Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2025 i BBC Countryfile Magazine

Our landscapes are littered with reminders of our mystical past, and it’s one part of living in Britain that has always fascinated me. Great writers and artists such as JRR Tolkien and Mervyn Peake have taken their inspiration from our castles, monuments and folklore, while Neolithic sites connect us to the rituals of our ancient ancestors. Even the Glastonbury Festival, perhaps the world’s most celebrated arts event, is held at the crossroads of what some believe are druidic ley lines in the shadow of King Arthur. So what’s the appeal? Why does all this ancient stuff captivate our 21st-century minds? For me, I guess it’s part escape and part perspective – not to mention being great fun. Imagining what it was like to live hundreds or even thousands of years…

‘Remember, remember the 5th of November, gunpowder, treason and plot…’ Following the failed plan to blow up King James I and his Parliament in 1605, an act was passed making it mandatory to attend a special church service every 5th of November; celebrations, marked by the burning of effgies, soon sprang up around this commemoration. Today, Bonfire Night is a much friendlier family event open to everyone, with thrilling fireworks at the centre of secular seasonal festivities Check out this month’s special subscription offer, page 26…

Bronze Age Britons travelled long distances to attend communal feasts of grand proportions, sometimes with livestock in tow, shows new studies. A team of archaeologists from Cardiff University conducted state-of-the-art, multi-isotope analyses on more than 250 animal remains found in six middens across Wiltshire and the Thames Valley and dated to the Late Bronze Age (2,900–2,500 years ago). These remains are believed to be scraps left by people after large, communal feasts; they’re made up of a variety of different animals, including sheep and pigs. After killing, butchering and eating these animals, people threw their remains into piles that, over time, grew into enormous mounds known as ‘middens’. The largest of these middens, located in Potterne, Wiltshire, covers an area roughly the same size as five football pitches and contains…

The Dragon’s Back Race 2025 has been hailed as the most dramatic yet, with extreme weather, re-directed routes and record-breaking performances, living up to its reputation as one of the world’s toughest mountain races. Holly Wootten was the first woman to cross the finish line in an extraordinary 50 hours and 46 minutes, shattering Lisa Watson’s 2022 course record by three hours and coming second overall. “I’ve gone into deeper, darker holes than I have before,” she said. “I think bouncing back from when I thought things were slipping away, I am stronger than I thought.” Wootten was over 10 hours ahead of second-place woman Jodie Gauld, who finished in 61 hours two minutes, while Leanne van Dijk claimed third. Reflecting on her strategy, Wootten added: “I wanted to challenge…

It’s been a long mile, trudging uphill in the rain, across uninspiring fields, past rickety ruins of long-abandoned farm buildings, mud slowly working its way up my waterproof trousers. Sometimes walking is like this: you take the rough with the smooth, the dreary with the wonderful. On this occasion, though, it feels like a message. After two days’ walking under azure skies in the nearby Yorkshire Dales, I’ve come to Pendle, scene of one of Britain’s darkest, cruellest trials, and it’s hammering down… “Welcome to witch country!” I’ve been staying at HF Holidays’ Newfield Hall, near Malham, using the walking tour operator’s reassuringly detailed route cards to explore the National Park by myself. Today, however, I’ve ventured into the Forest of Bowland National Landscape to visit an area I’ve heard…

GETTING THERE Train to Rouse station near Barrow-in-Furness (northernrailway.co.uk). Walk, cycle, take a taxi or (infrequent) bus to Roa Island (4 miles). Then board the Piel Ferry (pielferry.com; 07798 794550) which sails daily from Easter to October, weather and tide permitting. Alternatively, groups can contact local guide John Murphy (01229 473746) and walk at low tide from Walney Island. KEY LANDMARK Piel Castle Built of stones collected from the beach, the castle is Piel’s architectural crowning glory. Constructed for the monks of Furness Abbey, it has seen a great deal of mischief over the centuries, including that invasion of England. Free entry. english-heritage.org.uk WHERE TO STAY One of the many joys of Piel is that you can camp in the shadow of the castle or with the waves lapping close…

YR WYDDFA The Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) summit has not just one but three geocaches, including an EarthCache – a geology-related geocache that teaches an earth-science lesson. ROB ROY WAY A trail of 47 geocaches takes you along the first section of the 79-mile Rob Roy Way, a long-distance footpath between Drymen and Pitlochry in the Scottish Highlands. robroyway.com DARTMOOR NATIONAL PARK As the birthplace of letterboxing, which is very similar to geocaching, it’s not surprising that Dartmoor fully embraced it. You’ll find around 2,500 geocaches within the national park.…

COUNTRYSIDE QUIZ Answers at the bottom of page 96 1. Who wrote the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’, associated with Remembrance Day, November 11? ☐ a. John McCrae ☐ b. Siegfried Sassoon ☐ c. Wilfred Owen ☐ d. Rupert Brooke 2. Which tiny British isle has its own king and a 14th-century castle? ☐ a. Bardsey Island, Wales ☐ b. Ulva, Inner Hebrides ☐ c. Foula, Shetlands ☐ d. Piel Island, Cumbria 3. In which village is a huge boulder ceremoniously turned over every 5 November? ☐ a. Shebbear, Devon ☐ b. Newton Abbot, Devon ☐ c. Clun, Shropshire ☐ d. Grantham, Lincolnshire 4. In which US state did the global phenomenon of geocaching begin? ☐ a. Utah ☐ b. California ☐ c. Oregon ☐ d. Idaho 5. According to legend,…

How to help hedgehogs prepare for hibernation this autumn Be sure to check your wood pile for nesting hedgehogs before building a bonfire this 5 November. One of the few mammals that are true hibernators, hedgehogs usually build their nests – called hibernacula – in October or November, although they may still be out and about later this month if the weather is mild. Favourite nest sites are beneath hedges and tree roots, in wood piles, underneath sheds, in old rabbit burrows or inside compost heaps. Before their big sleep, or torpor – when their metabolism, heart rate and breathing slows dramatically – hedgehogs need to build up their fat stores to sustain them until temperatures rise again in early spring. To give them a helping hand, at sunset, place…

4 November Witness a live re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings between Harold II of England and William of Normandy – as the Plodcast heads to Sussex. 11 November On Armistice Day, come with us on a gentle, reflective walk through a peaceful churchyard deep in the Herefordshire countryside. 18 November Join a quest to find the secretive dormouse in a hazel woodland in Hampshire – and discover why these small, endearing rodents are struggling in modern Britain. 25 November Meet author Michael Warren on a walk in the wilds of Essex and hear about his celebrated book, A Cuckoo’s Lea: The Forgotten History of Birds and Place. Our nature and countryside Plodcast is available on all podcast providers. countryfile.com/podcast…

The headline made me do a double-take. The Sunday supplements were scattered across the kitchen table and there, above a few glossy photos of stylish jet-setters and film stars, was the sort of headline that would thrill any sheep farmer: “Why wool is cool”. It’s not often that an important by-product of British agriculture is treated so glamorously. Apparently, the smartest dudes and the sleekest trendsetters are now turning heads by wearing wool suits. George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Daniel Craig and most famously King Charles are among the famous names who’ve been pictured in smart wool jackets and trousers. I’m a big advocate for wool in fashion and British wool in particular. It’s an industry that suffered terribly from the rise of synthetic fibres and cheaper foreign imports in the…

GETTING THERE Vivienne Crow was staying at Newfield Hall as a guest of HF Holidays, which organises walking holidays in the Yorkshire Dales and other UK and European destinations. Self-guided, three-night breaks at Newfield Hall (pictured) start at £399 per person, full-board in en-suite rooms. Guided breaks start at £469 for three nights. hfholidays.co.uk The village of Malham is located about 30 miles east of J34 on the M6. The nearest railway stations are at Gargrave and Hellifield, with trains to Leeds, Blackburn and Manchester Victoria. HF Holidays can also arrange guest transfers to and from Skipton Railway Station. KEY LANDMARK Like Malham Cove, Gaping Gill is another awesome limestone spectacle. One of the UK’s longest waterfalls forms where Fell Beck disappears into a yawning hole in the ground, plummeting…

1. ALICE IN WONDERLAND Lewis Carroll’s surreal tale from 1865 sees Alice consume a mushroom to grow and shrink. Carroll was inspired by the hallucinogenic fly agaric, the red-capped mushroom with white spots. 2. TIMOTHY LEARY Psychologist Timothy Leary advocated the use of magic mushrooms in the 1960s in the US, helping to influence art, music and the counterculture through his Harvard experiments and public lectures. 3. ‘WHITE RABBIT’ Jefferson Airplane’s 1967 song transforms Lewis Carroll’s mushroom imagery. The song’s writer Gracie Slick later said that the lyric was “about following your curiosity. The White Rabbit is your curiosity.” 4. STRANGER THINGS The strange and frightening world of the Upside Down in Netflix’s hit series, set in the 1980s, features floating white particles that look like fungal spores, an intoxicating…

Before I realise what’s happening, the lid is off – and James Maclaine is pulling out a fistful of deep-sea anglerfish. I hadn’t been expecting him to plonk his bare hand inside the jar. I peer more closely. It looks… squishy. Maclaine, senior curator of fish at London’s Natural History Museum, is giving me a behind-the-scenes look at some of the specimens that aren’t on public display: some are too large to feature in the main exhibits, others too precious. Dotted around the room are glass jars filled with curious specimens preserved in spirits, many over 100 years old. Maclaine removes a few with the casual air of someone who’s been surrounded by rare curios every day for decades. Animals that are too big for the jars are placed in…

SAUCONY GUIDE 18 £130, SAUCONY.COM The fairly light (245g) Guide 18s were my choice for marathon race day and they didn’t disappoint, keeping me comfortable and blister-free for the duration. They might be too cushioned for speedsters searching for personal bests, but for slower runners like me they offer a huge dose of cushioning and support via the sizeable midsole foam, cushioned tongue and internal heel collar foam. They perform as a mileage training shoe and road-walking pair as well, but I wouldn’t take them on the trails due to the lack of lugged off-road grip, the mostly white colourway and the sizeable stack height (34.3mm; stack height being the total thickness of a running shoe’s sole). Men’s sizes are also available. N-MH HOKA BONDI 9 £160, HOKA.COM They’re not…

I love fireworks. Nature’s blazing colours ceding to blazing fires, and acceptance – now the comforting melancholy of September and October has settled – that winter is in the wings. An excitement builds, towards the season of staying in and going out, heralded by sparks in the dark. Breathtaking pyrotechnics, even of village size, and all the oohs and ahhs. For a time, we did our stint running the village firework display. But is it time to pack that away and embrace something new? Something simpler, kinder, less… explosive? Not everyone likes fireworks. The startle, whizzes, whooshes, screams and decibel-busting bangs going off without warning, the field-wide flashes. A season no longer contained to Guy Fawkes night on 5 November and its nearest weekend, or Diwali. The impact on domestic…

1 SALUTING MAGPIES This centuries-old practice is still common across the British isles in rural and urban communities alike. The magpie is commonly associated with death – perhaps because, legend says, it was the only bird that did not weep at Christ’s crucifixion. A solitary bird is said to bring bad luck when approaching from the left, but good fortune when coming from the right. As the old nursery rhyme about the number of magpies seen tells us: “One for sorrow, two for joy.” To ward off potential misfortune, salute a single bird with the words: “Good morning, Mr Magpie, how’s your wife today?” 2 LYCHGATES AS THRESHOLDS The roofed gateway at a churchyard entrance, the lychgate – from the Old English lic, meaning corpse – marks the threshold to…

Water companies are failing to account for the impacts of tourism in some of England and Wales’ most visited and treasured beauty spots, resulting in sewage spill overflows, according to a new report. The Campaign for National Parks (CNP) and the Rivers Trusts found that sewage spills from permitted overflows occurred at double the rate within national parks as they did outside them. “One reason for this is that small rural [treatment] works are not designed to deal with high seasonal pressures,” the Rivers At Risk report says. CNP chief executive Rose O’Neill describes it as “madness” that water companies don’t plan for the number of visitors in national parks during the summer months, but she says this is because it is not a requirement. “The Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive,…

