Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I want to tell you why I love podcasting. Hi, my name's Tommy Dixon,

and I make podcasts for the BBC. I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book. But when I started

commuting for my first job, I discovered podcasts. I was blown away by how a creative idea and the right

mixture of sounds could take you into a whole new world full of incredible stories. You know, the type that make you go, wow. And that kind of inspired me to

give it a go myself, which to cut a long story short led to a BBC training scheme and a whole

new career giving other people that exact same feeling. So if you want to hear amazing stories

that make you go wow like I did, they're just a tap or click away on BBC

sounds. You're listening to a podcast from BBC Radio 4. This is Ramblings with me, Claire Boulding.

Welcome to a brand new series of ramblings and over the course of the next six weeks we are

going to be taking a literary walk through the United Kingdom

and we're starting today on a fresh windy day in Calderdale.

We're going to be talking about Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath in particular.

With the help of John Billingsley who is standing with a group on a ledge just beneath me,

we're in Heptundstall looking down upon the edge of Hebden Bridge and right... John Billingsley, who is standing with a group on a ledge just beneath me.

We're in Heptundstall, looking down upon the edge of Hebden Bridge and right into the narrow gullet of the Calder Valley,

beyond the baldness of the hills that divide this part of West Yorkshire from Lancashire.

John leads guided walks around this area,

so I'll let him start proceedings.

She's scrambled down here.

The heather's got good and long, isn't it, and big?

Just everything looks so fresh and wild and alive.

And these rocks down here are fabulous.

...