The Plodcast

After climbing a few steps you're atop the sea wall and the vast skies and broad seascape of the Bristol Channel open before you. You're looking south from Wales across the water to Somerset and North Devon. It's eerily quiet with just a distant roar of water, a passing plane and the calls of occasional passing gulls, curlews and goldfinches. 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected] And just a reminder, the BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is a media partner for the Speakies! The British Audio Awards from The Bookseller Magazine. The awards celebrate the best in audio books and the Plodcast is the partner for the non-fiction category. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plodcast host Fergus heads to Cleobury Mortimer in deeply rural Shropshire to visit the Netherton Foundry. Here, Neil and Sue Currie and their team make beautiful spun-iron cookware using traditional skills and tools. And Fergus gets the chance to fashion frying pans from scratch – a magical insight into a thriving, family-run rural business. A huge thanks to Neil and Sue, as well as Ryan, Toby, Colin and Maddie for their time – and patience!Find out more about Netherton Foundry https://www.netherton-foundry.co.uk/. The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 & 2025 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: [email protected]. 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

A cold front has swept down from the north overnight but it's a bright morning over the frosty marshes. A breeze pushes ripples across a lagoon of deepest blue and then gently jostles the dead rushes and reeds. Nothing else stirs. 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected] And just a reminder, the BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is a media partner for the Speakies! The British Audio Awards from The Bookseller Magazine. The awards celebrate the best in audio books and the Plodcast is the partner for the non-fiction category. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plodcast regular Kevin Parr joins host Fergus Collins for a charming mushroom hunting walk in a wooded Welsh valley. Along the way, as the foraging basket with treats, they discuss Kev's extraordinary new book, An Unnatural History of Britain – his series of epic quests in search of animals that really shouldn't be here. It's an unmissable audio delight. An Unnatural History of Britain is published by The History Press. The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 & 2025 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: [email protected]. 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

After 36 hours of rain, the town floods and then the waters recede, surging down brooks such as this. You pause on a bridge above, hearing a stranger, bolder song in a stream you thought you knew so well. 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected] And just a reminder, the BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is a media partner for the Speakies! The British Audio Awards from The Bookseller Magazine. The awards celebrate the best in audio books and the Plodcast is the partner for the non-fiction category. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices