This Natural Life

The adventurer and author Phoebe Smith takes Martha Kearney to her favourite mountain, Tryfan in Eryri, also known as Snowdonia, in Wales. She grew up near the mountain but never went into the countryside until a decision by her mum ended up changing the course of her life. Producer Beth O'Dea

Where once she had a reputation for wild living, the artist Dame Tracey Emin introduces Martha Kearney to the place where she says her wildness comes out today. Since having life-saving surgery for bladder cancer in 2020, she swims almost every day in the sea in Margate. The waves and the landscape hold many memories for her going back to her childhood, but today it is the place she says heals her...

The nature writer Patrick Barkham takes Martha Kearney on a butterfly-spotting trip in Foxley Wood, Norfolk. This is Norfolk's largest ancient woodland, which has been undergoing restoration since the 1980s. Seven summers ago, it saw the return of the rare purple emperor butterfly, which had become extinct in the region. Patrick tells Martha why this place is so special to him, connecting him to h...

The writer and structural engineer behind The Shard, Roma Agrawal, takes Martha Kearney to Kilburn Grange Park in north-west London. The park was an oasis for Roma during some of the most difficult periods of her life. Roma shares how she sees the world through the lens of a structural engineer, reflecting on materials, society and the ways we organise our cities. She tells Martha about her upbrin...

Aardman Animations co-founder Peter Lord takes Martha Kearney to the magical mediaeval Whitcliff Deer Park in Berkeley, Gloucestershire. It's his favourite place to walk in nature and watch the wild fallow and red deer herds that live there inside the old walls, on land that's been left wild for centuries. Producer Beth O'Dea

Judi Dench is one of the nation's best loved actors, but she is also well-known for her love of trees. In this programme, Martha Kearney meets Judi at her woodland garden in Surrey, where she learns that every time a friend dies, Judi plants a tree in their memory. Judi gives Martha a tour of the woodland, and talks about the many references to the natural world which can be found in Shakespeare's...

Comedian Kiri Pritchard-McLean grew up on a farm on the island of Anglesey in North Wales. In this programme, she tells Martha Kearney about her connection with the natural world and explains why the mountains and sea of this beautiful landscape mean so much to her. She takes Martha to visit Llanddwyn, a tiny island off Anglesey, explaining why it's such a special place for her. She describes her...

In this special edition of This Natural Life, His Majesty The King tells Martha Kearney about his lifelong passion for nature and the environment. As they walk together through the walled garden at Dumfries House in Ayrshire, the King reflects on how his love of the natural world began in childhood and discusses topics ranging from school farms and marine conservation to the art of topiary and the...

Dara McAnulty, a 21-year-old Northern Irish naturalist currently studying at Cambridge, is home for the winter break. He takes Martha Kearney to one of his favourite places nearby - the Murlough National Nature Reserve in the Mourne Mountains. This special landscape of ancient forest, sand dunes, and a colony of seals lies on the edge of Dundrum Bay, framed by the Mourne Mountains. Dara shares his...

Martha Kearney meets Jane Anderson, one of the UK's leading physicians in HIV medicine, to learn about the living library of plants at Chelsea Physic Garden. Since childhood, Jane has always been a huge lover of plants and their many remarkable uses - for food, for medicine, for health and wellbeing. As they walk around the medicinal plant beds, she speaks about human health and planetary health,...

Emma Pinchbeck is the Chief Executive Officer of the Climate Change Committee - the independent body which advises the government on emissions targets and the impacts of climate change. She grew up in the Cotswolds, where Martha Kearney meets her to hear about her love of the Gloucestershire countryside. Emma talks about her childhood in the Stroud valleys, where her family roots go back twelve ge...

The Essex Serpent author Sarah Perry takes Martha Kearney to see the great rook and jackdaw roost at Buckenham Carrs in Norfolk. At dusk thousands of birds descend to settle in the trees for the night, a sight that Sarah finds both magical and comforting. She explains the role that nature plays in her novels, as active as any other character. Sarah Perry is the author of After Me Comes the Flood,...

