Adventures in Rural Journalism

It is very unusual in the hospitality industry for a chef to work at the same restaurant for years and years - but Matthew Mason, of Devon's famous Jack in the Green, has been doing just that and making both a name for himself and for his many local suppliers as he's cooked hundreds of thousands of meals. In this podcast Martin visits Matt and some of his suppliers as they celebrate his quarter of a century at the same stove. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Martin has a day out at the Bath & West Show where's been selected as a judge at the British Cheese Awards - but of course he can't resist popping next door to also cast an eye over the British Cider Championships, which is the biggest competition of its kind in Europe For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Martin meets a Dartmoor farmer who is so passionate about the South Devon breed of cattle, he has written a massive 900-page book about them. Colin Pearse laments for a world that has passed by - but also looks forward to the future of his favourite breed of cattle. In the podcast you can hear how the farmer-poet has a unique and very rural viewpoint when it comes to the modern world and the passing of Dartmoor's days of yore For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Martin travels to the Somerset Levels to meet farmer Chris Burnett who has spent over half a century taking some of his land out of production to return it to nature. The result is one man's amazing nature garden - over 22 acres of beautiful, peaceful, paradise. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Martin joins an epic voyage... The old ferry, The Duchess of Cocklemoor which our podcasts have visited before, has been converted to run on solar power thanks to a tiny but powerful electric motor installed by barefoot inventor Cedric Lynch. This episode reports on the very first public outing for the newly electrified boat, battling against heavy winds in Storm Hannah on the River Parrett on the Somerset Levels. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

National Parks are celebrating 70 years of existence in the UK this year and in this podcast Martin revisits an award-winning series he wrote entitled The Contested Landscape. He talks to the first farmer in the world ever to be paid regular sums NOT to farm his land - and also visits a woman who helped set up Exmoor's Revolting Peasant's Party For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

The landscape of the English South West is dominated by hedgerows - and in this episode Martin meets the people who are passionate about looking after these icons of the countryside. He also comes across an enthusiastic young rabbit-catcher who often works among the hedgerows of Devon and Somerset helping local farmers and providing fresh healthy meat for his butcher's shop. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Historic Dunster Castle has its own watermill where wheat and spelt are freshly ground on huge French millstones. Martin has always wanted to make his own sourdough bread, so he visits the National Trust owned mill to see how the flour is made and takes home a bag of Dunster's finest to see if it will help him make a decent loaf... For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

What better antidote could there be to Brexit than visiting a brewery? Which is exactly what podcaster Martin did recently during the UK Brexit shenanigans... In this podcast we take a tour of Skinners Brewery in Cornwall - but Martin also delivers a newspaper column he's written about the political mess in which he describes a grass-roots' local-community, version that could be likened to the present Brexit debacle. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Martin strolls up the lane where he lives to meet a neighbour who has just been given the UK Crafts Maker of the Year Award. Jim Patterson, of the Two Rivers Paper Company, has been making fine quality arts papers at his small mill inside Exmoor National Park for the past 30 years - and he tells Martin something about the business and about how he and his team came to win the award... For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy