The last programme in the series was the first to be thought of. I live on the Malvern Hills and often sit on the benches there, wondering what the stories were behind the brief dedications to people who "often walked these hills" I went down the normal journalistic avenues of investigation.

I plagued the Malvern Hills Conservators who are responsible for the benches upkeep in the hope they would know some stories behind the seats.

Unfortunately I drew a blank. It was then that I mentioned my search to one of my neighbours. Sometimes the radio gods move in mysterious ways - lo and behold Mary’s favourite place was the bench that she’d had erected in her father’s memory. He used to sit there before he died and she now sits there (just above her house) and remembers him.

X marks the sport where the bench is. Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

I set about finding other people who that particular part of the hills held special association for. I spoke to some wonderful people including a chap who still sledged down the hills even though he was in his seventies. But I came to the conclusion that to make the documentary more intimate I needed fewer voices rather than more.

You can contact the series producer Howard Belgard by e-mailing howard.belgard@bbc.co.uk