Adventures in Journalism

Battlegore and Bronze: A Million Words of West Country War and Peace In this episode, Martin Hesp reflects on a staggering career milestone: 26 years of weekly 900-word columns for the Western Morning...

In this episode of Adventures in Journalism, Martin Hesp takes us behind the lens of his latest novel, The Cornish Snapper: The Granite Mystery. Can a non-police sleuth still exist in the modern age o...

Step inside the historic walls of Taunton's Castle Hotel in this episode of Adventures in Journalism. Host Martin Hesp sits down with legendary proprietor Kit Chapman to celebrate the 75th anniversary...

In this episode of Adventures in Journalism, veteran journalist Martin Hesp reflects on one of the most remarkable scenes of his career—the wreck of the MSC Napoli off the coast of Branscombe. Exactly...

In this feature-length episode of Adventures in Journalism, Martin Hesp visits the historic village of Kingsbury Episcopi. To coincide with this week's "Hesp Out West" column in the Western Morning Ne...

A quick explanation about why I am bringing Adventures in Journalism back to life. It's bascially because I am busy belting about the place seeing interesting things, visiting beautiful places, and me...

Now 2026 has arrived, I've decided to restart my podcast series - firstly with some thoughts on warm and sunny places, seeing the weather has been so bad here in the UK. This first episode visits some...

We set out to celebrate English Wine Week by visiting the Huxbear Vineyard in South Devon in the company of Wickhams Wine and the wine writer Stephen Barrett    ...

We spend a morning touring the amazing Quicke estate in central Devon with Mary Quicke, the forward -thinking woman who makes some of the best cheddar cheese in the world...

Recorded at the launch of Taste East Devon, Martin Hesp talks to the movers and shakers behind a new group set up to promote the food and drink of one of the most beautiful and fertile areas of the UK...

Martin Hesp spends a couple of days watching the judging in the product classes of the anual Food Drink Devon Awards. It's an exacting process which means thopse stickers you see attached to items on ...

Would you be interested in hearing about a new way of food shopping which both pays the farmer fairly and also insists upon environmentally friendly practices in agriculture? Those are the sort of dec...

There has been talk of centralising the control of England's national parks - an idea that will not go down well with local people who live in the remote uplands of places like Exmoor. In this podcast...

Journalist Martin Hesp joins Francis Clarke, the managing director of the highly regarded Trewithen Dairy, on a visit to a South Cornish holding where they are shown the benefits of regenerative farmi...

In his travels as editor-at-large of a daily newspaper in the UK Martin Hesp came across many interesting people working in all manner of industries and trades - in this podcast he looks back at his m...

Well known Somerset cider-maker Roger Wilkins talks to Martin Hesp about Banksy the artist and the great many other celebrities who've been to his old cider-house at Land's End Farm, Mudgeley, overloo...

Sharpham Estate in Devon is famous for its wine and its cheese - but this year, more than ever, it was important to remind tourism providers and other movers and shakers about the fine produce that is...

Anthony Gibson worked for the NFU for an amazing 36 years and in that time he became a very well known figure, not only in the UK agricultural world, but also in the sphere of food and drink. Here he ...

The chef Peter Gorton has just been appointed as a director of Food Drink Devon - here in an interview recorded some years ago he talks to Martin Hesp of RAW Food & Drink PR  about the art of cooking ...

Editorial Director of RAW Food & Drink PR Martin Hesp talks with Ben Forte of Masterbuilt about the remarkable new Gravity Series and with well known food photographer Nick Hook about the art of food ...

Journalist Martin Hesp visits the rural town of Holsworthy on the Devon-Cornwall border on market day. The visit was made a few years ago before the big cattle market was moved to the outskirts of tow...

A podcast to go with a short film about visiting Petit St Vincent in The Grenadines - seems like a lovely place to be as the UK sinks into another lockdown and the November darkness brings heavy rain...

Martin Hesp interviews Jonathon Jones OBE - trading director at Cornwall's Tregothnan Estate - the man behind the amazing and perhaps surprising success story of British grown tea. Here he tells the s...

When The Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall were celebrating their first quarter of a century as one of the UK's most beautiful and fascinating visitor attractions, Martin Hesp took the opportunity t...

Martin Hesp chats to Sir Ferrers Vyvyan who has taken him on a tour of the remarkable Trelowarren Estate in Cornwall and who talks about the weird and wonderful landscape known as Goonhilly Down...

Reminiscences of exploring the West Penwith area at the western tip of Cornwall - and the hamlets of Treen and Porthgwarra in particular - featuring interviews with two long term residents. A bit of s...

This podcast was recorded a dozen years ago when I was a parish councillor and I laid down my thoughts after a meeting one evening. It's all about autumn - lovely, beautiful autumn - in the British co...

Martin Hesp takes is recorder on a jeep tour through the mountains of Madeira. Listen as the four-wheel-drive Land Rover climbs over high passes to reach the famous cloud forests of that beautiful isl...

Martin Hesp records a podcast as he enjoys a guided walk along one of Madeira's magnificent 'levadas' - a series of high level irrigation canals up in the island's scenic mountains...

Photographer Richard Austin tells Martin Hesp about his home town of Lyme Regis - the Dorset resort where in normal times you can go out mackerel fishing in the summer...

A long time ago Martin Hesp invited some English folk singers to the old house where he lived to perform a number of ancient songs about cider. ...

A long time ago Martin Hesp interviewed an old friend who had been a Hollywood starlet and who had led the most remarkable life. This is a brief interview he did with Heidi Beer on a Sony Walkman Prof...

Martin Hesp travelled to Switzerland with Sherlock Holmes fans from Britain a few years ago - and a remarkable, if not bizarre, trip it turned out to be, ...

Martin Hesp hosts a round-table chat with ex-BBC Archers agricultural story editor Graham Harvey and a handful of enthusiastic and knowledgeable cheese experts to discuss how good old fashioned artisa...

Another in a series of short stories written during the Big Coronavirus Lockdown, and read by author Martin Hesp. This one follows a woman who is determined to keep her rural community safe. ...

The third in a series of short stories written and read by Martin Hesp - all the characters are fictional but this is the sort of thing that might be happening during the lockdown across the UK. The t...

The second in a series of short stories written and read by Martin Hesp - all the characters are completely fictional but this is the sort of thing that might be happening right now in the British cou...

We all need some good cheer in these coronavirus times - and we need healthy things to eat. In this podcast Martin meets one of the UK's leading experts when it comes to growing garlic and shallots - ...

The first in a series of short stories based on the coronavirus pandemic. It is a tale about a bloke who suddenly realises he is going to have to walk right across the South West peninsula to see his ...

During this time of lockdown in the fight against coronavirus many will feel hard-done-by or maybe claustrophobic - but spare a thought for the men who used to work in isolated lighthouses, totally re...

A round-table discussion with several experts on the subject of British cider - made in conjunction with writer Graham Harvey...

Travelling the 12 Atlantic miles to the island of Lundy about the MS Oldenburgh to prepare a beach picnic with Dan the Fishman, celebrating his 25 years working with local North Devon seafood...

This podcast finds Martin Hesp in Porthgwarra - a tiny fishing cove located just a couple of miles from Land's End - where he ponders the wild Atlantic Ocean and interviews two men who have just rowed...

A day and a night out in Hoi An, one of the most historic cities in Vietnam - hear the sounds and soak up the atmosphere in this short podcast...

Funchal guide Sophia Maul takes Martin on an eating and drinking tour around her adopted home city, the capital of Madeira...

Just because it's midwinter there's no reason why you shouldn't head down to the beach for a barbecue - it's all a matter of teamwork, good ingredients and the right all-weather gear, says North Devon...

This podcast tells the story of a unique traditional Christmas carol which is only ever sung in the medieval village of Dunster in Somerset ...

Martin Hesp visits the annual Cutcombe Christmas Show - one of the last traditional 'fatstock' Christmas shows of its kind left in the UK - and soaks up the seasonal atmosphere talking to organisers a...

What happens when a journalist deeply rooted in the rural West Country finds himself in the heart of the world's most populous metropolis? In this episode of Adventures in Journalism, Martin Hesp trad...

"I've done it for 70 years, since I was a tacker... now this fishing will be gone." In this evocative episode of Adventures in Journalism, Martin Hesp heads to the mudbanks of Topsham to join the very...