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Open Country

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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: The Hoo Peninsula

The Hoo Peninsula

09/04/2015

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, The Hoo Peninsula

Helen Mark visits the Hoo Peninsula in Kent to discover a landscape of change.

On the Hoo Peninsula, one can see what it takes to be human in the 21st century. Helen Mark looks at the changing industry, agriculture and wildlife that make this place.

In the marshy landscape of the Hoo Peninsula you can find much of British history. Saxon and Roman remains point to mans first efforts to hold back the sea and use this land for agriculture. The Churchyard in Cooling provides the backdrop for one of Dickens best known works 'Great Expectations'. In Cliffe you can find the remains of an Edwardian explosives factory and at the RSPB reserve on Northward Hill what is left of a radio station used in the Second World War. Today the military history of the area remains but at Lodge Hill the unused Ministry of Defence site has now become home to a substantial nightingale population. This is the great irony of The Hoo landscape, we can clearly see the imprint of heavy industry at places like Grain where we find essential power stations and infrastructure yet it's isolation has also made this place attractive to birds and rare wildlife. Helen Mark explores this unique part of Kent and uncovers just some of the stories which exist beside the container ports and farmland.

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