornwall. At its centre is a war memorial that looks like any other, to the extent that mos...
The Windermere Boys
01 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark discovers the true story of the ‘Windermere Boys’, the three hundred child holocaust survivors who found rehabilitation and a new life ...
Liverpool Giants
25 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The famous cityscape of Liverpool can seem familiar to visitors and locals alike. But the arrival of three giants is about to transform the way it's s...
The Malvern Hills
06 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark visits the Malvern Hills. She meets a landscape historian, who shows her how human history has left its marks on the topography - if you kn...
Childhood Holidays in Pembrokeshire
30 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Charlotte Smith goes on a trip down memory lane, visiting St Davids in Pembrokeshire. It's the area where she spent many of her childhood summer holid...
Purton Hulks
13 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark discovers the fascinating world of the UK's largest ship's graveyard Purton Hulks, the largest collection of maritime wrecks above water in...
The First Lundy Marathon
02 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Lundy Island sits just off the North Devon Coast in the Bristol Channel. It has a fascinating history which dates back to the Bronze Age and has been ...
The Boat Builders of Pin Mill
26 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Writer Jonathan Gornall has attempted to row across the Atlantic twice. On the second attempt he nearly drowned but his relationship with the sea has ...
The Great Exhibition of the North
19 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark explores landscapes of the future, of the imagination and of the past, at the Great Exhibition of the North, which is centred in Newcastle ...
Humphry Repton and his Red Books
28 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On the bicentenary of Humphry Repton's death Helen Mark finds out all about the landscape gardener and his red books. Humphry Repton is the last Engli...
Gertrude Jekyll at 175
10 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Gertrude Jekyll was born in the late 19th Century and, as a talented gardener and craftswoman, managed to forge a highly successful path in a male-dom...
Swansea Copper and Choir
03 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark explores the site of the former Copperworks near Swansea. As the huge mechanical puppet 'The Man Engine' visits to celebrate that great his...
Inspired by flowers, Lincolnshire
26 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Lincolnshire is famous for vast fields of tulips, but this week Helen Mark meets people in the country who have a more personal relationship with flow...
Young people and landscape, Doncaster
19 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Actress Dominique Moore visits forests, moors and parkland around Doncaster to find out how young people here are using the countryside. Rural landsca...
Coventry Edgelands
12 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark explores the landscape in between the city of Coventry and the countryside which surrounds it. These 'edgelands' are often ignored yet they...
The Isle of Gigha
08 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Marchant has always longed to visit the Inner Hebridean island of Gigha, off the west coast of Scotland. For a writer and hippie like Ian, it soun...
Konnie Huq goes back to Kew Gardens
01 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Ealing girl Konnie Huq finds out more about her favourite green spaces in London - Kew Gardens and Northala Fields. Konnie's late mother often took th...
Wild Cats in the Highlands
18 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Strathpeffer in the Highlands of Scotland is one of the few remaining strongholds of the elusive Scottish wildcat. The species is now considered to be...
Finding Fossils on the Jurassic Coast
11 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The crumbling Jurassic Coast in Dorset has already helped us to discover some of the most interesting species from deep time, revolutionising our unde...
Torridge and Taw, North Devon
21 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The writer and walker Linda Cracknell joins Helen Mark along North Devon's exposed and rugged coast to seek out the traces of her maritime roots. Her ...
Rewilding at Knepp Castle
14 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark travels to Sussex to explore the wilderness at Knepp Castle Estate. Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell have turned their estate ...
Red Squirrels in Formby
07 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark is in Formby in Merseyside, a part of the country that is regarded as a haven for the native red squirrel. She discovers what it is about t...
Visions of Birmingham
30 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Adrian Goldberg travels around Birmingham meeting with fellow Brummies, all of whom have a special vision for the future of Birmingham's landscape. He...
Border Country
23 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Irish border is currently the focus of intense negotiations around Brexit. Nobody knows how a soft or hard Brexit will work in practise but most a...
Serpentine on the Lizard, Cornwall
16 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark meets people whose livelihoods depend on the unique landscape of the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. She finds rock that looks like snakeskin...
Bell-ringing in Devon
09 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Meditation, a celebration, a warning, the marking of a solemn occasion, music: bells are a public sound that changes according to the landscape. And b...
Climbing High Pike with Sir Chris Bonington
02 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
High Pike in the Lake District is far from the highest peak Sir Chris Bonington has scaled yet from its summit he can see some of the most magnificent...
The Battle of Pinkie Cleugh
26 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
How do you keep history alive? It's claimed the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh - fought in 1547 between the Scots and the English - has largely been forgotte...
Tughall Mill, Northumberland
07 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Tughall Mill in Northumberland has just been bought by the National Trust for £1.5million so what do you get for that amount of money? Helen Mark get...
The Gardens at Glyndebourne
05 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark swaps her anorak for a frock as she visits the summer festival at Glyndebourne to discover how its famous gardens inspire singers, artists ...
The Brecks - East Anglia's Secret
31 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark visits East Anglia's best kept secret, the Brecks around Thetford - a combination of sandy heathland, England's largest lowland forest and ...
