Walter Scott country
Open Country

Walter Scott country

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 1, 202624 min
  • Interview
  • Arts & culture

Martha Kearney visits Walter Scott country. She traces the writer's footsteps through the Scottish countryside, visiting Abbotsford House near Melrose, where he built his Scottish baronial dream. Scott was the best-selling author of his generation, with Waverley station in Edinburgh named after one of his books. As Martha finds out, his writing explores Scotland’s environmental history, including deforestation, land use changes, and the human-nature relationship. He incorporates ecological themes in his novels, using landscapes as active components of storytelling and reflecting the Romantic view of nature as something to be revered. Scott advocated for the restoration of native wo...

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This is Walter Scott country.

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Abbotsford House near Melrose in the Borders.

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B2 · Upper-intermediate

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0:00

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. GlobalStory on bbc.com or wherever you get your pods. This is Walter Scott country. Just down there are the turrets of his Scottish baronial dream.

1:07

Abbotsford House near Melrose in the Borders. Now Scott's of course very well known for his novels. He was the best-selling author of his generation. In fact he was such a celebrity that Waverly Station in Edinburgh

1:20

is named after one of his books. But for this week's Open Country I'm going to explore Walter Scott's love of nature expressed not just in the landscapes he wrote about in his books, but in his personal passion for tree planting and the countryside.

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