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Open Country

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

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Open Country: Shetland

Shetland

05/02/2015

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, Shetland

Helen Mark finds out about the landscape and people of Shetland.

Helen Mark travels to Shetland to find out about the landscape and people of the UK's most northerly islands.

Shetland is the most northerly part of the UK. The archipelago of islands is home to 23,000 people, who are nearer to Norway than they are to Edinburgh. Helen Mark travels to Lerwick to visit the annual Up Helly Aa fire festival, during which a thousand torches are set alight, and which culminates in the burning of a replica Viking longboat. She also finds out about the wildlife and archaeology of the islands, and visits Scalloway to learn about the "Shetland Bus" - a secret WW2 operation which used undercover fishing boats to send supplies and munitions to the Resistance in Nazi-occupied Norway.

Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Emma Campbell.

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