Huw Stephens at Green Man Festival
24 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Huw Stephens is our guide to the Green Man Festival in the Brecon Beacons. As a DJ Huw has been to many festivals but the Green Man is a favourite. Se...
Ballooning in Bristol
17 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The International Balloon Fiesta in Bristol has been running for nearly 40 years, drawing pilots and tourists form around the world. Helen Mark has be...
Eliza Carthy in Robin Hood's Bay
10 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Eliza Carthy is one of England's finest folk performers. In this episode of Open Country Eliza explores her hometown of Robin Hood's Bay on the North ...
Lincolnshire Bike Night
27 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Leathers, green beard, a Harley and pension: guest presenter Paul Murphy meets some of the people behind the longest running bike night in the UK. Lin...
Loch Tay and Ben Lawers
20 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark is in Perthshire to climb Ben Lawers above Loch Tay for a better view of the southern Highlands. Scotland's 10th highest Munro, it's home t...
The Dark Side of the Lune
13 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Marchant associates the landscape at the mouth of the River Lune with his friend and musical partner, Chas Ambler, who died nearly two years ago. ...
BBC Monitoring at Caversham
06 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
For 75 years a stately home near Reading has eavesdropped on the world. As BBC Monitoring changes, Caz Graham hears why the organisation is leaving Ca...
Wimbledon
29 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
When Andy Murray steps out onto Centre Court to defend his 2016 title at the All England Lawn and Tennis Club in Wimbledon it will be the culmination ...
Stonehenge and Mental Health
15 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark asks whether time creatively spent in Stonehenge's prehistoric landscapes can help Wiltshire residents with long term mental health problem...
Lough Neagh
11 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Lough Neagh is the largest lake by area in the British Isles. It supplies 40% of Northern Ireland's water and today it is home to the Lough Neagh wild...
Blencathra: The People's Mountain
04 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Terry Abraham could be likened to Alfred Wainwright in his love of the Lakeland fells. Blencathra was known by Wainwright as the 'mountaineers mountai...
The Future of Sherwood Forest
27 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire is home to one of our most enduring legends, that of Robin Hood. David Lindo learns how the man in green tights who...
Skiving at Poverty Bottom, Newhaven
19 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Marchant travels back to Newhaven in East Sussex, to learn to see a familiar landscape through fresh eyes. He grew up round here, bunking off scho...
Learning from the Wild in Dartington
19 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark travels to south-east Devon, to the Dartington Estate. This 14th century estate was reinvented by an off-shoot of the Bloomsbury set in the...
The Mildenhall Treasure
02 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In January 1942, Gordon Butcher was ploughing a field in the village of West Row, near Mildenhall in Suffolk. His plough hit something solid, and on f...
Underground Bristol
26 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Think of Bristol and the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge and St Mary Redcliffe church may be on your list to visit. But what lies beneath? Tunnels, c...
London: A National Park City?
18 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
There's a campaign gaining ground to make London a National Park City. But what exactly does that mean? David Lindo meets the campaign founder Dan Rav...
Barton-upon-Humber Clay Pits
12 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark finds out about the flooded clay pits that make up the landscape around Barton-upon-Humber. Standing on the south side of the Humber Bridge...
Winter Solstice at Newgrange
22 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Many people will be aware of the celebrations which take place at Stonehenge for the summer solstice but at Newgrange in Ireland the winter solstice i...
Wordsworth's County Remade
15 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Lake District was known as 'Wordsworth's County'. Today the poets words are being used to rediscover his homelands with a new app designed to get ...
Whitelee Windfarm on Eaglesham Moor
08 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Eaglesham Moor, which extends over thirty square miles just south of Glasgow, has arguably been viewed by those living around it as a rather inhospita...
Belvoir Castle and its 'Capability' Brown Landscape
01 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark is in Leicestershire, to discover how the 'Capability' Brown plans for Belvoir castle have finally come to fruition. Lancelot 'Capability'...
Sathnam Sanghera goes home to Wolverhampton
24 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Wolverhampton, at the heart of the industrial revolution, has never been known for its beautiful landscape. The story goes that when Queen Victoria pa...
David Lindo on the Isle of Man
17 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
David Lindo is the Urban Birder. He loves the birds he finds in parks and open spaces in the city but for this weeks Open Country he sets sail for the...
Snowdonia Marathon
10 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark follows Snowdonia Marathon and meets some of the people tackling this challenging course. Starting and finishing in Llanberis, the race enc...
Wild Boar in the Forest of Dean
03 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark travels to the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire to encounter some of the wild boar who have made a home there in the last ten years. The F...
Off Grid in Mid-Wales
27 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Guest presenter Ian Marchant meets people who live off-grid in his part of the world, near Presteigne in mid-Wales. There's Bob, who started his off-g...
Bellaghy - Seamus Heaney's Homeplace
08 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Seamus Heaney grew up in Bellaghy in Northern Ireland and his poetry features many of the people who lived there and the views he saw there. Helen Mar...
