Footprints

We're celebrating our 20th episode this month! And it's all about the world of farming. But first - Lucy Bartlett has just organised Bathscape’s seventh highly popular annual walking festival and she updates us on what to expect this year. We visit local farmer Bob Honey who talk about his prize herd of Herefords and he's a man knows the difference between a Brown Snout, a Slack me girdle and the...

So what did the Romans ever do for Bath? Why did they come? What did they contribute? What impact did they have over the 400 or so years they were here?  To find some answers, this month we travel back two thousand years. Bob Whitaker, Archaeological Adviser BACAS (Bath and Counties Archaeological Society) specialises in the Romans and describes the route they first constructed to reach Bath....

This month we investigating the time when Haile Selassie came to live here in Bath, in exile. We find out about this remarkable African royal figure, seen as 225th in the line of the king of kings of Ethiopia. Not only a monarch whose roots are considered to reach back as far as King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, but also a man revered in his lifetime and now, as God incarnate by followers of th...

Welcome to this June episode of Footprints in which we are celebrating trees. There are two nature inspired festivals happening in Bath this month and we bring you news of both of them. Dr Penny Hay and Andrew Grant talk about the Forest of Imagination taking this year, the Assembly Rooms as its inspiration and also we’ll explore the Festival of Nature with Director Savita WIlmott, which is in its...

This month we celebrate wildlife enthuiasts. It’s springtime and we thought we’d bring the outside in and isten to the call of the wild. We start the show at Bath city Farm and meet Ribin the Robin. Naturalist Mike WIlliams tells us his story.  Staying at Bath City Farm, Bathscape's Lucy Bartlett surveys newts and we hear how the newt population is doing in the farm's ponds.  Catherine T...

This month it is all about Wellbeing and how getting out and about especially into nature does us the world of good. Walking is a great form of exercise; but it’s also a time to think, reflect and maybe slow down and notice the details and the beauty of the world around us. We start up at Bath University where in March, it was BE WELL WEEK and Bathscape’s walking festival organiser Lucy Bartlett p...

This month we are serving up a fabulous trio of local Bath artists who, using a variety of materials and techniques, are united in their love of landscape and the creatures and plants that make it their home. Bathscape Manager Dan Merrett starts us off in the Victoria Art Gallery with a history tour of artists who have painted the Bath landscape since 1730. Jessica Palmer shows us round her first...

In this episode we delve into Bath’s social history exploring the world of work and housing from the industrial revolution right up to the present day. We set the scene with Stuart Burroughs - Stuart has been the Director of the Museum of Bath at Work for the last 30 years. In a nutshell the museum celebrates the city’s commercial development since Roman times. The photographic exhibition alo...

Happy New Year and welcome back to Footprints! In this our first episode of the year, we look back at our highlights from 2022. More than 40 people took part in the shows last year and a huge thanks must go to them for making the episodes so fascinating and varied to listen to. They and the organisations they represent are at the very heart of the Bathscape and we will hear from many more in 2023....

This month we're celebrating tourism in Bath - discovering what has drawn people to live in or visit Bath since neolithic times. Paul Simons is the man who brought Thermae Baths to the city and is now Chair of the Trustees of the Cleveland Pools Project. In addition he is also the Secretary General of the Great Spa Towns of Europe! This is a world heritage site covering 7 countries and 11 internat...

This month we find out about Bath Stone - where it was mined and who was behind it. Chief Executive Miranda Litchfield shows us around the Museum of Bath Stone which sits right on top of the now disused Combe Down Stone Mines. It's Halloween so we asked our very own batman, Dan Merrett to show us behind the scenes of the batcave and tell us what happened to the bats that made the stone mines their...

This month’s episode discovers the community of growers and gardeners in and around Bath. In recent years there’s been a resurgence with more people coming together to grow and share food, care for the land they live near or on - maybe in an effort to help communities tackle some of the challenges we’re all facing.  Hamish Evans , co-founder of Middle Ground Growers tells me about their...

It’s September and it's time for Bathscape's wonderful annual walking festival!! The episode begins with an interview on the top of Landsdown with Stephen Bird . Stephen has recently retired from being head of Heritage Services for BaNES Council. He is very enthusiastic walker and talks about his favourite walks in Bath, the joys of long distance walking and a sponsored walk between the three UNES...

