The Plodcast

After a cold and wet day in the hills, you light a fire in the stove and make a welcome cup of tea. You settle into a favourite armchair to watch the dancing flames and relax to the crackle of the wood.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a gentle postcard from the British countryside each week that allows you a soothing few minutes escape into the wild, wherever you are. Image from Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Poet and BBC Radio regular Kenneth Steven takes us on a gentle winter's walk through the lanes and fields of his home island of Seil in the Inner Hebrides. Enjoy meetings with kestrels, buzzards and robins, plus a special poem A Winter Light. Later join the Plodcast team for some Sounds of the Week and the latest from the Plodcast Postbag. Image of Seil from Getty.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A horde of starlings descends on a dairy farm in the Vale of Pewsey to forage among the piles of gently steaming fodder and manure while cattle shelter inside the barns. The birds' voices create a waves of soft chatter to warm up this bitter winter's day while tractors come and go.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a gentle postcard from the British countryside each week that allows you a soothing few minutes escape into the wild, wherever you are. Recorded by Tanya Jackson and 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

Setting out to give voice to forgotten lowland landscapes of Monmouthshire overlooked by visitors, plodcast host Fergus instead get lost as the little-used footpaths have disappeared or been blocked. With ravens and skylarks for company, he finds that the countryside can sometimes be a frustrating place to explore on foot. Back in the studio, we meet Jack Cornish, Head of Paths for the Ramblers, to discuss what can be done when footpaths go missing…Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a cold, clear day with frosted grass and glass. You're walking beside the very-full Kennet and Avon canal and water rushes noisily through a loch. But soon, this serene waterway leads you past moored boats and out into the wider Wiltshire countryside.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a gentle postcard from the British countryside each week that allows you a soothing few minutes escape into the wild, wherever you are. Recorded by Tanya Jackson and presented by Hannah Tribe. Image from Tanya Jackson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Take a wander in wooded coombe near Bristol with the Jane Lomas, series producer of the Countryfile TV show. The Sunday evening programme is one of the most important voices on countryside matters in the UK and Jane, talking to our own Annabel Ross, reveals some valuable insight into the ethos of the show and how it is put together. Photo by Oliver EdwardsDon't forget you can catch up on any recent episodes of Countryfile on iPlayer.We'd also like to thank Radio Lento for their help with the recording of muntjac deer in this podcast. Radio Lento a podcast of immersive everyday beautiful soundscapes with no music or talking to get in the way.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Be soothed by the gentle rise and fall of waves. On the north coast of Devon, where the high cliffs of Hartland plunge into the Atlantic Ocean, is the small village of Buck’s Mills. The road in is steep and winding, flanked with white-washed cottages and banks of deep-green ferns and bare trees. You have to walk the final stretch down to the sea, but it’s worth it. Winter beaches are quiet, and down here, among the boulders and churning waves, there isn’t a soul in sight.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a gentle postcard from the British countryside each week that allows you a soothing few minutes escape into the wild, wherever you are. Recorded by Daniel Graham and 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

Discover how the British countryside has inspired great composers over the centuries – and how their music helps us evoke landscapes and their wildlife. BBC Music Magazine's Jeremy Pound takes our own Fergus Collins for a walk over Leckhampton Hill to meet his countryside musical heroes, from Delius to Vaughan Williams and from Holst to Elgar. Image from Getty.Enjoy listening to the music discussed on this podcast on our Spotify playlistHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ravens call over the stark winter landscape of farmland in deeply rural Monmouthshire. Robins sing and, from a distant barn, cattle low. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a gentle postcard from the British countryside each week that allows you a soothing few minutes escape into the wild, wherever you are. Recorded by Fergus Collins and presented by Hannah Tribe. Photo from Getty Images. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the first episode of the new season, Voices of the Countryside, plodcast host Fergus heads to the wild marshes of WWT Steart on the Somerset coast with author and naturalist Ben Hoare. The two old friends recount the joys of walking in nature and have a surprise encounter with one of Britain's great wildlife spectacles – a swarming flock of small wading birds called dunlin. With a backdrop of curlew and lapwing song, this is a podcast to transport you into the wild. For more on Ben's new book, visit hereHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices