An article describing how journalist Martin Hesp met an interviewed Tony Hibbert who founded Trebah Gardens in Cornwall

Years ago I visited the Similan Archipelago situated 40 miles from the mainland north of Phuket. This national park is widely considered to be one of the best diving areas in the world. Even my wife, who’d so recently been savaged by a giant iguana as she swam in the sea, couldn’t resist immersing herself in the underwater wonders of the Similans. It was like entering the busiest tropical fish tank you have ever seen. I cannot begin to describe the countless varieties of colo

Balance is an interesting word. The older you get, the more you realise just how important the idea of balance can be.  In China, where I’ve been recently, they talk about yin-yang, so on the plane home I was inspired to practice a bit of balance and harmony.  For example, I’d been in the Far East, so why not counter-balance that by going to the Far West? In UK terms, that means Cornwall. So, I thought, west of the Tamar I shall go…  But, also in the search for a bit of harmo

Foreign places can grow in the imagination during a person’s formative years – we can nurture romantic and colourful ideas about a country or region and somehow they stick as you grow older.  For example, mental images of the Middle East can be seeded and amplified by biblical stories. Then, perhaps, we may watch a classic movie like Lawrence of Arabia - and suddenly the hot dusty region takes on a whole new allure and fascination. What we see in our Arabian Night tinted imag

There are place names in the great European atlas that are enough to make the discerning traveller scuttle in the opposite direction – for example, having travelled to almost every corner of the EU in 30 years of writing travel articles, I’ve always managed to avoid the Algarve thinking it to be overcrowded and over-exploited. But one generalises at one’s peril. I am sure there are parts of Portugal’s southern coastline which are overbearing in certain seasons, but the south

It was a burning hot morning the day we visited this famous market situated in the heart of Provence. If I’m honest, I was beginning to dread facing the crowds and overheated streets, but then, I’d never been to L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue before. The first thing I realised was that it features a great many cooling waterways, and these really did have the effect of reducing the sun’s heat.  L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is a picturesque town which plays host to one of the region's most popul

Anhui Province, in eastern China, often sits in the shadow of its more famous culinary neighbours such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang. However, its cuisine, known as Hui cuisine (徽菜), offers a distinctive flavour profile that is said to reflect the rugged landscapes, abundant rivers, and rich history of the region. Anhui’s culinary traditions are deeply connected to its geography, drawing on local ingredients and time-honoured techniques that emphasise simplicity, freshness, and the

When you think about it, the invention of paper was a very important leap forward indeed. As a newspaper journalist, I would say that - but you only have to contemplate it for a second to realise we could be back in the Dark Ages without paper. Vellum and clay tablets were okay as far as they went, but you cannot keep endlessly complex records on lumps of clay or reproduce lengthy books on countless bits of animal skin. A big thank you, then, to the Chinese, who ‘invented’ pa

I am in the process of writing a plethora of articles about a recent trip to Anhui Province in China - but some reason I can’t quite put my finger on I decided to knock out a quick piece about Chinese motorway service stations and the truly weird and perhaps not so wonderful food that you can find to help fuel you on your way. Curiously, at none of the service stations we stopped at was anyone - not a single soul - eating in the restaurants. They were open. They were big and

The idea that one can leave one’s remote English home in the morning and be somewhere very foreign indeed by lunchtime will never cease to excite me, yet I know members of younger generations who shrug it off as being an ordinary fact of everyday life. Perhaps it’s because I can remember when such a thing was rare - the preserve of the rich. Now most people enjoy blasting abroad once in a while and we are fortunate to have a regional airport that makes it all the more easy to

There’s nothing quite like stumbling upon a location you’ve never visited before and discovering it to be surprisingly scenic and enjoyable. It is particularly rewarding for West Country folk when we come across some delightful corner of the coast outside our region, because we tend to be pretty much spoilt when it comes to having lovely bays and beaches in our own backyard. If I’m being honest, I wasn’t expecting too much when, for family reasons, we found ourselves heading

Some people have an incurable curiosity when it comes to the landscape. For example, if they see an interesting or picturesque place from afar, they automatically think: “Right… One day I’ll go to that place and see what it’s all about.” This article relates to exactly that sort of journey.  But there was a reason why it took me so long to embark on the particular journey of discovery, even though I had several times found myself being attracted to an obscure corner of the So

The Bagni Di Pisa Palace and Thermal Spa is a very impressive indeed. The place is reminiscent of the sort of place Agatha Christie might have visited - if Poirot ever went anywhere to “take the waters” this would be the place.  Actually, someone who did write something famous in this very hotel was Mary Shelley - who finished penning her story Frankenstein here after being partly inspired to write it back at home in Somerset’s Quantock Hills.  I attended a wine class in the

Somewhere off the northwest coast of Africa, lies the isle of Madeira - a gem that has been popular with British visitors for decades, or even centuries. The place is enchanting. Madeira is a remote isle where nature, culture, and history converge, offering a perfect blend of relaxation and adventure.  Here's why a brief visit to Madeira might be just what your soul needs. Day 1: Arrival and First Impressions As your plane descends toward the island - sometimes rather bumpily

It’s amazing how things can stick in your mind, even if they are all to do with ancient history. I was thinking this recently when I snapped our photo of a Viking long boat on its moorings on a lake in deepest darkest Jutland and it reminded me of my childhood. Just opposite my old West Country school there was a field called Battle Gore, the legend of which used to fill us boys with wonder and awe. A huge battle was once fought right there in our own little village. Wow! And

The 450-year-old Rock Inn - as mentioned in the neighbouring article - stands just a few feet from the young River Tone. Travel a few miles upstream, higher and deeper into the hills, and you will come to Clatworthy Reservoir, which is not only one of the oldest drinking water lakes in the region, but one of the prettiest. Two facts which perhaps go hand-in-hand. The building of a giant reservoir causes a major disruption to the ecology and environment, and it takes many year

It’s not quite a case of “if you go down to the woods today you’ll be in for a big surprise”, but this story has that kind of vibe about it.  Let’s put it this way… There are a great many well-known parts of the much-visited West Country and, conversely, there are even more hidden, out-of-the-way, corners which very few tourists ever get to see.  Given that this is the case, you might imagine that someone wishing to expand a new concept in the world of food and hospitality wo

Having stayed at the wonderful Victoria Hotel in Sidmouth recently, we enjoyed a couple of fantastic local walks. Here’s one to the east of town… Each time I embark on one of these hikes the West Country seems to shrink. Slowly, gradually, an enormous mental jig-saw puzzle is falling into place piece by piece. Distant hills that were once nothing more than an amorphous horizon are now old friends which have been tramped, researched and written about. Great vales and vistas we

There was a reason why Egyptian pharaohs, Roman emperors, Indian moguls and many others down the gold-leafed annals of the great-and-good insisted on having facilities in their palaces dedicated to the pampering of royal flesh and bones. Such human pampering was - and is - relaxing, pleasurable, and it does you good. Fast forward many centuries and we British, in particular, became curiously shy of having our well-wrapped-and-safely-covered limbs manipulated, massaged and gen

There’s a rift occurring in the world of holiday and travel at the moment. For decades most Brits and northern Europeans have had a set notion that a vacation should include plenty of sun, sea and blue skies - which is why we’ve been flocking to the Med for the past 50 years. Now, though, endless heatwaves are making that concept look somewhat over-baked. Who wants to holiday in a place where you are forced to hide from the sun in body-sapping temperatures of over 40 degrees?