Patrick, welcome to Hidden Heritage. For those listening who may not yet know your work,

you're a writer and a journalist who's reporting explores the British countryside and the tension

shaping it today. From deer stalking and rural livelihoods to rewilding and land access,

your writing examines the complicated relationship between people, wildlife and land in modern

Britain. You're the author of In Search of One Last Song and Uncommon Ground, and you write

extensively on these themes as the environment correspondent at the Telegraph alongside also

your writing in Country Life and The Critic. essentially write about all my favourite subjects, Patrick,

and I've been very much looking forward to getting you onto the podcast.

Did I do your introduction justice?

And is there anything else you'd like to add?

Yeah, it seems like ages ago that I wrote in search of one last song.

And then I had a book called Uncommon Ground Out, which was almost a year ago exactly. And that will be out in paperback in about four weeks time, I think. But I'm pleased to hear that I write about your favorite subjects. It's quite ranging. I don't know. I think it's quite ranging. But I suspect other people looking in and think that, you know, it's sort of very samey, but it's like butcher shops, fishmongers. I think what I'm really interested in is sort of trying to understand Britain's soul and how that's changing and what makes Britain, Britain. And I think the countryside is really integral to our understanding of ourselves. I mean, even if we're not rural people,

I think, you know, I mean, even if you think about looking up the window here, how many

people selling fish would have been here and you've got Smithfield and so on. I think the editor

of Country Life actually once said to me that if you make a real success of your life in France,

you get buried in Paris, whereas he said in England, if you make a real success of your life in France, you get buried in Paris. Whereas he said in England, if you make a real success of your life, then you get buried in the countryside. And he says, he thinks that tells you everything you need to know about our relationship with the countryside. Mark, Mark is a great orator. We've had him on the podcast, actually, as well, historically. Did he tell you that story? No, you didn't. No, you didn't. I'm glad you just, no, no, no, you've quoted them. I'm glad. But so where, just because I think it's important to contextualise for our, right, for our listeners, you know, where does your, where did your sort of love of countryside begin? Like, where did you grow up? You know, what landscape did you grew up and that's kind of informed what you've later gone on to write about?

Yeah, so it's interesting. When I was young, I lived in Edinburgh, and then I spent quite a lot of time in Dunfries and Galloway, Lately. And that was where I kind of grew up in my older teenage years. But when I was younger, actually, we had a house there that I used to go to a lot. And I think it's interesting.

I didn't have my,

my dad is much keener on being at art galleries or being at the ballet than he is in, you know, being outside doing things that I like doing. And I think that gave me a kind of, you know, we often like doing the things that our parents don't like doing. So, you know, I remember being with my godfather and catching sea trout. Big sea trout, the biggest sea trout I've ever caught. Maybe, I don't know,

even like five, doing. So, you know, I remember being with my godfather and catching a sea trout. It was a big sea trout,

the biggest sea trout I've ever caught. I was maybe, I don't know, even like five, six years old and looking to the bank and my dad was just sitting there reading a book. And I'm also very

into books. But I think, yeah, it was going out and exploring these things for myself, really.

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