The Plodcast

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BBC Countryfile Magazine brings you The Plodcast - a weekly escape to the British countryside with fascinating guests and the wonders of the great outdoors.

Enjoy a new escape into the countryside every Tuesday and wind down with our Sound Escapes on a Friday.

Find out more about us at www.countryfile.com/podcast

Subscribe to the print version of BBC Countryfile Magazine at https://www.ourmediashop.com/bbc-countryfile-magazine-wmonx25

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676 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes676

Newest first

Jun 6, 2025 · 18 min
Sound Escape 224. Take a moment in the serene woodland of the Hampshire Downs
Overlooking the vast escarpment of Watership Down, you pause for thought. The sound of gently swaying beech trees is welcome relief from the hustle-and-bustle of daily life. 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 Lewis Dobbs, introduced by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jun 3, 2025 · 45 min
301. Explore the D-Day launch point at Lepe in Hampshire with Julian Humphrys
To commemorate D-Day and the 80th anniversary of VE Day, we met with historian Julian Humphrys at Lepe Beach in Hampshire. Lepe was one of the launchpads of Operation Overlord, the daring plan to open a western front and liberate Europe from the Nazis. BBC Countryfile Magazine editor Paul McGuinness is your host. Julian works for the Battlefields Trust, a charity dedicated to the protection, research and interpretation of Britain's battlefields.Find out more at https://www.battlefieldstrust.com/ And now you can get in touch with the Plodcast team via: The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast group on Facebook & BBC Countryfile Magazine's Instagram page. UK Plodcast listeners can take advantage of a special subscription to BBC Countryfile Magazine where you can receive you first 3 issues for just £6. Head to www.ourmediashop.com/plodcast25 The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022. If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: theplodcast@countryfile.com. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team. The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. The theme tune was written and performed by Blair Dunlop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 30, 2025 · 16 min
Sound Escape 223. Be charmed by the many voices of a moorland stream
Climbing a Peak District moor, you fall into step with a small stream tumbling down the hillside. As you walk, the song of the stream changes – from roaring chorus to trickling solo. Meanwhile, meadow pipits call from heather and willow warblers add their own liquid song to the morning. 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 Andrew Griffiths, introduced by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 27, 2025 · 1 hr 7 min
300. The team return to Watership Down - the setting for episode 1!
It's episode 300 of the Plodcast! To mark this momentous occasion, Plodcast regulars Hannah, Jack and Lewis join host Fergus for a return to the scene of episode one: Watership Down in Hampshire – setting for one of the best loved novels about nature, written by Richard Adams. Back in that first episode, Fergus ventured alone in early January – this time the team are seeing what wildlife turns up in early spring. Thank you so much to everyone who has been on this journey with us. Please do get in touch! And now you can get in touch with the Plodcast team via: The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast group on Facebook & BBC Countryfile Magazine's Instagram page. UK Plodcast listeners can take advantage of a special subscription to BBC Countryfile Magazine where you can receive you first 3 issues for just £6. Head to www.ourmediashop.com/plodcast25 The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022. If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: theplodcast@countryfile.com. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team. The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. The theme tune was written and performed by Blair Dunlop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 23, 2025 · 21 min
Sound Escape 222. Hear swallows chatter as they swoop over the farmyard
A morning's walk leads you to a ramshackle farm where a bench has been left out for walkers. As you take advantage of this kindness and drink tea from a flask, chiffchaffs, swallows and collared doves compete for your attention – like a parade of avian buskers. 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, introduced by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 20, 2025 · 58 min
299. Explore The Newt, a nature-friendly country house estate in Somerset
Plodcast host Fergus Collins returns to his Somerset roots this episode to explore a country house that he used to explore as a child. Now it has been transformed into The Newt, a world-famous country house hotel, garden and farm with innovation and environment at its heart. In this part one of the visit, Fergus explores the farm, meets its livestock and gain insight into its ethos with The Newt's Arthur Cole. In part 2, to be broadcast later in the summer, Fergus and Arthur roam The Newt's extensive gardens. And now you can get in touch with the Plodcast team via: The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast group on Facebook & BBC Countryfile Magazine's Instagram page. UK Plodcast listeners can take advantage of a special subscription to BBC Countryfile Magazine where you can receive you first 3 issues for just £6. Head to www.ourmediashop.com/plodcast25 The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022. If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: theplodcast@countryfile.com. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team. The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. The theme tune was written and performed by Blair Dunlop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 16, 2025 · 15 min
