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BBC Radio 4 - 92 to 94 FM and 198 Long Wave

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OPEN COUNTRY

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	PROGRAMME INFO

	Saturday 6.10-6.35am Repeated Thursday 1.30-2.00pm


	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. Email: [email protected] Postal address: Open Country, BBC Radio 4, Birmingham, B5 7QQ.


	LISTEN AGAIN


	Listen to Open Country for 17 December


	PRESENTERS

	HELEN MARK and RICHARD URIDGE



	More about Helen Mark




	More about Richard Uridge


	PROGRAMME DETAILS

	Saturday 17 December
The Fens are the lowlands of eastern England that run north from Cambridge to the Wash. The Fens were once a harsh landscape of marsh and bogland but today the marsh has been drained and by controlling the water with an elaborate system of dykes and rivers the marsh has been transformed into the most fertile agricultural land in Britain.The story of that drainage is as dramatic as any in these islands. It's a story of the incomers, refugees and prisoners of war who overcame disease and hostility to change a landscape on a geological scale. The elaborate system of dykes and canals have created a series of freshwater "levels" and on the Middle level is Wiggenhall Pumping Station that's where Richard met Trevor Bevis. Trevor has chronicled the history of the men and women who drained the Fens. They were mainly religious refugees from France and Belgium aided by prisoners of war from Scotland and Holland .It was a tough and dangerous life and many died from malaria or pneumonia. The work was sabotaged by the local population, worried that the drainage would take away their livelihood. The Fenmen had built a way of life around the marsh, they were skilful wild fowlers and fishermen and were using the marsh to their advantage. Draining the Fens Dan Mullen is an American, he serves with the U.S. military and first came to Britain in 1968. He fell in love with the country and wants to see out the rest of his days here. He meets Richard in a churchyard just outside Mildenhall air base in Suffolk. The churchyard holds the graves of airmen from around the commonwealth who had come to these shores to fight for Britain in World War Two. Dan tells Richard how the airbase is like a town in itself, providing all the needs of the personnel who serve there. If they chose to, the people who work and live at Mildenhall wouldn't have to leave the base at all. Dan thinks that would be a great shame. He loves the landscape with it's big skies and subtle charms. Anne Powell lives in Ely. She remembers the Italian and German Prisoners of war who came here in the 1940s. She takes Richard to the site of an ex POW camp on the edge of the town. The faint outline of the camp perimeter can just about be made out and some of the Nissan huts are still standing. Anne made friends with the Italians who were imprisoned there and tells Richard how they worked together picking potatoes in the mud and cold of the Fenland farms. Zibignew and Theresa Ambrosiac are Polish. Zibignew came to Britain as a refugee just after the war. He has experienced life in a Nissan hut. Cooped up during the freezing winter of 1948. He would desperately search for wood to feed the stove, the only heating for the forty men who lived in each hut. Zibignew's harsh experience of life in the British countryside has scarred his memory and even today he prefers the refuge of the city life. Email Open Country: [email protected] The BBC is not responsible for external web sites

	RELATED LINKS BBC Holiday Category BBC Country file