Absolute Units

We Were All Rural Once (with Man in the Woods)


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Seven years ago on a Friday, artist Scott (best-known on social media as Man in the Woods) set off for a walk to no particular destination. The next Friday, he started a new walk where the previous week's ended. He's been doing that every Friday ever since, documenting his travels on social media while producing beautiful artworks that reflect his finds and the connections he builds to where he explores.

In this episode, Joe and Ollie speak with Man in the Woods about what inspired the Friday walks, where it's taken him, and how exploring England's rural landscapes has helped him reimagine his relationship with English cultural identity. Topics range from psychogeography and rural flaneurs, to pubs, Peckham, and the pooing pigeon that now represents London Museum.

View images that accompany this episode on our website: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/blog/2025/07/the-friday-walks-with-man-in-the-woods/

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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.

Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan

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Absolute UnitsBy The Museum of English Rural Life

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