Open Country

In this programme Helen Mark is in Derbyshire to hear the stories of the reservoirs of the Derwent valley. Under one of them, Ladybower, lie the remains of two villages which were demolished and flooded to make way for a new reservoir in the 1940s. After an exceptionally dry year, water levels have dropped so low that the stones of the past can once again been seen emerging from the mud. Helen meets the people who have travelled to the area to catch a glimpse of a long-gone community, and learns about the fascination the story of the lost villages holds. Meanwhile, further up the valley, are the remains of another village - largely ignored by the tourists. Birchinlee, or "tin town" as it was known, was built to house the navvies working on the construction of the other two reservoirs of the valley - Dewent and Howden. Helen meets an archaeologist who shows her how traces of this once-bustling settlement can still be seen in the landscape today.Produced by Emma Campbell

In July this year, pictures of burning moors were everywhere in the news. During one of the hottest summers for decades, hundreds of acres of moorland went up in flames, destroying fragile ecosystems and wrecking wildlife habitats. Nearly six months on, how are they starting to recover? Caz Graham returns to some of the areas near Manchester which she first visited when the fires were at their height. She finds the landscape looking very different from last time, with scorched and blackened earth repopulated by new green shoots. She meets the organisations and volunteers involved in work to restore the moors, and learns about their efforts to fireproof them for the future.Producer: Emma Campbell

Just 5 miles from Leicester City Centre is Bradgate Park, 850 acres of natural landscape, an ancient deer park which was the home of Lady Jane Grey the nine day queen who was convicted of high treason and executed at the Tower of London. This year marks Bradgate’s 90th year and over the last 18 months local residents and photographers have been encouraged to take pictures of everything from the 600 deer to the wardens, the visitors and wildlife to start to create an archive. Because despite the rich history and significance of the landscape Peter Tyldesley, director of ‘Bradgate Park Trust’, a charity who runs the park discovered there was virtually no archive and quality images of the park. Taking up the challenge Helen Mark with help from Rob Doyle from the Leicester Photographic Society, gets tips on how to take a perfect image. Along the way she meets volunteer Joy Braker who has been visiting the park since she was a child and is now restoring a walled garden to get it back to how it would have looked in

The composer Benjamin Britten is closely associated with the Suffolk coast at Aldeburgh where he lived and worked for most of his life. This episode of Open Country explores how this landscape and the sea inspired some of Britten's most famous work. Lucy Walker from the Britten-Pears Foundation describes how Britten became rooted in Suffolk and how important it was for him to write music specifically for the people and places in Aldeburgh. Two of Britten's well-known operas Billy Budd and Peter Grimes are about people who made their living from the sea - we hear from fishermen in Aldeburgh about how the industry has changed since Britten's day.Britten often walked along Aldeburgh beach to think and compose in his head. An open stretch of this shingle ridge just north of the town is now home to the Scallop, Maggi Hambling's 15-foot stainless steel sculpture dedicated to Britten. Maggi tells the story of how Scallop was inspired by Britten and his achievements, and the row that erupted in the local community af

Life on the canal is not just a place of leisure and tourism as Helen Mark finds out that more and more people are now full time residents on the water. For this Open Country Helen chugs along on ‘Ardley Way‘ a 60 foot narrow boat with Pete and Bev Ardley who are full time residents at Foxton Locks in Leicestershire. Will Helen be convinced of this lifestyle? Meanwhile ,Carolyn Watts is taking her lock keepers assessment, will she remember everything she’s been taught and get the narrow boats through Foxton locks and become a qualified lock keeper? A nurse by profession she started volunteering last year as the canals have always have always been part of her families history. Foxton Locks consists of 10 locks all after each other and is the steepest and longest flight staircase of locks on the English canal system explains Alex Goode, the Site Manager whose father worked there too. Every year he and his team are responsible for almost 5000 boats going through the locks. The day ends at Bridge 61 as

Ash trees are prolific in our landscapes and have long held an important place in our culture. Their long, straight trunks have been shaped into spears, wheels, oars and arrows amongst many other tools which have aided our evolution. The tree has also been revered for its healing powers in the past but today it is the ash itself which is in danger. Ash dieback was first found in the UK in 2012 and it is now found across the UK. Most of our ash trees will disappear from the landscape in the next few decades so in Kent, where the disease has already had a devastating impact, the 'Ash Project' has been set up to remember the tree and its cultural importance. Helen Mark visits to see 'Ashes to Ashes' a sculpture by Ackroyd and Harvey made from ash at White Horse Wood and finds out about attempts to save the ash trees which show signs of immunity in the hope that we might be able to return ash to our landscapes in the future.