Sound Escape 221. Be charmed by chiffchaffs and blackcaps beside a woodland pool
A wander through a scrubby wooded cwm brings you out into a glade with a view towards the Preseli Hills of Pembrokeshire. But at your feet is a calm pool, tadpoles squiggling in the margins. Chiffchaffs, blackcaps, robins and others provide a dizzying spring soundtrack. 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, introduced by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 13, 2025 · 1 hr 30 min
298. A walk with Robert Macfarlane along a Cambridge chalk stream to its magical spring
A special extended edition of the Plodcast this week as we embark on an adventure with celebrated writer Robert Macfarlane to walk the length of a chalk stream from the centre of Cambridge to its source. Rob has long campaigned to tackle our polluted and degraded rivers and his magnificent new book Is a River Alive? explores inspiring ways to look after our waterways better – through a series of encounters and adventures. But what will we discover on this Plodcast quest? It's magical and surprising, for sure. Robert Macfarlane's new book, Is a River Alive?, is published by Penguin. And now you can get in touch with the Plodcast team via: The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast group on Facebook & BBC Countryfile Magazine's Instagram page. UK Plodcast listeners can take advantage of a special subscription to BBC Countryfile Magazine where you can receive you first 3 issues for just £6. Head to www.ourmediashop.com/plodcast25 The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 9, 2025 · 15 min
Sound Escape 220. Sit back and enjoy a ride in a canalboat
Is there a more peaceful way to travel than by canal boat? You sit back and relax as you potter slowly along the Monmouth-Brecon canal. But what's this? It's action – you've got to operate the lock in order to continue your journey. 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 Mark Turner, introduced by Hannah Tribe. Image by Getty Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 6, 2025 · 1 hr 14 min
297. A quest to find a solution to the climate crisis - with Tony Juniper
Come to the centre of Cambridge to walk along the River Cam with Tony Juniper. Conservationist and chair of Natural England, Tony is one of the world's most influential environmental campaigners and he has written a book, Just Earth, that addresses the critical and drastic change society needs to embrace to counter climate change and biodiversity loss. Listen on to find out more. Fergus Collins is your host. Tony's new book, Just Earth, is published by Bloomsbury. And now you can get in touch with the Plodcast team via: The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast group on Facebook & BBC Countryfile Magazine's Instagram page. UK Plodcast listeners can take advantage of a special subscription to BBC Countryfile Magazine where you can receive you first 3 issues for just £6. Head to www.ourmediashop.com/plodcast25 The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022. If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: theplodcast@countryfile.com. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team. The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. The theme tune was written and performed by Blair Dunlop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 2, 2025 · 20 min
Sound Escape 219. A sandpiper serenade on the River Usk
You pause beside the river, watching sunlight play on the rapids. Above the rush of the water, you hear the excitable snickering of common sandpipers – a pair are flying in wide circles, low over the water, their wingtips skimming the surface in a daring courtship flight. 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, introduced by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 29, 2025 · 54 min
296. Discover a wilder way to garden - and to live - with Poppy Okotcha
Poppy Okotcha explains how to garden for contentment, health and deeper connection with nature and community. Plodcast host Fergus Collins met the fashion model-turned-horticulturalist at her beautiful spring garden in Devon to learn a simpler way to be. Poppy's new book, A Wilder Way: How gardens grow us, is published by Bloomsbury. And now you can get in touch with the Plodcast team via: The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast group on Facebook & BBC Countryfile Magazine's Instagram page. UK Plodcast listeners can take advantage of a special subscription to BBC Countryfile Magazine where you can receive you first 3 issues for just £6. Head to www.ourmediashop.com/plodcast25 The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022. If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: theplodcast@countryfile.com. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team. The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. The theme tune was written and performed by Blair Dunlop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 25, 2025 · 15 min
Sound Escape 218. Dusk settles on a peaceful farmyard
It's early evening on a remote sheep farm in Warwickshire. The orange sunset slants through the trees and the lambs are softly bleating. 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 Lewis Dobbs, introduced by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 22, 2025 · 55 min
295. Explore a Warwickshire farm at lambing time with Bizza Walters
This week we're heading to a sheep farm in Warwickshire just south of Birmingham. It's lambing time and young farmer Bizza Walters and her family reveal the ups and downs of this crucial, stressful, delightful few weeks in spring. Plus we talk about why farmers need mental health support and discuss other big issues facing the farming community. You can find Bizza on Instagram (@bizza.walters), other social media and her website www.bizzawalters.co.uk/ And now you can get in touch with the Plodcast team via: The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast group on Facebook & BBC Countryfile Magazine's Instagram page. UK Plodcast listeners can take advantage of a special subscription to BBC Countryfile Magazine where you can receive you first 3 issues for just £6. Head to www.ourmediashop.com/plodcast25 The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022. If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: theplodcast@countryfile.com. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team. The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. The theme tune was written and performed by Blair Dunlop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 18, 2025 · 17 min
