Adventures in Journalism

This podcast follows award-winning British journalist Martin Hesp as he travels the world enjoying the sights, tasting the food and booze, and meeting people from all walks of life.

How a West Country Newsroom Inspired a Modern-Day Sherlock & Watson 02/21/2026

How a West Country Newsroom Inspired a Modern-Day Sherlock & Watson 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 of forensics and cordoned-off crime scenes? Martin argues they can—if they’re carrying a press pass and a digital camera. He discusses the "brainwave" that turned a seasoned, world-weary reporter into the Dr. Watson for a sharp-witted, tech-savvy press photographer's Sherlock Holmes. Highlights include: The 2002 Debate: How a BBC Radio 4 discussion on the "death of crime fiction" challenged Martin to find a new kind of detective. The "Snapper" Dynamic: Why the pairing of a veteran journalist and a modern photographer creates the perfect investigative duo. A Newlyn Awakening: Listen to an exclusive reading from the book’s opening chapter, capturing the salt, grit, and authenticity of a Cornish fishing port at dawn. Journalism vs. Fiction: Reflections on how 50 years in the newsroom provides the ultimate toolkit for building a believable mystery. The Cornish Snapper is available now. For more stories, articles, and to grab your copy, visit . /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/40185425

75 Years of Hospitality with Kit Chapman 02/09/2026

75 Years of Hospitality with Kit Chapman 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 of his family’s stewardship of this Somerset landmark. Kit shares candid stories from the hotel’s "black and white movie" past, including his father’s 1950s restoration, the hotel’s transformation into a Michelin-starred culinary destination, and humorous encounters with the likes of Henry Blofeld and Keith Floyd. We explore how the Castle has remained a permanent fixture in a changing world, serving as a gateway to the Quantocks, Exmoor, and the Somerset Levels. Whether you are a fan of English heritage, fine dining, or the art of hospitality, this interview offers a fascinating look at one of Britain’s most prestigious establishments. /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/40042940

Remembering The Napoli 01/30/2026

Remembering The Napoli 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 18 years after the ill-fated container ship came to grief on the Jurassic Coast, Martin pulls from his personal audio archives to revisit the chaos and curiosity that followed. Join Martin as he shares original field recordings from the shingle beach, where hundreds of people gathered to witness (and sometimes scavenge) an extraordinary array of cargo—from BMW motorcycles and wine barrels to car mirrors and dog food. The episode also features an insightful and humorous conversation with award-winning press photographer Richard Austin, as the two old friends recount the "modern-day Poldark" scenes and the changing face of regional newspaper journalism. /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/39935300

Kingsbury Episcopi: A Deep Dive into Somerset Heritage 01/17/2026

Kingsbury Episcopi: A Deep Dive into Somerset Heritage 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 News and Western Daily Press, we go behind the scenes to meet the people who define this unique corner of the Somerset Levels. In this episode: [00:00] Intro: The view from One Tree Hill and the "Adventures Out West" sting. [05:15] The Cider Heritage: A visit with Julian Temperley among the oak barrels of the Somerset Cider Brandy Company. [18:40] Village Life: Conversations with the local history group on the traditions of the River Parrett. [32:10] The Local: Reflections on rural community and the future of village life. About the Podcast: Adventures in Journalism is hosted by Martin Hesp, a veteran journalist with over 40 years of experience covering the West Country. This podcast brings the "Hesp Out West" newspaper features to life through on-location interviews and rural storytelling. /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/39766800

The Return of Adventures in Journalism 01/12/2026

The Return of Adventures in Journalism 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 meeting fascinating people. /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/39695925

New Year's Thinking While Pondering Warm and Sunny Places 01/10/2026

New Year's Thinking While Pondering Warm and Sunny Places 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 out of the way places in the Algarve and talks to a guide who will take visitors to some pretty magical locations down there in Southern Portugal. We also visit Puglia, where we talk to a farmer who has been nurturing some of the oldest olive trees in the world. Some of them were ancient when Jesus Christ was born! /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/39682430

Celebrating English Wine Week 06/18/2022

Celebrating English Wine Week We set out to celebrate English Wine Week by visiting the Huxbear Vineyard in South Devon in the company of and the wine writer Stephen Barrett /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/23469506

Mary Quicke, farmer and cheesemaker 05/23/2022

Mary Quicke, farmer and cheesemaker 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 /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/23200394

Launching Taste East Devon with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Others 07/19/2021

