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| | | From Shetland to the Scilly Isles, Open Country travels the UK in search of the stories, the people and the wildlife that make our countryside such a vibrant place. Each week we visit a new area to hear how local people are growing the crops, protecting the environment, maintaining the traditions and cooking the food that makes their corner of rural Britain unique.
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Postal address: Open Country,
BBC Radio 4, Birmingham, B5 7QQ.
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Helen Mark with champion waller Trevor Wragg
Helen Mark is out and about in the hills and dales of Derbyshire, a county with a landscape that's literally as pretty as a picture. On the top of a hill known locally as Robin Hood's Stride she meets landscape photographer Gordon Stainforth, and learns that there was a giant of that name long before there was an outlaw. The countryside below them is a history lesson at a glance - ancient trackways, standing stones, woodland remnants - all bathed in an ever-changing light.
Gordon Stainforth
One of the main features of the Derbyshire landscape is of course the dry stone walls. Champion waller Trevor Wragg has been building walls from the two stones that dominate the county - limestone from the Light Peak and Gritstone from the Dark Peak. Each stone sings a different song and old walls have many secrets hidden in them, from coins and baby's shoes to clues about the original maker's favourite tipple.
National Stone Centre
Drystone Walling Association
And it's appropriate in a county with such links with antiquity to find ancient trees. The Black Poplar was once a significant part of the medieval landscape (and it features in many classic paintings of the English countryside - John Constable's The Hay Wain for example). Now it's one of the most endangered trees in the country. Derbyshire estimates put their numbers at around 210, with only 10 known female trees - and they're very picky about how they procreate. Naomi Brookes of the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust explains how they're trying to set up a dating agency to resolve the problem. She's looking for people to identify which trees are male and which are female. And gives Helen and volunteer Alan Hough a lesson about catkins.
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust
Helen visits Robin Wood in the Edale Valley, the only man in Britain still turning wooden bowls on a pole-lathe. Britain is a wooden bowl-based culture, he says, and he concentrates on making replicas of ancient bowls and plates, like the ones found on the Mary Rose. Like the old turners, he uses no sandpaper, relying entirely on the sharpness of his tools for a good finish. Bowls made in this way have a distinctive character with the marks of the tools being clearly visible, like hand-thrown pottery or blown glass.
Robin Wood
And high above the Edale Valley, Helen meets Ranger Sheila McHale and local resident Millie Herdman and finds they don't live in villages, they live in "Booths". Years ago these different communities were at loggerheads, but they've recently been brought together to create a community book, detailing local history and customs through the reminiscences of people from the area. The book No Flowers for Elizabeth brings together photographs and memories and includes contributions not only from the old, but from the young people about life in the Booths today.
Peak District National Park
This week's competition: what is the name for a medieval wooden drinking bowl?
Submit your entry by emailing [email protected]
Last week's winner is Clive Barton of Guildford, who correctly said that the inventor of the self-hardening tool steel is Robert Mushet.
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Essex: coastal
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Falkirk
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Fenn's, Whixall & Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve
The Fens
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Glencoe Mountains
Glencoe
Gloucestershire
Goa
Goodwin Sands
Gower Peninsula, June 2006
Gower Peninsula, October 2005
Grouse shooting
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Hadrian's Wall 2003
Hadrian's Wall 2004
Hambledon Cricket Club
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Hardcastle Crags
Heart of Wales Railway
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Hidden Treasures
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Isle of Gigha 2004
Isle of Gigha, 2005
Isle of Man - Seas
Isle of Man
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Izak Walton
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Loch Morar
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Lunar Influence
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Richard Mabey
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Metal Detectingg
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North Wessex Downs
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North Yorkshire Moors
North Yorkshire Moors Railway
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Nottinghamshire: Sherwood Forest
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Peak District
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Poachers
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Scotland: Abernethy Forest
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Scotland: What value the countryside?
Scottish Borders
Sefton Coast
Self-sufficient communities
Severn Valley Railway
Shropshire: Ellesmere
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Shropshire and Wales, Newport
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Somerset Levels
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Somerset writers
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Southwold
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Start Bay
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Survival
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Sutherland, Scotland
Tamar Valley
Thornham Estate, Suffolk
Thurstonland Cricket Club
Twyford Down
Tyntesfield, North Somerset
Village Life
Terry Waite
Wales
Wales: Flatholm Island
Wales: Nant Gwrtheyrn
Wales: Snowdonia
Warwickshire: rare breeds
Wayoh Reservoir
Wenlock Edge
West Sussex
West Yorks: Calder Valley
Weston Common, Surrey
Wild boar
Wiltshire
Wiltshire: Savernake Forest
Women's Institute
Wroxeter
Yorkshire Dales, June 2002
Yorkshire Dales, 1 July 2006
Yorkshire Dales, 8 July 2006
Z to Z Britain
Open Country looks back 2003
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