Live from the Peak District in Staffordshire

Mark Forrest starts the day at Peak Wildlife Park in Staffordshire where he meets the park's famous polar beers and penguins. Live music is from two of Britain's finest folk musicians Jackie Oates and Belinda O'Hooley with traditional Staffordshire songs. We also encounter a local needle-worker to find out about the regions rich silk and textile heritage, most notably Leek Embroidery Society's extraordinary replica of the Bayeux Tapestry.

From coast to chapel, woodland to mountainside, Carols Across the Country – A Seasonal Journey celebrates the spirit of Advent and Christmas through a rich tapestry of seasonal classical, folk, choral and instrumental music, alongside poetry, local storytelling and the ambient sounds of winter.

Radio 3 presenters Mark Forrest, Sarah Walker, John Toal, Shân Cothi, and Kate Molleson will broadcast from locations from right across the country: from the Staffordshire Moorlands in the English West Midlands; to the Isle of Wight, off the south coast in the English Channel; from the foot of the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland; to the rural village of Bethlehem in Carmarthenshire, Wales. The centrepiece of the afternoon is the annual Advent Service from St John’s College in Cambridge. And on the feast day of the patron saint of Scotland, the day ends in St Andrew’s in Fife to the sound of the Scottish pipes.

Painting vivid pictures of place and tradition, and evoking the themes of winter, Advent, light, memory and renewal, join Radio 3 for a day-long celebration in sound – where music meets landscape, and the season begins.