As you wander through Haiti’s slums, your eyes are opened to another, surreal world, where thousands of people have little more than what they stand up in. I also had to be careful. Armed with a camera, these proud people did not take kindly to their predicament being caught on camera.

I was in the country on an assignment for the BBC. I had come to film Philome Guerrier, a merchant seaman who’d lost both his legs in a tragic accident on Poole docks a year or two earlier. I’d followed his recovery at Poole Hospital for some months and flew over to visit him.

He lived with his wife and children in a house built of tin and cardboard, like the hundreds of other families in the shanty town. An open sewer ran past the back of his house, if you can call it that. It was a harrowing week, but one of most interesting in my life. This was just one of the many adventures I was fortunate to experience during my 17 year career in journalism, 10 of them with the BBC.

Before pursuing this career, I was a soldier for nine years. I was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards in December 1978 and found myself in Belfast a few days later. It was to be one of three tours in the province, the other two being in South Armagh and Strabane, respectively. Being on operations was an exciting challenge, especially to a young officer. 

I’m always asked whether I was ever shot at. The answer is no, but some of my colleagues were. Our main fear was the roadside bomb, which now plagues our troops in Afghanistan. I travelled widely during my time in the armed services, serving in Germany, Cyprus, Kenya, Brunei, Hong Kong, the United States and London.

I was fortunate on two occasions to take part in one of the world’s most prestigious parades, the Birthday Parade, in front of Her Majesty the Queen – a spectacle to watch and a huge honour to participate in. At the other end of the scale, I was fortunate enough to accompany the Guards Freefall Parachute Team to Florida. There, I got the dubious pleasure of hurling myself out of a perfectly serviceable aircraft.
Having mastered the basic static-line jump, I progressed to freefall. Now, this is something different altogether and the experience is hard to describe, except that I would encourage everyone to give it a go.

On leaving the army, I decided to return to school and spent the next three years studying land management at the Royal Agricultural College near Cirencester. I found my three years interesting and challenging, although very different to my life in the army, obviously.

At the end of my time there, I decided to stand for the Cirencester and Tewkesbury seat, which had become available after Nicholas Ridley’s sad death. I was called forward for interview, but on this occasion was not selected. However, undeterred, I launched myself into my journalistic career. I can honestly say that I enjoyed every minute of it, including learning shorthand!

My informative years were spent with the Yorkshire Evening Press, an excellent daily broadsheet in York.
Here I learnt my trade, passing exams, attending council meetings, covering the courts and slowly but surely mastering the art of news writing.

Then, after a stint with Tyne Tees TV, the Daily Express and the Daily Telegraph, it was on into the exciting world of broadcasting with the BBC. My nine years or so with BBC Radio Solent and BBC South Today took me across the south of England and occasionally abroad. I’ve mentioned one overseas adventure, but there were others to South America and Florida.

The former saw me deep in the Brazilian jungle, travelling for hours down a vast tributary of the Amazon looking for one family and in particular one little girl. Horrifically disfigured by a double cleft lip and palate, Ronalda had been spotted the year before by the explorer John Blashford-Snell, who was travelling down the river in a reed boat.

His party had taken pity on the little girl, raised some money for an operation, which I then volunteered to take back out to Brazil, picking up the girl on the way. I’m glad to report that after several operations Ronalda’s face was as good as new. It was an extraordinary assignment where I met some extraordinary people.

In 2006 I was selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for South Dorset, a great honour and challenge. At the same time I took over the family business and retired from the BBC.

I now live in our family home in Dorset, with my four children and new wife. I must not forget to mention our cocker spaniel, Aston. My favourite mode of travel, especially on farm duty, is by trail-bike. It’s especially useful beating the congestion that you all too often experience in Weymouth and Swanage, especially during the tourist season. I am a Patron of a mental health charity and help several others. I have also established my Kids To Farm project, where children from local schools spend a day on our farm. Hundreds of youngsters have experienced it and it’s proving a huge hit with both them and the teachers.

There’s so much to learn about the countryside and where our food comes from. And the more we educate, the better for us all. 

There are many challenges ahead and I look forward to them all with relish.