The Plodcast

In the heat of high summer, away from the dark, dank of late autumn, we rest on a gate beside a wheat field in Dorset. Here, among the thick of the sun-scorched stalks, slinks a gamebird no bigger than a mistle thrush. We can’t see it, but we can hear it. The curious, insect-like call of a quail.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 Kevin Parr and introduced by Hannah Tribe. Image by Getty

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

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Charlotte Edwardes is an award-winning journalist and war correspondent who has interviewed some of the biggest names in politics, entertainment and culture. This week, she joins the Plodcast for a walk from Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door to talk about her first novel, Trouble Was.
Set in the countryside during the drought summer of 1976, Trouble Was explores family life and trauma through the eyes of a child. Charlotte talks about how she came to write the book – and reveals tales from her life as a journalist – with Plodcast host Fergus Collins (who hopes to pick up interviewing tips along the way).
Trouble Was is published by Bloomsbury.
Get in touch on Facebook! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or join the discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/countryfilemagazineplodcast/?ref=share
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.

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It's late afternoon and your riverside walk is bringing you gently towards home. From the west, a golden light floods the valley so you settle by the chuckling the water to immerse yourself in this fleeting moment of beauty.
BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Animals play an enormous role in improving our lives – and healing us. Author Jay Griffiths reveals tales of extraordinary animals rescuing people and explores the many studies that show how pets calm and console us.
She takes this week's Plodcast host Annabel Ross on a wonderful walk in Powys, mid Wales..
Jay's book, How Animals Heal Us is published by Hamish Hamilton
Note, this episode was recorded over the summer so there are references to drought etc.
Get in touch on Facebook! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or join the discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/countryfilemagazineplodcast/?ref=share
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

As the human world just begins to stir, you gaze across a quaint pond. It’s teeming with life. But There’s no-one else around, just you, with robins for company. Listening closely, you pick out the distant cooings of a tawny owl.
BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 Jack Bateman and introduced by Hannah Tribe.
Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Adventurer Dave Hamilton has travelled widely across the UK to find some of its weirdest sites. This week, he joins Plodcast host Fergus Collins in the ex-industrial heartlands of South Wales to walk on one of the largest and strangest earth sculptures in Europe: Sultan the Pit Pony.
It is a moving memorial to the thousands of ponies that worked in pitch black deep in the mines during the great 19th-century coal rush.
Dave Hamiton's new book Weird Guide: 300 Curious Corners, Wild Wonders and Sublime Structures in published by Wild Things Publishing
Get in touch on Facebook! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or join the discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/countryfilemagazineplodcast/?ref=share
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

 You've woken up in a Scottish castle early enough to see the sunrise. It's going to be a crisp, clear morning. As the steam rises from your gently cooling tea, you watch a pheasant gathering his breakfast and a wood pigeon sings in the day.
BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe.
Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join a foraging adventure on the Dorset coast with Rachel de Thample, searching for wild ingredients for her inspiring and health-giving fermenting recipes. From kombucha to kimchi, and sauerkraut to sloe olives, Rachel provides a wonderful insight into culinary delights that are simple to prepare and utterly delicious.
But what's more, they help rewild our microbiome, helping our immune and digestive systems and can prevent serious illness. Plodcast host Fergus Collins joined Rachel on a clifftop quest.
Rachel's new book is The Fermentation Year: Everyday Techniques and Recipes to Rewild Your Microbiome (Bloomsbury)
Get in touch on Facebook! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or join the discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/countryfilemagazineplodcast/?ref=share
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

 You're on the edge of the Firth of Tay. It's a preternaturally still afternoon. You're deep inside the wood, but the leaves hardly rustle. Instead, the space between the trees is filled with bright sunlight and birdsong.
BBC Countryfile Magazine's Plodcast 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 and introduced by Hannah Tribe.
Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Enjoy a mellow, beautiful ramble with herbalist and healer Brigit Anna McNeill and find gentle joy in the wild plants we find in our gardens, parks and hedgerows. Brigit offers Plodcast host Fergus Collins deep insight into the medicinal uses of common wayside wildflowers and why we should change our approach to the idea of 'weeds'.

Beautiful, meditative and healing.

Read Brigit's wonderful book The Wild Within, published by September books

Get in touch on Facebook! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or join the discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/countryfilemagazineplodcast/?ref=share

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