A Bridport estate that has diversified to run a range of rural businesses has seen a boost in inquiries following the release of a new podcast.

The family-run Pineapple Estate, near Bridport, has evolved from a dairy farm to become a diverse operation with business units, residential property, self-storage containers and a campsite with a shop.

It embraced the idea of producing a podcast to tell the story of what the changes have meant and share the lessons learned along the way - and was pleased to receive positive feedback, including a spike in inquiries about the services it can offer.

Hosted by KOR Communications' rural affairs specialist Anna Byles, a former broadcast journalist with the BBC, the first podcast in a series released by the estate went live last month.

Exeter-based KOR Communications is offering to produce podcasts for other clients.

Anna said: "People are increasingly time-poor, so podcasts are a really good way for people to be engaged while doing something else, whether that is driving, doing the housework or working. The experience for the listener should be like eavesdropping on a really fascinating conversation.

"The Pineapple Estate have such a great story to tell about developing a sustainable rural business and I think that really comes across with the topics we chose to cover in this series."

She said the experience of the Pineapple Estate demonstrated the value of using new and innovative ways to engage with communities and, potentially, win new business through telling a story in the most appropriate way for the audience.

Director of the Pineapple Estate, Andrew Dyke, said: "We were excited but nervous to create a podcast, as we didn't really know what the process would involve. We are really happy with the series and how it tells the story of our estate and shares the ethos of our work.

"Although we undertook the podcast as part of our long-term plan, an additional bonus was to see our business-to-business enquiries increase by 33%, during the podcast's weekly releases."

The Pineapple Podcast is available on all platforms, including Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music and Google.