Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
It’s celebrity walkıes!
An enchanting new series features well-known faces walking their dogs in stunning locations – and tells us as much about the owners as it does the beauty spots
Stunning British countryside, gorgeous dogs running free without a care in the world – and a fascinating insight into their celebrity owners. Welcome to Walks With My Dog, a follow- up to last year’s Coastal Walks With My
Dog, which features six of our bestknown faces taking their dogs out in some of the most beautiful areas of Britain, places the owners have some connection with.
What’s compelling about the show is watching the celebrities interact with their pets, allowing us to see a whole new side to them. My Family actor Robert Lindsay, for example, is convinced his sevenyear-old black Labrador Billy is just like him. As if to prove it, Billy shows his diva side when he boards a train to Cornwall with Robert and his other dog Lola, a five-year-old golden Lab, for their walk. ‘He decided to get comfortable in a seat that belonged to someone else and refused to get off it,’ says Robert.
‘It belonged to a very pleasant 85-year- old lady. I explained to Billy that he hadn’t paid for the seat but he wouldn’t budge. In the end the guard had to sort it out and thankfully he recognised me and escorted us to the buffet car where Billy, Lola and I all got seats.’
Robert calls Billy his other half. ‘You know what they say about owners being just like their dogs? Well everyone agrees Billy and I are the same,’ says Robert. ‘He can be moody and irritable, but also cuddly and loving. And do you know what? He’s extremely talented. You name it, he can do it. He’s my boy and I love him.’
Robert takes his dogs to the outdoor Minack Theatre in Cornwall, which is built into the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic and is one of the first places Robert ever worked. ‘I got a huge round of applause as I was doing a speech there,’ he says. ‘ I thought, “Wow, I’m doing rather well here”, but then I turned around and saw a basking shark do a barrel roll in the sea as the sun was setting, and the audience stood up and cheered.’
Ben Fogle found fame marooned on a Scottish island in the BBC’s Castaway in 2000 with his dog Inca, who died four years ago. For this show he’s accompanied by his 21-month-old Labrador Storm. He and his wife Marina, who have children Iona and Ludo, bought Storm at a poignant time. ‘We call her Storm because of the way she stormed into our lives,’ he says. ‘We got her just after Marina had a late miscarriage, a few weeks before our little boy was due to be born. It was by no means a replacement but it was something to look forward to as a family. Having a dog teaches you to be less selfish because you have to look after them.’
He and Storm did two walks together for the show. The first was on the Thames Path near Marlow, where Ben went ‘wild swimming’ with his dog. He also visited Dungeness on the Kent coast, where he once tried to buy a lighthouse. ‘I’ve always wanted to live in a lighthouse and about ten years ago I tried to persuade Marina that we should buy the one at Dungeness,’ he recalls. ‘She wasn’t very impressed, though, as it’s right next to a nuclear power station, which I kind of understood.’
Ben also believes dogs and their owners can share personalities. ‘When people choose a dog they try to match their own personality, or the personality they’d like to have. I hosted Crufts for many years and I saw it a lot. I’ve always had Labradors and I think I’m slightly Labradoresque. I’m quite chilled, quite laidback, l like to please people... and I’m also quite greedy.’
Actress Sarah Parish, who walked her dog Pig on the Lymington Nature Reserve near her Hampshire home, believes dogs are smarter than we give them credit for. ‘Some are more intuitive than others,’ she says. ‘Pig is very sweet. If he feels you’re sad he’ll come over for a cuddle. It’s like they can read you; they know when you need cheering up.’
Pig’s a ten-year-old border terrier. Sarah and her husband, the actor James Murray, also have a Jack Russell called Mr Hooper but Pig is Sarah’s dog. ‘I’d say we’re similar in that we’re very loyal. But he does have this thing about escaping,’ she says. ‘Most days he’ll wander down to the pub, where they feed him sausages before calling me to come and get him.’
Pig was in his element on the flat salt marshes of Lymington. And so was Sarah. ‘We happened upon a gin distiller; they make all sorts of interesting gins so I was a bit pickled by 9am,’ she laughs. ‘But what a brilliant day. Walking with my dog in a lovely place – it was the best day’s work I’ve ever done.’
Walks With My Dog will be shown later this month on Channel 4.