DOWN MEMORY LANE

In part two of our birthday feature, we invite more celebrities to share their earliest countryside memories

To mark our milestone birthday, more star-studded country-lovers remember their favourite moments in the great outdoors

Roger Phillips

“My happiest memories are of mushrooming in my grandfather’s fields. The grass was green and lush, and I had the most exciting time running to the taller clumps that marked the older cowpats, then finding white gold hidden there: field mushrooms!” The Worldwide Forager by Roger Phillips (Unbound, £25) is out now.

Hermione Norris

“My first memory of the countryside was visiting my grandmother in Matlock, Derbyshire, where we lived for a while after my parents’ divorce. My mother became a health visitor and I’d bunk off school to drive around the Peak District with her. Etched in my memory are the dramatic changes of seasons: the Jacob sheep and their lambs skipping on the Chatsworth Estate; the weir offering cool water to the deer grazing nearby in summer; the vibrant shades of autumn; and snowdrifts piled high against dry-stone walls in winter. I’m still comforted by the sensation of squidgy peat beneath my feet. The countryside there is in my bones.”

David Attenborough

“Fossils were my first love. At 14, I’d get on my bike and not come home for days, staying in youth hostels as I explored the countryside. I had a geological map of Britain and would plan my routes in search of fossils. We lived in Leicester, but I’d cycle everywhere – even as far afield as the carboniferous territory of Derbyshire – to hunt for coral fossils. I would take my huge fossil box to the railway station and address it to the goods manager of Market Harborough station (or wherever else I was headed), before cycling to meet it. Then I deposited my latest finds and redirected the box to my next stop.”

Lemn Sissay

“Lochinvar in the Highlands was my childhood Narnia, and my first memories of the countryside are of there. I’d spend summers bouncing off giant purple cushions of heather that carpeted the fields around my grandfather’s cottage. Everything was different. Fern was called bracken and a stream a burn. My grandfather, Duncan Munro, told me about the flying haggis as he took off his flat cap and peered into the sky. Above us sat the majestic mountain Suilven, looking down onto Lochinver and the Atlantic with fishladen boats. We picked hazelnuts from the trees by Grandad’s cottage and he’d roast them – to our delight. It was a kind of heaven.”

Charlotte Hawkins

“I grew up in a small village in West Sussex and would spend hours exploring the footpaths near our house with my dog, or climbing trees and making dens with my two older brothers. My grandad also had a farm in Devon, and I have many happy memories of running around the fields with my cousins, trying to make friends with the animals. As a family, we’d often go for long walks on the moors, clambering up rocks and leaping over boggy ditches. We’d be out in all weathers, wrapped up against the chilly air with hats, scarves, gloves and thick socks. My dad loved birdwatching, so we were always on the lookout for a rare bird or two. My favourite animals to spot were the ponies, though. I loved the fact they roamed free.” Charlotte Hawkins presents Good Morning Britain, weekdays at 6am on ITV.

Julia Donaldson

“Although I grew up in London, I loved spending time in the countryside. One of my first memories was of spotting yellow toadflax in the hedgerows and making their little mouths open and close. As a child, I was fascinated with the dotted lines of footpaths on maps. My friend and I would travel out on the Metropolitan line to places where we’d walk actual trails, which was wonderful. I still swoon when I see a stile.”

Bill Oddie

“I’ve never actually lived in the countryside; in fact, my first wildlife encounters were in Rochdale. The nearest birdwatching places were a roadside privet hedge, where I found a dunnock’s nest, and an abandoned graveyard, where I once heard a cuckoo. When I was six, we moved to the Birmingham suburbs to a house that sounded like the country – 31 Oak Tree Crescent. By then, I considered myself a birdwatcher. I’d cycle round reservoirs to find waterbirds, and to farmland to spot yellowhammers, skylarks, lapwings and warblers.”

Tom Kerridge

“Growing up, I’d visit Westonbirt Arboretum with my mum and brother. I remember looking at the giant redwoods there and thinking how vast they were. I was used to seeing apple or pine trees in other people’s gardens, but then all of a sudden I had this massive redwood in front of me! They’re on a completely different scale.”

Carol Kirkwood

“I used to travel to and from school in Fort William in Scotland by train and was so busy chatting to my friends that I never bothered much with the scenery. It was only when I returned as an adult that I appreciated how stunningly beautiful it is. The view of the Glenfinnan Monument from the viaduct that my grandfather helped to build is particularly special.” For a chance to travel with Carol to Scotland or Norway, visit countrylivingholidays.com.