92: A Pint of Maggots and a Good Education

This week the gang try to hold it together, and after Callum’s cardigan, Richard Negus’ suspicious lighting and an unexpected Tim Curry impression, they eventually get onto the question of how children actually learn about the countryside and whether enthusiasm has gone out of fashion.

Callum’s son taking a copy of The Field Junior into school sparks a wider conversation about field sports, conservation and what happens when teachers and parents are themselves increasingly disconnected from rural life. The three Richards - well, two Richards and Callum - talk about Natural History education, grandparents, letting children get muddy, learning where food comes from and whether enthusiasm is being quietly trained out of youngsters.

Along the way there are childhood fishing trips, bird spotting from the car, deer stalking with a three-year-old, wildfowling misery, whistling children, an unexpected meat-and-pest-control tour, and Callum’s ongoing campaign to hand fishing rods to any curious child who happens to wander past.

Essentially: how do you give children a connection to the countryside? Possibly by worrying less, letting them have a go and accepting that somebody is probably going to spill a pint of maggots.

CountrySlide is a podcast that looks at farming, conservation and life in the British countryside.

You can contact us by email on: contact@countryslide.co.uk

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