A Field Guide to the Brecks

This week, in the final episode of the series, Timo talks to Landscape Partnership founder, and Suffolk County Council’s Natural Environment Manager, Nick Dickson, and current Project Manager of the Landscape Partnership, Nicole Wade. In this episode, they explore three different places in the Brecks: the Great Eastern Pingo Trail across Thompson Common, a Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve distinctiv...

This week, Timo talks to Lance and Alfred from West Stow Country Park and Anglo-Saxon Village. Their exploration of the park starts with Æppel and Æcern, two wild-boar-mix pigs rootling beneath the trees, then wanders through the Anglo-Saxon village to the river where the team have created a log-boat or dug-out canoe and used cleared materials as resources for living history projects. On their way...

This week, Timo talks to Maddie Exton, Artist and Creative Producer at MarketPlace Arts, an Arts Council funded Creative People and Places (CPP) charity. They discuss: Maddie’s working-class, rural Suffolk background and how it has influenced her artistic practice and work in social engagement exploring heritage and the environment through art and the interplay between research, nature, storytelli...

This week, Timo talks to Richard Evans, co-founder of the Breckland Farmers Wildlife Network (BFWN). They discuss: the ingredients that formed the BFWN, from Richard’s background and network, to the Breckland Biodiversity Audit in 2010, evidencing nearly 13,000 species, around 2,000 of which are priority species, in the Brecks how working collaboratively for ecology improvements has brought togeth...

This week, Timo talks to Becky Carter, Catchment Engagement Manager and Martin Bowes, Strategy Manager for Anglian Water. They discuss: how the word “heritage” applies naturally to water in the Brecks because it is the reason humans have lived in the area for so long how being part of the Landscape Partnership was fundamental to Anglian Water creating the concept for their current way of collabora...

This week, we’re kicking off 2026 with a conversation withGraham Wade, co-founder of Run Breckland. Timo talks to Graham in September 2025 on Butten Island, between the Little Ouse and the Thet in the centre of Thetford. They discuss: the running community in and around Thetford how Run Breckland got started and the building of their event calendar, including the first marathon in the area the dev...

This week, Timo talks to Lou Mayer, Environmental Programme Manager at the Environment Agency. They discuss: the value of chalk streams the impact of rainfall, the historical human-shaping of rivers, and the hazards to river health common in the Brecks the importance of a river to its local community and how spending time outdoors prepares you for accepting change in day-to-day life the art of res...

{Apologies for the poor sound quality in this episode} In this episode, Timo talks to Tim Cowan, Brecks Conservation Officer for the RSPB. They discuss: Tim’s relationship with the Brecks and the changes to the landscape he has seen over the last 40 years  the importance of building public awareness of the Brecks as one of the most important areas in the UK for biodiversity the story of the Stone...

Timo talks to Imogen Radford about the role of water in one of the driest regions of the UK. Imogen is a volunteer who ran two projects for the Partnership: one collecting and sharing oral histories of river recreation and the other introducing people to outdoor swimming. She also supported the research for one of The Breckland Society’s projects under the Partnership, examining the history of riv...

Timo talks to Pete Waters, Executive Director of Visit East of England about tourism in the Brecks. They discuss: how to work with what we have in attracting visitors to the area how to curate the visitor experience to showcase the Brecks whilst still protecting it why storytelling is key and the hidden gems within the Brecks’ story how conversations can make or break a project how devolution coul...

Timo talks to James Parry from The Breckland Society about the often overlooked social and cultural history of the Brecks. They discuss: the story of how human activity has changed the landscape from a hostile land of sandstorms and hardship, to the hospitable and varied place we know today   how striking the balance between commercial land use and environmental conservation can be used as a model...

Timo talks to Tina Cunnell, Brandon Town Clerk and former Thetford Town Clerk. Today’s episode takes a walk through Brandon’s green spaces, from the public-access orchard, up the avenue of lime trees planted for Queen Victoria and the memorial playing fields behind the Leisure Centre to the staunch on the Little Ouse river. Join them as they discuss:  the love Breckland people have for the outdoor...

Timo talks to Andrew Blenkiron, manager of the Elveden Estate, the largest ring-fenced, lowland farm in England. Join them on Dead Man’s Heath – a classic Brecks landscape of open heath fringed with pine lines and forest. Find out what links Stone Curlews and onions as well as what makes the Brecks so stripey, as they discuss: the wild species found on the Estate the unique soil of the Brecks and...

The Norfolk and Suffolk Brecks has a tangible history of human-shaping that goes back thousands of years yet, today is home to 28% of the UK's rarest species and was described in the University of East Anglia's biodiversity audit (2010) as, "a nationally important biodiversity hotspot". Artist and place-maker, Timo Peach takes a whistle-stop tour of exactly what makes the Brecks...