Build Your Own Pizza Oven Through a Tuscan-do Approach
Poodling Around
If you can’t head off to Italy this year, you simply have to bring the tastes of the Mediterranean to your own home and what could be better than a tasty woodfired pizza, bubbling with cheese and with a beautifully charred base worthy of any pizzeria in Naples? Maybe a pizza - or even better, another recipe concoction, rustled up in your own garden oven? But how do you top that? Maybe by serving up that pizza from an oven you’ve built yourself, so it comes with a big topping of self-satisfaction? Jane Hunt interviews Andrew Manciocchi, the Anglo-Italian and...
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Yew la la: Topiary's French Connection
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With the worldwide phenomenon that is World Topiary Day just around the corner, the creator of the multi-award-winning gardening awareness day, Jane Hunt, managing director of Catapult PR, talks to Patrick Salembier, President of the European Boxwood and Topiary Society in Europe. Jane discovers why the award-winning idea is a huge hit in France but also in the USA, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and other far-flung places and not just in the UK where it has put Levens Hall and Gardens, the founder of the day and the world's oldest topiary garden, at the top of the topiary tree. Jane explains...
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Bremen: a city's that music to the ears
Poodling Around
Jane Hunt records some of her own impressions of the city of Bremen, in Northern Germany, whilst building on her own experience with the knowledge and insight provided by experienced Bremen tour guide, Guido Klostermann. Jane provides details of her own experience, quizzing Guido on some of the things she saw, to discover more about this incredible but lesser-known city that has so much to offer to the visitor. Together, Jane and Guido discuss the cultural landmarks, the local cuisine, the festivals and the shopping experiences in Bremen, as well as the city's remarkable and...
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Easels & Evergreens - Tree Therapy and World's Oldest Topiary
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It's so easel! That sums up the forthcoming 2024 season at Levens Hall and Gardens in the English Lake District, as Jane Hunt discovers when interviewing self-taught artist, Bob Sutcliffe OBE. Jane learns how first a diagnosis of epilepsy, and then a heart attack 10 years later, resulted in Bob picking up a tin of watercolours and painting for the first time, using art therapy to manage his health condition. She also finds out how this has subsequently led to an incredible charity fundraising journey, significant sums being raised and the award of an OBE for charity...
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On the Scent of a Unique English Canine Sport
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Jane Hunt gets on the scent of a historic and traditional canine sport that is largely these days confined to the beautiful countryside of Cumbria, or as some people may better know this part of the UK - the Lake District. Jane discovers all there is to know about the dog-focused sport of houndtrailing, which involves trail hounds following their noses, to race to the finish line, having expertly followed a trail of aniseed and paraffin across what can be tough Cumbria fellside terrain, with many an obstacle en route to the prize money and trophy. By talking to various members of...
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Exploring Viking Roots - and The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark
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Jane Hunt explains the motivation that drove her towards a visit to the Viking Ship Museum, in Roskilde, Denmark, having been to a meeting, as part of her travel PR work, in which the need for DNA testing around Hadrian's Wall become evident and where the arrival of a DNA testing kit was as exciting for the recipient as a knock on the door by Axl Rose would have been for Jane! Jane describes her own DNA journey and Viking roots and explains how this not only led to a trip to Copenhagen, but a journey to Roskilde, to find out what the Viking Ship Museum had to...
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From Bess to Bonaparte: the Delights of an English Elizabethan Hall
Poodling Around
Jane Hunt talks to Sarah Miller, a passionate tour guide at English Elizabethan Hall, Levens Hall and Gardens, in the northwest of England, and discovers why just visiting the gardens would be a real case of missing out. Jane discovers the history of this unique historic property and the perils of gambling, as she finds out how the Hall changed hands. She also learns of the wonderful decor within the Hall and some of the incredible items that visitors can see, if they take a tour. Hot on the trail of all things Napoleon, following the launch of the Napoleon movie, she also...
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How to Give a Dog a Bad or a Good Name
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How difficult is it to come up with a name for a dog and what are the most popular choices? What could inspire a choice of name for a dog and what examples do we have in the celebrity, movie and TV world? What are the real no-no rules when it comes to a name and what name should you choose if you want your doggy to respond to you? After spotting a dog named Axel, rather than Axl, and having pet owner research at her fingertips, Jane talks through all of this, as well as providing details of some other research findings that suggest some dog owners didn't put enough thought...
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Vegan Cactus Leather Trainers Arrive Comfortably 'On Kew'
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Jane Hunt talks to Janan Leo, founder of women's footwear brand, Cocorose London, about the second major innovation of her career - the creation of a collection of vegan, sustainable cactus leather trainers range for UK women and those whom the brand can reach through exporting. Jane asks Janan about this plant-powered alternative to leather, discusses the brand’s sustainable principles, delves more into the world of cactus leather and shoe manufacturing in the UK and in Portugal and discovers why cacti are eco superheroes. She hears about the new Kew collection of 5 plant-powered...
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The Rum Story and Whitehaven's Dark Spirit
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Jane Hunt, managing director of travel PR specialist, Catapult PR, talks to Louise McKenna, manager of The Rum Story - a visitor attraction in the West Cumbrian coastal town of Whitehaven. What follows is a unique insight into the history of a town rich in marine history and once the third largest port in the UK, bustling with a trade in wine, sugar, spices and, of course, rum. Jane discovers how The Rum Story uniquely conveys the story of the rum trade, and its place in world history, within the context of Whitehaven and the lives of one family - the Jeffersons, rum merchants who...
info_outlineJane Hunt talks to the executive general manager of an authentic castle hotel, located in Norhtumberland UK, to discover all about its dog-friendly nature and the various dog-friendly initiatives that make it stand out as a place to take your pooch.
The episode also looks at the extra information, of which dog owners can take advantage, if they poodle around this hotel and its surrounding area.