HAVE YOUR SAY ON RURAL ISSUES
Share your views and opinions by writing to us at: Have your say: BBC Countryfile Magazine, Eagle House, Bristol BS1 4ST; or email editor@countryfile.com, tweet us @CountryfileMag or via Facebook facebook.com/countryfilemagazine
*We reserve the right to edit correspondence
letter of the month
PLODCAST APPRECIATION
What I love most about the BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast are Fergus’s long solo rambles. Your gently hushed voice cataloguing what you are seeing, feeling, sensing. They invite my imagination and soothe my soul. I love that you share your knowledge of the flora and fauna (which are mostly foreign to me) and your sense of awe and wonder and appreciation (which are not foreign to me).
Somehow, the fact that I don’t know the birds, nor the wildflowers, nor the terrain makes these episodes very attractive and calming for me. They offer an escape.
I know there are violations such as disrespectful dog owners letting their dogs harass wildlife, or litterers and encroachments of developers and roadways and all the pressures of humankind in the UK, just as there are in Australia. But I love it when none of that enters an episode. I feel I can drop my guard and concerns and just enjoy this deep connection with nature. And I love it when these episodes are long enough to relax into and lose myself and get some distance from my own concerns.
So, many thanks to all the team. I do greatly enjoy the shorter soundscapes too, of course; they play a delightful and different role in my listening life.
Jaki Lockyer, Australia
Editor Fergus Collins replies:
Jaki, thank you for this extremely kind letter. We’ve been lucky enough to be shortlisted for several podcast awards this year so it is really rewarding to know that they are so appreciated. The solo walks are my favourite, too. You can listen to the Plodcast on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all big podcast providers.
MAKING THE MOST OF THE MAG
My husband and I really look forward to our monthly copy of BBC Countryfile Magazine dropping through our letterbox. However, perhaps my main uses of the magazine are not the normal ones.
During and since lockdown, I have made your delicious elderflower custard creams for the refreshments after our Sunday church services. When we could not have our usual fellowship over a drink and a cake actually in church, I left my custard creams in the porch for the congregation to enjoy on their way home. Now we are back inside the church, they are still popular, especially with our assistant priest and her husband, who are both allergic to eggs.
Also, for our recent World Da
