The Plodcast

Wilfred Emmanuel Jones shares his gripping story of his life's journey – from arriving from Jamaica and living in inner city Birmingham to owning a farm on the Devon-Cornwall border. His brand – The Black Farmer – has been a huge success and now he wants to encourage other children from ethnic minority or deprived backgrounds into finding careers in the countryside: The New Face of Farming. Listen on for more understanding of town vs country attitudes, race in the countryside and the two things you need to make a success in business.Contact 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!Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a welcome cool, overcast day by the River Usk – there is rain in the air. The water is clear and bubbling through a small set of rapids in a gently calming series of swirls and eddies. A dipper flies upstream low over the water. 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 Fergus Collins, presented by Hannah TribeContact 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

Head to the sleepy hamlet of Shepton Montague in Somerset to meet Oliver Dowding – dairy-farmer-turned-cider-maestro. Discover the magic of apple trees and their different characters and learn the lore of Somerset cider making. Plus, Oliver reveals a novel – and natural – method of rodent control. Annabel Ross is your host.Later the Plodcast team discuss cider vs beer, taste a Dowdings tipple and hear a rare Sound of the Week.Contact 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!Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s summer, yet the bruised skies and pulsing winds don’t seem to know it. As if blown over by the squalls; a farm gate clunks. After walking the fields, you drop into a deep sunken lane and a version of quiet hits you, the wind no longer on your skin, in your ears. You sit on the grassy, furrowed lane and take breath. Around you now are tall hedgerows of hawthorn and blackberry. A wren sings from a tree above. 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. Image from Getty.Contact 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! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is it possible to farm profitably and have abundant wildlife on your land? George and Elaine Morris take us on a tour of their mixed farm in Buckinghamshire where they raise cattle, Wiltshire horned sheep as well as oats and barley but where over 10 per cent of the land is devoted to wildflowers, insects, birds and other creatures. Due to a deal with Jordans Cereals, the Morris's are, essentially, paid to farm wildlife, too.Does it work? Listen on for a magical insight into how our farmland should look – and sound!The Jordans Farm Partnership (JFP) represents a coming together of specialists to create a holistic model for long term farm sustainability. Within the partnership, the Wildlife Trusts help create bespoke farm wildlife plans & consumer understanding and LEAF bring a whole-farm sustainability approach, supporting the integration of business planning and delivery of environmental benefits with farmers.Contact 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!Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Boarding a small passenger ferry at Tenby, you set sail for Caldey Island through a swell that rocks the boat like a toy in the bath. Before long, you reach the holy island. A 1,000-year-old Catholic monastery sits hidden within its wooded heart, but your first instinct is to walk the beach that stretches east from the tiny harbour wall. The sand is soft, warmed by the summer sun, and the breeze gentle. You find a spot to sit, down by the waves.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. Image from Getty. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a glorious summer's day in Dorset and Plodcast regular Kevin Parr heads to the village of Cerne Abbas to visit the local brewery. Meet Vic, Jodie and Matt who run the brewery hear their wonderful tales. Kevin also meets local farmer Will who grows barley for the brewing process and shares his deep love of the wildlife that thrives on his farm.Later, Kevin joins the Plodcast team in the studio to discuss beer, Dorset eagles, Chesney Hawkes and what's the best food to pack for a country walk.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're climbing an oak tree and its rough, weathered branches reach down like the arms of an aiding grandfather to pull you up. The coarse, lichen-dusted bark coats your hands, your nostrils fill with the subtle scent of decay and before you know it you’ve emerged through the dark-leaved canopy to a scene of wind and light. Carmarthenshire’s pastoral hills fold out to the west. Cattle on the move. A dog barks. A wren sings. And all the while the wind whips through. 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Could hydroponics be the future of farming? Ex-chef Antonio Paladino welcomes Annabel Ross onto Bioaqua Farm, his smallholding in the Somerset Levels, where he farms trout and vegetables within a mutually supportive system that has very few costs, produces no pollution and creates delicious nutritious food. Is this a blueprint for more sustainable farming or an unattainable dream? Listen on for a fascinating adventure into food.Plus, the Annabel joins the Plodcast team to reveals some secrets from the day at Bioaqua Farm and the team discuss the big issue of: what's the best food to pack for a country walk.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You hear the waves on Eigg’s rocky shores, a distant breeze, perhaps. But lazing silently on one of the tiny island’s floating in the tiny harbour there a seals; two eiders rise and fall on the turquoise swell, so loyal to one another it’s as if they’re tethered by an invisible thread. A cloud drifts by; a fishing boat nods. All is silent, save the lapping waves that meet the rocks.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. Produced by Jack Bateman Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices