Footprints

The Footprints Finale

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 13:00:00 +0000

This is the final episode of Footprints as Bathscape itself draws to a close early in 2026. And so for the first time ever, the Bathscape team gathered together in the same room to mark the end of an era.

I’m joined by Bathscape’s Manager Dan Merrett; Community Projects Officer and Walking Festival Organiser Lucy Bartlett and Volunteer Coordinator Emma Carlisle.

We bring you clips from our favourite episodes over the 5 years and use them to draw out the breadth and the depth of the work of Bathscape.

Clips in order of appearance

Promoting the 2021 Bath Walking Festival

Steppin Out Long Distance July 2021 - Ruth Pitter, Steppin' Sistas participant

PEOPLE AND BATHSCAPE VOLUNTEERS

Visions of Bath Feb 2022 - Andy Dinham, retired farmer Kelston Roundhill

One farm through one century April 2022 - Rachel de Fossard, ex-farmer's daughter, Manor Farm Langridge,

Heile Selassie in Bath July 2023 - Pauline Swaby-Wallace, manager BEMSCA

Surfing the Generations Sep 2024 - Abi, Princes Trust Programme Bath College and Mary, Forget-Me-Not Dementia Club, Twerton

Hedgelaying, Scything and Dry Stone Walling Aug 2024 - Dave Pegler, scyther

HISTORY AND HERITAGE

Full Steam Ahead! July 2024 - Karl Baxter, Ultramarathon runner

Radical Bath Oct 2023 - Professor Emerita June Hannam

Bath’s Industrial Past and Present July 2025 - Peter Dunn, ex-Stothert and Pitt employee and crane restorer

Death in Paradise March 2022 - John Payne, local author and historian

Geology of Bath March 2024 - Simon Hart, Managing Director and owner of Hartham Park Stone Mine

FLORA AND FAUNA

Beaver Spotting with Bevis Watts July 2022 - Bevis Watts, CEO Triodos Bank

Birding in Bath May 2024 - Lucy Starling, expert bird listener

The Love of Trees June 2023 - Joe McSorley, Lead Ranger for the National Trust in Bath

Credits

Thanks must go to the 115 separate organisations featured over the 5 series and to the 223 people interviewed - without their stories, expertise and passion for the beautiful Bathscape, this podcast would not have been possible

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

Thanks also to the National Heritage Lottery and players of the National Lottery for supporting the podcast.

Bathscape Reflections Conference

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 17:00:00 +0000

This September, alongside our annual walking festival, Bathscape also hosted a Landscape City Conference looking at what the Bathscape Partnership has achieved and to inspire Bath's future. This is the penultimate episode of Footprints, and with the project itself drawing to a close, this episode shares a flavour of the day.

The conference was opened by Councillor Oli Henman who is the Cabinet Project Lead for Climate Change with Bath and North East Somerset Council. He was followed by two keynote speakers Andrew Grant and Dan Merrett before we hear from each of the three panels.

Clips from all of these are included and we also meet two Bath Spa 2nd year Architecture students Jazz and Marcus and hear their thoughts before and after the conference.

Keynote speakers

Andrew Grant, Director at Grant Associates, Chair Bathscape Board

Dan Merrett, Bathscape Manager

Panel 1 Accessing the therapeutic landscape

Julie Barnett (Chair), Professor of Health Psychology, University of Bath

Lucy Bartlett, Community Projects Officer, Bathscape

Zina Abdulla, PhD Researcher in Green Equity, University of Bath

Panel 2 A dynamic landscape city in an uncertain climate future

Alex Sherman (Chair), CEO Bath Preservation Trust, Bathscape Board Member

Marion Harney, Associate Dean and Professor of Buildings and Landscape Conversation, University of Bath, Chair UNESCO World Heritage Site Advisory Board and Enhancement Fund, Bathscape Member

Funda Kemal, Module Leader and Architecture Lecturer, Bath Spa University

Panel 3 Land use in the setting of a landscape city

Tom Boden (Chair), General Manager for the Bath Portfolio, National Trust, Bathscape Board Member

Amy Coulthard, Market Development Director, EnTrade

Hamish Evans, Head Farmer, Middle Ground Growers

Claire Loder and Jude Rice, Co-founders of Bloomin' Whiteway

Links

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

Grant Associates - grant-associates.uk.com

Bath Preservation Trust - www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk

University of Bath - www.bath.ac.uk

Bath Spa University - www.bathspa.ac.uk

Unesco World Heritage Site for Bath - www.bathworldheritage.org.uk

National Trust - www.nationaltrust.org.uk

EnTrade - www.entrade.co.uk

Middle Ground Growers - www.middlegroundgrowers.com

Bloomin' Whiteway - www.bloomingwhiteway.com

Great Spa Towns of Europe - www.greatspatownsofeurope.eu

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

The Landscapes of Bath's Two Universities

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode takes the opportunity to explore Bath’s two relatively new universities. Each of them sits in a unique landscape.

The University of Bath, high up on Claverton Down, is a modernist 1960s campus surrounded by open skies, mature trees and sweeping views. It started life in 1966 as Bath University of Technology and was renamed the University of Bath 5 years later. It has grown from a student population of almost 1,500 in 1966 to just under 20,000 students now.

Bath Spa University is set in a former country estate with lakes, temples and a 'Capability' Brown legacy. It became a university in 2005. It has a student population of just under 25,000.

Ralph Thompson is the Senior Lecturer in Zoology and Programme Leader for Wildlife Conservation at Bath Spa University and we hear about the university and grounds from him.

We are also joined by one of his students Evie de Gruyther who has just finished her degree at Bath Spa University getting a first class honours in Wildlife Conservation. She completed her dissertation this year by studying the bat population on the campus. She talks about her love of bats and what it was like to study at Bath Spa.

Marion Harney is Professor of Building and Landscape Conservation and Associate Dean for Education in the Faculty of Engineering and Design at the University of Bath. She is also the Chair of the Bath World Heritage Site Advisory Board.

She shows us around the university campus talking about the early super-structure architecture and the landscape design which was written into the initial brief to be a permanent feature of the campus.

We walked around amid the hot sun and torrential rain and we were joined by Badger the dog!

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Bath Spa University - www.bathspa.ac.uk

University of Bath - www.bath.ac.uk

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

Bath's Industrial Past and Present

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:00:00 +0000

This month's episode explores Bath’s industrial past and the enormous changes in the landscape Bath has seen over the decades, since many of the factories have disappeared.

Bath’s architectural landscape is often only viewed as Georgian or Roman and we forget that it has had an illustrious industrial past.

We meet Peter Dunn, who from the age of 7 wanted to build cranes. He was taken on as an apprentice by Stothert and Pitt, Bath's 'Crane maker to the World', and he is responsible for restoring one of their oldest cranes, which now sits outside Newarks Works, where Stothert and Pitt used to be.

Following this, writer and local historian Paul Fisher talks about Bath's furniture manufacturing history and the modernist buildings which housed them. We start at Lidl and walk over to the Hermann Miller building on the city side of the river.

Finally we find out from Steve George what kinds of considerations are needed when deciding what can and should be built in this wonderful Unesco World Heritage city. Steve is Bath and North East Somerset Council's Principal Planner in the Planning Policy Department.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Stothert and Pitt

'Oldest Stothert and Pitt crane set to be restored' - BBC online

Paul Fisher - Walks to Works 2, Smallish Publishing 2025

Bath and North East Somerset Council Planning Policy Department - www.bathnes.gov.uk/local-planning-policy-and-guidance

The Waters of Bath

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 06:00:00 +0000

The UK's largest free celebration of nature returns to Bristol and Bath from 7th -15th June and the theme of the festival this year is water.

So in this episode of Footprints, we celebrate the river Avon and the Kennet and Avon canal surrounding Bath.

The Canal and River Trust volunteers are out on their workboat Sulis twice a week, keeping the waterways clear of rubbish and weeds. We go along for the ride as they take their boat up to its summer mooring on the canal. They cover the river Avon from Hanham to Bath and then the Kennet and Avon canal from Bath to Dundas Aqueduct. We hear from Mike Ashman and his team including in order of appearance Bill, John, Trevor, Rich and trainee skipper Peter.

Our rivers have been in the news a lot lately, so Amy Wade, River Engagement and Education lead at BART (Bristol Avon Rivers Trust) tells us about the health of our rivers and what we can do to help.

Finally, we walk along the river Avon with Lizzie Venning from the Bath Riverline project. The aim of this project is to improve Bath residents’ connection with the river. We started out at Newbridge Park near the Park and Ride and next to Bath Marina and we walked all the way through to Batheaston where it was very easy to get a bus back to the centre of Bath, and then to the Park and Ride at Newbridge.

Joanne Radway the National Trust Community Ranger for Bathampton Meadows finished off our walk by telling us about the work they do there.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART) - www.bristolavonriverstrust.org

River Hub - www.riverhub.co.uk

The Bath River Line Project - www.bathnes.gov.uk/bath-river-line

Canal and River Trust - www.canalrivertrust.org.uk

Waterspace - www.bathnes.gov.uk/waterspace-connected

Festival of Nature - www.bnhc.org.uk/festival-of-nature/events/

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

The Ups and Downs of Bath

Tue, 06 May 2025 01:00:00 +0000

In this episode we explore three of the Downs of Bath. It's debatable how many there are in Bath - some say seven others say 9...

We start up on Bannerdown which sits up above Batheaston and has been common land since the early 18th century. Secretary of the Bannerdown Freeholders Association, Rob Kendall shows us around.

Next we head over to Lansdown to find out about the new Tramper Trail. Nicole Daw from the Cotswold National Landscape tells us about how they, together with Bathscape have developed a new accessible route around Lansdown.

Bath’s great architect John Wood the Elder is known for designing some of Bath’s beautiful georgian buildings, but it's less well-known that he was also convinced that there were the remains of druidic temples up on Lansdown. Local historian Mike Wiliams has done his own research on this and he shows us what John Wood had found and tells us whether or not they had anything to do with druids…

Howard Burton has written a book - Charmy Down: Bath's wartime airfield, peacetime village and Cold War secret. We hear about how it was used during and after the second world war and some of the stories connected to it.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Cotswold Voluntary Wardens - https://www.cotswolds-nl.org.uk/get-involved/volunteering/

Bannerdown Common - https://www.batheaston-pc.gov.uk/bannerdown-common

Disabled Ramblers

Cotswold National Landscape Lansdown on the Level

John Wood’s Moon Temple - https://www.bathscape.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/John-Woods-Moon-Temple-FINAL_2024.pdf

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

Using the Bathscape for Leisure

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Join us this month as we explore some of the many ways Bathonians use the beautiful Bathscape in their free time.

The episode gets going at the saturday morning parkrun up at the National Trust skyline. Parkrun celebrated its 20th anniversary last October and there are now said to be 10m registered runners in 23 different countries. Parkruns are completely free. You can walk, run, jog, volunteer or spectate. It is a 5k course and takes place every Saturday morning.

Those who featured in this section were Bath Bats Founder Andy Mullett, Bath Parkrun Founder Helen Conner, Bath Parkrun Course Director James Gorman and Parkrun Master Runner Tom Hutchison.

We need a rest after all that running and so relax on the river with paddleboarder and architect Meg Collin.

Bathscape is well-known for organising the annual walking festival here in Bath and we thought it would be fun to hear from Andrew aka 'Abel' Lawrence who has written a book called ‘I walked every street in Bath’ .

We finish up at Odd Down Sports Ground where there's a charity called All Cycle Bath and West. Here Hannah Samuel shows us around the amazing variety of accessible bikes they have stored up there.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

All Cycle Bath and West -

https://www.allcyclebathandwest.com/home

Bath skyline parkrun - https://www.parkrun.org.uk/bathskyline/

Bath Junior parkrun - https://www.parkrun.org.uk/bathodddown-juniors/

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

Bath skyline walk - https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/bath-bristol/bath-skyline/bath-skyline-walk

Bath in Literature

Sat, 01 Mar 2025 06:00:00 +0000

This year marks the 250th anniversary since Jane Austen's birth in 1775 and as she lived in Bath from 1801 to 1806, Bath will be celebrating! We find out from the Jane Austen Festival Director Georgia Delve what will be happening in the city this summer. Lizzie Bennet (Pride and Prejudice), aka actor Lauren Falconer talks about Jane Austen's time in Bath and the two novels she set in the city, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

We visit a writer's event at Bath Central Library and meet three local authors, Jenny Knight, J F Penn and David WIlliamson.

And Sam Drew from award-winning bookshop, Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights gives us his curation of books inspired by the city of Bath.

Books mentioned by Sam

Did he do it? from The Governess and other Stories, Stefan Zweig

The Frequency of Us, Keith Stuart

The Shape of Darkness, Laura Purcell

Hidden Nature, Alys Fowler

Offshore, Penelope Fitzgerald

Outlandish, Nick Hunt

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Lauren Falconer, Actor and Performer

Jane Austen Centre and Festival

Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights

Bath Central Library

Bath Between the Wars, David Williamson, Hobnob Press

Pilgrimage, J F Penn, J F Penn Books

Bath Through Time, Jenny Knight, AMberley Publishing

Follies of Bath

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This month join us as we explore the follies of Bath.

They were the thing in the 18th and 19th centuries. If you had cash to splash, why not show it off in the guise of a temple, a tower or a castle?

Dr Amy Frost, Senior Curator, Bath Preservation Trust takes me up to the top of Beckford's Tower and talks about the man himself, William Beckford.

We enlist the help of the Editor of the Folly Fellowship Magazine Jonathan Holt to try and pin down exactly what a folly is.

Finally Fliss Swallow is Head Gardener of the National Trust's Prior Park Landscape Gardens and she shows us around the garden's follies.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Beckford's Tower - www.beckfordstower.org.uk

Bath Preservation Trust - www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk

Prior Park Landscape Gardens, National Trust - www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/bath-bristol/prior-park-landscape-garden

Folly Fellowship - www.follies.org.uk

Map of follies - www.follies.org.uk/index.php/map

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

Highlights of 2024

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 01:00:00 +0000

Happy New Year and welcome back to Footprints!

In this our first episode of 2025, we look back at our highlights from 2024. More than 40 people took part in the shows last year and we'd like to offer them all a huge thanks for the time, knowledge and passion they put into their work and which shows through in their contributions to each episode. They and the organisations they represent are at the very heart of the Bathscape and we will hear from many more in 2025.

Clips

Ep 26 March - Geology of Bath: Professor Maurice Tucker tells us about his hero William Smith who is dubbed the Father of Geology. He lived locally at Tucking Mill and designed the first geological map.

Ep 27 April - Bath Goes Gardening: Professor Marion Harney shows us around Sydney Gardens describing what the pleasure gardens were like in the time of Jane Austen.

Ep 26 March - Geology of Bath: Simon Hart takes us down his mine - Hartham Stone Mine where we hear about the work of the pickers before mechanisation.

Ep 30 July - Full Steam Ahead!: Writer Colin Maggs talks about his lifelong passion for steam trains, a passion which has led him to write 114 books!

Ep 25 February - Bath in Film: Actor Charlie McCloud talks about what it is like to be an extra on the set of Bridgerton.

Ep 30 July - Full Steam Ahead!: Karl Baxter enthuses about running the gruelling 200 mile ultramarathon race backwards and forwards through the Combe Down Tunnel.

Ep 27 April - Bath Goes Gardening: Carol Stone shows us around Alice Park Community Gardens and tells us how to manage slugs.

Ep 31 August - Hedgelaying, Scything and Dry Stone Walling: In this clip, Dave Pegler describes the ancient art of scything.

Ep 28 May - Birding in Bath: Birding expert Lucy Starling takes us to Bathampton Meadows in search of a pair of sedge warblers returning to their nest.

Ep 33 October - Take a Walk on the Wansdyke: Local historian Mike WIlliams shows us the ancient monument at the top of Stantonbury Hill Fort.

Ep 29 June - Bath City Farm: Farm Manager Ella Holmes takes us to meet the pigs and we hear from a participant of the mental wellbeing group.

Ep 34 November - Renewable Bath: Architect Funda Kemal talks about her animation video which shows what Bath might look like with wind turbines, solar panels and green walls.

Ep 35 December - A Community Pub Crawl: Simon Coombe outlines the challenges the community faced, bringing the Hop Pole Inn up to scratch, ready to be opened on 25th January 2025.

Ep 32 September - Surfing the Generations: Bath College student Abi and Twerton's Forget-Me-Not club member Mary are in conversation.

Our thanks to all our contributors throughout 2024

Rachel Bowers, Director, Bath Film Office

Charlie McCloud, Actor

Emma Morris, Chief Operating Officer, Holburne Museum

Professor Maurice Tucker, Bath Geological Society

Mike WIlliams, Landscape Historian and Ecologist

Simon Hart, Managing Director and Owner, Hartham Park Stone Mine

Carol Stone, Volunteer Manager, Alice Park Community Gardens

Professor Marion Harney, University of Bath

Amie Cook, Community Ecologist, Team Wilder Ecological Advisory Service

Cat Baker, Ecologist and Manager, Wild About Bath

Lucy Starling, Birding Expert

Ed Drewitt, Peregrine Specialist

Marika Kovacs, Birding Expert

Staff, Volunteers and Members, Bath City Farm

Colin Maggs, Author and Railway Historian

Mike Beale, Secretary, Bath Railway Society

Karl Baxter, Runner, The Tunnel Ultramarathon

Mike Reed, Hedgelaying Expert

Dave Pegler, Scything Expert

Rob Morley, Dry Stone Walling Expert, Cotswolds Wardens

Robin Oldland, Dry Stone Walling Expert, Cotswolds Wardens

Chris Gannon, Health and Wellbeing Officer, Bath City Football Club Foundation, Reconnecting Twerton Club

Members, Reconnecting Twerton Club

Nicole Daw, Trails and Access Officer, Cotswolds National Landscape

Rob Mitchell, Supplementary School Coordinator, Bath and North East Somerset Council

Members, Black Families in Education Group, Bath and North East Somerset Council

Members, Forget-Me-Not Dementia Club, Twerton

Mitchell Horman, Coordinator Prince's Trust Programme, Bath College

Young People, Prince's Trust Programme, Bath College

Melanie Barge, Inspector of Ancient Monuments, Historic England

Robert Vermaat, Dutch Historian and Archivist

William Heath, Organiser, Kelston Roundhill Old Barn

Funda Kemal, Architect and Climate Activist

Robin Spalding, Programme Manager, Renewable Energy Team, Bath and North East Somerset Council

Steve Henwood, Member, The Bell Inn

Wendy Matthews, Member, The Bell Inn

Dom Moorhouse, Managing Director, The Packhorse

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

A Community Pub Crawl

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 17:00:00 +0000

For our mid-winter episode join us for a pub crawl to three cosy community - owned pubs in and around Bath.

The last few years have not been easy for pubs, with the pandemic, rising energy costs and inflation. More than 500 closed their doors in 2023, but community pubs it seems, are thriving.

The first pub to be bought by the community was The Red Lion in Preston, Hertfordshire in the early 1980s. According to the Plunkett Foundation, a charity which helps people set up community-owned business, as of January 2024 there were upwards of 180 community-owned pubs in the UK and Bath has three of them.

In this episode we start at The Hop Pole Inn in Limpley Stoke. It was bought by the community and after three years of frantic fundraising and backbreaking work, it is set to open its doors on 25th January 2025 for the first time in 9 years. Chair of the Board, Simon Coombe tells us all about it.

We move on to The Bell Inn in Walcott street which was the very first community-owned pub in Bath. It is also home to the Bath Festival Fringe office. Steve Henwood and Wendy Mathews are heavily involved in both the Festival Fringe and The Bell Inn and talk about what it means to them.

Finally we visit The Packhorse in South Stoke. Perched on the side of a steep hill overlooking the beautiful Midford Valley, The Packhorse has been the centre of South Stoke life since the start of the 17th century. Managing Director, Dom Moorhouse shows us around.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Save the Hop Pole Inn - www.limpleystokecbs.org

The Bell Inn - www.thebellinnbath.co.uk

Bath Fringe Festival - www.bathfringe.co.uk

The Packhorse - www.packhorsebath.co.uk

Plunkett Foundation - www.plunkett.co.uk

Plunkett UK Impact Report 2024 - www.plunkett.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Impact-Report-2024.pdf

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

Renewable Bath

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 01:00:00 +0000

In 2019 Bath and North East Somerset Council declared a climate emergency and is aiming for Carbon Neutrality or Net Zero by 2030.

In this episode we explore what that means and what some of the challenges are facing the city.

What will Bath and the landscape surrounding it look like if it is to be powered by solar and wind farms?

How can this be achieved while making sure it keeps its UNESCO World Heritage status?

Could areas in Bath and the villages surrounding it one day be powered entirely by local renewable energy sources?

In answer to these questions, we are joined by three people who are keen to make a difference.

William Heath joins me up on Kelston Round Hill at the Old Barn. The building is used for weddings, memorials and events and is completely off grid. Recently they installed a new zero-emissions system to provide electricity and hot water.

Architect and climate activist Funda Kemal tells us about her animation video which visualises a future Net Zero Bath, adapted to climate change.

Robin Spalding is the Renewable Energy Programme Manager for Bath and North East Somerset Council. He talks about what the Council is doing to reach Net Zero in terms of meeting the energy demand through renewable sources - wind, solar and hydro.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Kelston Roundhill Barn - www.kelstonroundhill.com/home/

Launch of solar panel array - https://kelstonroundhill.com/2024/06/28/celebration-and-discussion-to-mark-the-move-to-renewables/

Funda Kemal - www.fundakemal.org

Utopian Realism. Animation Video - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcere_Op_0k

Bath and North East Somerset Council Climate Emergency - www.bathnes.gov.uk/climate-emergency

We Want Wind - www.wewantwind.org

Take a Walk on the Wansdyke

Wed, 09 Oct 2024 01:00:00 +0000

This month we take a walk on the Wansdyke.

Stretching for 35 miles the Wansdyke links Savernake Forest near Marlborough with Maes Knoll just south of Bristol. The eastern section in Wiltshire is the best preserved, but in this episode we explore the western section, the piece that starts at the top of Horsecombe Vale and runs through Odd Down, over Stantonbury Hill Fort and on to Maes Knoll.

Many questions surround the construction of the earthwork - who built it? The Romans or the Saxons or someone else? Why was it built? And where exactly did it run as it passed by Bath? The Wansdyke been the subject of debate and misinformation for decades and in this episode we’ll try to make sense of it.

Local historian Mike Williams shows us around a section at Odd Down, just up near the Park and Ride, and then at the end of the show, we head up to a second section at Stantonbury Hill Fort.

Melanie Barge is an Inspector of Ancient Monuments with Historic England and she tells us how they go about protecting ancient sites.

We also meet Robert Vermaat in the Netherlands. Robert is a dutch historian and archivist who became interested in the Wansdyke when he was 17. He set up a website drawing together the many articles associated witht the giant earthwork and one of his aims has been to create a long distance path along it. In 2023, the LDWA (Long Distance Walkers Association) put a 13 mile stretch up on their website. Parts of the Wansdyke are clearly marked on OS maps so why not get out and explore it for yourself?!

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Historic England

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/

Search the list to find designated (protected) heritage sites

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/missing-pieces/

Allows anyone to add their own information or photos to a site on the List

https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/features/ghost-signs/

A recent project asking people to identify Ghost Signs - there are quite a few in Bath.

https://historicengland.org.uk/research/heritage-counts/heritage-and-economy/wellbeing/

Historic England's research on health and well-being and Heritage

Know Your Place West - https://www.kypwest.org.uk/

Project 21 - http://www.wansdyke21.org.uk/wansdykehomepage.htm

LDWA Wansdyke path - https://ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?path_name=Wansdyke+Path

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

Surfing the Generations

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 01:00:00 +0000

This month we take a closer look at the city of Bath through the eyes of its residents. We will hear some wonderful memories shared by those who’ve grown up and spent their lives working in the city.

The episode starts with Reconnecting Twerton, a group set up by the Bath CIty Football CLub Foundation. The group is for older residents and aims to connect older residents with each other, combating loneliness, sharing stories and having a lot of fun. Three of its members share stories about their lives. The Foundation's Health and Wellbeing officer Chris Gannon introduces us to the group

We find time to get out and go for a walk. Nicole Daw is the Trails and Access Officer for the Cotswolds National Landscape and she’s been asked by Bathscape to make a number of films about the joys of walking. We join her with young people from the Black Familes in Education Group. Rob Mitchell is the supplementary school coordinator and he talks about why he’s chosen to take them out walking.

The episode finishes off at the Forget-Me-Not Dementia Club down at Bath city football stadium. This is a group for older people living with dementia and we hear a couple of them in conversation with some young people from the Bath College Prince's Trust Programme .

Mitchell Horman is in charge of the Prince's Trust team programme at Bath College and he brings the episode to a close with his views on the importance of intergenerational projects.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Reconnecting Twerton - www.bathcityfoundation.org/reconnecting-twerton

Bath City FC Foundation - www.bathcityfoundation.org/

Cotswolds National Landscape - www.cotswolds-nl.org.uk/

Black Families in Education Support Group - www.educationequals.org.uk/

Forget-Me-Not Dementia Club - https://www.forgetmenotfamiliarfriendscic.com/

Bath College Prince's Trust Team Programme

Hedgelaying, Scything and Dry Stone Walling!

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 01:00:00 +0000

This month we head out into the countryside to find out about the many traditional and ancient skills using only hand tools and age-old techniques, including scything, hedge laying and dry stone walling.

Local expert Mike Reed tells us all about hedgelaying, why it's done and what is different about the North Somerset style.

We head up to Lyncombe Hill Fields and meet Maurice Tennenhaus leading a team of scythers. Presenter Pommy Harmar gets a lesson in scything from scything maestro Dave Pegler.

Robin Morley leads the Cotswold Wardens Dry Stone Walling team and we hear from him and from the oldest drystone waller in the group Robin Oldland.

Many new words are learnt in all three crafts!

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Mike Reid Hedgelayer - https://www.instagram.com/mikereedhedgelaying/

Avon Needs Trees volunteering - www.avonneedstrees.org.uk/volunteering/

Chew Valley Plants Trees - www.chewvalleyplantstrees.co.uk/

Community Farm, Chew Valley Lake - www.thecommunityfarm.co.uk/

Natural England - www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england

Friends of Lyncombe Hill Fields - www.friendsoflyncombehillfields.co.uk/

Green Scythe Fair - www.greenfair.org.uk/

The Scythe Association - www.scytheassociation.org/

Cotswold National Landscape - www.cotswolds-nl.org.uk/

Cotswold Voluntary Wardens - www.cotswolds-nl.org.uk/looking-after/volunteering/

Dry Stone Walling Association - www.dswa.org.uk/

Full Steam Ahead!

Thu, 04 Jul 2024 01:00:00 +0000

Join Dan Merrett (Manager) and Lucy Bartlett (Community Projects Officer) from Bathscape as they transport presenter Pommy Harmar by electric bike along two disused railway tracks across the Bathscape.

We start in Saltford on the Bristol to Bath Railway Path, which follows the route of the Midland Railway Mangotsfield and Bath branch line, which was closed during the Beeching Axe of the 1960s.

We meet Colin Maggs, a railway historian and the author of more than 100 books about British Railways. He was awarded an MBE in 1993 for services to railway history and an honorary MA from the University of Bath in 1995. He is joined by Mike Beale, Secretary Bath Railway Society who' can trace back four generations of railway workers in his family.

We explore the two tunnels which form part of the Dorset and Somerset Line and meet Karl Baxter a runner competing in the gruelling ultramarathon 200 mile race called simply 'The Tunnel'. Every year around 45 men and women try to run backwards and forwards through the dark mile-long tunnel 200 times. In 2024, only 7 completed the race within the mandatory 55 hours.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Bath Railway Society - www.bathrailwaysociety.co.uk

The Railway and Historical Railway Society - Dorset and Somerset line 150th Anniversary Commemoriative Walk with Mike Beale

The Tunnel - 200 mile Ultramarathon Race in Combe Down Tunnel

Tucking Mill Resevoir - Visitor information

Sustrans - Bristol to Bath Railway Path

Sustrans - Two Tunnels Circuit

Two Tunnels Greenway - www.twotunnels.org.uk

Bath and North East Somerset Council - Linear Park

Bath City Farm

Fri, 07 Jun 2024 01:00:00 +0000

This month's episode celebrates Bath CIty Farm.

Situated on a beautiful 37-acre site with stunning views over the city, Bath City Farm is a working farm, that’s also a much loved visitor attraction.

On the site there is a community cafe and farm shop, farm animals, children’s playground, woodland and nature trails. Entrance is free however donations are very welcome.

In this episode you will meet a varitety of farm animals with livestock coordinator Ella Holmes.

And on the way we will talk to:

Sarah Davies, Programme Lead for Mental Health

Brendan Tate-Wistreich, Director

Amy Nelson, Roots to Work Coordinator

Sarah Prettejohns, Cafe Lead Roots to Work

Luke Roberts, Horticultural Assistant

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Bath City Farm - www.bathcityfarm.org.uk

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

Birding in Bath

Sun, 05 May 2024 01:00:00 +0000

This episode is published on International Dawn Chorus Day which takes place on the first Sunday of May every year and this year it’s Sunday May 5th. It is a worldwide celebration of nature's greatest symphony and in this show we want to celebrate birds in general, the birds of Bath and their incredible songs. One of the main reasons that birds like to sing at dawn is that it’s quieter then, the air is usually very still and birdsong has been shown to carry 20 times further at dawn.

Remember you don't have to head out to a nature reserve, you can always just open your window - and listen.

The episode starts off very early one morning just behind Sydney gardens with expert bird listener Lucy Starling who was keen to find out whether a pair of sedge warblers had returned to nest in Bathampton meadows.

Ed Drewitt is a local naturalist, author, tour leader, birder, photographer, public speaker, bird ringer, zoologist, feather expert and he’s currently studying for a PhD based on researching Peregrines for the last 24 years. He talks about what the dawn chorus means to him and describes the life of a peregrine falcon and the Peregrine Project in Bath.

The episode finishes with a walk organised by the Cotswolds Wardens with expert birder Marika Kovacs.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Dawn Chorus audio kindly recorded by Ed Drewitt

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

RSPB - dawn chorus - www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/news/the-dawn-chorus-all-you-need-to-know-about-natures-big-show

Bath Peregrine Project nest site webcam - www.hawkandowltrust.org/live-cameras/bath-peregrines

Cotswold Warden Walks - www.cotswolds-nl.org.uk/visiting-and-exploring/guided-walks

Ed Drewitt - www.eddrewitt.co.uk

Bath Natural History Society - www.bathnats.org.uk

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

Bath Goes Gardening

Thu, 04 Apr 2024 01:00:00 +0000

This month, as spring gets properly into its stride, we go gardening.

We start with Carol Stone, one of the volunteers from Alice Park Community Garden down below Larkhall on the London Road. If you have always wanted to know how to stop slugs and aphids munching your beans, well - listen in..

Marion Harney, Professor of Buildings and Landscape Conservation at University of Bath takes us around Sydney Gardens, the only Georgian Pleasure Gardens left in the UK and tells us how the Georgians liked to have fun.

Amie Cook, Community Ecologist for the Team Wilder Ecological Advisory Service gives advice on how to encourage wildlife into your back garden. This is a service offered by Avon Wildlife Trust via site visits, video calls or workshops.

Cat Baker, ecologist and manager of WIld About Bath takes us around a wild garden overlooking Horsecombe Vale, tells us what she loves about gardening and gives tips on composting.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Alice Park Community Garden: www.facebook.com/aliceparkcommunitygarden/?locale=en_GB

Team Wilder Ecological Advisory Service, Avon Wildlife Trust: www.avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/team-wilder-ecological-advisory-service

Wild About Bath: www.wildaboutbath.org

Geology of Bath

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 01:00:00 +0000

In this episode we take a deep dive underneath the city of Bath and discover the geology that underpins it.

Professor Maurice Tucker from the Bath Geological Society tells us about the father of Geology, William Smith

Mike Williams is a landscape historian and ecologist and he talks about the affect of the landscape on settlement and biodiversity. He also shows us petrification in action!

Finally in our feature we go underground! Simon Hart, Managing Director and Owner of Hartham Park Stone Mine takes us down the mine where we meet a 16 ton chainsaw and see 200 year old graffiti.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Bath Geological Society -www.bathgeolsoc.org.uk

Hartham Park Stone Mine - https://www.lovellstonegroup.com/quarry/hartham-park-bath-stone

Bath in Film

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 01:00:00 +0000

For this episode you will need to grab your popcorn, dim the lights and settle down for a magical journey to the heart of the filmmaking industry in the historic city of Bath.

Rachel Bowers from the Bath Film Office describes the process for bringing upwards of two hundred actors and crew into the heart of the city to film.

Charlie McCLoud gives us his very own ‘Life in the day of an Extra’.

Plus the Holburne Museum's Chief Operating Officer Emma Morris tells us the inside story of working in a building which famously doubled as Lady Danbury’s grand estate in the hit series Bridgerton

Links

Bath Film Office - www.bathfilmoffice.co.uk

Holburne Museum - www.holburne.org

Credits

Music: Richard Frohlich Media and the Texas Radio Theatre Company.

A short melody of Luigi Boccherini's minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op.13, No.6. Played by Howard Geisel

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Highlights of 2023

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 01:00:00 +0000

Happy New Year and welcome back to Footprints!

In this our first episode of 2024, we look back at our highlights from 2023. 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 2024.

Clips

Ep 13 February - Living Working Bath: Mark Batterham shows us around the Moorlands Estate, the first council estate planned after the second world war and opened by Nye Bevin.

Ep 14 March - Art in the Landscape: Marian Hill talks about her exquisitely intricate and accurate identification charts of bugs, beetles and butterflies, using collage.

Ep 15 April - Wellbeing in Nature: Lucy Bartlett leads a walk for students as part of Be Well week and three students talk about why being outdoors helps their mental health.

Ep 16 May - The Call of the Wild: One of the wildlife enthusiasts featured in the episode Catherine Turner talks about her passion for spiders and has me peering deep into the long grass .

Ep 17 June - The Love of Trees: Joe McSorley, lead ranger for the National Trust shows us around Prior Park Gardens and tells us why the gardens were created and what the trees were used for.

Ep 18 July - Haile Selassie in Bath: Ras Benji allows us to tag along on a tour of Fairfield House where Emperor Haili Selassie lived during his time in exile during WW2.

Ep 18 July - Haile Selassie in Bath: Pauline Swaby-Wallace shows around the Windrush Centre and describes what it was like to come to Britain at that time.

Ep 19 August - What did the Romans ever do for Bath?: Combe Down resident Helen talks about the time she found a skeleton of a roman citizen buried in her garden wall!

Ep 20 September - Farming in Bath: Bob Honey has a pedigree herd of Herefords, but he also has a cider apple orchard. This is a clip of him describing the year in the life of an apple. You will hear glorious names of apple varieties such as Slack-ma-Girdle!

Ep 21 October - Radical Bath: In this clip, Professor emerita June Hannam talks about why Bath was important to the Suffragettes and tree planting at Eagle House.

Ep 21 October - Radical Bath: the episode brings us right into the present with Kidical Mass campaigners talking about their mission to create safer streets for children to cycle in.

Ep 22 November - Bath at Night: We visit the West of England Falconry Centre in Newton St Loe and hear about Bella the rock owl during one of their flying displays.

Ep 23 December - Three Grand Schemes: This episodes hears about Bath Preservation Trust's renovations to Beckford's Tower, one of the National Trust's Green Corridor schemes at Bathampton Meadows and the recently-opened Cleveland Pools. In this clip three inspiring women talk about their experience of swimming in temperatures of around 10 degrees!

Our thanks to all our contributors throughout 2023

Stuart Burroughs, director, Museum of Bath at Work

Diana Ahmed, Twerton artist

Mark Batterham, local historian

Jessica Palmer, Bath artist

Perry Harris, Bath artist, watercolourist and cartoonist

Marian Hill, Bath illustrator

Chris Pound, architect, writer and World Heritage expert

George Cook, project officer, Avon Wildlife Trust

Mike WIlliams, Bath naturalist, specialist in beetles

Catherine Turner, Bath naturalist, specialist in spiders

Alan Rayner, Bath naturalist, specialist in mosses, lichens and liverworts

Helen Hobbs, organiser, Chalcombe Toad Patrol

Karen Renshaw, ecologist, Bath and North East Somerset Council

Dr Penny Hay, co-founder, Forest of Imagination

Andrew Grant, co-founder, Forest of Imagination

Savita Wilmott, director, Festival of Nature

Joe McSorley, lead ranger, National Trust

Hugh Williams, tree specialist and walk leader

Princess Esther Sellassie Antonhin, great granddaughter of Haile Selassie

Ras Benji, manager, Fairfield House

Pauline Swaby-Wallace, director, BEMSCA (Bath Ethnic Minority Senior Citizens Association)

Bob Whitaker, archaeological adviser BACAS (Bath and Counties Archaeological Society)

Lindsey Braidley, director, Clore Learning Centre, Roman Baths

+Helen, Combe Down resident

Bob Honey, Bath farmer

Biddy, Bath farmer

Mark Smith, adviser FWAG (Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group)

Andrew Swift, local historian

Professor Emerita June Hannam, University of the West of England

Annie Beardsley, Bath Natural Theatre Company

Saskia Heijltjes, organiser, Kidical Mass

Naomi Johns, manager WOEF (West of England Falconry Centre)

Joe Middleton, manager, Herschel Museum

Sam Grief, manager, Cleveland Pools

Siobhan, Rachel, and Victoria, Cleveland Pools swimmers

Dr Amy Frost, curator, Bath Preservation Trust

Joanna Rolfe, project officer, National Trust

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

Three Grand Schemes!

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 01:00:00 +0000

This month we celebrate three grand projects happening in Bath - Cleveland Pools, Beckford's Tower and Bathampton Meadows.

Cleveland Pools - back in 1801 a new bylaw was passed - the Bathwick Water Act. It prohibited nude bathing in the river Avon and so was born Cleveland pools because the swimmers had nowhere to swim.

Cleveland Pools is only a short walk the other side of Sydney Gardens and has recently reopened to the pubic following years of planning and designing, lottery applications and of course the building works.

Now, with its highly modern heat pump allowing it to be heated during the summer, it has already attracted Bath’s keen cold water swimmers. Its manager Sam Grief and some hardy swimmers bring it to life.

Beckford’s Tower stands tall on the top of Lansdown, visible for miles around. It’s closed at the moment, shrouded in scaffolding and plastic while all kinds of major renovation works are carried out. It was built for William Beckford, a writer, collector and slave owner and Dr Amy Frost from the Bath Preservation Trust tells us about its complex history.

We finish the episode at Bathampton Meadows which is a new acquisition for the National Trust. It is one of their 20 green corridors sitting just below Little Solsbury Hill by the river Avon. Joanna Rolfe from the National Trust tells us how it came about and what plans they have for the site.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Bathampton Meadows, National Trust

Bath Preservation Trust

Cleveland Pools

Bath at Night

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 01:00:00 +0000

The autumn has arrived and it’s that time of year to hunker down and stay warm. It's the perfect season to explore the nighttime in and around Bath.

In this episode we find out about the night sky and visit the Herschel museum where Uranus was discovered back in the 18th century. We’ll hear about the owls in Newton St Loe, delve into the reasons why some animals are nocturnal and our very own batman Dan Merrett will take us on a bat walk around Combe Down.

In this episode we start by meeting the owls at the West of England Falconry Centre in Newton St Loe. Naomi Johns, centre manager tells us all about their owls. Their events start again in early march.

In our Expert Eye section, we find out about the Herschel family. William Herschel was born in Hannover in 1738 and came to Britain as a refugee fleeing the French when he was just 18. He was an accomplished musician and came to Bath to take up the post of organist at the very fashionable Octagon chapel in Bath.

The manager of the Herschel museum in Bath Joe Middleton tells us how he came to make the transition to one of the most famous astronomers of his day.

We finish with a bat walk with our very own batman - Bathscape’s Manager Dan Merrett and meet at least three species!

Credits

Music: Night Music by Kevin MacLeod (YouTube Audio Library)

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

West of England Falconry Centre - www.westofenglandfalconry.org.uk

Herschel Museum - www.herschelmuseum.org.uk

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk

Radical Bath

Mon, 09 Oct 2023 01:00:00 +0000

This month is about Radical Bath which over the centuries has had a rich underbelly of radicalism and rebellion with its streets home to rallies and riots.

Andrew Swift takes us on a walk around Bath where we hear about the struggle to get the vote and the importance of Chartism in the city.

Professor Emerita June Hannam tells us about the suffragette movement and how Eagle House became a refuge for suffragettes when they came out of prison.

Annie Beardsley remembers taking a show with Bath Natural Theatre Company to support the Solsbury Hill bypass protesters in 1994.

And finally we join Kidical Mass - a group of cyclists campaigning for safer streets for children to cycle in.

Credits

Music:

Audionautix

Arianna Cunningham - first feature with Andrew Swift.

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Andrew Swift - Akeman Press

Kidical Mass - Facebook site

Natural Theatre Company

Bathscape

Farming in Bath

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 01:00:00 +0000

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 ten commandments. He is a cider apple farmer!

Biddy introduces us to her alpacas on her farm within 10 minutes walk of Marks and Spencers in the heart of Bath.

Mark Smith from Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) tells us why he's excited for the future of farming.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group

Bathscape

What did the Romans ever do for Bath?

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 01:00:00 +0000

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. He talks about the Roman lead mines in the Mendips and also the impact that geophysics has had on archaeology.

We take a tour around the award-winning Roman Baths Clore Learning Centre with Lindsey Braidley, Learning and Participation Manager, and hear about the activities they have designed for local school children and community groups.

Plus a local woman living in Combe Down tells us of the extraordinary find of a roman skeleton in her garden wall.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

BACAS - https://www.bacas.org.uk/

Roman Baths Clore Learning Centre - https://tinyurl.com/2s3px7se

Haile Selassie in Bath

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 01:00:00 +0000

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 the Rastafarian faith.

Princess Esther Sellassie Antohin, great granddaughter of Emperor Haile Selassie joins us from Addis Ababa and gives us great insights into his life and work.

We take a tour around Fairfield House with Ras Benji. This is the home where Haile Selassie lived almost a century ago with his family during his exile in Bath.

Then we’ll come right up to the present day and find out about Bemsca, (Bath Ethnic Minority Senior Citizens Association) what happens there today with Pauline Swaby-Wallace.

Links

Fairfield House Bath

www.bathscape.co.uk

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

The Love of Trees

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 01:00:00 +0000

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 20th year and is including some special tree walks.

Joe McSorley, Lead Ranger for the National Trust in Bath, joins us from Prior Park Landscape Gardens and shares some of his considerable wealth of knowledge around trees.

We’ll also find out about a new urban tree trail 'Leafy Legacies' with Hugh Williamson.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

National Trust Prior Park Landscape Gardens

Festival of Nature

Forest of Imagination

Leafy Legacies - a new urban tree trail discovering the trees of central Bath

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

The Call of the Wild

Fri, 05 May 2023 01:00:00 +0000

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 Turner takes us on a walk towards Englishcombe and hunts for for spiders.

Alan Rayner is a specialist in mosses, lichens and liverworts of which there are over 1000 species in the UK and more than 100 in Smallcombe cemetery where we find him.

Helen Hobbs is the patrol manager for the Chalcombe toad patrol. For 6 weeks of the year toads migrate across Chalcombe Road where, every evening, 40 volunteers take it in turn to help them keep safe.

Finally we hear from one of Bath and North East Somerset Council’s ecologists Karen Renshaw. We find out about Adders Tongue ferns and what the Council is doing to improve biodiversity in the city.

Resources

Newts

How to identify newts

Amphibian and Reptile Conservation - newts

Spiders

Natural History Museum - spiders

Britain's Spiders: A field guide, Lawrence Bee, Geoff Oxford and Helen Smith, WILDGuides

Mosses, Lichens and Liverworts

A Guide to Finding Mosses In Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, Peter Creed and Tom Haynes. Pisces Publications

Toads

Froglife Toad Patrols - search for Chalcombe toad patrol

Biodiversity

Bath and North East Somerset Council: Ecology and Biodiversity

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Photography: Mike Williams

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

www.bathscape.co.uk

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Wellbeing in Nature

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 01:00:00 +0000

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 put on a wellbeing walk for students. Some of the students talked about why they had come on the walk.

Chris Pound is credited with being one of the movers and shakers behind the city of Bath being listed as a Unesco World Heritage site for a second time, this time as one of the Great Spa towns of Europe. In our Expert Eye section, he talks about the different ways landscapes over the centuries, have been considered to be therapeutic.

Finally, George Cook, the People and Wildlife Officer for the Avon Wildlife Trust tells us about the Natural Pathway sessions he runs at Bath City Farm.

Links

www.bathscape.co.uk

Avon Wildlife Trust

Bath City Farm

Unesco World Heritage

Bath University Be Well Week

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Credits

Music: Audionautix, Ville Nousiainen

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Art in the Landscape

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 01:00:00 +0000

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 ever solo exhibition in the Victoria Art Gallery - free to visit until 11th April 2023. Jessica's clients include Disney Pixar and English Heritage. In her exhibition entitled Wetland Spring, she uses watercolour and paper cutting to bring the wetlands to life and show us the many varied creatures that live within this unique and important habitat.

Perry Harris is a cartoonist and landscape artist using paint and digital colour to bring Bath to life. He loves to paint his favourite landscapes including Primrose Hill, The Cotswold Way and Smallcombe Vale. He persuades me to climb up to the top of the tower of the Royal High School where he works to be interviewed!

Our final artist is Marian Hill who is an illustrator. She produces beautiful posters of bugs and butterflies, minibeasts and pollinators. With the expert help of local entomologist Mike Williams, she works painstakingly to create accurate as well as stunning work using collage. She has worked closely with Bathscape and local schools.

You can see contemporary artists' works around trees and landscape this summer at the Forest of Imagination which will run from the 14th June 2023 at the Assembly Rooms in Bath.

Thanks go to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and players of the National Lottery who fund the work of Bathscape.

Links

Jessica Palmer: www.jessicapalmerart.com

Twitter: @JessCutitout

Perry Harris: www.bath.co.uk/spotlight/perry-harris-artist-illustrator

Twitter: @Uhperry

Marian Hill: www.marianhill.co.uk

Twitter: @hill_marian

Victoria Art Gallery, Bridge Street, Bath BA2 4AT

www.bathscape.co.uk

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by: Pommy Harmar

Living Working Bath

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 along with some amazing reconstructed workplaces and workshops are all beautifully exhibited at the museum which opens again at weekends from 18th February 2023.

Twerton artist Diana Ahmed shows me around Twerton high street and talks about the public art project she carried out with local schools to improve her neighbourhood.

In our final feature we explore a housing estate on the south side of the city just above Twerton. Mark Batterham takes us on a walking history tour of the post-war Moorlands estate. He co-created this walk with fellow walk leader and co-researcher Dave Pearce. The design of the Moorlands estate has been praised by architects and planners for its emphasis on space and light. The Bath Chronicle excitedly reported how 'the living rooms of the houses will face south and have a sun terrace outside'. To put it in context, when this estate was built, four out of ten British households had no fixed bath, well over a third had outside toilets and under half had a hot water tap.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Photo credit: Moorlands estate, Mark Batterham

Links

www.bath-at-work.org.uk

diana@peoplercommunity

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

With thanks to the National Heritage Lottery for funding the podcast.

A look back at the highlights of 2022

Mon, 02 Jan 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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.

Clips

Ep 1 February - Views of Bath: Andy Dinham whose family farmed Kelston Round Hill for decades.

Ep 2 March - Death in Paradise: John Payne, local historian whose ancestors are buried in the workhouse burial ground near Wellsway.

Ep 2 March - Death in Paradise: Dr Molly Conisbee on the history of the workhouse.

Ep 3 April - One farm through one century: Rachel De Fossard talking about her father's dairy herd and Foot and Mouth.

Ep 4 May - A path through the trees: Oliver Langdon from Kilter Theatre Company in the character of January, taking us through the wassailing ceremony at Bath City Farm.

Ep 5 June - Paddling the canals of Bath: Patrick Moss (Chair) and Derrick Hunt (Committee Member) from the Somersetshire Coal Canal Society.

Ep 6 July - Spotting beavers on the river Avon: Bevis Watts, CEO Triodos Bank paddles me up and down beaver alley - do we spot a beaver?

Ep 7 August - Meadows, seeds and yellow rattle: Paul Pearce Bath Parks Dept talking about the state of wildlife and the importance of meadows.

Ep 8 September - Walking Festival magic: Stephen Bird, former Head of Heritage Services Bath, on his passion for walking.

Ep 9 October - Community Growers: Claire Loader, co-founder of Bloomin' Whiteway and Rachel Spence, co-founder of the Peace Path in Whiteway.

Ep 10 November - The wonders of Bath stone: Miranda Litchfield, CEO Museum of Bath Stone showing me around the museum.

Ep 11 December - Tourism in Bath, past and present: Kirsten Elliot, local historian guiding me through a day in the life of a Georgian visitor to Bath.

Contributors throughout 2022

Di Sheppard, Landscape Architect, Bath and North East Somerset Council

Andy Dinham, retired farmer, Kelston Round Hill

Dick Bateman, local historian, Kelston Round Hill

Billie Brocklehurst, Brocks Outdoor Adventures

Barry Cox, Cotswold Warden

Nicole Daw, Cotswolds National Landscape

Rob Kendall, Cotswold Warden & Little Solsbury Commoner

John Bartram, Cotswold Warden & Chair of the Cotswold Way Association

Richard White, lecturer Bath Spa University, creator ‘Walking the Names’ project

Bathscape volunteers

John Payne, local historian and writer

Dr Molly Conisbee, Researcher, University of Bristol

Marianne Brunt, granddaughter of first owners of Manor Farm, Langridge

Rachel de Fossard, daughter of family of farmers, Manor Farm, Langridge

Donald MacIntyre, current owner and farmer, Manor Farm, Langridge

Jane Lipington, current owner and farmer, Manor Farm, Langridge

Laurie MacIntyre, daughter of current owner and farmer, Manor Farm, Langridge

Fiona Bell, Tree trail enthusiast

Joe Middleton, Woodland Trust site manager

Oliver Langdon, Kilter Theatre Company

Tom Sheppard, High Sheriff of Somerset

Councillor June Player, Mayor of Bath

Patrick Foss (Chair) and Derrick Hunt (Committee member) Somersetshire Coal Canal Society

Julian Stirling, Claverton Pumping Station

Bevis Watts, CEO Triodos Bank

Alison Peach, Bath resident and ottercam operator

Anna Baker, Director, Cleveland Pools Project

Anita Breeze and Chris Kinchin-Smith, Directors of the Friends of Lyncombe Hill Fields

Issy Troth, National Trust Assistant Ranger

George Cook, Avon WIldlife Trust

Paul Pearce, Team Leader, Bath Parks Project, Bath Parks Department

Stephen Bird, former head of Heritage Services, Bath and North East Somerset Council

Bath City Farm

Hamish Evans, co-founder Middle Ground Growers

Emily Wright, Chair, Grow Batheaston

Claire Loder, co-founder Bloomin' Whiteway and its annual Front Gardens Festival

Rachel Spence, Community worker, Whiteway

Miranda Litchfield, Chief Executive, Museum of Bath Stone

Robin Dixon, National Trust Volunteer, Prior Park Mansion

Kate Lock, Project Gardener, Dams Project, Prior Park Gardens, National Trust

Paul Simons, founder Thermae Bath Spa; Chair of the Trustees Cleveland Pools Project and Secretary General of the Great Spa Towns of Europe

Kathryn Davis, Director of Tourism, Visit West

Kirsten Elliott, historian and Mayor Guide Emerita

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Tourism in Bath, Past and Present

Thu, 01 Dec 2022 01:00:00 +0000

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 internationally famous spa towns. He tells us about this and how Bath Spa has been re-invented 5 times in its history.

Kirsten Elliott, historian and Mayor Guide Emeritus, takes me on a walk around Georgian Bath to find out what the Georgians might expect when visiting. And we discover what they did when they weren’t bathing...

The Bath Christmas markets are in full flow, drawing thousands of visitors to the city and enchanting their senses with the beauty of the lights, sounds and the smells.

Kathryn Davis, Director of Tourism at Visit West, brings us right up to date and tells us about what they’re doing now to attract visitors.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Bath City Jubilee Waits

"Cathedral Bells" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

www.thermaebathspa.com

www.akemanpress.com

www.visitwest.co.uk

www.bathcityjubileewaits.org.uk

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

The Wonders of Bath Stone

Wed, 02 Nov 2022 00:30:00 +0000

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 home.

Finally we take a tour of Prior Park Landscape Gardens. Now owned by the National Trust, Prior Park Mansion was the country house belonging to Ralph Allen who funded the mining of the beautiful stone that built Georgian Bath.

Volunteer Robin Dixon takes us on an informative walk around the gardens on a beautiful sunny autumn morning.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

www.museumofbathstone.org

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/prior-park-landscape-garden

www.bathscape.co.uk

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Community Growers

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 01:00:00 +0000

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 market garden, Weston Spring Farm, nestling just below Kelston Roundhill in Weston. They deliver organic veg boxes to 120 local households by bike. Their farm goes beyond sustainabilty and operates as a regenerative, agri-ecological model including a nuttery, coppice, wildflower meadow, bee hives, bird boxes and of course the fruit and veg beds. Soil health is improving, insects and birds are increasing and the local community is benefiting.

I meet with Emily Wright, Chair of Grow Batheaston who shows me around their Forest Garden. This is a small patch of land behind the Secret Garden in the heart of the village. A Forest Garden is a layered garden where everything has a benefit - whether it be edible, medicinal, or to our wellbeing. Everyone is welcome to join the growers club and the community planting club. There are also regular pop-up markets. Info can be found using the links below.

Finally I spend a day around the peace path in the heart of the Whiteway estate. Claire Loder talks about the origins of Bloomin' Whiteway with its annual Front Gardens Festival; Lucy Bartlett takes a group of us bug hunting and community worker Rachel Spence talks about creating the peace path and the hope that this piece of land is bringing to the community.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

www.bathscape.co.uk

www.middlegroundgrowers.com

www.facebook.com/MiddleGroundGrowers/

www.growbatheaston.co.uk

www.facebook.com/Grow-Batheaston

www.bloomingwhiteway.com

www.facebook.com/bloomingwhiteway

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Walking Festival Magic

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 01:00:00 +0000

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 UNESCO World heritage sites of Avebury, Stonehenge and Bath. He gives us the benefit of his background in heritage and archaeology and brings to life the beautiful synergy of both the heritage and the landscape of Bath.

Walking festival organiser Lucy Bartlett and I meet up to hear about what this year's programme has in store for us.

She also takes me on a preview walk around Bath City Farm, a magnificent place, not just for the animals, but also the woods, the fields, the ponds and the staggering views over Bath. The walk we went on has been planned with The `Cotswold National Landscape. It’s suitable for the whole family and takes place on the first day of the walking festival on September 10th.

The walking festival runs from 10th - 25th September 2022

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Photograph: www.bathnewseum.com

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

www.bathscape.co.uk/walking-festival/

www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk

www.bathcityfarm.org.uk

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Meadows, Seeds and Yellow Rattle

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:15:00 +0000

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 Bathscape Manager, Dan Merrett on the way to find out from National Trust Assistant Ranger Issy Troth and George Cook, Avon WIldlife Trust, about seed collecting and the all important meadow plant Yellow Rattle.

In between, Team Leader of Bath Parks Project, Paul Pearce gives us his expert knowledge on meadow creation and the importance of increasing biodiversity in our landscape.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

www.friendsoflyncombehillfields.co.uk

www.bathnes.gov.uk

www.nationaltrust.org.uk

www.avonwildlifetrust.org.uk

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Beaver Spotting with Bevis Watts

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 01:00:00 +0000

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 Project where the fully restored pools will soon be open to the public and which from spring 2023 will be heated by a heat pump using river water.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Ottercam YouTube Channel: Otters on Avon

www.youtube.com/channel/UCCXwD4Dd5iruXPROYQwP8-w

Bevis Watts. River Journey, searching for wild beavers and finding freedom, Tangent Press, published 1st July 2022

www.tangentbooks.co.uk/shop/river-journey
www.clevelandpools.co.uk
www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Paddling the Canals of Bath

Thu, 16 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 we explore the early industrial revolution and meet the machine which has pumped water up to the Kennet and Avon canal for two centuries. It dates back to the year Pride and Prejudice was published - 1813!

