Podcasts about New Forest

This week Ryan finds himself questioning whether he's being pest-imistic that a 10% reduction in harmful pesticides on UK farms isn't enough.....surely we can be doing better? After sharing some random news about a huge block of ice hanging around outside South Georgia, Nadia tells us all about the new plans for 20 millions trees being planted in the south of England! Show notes: Links to all stories mentioned: Whoppi Iceberg / Pesticides / New Trees! Support us: If you'd like to say "cheers" to the Into The Wild team & help support us with running costs, you can make a one off donation or sign up for a monthly tip on www.ko-fi.com/intothewildpod Chat with us: We're on Instagram & BlueSky or you can chuck us an email at intothewildpod@mail.com. To follow the hosts of the show, Ryan & Nadia, follow them at @mrryanjdalton & @buteblackbird 

Join me as I wade though water, myth and marshy lands in the New Forest!XXX

A brand new series on Radio Maria in which the Dominican Sisters of New Forest looking at the Gospel readings for the Sunday to come and the Catechism passages that speak to it. Each Wednesday morning the Dominican Sisters of St Joseph go deeper into the Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday by exploring how it is used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, finding connections in all four sections of the Catechism: the Profession of Faith, the Liturgy and Sacraments, our Life in Christ, and Prayer. Connecting the Gospel to these four dimensions of the Christian life with the help of the Catechism will break open the deepest meaning of the Scriptures for catechists of all age groups, Children's Liturgy leaders, teachers and parents.If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. Visit RadioMariaEngland.uk/donations/ to find out more. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side.

Listen every weekday for a local newscast featuring town, county, state and regional headlines. It's the daily dose of news you need on Wyoming, Idaho and the Mountain West — all in four minutes or less. 

Simon LockeCo-OwnerColombia57 Tour, Travel & LogisticsSimon grew up on a dairy farm in the beautiful New Forest, England where he developed a strong love for the countryside and fishing. His adventures in various industries helped him build valuable business skills—starting with Mechanical Engineering at an automotive leader and later launching his own successful startup focused on oak timber frame buildings.During three amazing years of hitchhiking and walking through South America and Asia, Simon discovered his passion for travel. A special moment in Colombia opened his eyes to a fantastic business opportunity. In 2006, he teamed up with co-owners to establish Colombia57. Since then, he has worked hard to develop departments and internal structures while using his creative and friendly communication style to help make the company one of Colombia's top full-service receptive tour operators.summaryIn this episode of the Big World Made Small podcast, Jason Elkins interviews Simon Locke, co-owner of Colombia57, who shares his incredible journey from a farmer's son in Hampshire to a travel entrepreneur in Colombia. Simon discusses his early life, the call to adventure that led him to South America, and the surprising experiences he had in Colombia that changed his perceptions. He reflects on the challenges of running a business in a foreign country, the importance of family support, and the evolution of his company over the years. The conversation highlights the beauty and diversity of Colombia as a travel destination and Simon's passion for sharing it with others.takeawaysSimon Locke's journey began on a farm in Hampshire.He pursued a rock and roll dream before traveling.Traveling was a way to find something different in life.Colombia was a surprising and welcoming destination.Colombia offers a diverse range of experiences.Family support played a crucial role in Simon's journey.The travel industry in Colombia has evolved significantly.Colombia57 focuses on providing tailored travel experiences.Simon emphasizes the importance of personal connections in business.The future of Colombia57 looks promising with ongoing developments. Learn more about Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Marketing and join our private community to get episode updates, special access to our guests, and exclusive adventure travel offers at bigworldmadesmall.com.

Episode Notes Suzy reviews her birding experiences from January 2025, starting with the final week of an epic vacation to Australia! Back in the UK Suzy joined a local RSPB outing and went to the New Forest with the Ladybirder sub-group of the Hampshire Ornithlogical Society (HOS). While in the New Forest Suzy spoke with HOS Chair Keith Betton about his early birding experiences and the success of HOS initiatives to increase the engagement of young people and women birders in the group. Also: news about a new Casual Birder Community! Links Bird lists Take a look at the eBird checklists Suzy made from the locations mentioned: Bruny Island, Tasmania Chook Dam, Tasmania Mount Field National Park, Tasmania Eastrop Park, Basingstoke, Hampshire   Casual Birder Community Find out more about the new Casual Birder Community   Books mentioned in the interview with Keith Betton: Where to Watch Birds in Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight: 5th Edition Behind the Binoculars: Interviews with acclaimed birdwatchers Behind More Binoculars: Interviews with acclaimed birdwatchers   Podcast buddies mentioned: Hannah - Women Birders Happy Hour Kirsty - Weekend Birder Harry - Podcast Junkies Lance Anderson's GoFundMe   The Casual Birder Bird Club The Casual Birder Bird Club is an online bird club that meets every month.  If meeting up with a group of friendly people from around the world to talk about the birds you've seen sounds like something you'd like to do, you'd be very welcome to join us. Find out more here: The Casual Birder Bird Club   Your bird stories Tell me about your bird stories - contact me on the casualbirder.com website   Support the show If you would like to help support the show's production, by buying a virtual coffee here    Keep in the Loop Sign up here for email notifications of news, blogs and episodes   The Casual Birder Podcast   https://casualbirder.com/ Don't miss an episode - follow the show! My thanks to Randy Braun for designing the artwork for the show and to The Drones for the theme music Short Sleeved Shirt. Check out their website at www.dronesmusic.net  

 Welcome to the Downe House Podcast, where you can learn more about Downe House School. In this series, we're shining a light on our feeder schools and looking at how they prepare their girls for their future at Downe House. In this episode, we're looking at boarding, and how boarding at prep school can help ease the transition to boarding at senior school. Joining Simon Jones on the podcast this week is Mr. Jonny Timms, Headmaster of Walhampton Prep School in the New Forest, Mr. Matt Godfrey, Deputy Head at Downe House, Walhampton pupil Ayley in Year Eight, and two Downe House pupils in the Upper Fourth or Year Nine. LinksDowne House online Website: www.downehouse.net

Welcome back to the Osos den! And what an Osos den this is... A whole new look! For a whole new year! We told yall we were busy.. and by busy we meant since the JFK documents were released.. we started digging up our own theories about what really happened in Dallas back in the 60s.. The Osos are getting comfortable in the new camp ground they found.. what do you think? Let us know! Don't forget to leave a comment, like and hit that SUB button for new episodes Every Thursday! Listen/Follow us: https://linktr.ee/ososgolosospodcast https://www.instagram.com/osos.golosos.podcast Join Our Discord: https://discord.com/invite/beRy7ZSbVz #oso #goloso #podcast #comedy #comedypodcast #texaspodcast #texas #dfw #fortworth #mexican #817 #jfk #newsetup #trump #president #inauguration #trump2024 #documents #declassifieddocuments #chinaai #crypto

In this episode we talk to the New Forest Couple - that's Andrew and Clare. We explore their journey, approach and some of the challenges they've faced along the way. Clare opens up about how and why events and meets can be a struggle and offers some great advice for anyone with a disability looking to join the lifestyle. This is an open and honest conversation that you will not want to miss. Thanks for hopping into our bed! Handy links Find out about The New Forest Couple by heading to Swinghub and searching 'Thenewforestcouple'. Join our Patreon and listen to episodes before anyone else by heading here: https://www.patreon.com/bedhoppersuk  Don't forget to leave us a review! iTunes would be a great place to do just that - here's a link to our show: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/bed-hoppers-swinging-in-the-uk/id1361366390  

Get ready to indulge your love for all things Eurovision with The Eurovision Showcase! Hosted by the charismatic Ciaran Urry-Tuttiett, this weekly show is your ultimate guide to the world of the Eurovision Song Contest. Find our more about the show here: https://www.escshowcase.com  Airing every Sunday at 5 PM UK Time (6 PM CET) on Forest FM, Ciaran takes you on a musical journey through Eurovision history, playing timeless classics, modern hits, and hidden gems from across the contest's storied past. Whether you're a lifelong Eurovision fan or a newcomer eager to discover the magic, this show is packed with energy, trivia, and plenty of surprises. Tune in on 92.3 & 98.9 FM across East Dorset, West Hampshire, and The New Forest, or listen online at www.forestfm.co.uk. You can also join the fun on your smart speaker—just ask it to "Play Forest FM" or use the Alexa skill "Forest FM." Don't miss out on this celebration of Europe's favourite musical extravaganza!

Episode 516 – The Source of Pain   Today we have Hattie. She is 34 years old from South London, UK, and she took her last drink on April 25th, 2021.   Sponsors for this episode include:   Better Help – 10% off your first month   Sober Link - get a promo code for $50 off of the device.   Registration is open for Recovery Elevator's first ever Men's Retreat will be April 5th through the 12th in Costa Rica. We've got space for 12 guys.   Café RE is THE social app for sober people. If you are struggling to meet people who no longer drink alcohol, then this community app is for you. Yes, it is mostly online, but we've got a bunch of in-person meetups on the calendar.   [03:57] Thoughts from Paul:   Ask the Magic 8 Ball “is alcohol the primary source of my pain?” and the responses will be “it is certain” “it is decidedly so” “without a doubt” and “yes, definitely”.   Of course, alcohol is causing the pain. It's the most destructive and addictive substance on the planet and for some strange reason it's still in our face daily with advertising everywhere.   You want to start viewing alcohol similarly to how you would look at a moldy, half-eaten hoagie sandwich on a park bench: you wouldn't touch that sandwich, let alone eat it. The tricky part is that our addiction lies to us in our own voice and do it's best to convince you that alcohol is the source of relief rather than pain. Which it can be at first, but inevitably that doesn't last long.   But your life is not over when you quit drinking. A better chapter is just beginning.   [09:24] Paul introduces Hattie:   Hattie grew up in a place called New Forest where there are wild ponies and pigs. She now lives in London with her husband and two young children. Hattie works in sustainability and also has set up Sober Happy Free on Instagram and TikTok sharing her story around sobriety.   Hattie says she took her first drink at 14. Her alcohol seeking behavior began quickly thereafter. She says alcohol helped her with confidence and feeling comfortable with herself. Drinking was more of a need than a want, she says. She says at this age it was easy to consider the drinking normal but knew that drinking alone or secretly would be a problem.   When Hattie was around 26, she was introduced to cocaine which allowed her to drink more and drink longer. Hattie says she did not have any authentic connections with people at this time. There was not a corner of her life that alcohol didn't touch.   Even once getting pregnant, which she and her husband were trying to do, she looked at the test and wondered “how on earth am I not going to drink?” Hattie made it through the pregnancy but was drinking as soon as she could after and says she was right back where she started.   Seeing a lot of people talking about Dry January online inspired Hattie to give it a try. She continued after the month ended, but never planned to quit entirely and was planning dates that she would allow herself to drink. Hattie got a sobriety coach and ended up not drinking for four months. The day that she decided to have a drink, she found herself on the phone with a friend who was in AA saying she couldn't do it anymore.   Hattie joined AA and found community. She still stays involved in it now at over three years sober. She has a sponsor, and they worked through the 12 steps together. Hattie's advice around AA is to go into it with an open mind.   For Hattie, year one was about changing her lifestyle. Year two was more about discovery as she tried new hobbies and experiences. Hattie says year three has been about giving back to the community by way of chairing meetings and starting her sober social media accounts. She is passionate about breaking the stigma of alcohol abuse.   Hattie's parting piece of guidance:  If alcohol is dominating your life or playing a negative role in it, the best thing you can do is get sober.   Recovery Elevator You took the elevator down, you've gotta take the stairs back up. We can do this.   RE merch Recovery Elevator YouTube Sobriety Tracker iTunes       

Folktales around the fire, gooding & mumping and the terrifying Hooden Horse are just some of England's winter folk traditions from history. In this episode, Dan explores the unlikely and often dark origins of some of our Christmas traditions that can be traced back thousands of years. He's joined by folklore historian Vikki Bramshaw, to discover what midwinter legends were brought over with the Anglo-Saxon invasion, the origins of the Yule log and some of the unusual ways people passed the long nights in rural England (fortune-telling chestnuts).He also explores the New Forest, Hampshire, with local historian Richard Reeves to find out more about how medieval people survived the cold winters in the woods.You can discover more in Vikki's book 'New Forest Folklore, Traditions and Charms'.This is episode 4 of our 'Origins of Christmas' series. This December, Dan explores the history behind our Christmas traditions—from extravagant Tudor feasts and carolling to midwinter Solstice celebrations, the bawdy entertainment of the Georgians, and the family-focused customs of the Victorians.Produced by Mariana Des Forges.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  

