A Dartmoor Hike from Cadover Bridge to Great Trowlesworthy Tor If you love Dartmoor’s wild edges and secret stories, this short circular walk from Cadover Bridge takes you deep into Trowlesworthy Warren , past ancient pillow mounds, granite tors, and the haunting white scars of the china clay pits . It’s a fine mix of moorland solitude, industrial history, and far-reaching views over Plymouth and the South Devon coast During our stay at Boringdon Hall , we took a five-minute

A comprehensive guide and review of Boringdon Hall, near Plymouth

A Journey to the Wye Valley: Where England Meets Wales “Oh sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro' the woods, how often has my spirit turned to thee!” So wrote William Wordsworth 227 years ago in his poem Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey. And I am repeating them here because I happen to be in Tintern, looking across at the River Wye. Like a great many West Country folk, I have visited this most beautiful of valleys on several occasions and never failed to be impressed

Perfect Porlock Weir Porlock Weir is one of my favourite places in the world and I have written about it many times. As the nicest of our local seaside haunts I’ve been visiting the place since I was a small boy - and later writing many different newspaper articles based on many different subjects down there where the Exmoor hills dip to meet the sea. I popped down to the Weir this week with a spare hour to spare and walked in the rain. Porlock Marsh: Britain’s Fastest Changi

Ortigia: Where Greek History Meets Baroque Splendour Syracuse (Siracusa in Italian), on Sicily’s eastern coast, has a history that rivals just about any other old port in the Mediterranean. Once described by Cicero as "the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all," its true nucleus remains the tiny, altogether captivating, island of Ortigia . Connected to the mainland by a couple of short bridges, this island is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and for very good r

Hike the 'Devon's Frenchman's Creek': A Secret 3.5-Mile Circular Walk Around Tuckenhay The Dart Valley cuts a slice of countryside so deep and secluded that it feels a world away—and this short, sensational loop from the creek-side hamlet of Tuckenhay is proof. This 3.5-mile circular walk is utterly crammed with waterside views , the haunting call of wildfowl , ancient trackways, and picturesque, time-forgotten villages. It scores at least nine-out-of-ten on the 'Hesp-patent

Apple Glut? 3 Delicious Ways to Preserve Your Bumper Harvest (Plus a Secret Tip for Better Flavour!) The autumn air signals more than just changing leaves; it brings the annual apple glut ! If my own trees are any indication, it’s been a great year for the harvest. But the sudden bonanza of ripe fruit—especially after a weekend of gales—brings a classic problem for the proud apple tree owner: how do you deal with a mountain of fruit before rot sets in? Forget eating ten a da

Luscombe Drinks at 50: The Pursuit of Britain's Best Soft Drinks The sound of milling resounded through the orchard and we watched as hundreds of fresh-picked apples bobbed along in clear water, gushing down a metal chute towards the ‘scratter’ or crusher , and eventually the press which would extract their delicious juice. Most Westcountry folk reading this sentence will immediately assume this article is going to be about the new cider season, but I had actually gone to the

Rediscovering Old Friends and New Adventures in South Devon Social media has many downsides but one useful role it plays is in allowing users to keep up with old friends. Occasionally their posts can surprise and delight you - which is what happened recently when I saw an Instagram photo and note from an old colleague saying: “Really enjoying life - wish I’d done this years ago.” The photograph showed a lovely waterside inn, tucked away deep in the South Devon countryside - a

A Taste of Tunisian Life in Just 20 Minutes Just 20 minutes - that’s all we had time for as we entered the central medina in Tunis some 20 years ago – and I was fed up because, to do the vast, fascinating, colourful labyrinth justice, you need a day. That was a year ago and I had to be dragged out of the medieval bazaar kicking and screaming, grabbing handfuls of ludicrously cheap herbs and spices as I went. The man from the Tunisian tourist office looked concerned – it hadn’

