Podcast appearances and mentions of helen mark

A special programme from The Balmoral Show outside Lisburn in Northern Ireland. Helen Mark meets farmers showing rare breed pigs, as well as talking politics. Earlier this month, a consultation was launched by Northern Ireland's Farming Minister on a new Nutrients Action Programme or NAP - rules for farmers to help reduce water pollution. It includes a limit on the amount of excess phosphorus produced by intensively stocked livestock farms. The Ulster Farmers Union says it's the wrong approach, but DAERA says it's needed to reduce the impact of excess nutrients on waterbodies like Lough Neagh.Presented by Helen Mark Produced by Heather Simons

Bird counts reveal a drop in numbers around Lough Neagh - could the algal blooms be to blame?Whisky distilleries and producers are becoming more alive to the fact that every stage of the whisky-making process is being affected by the climate Scotland is experiencing. Robot dogs sound like they are the stuff of science fiction, but they are starting to be used in the countryside right now.Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

20 ancient barns in the Lake District are being restored thanks to a fund of just over 3 million pounds. Caz Graham joins an architect and a farmer to find out how the work is being done. Solomon is a Shorthorn bull, and he's a bull with a job title. He's the Department Bull. Owned by the Scottish Government, Solomon is one of a number of bulls available to small-scale crofters in the Highlands and Islands who want to choose a mate for their beef herds. We visit the Isle of Lewis to find out more. And the Derby Tup is a traditional Derbyshire folk play, performed in the winter months. We hear from a family keeping the tradition alive.Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Chris Ledgard at BBC Audio Bristol

How Hilda, a newborn dairy calf, has been bred to help tackle climate change.Experts in animal behaviour and welfare are conducting experiments at Scotland's Rural College pig research unit aimed at finding practical solutions to some of the biggest challenges faced by the pig industry. And the efforts being made to turn the tide of salt marsh decline. Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

Helen Mark visits 50 square miles that were neither England nor Scotland. The Debatable Lands, between Carlisle and Gretna, were home to untameable crime families that petrified the most powerful of Lords and Kings. For hundreds of years governments in London and Edinburgh left the region to its own laws and moral codes. When they did intervene, the result was an explosion of violence that's still visible in the landscape of derelict towers and still audible in the Border Ballads collected by Walter Scott.Author, Graham Robb guides Helen through the region's complex history and Ian Scott Martin takes her to the ramparts of Gilnockie Tower- the fearsome stronghold of the Armstrong family, one of the most notorious clans of Border Reivers.The Union of the Crowns in the early 17th century brought the age of the Debatable Land to an end, ushering in a long period of peace broken abruptly in 1915. On the Western Front the British Army was running out of shells. In Westminster the government fell and the decision was made to build an enormous 9 mile long munitions factory, stretching across the region. Rebecca Short of the Devil's Porridge Museum guides Helen around the remains of the industrial landscape in which 30,000 people- 16,000 of them women- worked in the production of the cordite that propelled shells across the battlefields of Belgium and France. The western tip of the Debatable Land reaches out to the saltmarshes of the Solway Firth. This apparently peaceful landscape soon yields its secrets. The land is constantly battered and transformed by the tides while animals and plants have to adapt to survive the harsh and dynamic conditions. Helen explores the creeks, bogs and rivers with David Pickett of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and Chris Miles of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland.Producer: Alasdair Cross

For young carers, it can be difficult to find time to get away from home and enjoy the great outdoors. In this programme Helen Mark meets a group of 12-13 year-olds who all have caring responsibilities for a family member at home, but who are spending a night camping out on Dartmoor. She joins them as they pitch their tents, do some river-dipping, and help with feeding farm livestock. As dusk falls, they set off on a night-time walk across the moor - battling their way through gorse bushes in the dark, to reach a rocky outcrop where they lie on their backs to gaze in silence at the stars.Helen talks to some of the young carers about their experiences, and hears from the charity which organised the trip and the ranger from Dartmoor National Park who guides the young people through the activities. They tell her why it's important to offer opportunities like this and explain how much difference a taste of the outdoors can make to the life of a young carer. For some of them, this is their first experience of spending a night in a tent.Producer: Emma Campbell

Helen Mark heads to the Shropshire hills to discover how to write about nature at The Hurst, a place dedicated to artistic practice. She meets author-tutors Miriam Darlington (Otter Country, Owl Sense) and Patrick Barkham (The Swimmer, Wild Isles) who share with Helen their techniques of encouraging new writers to find their own voice and how to turn observation and reflection into a compelling story. As she wanders through the summertime meadows with the group of budding writers, she hears how they hone their skills of attention and why writing about the natural world matters to them. Helen also gains a sense of this pocket of the natural world within the landscape, finding out about the other species who call these Shropshire woodlands and gardens home. The Hurst is run by the Arvon Foundation who promote creative writing. Producer: Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio, Bristol

Helen Mark discovers a wilderness in the heart of Penzance, in West Cornwall. It's a rocky headland loved by local people, with steps into the open water and views of St Michael's Mount. If you set up a time-lapse camera here at Battery Rocks, you'd see a steady stream of people arriving at this unobtrusive place from sunrise to sunset. It's popular with swimmers, snorkellers, rock-poolers and poets, and it's a haven for wildlife. Battery Rocks is a haven for people too, a life-saving place of joy and community, according to snorkelling instructor Katie Maggs. Helen goes snorkelling with Katie and discovers how this place inspired poet Katrina Naomi's new collection 'Battery Rocks'. Lucy Luck takes Helen on a rock pool ramble and Mike Conboye leads her in a sunrise swim at the rocks, with music from his acapella group, Boilerhouse. Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery

From interpreting pigs coughs to detect disease to analysing biodiversity data; all this week we're going to be talking about artificial intelligence and its use in agriculture. Today, how AI is being used to sift out inaccurate agricultural market research.A year ago the RSPB started turning land that was once arable fields, next to its site at Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk, into a wetland habitat. The hope being that they'd see many species of rare wildlife return, and it's working. It's giving the marsh harrier and wildlife more space to thrive.Indoor vertical farms claim to provide the solution to unpredictable weather, growing salads in controlled conditions under lights and stacked in layers. But it's an expensive way to grow, and involves high energy consumption. We visit the Jones Food Company vertical farm in Gloucestershire.Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

Wiltshire has more chalk hill figures than any other county in the UK, with no fewer than eight white horses carved into its rolling hills. They're all slightly different, and were carved into the hillsides at different times, often to mark an important occasion such as the coronation of Queen Victoria. In this programme, Helen Mark visits some of them - from the oldest and probably best-known one at Westbury, to the much smaller and less prominent horse at Broad Town near Swindon. She finds out about their history and significance, and asks why they became so popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. The tradition continues into the present-day, with the most recent horse, at Devizes, created in 1999 to mark the Millennium. The white horses are a key feature of the Wiltshire landscape, and have become an unofficial emblem of the county.The horses have to be regularly maintained. Left unattended, they would gradually revert to nature, become overgrown with weeds and lichen and simply disappear. In Broad Town, Helen meets up with a team of volunteers who are spending their Sunday morning perched on a steep hillside, weeding and putting fresh lime powder onto their horse, to keep it white and visible.As well as its horses, Wiltshire is also home to carvings with a military connection - in the shape of regimental badges and insignia. There's also a map of Australia, a YMCA logo, and even a giant kiwi. Helen visits some of the military carvings at Fovant near Salisbury, and finds out how they were created by soldiers stationed at training camps in the area during the First World War. She discovers that they're still important to the county today, more than a century on.Produced by Emma Campbell

Anna Hill reports from the second Farm to Fork Summit held this week in Downing Street. To coincide with the event, the Government released it's Food Security Index - which looks at how much of the food we eat is produced here, but also takes into account other things, like fertiliser prices, global trade and biosecurity risks. The Prime Minister said he wants to expand UK fruit and veg production. Around 120,000 visitors and 4,000 head of livestock have been at the Balmoral Show in Northern Ireland this week. Helen Mark reports from the show, and grills the NI Farming Minister over his plans for future farm payments.And South East Water has launched a 25 Year Environment Plan, which includes creating a new super nature reserve. More than 80% of the area covered by the company across Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire, is agricultural - so what will this mean for farmers?Presented by Charlotte Smith Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

Helen Mark visits the Balmoral Show in Northern Ireland. In the week when the Northern Ireland Assembly has declared the country to be in an ecological and biodiversity crisis, Helen asks the new Minister for Agriculture, Andrew Muir, how he sees farming and the environment working together.Produced by Beatrice Fenton.

Helen Mark is in Dorset to investigate the county's ancient sunken roads, known as holloways. They're deep, steep-sided tracks formed when soft rock erodes and are often overtopped by a canopy of trees. The erosion over centuries creates remarkable, often otherworldly spaces, that come with their own unique flora and fauna. On her trip to the Symondsbury estate near Bridport Helen hears about how the cave spider and goblin's gold moss can thrive in the cracks of these unlikely rockfaces. She is joined by Andy Jefferies and Rosie Cummings from Natural England who are behind a project to map Britain's extensive network of holloways. The holloways often come with their own folklore too. Local storyteller Martin Maudsley recounts the legend of the Dorset colpexie - mischievous sprites that can taunt the unwary traveller!Producer: Robin Markwell Presenter: Helen Mark

Up until the 1970s, postmen and women in rural areas walked their delivery rounds - taking routes through the hills dubbed "postal paths". Some routes, and fragments of others, still survive today. In this programme Helen Mark explores one of them, near the village of Shap in Cumbria, with author Alan Cleaver who is writing a book about these old paths. So far he's identified over thirty of them up and down the UK. Others have now been built over and are gone forever. Alan tells Helen about the cultural significance of the postal service in the past, recounting the poignant story of a man who used to write letters to himself, just so that the postman would call by and he would have a visitor. Alan and Helen discuss the disappearing role of postmen and women, in the age of electronic communication. Helen also explores part of Shap's old Corpse Road, which linked Swindale Head with Mardale - a village which didn't have its own cemetery until the mid 18th century. Before that, bodies had to be carried over the fells to Shap for burial - a distance of about eight miles. The last body was carried along the Corpse Road in 1736. Local historian Jean Scott-Smith tells the story of the Corpse Road and shows Helen part of the route.Produced by Emma Campbell

The Broomway has been dubbed the “deadliest footpath in Britain”, claiming more than a hundred lives. Helen Mark takes a cautious walk along this treacherous Essex seapath with Peter Carr and John Burroughs from the Foulness Island Heritage Centre. She'll hear how people can easily become disoriented on the vast mud flats and tragically caught out by the rapidly advancing tides of the Thames Estuary. Helen will also be joined by Thea Behrman, the director of the Estuary Festival, to reflect on how this meeting point of land and sea can provide creative inspiration through its bleak beauty. Presented by Helen Mark Produced by Robin Markwell

Over the centuries the River Quoile has carried Vikings, steam ships and cargoes of coal and timber from as far afield as the Baltic and Canada. Today it's a river for leisure pursuits – popular with canoeists, anglers and wildlife enthusiasts.Cadogan Enright is a councillor, environmental campaigner and chairman of the local canoe club. He takes Helen Mark out on the river to sing its praises, but also to point out concerns. He tells her that Downpatrick and the surrounding countryside were prone to tidal flooding in the past, but now the threat comes from the land - with increasing winter storms leaving the land saturated. Helen meets Robert Gardiner, chairman of the railway museum, who shows her how the water flooded their exhibition gallery last year and has threatened the museum's financial future.Back on the riverbank, Helen meets Stephen O'Hare, a member of the River Quoile Trust which campaigns for improvements to the river. He shows her the remains of quays along the riverbank, which were once busy dockside areas for cross channel steam ships during the industrial revolution. Trade died out because of the unpredictability of the tides and the difficulties of navigating Strangford Lough out to the Irish sea, and came to a halt in 1957 when a flood barrier was built at the mouth of the river.As for the Vikings – they haven't quite disappeared. Viking historian Philip Campbell and a group of enthusiasts have built a re-enactment village and a replica longship which they sail on stretches of the Quoile. He tells Helen that, as its dragon head noses through the waters which wind around the gentle drumlin countryside, he is filled with appreciation for the beauty of the river and its importance through the centuries.Produced by Kathleen Carragher

Helen Mark joins a group of asylum seekers as they help with a tree-planting project in Denbighshire. She hears how - without a car, and with rural buses both scarce and expensive - refugees rarely get access to the countryside. The group of people she meets have travelled to Wales from Liverpool for the day, but come originally from all over the world. She hears about the experiences of four of them - from Iraq, Iran, Namibia and Togo. They spend the day working alongside local conservation volunteers from the nearby village of Tremeirchion, sharing food, stories and songs.The project is organised by the charity Action Asylum, which has joined forces with the North Wales Wildlife Trust to get more than two thousand trees planted on former farmland near Offa's Dyke path. For the asylum seekers, who are not allowed to work while their cases are being assessed, it's a chance to contribute and do something constructive. With incredible views of the mountains in the distance and the Welsh coast spread out beneath them, Helen hears how working in the countryside is beneficial for both the environment and the refugees' mental health.Produced by Emma Campbell

With daylight at a premium the work goes on in two stand-out gardens visited by Gardeners' Corner this week. At Musgrave Park Hospital in South Belfast, the charity Horatio's Garden is creating a garden for spinal injury patients designed by Chelsea gold medal winning designer Andy Sturgeon. Helen Mark meets the new head gardener there and chats to Andy about this ‘high maintenance' space. At Glenarm Castle the Walled Garden has recently been named Historic Houses 2023 Garden of the Year. The gardeners there are forcing daffodils for flowers at Christmas, sowing seeds and overhauling the hot border. In studio David is joined by gardener Claire McNally and wildlife expert Katy Bell who will be offering some advice on wildlife in the winter garden. Contact the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

The Highland Boundary Fault runs diagonally across Scotland, dividing the Highlands from the Lowlands. In this programme, Helen Mark finds out what impacts this geological feature has had on the landscape around it. She visits Comrie, which at one time had more earth tremors than anywhere else in the UK, earning it the nickname "Shaky Toun". On a tour of the Earthquake House - one of the smallest listed buildings in Europe and the first purpose-built seismological monitoring station in the world - she learns how earthquakes were measured and recorded in the 19th century and how technology has moved on since then. The geology hasn't only affected the landscape, but also the wildlife within it. The Highland Boundary Fault is the frontline in the battle between red and grey squirrels in Scotland. South of the fault, greys have largely ousted the reds - but the area north of the line, with its more rocky and mountainous habitats, is still a haven for native reds. This is partly because of control work carried out by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, who trap and kill grey squirrels north of the line, to try and protect the population of reds. At the Loch of the Lowes nature reserve near Dunkeld Helen joins a red squirrel walk, hoping to catch a glimpse of this endangered species in the trees. Further west at Conic Hill, Helen meets a geologist who explains how the Highland Boundary Fault was formed 400 million years ago and how it still has lasting cultural, agricultural and even linguistic effects today. Produced by Emma Campbell

The mountain rescue team in Wasdale in the Lake District have recorded their busiest year so far with some of the harshest winter months still to come. The Langdale Ambleside team have also already reached their average annual incident rate - two months before the end of the year. Across the peaks of the UK, Mountain Rescue teams are coming under increasing pressure as visitor numbers soar. Helen Mark meets members of the Wasdale Mountain Rescue team and the Langdale Ambleside team in the Langdale Valley, to find out why they are getting called out so often. Both teams want people to come to the mountains and lakes that they love, but with the right knowledge and respect for a landscape which can be lethal. Certain spots in the lakes have been pictured and shared on social media drawing in more visitors, who may not be prepared for challenging terrain and bad weather. Ross Davidson is a photographer who has begun to question whether the incredible sunsets and sunrises he shares online might be part of the problem. The Mountain Rescue teams love their work and want everyone to enjoy their landscape, but as volunteers giving up their free time to help others, they're questioning whether they can sustain the rapidly increasing call-outs. That's why they, and the celebrated mountaineer Alan Hinkes, are asking hikers and climbers to be "adventure smart" by making sure they have the knowledge, the equipment and the right conditions to make the most of these dramatic landscapes. Produced by Helen Lennard

Monica Massey Beresford, who grew up in Derrylin in Fermanagh, became a resistance leader in Denmark. She died in Waldheim concentration camp in 1945 but her courage and incredible life have been honoured by the Ulster History Circle with the unveiling of a Blue Plaque at Kinawley Parish Church on Main Street in Derrylin. Lord Dunleath of Ballywalter, her great nephew, and Lady Dunleath, told Anne Marie McAleese her story. With archive recording from the BBC TV programme, SOE: Subversion (1984). And a highwayman, Joseph Scott, wreaked havoc around the mountain road between Limavady and Macosquin near Coleraine in the 1800's. His life and times and eventual demise feature in the most recent edition of the Bann Disc, Coleraine Historical Society's Annual publication. Clive Hunter, who wrote the article, met Helen Mark at the ruins of the old family cottage in the townland of Camm to hear how the notorious brigand came to meet his death. Programme presented by Anne Marie McAleese.

At Carbeth, just north of Glasgow, there are around 170 simple wooden huts tucked into an area of woodland. Basic and off-grid, they are part of Scotland's hutting tradition. Carbeth is the biggest hutting site in the country, with a history that goes back to the end of the First World War, when the landowner gave permission for people to camp and later to build simple dwellings, as interest in nature and the great outdoors grew. Since then, hutting has gone through peaks and troughs of popularity. Interest waned with the arrival of package holidays in the 1960s and 70s, but the 21st century has seen a revival. It's now hugely popular again, with a long waiting list for huts. In this programme Helen Mark visits Carbeth to meet some of the hutters and find out what the attraction is. She talks to a couple whose families have had huts on the site for generations, and who first met there as teenagers. She also learns about the recent growth in hutting, thanks partly to a change in Scottish planning law which has made it easier to build huts, after the"1000 Huts" campaign by the charity Reforesting Scotland. She visits a pilot site in Fife, where twelve new huts are now under construction. Helen also visits the site of the legendary Craigallian fire - a camp fire which was kept burning in the 1920s and 30s on the edge of Craigallian Loch near Carbeth. It was a magnet for early pioneers of the outdoors movement, who would sit around it discussing politics and sharing information about how best to survive in the wild. It became a stopping-off point for walkers and mountaineers exploring the Highlands. Helen meets a man whose father was one of the "fire-sitters", and who set up the monument which now commemorates those pioneering days. Producer: Emma Campbell

Helen Mark presents this week's edition of Gardeners' corner. She takes a trip to the Arboretum at Castlewellan Forest Park to oversee the work on the herbaceous borders. Frank and Linda McCooke give Mary Doris a masterclass in all things gourd - from Crown Prince to Munchkins, how to grow and what to cook. David Lindsay from Picked Organic on why he decided to give the good life a go. Expert Ann Fitzsimmons joins Helen in studio to answer listeners questions. Email any time gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

Helen Mark presents this week's edition of Gardeners' Corner. Maurice Parkinson selects some show-stopping grasses to enjoy in the Autumn sunlight from his nursery in Ballyrobert. Klaus Leitenberger introduces David Maxwell to some cute little Cucamelons and how to keep unruly grapes in check. Jekka McVicar chooses her herb of the month and Helen is joined in studio by Brendan Little. Email the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

The landscape of Dungeness, at the south-eastern tip of England, is an unusual one. In this programme, Helen Mark finds out about stories surrounding sound and light on this peninsula which juts out into the English Channel. She visits the huge concrete "sound mirrors" - built in the 1920s as an early detection system for incoming enemy planes. Their technology became obsolete as aircraft speeds increased and radar was invented. They still stand today, but are now part of a nature reserve. Helen finds out how they worked, and experiences for herself their eerie sound projection abilities. She also learns about the wildlife which now thrives around them. A few miles further south, Helen visits the old lighthouse - one of five lighthouses which Dungeness has had in its time. The area stands on vast ever-shifting banks of shingle, which have expanded seawards over the years, leaving previous lighthouses stranded too far from the sea. The construction of a nuclear power station in the 1950s also obscured the lighthouse then in use, so it was decommissioned in 1960 and is now a tourist attraction. Helen walks up its 169 steps to the top and talks to the current owner, whose father bought it on a whim at an auction. In this programme Helen experiences the distinctive sounds of Dungeness - from the magic of the sound mirrors and the whistle of the tourist steam train to the ever-present crunch and rattle of the shingle underfoot. In this pancake flat landscape, sound and light both seem to move in mysterious ways. Produced by Emma Campbell

The weather is always unpredictable but with a warm and dry June and damp July, it's making life challenging for gardeners. This week, David Maxwell will be joined by Cecilia Daly to chat about the reasons for the recent weather patterns and her predictions for the rest of summer. Also on the programme, the National Trust's Mount Stewart teams up with Bristol University to predict the future for the garden with climate change modelling and ahead of National Allotment Week David visits a hidden allotment in Bangor and Helen Mark catches up with some of those involved in Derry's Acorn Farm project which supports families to grow their own. Claire McNally will join David in studio to take questions. Email gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

Thousands of years ago, large parts of Britain were covered with temperate rainforest - also known as "Atlantic woodland" or "Celtic rainforest". It's a habitat which needs high rainfall and low annual variation in temperature, so the western fringes of the British Isles provide perfect conditions. But temperate rainforest has been largely destroyed over the centuries and there are now only fragments of it left. One of the few surviving areas is in the Isle of Man, where work now is underway to expand and restore this unique habitat, thanks to a £38 million grant. At Creg y Cowin over 70 acres will be planted with native tree species, with around 20 acres left to regenerate naturally. Helen Mark visits the island to learn about this project and meets the Wildlife Trust volunteers involved in the early stages of getting the work underway. She also finds out about "tholtans" - abandoned agricultural dwellings which are a feature of the landscape of the Isle of Man. She meets a couple who are trying to document as many of these ruined buildings as possible, and finds out about links between the landscape and the Manx language. Produced by Emma Campbell for BBC Audio Bristol

Life Cycles is an initiative in Derry to restore bicycles which would have been dumped. Monica Downey started the project during lockdown, when people were cycling for exercise and to get about. So far they have saved 790 bikes in partnership with Zero Waste North West, and given away 150 fully restored bicycles. Helen Mark went to visit. And Anne Marie McAleese hears the remarkable story of Robert Hart, from Portadown in County Armagh, who became one of the most powerful people in China. In the 19th century many Irish people worked and lived in China, Japan and Korea - but Hart was one of the most notable, involved in administering taxes on the opium trade, and presenting China overseas. His life and times are the focus of a new book by historian Robin Masefield from Holywood, County Down. Presented by Anne Marie McAleese.

This week on Gardeners' Corner with David Maxwell; why are there so many caterpillars this year and do the spooky webs some are creating spell doom for the plants they cover? At Helen's Bay Organic Farm John McCormick has some tips on growing courgettes and how to get better veg without wasting water. Helen Mark travels to Stranocum for a masterclass on early summer pruning with Don Kerr and Jekka McVicar reveals her herb of the month. Also on the programme, Katie Bell from Ulster Wildlife and Claire McNally, head gardener at The National Trust's Rowallane join David in studio to answer questions sent in by listeners. Email the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

Helen Mark visits Coleshill in Oxfordshire to learn about its wartime secrets. In 1940, with fear growing that Britain could be invaded by the German army, the estate became the training headquarters for a secret underground army. Over the next four years, thousands of country men - such as farmers, gamekeepers and foresters - were trained in underground resistance. They lived outwardly ordinary lives, but their job was to spring into action in the event of invasion, disappearing into bunkers buried in the landscape and emerging to disrupt the invading army through sabotage and hand-to-hand combat. Their life expectancy would have been around two weeks. With its quiet countryside location, far from military targets but near good transport links to London, Coleshill was the perfect place for this top-secret training base. High walls around the estate also kept its activities shielded from prying eyes. Even after the war the cloak of secrecy persisted, and today most people have never heard of the role Coleshill played in Britain's wartime history. Helen climbs down into a replica of the original underground operational base, used for training recruits, and finds out what life would have been like for these 'Auxiliary Units' or 'Auxiliers', as they were known. Sworn to secrecy, many never spoke of their experiences and took their knowledge with them to the grave. The feared German invasion never happened, so their services were not called on for real, and in many cases even their families never knew what the Auxiliers had signed up for. Now many people are piecing together their family histories and are keen to find out whether their fathers, grandfathers or uncles may have been part of one of the best-kept secrets of World War II. Produced by Emma Campbell

