Country Focus

A cross-party investigation into the Welsh rural economy calls for the re-establishment of a Rural Development Board and greater flexibility on the Sustainable Farming Scheme. Those were just two of a raft of recommendations made in the publication this week of a blueprint for rural growth in the Welsh countryside. We speak to the Director of the Country Land and Business Association about the findings.

We hear how an ambitious conservation project on the river Dee gives local children the chance to learn about the life cycle of the trout.

Shifting seasons - the Head gardener of the National Trust's Dyffryn Gardens plays "spring flower roulette" as climate changes alters growth patterns

...and Ortir Apothecary, near St Dogmaels in Pembrokeshire, takes inspiration from the natural world and uses local botanicals to create perfumes anchored in a sense of time and place