Sound Escape 217. Enjoy the zipping song of a yellowhammer at the bottom of the garden
In a peaceful Dorset valley, a garden looks onto wide farmland. As a blackbird sings seductively from the hedgerow, a yellowhammer tests out his rising song of summer joy from somewhere out in the open landscape. 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 Kevin Parr, introduced by Hannah Tribe. Image from Getty Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 15, 2025 · 51 min
294. Take a walk on the Pennine Way with folk singer Johnny Campbell
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the opening of Britain's most famous long-distance footpath, Plodcast host Fergus met folk singer Johnny Campbell to walk part of the route. Johnny is spending 19 days walking the entire route from Derbyshire to the Borders of Scotland – gigging almost every evening. His powerful songs are rooted in the landscape and the struggles of ordinary people to gain access to nature and fresh air. Listen on for a live rendition of one of Johnny's most famous songs. You'll also hear the voice of Johnny's friend and walking companion 'sherpa' Freddie. You can find out more about Johnny on his website www.johnnycampbell.co.uk and you can find his songs on all the major streaming services. And now you can get in touch via: The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast group on Facebook & BBC Countryfile Magazine's Instagram page. UK Plodcast listeners can take advantage of a special subscription to BBC Countryfile Magazine where you can receive you first 3 issues for just £6. Head to www.ourmediashop.com/plodcast25 The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022. If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: theplodcast@countryfile.com. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team. The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. The theme tune was written and performed by Blair Dunlop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 11, 2025 · 16 min
Sound Escape 216. Winter fieldfares mix with spring skylarks and starling as winter yields to spring
We're on the cusp of spring but winter clings on in rasping voices of ravens. As you walk in the cold sunlight of early March across a field to a stand of trees, starling song cascades, while skylarks erupt sporadically, dreaming of warmer days. But you also catch the chack-chack-chack of fieldfares, winter visitors escaping the deep cold of their Scandinavian homeland. 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, introduced by Hannah Tribe. Image from Getty Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 8, 2025 · 54 min
293. A quest for spring birdsong in a Welsh woodland - plus a reading by author Kerri Andrews
This week, join Plodcast host Fergus Collins as he explores a local woodland for the first time in search of a legendary woodpecker – with gorgeous birdsong along the way. Plus, author Kerri Andrews reads from her powerful new book: Pathfinding: On Walking, Motherhood and Freedom, published by Elliott and Thompson And after all that, join the Plodcast team in the studio for a round up of listener messages and nature chat. And now you can get in touch via: The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast group on Facebook & BBC Countryfile Magazine's Instagram page. UK Plodcast listeners can take advantage of a special subscription to BBC Countryfile Magazine where you can receive you first 3 issues for just £6. Head to www.ourmediashop.com/plodcast25 The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022. If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: theplodcast@countryfile.com. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team. The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. The theme tune was written and performed by Blair Dunlop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 4, 2025 · 14 min
Sound Escape 215. Listen to spring birdsong along a country lane
A muddy farm track separates willow woodland from a wide expanse of marshland. You pause to listen to linnets commuting from wood to water meadow while a chaffinch chortles a joyful tune, laughing at the sunshine. Meanwhile, the first chiffchaff of the year belts out his two-note song. 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, introduced by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 1, 2025 · 52 min
292. Talking big farming issues in a walk through a forgotten landscape in Leicestershire
This week we're in Leicestershire exploring the beautiful Welland Valley with countryside writer and farming expert Tim Relf. Plodcast host Fergus walks through this stunning, overlooked landscape with Tim and they discuss farming issues such as the controversial proposed changes to inheritance tax and the Sustainable Farming Incentive. To learn more about the Neville family, as mentioned by Tim, listen to The Plodcast Ep. 277 with Annie Garthwaite. UK Plodcast listeners can take adventage of a special subscription to BBC Countryfile Magazine where you can receive you first 3 issues for just £6. Head to www.ourmediashop.com/plodcast25 The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022. If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: theplodcast@countryfile.com. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team. The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. The theme tune was written and performed by Blair Dunlop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices