 |
|
|
|
|
PROGRAMME INFO |
|
|
|
|
|
From Shetland to the Scilly Isles, Open Country travels the UK in search of the stories, the people and the wildlife that make our countryside such a vibrant place. Each week we visit a new area to hear how local people are growing the crops, protecting the environment, maintaining the traditions and cooking the food that makes their corner of rural Britain unique.
Email: open.country@bbc.co.uk
Postal address: Open Country,
91热爆 Radio 4, Birmingham, B5 7QQ.
|
|
|
|
|
LISTEN AGAIN |
|
|
|
|
PRESENTERS |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
More about Helen Mark |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
More about Richard Uridge |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PROGRAMME DETAILS |
|
|
The Spurn peninsular is a slim, fragile finger of land on the edge of East Yorkshire. Washed by the North Sea on one side and the Humber river on the other, Spurn is buffeted by the tides and surf of two powerful masses of water and they're taking a heavy toll. Spurn is eroding fast, a yard of land is being taken by the sea every year and last winter one heavy tidal surge cut the peninsular in two turning Spurn into an island. The people of Spurn have to live in the present because the future and the past are constant reminders of it fragility and impermanence.
Richard begins the programme on the Spurn Lifeboat with coxswain Dave Steenvoorden.
Known as "Spanish" to his crew (because he served on a Spanish fishing trawler for years) Dave tells Richard how busy the waterway is and why Spurn is the only permanent lifeboat station in the UK. The meeting of the river and the sea creates a tidal flow that is unpredictable and dangerous. The pilot operation, guiding ships into the port of Hull, helps 100 ships a day to safety. Dave's callout rate for ships in trouble is one of the busiest in the country and, coupled with the claustrophobia of living permanently on Spurn, working on the lifeboat is a vocation suited only to a few.
Gordon Ostler meets Richard at the café in Kilnsea where, on the wall is a plaque giving the distance from the sea - the trouble is that that distance has halved in just a century or so. Gordon shows Richard a gun emplacement from the Second World War. It began life inshore but has now fallen into the sea, its foundations undermined by the power of the sea. Although there have been plans to defend the coast against the tidal surges, Gordon thinks it's not been enough and complains about the apathy he sees in the Government's attitude to the defence of Spurn. He says plans to build an offshore reef to lessen the power of the waves could save Spurn from disappearing.
Jan Crowther has retired to Kilnsea. She is researching its history and relates the story of the old village, which was said to be the prettiest village in Holderness. It had a windmill and a medieval church but it's all gone, lost to the sea. They didn't go without a fight, though, and the villagers clung on to their cottages and church until the very last minute - refusing to let go of their world until it was inevitable. Even the cemetery was washed away and Jan tells Richard how the bodies would be washed up on the beach with regularity, alarming the visitors but becoming quite commonplace for the locals.
Andrew and Sue Wells are farmers - in fact they could only afford a farm on Spurn because of the erosion. Because of the impermanence land is cheap and it allowed Andrew to live his dream. He says living on Spurn demands a certain mindset - if you can accept living in the present and not worry too much about the future, then it is a wonderful place to live. But he points out that living there is not for everyone - some people hate it, living with the vulnerability a windswept and exposed landscape can give you does wear you down and that can become too much.
Email Open Country: open.country@bbc.co.uk
The 91热爆 is not responsible for external web sites
|
|
|
RELATED LINKS
91热爆 Holiday Category
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Audio Help
|
|
|
|
|
|
PREVIOUS PROGRAMMES |
|
|
|
|
Current Week
Last Week
The A44
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire, River Don
Aberfan
Alderley Edge, Cheshire
Ancient buildings
Anglesey
Applecross Peninsula
Aran Islands
Armistice Day, Somerset & Sussex
Auxiliary Units
