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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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BBC Radio 4, Birmingham, B5 7QQ.
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The world's great winds have romantic names and international reputations. Think of the Chinook, the Mistral, the Bora. But the UK's only wind with a name is little known and strangely exclusive. Called the Helm Wind (the name means hilltop) it races down the Eden Valley in Cumbria, ruining crops, bowling sheep like skittles and making locals batten down the hatches. The deafening roar is terrifying, locals say it comes out of the blue and can rage for three hours, three days - or three weeks. Richard Uridge goes in search of the truth and the tall tales of this fascinating phenomenon.
Rita Simpson and friends have lived in the area for more years than they care to remember - and they have memories of the Helm which range from the straightforward to the downright strange.
Retired neurosurgeon David Uttley's so fascinated by living directly in the path of it, he wrote a book about it.
Storyteller Taffy Thomas weaves tales and legends around it.
Kathryn Renwick owns the Hartside Café, high on a hill which gets the full blast of it… last winter she lost half of the café roof to the Helm's 128mph power, and says her customers sometimes can't get out of their cars from the force.
And poet Tom Pickard finds the wind intoxicating and invigorating and reads some of his work in the place of its inspiration.
But the last word goes to Ron Donaldson - a paragliding enthusiast for whom wind is the very breath of his life - as he soars high over the fells, joining the birds in the search for the best air.
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Fenn's, Whixall & Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve
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Glencoe Mountains
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Gloucestershire
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Grouse shooting
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Hadrian's Wall 2003
Hadrian's Wall 2004
Hambledon Cricket Club
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Heart of Wales Railway
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Isle of Man - Seas
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Izak Walton
Kent: Dover
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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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Scottish Borders
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Survival
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Thornham Estate, Suffolk
Thurstonland Cricket Club
Twyford Down
Tyntesfield, North Somerset
Village Life
Terry Waite
Wales
Wales: Flatholm Island
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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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