Voices of the Countryside

Aug 27 2024 52 ep. 10
Voices of the Countryside Podcast artwork

Welcome to Beyond the Hedge where we go in search of the places, people, traditions and tales that make rural Britain extraordinary. Join us as we head out along the backroads to meet publicans, writers, hedgelayers, butchers, poets and keepers of everything from pigs to grey partridges to bees. We explore often-complex and sometimes-thorny themes with the help of real experts – practitioners with their hands in the soil and academics who’ve spent their lives thinking about things like the cultural history of fishing. Beyond the Hedge gets to the heart of rural Britain, as it was, is now and will be in the future. Subscribe to Scribehound to support independent countryside writing: https://www.scribehound.com/subscription

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Charlie Jacoby: Might Hunters and Hawkers be a Protected Group Under the Equality Act? [6 min Listen]

Aug 27 2024 6 mins  
You may have seen the story: the 2010 Equality Act could protect people who hunt. Here’s how it could play. An interview at the Carter Jonas Game Fair Theatre has led to column inches and TV debates. Ed Swales of Hunting Kind, a group dedicated to ‘natural hunting’ with hound, ferret and hawk, obtained legal opinion which says that people who hunt could have “pr

Charlie Flindt - Tigger the Terracan: From Farm Workhorse to Retirement Riddle [11 min listen]

Aug 26 2024 10 mins  
My faithful farm truck sits in the yard, not exactly sure how it is supposed to spend its days - or justify its hefty running costs. What's the future for such a loyal beast? Join me, if you will, in some automotive anthropomorphism, and spare a thought for Tigger the Terracan, who sits in the farmyard, having a bit of an existential crisis. Tigger, you see, is my farm 4x4, a

Camilla Swift - A Year in the Life of a Huntsman - and a foxhound [8 min listen]

Aug 25 2024 8 mins  
The life of a huntsman can sound idyllic – but life in kennels is tougher than it might look For many a young thruster, or a hound-loving puppy walker, being a huntsman is the ultimate dream job. To have your very own pack of hounds who look to you for instruction; to lead the pack in your scarlet coat, and uncover the mystery of the ‘golden thread’ – the so-c

Simon Reinhold - Into the Wild: Quail Hunts, Verdant Valleys, and Hidden Graves [7 min listen]

Aug 24 2024 7 mins  
We pay a high price for the privilege of getting lost in the back country - but is it worth it? I was not new to it - it was my third day hunting quail in Arizona so I knew what I should expect, but the frigid air that hit me was a surprise. I had never had to travel in the small hours before. It was necessary to get where we were going and leave enough of the early morn

Patrick Laurie - The Glorious Twelfth - the new season is here [8 min listen]

Aug 23 2024 8 mins  
Looking ahead to the new grouse season, I think about my own birds in Galloway and the national picture at a time of great change and upheaval in Scotland. The signs are set for a decline into autumn, and the moor grass has turned into straw. The start of the grouse season is upon us, and there’s a certain amount to look forward to in the hills of home. Despite some r

Richard Negus: Crafting a Future - The Need for Rural Apprenticeships [9 min listen]

Aug 23 2024 9 mins  
With record numbers of A level students shunning University courses, can Modern Apprenticeships be the means of filling the gaps in our 'lost rural skills'. For over one million young Brits, the next few days will be a time of heightened nervous excitement and anticipation. They wait on tenterhooks for the 15th August, when the results of their A level, T level, and AS l

Jonathan Young - My Bid for Olympic Gold [7 min listen]

Aug 22 2024 6 mins  
Come the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, I shall be in Team GB - so long as they change the events What impressed you most at the Olympics opening ceremony this year? Axelle Saint-Cirel’s magnificent rendition of La Marseillaise, surely the world’s most stirring national anthem? The can-can dancers? Or perhaps Alexandre Kantorow tinkling away on his piano despite the deluge? Fo

Beyond the Hedge: How Can we Engage Young People in the Countryside?

Aug 21 2024 30 mins  
In today's increasingly urbanised and digital society, young people are more disconnected from nature and the countryside than ever before. But in the absence of any kind of national plan to re-engage them with wildlife and ecosystems, how can parents and caregivers encourage kids to take an interest in the natural world, and what are the pitfalls to watch out for? George Browne

Andy Ford: A Rum Diary (or Why Cricket and Fishing are the Same) [21 min listent]

Aug 20 2024 21 mins  
What does a country boy and angler do on holiday when he’s left his rods at home and is reading a book by Hunter S.Thompson? The answer is to reflect on really unimportant things in life, like why are cricket and fishing actually the same. Shit it’s hot. It’s 35 degrees out there, the sand burns the skin off the bottom of my feet, and I could do with a large rum in a glass f

Emily Graham: Stories from the Moors - the Good, the Bad, and the Fluffy [10 min listen]

Aug 19 2024 10 mins  
Sharing some of my personal experiences and stories from the moors of ground nesting birds, their parenting skills and what I have learnt along the way! One of the Scribehound team once told me that one has 3 seconds to capture to someone's attention on social media otherwise they move on. A rather sad but true indictment of our society today. The irony is not lost on me when comp