Tennyson Down, Isle of Wight

Ramblings

BBC

Nature, Places & Travel, Society & Culture, Science

4.5 • 768 Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2014

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this series of Ramblings, Clare Balding revisits some of her favourite walks and walkers. After thirteen years she returns to the Isle of Wight to meet Elizabeth Hutchings who introduced her to the Tennyson Trail.

Elizabeth's late husband, Richard, was the founder of the Farringford Tennyson Society, so it was only fitting that he should have a bench, placed in his memory, under the poet's monument on top of the Down. But when Clare last visited this National Trust site, it was their policy not to have memorial plaques on benches, a disappointment to Elizabeth. But thanks to the likes of Head Ranger Robin Lang, they have reversed their position and now the bench has an inscription, to Richard, carved into the wood.

Although now in her mid eighties and unable to make the steep climb onto the Down, with the help of Robin's four by four, Elizabeth and Clare once again visit the monument , the Down and Richard's seat and discuss the role walking has played in Elizabeth's long and eventful life.

Producer: Lucy Lunt.

Transcript

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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
0:38.0	sounds. This is a BBC Radio 4 download. You're listening to me, Claire Balding with another
0:44.4	edition of ramblings. I'm standing on the southwest coast of the Isle of White, looking at the
0:52.5	chalk cliffs and a little rock that is standing
0:55.2	on its own out into the sea that's called Stag Rock and I first came here 12 years ago to meet a woman
1:02.1	called Elizabeth Hutchings and we came primarily to talk about Tennyson because she had been
1:07.4	president of the Tennyson Society and so has her late husband, Richard.
1:11.7	But to be honest, the programme was more about Richard and about their marriage and the adventures
1:17.7	they had had together than it was about Tennyson, although we did walk up onto Tennyson
1:21.8	down. And I'm delighted to see you again, Elizabeth, waving your stick at me.
1:28.5	Yes, I'm not going to hit you.
1:30.1	No, no, I'll trust that you won't.
1:32.2	No.
1:32.4	How are you?
1:33.7	I'm a bit wobbly.
1:35.1	That's why I've got this buggy, but I'm still allowed to walk on the flat.
	...

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