Bardsey Island
Batsford Park Estate, Glos
Berkshire
Berwyn Mountains
Birdsong
Blackwater Estuary, Essex
Blaenafon
The Blean, Kent
Bosworth Field
Brecon Beacons
Buckinghamshire
Butterflies
By Brook Valley
The Cairngorms
Caithness
Cambridgeshire
Carmarthenshire
Cheddar Gorge
Cherwell Valley
Cheshire: Harrop Valley
Chesil Bank
Clee Hills, Shropshire
Climbers
Corfe Castle
Cornwall
Cornwall: Cape Cornwall
Cornwall: Padstow Lifeboat
Cornwall: Roseland Peninsula
Cotswold
Cotswold Way
County Clare, Ireland
Cranbourne Chase
Cumbria: Eden Valley
Cumbria: Coniston Water
Cumbria: Sellafield
Cumbria
Daingean in Glengarry
Dee Estuary
Derbyshire
Devon & Somerset: Grand Western Canal
Donegal
Dorset
Dorset: Cranborne Chase
Dorsetman
Dowsing
Dunalastair
Durham
Durham: Witton Park
East Anglian Churches
Eden Valley in Cumbria
Eigg
Eire: Co. Mayo
Eire: Skibbereen
Eire: West Cork
Elan Valley, Wales
Eshott, Norhumberland
Essex
Essex: coastal
Exmoor, churches
Falkirk
Farne Islands, Part 1
Farne Islands, Part 2
Fenn's, Whixall & Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve
The Fens
Fife
Flanders
Forster Country
Glencoe Mountains
Glencoe
Gloucestershire
Goa
Goodwin Sands
Gower Peninsula, June 2006
Gower Peninsula, October 2005
Grouse shooting
Guernsey
Hadrian's Wall 2003
Hadrian's Wall 2004
Hambledon Cricket Club
Hampshire: Odium
Hampshire: Selborne
Hardcastle Crags
Heart of Wales Railway
Hebden Bridge
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Hidden Treasures
High Weald, Sussex
Holy Island
Ilmington
Isle of Gigha 2004
Isle of Gigha, 2005
Isle of Man - Seas
Isle of Man
Isle of Wight, 2003
Isle of Wight, 2005
Izak Walton
Kent: Dover
Kent: Dungeness Peninsular
Kent: North
Kielder Water
Kinver Edge
Kingham, Oxfordshire
Lake District
Leicestershire: Bosworth Field
Leicestershire: death rituals
Lincolshire farming
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Loch Morar
Looe Island
Ludlow
Lunar Influence
Don McCullin
Richard Mabey
Marsden, West Yorkshire
Mary Towneley Loop
Mersea Island
Mersey Marshes
Metal Detectingg
Mid-Wales
Morecambe Bay
Moel Findeg, North Wales
Morecombe Sands
Nant Gwrtheyrn
National Forest
New Forest
Newton Dee, nr Aberdeen
Norfolk Broads
Norfolk: Thetford Forest
Norfolk: North Norfolk coast
North Devon Combes
Northants: Sulgrave Manor
Northants: Underground
Northern Ireland: Belfast
Northern Ireland: Border Counties
Northern Ireland: Moneypenny's Lock
Northern Ireland: Sperrin Mountains
Northern Ireland: Strangford Lough
Northern Ireland: Toomebridge
North Norfolk Coast
Northumberland, part 1
Northumberland, part 2
North Wessex Downs
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire Moors
North Yorkshire Moors Railway
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire: Sherwood Forest
Oak Trees
Offa's Dyke
Orford Ness
Orkneys
Out Skerries, Shetland
Outward Bound
Oxfordshire
Peak District
Peak District
Pembrokeshire Coast
Pentland Hills
Perthshire
Poachers
Pony Club
River Severn
Romney Marsh
Rutland Water
Scilly
Scotland: Abernethy Forest
Scotland: Loch Morar
Scotland: Shetland
Scotland: Strathclyde
Scotland: What value the countryside?
Scottish Borders
Sefton Coast
Self-sufficient communities
Severn Valley Railway
Shropshire: Ellesmere
Shropshire: Much Wenlock
Shropshire and Wales, Newport
Skegness
Skomer Island
Snowdon
Snowdonia National Park
Somerset Levels
Somerset Levels
Somerset: Montacute House
Somerset writers
South Downs
South Somerset: watermills
Southwold
Spurn Peninsular
Start Bay
Stour Valley
Survival
Sussex
Sutherland, Scotland
Tamar Valley
Thornham Estate, Suffolk
Thurstonland Cricket Club
Twyford Down
Tyntesfield, North Somerset
Village Life
Terry Waite
Wales
Wales: Flatholm Island
Wales: Nant Gwrtheyrn
Wales: Snowdonia
Warwickshire: rare breeds
Wayoh Reservoir
Wenlock Edge
West Sussex
West Yorks: Calder Valley
Weston Common, Surrey
Wild boar
Wiltshire
Wiltshire: Savernake Forest
Women's Institute
Wroxeter
Yorkshire Dales, June 2002
Yorkshire Dales, 1 July 2006
Yorkshire Dales, 8 July 2006
Z to Z Britain
Open Country looks back 2003
|
|
|
|
|
MESSAGE BOARDS |
|
|
|
|
Join the discussion:
The Learning Curve
Pick of the Week
Questions, Questions
Woman's Hour
Word of Mouth |
|
|
|
|
RELATED PROGRAMMES |
|
|
|
|
Excess Baggage
Changing Places
|
|
|
Message boardsJoin the discussion:
comment about Radio 4?
Don't miss We want to hear your experiences |
