MY COUNTRYSIDE
Actor Martin Clunes
The actor and comedian on the joys of living on a farm and his favourite remote spots My job has taken me to a lot of unusual places
There’s nothing I like better than coming home to Dorset for the weekend. I really look forward to feeding the animals on our farm: there are 300 sheep – we had about 160 lambs in the spring – and 60-odd Dexter cows. I love having all that open space around me, too; I feel like I’m the luckiest man in the world. We’ve been hosting Buckham Fair
since 2008. It’s a fantastic community event, with everything from police dog displays to dodgems and a huge ferris wheel. I get invited to take part in a lot of events in the county, so it’s great to be able to give back by bringing everyone together to raise money for local charities. My family and I live on the farm with our dogs, Jim, Annie and Heidi, who we hope will have puppies soon. I’m a big fan of creative puppy classes, where you can socialise your pet to make sure they turn into a good citizen. It’s really good fun – you get so many
different personalities and characters, and often the results are just hysterical. I fell in love with Clydesdales a long
time ago. I was making a TV show about horses and wherever I went around the world, they always seemed to be there in the background, contributing. When it was time for my horse Chester to retire, I thought, ‘Why not get one for myself ?’ I went up to meet a breeder in Scotland, who introduced me to two six-month-old Clydesdales called Ronnie and Bruce. I still get a thrill when I see them now. I really enjoy going riding on Dartmoor. As you don’t have to stay on the paths, you can go off-piste to explore. Riding up north is a completely different experience, though. The hills and mountains of the Lake District are a lot more dramatic. I spend a lot of time in Gleneagles. We’ve got friends who live there, so we often travel up for birthdays. I’m hoping to go north of the border again next year for the Blair Horse Trials – I’ve been a judge there in the past and used to go all the time as a child. The nice thing about this time of year is that it’s a waiting game. Although the last leaves are falling at the moment, in just a few short months the hedges will go off like firework displays. My job has taken me to a lot of unusual places over the years. I’ve been to the top of the lighthouse on Muckle Flugga Island – the northernmost point of the British Isles – and landed a helicopter on the top of Bishop Rock in the Isles of Scilly. A big part of an actor’s job is standing around waiting. When I’m working on Doc Martin, that means hours stood gazing out across the harbour at Port Isaac. It’s lovely looking out to sea and there’s something particularly special about the north Cornish coast. But there’s a lot I miss while I’m away working. I miss the countryside – and my favourite tree, I miss my family and I miss the dogs. I loved filming the TV series Islands of Britain. I was lucky enough to see some of our more far-flung locations in the UK. Sark in the Channel Islands was heavenly – no cars and no traffic lights. I remember my first carriage trip and I got to ride a horse into the sea! The crew carried all our equipment around on bicycles – it was lovely to get a glimpse of a world without traffic.
Martin Clunes supports Dogs Trust Dog School. To find your nearest class, visit dogstrustdogschool.org.uk.