Fantastic News for This Website Fantastic news! For me, at any rate. This website has earned me the position of finalist at the British Guild of Travel Writers annual awards . Along with two other people, I am up for Travel Blogger of the Year. So I am over the moon - partly because I began the website six years ago merely as a bit of fun and as a challenge to see if I could do such a thing. And that is exactly how the website has continued.  Oh, and I’ve also been shortliste

A Celebration of Perry at the Malvern Show James Crowden, a great friend of these pages, invited me along to the Malvern show where he was judging at the Three Counties Cider and Perry Association’s annual Perry Festival. The event is dedicated to promoting knowledge, understanding and appreciation of that most delicious of English drinks, made from fermented pear juice. The Orchard Marquee: A Cathedral of Apples and Pears It all takes place in the amazing orchard marquee. If

Six Guinness World Records Smashed at Malvern The CANNA UK National Giant Vegetables Championship Six Guinness World Records were broken the Three Counties Autumn Show last weekend, with 132 growers battling it out for medals, including the longest sweet pepper and heaviest celeriac. Other world records included the world’s tallest runner bean plant (26 feet, two inches) and the world’s longest radish (25 feet, seven inches - there’s a lot of long thin root involved). Weird a

There Ought to Be More of Them… There ought to be more of them… is what my friends and I were agreeing while driving home from the Three Counties Autumn Show at Malvern last weekend. We were talking about large-scale country shows that take place at this time of the year because we hugely enjoyed our visit to the show, which is billed as the “UK’s biggest harvest season celebration”. It offers the ultimate demonstration of something this nation can do very well indeed… We are

Timing Is Everything in Mushroom Foraging Timing. So much of life is about timing. Last week we promised to dedicate this Hesp Out West feature to the wonderful fungi explosion that has been occurring here in the South West of England of late. I’d already found more edible field mushrooms than I could possibly eat, but I was hoping to find some delicious ceps before I had to file this article. And, hey-presto. Monday and Tuesday’s bright sunshine brought the blighters out.

What Is the National Drink of England? We live in a world where symbols of national identity are important – which is why, for example, the media is forever having rows about whether fish-and-chips, roast beef or chicken tandoori represent the UK’s national dish. But what about our national drink? Scotland, of course, has whisky, while England might argue over whether beer or cider should take the crown. However, in historic terms there’s only one drink in the running, and th

The Wonders of Rain and West Country Fields And talking of produce from our fields, what wonders the rain has done… To the region’s fungi, I mean. After the wet stuff started falling from the skies ten days ago, field mushrooms have been popping up like… Well, mushrooms. Two days into the new rainy season there wasn’t a field mushroom in sight. I know because I went out every day looking in my favourite field where mushrooms never fail to grow. Then, on third day, there was o

Delivery Vans, Local Produce, and the Rise of Beacon Farms The White Van Nation – and a Thought for British Produce Delivery vans… The world is filled with them. Drive through the rural West Country today and you will see far more white vans than any other vehicle. On a journey to the Blackdown Hills this week I counted more than 20 on a 40-mile round-trip. And I thought: wouldn’t it be wonderful if those vans were filled with British products and produce rather than stuff ma

A Sudden Shock on the Local News The thing about belting around travelling here, there and everywhere is that you can miss important things which happen back at home. For example, after one trip abroad this summer I was sitting in our living room with the local news on in the background, when I spotted a very good friend dominating the TV screen. It was Ian Macnab aboard his boat the Duchess of Cocklemoor - so I turned the sound up and was appalled to hear that this wonderfu

The Magic of Estuaries No one needs a newspaper article to tell them that estuaries are very, very special places. These zones where rivers meet the sea create a magical mix of fresh and salt water - a brackish blend that makes them some of the most productive and important habitats on Earth. Estuaries serve as nurseries for fish and shellfish, and are critical feeding grounds for thousands of migratory birds. But they’re more than just wildlife havens, estuaries are nature’s