The Pawsitive Power of Bubbles
Poodling Around
Jane Hunt, managing director of award-winning UK PR agency, Catapult PR, talks to the USA's very own Bubble Man, as John Reider becomes her guest and interviewee for this pet-focused podcast focusing on the pawsitive benefits of blowing bubbles for pets. Jane, as self-confessed bubble lover since her childhood days, makes an instant connection with John, who has shared the same love of bubbles since stumbling across a business opportunity that took him into the bubble-making sector. Jane discovers how this business started and then had to pivot fast during the pandemic, when its original...
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Snooping Into the Battlements Tour at an English Medieval Castle Hotel
Poodling Around
In her latest travel and tourism-focused podcast, travel PR specialist, Jane Hunt, chats to Eilidh Wise, a member of the team at the incredible and awe-inspiring Langley Castle Hotel in Northumberland, England, which can potentially be regarded as the most authentic fortified medieval castle hotel in England. Located close to the Anglo-Scottish border, and just a stone's throw from the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hadrian's Wall, hospitality provider, Langley Castle, has seen 675 years of history pass by. This is all very much on show to visitors who stay at the hotel - and who travel from...
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Discovering the Secrets of the 'Other' Venice
Poodling Around
Jane Hunt, managing director of travel PR and tourism PR award-winning PR agency, talks to Ketty Zanutto, one of the business partners behind the inspiring Venice tour company operating in Venice, Italy and run by passionate tourism professionals who want to allow visitors to Venice to benefit from their personal insight, as people who have been born and raised in the city. Ketty explains the ethos of L'altra Venezia and gives a sneak preview into what lies in store for those who head to Venice and want to see beyond the classic tourism hotspots, whilst also having interpretation...
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Tracking Down Mountain Biking and Wintersports Fun in Morzine
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Jane Hunt, managing director of tourism and travel PR experts, , talks to the founder of businesses that have, over the years, absolutely snowballed, thanks to their ability to provide fantastic mountain biking and snow-based activity holidays to everyone from athletic pros to absolute beginners and families. All of this is down to the passion of Richard Wilford, the interviewee in this episode, and his business partner, Ben, who discovered a delightful place called Morzine, in the French Alps, and started to build their business dream there. Jane discovers all that Morzine...
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Discovering a Lake District Foodie Bolthole
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Jane Hunt talks to Robert Stacey, the executive chef for the Levens Hall Estate, whose role includes overseeing all of the foodie developments related to Levens Kitchen and Levens Bakery, two food-related venues associated with the visitor attraction of Levens Hall and Gardens. Jane discovers Robert's prestigious background as a chef in top London restaurants and culinary roles, explores how he came to be in the South Lakes and discovers how the vision for Levens Kitchen has evolved. They discuss the ideal location of the foodie bolthole, in the beautiful tourism destination of the South...
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Visiting Rome - the Do's and Don'ts
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Jane Hunt offers unique and personal insights into a trip to the Italian capital city, offering tips as to what to do and what not to do in Rome, drawing on both her own experience in the city and the knowledge she has acquired during the course of her travel and tourism PR and blog writing at Catapult PR. With practical advice relating to where to visit and how to best go about it, what anti-theft measures to take, how to survive the regular summer heatwave in Rome, how to keep the mosquitoes at bay and even where to find the best gelato, Jane offers some useful travel planning...
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Icelanders, Bretons and the Grasmere Sports Wrestling Buzz
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Jane Hunt talks to three of the overseas wrestlers who head, with their compatriots, to compete at the traditional Lake District event of Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show each year, in the Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling events. Interviewees Guðmundur Stefán Gunnarsson and Jana Lind Ellertsdóttir, from Iceland, explain how a similar version of the sport of backhold wrestling is conducted in their country, where it is called Glima and involves the use of a belt. Léa Quillien, a Breton wrestler from Brittany in France, then explains about the Breton version of the sport - Gouren - with...
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Wrestling with a Traditional Sport in Grasmere
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Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling is a sport with roots that go back centuries and which now has participants only in the northern counties of England – in Cumbria and Northumberland. To discover more about this form of traditional wrestling, in a backhold style, Jane Hunt speaks to Linda Scott and Robert Wharton, both part of the Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling Association. Jane finds out more about the sport and its rules, the current take-up of opportunities to learn the sport and why Grasmere Sports is seen as the pinnacle of the Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling...
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The Fascination of Running Up That Hill
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Teenage athlete and fell running sensation from Yorkshire, Charlotte Rawstron, talks to Jane Hunt about her progress through the world of athletics and the fascination of running up the seemingly impossible steep fell at Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show - and back down again! Jane discovers how Charlotte got into running up hills and why it's something she loves to do, despite the commitment involved. She learns of her successes to date and which triumphs have really stood out in Charlotte's athletics career so far. She also discovers more about Charlotte's future goals over the next...
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Meeting a Doggy Dad & Getting Golden Retriever Pet Parent Insight
Poodling Around
Jane Hunt meets Brian Johnson, pet parent to social media doggy star, Pip the Golden Retriever, someone who Jane avidly follows on X and who has fans worldwide. Jane discovers all about Pip and his social media journey, finding out where Pip likes to poodle around, how he spends family time and what being a doggy with followers entails, whether good or bad. Jane, a Golden Retriever lover, and former Goldie pet parent herself, also asks Brian for his views on some brand-new consumer research that Catapult PR, as a crafter of creative and award-winning pet product and pet insurance campaigns,...
info_outlineJane Hunt homes in on the delights of a formal English garden in the summer months, by talking to the head gardener of Levens Hall and Gardens, in the Lake District, Cumbria. This amazing garden was first established by the French gardener, Monsieur Guillaume Beaumont, in 1694 but has been under the care of current head gardener, Chris Crowder, for the past 38 years.
Whilst best known for its topiary garden the oldest in the world which does come into the conversation, the Levens Hall garden has so much more to offer. Jane explores the various parts of the garden, with Chris's help, focusing on the general delights that a visitor can enjoy, if they visit during the months of June, July and August. She also quizzes Chris about some specific plants and shrubs that might be seen and some more unusual features that you wont find anywhere else.
The podcast highlights why lovers of gardens and gardening, no matter where they live in the world, should make a beeline for this incredible garden, not just to tick a sighting of the worlds oldest topiary garden off their bucket list.
It also discusses some particular attractions and events for summer 2024 and what to look forward to in the first week of September.
With Chris Crowder being the 11th head gardener at Levens Hall and gardens (eleven being not that many since 1694), Jane takes the listener through a little bit of work that she did last year, as part of her PR work for Levens Hall and Gardens focusing on all 11 of the men who have shaped the garden during its long history. From 1694 to the current day, she explains what we know of these men and how they shaped the gardens of today.