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Jules Hudson is at home in Herefordshire discovering why a good dose of country air might not be all that it’s cracked up to be. Two thirds of us in the UK are living with illegal levels of air pollution and Jules is shocked to discover that even rural Edens like Herefordshire are not immune. Air pollution can be a killer and is now even thought to affect the lung development of our children.  Top rural pollution expert Mark Sutton from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology reveals the best and worst places to live in the countryside. He also shows Jules how to identify lichen which can act as an early warning system and Tijana Blanusa from the Royal Horticultural Society reveals the secret pollution-fighting powers of hedgerows and plants. 

Heritage vandals are on the rampage in the UK with two hundred attacks a day on historic buildings and archaeological sites, robbing us of artefacts which help us to learn how our ancestors lived. Margherita Taylor is in Northumberland at Hadrian’s Wall, one of the latest national monuments to be besieged by illegal metal detectorists known as night-hawkers. They shouldn’t be confused with detectorists acting within the law who have unearthed extraordinary treasures like the Staffordshire Hoard, the world’s largest collection of Anglo Saxon gold and silver. Margherita gets a crash course in legal metal detecting. As her detector begins to beep, might she have stumbled across her own cache of gold?

This summer we might have gone wild over the wedding of Meghan and Harry but we’ve had our special celebrations on Countryfile Diaries when Keeley Donovan wed radio presenter Johnny I’Anson. Our beautiful bride visited some special fields of flowers in the Vale of Evesham to find out more about the growing trend for all things natural. A rainbow of flowers is carefully hand-picked to create confetti and flown all over the world for celebrity weddings. And if you can’t afford it? Well, Keeley has some natural DIY ideas for you to try.

Paul Martin is in the Brecon Beacons helping on a mission to save Britain’s most endangered mammal, the water vole. Immortalised in Kenneth Grahame’s Wind In The Willows, poor old Ratty’s had a hard time of it over the years and, without rescuers like Natural Resources Wales, would be on the brink of extinction. Paul discovers how the voles’ fortunes are being revived as he helps with a release back into the wild at Cosmeston Lakes in South Wales.

Tom Heap’s looking at the growing problem of rough sleepers in our countryside. He meets up with Terrence and Corky who have both ended up living outside, they explain the harsh realities of sleeping rough in the country. It comes as the Institute of Public Policy Research releases one of the first ever studies examining the problem. Tom then meets up with those working to help the homeless back into permanent housing.

Paul reveals his top five favourite summer gardens – paradises ranging from Vita Sackville West’s Sissinghurst in Sussex to Britain’s only surviving 17th century garden at Levens Hall in the Lake District.