Hidden Wiltshire Podcast

Someone has called Glyn and Paul the Whitehouse and Mortimer of the podcast world but with more sheep. We’re not sure if that was meant as a compliment but we’ll take it. We just need to decide which one of us is Paul Whitehouse and which one is Bob Mortimer. Before getting on to the main subject we discuss the last two weeks in the world of Hidden Wiltshire. It was the final Hidden Wiltshire/Wilt...

Bit of a chaotic start to this episode of the podcast. We weren’t sure where we were. Glyn simply can’t get the staff these days. And what’s worse is that our reputation as serious podcasters is at risk due to the fact that most Google searches for reference material about Wiltshire lead back to this website! We’ll need to be a bit more diligent about our fact checking in future, although in this...

It’s been a busy couple of weeks and there is dissent amongst the Hidden Wiltshire staff about pay and conditions. Paul in particular is unhappy with the current working practices that required him to spend two full days this week walking in warm sunshine across the Wiltshire countryside, taking photographs and testing the local hand pumped beers available in a Wiltshire pub after one particular w...

A welcome return to Wiltshire for Glyn after his selfless trip to Pembrokeshire in South West Wales in search of links to his home county. We might call it a holiday but he assures us it was all in the interests of Hidden Wiltshire!  The link is of course that the blue stones at Stonehenge were sourced from the Preseli Hills some 5,000 years ago. And it’s now thought the exact location was a stone...

It was an important and historic day for Wiltshire when we recorded the podcast as we waited for the decision of the courts on the judicial review of the Government’s decision to build the A303 tunnel past Stonehenge and the Winterbourne Stoke bypass. Will the courts allow the legal change against the process for arriving at the decision to build, or will they decide the process was not legal? Wil...

In this weeks episode we have our first guest – Hidden Wiltshire’s resident expert on Salisbury Plain, Mr Steve Dewey.   But to begin with, Glyn talks about some birthday and anniversary milestones that instead of being celebrated in Rome, will be celebrated at Bishopstrow in Wiltshire – keeping it local!   This weeks episode was actually recorded a while ago as Paul is currently closer to Norway...

Something a bit different in this episode. Instead of talking about a particular walk we focus on something that is classic Wiltshire. Something that we’ve all seen right across the county. The ubiquitous Wiltshire Clump. But to begin with we do our usual round up of the last two weeks in Wiltshire. We briefly mentioned the last joint walk that we ran with Wiltshire Museum on Adam’s Grave and Milk...

Today’s episode is the second of our walks to include some location recording, which seemed be so popular (according to our poll of three listeners) following our first attempt two weeks ago. Between them Glyn and Paul have done this walk three times already this year. It was that good!   To begin with, in our catch up of the last two weeks in Wiltshire, we provide a bit of an update on how the ou...

In this episode we explore the expanse of Fyfield Down, searching out both hidden natural and human phenomena. There was so much to see and find that we went twice, and in the process recorded our first outside broadcast.   But first, in our catch up on the last two weeks in Wiltshire, Glyn regales us with far too much information about his feet, and reviews the first of Hidden Wiltshire’s walks i...

Today’s podcast revolves around the search for Kitt’s Grave in bandit country on the borders with Dorset and Hampshire. A story of historical fact or folklore? Or both? To begin with Glyn tries to justify why RAF Chinooks over Imber are hidden (he failed)!  We continue with our review of the last two weeks in Wiltshire where rain largely stopped play. Paul admits to traitorous behaviour having spe...

As we clock up double figures with our 10th episode this one is dominated by stories of some truly bizarre people including the gold suited Spanish dwarf Perro. But we begin with the prospect of a re-enactment of Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights by Glyn and Paul on Sidbury Hill. A prospect too ghastly for words. You’ll have to listen to find out more.  We then catch up with activity over the two week...

An episode of mystery, intrigue and colourful characters. After all it wouldn’t be Hidden Wiltshire without at least one of these elements and we have all three! We begin with a chat about what we’ve been up to in the last two weeks since the previous episode. Glyn’s excited about his discovery of a new bottom, and an old coffin trail to Steeple Ashton which included a stone bridge built, we think...

In today’s episode we visit Ranscombe Bottom, Morgan’s Hill and the very spooky Furze Knoll following a route that Glyn wrote about in his blog dated 17 September 2020. Use the link below for Glyn’s superb photographs and a description of the walk including the route map.    But before doing so we have a chat about what we’ve been up since the last podcast including a recce for a future blog and p...

In this episode we visit the hills to the north of the Pewsey Vale where Glyn and Paul have an argument about whether they are called the Pewsey Downs or the Marlborough Downs!   But first we talk about a query from a listener about what to do when faced by a blocked public right of way. The answer is to report the matter to Wiltshire Council. There’s a link below.   Glyn then tells us about a let...

In this episode we visit Castle Combe without actually going to the village. It’s hardly hidden is it? Instead we concentrate on the beautiful and historic countryside surrounding the village with its many hidden combes and bottoms (including one where we can only imagine at the derivation of its name) and its babbling brooks. We follow a walk posted on the Hidden Wiltshire website on 26 July 2020...

In this episode we continue our journey around the Deverills and the Wylye Valley, picking up where we left the walk in the previous episode at Brixton Deverill.  We look at the extraordinary find of the site of a Roman villa in the gardens of a house in Brixton Deverill. We then take to the hills tracing a route to Brims Down, Cold Kitchen Hill and Whitecliff Down discussing the area’s rich histo...

In which we follow the first half of a walk heading south from Kingston Deverill to explore the beautiful and ancient landscape of the hills above the Wylye Valley. An area that has been continually farmed since at least 3,500 BC.   This is an infrequently visited area of great natural beauty with seemingly endless views. A place where you will find a peace and solitude that belies its past as a b...

This episode looks at the beautiful and historic landscape around the villages of Edington and Bratton. We follow a walk that Glyn wrote about in May 2019 that starts at the Iron Age Hillfort of Bratton Camp above the Westbury White Horse, and continues via Picquet Hill above Edington after a short diversion to Tinhead Hill. We explore Luccombe Bottom and its spring before returning via Bratton ch...

In this episode we move a little further east from the location for episode 1 to visit the Iron Age settlement at Knook Castle. We mine the rich seam of history to be found in this area, thinking about how it might have looked over thousands of years of human habitation and how this has attracted interest from our ancestors since the dawn of archaeology. From there we head north and discuss the sa...

In our very first episode Wiltshire photographers Glyn Coy and Paul Timlett talk about how the whole Hidden Wiltshire concept started, and the journey that led to the launch of the podcast.   We also talk about one of Glyn’s favourite walks and the hill forts of Battlesbury, Scratchbury and Cley Hill that dominate the Warminster skyline. Glyn explains how he caused a major international incident (...