Launching Taste East Devon with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Others 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 - interviewees include Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, chef Michael Caines and many others /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/19853435

The World of Food Judging 06/28/2021

The World of Food Judging 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 supermarket shelves declaring "Gold" or "Silver" really do mean what they say /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/19629557

The Consumer Brand - a new way of thinking about the food and drink we buy 06/07/2021

The Consumer Brand - a new way of thinking about the food and drink we buy 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 decisions consumer power can make happen - and now it's possible thanks to a new concept which was originally born in France 5 years ago. There, the English name is Who's The Boss - in the UK it's called The Consumer Brand - and the first product has now been launched. Martin Hesp talks to the people behind the iniative... /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/19383149

Revolting Peasants of Exmoor - Remembering a Chat With Molly Groves 05/24/2021

Revolting Peasants of Exmoor - Remembering a Chat With Molly Groves 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 brushes off an old interview he did with Molly Groves - one of the founders of the Exmoor Revolting Peasants party - a pressure group formed by local people in the early 2000s /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/19217867

Regenerative Farming in Cornwall 05/14/2021

Regenerative Farming in Cornwall 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 farming by expert Tom Tolputt, who explains that the system could actually take carbon out of the atmosphere while at the same time producing fantastically healthy milk and cream, beef and lamb /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/19107464

Talking to the Wheelwrights 05/08/2021

Talking to the Wheelwrights 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 meeting with the Rowland family - the Royal Warrant wheelwrights of East Devon /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/19029545

Cider-maker Roger Wilkins Talks About Banksy and Other Celebs 05/04/2021

Cider-maker Roger Wilkins Talks About Banksy and Other Celebs 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, overlooking the Somerset Levels /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/18970238

Sharpham Shows Off Its Wine and Cheese 05/03/2021

Sharpham Shows Off Its Wine and Cheese 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 made down by the shores of the River Dart in the South Hams /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/18953735

Anthony Gibson talks about buying local food and drink 04/26/2021

Anthony Gibson talks about buying local food and drink 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 talks to Martin Hesp about the disconnect between local people and local food - and the steps which were taken in the 1980s and 90s to try to overcome that gap /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/18863855

Peter Gorton Talks About Cooking Game 04/19/2021

Peter Gorton Talks About Cooking Game 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 about the art of cooking game meat gleaned from the British countryside /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/18775640

Barbecue Meeting with a Masterbuilt 04/16/2021

Barbecue Meeting with a Masterbuilt 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 and drink imagery /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/18748226

Remembering The Crowds of Holsworthy on Market Day 11/17/2020

Remembering The Crowds of Holsworthy on Market Day A glimpse into the recent past - Martin Hesp recalls the day he took a tour of Holsworthy, an old English market town on the Devon-Cornwall border. In this podcast he speaks with the characters who matter on market day - in the days before Holsworthy's famous livestock market was moved to the outskirts of town /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/16846406

Flight to St Vincent in The Grenadines 11/11/2020

Flight to St Vincent in The Grenadines 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 /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/16771727

The Tale of British Tea 10/24/2020

The Tale of British Tea 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 story of the UK's only major tea plantation /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/16528877

Sir Tim Smit recounts the story of The Lost Gardens of Heligan 10/10/2020

Sir Tim Smit recounts the story of The Lost Gardens of Heligan 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 to talk with Sir Tim Smit, one of the main movers and shakers behind the refurbishment of the fabulous demesne... /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/16348067

Goonhilly Down, the Trelowarren Estate and Sir Ferrers Vyvyan 10/09/2020

Goonhilly Down, the Trelowarren Estate and Sir Ferrers Vyvyan 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 /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/16337243

Exploring West Cornwall 09/20/2020

Exploring West Cornwall 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 social history that could be gone before too long... /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/16078499

Thoughts on Autumn 09/11/2020

Thoughts on Autumn 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 countryside /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/15972080

Jeep Tour in the Mountains of Madeira 09/06/2020

Jeep Tour in the Mountains of Madeira 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 island... /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/15903194

Walking the Levadas of Madeira 09/05/2020

Walking the Levadas of Madeira 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 /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/15897386

Walk and talk with Richard Austin in Lyme Regis 07/15/2020

Walk and talk with Richard Austin in Lyme Regis 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 /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/15217685

Cider Songs 04/30/2020

Cider Songs 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. /episode/index/show/martinhesp/id/14219177

Adventures in Journalism

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