Bathscape Manager Dan Merrett and his daughter do the paddling while I drop a hydrophone into the water and listen to the birds! This is the life!

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Somersetshire Coal Canal Society - www.coalcanal.com

Jessica Styles - Insta and Facebook - @towpathpottery

Claverton Pumping Station - www.claverton.org

www.canalrivertrust.org.uk

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

A Path through the Trees

Tue, 03 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 Sheriff of Somerset and Cllr June Player, Mayor of Bath make an appearance.

For more information about Bathscape visit www.bathscape.co.uk

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

www.hedgemead.org/tree-trail
www.woodlandtrust.org.uk
www.bathcityfarm.org.uk
www.kiltertheatre.org

One farm through one century

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 01:00:00 +0000

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 Fossard whose family farmed there for 50 years, before meeting the current owners Donald MacIntyre and Jane Lipington. Finally Donald's daughter Laurie talks about her work on the farm.

We hear about the changes in machinery, how water was piped to the farm using a Ram (no, not a male sheep!), what life was like before electricity and just how harsh the life was before central heating.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

www.bathscape.co.uk

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Death in Paradise

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 01:00:00 +0000

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 trees as one way to memorialise the people buried there.

John Payne tells us about the workhouse and how his great grandparents are buried up there. His leaflet From Workhouse to Hospital is available from Oldfield Park Bookshop and the Museum of Bath at Work. Proceeds go to the Burial Ground Appeal. He has also written a book called A West Country Homecoming - see link below.

Finally in our Expert Eye section, Dr Molly Conisbee, University of Bristol talks about the various ways we have marked death and remembered our loved ones over the centuries.

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Visions of Bath

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 04:00:00 +0000

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 Hill, Di Sheppard, Landscape Architect with Bath and North East Somerset Council gives an insight into why Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage site and introduces us to her favourite word palimpsest!

On Kelston Round Hill we meet Andy Dinham whose family has farmed in the South West since the seventeenth century, and Dick Bateman who has walked the hill 1400 times (both pictured). Billie Brocklehurst joins us from Brocks Outdoor Adventures for a cuppa!

I tramp up Little Solsbury Hill with Barry Cox, Cotswold Warden and we get ambushed by the boss of Bathscape himself Dan Merrett. Also making an appearance on the top is Nicole Daw, Cotswolds National Landscape, Rob Kendall, Cotswold Warden & Little Solsbury Commoner and John Bartram, Cotswold Warden & Chair of the Cotswold Way Association.

Credits

Music: Audionautix

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Bathscape - www.bathscape.co.uk
Cotswold AONB - www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk
Brocks Adventures - www.brocksoutdooradventures.com
www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Season 2 Trailer

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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

And finally it's the festival itself!

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

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 Past with MR B's Emporium of Reading Delights - a walk discovering Bath's links to the transatlantic slave trade with Mr D (aka Sam Drew) and Richard White, Senior Lecturer, Bath Spa University. A suggested reading list is here and you can download the original Bath’s Uncomfortable Past walking route here: Bath Uncomfortable Past Walking Map

Bat walks with Bathscape's Julia Kennaby and Dan Merrett

Homes Not Hutches Tour of Bath's Southdown Housing Estate with Mark Batterham

Circuit of Bath 20-mile fundraiser for Julian House with Pommy Harmar. You can donate here.

Music

Acoustic Guitar 1, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library.

Words, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library

Host and Producer: Pommy Harmar

Getting excited about the festival!

Wed, 08 Sep 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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.

Where do walking festivals originate? I dig down a little and discover Hebden Bridge Walkers Action group are behind the Walkers Are Welcome initiative which has led to the development of more than 150 walking festivals around the UK.

I decided to try out recording a walk for this episode and I chose the self-guided walk devised by the Cleveland Pools project. Download the walk here and also find volunteers talking about the Cleveland Pools restoration project on Saturday 11th September from 11-3pm at Kensington Meadows.

Bathscape Walking Festival timetable is here.

Music

Acoustic Guitar 1, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library.

Words, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library

Host and Producer: Pommy Harmar

Celebrating the Cotswolds while Exploring Heritage

Tue, 10 Aug 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 banks and an amazing way to find and communicate your location very precisely - What3words

We finish with a walk recorded very kindly for us by artist Richard White. He takes us through Sydney Gardens and along the Kennet and Avon canal. He uses walking and audio to help us explore and face our uncomfortable histories and reluctant heritage. If you're intrigued, you can find out more by signing up to his walks - Remnants, resonances and ghosts of Bath’s Union Workhouse on Sunday 12 Sept and Botany, Empire and Deep Time on 19th September.

Bathscape Walking Festival timetable

Music

Acoustic Guitar 1, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library.

Words, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library

Host and Producer: Pommy Harmar

Steppin' Out Long Distance

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 00:30:00 +0000

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 Walking Women, we turn the tables and Lucy finds out from me about the joys and mechanics of long distance walking....

And finally ... Lucy goes for a walk with one of Bathscape's regular walking groups - this one is for older people and those who want to start taking exercise.

You can find out more about Bathscape here

Music

Acoustic Guitar 1, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library.

Words, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library

Host and Producer: Pommy Harmar

Rambling over to Bristol

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 00:15:00 +0000

Welcome to the June epiosde of Bathscape's Footprints Podcast!

This month we celebrate the Ramblers and talk to Chair of Bath Ramblers Mary Young and footpath maintenance officer wizard Keith Weller.

Plus ... in our section Wise Words from Walking Women, Lucy and I talk about footwear - fabric or leather, boots or trainers, on pair of socks or two....

And finally ... I spend the day with good friend, radio colleague and ex-Bath resident Angel Mel trying out the Go Jauntly app which takes us both on a history tour of St Paul's courtesy of Bristol Walkfest!

You can find out more about Bathscape here

Music

Acoustic Guitar 1, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library.

Words, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library

Host and Producer: Pommy Harmar

CIrcling Bath with the Help of Cake

Tue, 11 May 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Bathscape's May Footprints Podcast!

This episode goes out in the middle of Mental Health Awareness Week with the theme this year of Nature. So who better to talk to than Tom and Maria, two volunteers from Bath Mind.

Plus ... in our section Wise Words from Walking Women, Lucy and I discuss our favourite picnic food and snacks to take on a walk....

And finally ... I spend the day at the Julian House Circuit of Bath 20-mile fundraising walk and put my microphone in the way of some of the 700 intrepid walkers!

To find out more about Bathscape do visit the website

Music

Acoustic Guitar 1, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library.

Words, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library

Host and Producer: Pommy Harmar

Navigating Bath from West to East

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 00:15:00 +0000

Welcome to Bathscape's April Footprints Podcast!

In this episode we start in the west of Bath and meet up with Jim Hardman, local community-minded, outdoor enthusiast from Whiteway. He talks about what he loves about the area and how it’s changed over the years.

Plus ... in our section Wise Words from Walking Women, Lucy tells me how not to get lost! This month it's maps, apps, books and all things navigation.

And finally ... National Trust Ranger Tabi Collins guides us on a circular walk up and down the steep south-eastern slopes of the city, taking in Rainbow Wood, Popes Walk and Bath Abbey Cemetery.

To find out more about Bathscape do visit the website

Also Bath City Nature Challenge info is here and the Julian House Circuit of Bath info is here

Music

Acoustic Guitar 1, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library.

Words, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library

Host and Producer: Pommy Harmar

Introducing the Bathscape Walking Festival

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 00:15:00 +0000

Welcome to Bathscape's first Footprints Podcast!

In this episode we have an interview with Bathscape Walking Festival organiser, Lucy Bartlett. She talks about what we can expect from the upcoming festival in September and how to get involved.

Plus ... in our section Wise Words from Walking Women, Lucy tells me what's in her rucksack! This month it's all about gear and we discuss waterproofs, walking poles and rucksacks.

And finally ... Bathscape Manager Dan Merrett takes us on a circular walk around Fox Hill, Horsecombe Vale, the two tunnels cycle path, South Stoke and a section of the Wansdyke!

To find out more about Bathscape do visit the website

Music

Acoustic Guitar 1, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library.

Words, Audionautix, YouTube Audio Library

Host and Producer: Pommy Harmar