Chris Hull, one of the stars of BBC One's Garden Rescue, is a rising gardening star, working with Charlie Dimmock and Alan Titchmarsh as the new face of garden makeovers.He got his first gardening job was when he was 15 at a country house hotel in Devon, and studied at Duchy College and for a garden design degree at Sparsholt College. Hull believes schools' thinking about horticulture as a trade is moving on from being somewhere where students are funnelled when they're "not doing so well" into being seen as a worthwhile career which generates billions of pounds for the country. He sees clear pathways through diploma or a degree or RHS courses for everyone.The Garden Rescue job came about through an advert at the Society of Garden Designers "and I thought why not?" He's just finished filming season 10 for broadcast in May 2025.He says long-time presenter Charlie Dimmock is "really, really amazing because she's just really fun and just knows everything". He's also been filming with her former Groundforce co-star Alan Titchmarsh on Love Your Weekend but can't choose who he prefers, joking: "I'll have one of them hitting me over the head with a shovel!"His inspiration for TV designs comes from the strong briefs he is given, for instance for someone with a disability who has not got great access into the garden: "We're making gardens on a real budget, and you've got to be creative with a way that you use very cheap materials to still deliver like quite interesting and bespoke design. So it's hard, but it's good fun, and hopefully it teaches people at home different ideas and how they can use materials."Hull recognises the show "can get a bit of hate from the landscapers in the industry because they believe it's misleading, which I understand. But the client's budget paid for by the BBC is £6,000 for materials only, with labour not included. There's a disclaimer, which he recognises is sometimes missed.He worked with Sid Hill and won a gold at Chelsea in 2024 on a garden, having been friends since they were about 14. Managing budgets with London logistics was tough but the experience was "really, really fun overall".Hull has no plans for another show garden but if he does another he'd like to make a mental health-themed garden because his father is a paranoid schizophrenic and an ambassador for the Rethink Mental Illness charity which works to break down the stigma around mental illness. Other industry experience includes working with JPL Landscape Architects and also Agrumi, on the nursery, and helping at 2021 Chelsea Flower Show when the Hampshire business exhibited with a New Forest theme.Looking ahead, with primetime garden makeover shows such as Love Your Garden no longer on, "there's probably a gap in the market. Garden Rescue remains well liked because everybody adores Charlie and it shows people how to do projects on a budget...and also it's quite lighthearted."What's really good about garden makeover shows generally, like a lot of the home 'reno' shows, is that they're quite repeatable. So I think they're always going to be picked up and kept on TV. I think there should be more to come. Any newer ones might move in more of a direction of maybe they're recycled gardens or upcycling or more sustainability-focused." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this week's Haunting Season-themed Local Legends episode, the final of the four, Martin gathers round the Three Ravens campfire with folklorist Brice Stratford to chat all about his new book Halloween Folklore and Ghost Stories.This new collection is Brice's third book, following his first collection, Anglo Saxon Folklore: The Struggle for the Saxon Kingdoms, and New Forest Myths and Folklore, both of which were published in 2022.A storyteller, historian, actor and theatre director, Brice writes on heritage, art and architectural history for Apollo Magazine, the Spectator, and various trade publications, and for 12 years he ran the award-winning Owle Schreame theatre company which is currently on hiatus.Born and raised in the New Forest, he started his journey into folklore in the New Forest area of Southern England, engaging in folklore collecting and plenty of deep-dive research – skills which he brought to bear for his new Halloween Folklore and Ghost Stories collection.In August of this year Brice also launched a podcast, Finding Folklore, a storytelling series through which Brice and his co-host James Carney explore the legends, fairytales, ghost stories, songs and traditions of old England, with each Finding Folklore podcast episode also coming with a companion video on YouTube which expands on the themes and ideas of the main podcast episode.For now though, settle in for a chat which encompasses Halloween's origins, 'Blood Month' traditions, pig-faced spectral brides, Charles Dickens, the stunning Sedlec Ossuary and much more.To learn more about Brice, do follow him on social media, we hope you enjoy the episode, and we'll be back on Monday with our first County Episode for a while, all about Cambridgeshire!The Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays (Magic and Medicines about folk remedies and arcane spells, Three Ravens Bestiary about cryptids and mythical creatures, Dying Arts about endangered heritage crafts, and Something Wicked about folkloric true crime from across history) plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?Learn more at www.threeravenspodcast.com, join our Patreon at www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast, and find links to our social media channels here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Did you know oak supports over 2,300 species of wildlife? Discover this and more fascinating facts in our episode dedicated to the nation's favourite tree. We join Trust experts, Jules and Kate, at Londonthorpe Woods, near Grantham, to find some fascinating growths on oak trees, known as galls, and learn why hunks of deadwood are so important.  We then visit the star of the show and 'Lincolnshire's best kept secret' - the astonishing 1,000-year-old Bowthorpe Oak. It's one of 12 amazing oaks in the running for 2024 Tree of the Year. Which one will you vote for? Don't forget to rate us and subscribe! Learn more about the Woodland Trust at woodlandtrust.org.uk Transcript You are listening to Woodland Walks, a podcast for the Woodland Trust presented by Adam Shaw. We protect and plant trees for people to enjoy, to fight climate change and to help wildlife thrive.  Adam: Well, in this podcast, we're looking at the Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year competition, which is all about oaks and is on a quest to find the nation's favourite one. And there are lots to choose from. There is the Elephant Oak in the New Forest, the Queen Elizabeth Oak in West Sussex, the Darwin Oak in Shropshire, the Capon Oak on the Scottish Borders and plenty of others to choose from across Wales, Somerset, County Fermanagh, Cheshire and well, lots of other places as well. And you can vote for your favourite oak by going to the shortlist of them at the voting site woodlandtrust.org.uk/vote, so that is woodlandtrust.org.uk/vote and we'll repeat that again at the end of this podcast.   Well, today I'm going to see one of the oaks in contention for the Tree of the Year, the Bowthorpe Oak in Bourne, in Lincolnshire, a tree which has a hollow interior and had previously, that interior had been fitted with seats and had been used as a dining room for 20 people in the past, 20 people! It must have been an enormous oak and that's not a practice I think that's recommended these days. Well, certainly not. But nonetheless it's a great oak which has played a great big part in the local landscape and is much loved, not just in the UK but attracts plenty of visitors from abroad as well. Now, oaks have an amazingly important part in our culture and in days gone by were, I think, central in Druid folklore, for instance, in fact one amazing fact I have learnt making this podcast is that the name Druid comes from druer, the Celtic for oak for the word oak and wid means to know, so Druid means oak-knower, so there's a good fact for you. Anyway, enough of me. I'm off to meet some people who know all about oaks and unusually I am not starting by a tree. So, unusually, we're starting in a car and I'm joined by two women from the Woodland Trust. So first of all, introduce yourselves.  Kate: I'm Kate Lewthwaite. I am citizen science manager at the Woodland Trust.  Adam: Wonderful. And our driver for the day is...  Jules: Hi, I'm Jules Acton. I'm a fundraiser with the Woodland Trust.  Adam: So we're going to look at a few oaks today, one of which is actually in the running to be the Tree of the Year, and you can vote on that still and I'll give you details a little later on on how to do that. But first of all, you were telling me that you have a little present for me. I always like to start the day with a little present.  Jules: It's always good to start the day with a little present, I think and here's a little one for you.   Adam: Oh, and it's wrapped up in tissue paper. It's an early Christmas present. How very good. So what is that? OK so do you want to describe it?   Jules: OK so it's a little, it looks like a little woody marble really, doesn't it? And it's got a little tiny hole you can see just there and some extra other little tiny holes. That is an oak marble gall.  Adam: An oak marble...ghoul?  Jules: Gall.  Adam: And how do you spell that?  Jules: G A double L.  Adam: G A double L and what what is it?  Jules: So this is this is incredibly special, so this has in many ways changed human culture, this little tiny thing. Certainly amplified human culture. So this is a gall, which is made by, and it's made by a little tiny wasp. And the wasp lays a an egg in the in the bud of the tree of the oak tree. And it makes the oak change and it sort of changes chemically. It's really strange. And it makes the the oak form this little marble shaped thing on the end of a twig. And that becomes home for the gall wasps' larvae, and so that the little larva grows up inside it and it has this its own special home, but it's also full of lovely food. So that's interesting itself and that it's it's it's it's got this sort of little little home but it what's particularly interesting human, from the human perspective is that these kind of galls were used to make ink for about 1,000 years and the the kind of ink that they made, it was used, I think, until the middle of the 20th century. So kind of until quite recently. So Shakespeare's plays were written on oak gall ink, Newton's theories, the American Declaration of Independence, huge amounts of historic documents.  Adam: So just trying to understand that, Shakespeare's plays were written on ink created by this thing?  Jules: By a gall like, yeah, this kind of thing by by a gall. Yeah. But you can you can still now you can make gall gall ink from these little little things here. So it in many ways it it amplified, this little tiny thing we've got here, amplified the whole course of human history, culture, etcetera in our part of the world.  Adam: Quite an extraordinary place to start our journey today. Wonderful. So, OK, so we're, yes, we'll put that away nice and safe and we'll start our journey. Kate, do you just want to start by telling me what we're going to do when we get out of the car?  Kate: We're going to have a walk round Londonthorpe Wood, which is one of the Woodland Trust sites, one of our thousand woods that we own and we're going to see an oak tree that Jules has found for us to go and talk about.  Adam: Fantastic. All right, well, let's go.  Jules: Well, well so we've just seen some amazing galls on what looks like quite a young tree, it's probably about 30-years-old, would you say, Kate, this one?   Kate: Maybe, yes.  Jules: And, yeah, they're they're bright red and they're on the underside of the oak leaves and they look a bit like cherries and   Adam: I was going to say, the one you showed me was all grey, you gave me an old rubbish one, didn't you? This is what they look like when they're on the tree. It's red, it does look like a cherry.  Jules: Yeah, this is a particularly stunning one, isn't it? And they they are literally called cherry galls. And they again  Adam: They're called cherry balls?  Jules: Cherry galls.   Adam: Galls, cherry galls.  Jules: And they're about the same size as the marble gall that we saw earlier. And I believe they are also caused by a gall wasp. And but what is good about these kind of galls is that they're relatively easy to spot. So once you get your eye in, you start seeing them everywhere, so it's a really lovely thing to start doing, you know, with children or just looking yourself when you're out on a on a walk, you know.  Adam: Wow. So that shows that a wasp has formed that?  Jules: Yeah  Adam: And these are non-stinging wasps, aren't they?  Jules: These are non-stinging wasps. They're teeny, teeny, tiny wasps. They don't look like your your black, you know the big black and and and yellow stripey things that come at your ice cream, not that there's anything wrong with those wasps, they're lovely too.  Adam: Inside that gall is baby wasps? Is that?  Jules: There will be a little larvae inside there.  Adam: And that's what they're using as as food, or is it?  Jules: Yes, that's their home but it's also their food source. And I'm not at some point in the year the the the little tiny wasp, once it's developed, will will kind of drill its way out and then be set free to the to the wider world. But I think we'll find some other kinds of galls, actually. So it might be worth us moving on a little bit and just see if we can.  Adam: OK. Moving on, yeah, that's politely telling me to be quiet and start walking.  Jules: Oh sorry *laughs*  Adam: Sorry, there's a, oh it's a tractor going up and down the field next to us. So that's what the noise is in the background. But the fact that we we sort of just held a branch here and and Kate was already, you know, lots of wildlife, jumped onto her jumper, does raise the issue about how many, how much wildlife an oak supports. And I was hear some fantastic number. Just tell me a little bit about that.  Jules: We know that the oak supports more than 2,300 species and that they could be species that that feed off the oak, that live inside it, that live on, on, on or or around it, that you know they perch in it. So species using the the oak tree in all different ways and they are, they they they're birds and mammals, they're lichen, fungi, invertebrates. All sorts of different kinds of species, but what's important, I think, is that they're only the species we've countered, and I think there are a huge number more that we just haven't got around to counting would, would you agree, Kate? You probably know more about this than me.  Kate: Yes, definitely. And some of those species can live on other types of tree, and some are only found on oak trees, so they're particularly important. And of course, we haven't started talking about the value of deadwood and all those wonderful rare beetles whose larvae live in the wood. So there's lots to be said about that as well.  Adam: I'll tell you what, let's just walk all further away from this tractor, which sounds closer than it is, and you can tell me about the importance of the deadwood.  Jules: Well we might see some spectacular deadwood.  Adam: Oh well, we might see some, OK. OK, so we have stopped by some deadwood and you're going to explain why, is that right? Right. OK. Kate is going to explain. Well, why have we stopped here, Kate?  Kate: Because deadwood is absolutely fantastic and we have a history of a nation of being a little bit too tidy and taking it away and using it for firewood and other things, when actually it's an amazing habitat in its own right. I'm just looking at the variety of rot holes, of larval galleries where the insect larvae have fed, and then the adults emerged. And it is like a whole habitat in its own right. And actually deadwood is really rare. Much of the woodland in the UK is not felt to be in good ecological condition and one of the reasons for that is a lack of deadwood. So it's incredibly important habitat and we don't have enough of it.  Jules: One of the things I didn't understand until recently and Kate, you might know more about this than me, but there's there's different kinds of deadwood. So if you have, it's important to have deadwood in different formats, so standing deadwood so when the old tree is still standing upright, and and deadwood that's lying down on the ground.  Adam: Right. What what why, so it matters if it's vertical or horizontal?  Jules: It it it matters that you have both kinds.  Adam: And why?  Jules: Because, I feel like I'm at the edge of my knowledge, so it's because about it's about different habitats, isn't it Kate, is that right?  Kate: Yeah, I think so. And the the wood will rot at a different rate. It's quite ironic because the one we're standing at now is actually at a 45° angle. So it's neither vertical nor nor horizontal. And of course, oak trees are absolutely full of of tannins, which I think are the same compound you find in the oak galls that enable the writing. But they also mean, you know this huge, great piece of deadwood here could be around for hundreds of years because it won't, it will rot very, very slowly.  Jules: And and one of the great things is when you have deadwood right next to living wood as well, because that creates all these different conditions which will suit different kinds of invertebrates and fungi as well, so that that's really important to have this collection of of different kinds of wood in in you know in a similar area.   Adam: Excellent. OK, we've, we've stopped. We've stopped Kate, and you've got very excited.  Kate: It happens quite easily when I'm out in nature. And there's a whole pile of knopper galls on the floor here, and they're black. You know, they've dropped off the tree. They've done their job. The the wasp has flown off. But I wondered if we could, I've no idea if this is gonna work, I wondered if we could actually try writing with them because they are oozing black.  Adam: Oh my, right, this is so exciting. OK, so this is like this is a modern day Shakespeare. Have you got? OK. The line is to be or not to be. I see. Hold on a second. So you've picked it up, right, I I think you might do something to it.   Kate: Well, I might have to. Shall we see, shall we see if it just?  Adam: Right, but you're not, you're just gonna?  Jules: Ohh there we go.  Kate: There is a brown ooze and it's I think it's not just from the path.  Adam: I was going to say, it's not just mud.  Kate: It's not. It's this kind of coffee colour.  Adam: Wow, OK. And you are writing to be or not to not be.  Kate: I am writing to be or not to be, I I don't know if I break it open a bit more if you might get. Ohh. This is gonna stain my nails, isn't it?  Adam: OK. Ohh dear, don't worry I'll I'll pay for the the visit to to the nail parlour.  Kate: *laughs* I shouldn't worry. Yes, we are actually getting some.  Adam: To be or not to be. Well, I'm sure that would have actually been mixed with water or something.  Kate: Most likely  Adam: Or some alcohol and put into a quill, but that does what hold on, let me just rub it, see. Well, I can confirm that is not just what we have now created ink. Proper exciting.  Kate: Absolutely.  Adam: Thank you very much. Well, we're heading away from our ink gall-bearing oaks to see the main attraction of the day, which is a short drive from here. It is the Bowthorpe Oak, one of the contenders for Tree of the Year. It is rooted in a grass paddock behind the 17th century farmhouse nearby. In 2002, the Tree Council, in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, designated the Bowthorpe Oak one of 50 great British trees. One of the 50 greatest British trees in recognition of its place in our national heritage. And I'm meeting the current custodian of the oak who runs the farm in which it lives.  George: My name is George Blanchard and I am one of the family members here that farm at Bowthorpe Park Farm.  Adam: Right. And you have, we're standing by this famous tree. People come here to see this tree?  George: They do, yeah, we get them from all over the world. A lot of lot of UK, obviously, Europe and America, we get a lot of interest from America.  Adam: Well, tell me a bit about this tree.  George: So this tree, the Bowthorpe Oak, is the UK's largest girthed oak tree. It's absolutely stunning as you can, as you can see, fully in leaf at the moment it looks amazing and yeah, that's it's claim to fame.  Adam: Right it's wide the widest I think it was the second widest tree in the UK. Is that right?  George: We know it's the largest largest oak tree in in terms of it's it's the most complete, you know. So I think there could be wider ones, but not quite as complete.  Adam: Not quite as good as your tree!  George: Yeah, exactly. This is yeah *laughs*  Adam: No, I agree. And and is is this a family farm? Is this?  George: It is yeah.  Adam: Right so you've grown up, you've you played under the boughs of this tree.  George: I have. Yeah, yeah and and inside it as well. Remember it is hollow so.  Adam: Right. Yeah. So tell me a bit about the sort of the folklore and the stories around the tree.  George: Yeah so oak trees naturally start to hollow at around 500 years old, but this one was hollowed even further, back in the 1700s by a chap called George Pauncefort and  Adam: It was, it was, it wasn't naturally hollow, he hollowed it out?  George: They they do, they do naturally hollow, but he hollowed it even further. And you can tell this when you're looking inside it, because the the sides are quite flat. It's very unnatural. You can see so the hollowing has been done by by tools. And so he also put benches around the inside of it and a and a doorway on on the west side and even even sort of paved the flooring but and and put a pigeon loft in the crown, which I think, I think back in the day in the 1700s, if you had a pigeon loft in your tree, you were somebody *laughs*.  Adam: Ohh really that's like Lamborghini time, right? OK, forget your Lamborghinis, I've got a pigeon loft in my tree.   George: Exactly. Yeah, yeah. And he would have parties in there as as you would, wouldn't you?  Adam: Well, yeah, of course. I mean, you've gone to all that trouble. Was he a member of the family? Was this being passed down?   George: No, no, there's no there's no relation, no relation. We've we've only been farming here since the sort of late 40s.  Adam: Right. OK, amazing. Amazing stuff. And I mean, and it looks in fairly, I mean as you say, it's in good leaf, it's in also just it looks to the untutored eye in good nick as well, generally healthy.  George: It is yeah. Really good really good condition currently. We lost a a limb off the back and that was that was quite concerning because it's it's quite dramatic when they shed a shed a limb, but it is what they they naturally do. We have an inspection done on the tree annually, but at the time of losing the limb, we were, we were quite concerned. So we upped the type of inspection we had done. And they were quite, quite invasive, I say invasive it was, you know, using really small drills, to see if there's any adverse rotting in any places. But no, they were really happy with the condition of the tree and and how healthy it is so other than any sort of man-made issue, I don't see why it shouldn't carry on growing as it is.  Adam: And it's amazing because, I mean, you know, it's taken us quite a while to get here and people come here all this way just to see this tree.  George: They do, yes, yes, seek it out, we call it Lincolnshire's best kept secret.  Adam: Right. Amazing. From all over the world?  George: They do yeah yeah. From all over the world. Like I say, a lot of a lot of Europe people come from Europe and a lot of people come from America. We find that the two two types of people from America, those that really appreciate it and those that just can't get their head around it because it's nowhere near as big as their redwoods *laughs*  Adam: Right? Call this big. Call this big, you should see...  George: Exactly. Yeah, call this big, we've got bigger.  Adam: Yeah OK. Brilliant well thank you very much, I will take a tour round it.  George: Thank you.  Adam: So one of the other, now I have to say, first of all, let me have a look at the front front, we've taken a book with us because Jules has published a book called Oaklore and you've brought it out here because there is a poem about this oak in your book.  Jules: There is and it was written well over 100 years ago by a poet called John Clare and but the interesting thing is when he wrote this poem this would have already been an ancient tree, so it's it's quite an interesting record that he was standing in awe, looking at this tree, just like we are now really.  Adam: Right, right. So when did he write this?  Jules: I don't have the exact date in front of me, but I know it's over well over 100 years ago.  Adam: OK, well over 100 years and you're going to put on your best poetry reading voice.  Jules: *laughs* I'll have a go.  Adam: Go on, give us, I always love, I mean, we did this in the Sherwood Forest podcast where we took a book about Sherwood Forest and a book about a tree to the tree it's about. So we're now going to read a poem about the tree we're standing by. So this poem by John Clare.  Jules: And it's called Burthorp Oak. So here we go. Burthorp Oak.   Old noted oak! I saw thee in a mood  Of vague indifference; and yet with me  Thy memory, like thy fate, hath lingering stood  For years, thou hermit, in the lonely sea  Of grass that waves around thee! Solitude  Paints not a lonelier picture to the view,  Burthorp! than thy one melancholy tree  Age-rent, and shattered to a stump. Yet new  Leaves come upon each rift and broken limb  With every spring; and Poesy's visions swim  Around it, of old days and chivalry;  And desolate fancies bid the eyes grow dim  With feelings, that earth's grandeur should decay,  And all its olden memories pass away.  Adam: Brilliant. That's that's a lovely poem to read by by the tree.  Jules: I think it's quite interesting that he says age rent and shattered to a stump so it it sort of suggests that the tree is in a worse condition than now, wouldn't you say so Kate? And it looks like it might be happier now than when Clare saw it.  Kate: I was just looking at it and I mean it looks like some of those shoots have put on a good foot of growth this year. So that's the amazing thing about ancient oaks is they they so-called retrench. So all the limbs, the limbs drop off, they become shorter and and and wider and then they might all just start to sort of grow again and it sort of goes through these amazing cycles. Certainly there's a lot more vegetation on it than when I last saw it 15 years ago. It looks fabulous.  Adam: And also a lot of oaks grow very tall. This isn't so tall it it is wider, isn't it? It's a squatter tree. Is that because it's actually not had to compete, because it's actually in a field by itself isn't it? It's not competing for light with lots of other trees.  Kate: Yes, maybe. And also trees like this do, the really ancient trees they do tend to become short and squat and it's part, and hollow, and that's part of their survival strategy is that they'll shed some of these top branches and they'll, they'll shorten and and widen.  Adam: Right. I mean, oaks are really important, aren't they in the UK especially, they're part of the national identity, really, aren't they? And and a lot of that's got to do with folklore, which I know, Jules, you've written about as well.  Jules: Yeah, I mean the the oak has been part of our culture well, as far as as, as as far as we know as far as written records go back and even we we believe that the the Druids themselves were very also very interested in oak trees and they worshipped in oak groves and they particularly worshipped mistletoe, the rare mistletoe that came off off oaks. Of course, we don't have written records on the the Druids, so we don't, we know very little about them, but that's certainly what we believe. And then it's been threaded throughout our our history and our culture that the oaks right up to the present day, you know people are still writing about it and painting painting oak trees and you've got wonderful ambassadors like Luke Adam Hawker who is very inspired by oak trees and goes out drawing them.  Adam: Why do you, I mean I don't suppose there's an answer, but do you have a take on why we've landed on the oak as such a a central part of our mythology and identity?  Jules: Well, I I think I think all of our native trees will play a role in that in our folklore and our mythology and and our culture, I think the oak is is is a particularly impressive tree isn't it, especially when you're standing next to a tree like this that that is so majestic and and you know the words like majestic, kingly, queenly, grand, they they just sort of pop into your head. There is just something incredibly awe-inspiring about the oak tree. And then, as we've we've seen before it, it just has such a huge impact on our ecology as well. So I think I think it's just something it it does a lot of heavy lifting culturally and also naturally the oak tree.  Adam: And almost every pub is called the Royal Oak.  Jules: Yes, yes, I think there's at the last count there's well over 400 pubs called the Royal Oak.  Adam: And you know that personally by visiting them?   Jules: Well, I've yes, I've I've tried to count them all. I've still got some way to go *both laugh*  Adam: Yeah. OK, OK, alright. Well, it's it's a good project to be having.  Jules: So there's an interesting story behind the that name the Royal Oak. And the reason the pubs are called that relates back to a very special oak tree, the Boscobel Oak. Now we have to go back in history a few hundred years. And it takes us back to the Battle of Worcester and the son of Charles I was in in battle with the with, with, with the parliamentarians, and he took a drubbing at the Battle of Worcester, and he needed to escape. And he reached this place called Boscobel House, and he was going to hide out in, in that house and try and escape the the soldiers, the the enemy. But it was very insecure and one of his advisers suggested he, instead of hiding in the house, he hid in the oak tree. So they spent the whole night in the oak tree, which subsequently called called the Boscobel Oak, and this and and and they escaped capture and the king spent the whole night with this chap called William Careless as he as he was called   Adam: William Careless?  Jules: William Careless who turned out not to be careless at all because he actually saved the king. And apparently the king sort of curled up with his head on Careless' knee and and he, they they got away. They got away with it and because of that you know that then obviously led into a whole series of events which ultimately led to the restoration of the monarchy and said King became Charles II and and because of that there was an enormous celebration of oak trees. So they they they were raised in status even further. So we've got all the Royal Oak pubs which are effectively commemorating that occasion. But there's also a great day of celebration was declared. It was the 29 May. I think that was the King's birthday, and it was 29 May. And it became oak apple day. And that was when we would all when people across the land would would gather and and celebrate the restoration of the monarchy. And one of the things they used to do was they people would bring branches with oak apples, which is another of those amazing galls. And the more oak apples you had on your branches, the better the better you were, you know, the, the, the cooler you were at the party. And if you didn't bring oak branches with you, apparently people would be mean to you and they'd whip you with nettles.   Adam: Blimey, this story took a turn!  Jules: Yeah, these parties got these these parties got quite out of hand. I actually think we should bring these days back. Not, no nettles. But I think actually wouldn't it be great if we spent every 29 May celebrating our amazing oak trees and and and also the wider nature around us.  Adam: Yeah, we've missed it this year, but I'm putting a date in for us to meet at a Royal Oak somewhere between us on 29 May.  Jules: Yeah, let's do it. Let's party. Yeah. And maybe drink a glass of oak flavoured wine or whisky.  Adam: OK, never had that, but I'm I'm up for it. I'm up for it. Kate, this is also important because this is in the running for Tree of the Year.  Kate: Absolutely. So the Woodland Trust hosts the UK Tree of the Year competition, and this year we've focused on oak trees.   Adam: So so they're all oaks.  Kate: All of them are oak trees this year, so we've got 12 candidates from across the UK and the wonderful Bowthorpe Oak here is one of them. It's my local tree so I'm a little bit biased, but these trees all tell amazing stories. We've got one that's shaped like an elephant in the New Forest. We've got one that has survived being in the middle of pine plantation in the Highlands of Scotland and we've got one that's sadly under threat from a bypass in Shrewsbury. So we've got some amazing stories from these trees and the public can vote. So voting closes on the 21 October 2024 and you can go to the Woodland Trust website so it's woodlandtrust.org.uk/vote.  Adam: There were some cow noises just as you said that in the background! Just to prove that we're in a farm *all laugh*.  Thank you for listening to the Woodland Trust Woodland Walks. Join us next month when Adam will be taking another walk in the company of Woodland Trust staff partners and volunteers. And don't forget to subscribe to the series on iTunes or wherever you are listening. And do give us a review and a rating. If you want to find out more about our woods and those that are close to you, check out the Woodland Trust website. Just head to the visiting woods pages. Thank you. 

