Hello, Sunshine.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory, and we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast.
The podcast aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills, along the way.
We started this podcast because we want you to use high-level words and gorgeous grammar in your IELTS speaking and in your English life.
Rory, tell me, what did you do at the weekend?
I was in the Russian countryside, or at least what passes for it.
I went to Domjedevo.
It's a small town outside of Moscow.
Let's talk about the countryside, shall we?
Yeah, it's a nice coincidence, isn't it?
Almost like I manufactured the whole thing.
Rory, do you like going to the countryside?
I love it.
The fresh air, the lack of pollution, the people I'm with.
Like everything fills me with satisfaction.
It's cool.
Although I'm glad I only do it every now and then, because I would lose all sense of being productive and just chill there all the time.
How often do you visit the countryside?
Just enough to stop myself from being burned out by the city life I currently have.
I think, when I go back, I'll be doing it more often though, since I want to reconnect with nature and the people in my life.
And the countryside seems to be the ideal place to do that.
Who do you visit in the countryside?
Well, now I visit my friends.
They have a house there, next to a forest, and I have to say it's one of the most magical places I've ever been to.
It's kind of a quasi orchard and vegetable garden in their backyard, and their front yard is paved so you can soak up the sun there in the summer.
There's sort of a ditch outside the house as well.
It's like a moat, so it just adds to the general country atmosphere in combination with everything else.
Although it's not all about the surroundings, though.
It's mostly about the people and how they live and how we are together.
What would you like to do in the countryside?
Anything that involves my friends.
We go for long strolls in the forest, throw parties, meet cool people.
There are some more mad things like bonfires as well, sometimes.
Have you ever lived in the countryside?
Not for a long time.
When I lived in Timor in Ghana, I spent long months and weeks in the rural areas.
Well, just around the countries, basically.
That was quite liberating, and life moved at a much slower pace than in the city.
I'd recommend it to, I don't know, anyone who wants to slow down for a while.
Would you like to live in the countryside in the future?
Oh, definitely.
Who wouldn't want to live there?
I had this idea of buying a small house in a sort of village to the north of my hometown and settling down there when it's quiet.
Have areas of countryside in your country changed since you were a child?
Well, I think there are more lax rules about development in sort of green belt land.
Well, really, there's really little need for these things.
If people didn't buy second homes, for example, and they were just satisfied with the accommodation that's currently there?
And really, what do you need a second home for?
It's almost like it's eating into the legacy that I'd like my children to have.
A lot of people want their children to have that legacy.
I suppose the counter argument is that people are more likely to look after land that they own, so it might be more manicured.
But part of the fun of being in the countryside is that it's quite wild, isn't it?
So I have this sense of foreboding about these changes.
Thank you so much for your answers.
Hopefully they're open and airy like the countryside.
They're also peaceful and tranquil.
Right, so, Rory, what is the countryside?
Is it country and side?
What?
I have a country of my own, what countryside?
I don't know where it comes from.
My guess would be like you have the city side, which isn't a real word in English, but then you have the countryside of life.
That's how I'm going to explain it anyway.
So this is the place where there are few buildings.
There's lots of nature.
It's very open.
There's not much development.
Yeah, so basically it's not in the city, not in towns.
So the countryside, rural area.
Rural area, and it's a tongue twister.
You can say like rural area, rural area.
Yeah, rural area.
Rural.
I like rural areas.
Rural areas, yeah.
Rural, it means not urban.
Urban, it means city areas.
Rural, countryside areas, not in town.
We say the countryside or go to the country.
Go to the countryside.
Or you can say i have a house in the country.
It means in the countryside.
We can also say the countryside around moscow is beautiful.
It is, it's gorgeous And Rory, you've mentioned that you enjoy the countryside because of the fresh air, first of all, and the lack of pollution.
Yes.
So if, well, we talk about the lack of pollution, that just means there's not much of it.
And then the fresh air is just air that's easy to breathe.
It feels nice when you breathe country air.
It fills me with satisfaction.
It does.
Pizza fills me with satisfaction.
We have pizza in the studio now, which is not very satisfying.
Distracting distracting okay um, in the city you are burned out.
So being burnt out by the city life Well, maybe burned out isn't the best of expressions, but burned out is thrown around a lot to mean that you're tired of work and you work too much and you want to recover from it.
And so while I and it's also like a mental condition as well.
So be careful when you use this expression.
But when I use it, I just mean like I'm tired of working.
I'm tired of being in the city.
So I want to get out and do something in the country.
Yeah, you say like, I'm tired of the hustle and bustle of city life, of this hectic lifestyle.
Yeah.
Yeah, endless crowds and traffic jams.
And the countryside is a peaceful place to be in.
And about the activities you mentioned, like soak up the sun.
We soak up the sun.
There's another expression.
What is it?
Like getting some rays or something?
Soak up some rays?
That's like such a 70s or 80s expression.
It's such a cliche though.
Never use this.
Yeah, soak up the sun.
Yeah, you soak up the sun.
Like you go sunbathing, for example.
But, you know, go sunbathing or soak up the sun.
It sounds better.
You go for strolls in the forest.
Like go for a walk, go for long strolls.
Yeah, so you could go for a walk but go for a stroll.
It sounds much better.
A stroll is calmer, it's more relaxed, there's little, it's a social purpose, like so you go for a stroll and you enjoy peaceful and unspoiled countryside.
So you can use different adjectives to describe the countryside.
It could be like attractive, lovely countryside picturesque pleasant unspoiled, so pretty much like lack of pollution.
Peaceful, tranquil is a nice one.
And also about the countryside, you can use lush greenery.
There is lush greenery.
Lush greenery.
All right.
And you mentioned the greenbelt land.
Yes.