The author Jeanette Winterson grew up in Accrington in Lancashire, but has made her home in a village in rural Gloucestershire. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the publication of her best-known novel 'Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit'. In this programme she talks to Martha Kearney, giving her unique access to the garden of her cottage, where she grows her own fruit and vegetables. She explai...

Martha Kearney travels to one of Britain's most isolated islands where the illustrator of books by the likes of Simon Armitage and Isabella Tree seeks her inspiration among the seabird colonies of Fair Isle. Angela Harding's lino-cut prints are an integral part of the recent boom in nature writing. Dynamic birds or mammals dominate the foreground while abstract interpretations of landscape set the...

Lira Valencia grew up in Croydon, the daughter of refugee parents from South America. In this programme she shows Martha Kearney around the Walthamstow Wetlands nature reserve in London, where she now works as a ranger. She tells Martha about the passion for wildlife which she has had ever since she was a small child. Growing up in a flat with no outdoor space, her favourite place was her grandmot...

Antony Gormley's sculptures on Crosby beach are one his best-known works. In this programme, he shows Martha Kearney around the sculptures, and talks about his relationship with the natural world - especially the sea. The artwork in Merseyside consists of one hundred male figures cast in metal, and based on Antony's own body. As they are submerged with the rising and falling tides, their form evol...

Charlotte Church rose to global fame at just eleven years old, renowned for the extraordinary purity of her singing voice. From growing up in what she describes as a working-class household in Cardiff, her career took her to the world’s grandest stages, performing for audiences which included the Pope and the U.S. President, and releasing best-selling albums. But that early fame also came with its...

Author of The Salt Path Raynor Winn takes Martha Kearney back to walk part of it: the south west coast path from Polruan in Cornwall, where her story ended and where the new film of her book is set. She talks about what nature means to her and how it effectively saved her life, and that of her husband, Moth. They set out to walk the 630 mile coast path when they lost their home and livelihood, and...

George McGavin is an entomologist, author, academic and television presenter. In this programme he shows Martha Kearney around the university research woodland at Wytham, just outside the city of Oxford. He explains how the natural world came to take on such a significance in his personal and professional life. He tells Martha why insects hold such a fascination for him, and together they explore...

Conservationist and adventurer Sacha Dench tells Martha Kearney about her love of the natural world. She explains how she came to fly a paramotor along the whole length the 4000-mile route that migrating swans take from the Russian tundra to the UK – leading to her acquiring the nickname ‘The Human Swan’. As they watch birds together at the Fernworthy reservoir in Devon, Sacha talks about her chil...

Sir James Dyson is one of the UK’s best known inventors and businessmen. His Dyson vacuum cleaners, hair dryers and air purifiers have sold in their millions, both in the UK and around the world. In 2013, Sir James turned his attention to farming. He now runs the biggest farming business in the country, and owns 36,000 acres on which he produces potatoes, peas and strawberries. In this programme,...

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a chef, broadcaster, author and campaigner. His 'River Cottage' series ran for more than ten years on Channel 4 and he has written more than twenty food and cookery books. In this programme Martha Kearney catches up with Hugh at an event at the Abergavenny Food Festival. He tells her how his love affair with the countryside started at the age of five when his parents...

Adjoa Andoh has played lead roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, and is a familiar face to fans of Casualty and Doctor Who. She is probably best known as Lady Danbury in Bridgerton, the hit Netflix series. Her roots, though, are firmly in the countryside. She grew up in the village of Wickwar, just north of Bristol, where she and her brother were the only black childr...

Martha Kearney meets Kathy Willis, Professor of Biodiversity at Oxford University, at Kathy's local stamping ground of Port Meadow, the protected common land in the heart of Oxford, to hear about how her love of the natural world has shaped her life. Growing up in London, Kathy has always been someone who spends a lot of time outdoors - whether in city parks, rural campsites or cycle trips abroad....

Martin Clunes is best known for his roles in the long-running TV series Doc Martin and the 1990s sitcom Men Behaving Badly. He's also known as an animal lover, but few people are aware of the wider importance of nature for him. In this programme Martha Kearney travels to his Dorset farm to meet Martin and find out more about his love of the natural world. She learns of the sanctuary it provides fo...