Today on Beating Cancer Daily, Saranne discovers a unique and nature-integrated strategy for boosting well-being during and after cancer treatments: forest bathing. On vacation in the Adirondacks, Saranne uncovers the Japanese practice of Shinrin-Yoku, or forest bathing, transcending simple outdoor excursions by offering a holistic multi-sensory experience. As a Stage IV cancer survivor, Saranne shares her amazement and the scientifically backed benefits of this practice, emphasizing its potential to improve sleep quality, mood, focus, and stress levels—all crucial for those undergoing or recovering from cancer treatment. "Can you imagine beyond the leaves, beyond the trees, beyond birds, and beyond just breathing in clean, fresh air? This is a multi-sensory exploration of the forest." ~Saranne Today on Beating Cancer Daily: ·     Exploring the Japanese practice of forest bathing, also known as Shinrin-yoku·     The scientifically backed benefits of connecting deeply with nature·     How to engage in forest bathing using all five senses·     The importance of a digital detox to enhance the forest bathing experience·     Potential physical health benefits like reducing blood pressure and boosting the immune system·     Respecting safety guidelines, such as not forest bathing alone during cancer treatment·     The emotional and psychological healing from forest bathing·     Practical steps to find certified forest bathing programs nearby Resources Mentioned: ·     JapanTravel.com (source for detailed guides on Shinrin-yoku)·     National Geographic (highlighting the Adirondacks as a top forest bathing location)·     The book "Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness" by Dr. Qing Li  The #1 Rated Cancer Survivor Podcast by FeedSpot and Ranked the Top 5 Best Cancer Podcast by CancerCare News, Beating Cancer Daily is listened to in more than 91 countries on 6 continents and has over 300 original daily episodes hosted by stage IV survivor Saranne Rothberg!   Are you wondering How You Can Support Beating Cancer Daily and ComedyCures.org? By becoming a supporter of ComedyCures.org, you'll help us continue our essential programs and research. Your generosity will significantly impact cancer patients, caregivers, doctors, nurses, and researchers worldwide. Choose your level of support: • Supporter: $50 (or $5 per month)• Friend: $150 (or $15 per month)• Champion: $500 (or $50 per month)• VIP: $5,000 annually Donate Herehttps://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=GDPQCM8PHJT

The Mark Twain National Forest encompasses more than 1.5 million acres in central and southern Missouri. Managing that vast wilderness for both conservation and recreation is a large task that takes a team of U.S. Forest Service employees in seven district offices. Vince Keeler was recently appointed as the supervisor and discusses his background, goals for the forest, and how he intends to make Missouri home.

Contrary to popular belief, Robin Hood may not have been the merry medieval outlaw of Sherwood Forest. Rather, a look at real historical figures who inspired the legend are narrowed down to the most unlikely suspect: an Anglo-Saxon hitman who may have assassinated the King of England.Today's guest, Peter Staveley, proposes that Robin Hood lived during the time of William II (near the time of the Norman conquest of England in 1066), rather than Richard I and Prince John of the late 1100s. He argues that Robin was responsible for the death of William II, also known as Rufus, in what was long considered a hunting accident in the New Forest in 1100. This act conveniently paved the way for William's brother to ascend the throne as Henry I. Staveley places Robin deep within the geography of South Yorkshire, with strong ties to historic Hallamshire, Loxley, Bradfield, and Ecclesfield, challenging the traditional narrative and the long-held association with Nottingham.We explore how Yorkshire, particularly Sheffield, might reclaim the legacy of Robin Hood from Nottingham and reveal the true, rougher man behind the legend.Staveley is author of “Robin Unhooded, And the Death of a King.”

We don't know much about what happens to the soul after it departs the fleshy vessel that held it upon this Earth, but we know that each and every person leaves behind some magic. They leave behind stories, memories, and loved ones. In honor of ones passing, loved ones will write obituaries that detail the life of the one now gone.  In this episode, we've selected some very witchy obituaries to read. Rest in Peace to some very magical souls, we're grateful to have been touched by your energy and your life, even if it was in death.  Holly McCray Blair (1948- 2020) exploded into Glitter and bats on August 17, 2020. Eva Mondon (1941 - 2023) loved to hand out her card which read, “storytelling - matchmaking, advice sought and unsought, advisor to the lifelorn, word of mouth.” Sybil Leek (1917- 1982) was an “ordinary witch from the New Forest in England,” but she was anything but ordinary and is best known for her book, Diary of a Witch. Raymond Brownley (1931 - 2014), his larger than life persona and trademark stubbornness will not be forgotten, nor will his “life-long ménage a trois with his homemade chili and Gas-X.” Mother Fisher died at nearly 90 years old in 1888 and was known far and wide for her powers. Colin Fry (1962 - 2015) had his first paranormal encounter at a very young age and grew up to become an English television medium and psychic with a powerful spirit guide named Magnus.  Book Mentioned: New York Times Book of the Dead Diary of a Witch - by Sybil Leek Thanks to Tik Tok for some assistance in finding some of these obituaries. Have ghost stories of your own? E-mail them to us at twogirlsoneghostpodcast@gmail.com This episode is sponsored by Honeylove, Nutrafol and Factor. Treat yourself to the best bras and shapewear on the market and save 20% Off at honeylove.com/TGOG. Take the first step to visibly thicker, healthier hair. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners $10 your first month's subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code TGOG Factor's fresh, never frozen meals are dietitian-approved and ready to eat in just 2 minutes–so no matter how busy you are, you'll always have time to enjoy nutritious, great-tasting meals. Head to Factormeals.com/tgog50 and use code tgog50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month.  If you enjoy our show, please consider joining our Patreon, rating and reviewing on iTunes & Spotify and following us on social media! Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Discord. Edited and produced by Jaimi Ryan, original music by Arms Akimbo! Disclaimer: the use of white sage and smudging is a closed practice. If you're looking to cleanse your space, here are some great alternatives!

Rerun: William II, son of William The Conqueror, took a hunting trip to the New Forest on 2nd August, 1100 - and was shot dead by an arrow, which punctured his lung.  But, whodunnit? Chroniclers laid the blame at the door of Walter Tirel, who quickly fled to France. But could it have really been fratricide, orchestrated by William's younger brother Henry? In this episode, Rebecca, Olly and Arion weigh up the suspects; review William's ‘addiction to sodomy', and unearth other undignified Royal deaths from history... Further Reading: • ‘Horrible Histories' do William's death (BBC, 2011): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DalHBbf7f8 • William's biography at Historic UK: https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/William-Rufus/ • The Death of William II (Reading Museum, 2017): https://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/blog/death-william-ii ‘Why am I hearing a rerun?' Each Thursday and Friday we repeat stories from our archive of 800+ episodes, so we can maintain the quality of our independent podcast and bring you fresh, free content every Monday-Wednesday…  … But

In this episode, we are joined by Tracey Howes, a functional breathwork instructor, freediver, and advanced Oxygen Advantage instructor.

On today's episode Max Hayes is joined by Newcastle United podcast host Andrew Musgrove, to discuss the transfer of Elliot Anderson from Newcastle to Nottingham Forest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kate Graeme is the new President of Forest and Bird - the first woman to hold the role in its 101 year history. 

Max Hayes is joined by author Ben Dobson who's recently released ‘Too Good to be Forgotten: 3 wise men from the football's golden era'. Ben discusses the book & working with Forest legends including Tony Woodcock & John McGovern. Buy the book: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of Local Legends, Martin gathers round the campfire with the author of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Folk Tales Mike O'Leary.Mike has been a professional storyteller since 1995, and across the last almost 30 years has developed a real expertise in the folklore of Hampshire.Based in Southampton, a city which he's studied academically, as a Geographer, Mike has led a rich life that has seen him travel, live, and work, all over the UK.He's written several books, including Hampshire and Isle of Wight Folk Tales, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Ghost Tales, Hampshire Folk Tales for Children, Sussex Folk Tales, and The Pilgrimage of the Piltdown Man. But his career started out in nature. Having spent his early life in Scotland and several years in Bristol, he worked as a professional gardener and spent lots of time in some of England's wilder places, including the New Forest, which he knows particularly well. Later in life he then qualified to become a primary school teacher, while also telling stories to audiences of all ages and in a dizzying array of places, including in the sea, neck deep in the drink!One of the special things about Mike's storytelling style is that he likes to play tunes on his walking stick flute, a wonderful prop and instrument, but, as anyone who has read his books will tell you, his voice has wit and humour whether in person or on the page.So settle in for an hour of chat with a storyteller who knows Hampshire's stories as well as anyone, from knights and giants to ghosts to those ever elusive white deer...Learn more about Mike and his work here: https://www.facebook.com/MikeOLearystorytellerThe Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays (Magic and Medicines about folk remedies and arcane spells, Three Ravens Bestiary about cryptids and mythical creatures, Dying Arts about endangered heritage crafts, and Something Wicked about folkloric true crime from across history) plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.With a range of exclusive content on Patreon too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?Learn more at www.threeravenspodcast.com, join our Patreon at www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast, and find links to our social media channels here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode we're headed back to Hampshire, and Eleanor is telling her take on The Wherwell Cockatrice!We start off discussing St Melangell and her abbey filled with wild animals, after which we head to Hampshire.In addition to chatting about the New Forest and some of the many magical and witchy goings on associated with it, plus some spooky goings on in Hampshire places like Palace House and Glasshayes House, we then discuss a very strange County Dish - the 'Hampshire Goose.' Which has nothing to do with geese at all.After some folkloric chat about topics including the famous cunning woman Sally Leek, a very lazy fairy called Laurence, and the adventures of Sir Bevis of Hampton, plus some excerpts from this week's Local Legends interview with author of Hampshire Folk Tales Mike O'Leary, it's onto the main event: Eleanor's telling of "The Wherwell Cockatrice."Speak to you again on Thursday for our new Three Ravens Bestiary bonus episode all about Goblins, and our Film Club episode for May where we'll be discussing The Wicker Man!Speak to you again on Thursday for our new Magic and Medicines bonus episode all about Amulets!The Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays (Magic and Medicines about folk remedies and arcane spells, Three Ravens Bestiary about cryptids and mythical creatures, Dying Arts about endangered heritage crafts, and Something Wicked about folkloric true crime from across history) plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?Learn more at www.threeravenspodcast.com, join our Patreon at www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast, and find links to our social media channels here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Children of the New Forest is a children's novel published in 1847 by Frederick Marryat. It is set in the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth. The story follows the fortunes of the four Beverley children who are orphaned during the war, and hide from their Roundhead oppressors in the shelter of the New Forest where they learn to live off the land.The story begins in 1647 when King Charles I has been defeated in the civil war and has fled from London towards the New Forest. Parliamentary soldiers have been sent to search the forest and decide to burn Arnwood, the house of Colonel Beverley, a Cavalier officer killed at the Battle of Naseby. The four orphan children of the house, Edward, Humphrey, Alice and Edith, are believed to have died in the flames. However, they are saved by Jacob Armitage, a local gamekeeper, who hides them in his isolated cottage acting as his grandchildren.Under Armitage's guidance, the children adapt from an aristocratic lifestyle to that of simple foresters. After Armitage's death, Edward takes charge and the children develop and expand the farmstead, aided by the entrepreneurial spirit of the younger brother Humphrey. They are assisted by a gypsy boy, Pablo, who they rescue from a pitfall trap. A sub-plot involves a hostile Puritan gamekeeper named Corbould who seeks to harm Edward and his family. Edward also encounters the sympathetic Puritan, Heatherstone, placed in charge of the Royal land in the New Forest, and rescues his daughter, Patience, in a house-fire. Edward leaves the cottage and works as a secretary for Heatherstone, but Edward maintains the pretence that he is the grandson of Jacob Armitage. (From Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Children of the New Forest is a children's novel published in 1847 by Frederick Marryat. It is set in the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth. The story follows the fortunes of the four Beverley children who are orphaned during the war, and hide from their Roundhead oppressors in the shelter of the New Forest where they learn to live off the land.The story begins in 1647 when King Charles I has been defeated in the civil war and has fled from London towards the New Forest. Parliamentary soldiers have been sent to search the forest and decide to burn Arnwood, the house of Colonel Beverley, a Cavalier officer killed at the Battle of Naseby. The four orphan children of the house, Edward, Humphrey, Alice and Edith, are believed to have died in the flames. However, they are saved by Jacob Armitage, a local gamekeeper, who hides them in his isolated cottage acting as his grandchildren.Under Armitage's guidance, the children adapt from an aristocratic lifestyle to that of simple foresters. After Armitage's death, Edward takes charge and the children develop and expand the farmstead, aided by the entrepreneurial spirit of the younger brother Humphrey. They are assisted by a gypsy boy, Pablo, who they rescue from a pitfall trap. A sub-plot involves a hostile Puritan gamekeeper named Corbould who seeks to harm Edward and his family. Edward also encounters the sympathetic Puritan, Heatherstone, placed in charge of the Royal land in the New Forest, and rescues his daughter, Patience, in a house-fire. Edward leaves the cottage and works as a secretary for Heatherstone, but Edward maintains the pretence that he is the grandson of Jacob Armitage. (From Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Children of the New Forest is a children's novel published in 1847 by Frederick Marryat. It is set in the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth. The story follows the fortunes of the four Beverley children who are orphaned during the war, and hide from their Roundhead oppressors in the shelter of the New Forest where they learn to live off the land.The story begins in 1647 when King Charles I has been defeated in the civil war and has fled from London towards the New Forest. Parliamentary soldiers have been sent to search the forest and decide to burn Arnwood, the house of Colonel Beverley, a Cavalier officer killed at the Battle of Naseby. The four orphan children of the house, Edward, Humphrey, Alice and Edith, are believed to have died in the flames. However, they are saved by Jacob Armitage, a local gamekeeper, who hides them in his isolated cottage acting as his grandchildren.Under Armitage's guidance, the children adapt from an aristocratic lifestyle to that of simple foresters. After Armitage's death, Edward takes charge and the children develop and expand the farmstead, aided by the entrepreneurial spirit of the younger brother Humphrey. They are assisted by a gypsy boy, Pablo, who they rescue from a pitfall trap. A sub-plot involves a hostile Puritan gamekeeper named Corbould who seeks to harm Edward and his family. Edward also encounters the sympathetic Puritan, Heatherstone, placed in charge of the Royal land in the New Forest, and rescues his daughter, Patience, in a house-fire. Edward leaves the cottage and works as a secretary for Heatherstone, but Edward maintains the pretence that he is the grandson of Jacob Armitage. (From Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Children of the New Forest is a children's novel published in 1847 by Frederick Marryat. It is set in the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth. The story follows the fortunes of the four Beverley children who are orphaned during the war, and hide from their Roundhead oppressors in the shelter of the New Forest where they learn to live off the land.The story begins in 1647 when King Charles I has been defeated in the civil war and has fled from London towards the New Forest. Parliamentary soldiers have been sent to search the forest and decide to burn Arnwood, the house of Colonel Beverley, a Cavalier officer killed at the Battle of Naseby. The four orphan children of the house, Edward, Humphrey, Alice and Edith, are believed to have died in the flames. However, they are saved by Jacob Armitage, a local gamekeeper, who hides them in his isolated cottage acting as his grandchildren.Under Armitage's guidance, the children adapt from an aristocratic lifestyle to that of simple foresters. After Armitage's death, Edward takes charge and the children develop and expand the farmstead, aided by the entrepreneurial spirit of the younger brother Humphrey. They are assisted by a gypsy boy, Pablo, who they rescue from a pitfall trap. A sub-plot involves a hostile Puritan gamekeeper named Corbould who seeks to harm Edward and his family. Edward also encounters the sympathetic Puritan, Heatherstone, placed in charge of the Royal land in the New Forest, and rescues his daughter, Patience, in a house-fire. Edward leaves the cottage and works as a secretary for Heatherstone, but Edward maintains the pretence that he is the grandson of Jacob Armitage. (From Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Children of the New Forest is a children's novel published in 1847 by Frederick Marryat. It is set in the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth. The story follows the fortunes of the four Beverley children who are orphaned during the war, and hide from their Roundhead oppressors in the shelter of the New Forest where they learn to live off the land.The story begins in 1647 when King Charles I has been defeated in the civil war and has fled from London towards the New Forest. Parliamentary soldiers have been sent to search the forest and decide to burn Arnwood, the house of Colonel Beverley, a Cavalier officer killed at the Battle of Naseby. The four orphan children of the house, Edward, Humphrey, Alice and Edith, are believed to have died in the flames. However, they are saved by Jacob Armitage, a local gamekeeper, who hides them in his isolated cottage acting as his grandchildren.Under Armitage's guidance, the children adapt from an aristocratic lifestyle to that of simple foresters. After Armitage's death, Edward takes charge and the children develop and expand the farmstead, aided by the entrepreneurial spirit of the younger brother Humphrey. They are assisted by a gypsy boy, Pablo, who they rescue from a pitfall trap. A sub-plot involves a hostile Puritan gamekeeper named Corbould who seeks to harm Edward and his family. Edward also encounters the sympathetic Puritan, Heatherstone, placed in charge of the Royal land in the New Forest, and rescues his daughter, Patience, in a house-fire. Edward leaves the cottage and works as a secretary for Heatherstone, but Edward maintains the pretence that he is the grandson of Jacob Armitage. (From Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Children of the New Forest is a children's novel published in 1847 by Frederick Marryat. It is set in the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth. The story follows the fortunes of the four Beverley children who are orphaned during the war, and hide from their Roundhead oppressors in the shelter of the New Forest where they learn to live off the land.The story begins in 1647 when King Charles I has been defeated in the civil war and has fled from London towards the New Forest. Parliamentary soldiers have been sent to search the forest and decide to burn Arnwood, the house of Colonel Beverley, a Cavalier officer killed at the Battle of Naseby. The four orphan children of the house, Edward, Humphrey, Alice and Edith, are believed to have died in the flames. However, they are saved by Jacob Armitage, a local gamekeeper, who hides them in his isolated cottage acting as his grandchildren.Under Armitage's guidance, the children adapt from an aristocratic lifestyle to that of simple foresters. After Armitage's death, Edward takes charge and the children develop and expand the farmstead, aided by the entrepreneurial spirit of the younger brother Humphrey. They are assisted by a gypsy boy, Pablo, who they rescue from a pitfall trap. A sub-plot involves a hostile Puritan gamekeeper named Corbould who seeks to harm Edward and his family. Edward also encounters the sympathetic Puritan, Heatherstone, placed in charge of the Royal land in the New Forest, and rescues his daughter, Patience, in a house-fire. Edward leaves the cottage and works as a secretary for Heatherstone, but Edward maintains the pretence that he is the grandson of Jacob Armitage. (From Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Children of the New Forest is a children's novel published in 1847 by Frederick Marryat. It is set in the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth. The story follows the fortunes of the four Beverley children who are orphaned during the war, and hide from their Roundhead oppressors in the shelter of the New Forest where they learn to live off the land.The story begins in 1647 when King Charles I has been defeated in the civil war and has fled from London towards the New Forest. Parliamentary soldiers have been sent to search the forest and decide to burn Arnwood, the house of Colonel Beverley, a Cavalier officer killed at the Battle of Naseby. The four orphan children of the house, Edward, Humphrey, Alice and Edith, are believed to have died in the flames. However, they are saved by Jacob Armitage, a local gamekeeper, who hides them in his isolated cottage acting as his grandchildren.Under Armitage's guidance, the children adapt from an aristocratic lifestyle to that of simple foresters. After Armitage's death, Edward takes charge and the children develop and expand the farmstead, aided by the entrepreneurial spirit of the younger brother Humphrey. They are assisted by a gypsy boy, Pablo, who they rescue from a pitfall trap. A sub-plot involves a hostile Puritan gamekeeper named Corbould who seeks to harm Edward and his family. Edward also encounters the sympathetic Puritan, Heatherstone, placed in charge of the Royal land in the New Forest, and rescues his daughter, Patience, in a house-fire. Edward leaves the cottage and works as a secretary for Heatherstone, but Edward maintains the pretence that he is the grandson of Jacob Armitage. (From Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's the Season 11 finale and to celebrate we've got a cosmic treat for you as we rocket into the mesmerising realm of space with the legendary British astronaut Tim Peake. A Space Destination Special, if you will - though we do cover some destinations here on planet earth, too, of course!Tim honed his skills as a test pilot and helicopter pilot in the British Army Air Corps. After nearly 18 years of military service, he spotted an ad from the European Space Agency (ESA) to become an astronaut. After a rigorous selection process with over 8,000 hopefuls, Tim was chosen as one of ESA's astronauts in 2009, marking the beginning of his journey to the stars.Fast forward to 2015, and Tim's dream of spaceflight became a reality as he launched aboard a spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). During his six-month mission he conducted over 250 scientific experiments and became the first British astronaut in history to perform a spacewalk.It's not every day that you get the opportunity to interview an astronaut, and there was so much I wanted to ask Tim, specifically about space, that I've cut down the chapters format this week, we're going through the five chapters of his travel diaries. This was one of the most fascinating interviews I've had the pleasure of hosting on the podcast. Among many things we cover the claustrophobic Subterranean cave training in Sardinia that prepared him for life on the space station, we deep dive into his take on the existence of extra terrestrial life, he shares his views on the future of space tourism, and the innovations that are just around the corner taking place on the space station that could revolutionise healthcare, but most interesting I found was his view of the earth and how that in turn has fuelled his wanderlust. I really hope you enjoy this one. Destination Recap: Briançon, South of France Sardinia, Italy Alaska, USAPrince William Sound, Alaska, USADenali National Park, Alaska, USAInternational Space StationSahara DesertPatagoniaMadagascar BahamasSpaceNepalIndonesia Fancy seeing Tim live? He is heading on tour with his show Astronauts: The Quest To Explore Space which will bring the awe and wonder of space travel past, present and future to 25 venues across England, Scotland and Wales this autumn.As thank you to you my lovely listeners, I have one more rather epic competition for you to enter. This is to win a stay at one of the most iconic British hotels, Chewton Glen Hotel & Spa in the beautiful New Forest in England. Head over to my Instagram @hollyrubenstein to find out how to win an irresistible Eat, Sleep, Retreat overnight stay with a spa treatment, lunch, three course dinner, and breakfast the next morning. I'm so excited for this one, good luck.With thanks to my sponsors today - Airbnb - Visit Airbnb.com and find out more. Prospective Hosts can learn more about how much they can earn sharing their space through the What's My Place Worth Tool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spring is the time of the gardening year where all gardeners sigh with relief, it's really time to get out and about and enjoy the wonderful world of horticulture.  A garden waking up and showing its early colour and form is a wonderful space to live and work in, an it's no exception that Lucy and Saul revel in this time of year, as their gardening lives start to get busier with sowing, planting, propagation, mowing, mulching and all other gardening tasks. Sprinkle in some early flower shows and the odd plant fair and our gardening life is complete, so thank god for Spring!A favourite annual fixture in their diaries, Lucy and Saul report back from the recent BBC Gardeners' World Spring Fair, held at the beautiful gardens of Beaulieu in the New Forest. This year the Talking Heads duo have had the pleasure of giving their usual Plant Expert tours with Head Gardener, Kelvin Yapp, and former gardener, Dan Blaney - but also giving workshops on Seed Sowing, Houseplants and Grow our Own! As ever the Beaulieu garden gang have been consummate hosts - and for the first time this year we've even had the back-up and incredible plant knowledge of Tamsin Westhorpe - the newest member of the plant expert cadre!Instagram Links:Lucy headgardenerlcTamsin tamsinwesthropeTwitter links:Saul @GardeningSaulTamsin @TamsinWesthropeIntro and Outro music from https://filmmusic.io"Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Support the Show.

