Open Country

Yorkshire looks different in the dark. Helen Mark looks up into the heavens and deep underground for a new understanding of England's biggest county. Off-road cycling in the Dales becomes a lot more thrilling when you strike out into the dark and, armed with an infra-red nghtscope you realise just how busy the forests of the North York Moors National Park are after sunset. Helen will also be disco...

The Tironesian monks of Lindores Abbey were forcibly removed by Protestant firebrand John Knox in 1559 but they've left an extraordinary legacy for Tayside. The orchards they planted with native French varieties of pear, plum and apple were subdivided as the nearby town of Newburgh took shape. Every autumn the locals set out their stalls and sell purple pyramids of unusual plums and cartloads of t...

For a Christmas special Helen Mark visits the snow covered landscape of Swedish Lapland in search of the mythical, and often elusive, Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. In Sami culture the lights are thought to emanate from the souls of the dead and must be treated with immense respect. Traditionally the Sami remained indoors during a display but today the chance of seeing the Northern Lights bri...

On the 5th of December 2013 the Lincolnshire community saw the worst flooding in 60 years. A tidal surge two metres above normal levels flooded coastal nature reserves and Gibraltar Point visitor centre was severely damaged. Two years on and Helen Mark finds a remarkable transformation taking place here and along the coastline with a series of iconic buildings and art installations including a new...

Why do witches and radical pacifists haunt Pendle Hill, one of Lancashire's best known landmarks? Helen Mark hears about the witch trials of 400 years ago, and the visionary Quaker founder, George Fox - all of whom are indelibly linked to this strikingly whale-backed hill. Producer: Mark Smalley.

Writer Iain Sinclair seeks the UK's oldest burial site in a cave along south Gower's windy clifftops. The 'Red Lady of Paviland' was interred in a cave 26,000 years ago, the bones decorated with red ochre. But, as he tells Helen Mark, "she" was in fact a he, buried with jewellery and alongside a mammoth's skull. This was at a time when the Bristol Channel was a tundra landscape. Best known for his...

Helen Mark visits Tollesbury Wick on the Essex coast. Situated on the mouth of Tollesbury Fleet and the Blackwater estuary, a giant sea wall snakes around the coast protecting both village and ancient grazing marshland. Helen meets the Wildlife Trust warden who cares for 650 hectares of unspoilt 'humpy bumpy' marshland and gets a surprise when she finds out what those bumps actually are. She learn...

Twenty years ago The Big Chill festival pioneered the concept of the boutique festival. Helen Mark meets founder Pete Lawrence as he returns to the magical Llanthony Valley where the first festival was staged. Together they explore the history of this unique landscape which has attracted artists and seekers of solitude since the 13th Century. The imposing ruins of Llanthony Priory have been painte...

Helen Mark is in the Peak District to meet Mountain Rescue Team who keep visitors safe should they come a cropper when enjoying the rugged countryside. The Peak District is one of the most popular destinations in the world as over half the UK's population lives within an hour of the area. Helen takes to two wheels to discover the network of traffic-free cycle tracks, before meeting the Buxton Moun...

The Glenfinnan Gathering is an annual Highland games event that takes place on the shores of Loch Shiel, on the west coast of Scotland, in the shadow of the Jacobite Monument every August. It has now been running for over 50 years and commemorates the raising the standard by Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745. The Gathering features traditional Highland games events: hammer throwing, caber tossing, tra...

From a ferry, Helen sees the sharp, conical peaks that dominate the coastline, known locally as the Cornish Alps. The skipper, John Wood, explains how they were formed from the spoils of the clay industry. Helen takes a closer look at one of the largest of the spoil heaps near St Austell, known as the Sky Tip, and talks to primary school teacher Ann Teague and local landlord Andrew Dean about why...

Jersey doubles in size when the tide goes out. Helen Mark discovers what the retreating waters reveal, from the evidence of our Neanderthal ancestors to the extraordinary marine life of the island's reefs. At La Rocque three local guides take her across miles of treacherous shifting sands to Seymour Tower, built to defend Jersey against the French but used by the German occupiers. On the north coa...

Thomas Hardy is one of England's most enduring writers. 175 years after his birth a new film of 'Far From the Madding Crowd' has recently been released and like the original version from 1967 it features scenes shot in the beautiful Dorset countryside. For Hardy the heathland, forests and rivers which surrounded his birthplace at Higher Bockhampton near Dorchester were more than a backdrop. Landsc...

Helen Mark visits Rathlin Island situated just off the North Coast of Antrim. Despite having a population of just over a hundred people, Rathlin Island is a thriving community. Its rugged landscape is home to a population of farmers and fishers, and supports thousands of sea birds. Each year around thirty thousand tourists flock to the island and Helen discovers what its like to live there during...

Helen Mark takes to the seas to explore the North Antrim Coastline, taking in Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede from the water. She meets Robin Ruddock who teaches people to kayak along this coast and is joined by experts from Ulster Wildlife who tell her about the Living Seas project and the richness and diversity of marine life found in the waters off the North Antrim Coast. Presenter: Helen M...

Caz Graham goes in search of Cumbria's regular visiting ospreys at a selection of locations in the Lake District. Once extinct in England, Ospreys are now thriving in the UK. Breeding pairs are well established in Scotland and for several years they have become regular visitors to the Lake District. Caz travels to Foulshaw Moss, a nature reserve on the side of the busy A590, just south of Kendal,...

Golowan is the Cornish tradition of lighting Midsummer Bonfires. This ancient tradition which hopes to prolong the summer sun for a good harvest was revived by The Old Cornish Society. Helen Mark meets some of their members to learn how they hope to keep the unique identity of this place alive and well. On Bodmin Moor and Kit Hill there are reminders of man's habitation going back 5000 years. The...

The Landmark Trust exists to save endangered important buildings and to enable people to inhabit them. For their 50th anniversary they invited one of our most celebrated artists Sir Antony Gormley to create a sculpture at 5 iconic locations across the country. The centre point of these 5 pieces is The Lengthsmans Cottage in Lowsonford which sits on the side of the Stratford-Upon-Avon canal in Warw...

Helen Mark visits Cumbria to watch the exciting and ancient sport of hound trailing. At the May Day races, she meets owners Wendy and Russell Dawson who treat their dogs like royalty. Cared for like athletes, they eat chicken and rabbit, and are bathed before a race. They are trained from pups to follow a scent, but it's a gamble if any will have the instincts of a champion. Helen walks the trail,...

Caz Graham visits the Northumberland countryside to discover stunning art in the landscape, produced by Iranian artist Khosro Adibi. Khosro is a visual artist from Iran. He's lived in Europe for several years now and has created site-specific environmental sculptures and land art pieces in the landscape. He has been artist in residence at Tarset in Northumberland since August last year. His work i...

Caz Graham visits the shores of Solway Firth to discover the folk and wildlife that live around the stunning coastline. Caz pulls on her wellies and heads to the shoreline at low tide with the help of Ann Lingard. Ann is a 'low-tide' guide and leads Caz on a tromp through a rarely explored landscape: one of rock pools and rare reefs. Ann shows Caz the home of the honeycomb worm, Sabellaria. The cr...

In the marshy landscape of the Hoo Peninsula you can find much of British history. Saxon and Roman remains point to mans first efforts to hold back the sea and use this land for agriculture. The Churchyard in Cooling provides the backdrop for one of Dickens best known works 'Great Expectations'. In Cliffe you can find the remains of an Edwardian explosives factory and at the RSPB reserve on Northw...

65 years after the first publication of The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe, Helen Mark discovers a real life Narnia in the form of a tranquil Oxfordshire woodland that once belonged to CS Lewis. It is said that Lewis enjoyed wandering here while writing his children's book series which includes The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and that he and his brother 'Warnie' planted trees amongst the woo...

Shetland is the most northerly part of the UK. The archipelago of islands is home to 23,000 people, who are nearer to Norway than they are to Edinburgh. Helen Mark travels to Lerwick to visit the annual Up Helly Aa fire festival, during which a thousand torches are set alight, and which culminates in the burning of a replica Viking longboat. She also finds out about the wildlife and archaeology of...

To mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill, Helen Mark heads to Chartwell in Kent to explore the family home and gardens. Churchill bought the home in 1922 to live in with his wife Clementine and their children and remained here until his death in 1965. As well as making structural changes to the grounds he used it as an inspiration for writing and painting and it's been ma...