26: Christmas Special & Our First Anniversary

Episode 26 of a fortnightly podcast means we’ve made it to the end of our first year of podcasting. And with the dreaded COVID-19 rampaging through the country again we don’t seem to have come very far. But this episode is a Christmas Special and when we look back over the last year we realise just how much we’ve covered and how far we’ve come.

But first our final look for 2021 at the last two weeks in Wiltshire.

Notwithstanding a couple of days’ tractor driver training at Parsonage Down for Paul, it’s all been about the Hidden Wiltshire book so not much walking and photography going on. We had the official book launch on Friday 10 December which we are most grateful to Wiltshire Museum in Devizes for hosting. Tickets were limited so that people could be distanced from one another and there were a few no shows. But we had a great evening with some lovely people and even managed to sell (and sign) a few books. Glyn and Paul blathered in true podcast style for about an hour before chatting to people afterwards over wine and nibbles. It definitely wasn’t a party! The book was available for pre-order before the launch so we’ve been busily parcelling them up and sending them out. 

We’ve sold nearly half the first print run which is incredible. Sadly the Christmas rush and pressure on the Royal Mail to deliver huge numbers of COVID test kits has meant a lot of books are taking a long time to arrive. Added to which we calculated the postage incorrectly on the early orders so some people have been asked to pay additional £1.50 by Royal Mail. If you have been affected please contact us and we will arrange a refund of the additional postage.

We had a most welcome and unexpected piece of news this week. We were contacted by the British Library who asked if they could enter the podcast in the British Library Sounds Archive. This is a huge honour for us, although we’re not sure whether it means we will now be stored in a basement somewhere in London. Or fired into space to be discovered by aliens in a million light years’ time.

The main part of the podcast was a review of some of our favourite events of the year. Looking at the analytics software we use it’s been amazing to see how many overseas listeners we have, and from such a diverse range of countries. Of the nearly 10,000 listens around 10% have been by people outside of the UK from places as far as the USA, Japan, Australia and Hong Kong, to countries closer to home such as Malta, Luxembourg and Montenegro (wherever that is)!

Some of our favourite podcasts have been those where we discovered some remarkable characters any mysterious legends such as The Fonthill Estate and the Gold Suited Doorman, and Folly Wood and the Headless Horseman. But we’ve an absolute ball doing some recording outside so you’ll hear clips from the decidedly eerie Furze Knoll (the Wiltshire Clumps podcast), Fyfield Down (where we were spooked late in the evening by some terrifying sounds) and the Coffin Trail podcast where we interviewed the marvellous Andrew Ziminski on the roof of Staple Ashton church just as the bells began to chime. We’ll be making a lot more use of the outside recording equipment next year and we may even get to use it in time for the next podcast, if only Steve Dixon would give us a date when he is available to record it!

You’ll find links to the featured podcasts below.

Whilst we’ve travelled to the far corners of the county, we have a lot more walks planned. But we want to get further out to the borders of the neighbouring counties. Paul was hoping to avoid Swindon since it is its own separate Unitary Authority but Glyn assured him it was still in Wiltshire! But we must visit places like the pretty town of Malmesbury and the area south of Salisbury towards the New Forest. If listeners have any suggestions we’d love to hear them. We’ve had one or two via the Facebook Page and Group already. If you want to submit your own photo blog for inclusion on the website we’d happy to consider your material, or if you are a member of the closed Facebook Group you can post blogs on there direct.

We finished the review of the year with another mention of Steve Dixon who, following Glyn’s appearance on Radio Wiltshire, was featured on one of their programmes talking about his piece “Hills Hiding Hangars”. The station has also asked him to write and record some music for them. The boy would be nowhere without us!! And speaking of “Hills Hiding Hangars” we used this music in our soon to be released video featuring David Carson and the landscape around Alton Barnes and Alton Priors. Watch out for more news on this soon.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading to our main subject is entitled “Bright Thaw”, although there doesn’t seem to be much prospect of there being anything to thaw this Christmas. Another T-shirt and shorts Christmas we fear. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

A final thanks to Tim Kington at TKC Sales, the UK distributors of Lowa walking boots and shoes, and for the 20% discount on their products available to listeners of the podcast. This will be the final opportunity to make use of the discount as the code will no longer work after the end of the year. Listen to the show for the discount code. You’ll find a link to Lowa Boots’ website below where you can place your order and utilise the discount code.

And finally, help us keep the lights on by heading to the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop. Link below. Did we tell you there’s a second Hidden Wiltshire book! That can be ordered in the online shop or you will find it in the shop in Wiltshire Museum in Devizes.

To sign off we’d like to wish all our listeners a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for your support and for lending us your ear.

The podcasts featured in this episode can be found here:

Glyn’s photographs can of course be seen on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

You can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the book, how to purchase a copy here Hiddden Wiltshire from near and far