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 Moth was diagnosed with a terminal illness. They walked through it all and came out at the other end with renewed hope.Raynor Winn is a long-distance walker and writer whose first book, The Salt Path, was a bestseller. Since then she's published The Wild Silence and Landlines, which also ends in Polruan, where she lived for some time. She grew up on a farm in Staffordshire and has always lived in the countryside. She tells Martha Kearney about her isolated rural childhood and how she feels most at home in nature. Her experience of homelessness changed her view of what home is. On a surprisingly blue and sunny but blustery day they walk the path as she and her husband did and Raynor recalls that time and reflects on how that experience has changed her. Producer: Beth O'Dea
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24:27
George McGavin
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 the flora and fauna of the woodland.Producer: Emma Campbell
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25:07
Sacha Dench
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 childhood growing up in Australia, where she says the beach and the bush were her playgrounds. She tells Martha about the paramotor accident which left her seriously injured and from which the sights and smells of the natural world proved a powerful aid to recovery. She describes her plans for the future and talks about what brings her hope.Producer: Emma Campbell
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24:54
James Dyson
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, Martha travels to his farm near Bath to find out more about his love for the natural world. She learns of how his early years growing up in Norfolk helped inspire him not just in business, but also in farming. He talks about the impact losing his father at a young age had on him, his experience of working on farms as a teenager and his hopes for the future of farming in the UK. Martha also gets to see the Dyson approach to farming, where robots are being taught how to identify and pick strawberries which are grown in one of the UK’s most technically advanced greenhouses. Producer: Ed Prendeville
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Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
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 left London and moved to a farmhouse in Gloucestershire. He recalls a fascination with the natural world in his early years, remembering a childhood spent roaming the fields and collecting birds' eggs, and recounting an incident in which he accidentally squashed a lizard while trying to put it into a biscuit tin. As a student he intended to work in wildlife conservation and had hopes of becoming the next David Attenborough, before a job at River Café set him on a different path. The natural world still fascinates and inspires him today. He tells Martha about the emotional hold it has over him, describing a time during lockdown when he was moved to tears of joy by seeing the blue flash of a kingfisher.#Photo copyright Abergavenny Food Festival, photographer Tim Woodier.Producer: Emma Campbell
In this new series, Martha Kearney explores the importance of the natural world in the lives of her guests. Each person she meets takes her to a rural location which means something to them, and describes the role nature has played in their life, explaining how it has shaped, influenced or fascinated them. In the process she gains surprising new insights into some well-known faces – from Cate Blanchett, who talks about her love of bee-keeping, to Martin Clunes, who takes Martha on a walk with his five dogs before rolling up his sleeves to scrub his horse’s hooves in preparation for the village show. Delia Smith, James Dyson, Ajoa Andoh and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall are all on Martha’s guest list. This series celebrates the power and mystery of the natural world, and finds reasons to be optimistic about its future.
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