The landscape of south Wales has been shaped and defined by coal. In this programme, Helen Mark explores the Rhondda valley – finding out about is history and asking what its future may look like, now the heavy industry has gone. She visits a disused railway tunnel which once carried coal from the mines to the port of Swansea, but which has been closed and sealed off for decades. Now a group of enthusiasts is campaigning to re-open the tunnel as a tourist attraction. They have ambitions plans for it to become the longest cycling tunnel in Europe, with hopes that it could also function as an exhibition space, miniature concert hall and even a wedding venue. Helen puts on her safety helmet and is lowered down through a shaft into the tunnel, to see for herself how the structures of the past could take on a new life in the future. Produced by Emma Campbell

With two weeks until the coronation, David visits a garden under construction to mark the event. Diarmuid Gavin's bold design for The King's Coronation garden will soon be an eye catching attraction at Hazelbank Park on the shores of Belfast Lough. Among those helping to get the garden finished on time are some students from CAFRE's Greenmount campus. Also on the programme, Helen Mark visits the National Trust's Florence Court where Ian Marshall and his volunteers are busy planting broad beans and potatoes in the kitchen garden. Jekka McVicar reveals her favourite herb for April and Reg Maxwell joins David in studio to answer questions and provide some seasonal inspiration for the gardener at home. Contact the programme – gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk . Email the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

From oyster monitoring in Northern Ireland, to beach cleaning in the North East of England, and from wildlife gardens in Felixstowe to tree-planting in Scotland, Helen Mark returns with a new series of Open Country and speaks to some of the many people who give up their time to volunteer on conservation projects. Inspired by the BBC One series 'Wild Isles' which celebrates the natural wonders and wildlife of Britain and Ireland, Helen is on a pontoon in Bangor, County Down to find out why looking after oysters is integral to our seas. She speaks to two people in Bath who have taken on the management of an area of land for the benefit of the community, and hears the inspiring story of how one woman's determination to pick up rubbish on beaches in the North East has blossomed into an organised community project. Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Toby Field.

Gardener's Corner focuses on the North West with visits to the walled garden at Oakfield Park in Raphoe. Estate manager David Fisher sets the scene and Head gardener Wendy Bridgett gives presenter David Maxwell a tour of the 18th century walled garden. In Derry, David visits an award winning community garden between the city's walls and The Fountain estate. Alan Warke explains how the space has benefited young people and the community as a whole. Also on the programme, dramatic change at The Playhouse theatre which is going to install a zero waste garden – Helen Mark sees the plans and Gareth Austin will join David in studio to answer questions and offer some seasonal inspiration. Contact the programme – gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

For this week's Open Country, Helen Mark is in East Lothian in Scotland to revel in the beauty of the winter landscape. On the outskirts of Haddington, wildlife artist Darren Woodhead is ensconced in a hedgerow at dawn. Winter is his favourite time of year to paint; all his painting is done outside, sitting on the ground. He relishes the way in which the elements alter the way water-colours behave on the paper, creating patterns as the paint starts to freeze. Further east on the coast, Helen walks down onto one of the Dunbar beaches known locally as ‘Eye Cave Beach'. Land artist, James Craig, is engaged in the meditative art of stone stacking, at one with his surroundings, racing the rising tide. James organises the annual European Stone Stacking Championships here and tells Helen that his family has had a connection with the stones and the coastline for generations. On her final stop, Helen travels north-west to the sweeping sands of Gullane beach. Emily Hogarth takes inspiration from her daily walks across the wide open bay for her papercut art designs. Her work seeks to make the everyday magical, and she tells Helen there's nothing like winter in this part of Scotland to heighten her senses. Produced by Beatrice Fenton

The Ulster canal was built in in the mid 19th century across the north of Ireland, linking Lough Neagh in the east with Lough Erne in the west. Like most canals, it fell into decline with the arrival of the railways. Partition in 1922 was the final nail in its coffin, and all 46 miles closed completely in the 1930s. Now there are plans to re-open a cross-border section of the canal between County Armagh and County Monaghan - an idea which was mentioned specifically in the Good Friday Agreement. In this programme Helen Mark retraces the ghost of the route of the old canal - easy to see in some places, hidden beneath decades of ivy and tangled undergrowth in others. In the village of Benburb, she meets author and enthusiast Brian Cassells, who tells her about the history of the canal and paints a picture of what restoring it could mean. On the other side of the border, she visits the Ulster Canal Stores at Clones, where canal restoration work has already started. Stores manager Hugh Tunney describes re-opening the canal as a "game changer". He's hoping it will bring much-needed infrastructure for boaters and paddleboarders, attracting tourists and generating more income for the area. At Lough Neagh, Helen meets up with a group of canoeists, who tell her that reviving the Ulster canal would open up whole new possibilities of routes for them to use - linking this area of the island with other existing waterways. At the other end of the canal, she tries her hand at rowing a traditional Irish currach on Lough Erne, under the guidance of skipper Olivia Cosgrove. Could the Ulster canal be the missing link in the extensive network of waterways which criss-cross the island of Ireland? Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Emma Campbell

Helen Mark tries to live in the moment at a deserted cliff edge chapel, hears carols that have deep ties to Cornwall's tin mining heritage, and comes face to face with hell's snarling jaws as she visits the town of St Just in Penwith. In the heart of the town is the "plen-an-gwari", one of the last of the Cornish medieval amphitheatres built to host a sequence of religious mystery plays, the Ordinalia. Centuries after their suppression, the plays were revived in the 2000s as a community-wide venture that once again brought them, and the "plen", to the centre of community life. Helen meets Graham Jobbins, Mary Ann Bloomfield and Isobel Bloomfield, the family playing a central part in ensuring the tradition continues. Out on the cliffs nearby, Kari Herbert leads Helen on a midwinter walk which uses the natural landscape of cliffs and sea to inspire a meditation on the turning of the year. And at the Miner's Chapel we hear how the tin mines which once dominated the area gave rise to a tradition of local carolling that survives to this day, with Alan Cargeeg and his fellow singers. Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton

Arts consultant Amberlea Neely and architect Aisling Rusk are on a mission to re-imagine Belfast's residential alleyways. Originally built over a century ago to allow access for coal deliveries, sewage systems and bin collections behind the city's high-density red-brick terraces, the alleys became neglected and derelict - spaces for fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour. In recent years, residents of some streets have got together and turned their back entries, as they are often known, into pleasant lanes, festooned with flowers and used for neighbourhood parties and even arts events. The movement grew during the Covid lockdowns when people became aware of the value of the fresh air in the open spaces just beyond their back doors. There have been similar alleyway greening transformations in other British cities, like Manchester and Liverpool, but Amberlea and Aisling have a more ambitious vision. They're campaigning for these hidden thoroughfares to become a vital part of Belfast's green infrastructure - safe play areas and traffic-free walking and cycling routes. They set up a project called "9ft in Common" – the average width of a typical Belfast alleyway - and spent months walking the city's entries to draw up a digital map of the network. In this unlikely setting for Open Country, Helen Mark explores the momentum behind the movement. She talks to Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland about planting apple “orchards” in the alleyways and giving residents horticultural advice. She visits Wildflower Alley, one of the city's first and most successful neighbourhood projects, which now features in tourist trails, and hears from residents about what these once neglected spaces now mean to them. Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Kathleen Carragher

The Mendip hills stretch across the landscape south of Bristol and Bath, running from Weston-super-Mare in the west to the Frome valley in the east, with views down across the Somerset Levels. More than seventy square miles are designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty, with ancient woodland rising above dramatic gorges. Beneath their beauty, the hills hide an intriguing wartime story. Black Down was one of the "starfish sites", where fires were lit at night as decoys to simulate burning cities and so trick the German planes into dropping their bombs on the countryside instead. Its physical remains can be seen in the landscape to this day. Helen Mark explores the area and learns about its history - both ancient and more modern. Nearby Cheddar Gorge may be more famous, but Helen finds out that Burrington Combe has a fascinating past. It's home to what is believed to be the oldest cemetery in Britain, where human bones were excavated from a cave in the 19th century. Modern radiocarbon dating techniques have shown them to be more than 10,000 years old. The area is also an important haven for wildlife. Helen meets a ranger who is busy building a hibernaculum - an underground hiding place where adders and other creatures can spend the winter. Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Emma Campbell

Rutland Water is home to a rich array of wildlife, including osprey, but beneath the water there may be much more natural history to discover. Last year Joe Davis found the largest and most complete Ichthyosaur skeleton yet seen in the UK. This inland reservoir was once a tropical ocean and there may be many more fossilised remains that remain beneath the water. In fact, there was a recent discovery of the fossilised jaw of a Jurassic crocodile-like creature. Today the habitat around the reservoir provides a perfect home for waders and wildfowl, as well as sand martins and other birds. Helen Mark discovers how this watery world also hides the most fascinating aquatic insects. Once the reservoir was hated by locals who lost their land and homes, but today it provides the perfect setting to make the most of our natural world and understand more about both the wildlife of today and the creatures that swam here millions of years ago. Presented by Helen Mark. Produced by Helen Lennard and Perminder Khatkar.

Helen Mark is in County Down, where woodland which has been in private hands for centuries is being opened up to the public. Mourne Park was owned by the same family for five hundred years, but has now been bought by the Woodland Trust. Restoration work is underway at the 385 acre site - clearing invasive plants which have smothered some of the ancient trees, and marking out new walking trails for visitors. Almost half the forest here meets the criteria to classify as ancient woodland, which is one of Northern Ireland's rarest habitats. Helen also finds out about recovery work going on to restore the land after last year's devastating wildfires in the Mourne mountains, and learns how sheep are helping the National Trust to monitor the recovery of the landscape, by wearing GPS trackers attached to special collars. En route she encounters St Patrick's Way – an 82-mile walking trail which spans two counties and connects Christian heritage sites between Armagh and Downpatrick. Helen walks a section of the route, with a journalist-turned-nun as her guide. Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Emma Campbell.