This episode of The Greener Way, we hear from Sarah Clawson, Global Head of Investor Relations at New Forests – an international investment manager of nature-based real assets and natural capital strategies.Join senior journalist and host Rose Mary Petrass and explore forestry investment, as well as best practice approach to generating returns while prioritising ESG principles.We discuss sustainable landscape management, carbon credits integrity, and First Nations engagement policy and philosophy.Sarah just completed a trip to New Forest's newly opened office in Africa; she discusses the firm's global approach and regional differences across Australia and New Zealand, Asia, the US, and Africa.

 Tune into the Eurovision Showcase TODAY!  Get ready for a spectacular show filled with excitement and music as we count down to the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden!  Join your host Ciaran Urry-Tuttiett for a jam-packed episode featuring: Brand new music from Eurovision legend Celine Dion, Majestic, and the Jammin Kid Rob's Random Request The Best of the Rest The latest Eurovision Showcase News Live & Kicking segment Whether you're in East Dorset, West Hampshire, or the New Forest, tune in to 92.3 and 98.9 FM. Not around? No worries! Listen live from anywhere via www.forestfm.co.uk or simply ask your smart speaker to "Play Forest FM". Download previous episodes also from Spotify, Mixcloud, Podbean and from any podcast app.  For all the details, visit our show website at www.escshowcase.com.Don't miss out on the excitement as 37 countries and thousands of fans converge in Malmo for Europe's biggest music celebration!  #EurovisionShowcase #ForestFM #Eurovision2024

Join host Ciaran Urry-Tuttiett spectacular hour of music and Eurovision magic. Whether you're local to East Dorset, West Hampshire, and The New Forest or tuning in from across the globe, we've got your entertainment sorted! Today's highlight? We're spinning the latest hit "Mavra Gialia / Black Sunglasses" by Eurovision legend Helena Paparizou featuring Beyond & Sin Laurent. Don't miss it!   Plus, enjoy all your favorite segments: The Eurovision Showcase News The Best of the Rest Live & Kicking And, of course, your requests!   For more details about today's show and future episodes, head over to our website at www.escshowcase.com.   Ready for your weekly Eurovision journey? We can't wait to have you with us! #EurovisionShowcase #ForestFM #Eurovision #HelenaPaparizou #MusicRadio #TuneIn

