Lisa Duncan lives at the foot of Holmbury Hill, surrounded by some of the most beautiful woodland in the Surrey Hills.

It's also where she practises something many of us have heard of, but perhaps do not fully understand: forest bathing.

In this episode of The Surrey Hills Portrait, Lisa joins Martin in the pinetum on Holmbury Hill, surrounded by more than 30 varieties of conifer planted around the millennium.

Lisa explains that forest bathing has very little to do with covering miles or reaching a destination. Instead, it's about slowing down, using the senses and becoming properly present in the landscape around you.

She talks about the Japanese practice of Shinrin-yoku, the research behind spending time among trees and why an ordinary walk in the woods, especially with a dog, children or a friend, can feel very different from a guided forest bathing session.

Lisa also shares her own journey.

Born in Hawaii to a Japanese mother and American father, she grew up with both a strong connection to nature and an appreciation of Japanese culture, including its close relationship with the seasons.

Her career initially took her in a very different direction, working in strategy at Sony. Years later, as her daughters began leaving home and the Covid pandemic changed daily life, Lisa found herself returning to something that had always been there.

A former Sony colleague had gone on to become involved with forest therapy in Japan, helping introduce Lisa to the practice. She trained as a forest bathing practitioner and created HINOKI Forest Bathing here in Surrey.

Lisa explains some of the invitations she uses during a session, from searching for particular shades of green to noticing birdsong, smelling different trees and simply moving through the woodland at a much slower pace.

She also talks about why phones and cameras stay firmly out of sight.

The conversation ends with another Japanese influence: tea.

Lisa incorporates a tea ritual into the end of her forest bathing sessions, using herbs and plants chosen for the season and setting. Sitting beneath the trees, she prepares a tea of Scots pine and mugwort and explains how even drinking a cup of tea can become an exercise in slowing down and paying attention.

It is a conversation about nature, attention, Japanese culture and what we might discover when we stop trying to get somewhere and simply notice where we already are.

Mandira Sarkar grew up on a tea plantation in Assam, in a childhood filled with elephants, ponies, leopards and boarding school in the hills of Shillong.

After studying in Calcutta and completing an MBA in Delhi, she moved to England with her husband for what was meant to be one year. Twenty-eight years later, Surrey is firmly home.

In this episode of The Surrey Hills Portrait, Mandira joins Martin at Silent Pool in Albury, the atmospheric setting for Mandira's Kitchen.

She explains how a 17-year career in management consultancy gave way to a food business that began with £750, a social media post and a small pop-up supper. What followed was catering, handmade freezer meals, local farm shops, a kitchen inside a 400-year-old cowshed and, eventually, a café.

Mandira also shares her determination to challenge British ideas about Indian food and restore some of the history, variety and power that spices have lost in the modern kitchen.

The conversation takes a more serious turn as Mandira reflects on the immigration raid carried out at Mandira's Kitchen while she was away. She describes its effect on her staff, why she chose to speak publicly about what happened and the wider questions it raised for her about race, immigration and belonging in Britain.

Mandira also speaks candidly about the reality behind the awards and public recognition. Despite praise from Nigella Lawson and 15 food awards, running an independent hospitality business remains demanding, financially difficult and all-consuming.

This is a conversation about childhood, migration, identity, prejudice, entrepreneurship and the complicated reality of building a business you love.

Find out more about Mandira's Kitchen at mandiraskitchen.com.

The Surrey Hills Portrait: stories from the people who live, work and create here.

Ben Seale spent more than a decade working in television, with credits including The Repair Shop, the BBC Proms, Glastonbury, Hairy Bikers and the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance. But his journey into filmmaking was far from conventional.

In the first episode of The Surrey Hills Portrait, Ben joins me in Dorking to talk about television, creativity and building a film company around the subjects that genuinely matter to him.

Half British and half Swiss, Ben received an invitation at 18 to complete military service in Switzerland. He stayed for several years, becoming an officer in the Swiss Air Force and gaining experience in leadership, logistics and project management. Those skills would prove unexpectedly useful when he eventually started running his own production company.

Ben describes how difficult it was to break into television without existing contacts. His first opportunity came through a production filming with Sean Bean in Belgium, where a connection with the director eventually led to work on Hairy Bikers and opened the door to the BBC.

After 12 years in the industry, long periods away from home, shrinking production budgets and wider changes in television prompted him to consider a different path.

Directed by Good grew from Ben's desire to make films about the subjects he cares about most: British history, heritage, traditional crafts, music, culture and the countryside. It also gave him the opportunity to create a business shaped by his own values.

Through its Create With Care pledge, Directed by Good gives five per cent of every production fee to charity. Clients can add a further five per cent, which the company will match, allowing as much as 15 per cent of a project's value to support UK charities.

Ben also speaks honestly about the less visible reality of starting a creative business. Alongside the cameras, fascinating people and interesting locations are contracts, release forms, administration, networking and the constant challenge of finding new clients.

Looking ahead, Ben doesn't want Directed by Good to become an enormous production company. His ambition is to build a respected small team, producing distinctive work across the UK while offering good pay, proper holidays and a healthy working environment.

Most importantly, creating the company has allowed him to reconnect with the things he loves, spend more time at home and start playing the tuba again with Mole Valley Silver Band.

This is an open and thoughtful conversation about television, creativity, self-employment and building a business around work that matters to you.

Find out more about Ben and his work at directedbygood.com.

The Surrey Hills Portrait: stories from the people who live, work and create here.

Welcome to The Surrey Hills Portrait, a new podcast sharing stories from the people who live, work and create across the Surrey Hills.

In this short introduction, host and portrait photographer Martin Bamford explains what inspired the series and what you can expect from the conversations ahead.

Find out more at bamfordphoto.co.uk/podcast.