Open Country

Martha Kearney explores Walter Scott country with Giles Ingram, Abbotsford Trust chief executive; Alistair Hutton, broadcaster and Borderlands historian; and Tim Owen, Abbotsford’s head gardener. They wander through romantic gardens, Scott’s woodland legacy and childhood landscapes, uncovering his passion for tree planting, forestry and land management. The discussion also explores how Scotland’s scenery shaped his writing and inspired generations of visitors.

Ornithologist and BBC Springwatch presenter Jack Baddams joins longtime bird ringer and mentor Eleanor Wilkins in Whitwell, Derbyshire. At dawn, they explore mist-netting, bird ringing, migration and the village’s remarkable natural history records. They also trace a generations-old tradition, reveal how local monitoring supports conservation, and revisit the miners and naturalists who helped shape Whitwell Wood.

Kate Stables, songwriter and founding member of This Is the Kit, explores her former Winchester home. Archaeologist David Ashby reveals St Catherine’s Hill’s Iron Age fort and medieval chapel. Conservationist Rachel Remnant introduces the River Itchen’s rare chalk stream and the communal art of scything. Campaigner Chris Gillham recalls the fierce Twyford Down protests against the M3. Kate finishes with a cathedral-top view across the city.

Robbie Blackhall-Miles, a Plantlife conservation horticulturist, opens the doors to a secret nursery growing rare Eryri plants, including rosy saxifrage for return to the wild. He explores conservation grazing, fragmented habitats and mountain ecosystems. Welsh naturalist and writer Twm Elias reveals how Welsh plant names preserve folklore, practical knowledge and a deep connection to the landscape.

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 place on a low-water spring tide. She talks to players including former England cricketer Norman Cowans and his teammate Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the worldArriving at Bramble Bank by boat at dawn, she follows and commentates on the action as it unfolds, before departing as the tide returns and the pitch disappears beneath the water once again.Producer: Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio Bristol

Dawn Champion of the British Pilgrimage Trust traces pilgrimage from prehistoric journeys to its modern revival. Sevilla Page, co-founder of Friends of the River Medway, explores pollution, river ecology, and community action. Guy Hayward, pilgrimage advocate and singer, joins a ten-day source-to-sea walk featuring citizen science, ritual, music, and reflections on nature, belonging, and the Medway’s future.

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 Longhouse. Producer: Beth O'Dea

When Donald Campbell died on Coniston Water in Cumbria in January 1967, attempting to break his own water speed record it was, to many people, the end of an era. Many would always remember where they were when the images of Bluebird K7, the jet hydroplane he was piloting, crashing and disintegrating on the lake appeared on TV screens and the story broke across the world.In March 2001, after 34 years underwater, Donald Campbell’s ill-fated craft was raised from the deep by wreck-finder and engineer, Bill Smith. Later that year, at the request of Donald’s daughter Gina, his remains were also recovered - and in September 2001 he was finally laid to rest in the churchyard at Coniston. A painstaking restoration project began and in 2026, over 20 years after she was raised from the depths, Bluebird is set to finally return to Coniston Water.Caz Graham visits Coniston Water to discover what Bluebird means to the Lake District as she returns to the water 70 years after Donald Campbell set the water speed record in 1956.Producer: Helen Lennard

Martha Kearney is in Norfolk to walk the heathland that is being returned to its ancient grassland habitat by Olly Birkbeck. The Society of Wildlife Artists is holding a year-long residency documenting the recovery of the land and the flora and fauna. Martha meets sculptor Harriet Mead, field painter of birds Darren Woodhead and painter Kim Atkinson to see how they observe and reflect the natural world.The Society of Wildlife Artists: https://swla.co.uk/Producer: Beth O'Dea

Britain's roadside verges rarely get much attention, but can play host to a whole range of plant and animal species. In this programme Martha Kearney finds out about this overlooked habitat. She meets a community group in East Sussex whose members grow plants at home specially to plant in the verges of their village, and talks to the charity Plantlife about the importance of verges as an environmental habitat. She goes out exploring with artist Nessie Ramm, who focuses on painting the tiny details of roadside verges, and who last year won the New English Art Club Climate Emergency prize for her work entitled 'Reduce Speed Now'. Producer: Emma Campbell