Every 5 November, villages and towns across Britain light bonfires and set off fireworks to mark Guy Fawkes Night. In the East Devon town of Ottery St Mary, though, the infernos aren’t stationary. Here, in a centuries-old tradition, tar-lined barrels are set ablaze and carried around the carnival-crowded streets on the shoulders of local folk. Participation in this unique tradition is a treasured rite of passage for residents, who take the event extremely seriously; for spectators, it’s a thrillingly incandescent spectacle. First-timers typically walk away from the event wide-eyed, with slightly singed eyebrows and hair smelling of smoke, wondering “well, how did that get past the health-and-safety police?” Though not for the faint-hearted, this is one of the most exciting and bizarre folk events I’ve ever experienced. WHAT’S THE BACKSTORY?…

Parkin In northern England, Bonfire Night is spiced up with a square of this rich, gingery cake, writes Neil Buttery No Bonfire Night is complete without a square of parkin, sticky and rich from treacle and melted butter, yet crumbly from chewy oatmeal, the lashings of ginger providing a welcome warmth. Parkin has been eaten throughout the North of England since the 17th century, but it was then associated with All Souls’ Day on 2 November, a day of remembrance for the dead. At first, it was a griddlecake made with oats and lard, sweetened with molasses and spiced with ginger. When All Souls’ Day fell out of favour, parkin was adopted on Guy Fawkes Night instead. A native of Yorkshire, modern parkin was born in the Victorian era: at…

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Small, grey or pale brown and trembling in the autumn breeze, liberty cap mushrooms grow in upland pastures across the UK. Drab they may be, but these fungi are among the most controversial – and interesting – organisms to grow wild in these islands. Better known as magic mushrooms, these fungi helped ‘turn on’ some of Britain’s most creative people to the psychedelic movement of the late 1960s and 70s, which was accompanied by flamboyant fashions, weird happenings and, of course, some astonishing music. An extraordinary mythology flourished among enthusiasts, crediting mushrooms with mystical powers, and claiming for them a pivotal role in human evolution. But the magic mushroom is not just another quirky footnote in the history of British culture. It has retained a loyal following in Britain and…

Istill remember the first time I saw the island. It was the summer of 2008 and I was standing on the shore of neighbouring Walney Island with nature guide and former Mayor of Barrow, John Murphy. We were looking out across a pea-souper of a sea fret blanketing Morecambe Bay when suddenly a gust of wind revealed a surprising sight: a substantial castle keep that appeared to have been built upon the waves. John assured me that there was a small isle underneath the fortress, and that it was called Piel. I knew there and then that I would have to go there. Piel Island has since become one of my favourite places in Britain, both to visit and camp on. Tucked away off the south-western coast of Cumbria, the…

Dave Hamilton is an experienced geocacher, freelance writer, photographer, tutor, forager and the author of Wild Ruins. 1 Geocaching explained Geocaching is often described as a way of ‘using billions of dollars of US satellite technology to find plastic boxes in the woods’. The word geocache comes from ‘geo’, meaning earth (think geography) and ‘cache’ meaning a hidden store of things. The geocache itself is normally a waterproof container, such as a plastic box that contains a logbook, sometimes a pen, and low-cost trinkets that can be exchanged for items of equal or greater value. 2 High-tech treasure hunts Prior to 2000, Global Positioning System (GPS) signals were only accurate for the military and government systems. Then the US government relaxed these ‘selective availability’ restrictions and allowed civilian access to…

Share your views and opinions by writing to us at: Have your say: BBC Countryfile Magazine, Eagle House, Bristol BS1 4ST; or email editor@countryfile.com, tweet us @CountryfileMag or via Facebook facebook.com/countryfilemagazine *We reserve the right to edit correspondence DRONE INTRUSIONS A couple of things in your October issue got me thinking. Kevin Marsden’s letter concerning the use of drones reminded me of our visit to Malham Cove this August. We were admiring the views when we spotted a small drone flying up and down the cliff face and around the top of the cove for several minutes, only 5–10 metres away from the cliff. There was no sign of anyone obviously flying it. A quick internet search – ‘Is flying a drone at Malham Cove permitted?’ – came up with…