As winter approaches, Helen Mark heads to Drenagh Gardens near Limavady where Conelley McCausland has set about restoring the vast walled garden and extensive grounds which had almost disappeared under the invasion of bamboo. Also on the programme, a visit to Ciaran Mulholland's garden at the foot of Slemish where he's growing a ready supply of winter veg. In studio, Reg Maxwell joins Helen to take questions live and Tony Kirkham reveals his tree of the month for November.

In 1897, the Matlock Bath Illuminations were first held to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Supposedly, a young Princess Victoria looked out of her hotel window and saw candle lights reflected in the River Derwent which flows through the centre of the village, and so the idea for illuminated boats was born. Today, the tradition continues - with a parade of boats made and rowed each year by the local Matlock Bath Venetian Boat Builders' Association. Helen Mark meets the boat builders and discovers how industry, leisure and tourism here have been built around the River Derwent and the warm springs of Matlock Bath. These thermal springs feed the Matlock Bath Lido and have brought visitors here to experience their healing capabilities since the 17th century. Today the open air lido at the New Bath Hotel has been re-opened and is providing local people and visitors with a chance to be reinvigorated by the traditions of this place and to discover the secrets of the waters beneath. Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Helen Lennard

"Mushroom fans, foragers like myself - and mycologists even more so - hate the word toadstool because it's basically just yet another example of British prejudice against mushrooms." Writer and forager Daniel Butler leads the charge against British mushroom ignorance as he steers a small group - plus dog - into the woods of mid-Wales. They're looking for tasty porcini, or penny bun mushrooms, to cook and eat. They find so many we can't tell you where they went. Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Miles Warde

The Plock of Kyle is a promontory on the North West coast of Scotland, beside the Skye Bridge and close to the villages of Plockton and Kyle of Lochalsh. This old community parkland is a striking landscape with native woodland, meadows and rocky coastline, but it is an area tourists tend to just drive through to get to Skye. Helen Mark discovers how a local community trust is working on projects designed to put Plock on the map. There are plans to reconstruct a village, based on archaeological evidence of the Vikings presence in the area. Park ranger, Heather Beaton, gives Helen a tour of the Plock's newly restored meadows, ponds and nature trails. She extols the benefits of scything and gives Helen a lesson on how to improve her skills. Heather aims to hold an annual scything festival. Helen also ventures under the Skye Bridge, to the small island of Eilean Ban, which was the final home of naturalist and writer Gavin Maxwell, author of The Ring of Bright Water. Otters are regularly spotted around the island and a small museum maintained by a local trust commemorates his life story. Many local people still recall the heady days of protests over the cost of tolls on the impressive Skye Bridge when it opened in 1995. Helen talks to leading rebel and Highland councillor, Drew Millar, who remembers driving sheep across the new bridge in protest and spending a night in jail for non-payment. Thirty people were convicted of non-payment. After nearly a decade of dissent, the protestors finally won and the tolls were dropped. Drew says the protest shows that peaceful civil disobedience can be successful. Produced by Kathleen Carragher

Allotments across the country are burst with flowers and produce right now and in National Allotments Week, Gardeners' Corner visits two. David Maxwell heads to Ards where Amy Kelly has her plot. He also meets some of her neighbours who grow Willow for weaving and exotic crops like the African Horned Melon. In the north west, Helen Mark visits Ballymagowan community allotments which as well as producing healthy fruit and veg, is also a sanctuary for some. In studio, Ciaran Mulholland will bring his fruit and veg growing expertise and organic gardener Klaus Laitenberger will join David from somewhere in Europe as he takes the long road home to Ireland from his epic vegetable odyssey. Contact the programme via email – gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

Helen Mark is in Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands, where she discovers the "lost" village of Balblair, visits the spectacular Corrieshalloch Gorge and tours the Russian Arctic Convoy Museum. Presented by Helen Mark Produced by Kathleen Carragher

Helen Mark is in Northern Ireland to hear little known histories about the Causeway Coast. A new project is gathering stories from the local community to add to a digital map, before they are forgotten forever. Produced by Beatrice Fenton.

Helen Mark visits a field on the edge of Bath, once used as the burial ground for Bath Union Workhouse. Over 3100 bodies of people who died in poverty between 1858 and 1899 were buried here in unmarked graves. For over a hundred years, the site has been unrecognised and those buried here forgotten. Now a group of local residents, artists, and descendants of those buried here are remembering what happened. Helen hears how the group is planting trees and wildflowers, putting up a plaque, and commemorating the lives of people who were buried anonymously. Produced by Beatrice Fenton

Helen Mark visits the Wash, a vast bay in East Anglia, where the interests of fishing and conservation are finely balanced. The Wash has been fished for centuries for cockles, mussels and brown shrimp, but it's also visited by thousands of migratory birds, as they crisscross the globe. Fishing in the bay has been sustainably managed for the last 30 years, but next year things are changing, causing uncertainty and concern for the Wash fishing fleet. Produced by Beatrice Fenton.