The Plodcast

Come with us to the gentle pasturelands that link the summit of Y Fal with the bustle of Grwyne Fawr far below. Pause a while amid the patchwork of sheep field, farmyard and hedgerow, and a version of bliss envelopes you; a light wind picks hazel leaves from the hedge and sends them down the lane. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audiopostcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewherebeautiful, wherever you happen to be.Recorded by Daniel Graham, presented by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of thecountryside – to: editor@countryfile.com Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.com PPA Podcast of the Year 2022 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we’re off to the Hebridean island of Tiree, a stronghold of one of Britain’s rarest and strangest birds. Naturalist James Fair heads out into the wilds to search for the corncrake with local expert John Bowler of the RSPB. It’s a bird not famed for its looks – but it’s voice – well, that’s a different matter.Back in the studio, the team enjoy a very eerie sound of the week – recorded deep in an ancient burial mound.Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: editor@countryfile.com. If read out on the show, you could win a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.comPPA Podcast of the Year!Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the southern flanks of the Usk Valley beneath the damp uplands of Mynydd Llangatwg are the remnants of an old limestone quarry. Paths slink between the stepped hillside, now a miscellany of meadow, scrub and tree. When rain falls, the stunted hazel and oak woods are a joy to be among.BBC Countryfile Magazine's 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 Daniel Graham, presented by Hannah Tribe.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: editor@countryfile.comVisit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.comPPA Podcast of the Year 2022 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now the clocks have gone back in the UK and we’re heading into the dark days of winter it feels like a good time to let a burst of light and song into our lives. So this week we’re heading back to spring and an adventure I took in the New Forest with naturalist Dominic Couzens.Dominic is brilliant at recognising birds by their song and he give some clever tips to help you learn them too – a neat trick for impressing friends and family on your next spring walk. Image by Getty.Look out for Dominic's new book An Identification Guide to Garden Insects of BritainBack in the studio, the Plodcast team 'interview' The British Cheese Awards Supreme Champion cheese and discuss how to cope with the dark nights of winter.Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: editor@countryfile.com. If read out on the show, you could win a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.comPPA Podcast of the Year!Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To be in an autumn woodland after rain is a tonic for a great many ills. Perhaps it’s the simple joy of the leaves so lustrous with rainwater, or the way the mosses swell like lungs. Or the maybe it’s the scent of the Earth – of leaf litter and microbes and fruiting fungi – that seems to connect the ground with the air, and thus you with all of it. It’s certain that the streams appear contented.A short walk through woodland brings you to a small waterway, where you pause for a while and breathe it all in.BBC Countryfile Magazine's 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 Daniel Graham, presented by Hannah Tribe. Image from Getty.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: editor@countryfile.comVisit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.comPPA Podcast of the Year 2022 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jenny Agutter has been a household name since her starring role in the 1970 film The Railway Children. This year, she reprises her role in The Railway Children Return, set 30 years later in 1940. Hear all about her connections to the countryside and her very surprising choice of favourite wildlife species.Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: editor@countryfile.com. If read out on the show, you could win a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.comPPA Podcast of the Year!Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You open the back door and look out into the garden. Rain streaks down, steady and hypnotic. From a bush a robin sparks up occasionally but nothing else stirs in the downpour. It's a day to cosy up indoors by the fire.BBC Countryfile Magazine's 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 Maria Hodson, presented by Hannah Tribe. Image from Getty.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: editor@countryfile.comVisit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.comPPA Podcast of the Year 2022 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We return for a second episode at the Folk by the Oak Festival in Hertfordshire. Annabel Ross talks to Karine Polwart from Spell Songs and we hear their song Jay. We also meet nature guide and folklorist Sherloak as he leads a tour in Hatfield Forest and finish with an interview with the great Proclaimers – and listen to two of their most famous songs.We'd like to say a huge thank you to the organisers and the musicians for their time and beautiful music. Photo by Tammy MarlarContact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: editor@countryfile.com. If read out on the show, you could win a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.comPPA Podcast of the Year!Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Enjoy a relaxing experience paddleboarding on a stretch of the River Wye in Herefordshire, where a flock of about 300 Canada geese begin an extraordinary evening chorus. The gentle swish of the paddle and the evocative cries of the wildfowl create a haunting river music. Pure delight. BBC Countryfile Magazine's 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 Maria Hodson, presented by Hannah Tribe. Image from Getty. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: editor@countryfile.comVisit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.comPPA Podcast of the Year 2022 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Enjoy the delights of the Folk by Our festival In part one of two brilliant episodes, Annabel Ross visits the Folk by the Oak festival in Hertfordshire to meet musicians and hear music steeping in landscape, wildlife and countryside lore. In this podcast, you’ll hear Magpie by The Unthanks, Trouser Worrier by We are the monsters and The Same Land by Salthouse. But first Annabel talks to Caroline and Adam Slough who founded Folk by the Oak…We'd like to say a huge thank you to the organisers and the musicians for their time and beautiful music. Photo by Tammy MarlarContact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: editor@countryfile.com. If read out on the show, you could win a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.comPPA Podcast of the Year!Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices