A selection of the best of Radio Scotland's music repertoire to take you through the night 
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On this episode of Out of Doors
Mark Stephen presents a special programme to welcome in the New Year on Out of Doors.
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Life after farming
Farming, as anyone who has any connection with it knows, is a very absorbing occupation. It’s a 24 hour a day job involving a lot of physical and mental effort. For some farmers, doing anything other than working the land is an impossible idea. It’s their thrawn and impervious natures which drive them to continue their vocation, despite the toll on their health and wellbeing, not to mention their bank balances. Conversations with three former farmers give us an insight into the complex decision-making processes they went through before giving up, and through them we discover that there is life after farming.
Saturday 2 January and on BBC iPlayer -
Poetry and landscape
Scotland has a rich tradition of writers drawing on the natural world in their work. Our national poet, Robert Burns, was one of the pioneers of the Romantic poetry movement. Many have continued in his footsteps, using their experiences of being in the countryside or out at sea as a source of inspiration for their poetry. Mark Stephen meets up with Lewis poet Ian Stephen, and hears his unique take on the environment he used to work in as a coastguard. He gets an insight into poet Gerry Loose's fascination with the landscape surrounding the Faslane nuclear base. Mark also visits Little Sparta, the poetry garden created by Ian Hamilton Finlay and his wife. And we join Edinburgh's South Side Writing Group as they take a trip out to the Pentlands Regional Park to perform a sensual meditation on the landscape - with some interesting results.
2 and 3 January and on BBC iPlayer -
BBC RADIO SCOTLAND OUT OF DOORS GALLERY
Discover this week's collection of pictures in the Out of Doors gallery.
Out of Doors gallery -
Photo Gallery
See the photos
Broadcasts
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BBC Radio ScotlandSat 2 Jan 2010 06:30 BBC Radio Scotland
Podcast
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Scotland Outdoors
Your free, weekly, pocket guide to the Scottish outdoors. A flavour of the countryside in 15...
