The Humble Tattie, Dundee Botanic Garden and the Ness of Brodgar

Scotland Outdoors

BBC

Nature, Society & Culture, Science

4.7 • 709 Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2023

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Throughout the programme we hear from Dr Kevin Frediani, curator of Dundee Botanic Garden. Kevin is very much in favour of letting nature do its own thing and Mark hears how he has managed to put that into practice in the garden. He also tells Mark about his drive to find a net zero path for the upkeep of the gardens and grounds while looking after a huge array of plants from all around the world.

Rachel visits the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney, one of the most significant neolithic settlements in the world. The site has been excavated for nearly 20 years but as Rachel finds out, next year will be the last dig for the foreseeable future. Archaeologists Anne Mitchell and Nick Card explain why.

Renita Boyle is a storyteller who is fascinated by nature. As part of last week’s Wigtown Book Festival, she was holding poetry, story and art sessions which usually happen outside. However, as the weather put paid to that, Rachel found her indoors with a great view of the countryside.

And with potatoes in our minds as schools head off on their tattie holidays, we hear about the importance of this crop to Scottish farming and culture.

As the days get shorter, we’ll all be spending a bit more time in the dark. But how switched on are you to your local landscape at night? Ranger Elizabeth Tindall and writer Dan Richards were holding night walks at the Wigtown Book Festival to encourage people to explore more in the dark. They told Rachel about what sights and sounds you can encounter.

Transcript

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0:00.0	He tells her that she will be sent to France as a secret agent, and if she's caught, she's going to be shot.
0:09.3	I'm Helen Obalam Carter, and this is history's secret heroes, where I shine a light on extraordinary stories from World War II.
0:17.6	What they wanted was someone to get themselves arrested and sent to Auschwitz.
0:22.0	Tales of deception, an incredible acts of resistance and courage.
0:26.3	She was a born soldier.
0:27.4	She's a freedom fighter in its widest sense.
0:29.9	The brand new series of History's secret heroes.
0:32.8	Listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:34.7	This Scotland Outdoors podcast with Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart from BBC Radio Scotland.
0:45.0	Hello and thank you very much for choosing to listen to this.
0:47.7	As you know, we build the Scotland Outdoors podcast from the live programme we do for BBC Radio Scotland,
0:53.4	which is called Out of Doors.
0:55.0	And this week we're talking about the benefits of eating and indeed growing the humble tattie.
1:03.7	Now what they don't tell you about going on holiday is, I mean yes, okay, you get the sunshine, you get the sea, you get the lovely food and what have you,
1:10.0	but you really miss standing in a car park in the dark with the rain dribbling down the back of your neck.
1:16.8	Where's the fun in actually being out there?
1:20.1	Good morning, I'm Mark Stephen right beside me across the other side of the fire,
1:23.3	which is very reluctant at the start this morning.
1:25.8	I'm looking at it accusingly. Is Rachel Stewart.
1:28.5	The thing is, you're doing all of this with a cracking tan, though, this week.
1:32.4	That's the difference.
1:34.3	It's just dirt.
	...

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