Elveden is a quaint rural Suffolk village with an intriguing history as the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire was buried here in 1893. For almost two decades the village has attracted coach loads of Sikhs from all over the country and the world flocking to see the graveside of Maharajah Duleep Singh. Bobby Friction, a broadcaster and DJ who is Punjabi Sikh has grown up hearing stories all about the last King of the Sikh Empire. He visits Elveden for the first time for Open Country to see for himself the graveside on the day that marks 125 years since Duleep Singh died. Bobby finds out more about the Maharaja and travels to the adjoining town of Thetford where the Maharaja has become an important part of the landscape. The producer is Perminder Khatkar.

Helen Mark visits the 'thankful' village of Herodsfoot in Cornwall. At its centre is a war memorial that looks like any other, to the extent that most people in the village had no idea that it was not a memorial to the fallen. All thirteen of those who served in World Ward One returned alive. The story of the men of Herodsfoot is unique in Cornwall and has been made into a community play to mark the centenary. But there's another reason why the people of the village were safe from the perils of the frontline, by an accident of the Cornish landscape.Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery

Helen Mark discovers the true story of the ‘Windermere Boys’, the three hundred child holocaust survivors who found rehabilitation and a new life in the Lake District nearly 70 years ago. Arriving in the immense and beautiful Cumbrian landscape many of them thought they'd found paradise. Helen meets the survivors, the community that welcomed them and the children that are keeping their memory alive today.Presented by Helen Mark Produced by Nicola Humphries Photo Credit: Another Space/LDHPMore details about The Lake District Holocaust Project can be found at www.ldhp.org.uk

The famous cityscape of Liverpool can seem familiar to visitors and locals alike. But the arrival of three giants is about to transform the way it's seen. A 50 foot giant man has been shipwrecked on a Wirral beach and will make a raft to travel across the Mersey while a 'Little boy giant' and his dog Xolo will soon wake up and stride through the streets exploring. The marionettes are powered by 'Liliputians' and have enchanted thousands of Liverpudlians who line the streets to see them with people from all over the world. The spectacle is the idea of French theatre group Royal de Lux and it's the third and final time the giants will visit the city - each time telling a story about Liverpool.Helen Mark is literally chased through the streets in a bid to get close to these creatures. She asks why the people have taken the giants to their heart and why the company wanted to return so often. Ten years since it became the European Capital of Culture many say the city has a new confidence and can hold it's head up

Helen Mark visits the Malvern Hills. She meets a landscape historian, who shows her how human history has left its marks on the topography - if you know where to look for them. She finds out about the inspiration which the composer Edward Elgar drew from the area, and learns how the landscape is reflected in his music. Malvern is famous for its spring water, which has been bottled in the town since the 17th century. Helen meets the man who bought one of the springs by accident - and then went on to revive the Malvern spring water brand. The area is also known for its gas lamps, which are believed to have inspired C.S. Lewis in his description of the entrance to Narnia in 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'. Helen finds that there are some very 21st century developments afoot for the Victorian gas lamps, and meets the man who's worked out how to power them using something which is in plentiful supply on the hills - dog poo!Produced by Emma Campbell.

Charlotte Smith goes on a trip down memory lane, visiting St Davids in Pembrokeshire. It's the area where she spent many of her childhood summer holidays - but a place she hasn't been back to in forty years. She meets the family still running the farm and campsite where she used to stay as a child, learns how to forage for food in rock pools along the shore, and discovers that the 21st century has found a new use for a disused slate quarry. Life may be very different from how it was in the 1970s, but Charlotte finds nostalgia in the unchanging nature of the Welsh landscape.Produced by Emma Campbell.

Helen Mark discovers the fascinating world of the UK's largest ship's graveyard Purton Hulks, the largest collection of maritime wrecks above water in Britain.What began as the intentional beaching of a small fleet of semi-redundant timber lighters in the winter of 1909 to strengthen the nearby eroding canal bank eventually grew into 81 vessels that and today represents the largest collection of maritime artefacts on the foreshore of mainland Britain - including boats that hold scheduled monument status, the same protection afforded by Westminster Abbey and Stonehenge. Resting on the banks of the River Severn they still provide a barrier of protection for an important stretch of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal which runs alongside the village of Purton in Gloucestershire. Following an on-going programme of research carried out by a dedicated team of volunteers, the stories of these ships have finally been revealed and their future is being protected for generations to come. Helen Mark uncovers the fascinat

Lundy Island sits just off the North Devon Coast in the Bristol Channel. It has a fascinating history which dates back to the Bronze Age and has been home to pirates and outlaws. Previous owners have even had their own stamps and coinage produced but today it is managed by the Landmark Trust and the island and its surrounding waters are recognised for their rich wildlife and habitat. David Lindo visits the island as it holds the very first 'Lundy Marathon'. 250 trail runners will brave the rocky coastal paths over a distance of 14 miles and they hope the sport they love can work in harmony with this precious and remote habitat.

