The Plodcast

Our Media

4.5 (99)
Nature
Weekly

BBC Countryfile Magazine brings you The Plodcast - a weekly escape to the British countryside with fascinating guests and the wonders of the great outdoors. Enjoy a new escape into the countryside every Tuesday and wind down with our Sound Escapes on a Friday. Find out more about us at www.countryfile.com/podcast Subscribe to the print version of BBC Countryfile Magazine at https://www.ourmediashop.com/bbc-countryfile-magazine-wmonx25

1d ago

Sound Escape 299. Experience the delightful song of the wind through autumn oak leaves

You follow a winding lane down a gentle hill, grass and moss growing in the centre of the track. As the lane enters a woodland, the winds picks up, sending autumn shivers through the remaining leaves on the ash and oak trees. 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 GettyEmail the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
4d ago

376. How a beautiful new memorial to the dead of WWI is embracing nature

As we pay our respects to the fallen on Remembrance Day (11 November), the Plodcast recalls a special visit to Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey earlier in the summer to witness a new type of war memorial that truly embraces nature and landscape. Plodcast host Fergus Collins met with David Richardson of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which looks after the graves of servicemen and women across the world, to learn more about this beautiful project and how it might change the way we tend to our war dead in future. Find out more about the vital and extraordinary work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission at www.cwgc.org 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: theplodcast@countryfile.com. 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
Nov 6

Sound Escape 298. Enjoy the rare song of the quail in a Dorset wheat field

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: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nov 3

375. A walk in Dorset's magical Lulworth Cove with award-winning journalist and novelist Charlotte Edwardes

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=shareThe 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: theplodcast@countryfile.com. 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
Oct 30

Sound Escape 297. Celebrate the song of an autumn river bathed in golden light

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: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oct 27

374. Discover how animals heal us with author Jay Griffiths

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 HamiltonNote, 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=shareThe 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: theplodcast@countryfile.com. 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
Oct 23

Sound Escape 296. Listen to emerging birdlife next to a quiet pond

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: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oct 20

373. Britain is weird! We head for the strangest corners of the countryside with Dave Hamilton

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

See All (706)

Fergus Collins

Host
Charlotte Edwardes

Guest
Julian Carnell

Guest
Amy Jeffs

Guest

4.5

out of 5

99 Ratings

From the U.S. Midwest

05/24/2025

cfiowa

I am so glad I stumbled onto this podcast, because it has become my favorite. I learn a lot about the British countryside and wildlife. But I find the issues involved to be so widespread that the podcast is very relevant to me in another continent.
The Secret Valley …

12/10/2024

kevinatlast

Having recently discovered a scenic valley not so far from our house we were out for an evening panoramic drive . As we slowed to approach the pasture where the cows had already bedded down for the night , suddenly the road was filled with a large herd of sheep . They all seemed to know where they were going as they followed their leader who was calling them forward . Upon returning home it seemed like such an inkling to discover the subject of your talk is about sheep and beef farmers . thx , kev
A wonderful gem

03/27/2024

JMPolitte

As someone who’s looking to emigrate to Britain from America in the not too distant future with my Scottish wife, I have been really pleased to learn more about the British countryside. I absolutely love the Plodcast, and I hope you bring back the Plodcast chats at the end (I absolutely love those bits and especially the corny jokes).
A Wonderful Programme!

01/03/2024

Nit-Noi Mum

I’m an avid podcast listener- and I must say that the Countryfile series is one of the very best I’ve ever heard. How rare it is to hear a show like this amid the daily clamour of social media offerings that screech at us through the airways... Fergus Collins and his team do an absolutely amazing job of transporting the listener to another place and time with fascinating programmes about the British countryside and rural issues. If you find solace in nature and love walking in the woods or listening to birds, this series is definitely for you and comes highly recommended! Thanks to the wonderful team at Countryfile for this great series- Amanda Hughes-Horan Interpretive Insights

BBC Countryfile Magazine brings you The Plodcast - a weekly escape to the British countryside with fascinating guests and the wonders of the great outdoors. Enjoy a new escape into the countryside every Tuesday and wind down with our Sound Escapes on a Friday. Find out more about us at www.countryfile.com/podcast Subscribe to the print version of BBC Countryfile Magazine at https://www.ourmediashop.com/bbc-countryfile-magazine-wmonx25