Now, I think this is how it works, but if there's anyone from Scotland who's in sort of land development and I get it wrong, then do tell me.
My understanding is that greenbelt land is land which is not supposed to be built on because it's well.
It's there for the enjoyment of everybody.
It's the greenbelt yes yeah, and you're not supposed to build on it, but sometimes people do, because there are different rules in different places and you can see this like where the countryside was now there's well, there are housing estates.
Sorry, I get really annoyed by this.
I don't like housing estates.
They're horrible.
There's a song called Little Boxes on the Hillside.
Have you heard of it?
Go ahead.
And it's just about... Sing, sing, sing, sing.
I'm not going to sing it.
Sing, sing, sing, sing.
No, no.
Sing it!
No, no.
You can listen to it on YouTube.
Little Boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky tacky little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same.
But it is all about how these middle class estates just produce mediocrity and I really don't like them.
You are emotional about it.
I really am.
I find it to be a tremendous waste of, well, precious green areas.
But maybe I'm not thinking this through entirely precious lush green areas.
Yes yes, we also can mention the pace.
So everything moves at us at a much slower pace in the countryside and you can slow down for a while yes, And if you are planning to move to the countryside, you can say I'd like to settle down in the countryside.
Yes.
But in a house that's already been built there.
I'm not going to live in something that's just been built like one of these... I don't know.
They all look the same.
They look like they're put together.
They're prefabricated houses and they're horrible.
I don't know how anyone could live in something so soulless.
And Rory has used pretty much lots of topical vocabulary about the countryside.
And topical vocabulary specific words about the countryside, like woods forests lakes Fields, organic food tractors farms, sheep.
So make sure that you use some of them.
Like I enjoy the fields, I enjoy the noises of farm animals.
We can also use words to describe how the land is treated.
So land is manicured.
You can have your nails manicured, but land can also be manicured, which means it's well looked after.
Yeah, and you said it might be more manicured.
It might be more manicured, but then it's not very realistic.
I'm not again.
I'm going to go on another rant about housing estates in a minute, so I'll stop myself there.
But oh, it annoys me when you talk about the countryside.
We usually have a lot of people usually have like a cottage in the countryside and they have a vegetable garden where they plant potatoes and carrots and lovely apple trees.
So an orchard is obviously, well, it's a place where fruit's grown, basically.
Usually you have an orchard of apples, for example.
Ah, okay.
But obviously it's someone's garden, so it's not just an orchard.
It's a garden and a vegetable garden as well.
So it's like a quasi-orchard because it's not the only purpose of this space.
If I have a cottage and I don't have anything planted there, I just say I have a garden or I have a vegetable garden.
Yeah.
Although you might notice that I did something because in America it's not garden, it's yard.
Oh, right.
But I used both garden and yard together because I talked about...
They have a vegetable garden, but I didn't want to say and in their front garden.
I didn't want to repeat the word garden.
So I used the word yard instead.
Rory has paraphrased effectively.
For a high school.
For a band night school.
Yes, so if you have a garden and you plant vegetables there, it could be a vegetable garden.
You can also say in the backyards, in the front yard.
Rory, is it true that there's nothing so beautiful and lovable as the English countryside?
Well, if you like the English countryside, then you're going to love something much better, which is the Scottish countryside.
It's very rugged and beautiful.
I think it's...
Actually, no, that was me being slightly nationalistic.
The English countryside and Scottish countryside are beautiful to the same extent, but for different reasons, if I'm being fair.
But come to Scotland, it's so much better.
Exactly.
Come to Scotland, everybody.
Let's go to Scotland.
Rory is inviting.
He's building a beautiful Rory rural house.
No, no, it's already going to be there.
It's already going to be there.
We're not developing the land further.
We'll learn further.
So Rory is inviting everybody to his beautiful Scottish Rory cottage.
Yeah.
Just tell us where it is.
I will.
When I buy it.
Bye.
Bye.
Rory, do you like going to the countryside?
I love it.
The fresh air, the lack of pollution, the people I'm with.
Like everything fills me with satisfaction.
It's cool.
Although I'm glad I only do it every now and then, because I would lose all sense of being productive and just chill there all the time.
How often do you visit the countryside?
Who do you visit in the countryside?
Well, now I visit my friends.
They have a house there next to a forest.
And I have to say, it's one of the most magical places I've ever been to.
It's kind of a quasi orchard and vegetable garden in their backyard.
And their front yard is paved so you can soak up the sun there in the summer.
There's sort of a ditch outside the house as well.
It's like a moat, so it just adds to the general country atmosphere in combination with everything else.
Although it's not all about the surroundings, though.
It's mostly about the people and how they live and how we are together.
What would you like to do in the countryside?
Anything that involves my friends.
We go for long strolls in the forest, throw parties, meet cool people.
There are some more mad things like bonfires as well, sometimes.
Have you ever lived in the countryside?
Not for a long time.
When I lived in Timor in Ghana, I spent long months and weeks in the rural areas.
Well, just around the countries, basically.
That was quite liberating, and life moved at a much slower pace than in the city.
I'd recommend it to, I don't know, anyone who wants to slow down for a while.
Would you like to live in the countryside in the future?
Oh, definitely.
Who wouldn't want to live there?
I have this idea of buying a small house in a sort of village to the north of my hometown and settling down there when it's quiet.
Have areas of countryside in your country changed since you were a child?
Well, really, there's really little need for these things.
If people didn't buy second homes, for example, and they were just satisfied with the accommodation that's currently there?
And really, what do you need a second home for?
It's almost like it's eating into the legacy that I'd like my children to have.
A lot of people want their children to have that legacy.
I suppose the counter argument is that people are more likely to look after land that they own, so it might be more manicured, but part of the fun of being in the countryside is that it's quite wild, isn't it?
So I have this sense of foreboding about these changes.
