The joy of listening to Fellfoot Radio

A Fellfoot voices blog by Samantha Tranter, community engagement officer with the North Pennines National Landscape

I am a busy working mum with two small children and a very ‘outdoorsy’ person. However, day to day, especially in the winter and in the lead up to Christmas, I am overwhelmed by household tasks and the chaos of the boys under my feet as we decorate the tree, wrap presents, and make festive food.

I have been listening to Fellfoot Radio since it launched in the autumn. I have found a very reassuring routine in playing the sounds of the landscape, and hearing the dawn chorus at Geltsdale or the church bells in Hayton. I am immediately more calm, suddenly washing dishes or wrestling the cat from the clutches of my two-year-old becomes secondary to my immersion in these sounds.

I am now so familiar  with the Fellfoot Forward oral histories that Gladys, Mark and co feel like old friends and, no matter how many times I hear their stories, I always pick up something new. I enjoy the fact that I can tune in at any time and be transported by what I hear – to Long Meg and the excitement of children exploring history and talking to stones, or the weird and resonating vibrations of Ore performing at in the church at Fellfoot Sounds.

Fellfoot Radio offers an escape somehow, but also brings in my family who ask, “Mama, where are those cow moos coming from?” We hunt behind the sofa – little do they realise the sounds are playing from a farm in Hallbankgate.

Listen to Fellfoot Radio here.

This video has been produced by artist, Dominic Smith, who has been exploring the landscape with Carlisle Sight Support project.