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden, CEO of Rubber Cheese.Download the Rubber Cheese 2023 Visitor Attraction Website Report - the annual benchmark statistics for the attractions sector.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcastCompetition ends on 8th May 2024. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://thetypefacegroup.co.uk/www.linkedin.com/in/polly-buckland-69146a12Download the latest Impact ReportPolly sat on the client side in a marketing manager role at BMW (UK) Ltd before co-founding The Typeface Group in 2010. She's an ideas person, blending creativity and commercial awareness to get the best outcomes for our clients.The Typeface Group is a B Corp Communications Agency + Design Studio based in North Hampshire. Their mission is to counteract digital chatter by championing authentic and strategic communication. Team TFG work with brilliant minds in business to extract, optimise and amplify their expertise, cutting through content clutter and stimulating saleswhile reducing digital waste at all costs.  The Typeface Group have been B Corp certified since October 2021 and is currently going through recertification. Nancy Hyne: True Horizon: https://truehorizon.co.uk/Seismic Change: https://www.seismic-change.com/ Transcription:  Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with Vista attractions. I'm your host, Paul Marden. On today's episode I'm joined by Polly Buckland the Owner Founder of The Typeface Group a B Corp Communications Agency and Design studio based in Hampshire.The climate emergency is a subject that is gaining traction.  The changes to our climate are palpable, and finding ways to reduce our carbon footprint and impact on the planet is front and centre for many people that visit attractions.  People are making mindful decisions about where to spend their time and money, to have as little impact as possible – but at the same time people still want to enjoy experiences.  There are many attractions that understand this and are working to reduce their impact, and communicate this clearly to potential guests.  So today I'm going to be talking to Polly about how you can measure, and communicate the sustainability of your attraction.Paul Marden: Polly, welcome to the show.Polly Buckland: Thank you for having me, Paul.Paul Marden: Absolute pleasure. My first in the driver's seat all by myself. So it was important to me that this was going to be an interview with a friend so that I could ease myself into the hot seat of being the main host of Skip the Queue.Polly Buckland: Happy to help.Paul Marden: Thank you. Thank you for joining me. So regular listeners will know that we always start the podcast with a icebreaker question or two, which is always a surprise. So I picked out some lovely ones for you. Okay. These were ones that came from one of the podcast alumni last week, Ross Ballinger from Drayton Manor. So these were ones that he prepared. So he said, “If you could master one new skill instantly, what would it be and why?”Polly Buckland: Being able to focus one thing at a time, because I don't know what that feels like.Paul Marden: Does any agency owner know that? I mean, I think that is kind of a skill for agency owners to be able to focus on 16 things concurrently.Polly Buckland: No, I'm not sure. Yeah. I feel like it would be a superpower to just really focus in on just that one thing.Paul Marden: It's interesting, isn't it, because different people behave in different ways. So some people just hyper focus, don't they? Right down into the cornflakes. I can't do that at all. I'm like, just give me the headlines and I'll focus on the six things concurrently, rather than write down deep.Polly Buckland: Indeed. Lots of tabs open.Paul Marden: Oh, yeah, completely. All right, so my next one then. If you could live in any period of history, what would it be?Polly Buckland: Well, my mum told me recently that we descend from Vikings in our family. So maybe I'd go Viking. Maybe I'll go that era.Paul Marden: That's taking it right back, isn't it? That's good.Polly Buckland: Or all the 60's, 70's, because my mum also went to the Isle of Wight festival when Hendrix was there, and that sounds like it was fun.Paul Marden: I think if I had to choose between those two, I'd probably go for 60's or 70's.Polly Buckland: Life might have been harder as a Viking.Paul Marden: I think it could have been quite a lot harder as a Viking. We went to Wealden Downland Museum a couple of weeks ago, and you could see the history of all of the different buildings and places that people lived. Yeah, no, I'll take central heating, please. Central heating and somewhere to cook your dinner. Don't really want to go back to just everybody sitting around a fire trying to. Trying to cook off a fire and live in the same space. That doesn't sound too fun for me.Polly Buckland: No. Maybe I was hasty. Yeah. Let's go to the Isle of Wight festival and watch the doors.Paul Marden: Sounds pretty cool to me. All right then, Polly. So the other thing that we always ask people is, what is their unpopular opinion? So tell me, what's yours?Polly Buckland: I don't like ABBA. Paul Marden: Really?Polly Buckland: Quiet, full stop. Well, just so overplayed. It makes me sulk a little bit if I'm dancing and someone puts an ABBA track on.Paul Marden: Which is quite often, isn't it, really?Polly Buckland: It's too often.Paul Marden: So you're not too interested in watching some musicals with some ABBA soundtrack in it? That's. That's not going to light your fire?Polly Buckland: My kids like watching the Mamma Mia films. They're okay. I like Meryl Streep, but.Paul Marden: Not so much the music.Polly Buckland: No. And I love musicals, but, yeah, not ABBA.Paul Marden: So next wedding you go to, better make sure that they don't have ABBA on the soundtrack and ruin the end of the evening for you.Polly Buckland: Yeah.Paul Marden: Okay. So, Polly, thank you. We are going to talk about sustainability reporting because this is something that you do in your business. Yeah. But it's also something that you do helping other organisations with their sustainability reporting, isn't it? So really, I just wanted to start right back at the beginning. For people that have never done this before that heard the term bandied around, what does it actually mean to be doing sustainability reporting within an organisation?Polly Buckland: Well, it depends what framework you choose to report by and what's most suitable for your business. And there are many excellent sustainability consultancies out there that can help you kind of decide which road to go down. But for me, regardless of what framework you choose to work by, sustainability reporting is important because you can't improve what you don't measure. Polly Buckland: And in order to move forward as a more sustainable business, you also need to bring your team on board, your customers on board, and you're kind of missing the most important communication tool if you haven't galvanised your mission and your targets into a report. So, yeah, it's really important, regardless of where you are in your journey, regardless of whether it's a legal requirement for your business or not, to actually get your goals down in black and white and start communicating them.Paul Marden: So there's something you touched on there about it being a legal requirement for some people. So is it's mandatory for some sorts of organisations, is it? And then is it an optional for others?Polly Buckland: Yeah. So quoted companies, LLPs, large businesses, there's kind of thresholds of energy usage and turnover that will define whether you are legally required to report or not. All B Corps have an obligation to produce annual impact report. And that's kind of how we started putting our annual reports together since our accreditation three and a bit years ago.Paul Marden: Wow. Okay. So if you don't have to do it, if it's not a legal requirement for you to do it, why would you do it? It sounds like, not having done this before myself, it feels like it could be quite a lot of work. So is there a business benefit to producing this?Polly Buckland: It is quite a lot of work. It's definitely not a tick box exercise. There's buckets of research out there as to the relationship between consumer behaviour and sustainability. So McKinsey did a study. 60% of customers actively prioritise purchasing from sustainable businesses. Capgemini, 77% of customers buy from and remain loyal to brands that show their social responsibility. Polly Buckland: That I could literally keep quoting stats as to why businesses should take their sustainability goals very seriously and the communication of their sustainability initiatives very seriously, because it's becoming clearer. There was another stat about primarily women making the decisions based on sustainability of a business, and millennials and Gen Z being sort of high up the list of people that are taking sustainability creds into consideration when they're making a purchase.Polly Buckland: So, I mean, it's a barrel load of stats that suggest if you don't have your eye on sustainability reporting and communicating your sustainability goals, you perhaps should have.Paul Marden: Yeah. So thinking about our listeners and sorts of people that listen to the podcast, we've got attractions. And, you know, when we as an agency going and talking to people, we're talking about the audience. Who is it that's actually going to be buying from an attraction? Those are key demographics that you're talking about and making buying decisions off the basis of sustainability reporting and sustainability an overlap of what they want and what the organisation is offering. That's a key buying decision for people that are making decisions about where do they go at the weekend with their family. Could be off the back of those sustainability goals themselves, couldn't they?Polly Buckland: 100%. And actually, if you think of the little people that are going to these attractions, I know my daughter is in junior school at the moment, and they've done, it's part of the curriculum now. So she's coming home and talking to me about plastics in the ocean and looking at signage and looking at labels on fair trade, that there are little people out there that are looking for these messages now. Yeah, it's important to them. I even noticed the other day a new Sainsbury's opened near where we are, and there is an abundance of sustainability messaging throughout the shop.Paul Marden: Oh, really?Polly Buckland: Yeah. So I think people are switching on to the fact that consumers want to see this stuff.Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. So the other group of people that listening to us are people that working with attractions. And I guess if you're doing sustainability reporting, does that also look at the supply chain? So the people that you buy from, you need to be buying from people that are also thinking about sustainability. So for agencies like us or other people that are servicing the attraction sector, for those attractions that are interested in sustainability reporting, they're going to look to that, to their suppliers to also care about those sorts of things.Polly Buckland: Yeah, 100%. So doing your due diligence with your supply chain is a big part of what you claim to be as a business. We've just supported one of our clients with the design of their GRI reporting. And as part of that, as one of their suppliers, we had to write a statement to go into that GRI report. So, yeah, supplier due diligence is massive, and I think it would only help you as an agency or as a supplier into these big attractions to not only do the sustainability reporting get the accreditation with whatever framework that works for you, but communicate it to your prospects and customers as well.Paul Marden: Yeah. So you're talking a little bit about frameworks, and you've talked about different types of sustainability report. Is there some kind of standardisation to this? You know, accountants have standards by which they do their financial reporting. Is that the same sort of thing happening in sustainability space?Polly Buckland: There are just a number of frameworks you can report by. So if you are one of those larger businesses that we spoke about previously, there are SECR regulations that you need to be compliant for. There are reporting frameworks, as I mentioned, like GRI. There's the ISO accreditation, there's B Corp and our sustainability consultant that we use, Nancy Hine from True Horizon, based down in the New Forest. She very often says it's a case of choosing the framework that's right for you and what you're hoping to achieve as a business. So went down the B Corp route because that's suitable for us. One of our clients, as I said, has just gone down the GRI route. So there isn't one size fits all.Polly Buckland: And there are a lot of consultancies out there, like Seismic Change, for example, that can support using whichever framework is most kind of commercially viable for you and where you're looking to go as a business, but keeping that credibility through the reporting.Paul Marden: So getting some advice and guidance from some of the experts to help you pick makes a lot of sense then, I guess.Polly Buckland: 100%. Paul Marden: We've talked a little bit about the frameworks. Now you might need somebody to help you with those frameworks, but let's just take it right back to basics. We need to talk a little bit about the sustainability report itself. How do you go about actually gathering all the data and being able to report on the numbers themselves?Polly Buckland: Yeah, so like us, when we started, weren't really affiliated with any framework. And actually we started by just getting an environmental audit of our business because were interested in how we fared. And that's really how were then introduced into the world of B Corp. But at a basic level, I would split impact reporting into the story and what makes you different as a business and where you've been, where you are, where you want to go, what your commitments are and the data which would be your scope one, two and three emissions. Polly Buckland: So your scope one emissions, they include all direct emissions from the activities of your business. So that might include any company owned facilities or vehicles. Scope two emissions cover indirect emissions from electricity, heat, cooling that are used by the organisation. And then scope three is pretty much where everything else sits. So for us, a fully remote business, the majority of our emissions sit in scope three, and we are granular to the point where we know the majority of our emissions come from our coffee habit. Polly Buckland: And that is. That is fact. So once you get a basic understanding of what your scope one, two and three emissions are, there's so much training you can do as a business, whether it's through carbon literacy or you can find consultants to come in and do one one training. What I found was really important is getting the whole team involved in that training.Polly Buckland: So everyone has a basic understanding of what we're measuring when we're saying scope one, scope two, or scope three, what we mean and what's included within those scopes so people can start to be mindful about waste. So understanding the emissions is important, but tracking your emissions as a business is really important. And we use a business called Compare Your Footprint. And it's basically an engine that you put your data into and it tells you what your carbon footprint is.Paul Marden: And it's doing that across all of those three different scopes of emissions that you're able to put your data in. Because obviously that's going to really vary by types of organisation, isn't it? Because if you're running a big attraction, then you're going to be, you know, that's a big physical space, isn't it? So you're going to be consuming lots of electricity to be able to power that thing, and probably gas as well to be able to heat it. But, you know, there's ways of mitigating that. But your focus might be different than you are if you're a virtual organisation like us where you know you, a lot of it is very indirect, that kind of scope three type stuff.Polly Buckland: Exactly. And I guess it's important to differentiate at this point the difference between carbon neutrality and net zero. So there are lots of businesses that will claim carbon neutrality and what that means is they've calculated their scope one and two emissions and have offset those emissions. You don't have to have any reduction plan in place for those emissions and you can offset them and claim carbon neutrality. So on one hand, at least, scope one and two emissions are being measured. However, we could, I could easily do that as a business and pay 30 quid in offsets and claim carbon neutrality knowing that I have tons of emissions sat in my scope 3, whereas net zero, you have to get your baseline of emissions, then you have to reduce them by 90%, I believe it is, and then offset the rest.Polly Buckland: So there's a world of difference between claiming carbon neutrality and net zero and there's most people, if not everyone really is in between and doing the work. I digress going back to that very first impact report, getting a handle on your emissions. In our first impact reports, we said we've done scope one and two, we haven't done scope three yet, so being really transparent because you've got to start somewhere. And actually, we included in our Impact Report because weren't governed, it didn't have to be compliant in the way that a GRI report might be. Polly Buckland: So we're slightly more free with what we include. We really told a story through ours on what we set out to do, what we did towards that, what worked, what didn't work. Then our data and data visualisation around our scope one, two and three emissions. And then actually the biggest part of our first ever impact report was the to do list for the coming year.Paul Marden: Oh, really?Polly Buckland: What we wanted to focus on. Yeah. And actually the beauty of an impact report like that for us is, A, we get really good feedback because people love the storytelling aspect of it. But B, I'm just doing my third impact report now for us, and I go back to last year and say what we said were going to do, and I have a double page spread with what we said were going to do, what we actually did. So it's a really great accountability tool, as well as a way to tell the story of your sustainability progress.Paul Marden: Yeah. It holds you accountable for setting a plan and then measuring how well you completed against that plan. And I'm guessing that varies. Some things you will have done really well on some things you didn't progress on, and there'll be some things that you do that you hadn't necessarily thought about as well.Polly Buckland:  Yeah, yeah. And there are some targets in there, like revenue from purpose driven businesses. I think year one were at 30% and we said we wanted to get to 40%, and then we said we wanted to get to 50%. And I think we're at about 54% at the moment. So putting those targets in place really helps give you that focus throughout the year in some of the decisions you make as a business.Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely.Polly Buckland: It helps you grow internally as well as provides a vehicle for communicating something that's actually very important to a lot of people that are choosing your product or service.Paul Marden: You touched on the storytelling element of this. When I think about sustainability reporting myself, I guess I started from a point of view of, and this might because I'm a data geek, but I started from thinking there's a huge amount of data involved in this, you're going to have to gather lots, but equally important to you is the storytelling around it. So are you thinking about that in advance, about the narrative of where you want to take the business over the year ahead. And how are you thinking about that? Is that something that you get the whole team involved in?Polly Buckland: So throughout the year, we have a slide deck open and it's called our Sustainability scrapbook. And any decisions we make or anything that we do mindfully around the sustainability of the business, anyone can chuck into that deck. It doesn't look pretty, but it's just a repository. Show us putting our money where our mouth is and making decisions that might not directly impact our scope, but could have a real social impact, for example. So we use that Sustainability scrapbook to help build up the story in our impact report for the following year. I think businesses are going through a lot of change at the moment, and there might quite naturally be a theme that pops up when you're starting your impact report journey for the year. So last year, for us, it was educating ourselves and other people.Polly Buckland: So we'd done a lot of training internally, but we'd also created our digital cleanup challenge to help people understand their digital footprint. So that became the thread that worked its way through our impact report last year. This year, we have defined down our services. So our impact report is about kind of slaying in your own lane and being really clear on what it is that you do to reduce waste. Yet naturally, if the people that are writing and communicating your impact report are close to the decision making, you'll probably quite naturally know where your report is going to go in that any one year. If you outsource it, so we support businesses to help them tell their story through their impact report. We interview the key decision makers in the business and we will really draw from them that narrative.Polly Buckland: And I think it's really easy to get bogged down in the data. It's incredibly important, but it can be quite stressful gathering that all together. So actually having someone interview you about, but what were the things that you loved? What were the things that you saw people coming into your attraction really engage with? What was the thing that surprised you about signage that you put up to do with sustainability? Or, I don't know, when you get the little activity sheets for the kids, what did the younger visitors engage with the most? Asking them that sort of question will really draw out the story to help bring the impact report to life.Paul Marden: Yeah, and I love the scrapbook idea. I love the scrapbook idea just more broadly as just a place for the whole team to dump their thoughts about doing different things. So having one all about sustainability. It must capture so much that the more senior people, the people that lead the organisation, they may not see some of the smaller stuff going on, and they're. They could be really powerful stories. So it kind of makes it much more democratic across the team, doesn't it? To have a place where everyone can put their thoughts about sustainability and record the little things that they're doing. And then you can draw those stories out later on.Polly Buckland: 100%. But you can use those stories to engage your customers as well. I've been on a couple of panels, the B Corp type events, and I've sat alongside a lady called Faye, who owns Beevive, which are the little vials that revive bees. I think they're in the Natural History Museum shop, and they're not B Corp yet, but they are a manufacturer. So their raw materials, their packaging, the mileage, their distribution, everything has to be considered. And what Faye and her team are excellent at is documenting all of that. And it's like we said one of the panels, just because you don't wear your Fitbit doesn't mean you haven't done the steps. And I think it is the same with sustainability accreditations. You might not be ready to be B Corp. You might not be ready to go through an ISO accreditation or GRI reporting.Polly Buckland: You might not be ready to be B Corp. You might not be ready to go through an ISO accreditation or GRI reporting. You might not be legally required to do any of that. But let's start documenting it because people care. And you could run one initiative at your attraction, and that's you off the mark. You've started your sustainability story, and I think that should be documented and that should be shared with your audiences.Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. So that story that you can tell, I guess, is kind of reusable, isn't it? Because it's not just about, you know, you start off thinking about sustainability reporting. I'm going to have annual report and I'm going to publish it. But this is a story that can thread through everything, I guess.Polly Buckland: Yeah, 100%. I think this is the same with all content produced across most businesses, to be honest. Lots and lots of hours go into creating something, and then it gets shared once on LinkedIn or there's a paid Facebook campaign, and then it dies a death. I saw someone on LinkedIn the other day, say, for every hour you take to produce a piece of content, you should spend the same amount of time distributing it. And I think that sustainability reports, impact reports, can take weeks, if not months. So as part of your reporting, I would have a distribution strategy as well. So where are all the places that you can get people to engage with that report? Is there a QR code in the cafe at your attraction where it's like, do you want to have a look at what we're doing for sustainability?Polly Buckland: Is it an email that goes through to all your members? I would imagine that investors want to see this type of information. I would imagine that it would be really important to go onto the bottom of job descriptions when you're recruiting because there is a huge influx of people out there in the market that want to work for purposeful businesses. So this impact or sustainability report should go everywhere, really, in the footer of your emails. You just want to get eyeballs on it. And of course you can break it down. Kew Gardens have got a really great video on YouTube about their sustainability mission. What I would say is, don't hide it. And I think previously, sustainability reporting sits with other financial reports and policies in the footer of a website.Polly Buckland: I looked earlier at an attraction that me and my family love going to, and they have some really nice bits of sustainability messaging when you're there. I couldn't find their sustainability report on their website. It was kind of the group website and then it was hidden away in a sub sustainability page. And I think transparency is really important. And bringing your sustainability report to the conversation, not hiding it away once you spent all those hours creating it.Paul Marden: Yeah, there was a. There's an attraction that we visited just recently that were talking to, and they've got biomass boiler on their site, and they coppice wood from the site and they use that coppiced wood then to power the biomass boiler, which then powers the hot water that people are sitting in hot tubs and enjoying. You know, there's a really powerful story to tell there about the sustainability of going to that place. And that's something that they recognise is not something that they're not telling that story very effectively. And I think for a lot of people in the UK, now they're making decisions about what they do for their long weekends or their holidays, even on the basis of trying to have a minimal impact.Paul Marden: And if you've lost that story, even, you know, even the people that are doing lots of amazing work may not be spotting the opportunities to tell the story of what they're doing to be heard by those people that make the decisions.Polly Buckland: Yeah. And I think that they're photo opportunities as well. Right. So if you're in a hot tub and there's a little sign saying this is powered by wood from the estate, that's a little Instagram opportunity for those people to be righteous about the choices they've made, about what attraction they've chosen to go to. So I think more and more there's an opportunity for user generated content with sustainability messaging on site. So, yeah, everything's really an opportunity to share that message and it shouldn't be just contained to the impact report.Paul Marden: I was at the Natural History Museum last week with my daughter's class. I took the class, I was one of the responsible adults going along with them. And I had 15 10 year olds in the gift shop at the end. And of course I'm just stood there like a numpty in the middle, just watching them all, trying to make sure they would make a decision as quickly as they possibly could. And I did find myself looking at the signage that was in the shop and they were talking about their sustainability journey and how they reduced single use plastics from what they were doing and they tried to improve the sustainability of the gifts that were available in the shop. So those messages are there, but are they consistent? Are they shared everywhere?Paul Marden: So that wherever people are touching that brand, is it available for them to understand that it's a sustainable brand? It's important, isn't it?Polly Buckland: Yeah.Paul Marden: So I think you've touched on this, but let's just. Is this something you would do on your own or is this something where you would get in help from experts to get you started?Polly Buckland: I would get help because you've got to factor in the hours in your day as having a value. So the length of time it would take you to figure out how to do an audit on your business and to work out your starting point and to get your initial scope one, two and three emissions measured is probably going to take you three or four times as long as it would a consultant. So if you can, I would do that. If you can't, there are some great tools out there I mentioned Compare Your Footprint and their customer service is really excellent. So if you want to start simple, you can. But if you have the budget, I would go with a consultant because you'll get to where you want to go, which is ultimately to find your baseline quicker.Paul Marden: Yeah. Is this something where you start small and get a consultant in maybe to help you with a small part of the organisation? Or is this something where you really want to be throwing your all into this to try to do everything that is kind of best practice all at once?Polly Buckland: Oh, no. No one's perfect. So don't hold yourself to that standard because it's just going to stop you doing anything out of fear. I think you just need to get started. That said, hitting publish on my first ever impact report was one of the most stressful things I've ever done because I just felt like I was going to be judged.Paul Marden: I think that worries me as well, is that thought that unless I do a perfect job, there's a risk that when I put this out there, that I'm going to be accused of greenwashing, and that my intent may not be well understood if I don't do it perfectly first time.Polly Buckland: Yeah. Which is why, again, that storytelling part of the impact reporting is really important for me, because I will say we are not perfect. These are the things that we know we need to work on, but these are the things we've done better. And that's what I really like. The B Corp BIA assessment and their framework is because it takes you across five categories of measurement, and no one's perfect in any of them, but what it does do is it provides a framework for you to better and measure yourself against. Yeah, I think the messaging behind your sustainability is really important. If you're professing to be perfect and you're not, you will get stung, because I think people can see through that.Polly Buckland: But if you are showing that you're trying to better, I don't think many people could argue with that. So it's not just environmental reporting from a B Corp standpoint, it takes you across governance, workers, community, the environment, and your customers. There is a real breadth to that framework. So, actually, on our first go at certification, I guess our strongest category was governance.Paul Marden: Oh, really? Okay.Polly Buckland: Yeah. And then you have three years to make changes, make improvements. It's a continuous improvement journey, for want of a better word. And we're just about to re accredit. We're going through re accreditation now after three years, and you can see significant improvement across those categories.Paul Marden: So that B Corp framework, that's going to be relevant to quite a lot of attractions that are profit making organisations. But of course, people like our charity based museums and some of the cultural organisations that could be non profit making. The B Corp route might not work for them, but it's something that quite a lot of consumers recognise now, isn't it?Polly Buckland: It is. And the B impact assessment tool is still a useful framework, regardless if you want to become accredited or not, because it takes you through the five categories to focus on. And actually, I think if you're starting your impact reporting and you're not sure where to begin, it's a really nice framework to use.Paul Marden: Lovely. Polly, really interesting talking to you about sustainability reporting and then going off and talking a little bit about B Corp and places like that as well. It's been lovely. We always ask our guests to leave us with a book recommendation, something they love, or it can be anything, a personal book recommendation, a business book. So what have you brought with you today?Polly Buckland: I absolutely love Manifest by Roxy Nafousi, 7 steps to living your best life. It's not a book about visualise it and it will happen. It's a book that takes you through the steps to improve your chances of achieving what you want to in life. It takes you through your vision, removing fear and doubt, how you can align your behaviour to get what you want, how you can overcome tests from the universe, how you can embrace gratitude, turn envy into inspiration and trust the universe. So it sounds a bit woo, but everyone that I know that's read it absolutely loves it.Paul Marden: What a lovely recommendation, Polly. Thank you. So that will go onto our list of the books recommended by our guests, which are blog posts that we've got. And as ever, if you want to win the book, if you head over to X and you retweet the episode announcement with the words I want Polly's book, the first person that does that will get the book sent to them. Once again, thank you ever so much for coming on the podcast and talking to me about sustainability reporting. It's been lovely. Thank you.Polly Buckland: You're welcome. Thank you.Paul Marden: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast. The 2023 Visitor Attraction Website Report is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsDownload the report now for invaluable insights and actionable recommendations!