Hoylake: Green Belt and Greens
01 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
A new golf resort has been proposed for Hoylake in Wirral. Helen Mark explores how this will affect the local green belt and the birdlife and wildlife...
Helen Baxendale visits Belper in Derbyshire
25 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Guest presenter Helen Baxendale visits Belper in Derbyshire, to explore the landscape for traces of the town's industrial past. Belper is part of the ...
Spurn Point Lifeboat Station
18 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark spends the day wit the only full-time lifeboat crew in the UK, based on Spurn Point. This unique landscape is a strip of land, 3.5 miles lo...
The 'Man Engine' in Cornwall's mining landscape
11 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The largest mechanical puppet ever made in the UK "The Man Engine" has been striding out across Cornwall to celebrate 10 years since Cornwall's mining...
Orkney Wildlife in Crisis
04 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Orkney Isles are one of the best places for wildlife in the country. Species such as seals and puffins which are hard to find in other parts of th...
Capability Brown at 300
28 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Lancelot 'Capability' Brown is heralded as the Shakespeare of gardening who in the eighteen century designed an estimated 170 landscapes including Ble...
Biodiversity at Heathrow
23 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark visits Heathrow Airport to discover what steps they take to encourage biodiversity and assesses the impact the proposed third runway will h...
The Dolphins of Cardigan Bay
14 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Patrick Aryee travels to West Wales to meet the dolphin-watchers of New Quay, and to encounter some members of the largest group of bottlenose dolphin...
Bishop Auckland, History in Production
07 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
'Kynren' is set across a landscaped stage which is the size of 5 football pitches and involves over 1000 local volunteers. Organizers hope that it wil...
Midsummer Music in Orkney
30 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Orkney has a great heritage of music so for this weeks Open Country Helen Mark visits the St Magnus International Festival of Music and Arts. Now in i...
Dawn Chorus across Europe
12 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Brett Westwood presents a special programme as Open Country joins forces with the European Broadcasting Union and RTE in Ireland to follow the Dawn Ch...
Tennyson's Lincolnshire
05 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark explores the Lincolnshire Wolds through the poetry of Victorian Laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson.The Lincolnshire Wolds are a designated Are...
Southwell Races, Nottinghamshire
25 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark spends a day at Southwell Races in rural Nottinghamshire. It's one of the smallest and most rural racetracks in Britain, but it's also one ...
The National Forest: 25 Years
22 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark visits the National Forest as its marks 25 years since it started to create huge areas of woodland.The entire area covers 200 square miles ...
Old Oswestry Hillfort
21 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark visits the Iron-Age Hillfort in Oswestry, Shropshire to discover why it's the "Stonehenge of the Iron Age" and how plans for housing might ...
Gainsborough's Nodding Donkeys
13 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Forget Texas! There's oil in the plains of Lincolnshire. But not many people seem to notice.Helen Mark travels to the market town of Gainsborough to d...
Welsh Valleys after Coal
04 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Felicity Evans asks how the valleys of south Wales near Caerphilly have fared since the mines closed. She visits new parklands that have been planted ...
Return to the Fens
11 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In the final episode of this series Helen Mark visit Woodwalton Fen in Cambridgeshire with writer Simon Barnes to discover the lost landscape which in...
Scowles in the Forest of Dean
28 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark is in the Forest of Dean in search of mysterious geological formations known as 'scowles'.These semi-natural features in the landscape are ...
Somerset Peat: Past, Present and Future
21 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark uncovers why peat makes the Somerset Levels a special place to visit, not just for the wildlife. Since earliest times humans have exploited...
Yorkshire in the Dark
14 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Yorkshire looks different in the dark. Helen Mark looks up into the heavens and deep underground for a new understanding of England's biggest county.O...
River Tay
07 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Tironesian monks of Lindores Abbey were forcibly removed by Protestant firebrand John Knox in 1559 but they've left an extraordinary legacy for Ta...
The Northern Lights at Christmas
17 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
For a Christmas special Helen Mark visits the snow covered landscape of Swedish Lapland in search of the mythical, and often elusive, Northern Lights ...
Lincolnshire Coast Revival
10 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
On the 5th of December 2013 the Lincolnshire community saw the worst flooding in 60 years. A tidal surge two metres above normal levels flooded coasta...
Pendle Hill, Lancashire
26 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Why do witches and radical pacifists haunt Pendle Hill, one of Lancashire's best known landmarks? Helen Mark hears about the witch trials of 400 years...
Prehistoric Gower
20 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Writer Iain Sinclair seeks the UK's oldest burial site in a cave along south Gower's windy clifftops. The 'Red Lady of Paviland' was interred in a cav...
Tollesbury Wick in Essex
18 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Mark visits Tollesbury Wick on the Essex coast. Situated on the mouth of Tollesbury Fleet and the Blackwater estuary, a giant sea wall snakes ar...
Big Chill in Llanthony
29 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty years ago The Big Chill festival pioneered the concept of the boutique festival. Helen Mark meets founder Pete Lawrence as he returns to the ma...