Our Cov Coventry City of Culture Trust

The circular market hall has held a prominent and central focal point in Coventry’s architectural landscape for over 60 years. So in this soundscape, we slip inside to visit on an ordinary Monday morning in January. As we weave our way around the building for a full 360 tour, we enjoy listening in to the locals and traders’ passing exchanges and purchases.
It’s not compulsory, but these soundscapes are best listened to while wearing headphones! All conversations are authentic and real. The recordings were captured using a binaural microphone between January and April 2022. You can also hear these soundscapes in the accompanying storyteller episodes in our first series.
Sound design by Clare Freeman, opening music by Mintakaa. ‘Our Cov’ podcast series is a Coventry City of Culture Trust commission, created and produced by A Small Furry Bear Productions.

There’s been a bus station in Coventry since way before the second world war. But it’s had many guises. Now known as Pool Meadow, it’s become a vibrant transport hub for travellers to access all corners of the city.
But first we begin over the road in Priory Place - the now underground site of a mediaeval cathedral, once excavated by Tony Robinson and Channel 4’s Time Team programme. There’s no diggers in sight today - just the tranquillity of the birds in a quieter, greener corner of the city centre.
It’s not compulsory, but these soundscapes are best listened to while wearing headphones! All conversations are authentic and real. The recordings were captured using a binaural microphone between January and April 2022. You can also hear these soundscapes in the accompanying storyteller episodes in our first series.

Behind the Sherbourne Fields School is a path leading to Coundon Wedge Drive and Allesley village. Listen closely and we can hear the hum of the rush hour traffic in the distance. This time, we twist and turn walking along the river’s path, with the leaves and twigs crunching under our feet, taking in the birds and wildlife surrounding us on the outskirts of the city. We open and close the gates, and nod our head to a passing dog walker.
It’s not compulsory, but these soundscapes are best listened to while wearing headphones! All conversations are authentic and real. The recordings were captured using a binaural microphone between January and April 2022. You can also hear these soundscapes in the accompanying storyteller episodes in our first series.
Sound design by Clare Freeman, opening music by Mintakaa. ‘Our Cov’ podcast series is a Coventry City of Culture Trust commission, created and produced by A Small Furry Bear Productions.

Once home to Sir Frank Whittle, the pioneer of the jet engine and a hotspot for the watchmakers of Coventry, Earlsdon is littered with beautiful architecture and historical secrets. Yet today it’s a simple weekday morning as we walk along Earlsdon High street - pass the shops, pubs and workmen - towards a noisy hedge on Albany Road, with some tweeting visitors. The cars and buses pass us none the wiser.
It’s not compulsory, but these soundscapes are best listened to while wearing headphones! All conversations are authentic and real. The recordings were captured using a binaural microphone between January and April 2022. You can also hear these soundscapes in the accompanying storyteller episodes in our first series.
Sound design by Clare Freeman, opening music by Mintakaa. ‘Our Cov’ podcast series is a Coventry City of Culture Trust commission, created and produced by A Small Furry Bear Productions.

As 12 o’clock strikes, the Broadgate clock sees Lady Godiva appear whilst an ogling Peeping Tom looks on from above. Back in the city centre, we continue where we finished on episode four. We turn 180 degrees and walk across Broadgate, past the towering marble statue of Earl Leofric’s wife. We pay thanks to the accordion player outside Primark and head past the bus stops along The Burgess.
It’s not compulsory, but these soundscapes are best listened to while wearing headphones! All conversations are authentic and real. The recordings were captured using a binaural microphone between January and April 2022. You can also hear these soundscapes in the accompanying storyteller episodes in our first series.
Sound design by Clare Freeman, opening music by Mintakaa. ‘Our Cov’ podcast series is a Coventry City of Culture Trust commission, created and produced by A Small Furry Bear Productions.

On the south west of the city, turning off the A45, just a stone’s throw from the main campus of the ironically named University of Warwick, is Canley. On this episode, we’re not far from the birthplace of the late political activist Sir Henry Parkes - a staunch advocate for improving the conditions of the working classes. We’re inside Cannon Park Shopping Centre.
If we listen closely, we catch snippets of multiple languages from the shoppers wandering past. Our thoughts are interrupted often by the sound of yet another Tesco trolley, as we sit opposite the opticians and let the world pass us by. 
It’s not compulsory, but these soundscapes are best listened to while wearing headphones! All conversations are authentic and real. The recordings were captured using a binaural microphone between January and April 2022. You can also hear these soundscapes in the accompanying storyteller episodes in our first series.
Sound design by Clare Freeman, opening music by Mintakaa. ‘Our Cov’ podcast series is a Coventry City of Culture Trust commission, created and produced by A Small Furry Bear Productions.