Ben Fogle’s next big adventure ... keeping his marriage alive!

ADVENTURER Ben Fogle has rowed across the Atlantic, scaled Everest and raced across Antarctica to the South Pole, but his biggest challenge lies closer to home — keeping his wife happy.

And he says it’s time he and his wife, Marina, sought professional help for their marriage again. ‘ We haven’t done our couples’ counselling for a couple of years now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that is something we revisit,’ the television presenter tells me.

The pair have been married 14 years and have two children, son Ludo, nine, and daughter Iona, eight.

Fogle adds: ‘Not that there are any problems, but I think it is important to keep on top of all those things and stop things from going wrong before it happens.’

Fogle, 46, has already announced plans to relocate from London to the countryside this Easter.

‘Marina and I try to spend time together as well as being a family, which is the most important thing. We try to have the odd weekend, just the two of us — we might go to the New Forest or go away to a little bed and breakfast or a hotel for the weekend. We try to have date nights back at home. I think it’s very easy to rest on your laurels. We’ve been married for 14 years now and I think there is a tendency to take one another for granted, that is a very dangerous place to be.

‘We have a lot of friends who got married around the same time as us and are starting to fail, and I think that is a scary reminder that you have to work at everything in life, including marriage and relationships and parenting.

‘ They don’t just happen naturally without putting in a little bit of effort.’

Last year Fogle’s friend James Cracknell, the Olympic rowing gold medallist, split from his wife, Beverley Turner, after 17 years of marriage.

Fogle, who has become a Go Ultra Low ambassador to encourage motorists to switch to electric vehicles, is counting his blessings.

‘I have been very lucky that I have found someone who is understanding about my work, who is very happy in their own skin and very comfortable with herself,’ he says.