Open Country
Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 5
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- Sep 17, 2026
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- Aug 20, 2026
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Kate Stables and Winchester (opens the original)
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Musician Kate Stables visits her favourite spots in Winchester to find out more about the area that she used to call home. From St Catherine's Hill you can see across the whole city. It's where Kate flew kites, and celebrated her wedding - and with the help of archaeologist David Ashby she finds out about the iron-age settlement and medieval chapel that once adorned the landscape. Dropping down to the River Itchen, Kate and conservationist Rachel Remnant dip their toes into chalk streams, before
Saving the Rare Plants of Eryri (opens the original)
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Martha Kearney meets the people protecting and restoring rare arctic-alpine plants in Eryri, also know as Snowdonia. Robbie Blackhall-Miles is a conservation horticulturist working for the charity Plantlife. He shows Martha his secret nursery for rare plants where he's been propagating species such as the previously extinct rosy saxifrage, in preparation for reintroducing them to the mountains. Martha and Robbie travel to the valley of Nant Ffrancon where work has been happening in collaboration
Bramble Bank Cricket Match (opens the original)
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Between the mainland and the Isle of Wight, when the tides are low enough and the days long enough, a sandbank emerges from the Solent. At some point each summer, in most summers since 1984, this exposed bank becomes the venue for an extraordinary event: a cricket match between two sailing club teams from opposite sides of the Solent. Test Match Special commentator Alison Mitchell joins the team setting off from Hamble, near Southampton, to witness this remarkable contest, which can only take pl
River Pilgrimage (opens the original)
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Pilgrimages are usually associated with the Middle Ages, when they were at their peak. Banned by Henry VIII in the 16th century, they are now regaining popularity. In this programme, Martha Kearney joins a group of people on a river pilgrimage in Kent. They're spending ten days walking the entire route of the River Medway, from its source in the High Weald in Sussex to the point where it empties into the Thames estuary - seventy miles in all. The aim is partly to highlight the current plight of
Ancient Technology Centre (opens the original)
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Martha Kearney learns ancient skills like forging a knife, flint knapping and making a fire with flint and steel, alongside local schoolchildren at the Ancient Technology Centre in the Dorset countryside. The centre is a unique collection of archaeologically accurate reconstructions of ancient buildings, used for hands-on outdoor history education. Each building represents a different time period: there’s an Earthouse, a Roman forge, an Iron Age Roundhouse, a Saxon workshop and a Viking Longhous
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