Skip to content

Kate Stables and Winchester

September 17, 2026 · 26 min

Show notes

Musician Kate Stables visits her favourite spots in Winchester to find out more about the area that she used to call home. From St Catherine's Hill you can see across the whole city. It's where Kate flew kites, and celebrated her wedding - and with the help of archaeologist David Ashby she finds out about the iron-age settlement and medieval chapel that once adorned the landscape. Dropping down to the River Itchen, Kate and conservationist Rachel Remnant dip their toes into chalk streams, before heading to Cowslip Field to find out how the ancient skill of scything can feel like dancing. She was still at school when the protests against the building of a section of the M3 motorway took place, but campaigner Chris Gillham joins Kate on Twyford Down to share his memories of the camps that sprang up in an attempt to prevent the road being built. Chris describes the personal cost of being involved in that action. Kate's day finishes atop Winchester Cathedral, gazing back across the city.

Producer: Toby Field

Special thanks to Ross Lovett, Winchester Cathedral and Rozi Plain.

All episodes of Open Country

Settings

Display

Language

Decides which stations you see first on the home page.

History

Recently played stations and episodes and your latest searches are only stored in this browser.

Notifications

A short notice when a podcast you follow has a new episode. Turn off single podcasts with the bell on their page.

Account

Save favorites – in the app and on the website.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Open search
Space
Play or pause
← →
In the player: back 15 s, forward 30 s (episodes) · in a row: next tile
↑ ↓
In a row: target within the tile
Home / End
In a row: first or last tile
Esc
Close window or menu
?
This overview
Now playing

Go to station page

Play next

    Add episodes with “Play next” – they play after the current episode.