Open Country

Ordnance Survey, the organisation responsible for mapping every inch of land in England, Scotland and Wales, was set up in 1791 as a military mapping service based in the Tower of London. It was used to create maps of Britain during the Napoleonic Wars to protect England from the French invasion and the art of map making subsequently played a major role in both World Wars.Now based in Southampton, the agency has moved from the paper-based hand-drawn maps of its origins, to technologically advanced digital mapping systems in order to cope with the constant changes to the landscape of the country.Helen Mark visits the Kent coastline to discover how war has shaped the landscape and how important these maps have been in the past and today.

Dale Farm Traveller site in Essex was started in the 70's. It's now the largest Irish Traveller site in the UK and as the site has grown so has local opposition. Today Basildon Council have issued a notice of eviction but the Travellers say they will not leave without a fight.Helen Mark looks beyond the headlines to ask what this means for the countryside. Some argue that with the urgent need for housing in the South East we need to look again at our greenbelt land. The Travellers themselves argue that they are very much a part of the countryside and that they would rather be homeless than be moved into towns. Whilst Basildon Council argue that we cannot let rules be bent by some, especially when the precious green areas that surround our biggest urban areas are at stake.How we use our countryside in the future and how we see the Gypsy and Traveller communities as part of this will be a debate which is hard to solve.

How are the people of Cramlington reacting to the open cast mining in their area and to the creation of the largest replica of the human body in their landscape? Will it attract tourists and put Cramlington on the map or will they become the laughing stock of Northumberland? For this week's Open Country, Jules Hudson visits Cramlington in the north east where work has started on a giant sculpture of a naked woman which is to be carved into the Northumberland landscape. It will be made from 1.5 million tonnes of overburden from the Shotton open cast mine, near Cramlington. It will be 400 metres long and will stand higher than the Angel of the North. The sculpture, known as Northumberlandia, will form the centrepiece of a 29 hectare public park on the Blagdon Estate and, once developed, it is believed it will be the largest human form to be sculpted into the land, in the world. But these plans have prompted opposition from some, as did the plans for the open cast mine. From the car park of the Snowy Owl pub, Jules hears from landlord Colin Ward about his thoughts on his newest and nearest neighbour, before heading off to check on progress. Taking the route along the leg, knee and thigh of Northumberlandia, Jules arrives on the sculpture's forehead with Mark Dowdell and Iain Lowther of the Banks Mining Group to find out about their reasons for embarking on such an ambitious project and what they hope it will bring to the local economy and community. But not everyone is happy. Back at the Snowy Owl, Jules meets Tony Ives who set up a local opposition group, SCRAM - Support Cramlington Residents Against Mining. Tony tells Jules why he is so unhappy with the idea of Northumberlandia, which has been given the alternative nickname of 'Slag Alice' by some people who are against the idea. However, at nearby North Shotton farm, tenant farmers Julie and Robson Philipson are looking forward to the completion of the sculpture and the park. Despite losing much of their farm to the open cast mine, and being left with only two of their fields, Julie and Robson are adapting to a different way of life on the farm and are excited about the prospect of Northumberlandia opening in 2013.Presenter: Jules Hudson Producer: Helen Chetwynd.

The chalk hills of the South Downs and the rolling Sussex landscape are rich in history, culture and a traditional way of life. The valleys, the woods, the hills and the coastline have inspired people, poets, artists and musicians down the centuries. For this week's Open Counry, Helen Mark takes a musical journey across Sussex and the South Downs talking to some of the people who have put their love of this landscape into song and music or simply been inspired creatively by its existence. Helen is joined by John Copper, his sister Jill and her husband Jon Dudley, of the singing Copper Family. The family, who come from the coastal village of Rottingdean in Sussex, are a living, breathing folk singing tradition. They have lived and worked in this area for over 400 years as farm workers and shepherds and throughout the generations have seen many changes in this landscape. Their songs have been handed down from generation to generation and are still being sung today in the same way that they were sung hundreds of years ago, but at the heart of this music is the countryside around them, the natural beauty of the South Downs and a traditional way of life. Bulgarian composer, Dobrinka Tabakova, tells Helen how she composed a piece of music to accompany the words of poet Francis William Bourdillon. 'On The South Downs' is a symphonic poem which aims to paint a sonic picture of the beautiful South Downs and captures a day's walking on the Downs. Dobrinka was commissioned by the 'Friends of West Sussex Young Musicians' to write the music which was first performed by cellist Natalie Clein and the Chichester Pro Camerata orchestra in 2009 and Dobrinka tells Helen how, while writing the piece, she experienced a slow falling in love with the landscape around her. And musician Matt Hopwood describes how after several years he found himself drawn back to a place he would visit as a teenager, Edburton, a small village at the foot of the South Downs. It was here that Matt spent months in the isolated village church and found inspiration from his surroundings to write music for his new album. Presenter: Helen Mark Producer: Helen Chetwynd.

Why has a new scheme to encourage people onto our national trails upset some people? For the first of two programmes from Sussex, Helen Mark has her running shoes on along the South Downs Way to find out about a project to encourage long-distance runners out into the countryside. The scheme has sparked controversy with a petition launched against the installation of electronic boxes on several of our 15 national trails. Trailblaze is a pilot project which has been launched by events company Endurance Life in partnership with Natural England to allow runners to take up the challenge of a long distance route whenever they want to rather than as part of a large event. The aim is to run as far as they would like to go, whenever they choose, and enter an electronic timing tag into boxes fitted at points along the way which records their progress. The scheme is currently operating on several of our national trails and the organisers say that this has been created by a team of trail runners who feel that the joy of running is increased greatly when it takes place in a stunning landscape. But walkers and outdoor enthusiasts are questioning the need for this scheme. Many people are concerned about the aesthetics of the scheme and what they see as the 'commercialisation' of the countryside. The electronic boxes, which appear at various points along the trails, have caused concern amongst traditionalists who see them as unnecessary and ugly and there is also concern about the pressure on the footpaths and how much the natural environment will be affected and damaged. For this week's Open Country, Helen Mark dons her running shoes and heads out onto the South Down Way where she meets Stuart Mills, a keen runner who has taken up the Trailblaze challenge. Helen also hears from Andrew Barker of Endurance Life and Tess Jackson, from Natural England who are behind the scheme about their reasons for setting it up. Nigel Buxton, whose home is close to the national trail and who moved there specifically to enjoy walking on the chalk of the Downs, tells Helen about his unhappiness with the electronic boxes that are found along the South Downs Way and Helen hears from outdoor writer, Mark Richards, about his concern for the welfare of the paths that we walk. Presenter: Helen Mark Producer: Helen Chetwynd.

When we hear about the threat to some of our precious and important habitats, our minds often turn to the polar ice cap or the rainforests of the Amazon. But one of our most threatened natural environments is right here in the UK and that is the traditional upland hay meadow - fields packed with grasses and wild flowers, alive with bird song and the buzz of bees. Sadly these meadows have almost disappeared from our landscape. There are less than 4 square miles of this habitat left in the UK and around 40% of that is in the North Pennines. A lot of hard work is currently being undertaken to protect and preserve what we have left. For this week's Open Country Helen Mark travels across the north of England, meeting and chatting with some of the people who are working to preserve these precious habitats. Rebecca Barrett of the North Pennines AONB tells Helen about the work they are doing with farmers such as Karen Scott from Low Way Farm in Middleton-in-Teesdale to save the hay meadows. This work involves harvesting seed from a donor field to sow elsewhere in the hope that the hay meadows of the future will begin to grow. Vet, Neville Turner, shows Helen his former beat where he has travelled over a million miles in 30 years in his work , always accompanied by his trusty camera which captured a year in the life of an upland hay meadow. These photographs now accompany a touring play 'Sward! Story of A Meadow' and Helen catches up with the Blaize Theatre Company and its artistic director, Mike Bettison, in the Yorkshire village of Reeth as they prepare for their afternoon performance. And Helen meets hay meadow expert Professor John Rodwell, who tells Helen about his concern over the decline in our upland hay meadows.......after all, who needs a hay meadow museum?Presenter: Helen Mark Producer: Helen Chetwynd.

When Foot and Mouth disease struck the UK in 2001, it caused a major crisis in agriculture and the British countryside. Hundreds and thousands of sheep and cattle were slaughtered in an attempt to halt the disease, footpaths were closed and the countryside effectively closed down. Cumbria was one of the worst affected areas of the country and many farmers found themselves at the very heart and soul of the crisis as mass livestock burials and plumes of black smoke from burning pyres destroyed their livestock and their lives. Ten years on, Helen Mark visits Cumbria to find out how they have coped with the crisis since then. Some farmers chose to rebuild their lives in completely different ways but many continued to farm whilst also diversifying into other areas. Helen hears from farmer, Trevor Wilson about life after Foot and Mouth and from vet, Iain Richards, who found himself in the thick of the outbreak, travelling from farm to farm to diagnose sick animals. Once the disease was confirmed, Iain would then be declared a 'dirty' vet and would have to remain at the farm until the animals had been destroyed. Helen also meets Andrew Nicholson who, with his wife Karen, had only been farming in Cumbria for a few years when the disease broke out. Andrew lost many of his valuable Herdwick sheep but now has one of the most remarkable stories to tell of how he dealt with the crisis. And Helen visits the former airfield which became the burial ground for thousands of slaughtered animals and hears from Frank Mawby and director and retired farmer, William Little, about the way in which the local community voted overwhelmingly to turn the site into what is now the Watchtree Nature Reserve.Presenter: Helen Mark Producer: Helen Chetwynd.

Helen Mark takes a ride on the new Welsh Highland Railway, which eaves Caernarfon and takes in the stunning Snowdonian landscape, before arriving at its destination in Porthmadog. Along the way Helen hears about the back-breaking work undertaken by hundreds of volunteers to get the railway up and running and about the history of slate mining in the area, which used to rely so heavily on the railways. She also stops off at the RSPB's Osprey Project at Glaslyn to catch sight of the only breeding pair of ospreys in Wales.Presenter: Helen Mark Producer: Helen Chetwynd.

Barra, Vatersay and Mingulay are three of the southernmost islands of the Outer Herbrides and their shared history is one of survival by moving with the times. In 1912 the last inhabitants of Mingulay left the island for Barra after the turbulent seas had claimed a boat full of the fishermen who the island relied upon. Today Mingulay's waters are back in discussion as it has become a proposed area of conservation due to ancient corals which lie beneath. The islanders of Barra fear that this conservation zone will make it harder for them to make their living from fishing these waters but Scottish Natural Heritage feel the risks to the coral are too high to let activities go on unchecked. The debate is a heated one but as Helen Mark discovers it is part of a long history of independence from interference from the mainland, a unique past which makes the island stronger today than it perhaps ever has been.

Richard Uridge is in Herefordshire at the annual film festival to hear why it's important to bring the cinema experience to rural areas. On a farm outside the city of Hereford, he discovers a recently rehoused international film archive containing 80,000 documentaries including several old films on life in the Herefordshire countryside dating back to the 1930s that are being preserved as part of our rural heritage.