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PROGRAMME INFO |
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From Shetland to the Scilly Isles, Open Country travels the UK in search of the stories, the people and the wildlife that make our countryside such a vibrant place. Each week we visit a new area to hear how local people are growing the crops, protecting the environment, maintaining the traditions and cooking the food that makes their corner of rural Britain unique.
Email: open.country@bbc.co.uk
Postal address: Open Country,
大象传媒 Radio 4, Birmingham, B5 7QQ.
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More about Helen Mark |
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| Rick Taylor
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Helen Mark visits Lincolnshire, the fourth largest county in England. Contrary to popular opinion, most of the county isn't flat and has a wide variety of countryside: the Wolds, a series of rolling hills, the cliff-like Lincoln Edge running like a spine down the county, the Fens with massive skies and network of rivers and dykes and the coastline with its wide sandy beaches as well as salt marshes, dunes and pools.
Helen's first port of call is a river where she meets coracle-maker Rick Taylor. He sees his craft as a direct link with the countryside, making use of natural materials and keeping old rural skills alive "in an increasingly plastic world". Since seeing a picture of a Celt carrying a coracle in a history book at school as an eight-year-old, these ancient craft have always fascinated Rick, but it wasn't until his early 20s that he started to experiment with building them. In the mid 1990s he began to research the methods of coracle building used by the craftsmen coracle makers of rural Wales. He prefers the Teifi coracle because he likes working with cleft wild woods such as willow, hazel and ash rather than pre-sawn materials. This makes coracle building a very personal experience for him as he has to select his own materials from where they are growing before cutting them in a sustainable manner. Using such a coracle on the water, be it for fishing, bird watching or simply for the pleasure of paddling, it is very much a meditational experience for Rick. "The coracle is built from nature with the utmost respect and reverence for nature. Willows that once bent and swayed in the wind now bend beneath the coracleman to support the skin that keeps me afloat and in a rustic celebration of nature and the skill and patience of the craftsman."
In the middle of a working farm at Temple Bruer, Helen stumbles into the Middle Ages: next to a squat square tower, Terry Butcher and his family are combat training as Knights Templar, knights who went with pilgrims to Jerusalem to protect them, and who later organised pilgrimages of their own. Terry and his son Chris belong to the Feudal Archers who re-enact medieval battles, and they explain the layers of armour which can double a knight's bodyweight, and the fearsome weapons they use. It's an appropriate place for sword fights, the tower itself is all that remains of a 12th century preceptory - a monastery which specialised in the training of Knights Templar. Jo Hambly from Heritage Lincolnshire takes Helen on a tour of the amazingly well-preserved building, and explains how the preceptory was always part of a farm. It was the centre of a sizeable monastic foundation which needed to provide enough income to keep itself going, and farming was the obvious way. In fact, it was the Knights Templar who were the first to keep sheep in Lincolnshire.
Annette Binding is a passionate field biologist, invertebrate spotter and identifier and takes Helen on a beetle hunt. Lincolnshire is the home of the rare Hazel Pot Beetle, so-called because the female adult lays her eggs in containers she constructs from her own dung. As they grow, the larvae must also use their own waste to extend the size of their pots. In the end, the pot has the shape and size of a rat dropping. They can be elusive little creatures, but Helen and Annette (with the aid of a huge sweeping-net) find a whole host of tiny creatures hiding in the undergrowth of Whisby Nature Park.
Helen's next stop is a conservatory on the outskirts of Lincoln. It's like a mini Kew Gardens, which is entirely appropriate as it's a memorial to Kew's founder - explorer and botanist Sir Joseph Banks. Jean Burton tells Helen the story of this Renaissance man who was a great figure of Lincolnshire life, and had a huge impact on the landscape of the county. He was involved in draining the Fens, an enthusiastic tree planter and canal engineer. He was told by George III to improve the quality of wool in England, so Banks introduced the Merino sheep from Spain to Lincolnshire and created a hybrid which meant Britain no longer relied on imported wool. Of course he was also the botanist who sailed with Captain Cook on The Endeavour - in fact, Australia was nearly called Banksia. Jean recounts how, as well as the plants he brought back, he introduced a new animal and the Lincolnshire landscape briefly featured kangaroos.
Lincolnshire is famous for a song about poaching and Helen meets singer Kate Witney who says it's not such a jolly song as is thought. It is, in fact, very dark, and dates from the Napoleonic era. It portrays gangs of violent men who had been to war and come back home to find themselves with little to do and a lot of violent training to put to use. On a lighter note, Kate talks about the rich heritage of folk song in the county and how composer Percy Grainger was key to collecting them before they disappeared. As well as producing a number of British folk-song settings over the succeeding years, in 1940 he published A Lincolnshire Posy, possibly his finest work. The suite comprises settings of five songs from his collecting expeditions in Lincolnshire. Delius was so impressed with the tune of Brigg Fair that he requested Grainger's permission to adapt it himself for orchestra: the well-known and much loved Brigg Fair - English Rhapsody.
This week's competition
What is the name for medieval underpants, as worn in the 12th century? The prize is some books about the Knights Templar.
Last week's competition winner is Lynne Watkins from Bristol, who correctly said that wemyss is an old word for caves.
Submit your entry by emailing open.country@bbc.co.uk
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