Richmond Park, London, with Artist Nicola Hicks
Ramblings
BBC
4.5 • 768 Ratings
🗓️ 20 September 2012
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this series of Ramblings Clare Balding is going on wildlife walks around the UK.
Today she is in Richmond Park in London with internationally renowned sculptor and artist Nicola Hicks M.B.E. Nicola's work focuses on animals sculpted in straw and clay and drawn on huge sheets of paper. Dynamic and distinctive, it has gained wide critical and public acclaim. Her statues of a dog in Battersea Park and a giant beetle in Bristol have become local landmarks.
Twenty years ago, Hicks grew tired of the pressures of the London art scene and decided to make her artistic love of wildlife a reality. She decided to move her growing family to Cumbria and become a sheep farmer. It was steep learning curve with many joys and setbacks. As Clare and Nicola explore the surprisingly rich wildlife habitats of Richmond Park, she discusses her acclaimed artwork, her deep love of British countryside and wildlife and the highs and lows of adapting to rural living.
Having just taken the decision to sell the farm and the rolling hills to return to London for good, Nicola shares with Clare her excitement and sadness at the transition. Can you really find walking and wildlife satisfaction in London? Nicola shows Clare how, she passionately believes, you can find natural beauty, insects and animals as rich and diverse as that in the countryside.
Producer: Lucy Dichmont.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I want to tell you why I love podcasting. Hi, my name's Tommy Dixon, |
| 0:06.3 | and I make podcasts for the BBC. I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book. But when I started |
| 0:12.0 | commuting for my first job, I discovered podcasts. I was blown away by how a creative idea and the right |
| 0:17.8 | 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 |
| 0:25.2 | give it a go myself, which to cut a long story short led to a BBC training scheme and a whole |
| 0:29.9 | new career giving other people that exact same feeling. So if you want to hear amazing stories |
| 0:34.1 | that make you go wow like I did, they're just a tap or click away on BBC sounds. |
| 0:39.9 | You're listening to an episode of ramblings from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:49.3 | In this series of ramblings, we are looking at wildlife and talking to people who are experts in different |
| 0:55.4 | fields. Today I'm walking with the artist and sculptor Nicola Hicks, who specialise as well |
| 1:01.7 | in horses, animals generally. And we've come to Richmond Park, which is my local park. Archie |
| 1:06.8 | gets to come along because it's his favourite place, although if we come too close to any deer, he'll be |
| 1:10.8 | straight on the lead. I don't want another fenton |
| 1:12.5 | happening and Adam Curtis is here |
| 1:14.5 | this is your kingdom Adam this is your domain |
| 1:16.7 | yes great it's a fantastic place |
| 1:18.3 | welcome to the park |
| 1:19.4 | and you need to go for a two hour walk |
| 1:22.6 | three hour walk in the park yeah about that |
| 1:24.4 | well I'd recommend to anybody looking |
| 1:26.5 | for a nice walk in the park is to walk into the interior of the park? Yeah, about that. Well, I'd recommend to anybody looking for a nice walk in the park |
| 1:27.8 | is to walk into the interior of the park and do a circular route. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.