Basking in 30 degree heat borrowed from July, it's a still September day. This forest, set in the Hertfordshire countryside, is at its calmest. As it is so quiet, it may take a little time for your ears to adjust. It is late on a Monday morning, there's nobody else around to hear the woodland alive with the buzzing of insects and scattered bird calls of rooks, robins and wood pigeons.
This forest, first established in 1767, is bisected by a railway line linking Hertford North station with London. Regular passenger services reverberate the cavernous space beneath the trees as they slide through. There's a heavy freighter at 40 minutes pulling smooth wagons that scythe the steel rails, and at 63 minutes another, a single locomotive with squeaky suspension. The noise of the passing trains seems to accentuate the sense of space in this wood and to intensify the silence in between. It's a silence sparsely punctuated by flocks of jackdaws as they forage the surrounding fields, and at 54 minutes a buzzard, a drooping whistling call as it circles high above the tree canopy.
This recording highlights just what an unusually peaceful place this is. It is a rare spot in the south of England where there is no road noise. The airspace above has layers of slow rumbling, high altitude jet planes, then lower down their tuneful cousins the propeller planes, banking and wheeling over the landscape. These are in themselves calming sounds. This non-stop spatial audio recording, made from the trunk of a tree just next to the public footpath, runs for 73 minutes. Its length shares the extraordinary qualities of the Clinton-Baker Pinetum as a long-form listening experience. Lastly, because it is so easily missed, hear at 32 minutes far off over the fields the bell striking 12, this is St Mary's Church Bayford, built by William Robert Baker.
Listen to other episodes from this special place.
202 Upland woods in winter gales (breathe easy and *sleep safe*)
201 Out on Cooden Beach at night (part 2 - night breakers on shingle) *sleep safe*
200 Windswept night in the belfry of Rye Church
199 Moorland forest mid winter gales
198 Fishing village harbour at night (part 3 - wide open peacefulness)
197 December rain light to moderate (sleep safe)
196 Estuary bleak passing ship
195 Tranquility found on England’s highest railway station
194 Inside a bird hide
193 Slow waves in the night quiet (sleep safe)
192 Remembering summer on the Hoo Peninsula
191 Moorland waterfall (sleep safe natural white noise)
190 St Mary’s Church in Rye
189 Night rain falls on a drystone wall (quiet and sleep safe)
188 Rock seat on Rye Harbour beach
187 Steam train stops at country station
186 Slow forest Wyre valley
185 Onshore breeze on Chesil beach (sleep safe and in hi-def sound)
184 River rilling through Miller’s Dale (sleep safe, hour-long)
183 Upland fir forest (sleep safe and ideal for headphones)
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