Writer Jonathan Gornall has attempted to row across the Atlantic twice. On the second attempt he nearly drowned but his relationship with the sea has continued. Today he spends his time at Pin Mill in Suffolk where he has just built a small sailing boat for his daughter and he hopes the boat will teach her to love the sea too. Helen Mark meets him and the boat building community who live beside the River Orwell to discover the great history of sailing which remains at the heart of Pin Mill today.'How to Build a Boat' by Jonathan Gornall http://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/How-To-Build-A-Boat/Jonathan-Gornall/9781471164781.

Helen Mark explores landscapes of the future, of the imagination and of the past, at the Great Exhibition of the North, which is centred in Newcastle and Gateshead. It's a three-month celebration of the impact of northern England's creators, inventors, artists and designers. Helen meets environmental artist Steve Messam to hear his sound sculpture 'Whistle', a series of steam engine whistles echoing around the city walls. There's Naho Matsuda whose 'data poetry' is created by people's interaction with the cityscape and displayed on a split-flap display board at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle. Helen will follow one of GetNorth's story trails with the multi-award winning author David Almond and investigate public transport of the future with Sophie Connor of Ryder Architecture. And she'll find out how local children respond to highlights of the exhibition.Producer Mary Ward-Lowery.

On the bicentenary of Humphry Repton's death Helen Mark finds out all about the landscape gardener and his red books. Humphry Repton is the last English landscape designers of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown. He created over 400 designs across Britain and Ireland and it was Repton who coined the phrase 'landscape gardener'. His trademark was the red book in which he kept detailed designs and sketches. However, as Helen discovers in Norfolk where several of his designs are, the red book for his very first commission Catton Park is missing. She meets Gill Renouf, Chair of Friends of Catton Park, can she shed any light? And just how important were these red book to find out Helen goes to Sheringham Park, Repton's favourite work designed towards the end of his career and talks to Sally Bate, Vice Chair of Norfolk Garden Trust. Finally, onwards to Cromer, Northrepps where Helen meets Simon Gurney who has something very special to show Helen -the red book for Northrepps w

Gertrude Jekyll was born in the late 19th Century and, as a talented gardener and craftswoman, managed to forge a highly successful path in a male-dominated world.This year marks the 175th anniversary of Gertrude's birth. Helen Mark heads to sunny Godalming in Surrey, to visit the home and gardens where Ms Jekyll defined her gardening style, bred new plant varieties, developed a life-long partnership with the architect Edwin Lutyens, and became the 'celebrity gardener' of her day.Uncovering Gertrude Jekyll's talent, determination and focus, and considering her legacy today, we look at the impact this iconic gardener has had on Britain's private landscapes.

Helen Mark explores the site of the former Copperworks near Swansea. As the huge mechanical puppet 'The Man Engine' visits to celebrate that great history of innovation and industry we look at how the geology of Wales has shaped its landscape but also its culture.Professor Daniel Williams tells Helen about how heavy industry here had a global impact and how it continues to influence Welsh culture. Perhaps the best example of this is that iconic sound of the Welsh Male Voice Choir, many formed around the mines and associated industry and were of necessity all male. Today that distinctive sound remains even though the mines and copperworks have closed and we hear from Huw Roberts of the Morriston Male Voice Choir about why it is important that this sound remains part of Swansea's culture.Doug Evans and Ray Trotman, former workers at the Copperworks take us on a tour of the site to tell us about why song was so important to them and what they feel about the remains of industry we can see today.Geoff Dendle wants

Lincolnshire is famous for vast fields of tulips, but this week Helen Mark meets people in the country who have a more personal relationship with flowers, including a family whose snowdrop wood is the location for a naming ceremony for their daughter, conducted by a Druid named Kevin. Helen contemplates the fading of memories with a Greek artist and choreographer, resident in Lincoln, who makes photographs using flower emulsions. There's a beekeeper who trains new recruits and packs her garden with as many flowers as she can to provide the bees with sustenance; a former IT manager turned English flower-grower and the only elderflower farmers in the UK.Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.