It's not quite a white Christmas but early in the New Year, the land is transformed by a thick layer of snow. You can't resist the joyful urge to be the first to make footprints across the sheep fields. Ahead, smoke rises from farm cottages – everyone else is snug indoors.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Recorded by Fergus Collins, introduced by Hannah Tribe.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Writer, angler and Plodcast regular Kevin Parr is your host this week, exploring the wild of the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire.

Kev is on a quest for material for a mysterious new book and the object of his mission in Bowland is finally revealed in the studio with the Plodcast team at the end of the adventure.

The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022.

If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected].

If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.

The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. The theme tune was written and performed by Blair Dunlop

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Overnight, temperatures fell sharply and you awake to fields made ghostly pale by frost. You put on your boots and shake off the cold with a tramp through the sheep fields accompanied by crows, redwings, ravens and, best still, the brooding calls of a distant stock dove.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Recorded by Fergus Collins, introduced by Hannah Tribe.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch approaches (24-26 January 2025), the Plodcast team of Fergus, Hannah, Jack and Lewis explore what birds are visiting their own very different patches. Check in to hear their tales and local dramas.

And get involved in the Big Garden Birdwatch by visiting www.rspb.org.uk

The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022.

If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected].

If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.

The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. The theme tune was written and performed by Blair Dunlop

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's bitterly cold outside but the fire is lit and crackling in the hearth. You sink into a favourite sofa and sip from a cup of hot chocolate – the gentle chatter of the fire providing all the company you need.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Recorded by Annabel Ross, introduced by Hannah Tribe.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Explore the murky world of fog and mist with Laura Pashby. Laura has devoted much of her adult life to experiencing how these strange weather phenomena change ourselves as much as our surroundings.

Plodcast host Fergus Collins meets Laura at the mysterious hill fort of Uley Bury in the heart of the Cotswold Hills and discovers that there's a frightening modern-day story hidden in the fog.

Chasing Fog: Finding Enchantment in a Cloud is published by Simon and Schuster

Follow Laura Pashby on Instagram @circleofpines

The BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022.

If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews. Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected].

If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.

The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. The theme tune was written and performed by Blair Dunlop

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're on the south coast of Gower. You’re using a rocky outcrop as a perch to watch the tide come in. The scene is a wash of grey and the sunshine is as watery as the sea.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Recorded and introduced by Hannah Tribe.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join a quest in the little-visited no-man's land between Monmouthshire and Herefordshire to seek out a mysterious church built by the Knights Templar 800 years ago. Who were these warrior monks and what were they doing in this corner of the British countryside? And should we believe any of the modern legends about the Templars? As ever, there will be wildlife surprises along the way.

The Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022.

If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews.

Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected]. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.

The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs.

The theme music was written and performed by Blair Dunlop.

Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a long roam across the vast mountains of the Bannau Brycheiniog, you stop to catch your breath. The timid chirps of starlings echo through farmland overlooking the misty, early morning valleys.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Recorded by Lewis Dobbs, introduced by Hannah Tribe.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Plodcast team of Fergus, Hannah, Jack and Lewis – with special guest Kevin Parr, attempt to climb a mountain in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) with myths, wildlife and midwinter winter magic all the way to the summit.

Have a very happy new year from all of us at the BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast – may it be filled with wild adventures – and Plodcasts!

The Countryfile Magazine Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards Special Interest Podcast of the Year 2024 and the PPA Podcast of the Year 2022.

If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews.

Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected]. If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.

The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs.

The theme music was written and performed by Blair Dunlop.

Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're walking up a shallow valley, smoky with mist, on the border between Wales and Herefordshire. Ravens and jackdaws rule the airwaves here while hungry sheep gather around in the hope that you might be the farmer with a bag of feed. In the hedge, a dunnock gently calls.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Recorded by Fergus Collins, introduced by Hannah Tribe.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices