You follow a path through woods, high above a stream. There is wind high in the trees but you can hear falling water. Suddenly the path opens into a wide glade and find yourself beside high waterfalls tumbling into the Pwll y Wrach: the Witches' Pool.
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]

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The Plodcast celebrates the start of autumn with a visit to deepest Herefordshire to go foraging with expert Liz Knight. Liz extols the power of plants we tend to despise: docks, nettles and thistles and shares some wonderful wisdom about the importance of making connections with people and nature.
It's a joyous expedition interrupted by one of the great Plodcast wildlife visitations of the year!
Liz's latest book is A Forager's Guide to Wild Drinks: Ferments, infusions and thirst-quenchers for every season, published by Skittledog
Liz's website is: https://www.foragefinefoods.com/
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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Recent rain has revived the woodland and you are compelled to take an evening walk in search of fungi along a stream and through the crunchy leaf litter. The strong, earthy scent of mushrooms fills the gloaming beneath beech trees, while grey wagtails skitter along the water.
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

Sometimes it's vital to take some time out and reconnect with nature and the present moment. The Sharpham Trust on the River Dart in Devon offers nature-based, mindful retreats at its beautiful 500-acre estate. As well as helping visitors find a more meaningful life, the Trust practices regenerative farming and is rewilding much its land.
Plodcast host Fergus Collins meets with Director of the Trust Julian Carnell to explore the power of nature and reconnection, wander in nature and discover the importance of giving ourselves permission to take time out to heal.
Julian's book is Becoming the Ocean: A River Dart Journey Through the Wild, the Ancient and the Sacred
For more on the Sharpham Trust, visit www.sharphamtrust.org
Photo: Brigit Anna MacNeill
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

After months of heatwaves and drought, it's blissful to wander through a wooden valley listening to rain falling on leaves. And as if summoned by the falling water, a rare marsh tit makes its sneezing call.
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

The Plodcast heads to the Cotswolds this week in search of King Arthur. Historian and artist Amy Jeffs has written a new study exploring the earliest origins of the legendary king. Why was he so important to medieval people and what relevance does he have today?
Plodcast host Fergus Collins meets Amy in her Cotswold homeland to walk and talk all things Arthur, while searching for a Roman villa that may hold important clues to the story. Plus, if we're very lucky, Amy might sing live on the Plodcast...
Amy's book: Arthur: A New Life is published by Riverrun and out September 2026.
Photo: Rachael Humphries
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

It's the morning after a storm on the island of Sark and you've followed a narrow track along a wooded valley that opens into a tiny cove. Taking shelter in a sea cave, you watch the animated waves roll onto the shingle.
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

This week, the Plodcast heads to Sharpham Park Farm in the Somerset Levels to join the 'Pickle Me Walnuts' day of harvesting and preparing young walnuts to make an ancient delicacy.

Roger Saul is the owner of Sharpham Park and the inspiration behind the walnut grove and he talks to Plodcast host Fergus Collins about the importance of walnuts in our diet and culture.

While the walnut harvest is blessed by Bishop Michael, bishop of Bath and Wells, Fergus hears about the incredible nutritional powers of walnuts from author Lucy Williamson, learns about how you can make dyes from leaves and nuts with Emma D'Arcy, and even tries writing with walnut ink made by artist Cat Lewis. Photo by Aaron John Parker

This Plodcast may contains traces of walnuts...

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

On the crunchy parched grass of the Clifton Downs, you join the crowds gathering to witness the 2026 solar eclipse. As the atmosphere builds, people deploy eclipse glasses, colanders and home-made cardboard contraptions to view the astonishing event – culminating in a rousing round of applause.
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 Annabel Ross 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

“A fulmar once vomited in my eye!” Writer and naturalist Stephen Rutt recalls his adventures following s raindrop from source to sea for his new book The Waterlands.

This week's Plodcast host is Annabel Ross, who joins Stephen on the River Thames to hear his extraordinary tales – and some wonderful birdsong among a plethora of inspiring watery wildlife encounters.

Stephen's book, The Waterlands: Follow a Raindrop from Source to Sea is published by Elliott and Thompson and is out now.

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