Back on land this month after two episodes on the water - this time we are exploring the wonderful world of meadows. From Bath city centre, I walk up to meet with Anita Breeze and Chris Kinchin-Smith , two of the Directors of the Friends of Lyncombe Hill Fields where they show me their newly created meadows and the second UK site of a Tiny Forest! I then walk over to Smallcombe Vale meeting Bathsc...

July's episode is a fabulous exploration of the River Avon. Listen closely to see if we spot beavers! Part 2 of our canals and river explorations takes us looking for beavers with Bevis Watts , CEO of Triodos Bank, ex CEO Avon WIldlife Trust. Also we venture into Alison Peach 's garden to see where otters come to visit from the depths of the river. Anna Baker tells us about the Cleveland Pools Pro...

In a 2-part series of the canals and rivers of Bath, this month we paddle along the Somersetshire Coal and the Kennet and Avon canals, and find out how they contributed to the building of Bath. We meet a woman who runs pottery workshops from her boat and a man who illuminates the life of a 'continuous cruiser'. Finally I hitch a ride on the back of Dan's bike to the Claverton Pumping Station where...

This episode is all about trees! We find out about Bath's plans for a series of tree trails and meet the trees in Hedgemead Park with tree enthusiast Fiona Bell . Woodland Trust site manager Joe Middleton gives us his expert knowledge and experience with ash dieback. And we go wassailing at Bath City Farm with 'January' played by Oliver Langdon from Kilter Theatre Company. Tom Sheppard, High Sheri...

This episode is all about farming. In fact it’s all about one farm, and we hear from 4 generations of people connected with the farm since its beginnings 105 years ago. When the Ashcombe Estate was sold off in 26 lots in 1917, Marianne Brunt's grandparents bought Lot 4, Manor Farm Langridge. Our story starts with her as she grew up at Tadwick farm across the valley. We then meet Rachel de Fos...

In this episode we look back at how we remember our ancestors and loved ones in Bath. We start at the Bath workhouse burial ground where 3000+ people were buried in unmarked graves in a field on the Wellsway near St Martin's Hospital. We hear from Richard White from Bath Spa University who created the Walking the Names project and on that day, Bathscape had organised an event to plant more than 40...

Starting off season 2 with Visions of Bath , this episode has been inspired by Bathscape’s Views and Vistas project where volunteers are researching and monitoring historically important viewpoints and where appropriate, restoring or enhancing them. We see the city from three different hill tops and I am joined by people who have worked or walked the land for decades. Starting on Twerton Round Hil...

Season 2 is about to take off.....find out more in our short trailer! For more information about Bathscape visit: www.bathscape.co.uk Produced by Pommy Harmar

Welcome to our second episode in September - this one following Bathscape's highly successful 2021 walking festival! I caught up with Lucy Bartlett before she went off on a much deserved rest, to find out how the festival had gone. Walks - we hear in turn from: LGBTQ+ Social History walk with Robert Howes My Postcard Walk to You with Victoria Wells Bath's Uncomfortable Pas t with MR B's Emporium o...

This is the first of a two-parter for September! It's only a few days until the festival starts and we hear all about it from the festival's tireless planner and organiser Lucy Bartlett. There are 73 walks on offer this year with something for everyone from social history to postcard-making to long rambles through Bath's beautiful countryside. Sign up now HERE! Where do walking festivals originate...

It's August and in this episode we hear all about the Cotswold Way as it celebrates 50 years. Margaret Reid, Head Warden for the Cotswolds Natural Landscapes and Nicole Daw the Trails and Access Officer join us. Lucy Bartlett gives us the latest on the walking festival. Sign up for walks here . And in our Wise Words for Walking Women section we talk about safety - first aid kits, blisters, power b...

Welcome to the July episode of Bathscape's Footprints Podcast! This month we meet Bristol Steppin Sistas , a hugely popular new walking group for women of colour. Sophie Brown and Ruth Pitter tell us about their love of walking, what they get up to with the group and descibe some of the barriers women of colour face when venturing into the countryside. Plus ... in our section Wise Words from Walki...