-
Belvoir Castle
This week John Craven visits one of the finest Regency houses in England - Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire. It’s the ancestral home of the Duke and Duchess of Rutland and this year marks the 500th anniversary of the Manners family taking up residence. In its heyday, The Belvoir Castle Estate covered fifty thousand acres of countryside. These days, it’s a more manageable fifteen thousand acres, with a huge medieval-style castle at its heart and a stretch of the Grantham canal running through it the grounds.
Belvoir Castle -
Sudden Oak Death
Millions of trees have been killed along America’s western seaboard by a deadly plant pathogen called phytophthora. It was first discovered in the UK in 2002 and has now taken a firm hold in species like rhododendron and bilberry. The government is so concerned by its spread that it has set up a £25 million fighting fund to tackle the outbreak.
DEFRA: Plant Health -
Cannock Chase
It is feared that a new and even more virulent strain of the phytophthora disease has broken out on Cannock Chase in Staffordshire. It’s the first time it has been detected in bilberry, and Staffordshire Council are taking no chances; they have set about slashing and burning vast acres of groundcover on the chase. But will this be enough to stem the problem, or may we yet see whole swathes of the countryside locked down like we did during the Foot and Mouth outbreak? Miriam O’Reilly investigates.
Staffordshire Council: Phytophthora update -
River Keeper
In this week’s video diary, Countryfile joins Warren Slayney, a river keeper at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire whose job is to ensure that the stretch of river within the hall grounds is kept fully stocked with fish. Rather than relocating fish from nearby lakes and rivers, Warren has chosen to improve the river habitat - which in turn naturally encourages such species as grebe and trout to return to this stretch of river.
Haddon Hall -
Black Squirrels
For hundreds of years, squirrels have been part of the British countryside, our parks, and our back gardens. First it was the red variety, then the grey invaders – now, it’s black squirrels starting to make an impact. Miriam O’Reilly went to Hertfordshire, where Black Squirrels are currently more prominent than elsewhere in the UK.
BBC News: Black squirrels set to dominate -
Seaton Delaval Hall
Adam Henson visits Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland to see why the National Trust is trying to secure funds to acquire this hidden gem of the North East. He discovers more about the hall’s history, the importance of the surrounding 400 acres of estate; and looks at why it is so special to people in the local area.
National Trust: Seaton Delavall Hall
Credits
- Presenter
- John Craven
- Presenter
- Miriam O'Reilly
- Presenter
- Adam Henson
- Producer
- Teresa Bogan
- Producer
- Andrew Tomlinson