And we're back! In this solocast I give you an update and a broader sharing on what the horses and I are developing here at home in the New Forest. I touch on the stresses, lessons, and reminders 2023 offered me and give an overview of where I am at in my own energy at the moment.  It feels great to kick of the next round of episodes with this more in-depth explanation of what is being created as I feel it engages you all with what is possible and what life has in store for us in the future.  As always, your feedback is welcome. Please feel free to leave a review and share your thoughts as it really helps the podcast audience grow! Thank you for listening... Connect with Dilara PataudiWebsite - www.dilarapataudi.comInstagram - @dilarapataudi & @divine_nature_of_horses

This episode is sponsored by Lodgify, an all-in-one solution that will help you start, manage, and grow your short-term rental business. > Click here to visit Lodgify.com to start your free trial today Today's guest is on a mission to solve industry- wide problems that few others are prepared to trial. She says it's for good reason – because they aren't easy. Undeterred (or just belligerent) Rachel rolls her sleeves up, weighs stinky bins, asks a lot of questions, raises funds and collaborates across the industry to create change. It's a great story. In 2011, with a very small baby in tow, Rachel started renting her cottage. She ran it for 4 years before she set up New Forest Escapes, partly with the goal of encouraging more people to holiday in the UK, reducing travel emissions and making UK holidays an alternative to overseas family travel. Her experience in sustainable projects and travel over the years makes her uniquely suitable to be leading the way in greener tourism.  We hear how and why she went down the route of gaining B-Corp certification and what she is doing now to ensure those who stay in her properties benefit from the work she's done. The whole conversation about sustainability is so relevant to the work we're doing on our THRIVE training system.  In the module on Responsibility there's a lesson on Environmental Responsibilities, and now I can put the New Forest Escapes website into the Resources section and include information on B-Corp Certification. This is the joy of continuous learning - that it never stops evolving as we come across new things to share.  If you are interested in finding out more about THRIVE, just check below. In the episode, Rachel shares: Her journey into sustainable rentals Why you shouldn't mention the ‘S' word & the better alternatives What goes into B-Corp certification A simple furniture change that will wow your guests (and their feathered friends) How weighing stinky bins can help change minds Simple things that make a real difference Ways to help guests get greener   Links: New Forest Escapes B-Corp Certification Intrepid Travel Exodus Travels Pura Aventura Much Better Adventures Sawday's THRIVE  ___________________________________________________________________________ Discover the THRIVE Training System and attend an information session to get your questions answered about our foundational team training: https://thrive.vacationrentalformula.com/thrive-live-webinar Are you listening to this podcast on the move? Get to the show notes here: https://www.vacationrentalformula.com/VRS555

On this episode of YOUR WORLD OF CREATIVITY, welcome singer-songwriter Victoria Simmonds.Victoria's Website @officialvictoria_music on Instagram Victoria's Facebook page Victoria's Musical Journey: From performing in theater and cabaret acts to discovering and creating her own music, Victoria shares her evolution as an artist, driven by her passion for creativity.The Inspiration Behind "Let's Do Happy": Victoria discusses the irony and relevance of her debut album's title, reflecting on its origins and the impact of her music during challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic.Recognition by BBC Introducing Solent: Victoria recounts the excitement of having one of her songs featured on BBC Introducing Solent, highlighting the importance of platforms that support local talent.Influences and Musical Style: Victoria shares her eclectic influences, from Neil Diamond to Spice Girls, and describes her music as a personal expression across various genres and styles.Future Projects and Collaborations: With new collaborations on the horizon and plans for festivals and competitions, Victoria gives insight into her upcoming projects and musical endeavors.Highlight Quote from Victoria: "When you enjoy creating things, you want to try all sorts of different methods... my own music ends up being a very personal expression through creativity."Victoria Simmonds is a local independent pop/ alt-rock singer-songwriter. Having been raised in both the New Forest and Western France she has benefited from a wide variety of musical styles. Her passion for music has always been strong. After performing in musical theatre and cabaret acts she started her journey to discovering her own music. In 2021 she released her first album “Let's do Happy” and since then has continued to release new and meaningful songs, one of which was recognised by BBC Introducing Solent in 2023 and performed at gigs, concerts and festivals. During her career she has amazed audiences across Europe including France, Cyprus, Germany, Belgium and Mallorca with her powerful tones.

The Wyrd Side is a British folk/weird horror podcast framed as a real-world supernatural investigative podcast.Season 1 Episode 1: Close Encounters of the Colt Pixie KindKatherine Moore and Aiden Summers begin their first fieldwork case of the season: investigating the myth of the Colt Pixie in the New Forest, UK. Strange happenings, witchcraft, and unexpected phone calls.With Finn Cresswell as Aiden Summers, Alexandra M. Barrow as Katherine Moore, Dee Thorne as Mary Tallywell, Robyn B Pelling MSc as Lou, Eddie Chapman as Brian, Andrew Varndell as Albert Lockton, S. J. Monalith as Rowan. Written and produced by Finn Cresswell and Alexandra M. Barrow.Content warnings:Depiction of grief and lossRecreational alcohol consumptionAlcoholismDiscussions of the deathVictim blamingPoliceBeing lost in the wildernessYou can read a full transcript of the episode here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hs-9ZY_qBEpn3VsYoUuPc1vALCp0HBMz-NrYGoyGBZM/edit?usp=sharingTo find out more about The Wyrd Side, visit their website here: https://thewyrdside.com/

WWII Britain's Home Guard wasn't a bumbling dad's army but in fact included factions of highly trained silent killers and spies hiding out in secret bunkers, caves and safe houses all over the country. The Auxiliary Unit was given a deliberately boring name to disguise the top secret mission they'd been tasked with- if and when the Germans invaded the British Isles, they would have to stop the first waves of soldiers, taking them down as they moved inland, often in brutal and secretive ways. They were locals chosen from and posted around coastal areas who knew the land particularly well and most went to their graves never revealing what they'd been a part of so we're only really just learning about them now.Today, Andy Chatterton and his organisation Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team are mapping the bunkers left by this secretive unit and those used by Special Operations Wireless Operators who were posted in similar areas in the same sorts of hideouts. Many were sealed straight after the war with everything inside, while others have collapsed, revealing their secrets to the outside world. Andy got word there must be some hidden in the New Forest where Dan lives, so for this episode, Dan and Andy are joined by New Forest historian Marc Heighway as they go bunker hunting. The team come across some very promising discoveries...If you've found something you think could be or relate to an Auxiliary bunker, get in touch with Andy and his team at https://www.staybehinds.com/contact-usProduced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.Image Credit: “Parham airfield, Museum of the British Resistance Organisation - Auxiliary unit operational base” by Gaius Cornelius is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.02.0.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world-renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW. Download the app or sign up here.We'd love to hear from you! You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.You can take part in our listener survey here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.