At the end of the day… Alice Temperley

ALICE TEMPERLEY 44, DESIGNER on dirty hip-hop, alpacas and living and working sustainably

My downtime starts when I get on the train home. I work in London, but spend weekends in Somerset. So, on a Thursday evening, I have two-and-a-half hours where I finish emails, and I sit back and let go of London. I listen to music, any dirty hip-hop that my 11-year-old son, Fox, loves – or a podcast until the battery runs out. By the time I arrive at my stop, I’ve got a smile on my face and I’m a whole other person.

When I get home, I have a really long bath with scented salts, oils, the whole lot. This is my time, and I can spend an hour and a half in there, unwinding, so I’m perfectly soaked by the end. Then I put on a pair of fluorescent pink pyjamas and big knitted socks. I hate slippers – I don’t think they’re very sexy.

I do yoga with a body harness in the evening sometimes. I’m doublejointed, so I get my legs behind my head. And I can do a headstand. I’m constantly moving: I walk a lot – there’s one walk I love that takes you down to a secret beach – and I do lots of long cycle rides. The only time I’m still is when I’m in the bath.

I love cooking! I hate shopping but love cooking. We have a great friend up the road who sells organic meats and food. I like really clean foods and lots of vegetables. I only eat meat when I know where it comes from and I’d never have a takeaway.

I’m cutting back on most things and taking sustainability as far as we can take it, in everything from packaging to fabrics to footprint. We should all be responsible – it’s vital. I want to grow 90% of my own food at home before this summer – my vegetable patch is not very good at the moment, but I want to grow lots of greens.

I have four alpacas that live in my garden. They’re called This, That, Hercules and one is yet to be named. I love them – they’re really funny to watch. They run after my son playing football and they’re obsessed with the ball. I’ve got a donkey arriving next week, much to my boyfriend’s horror.

I try to keep off my phone in the evenings. I have a very loving, uncontrolling, unjealous boyfriend, who doesn’t expect me to call him every night, which is nice. But I always call my son twice a day. I am in a few Whatsapp groups. I’ve got an awful one with my godfather and then another friend who has a ridiculous sense of humour, and a sibling one. I keep my phone out of the bedroom, so I have a radio alarm clock instead. I listen to Radio 4 because I grew up with it.

I like the dulcet tones of the presenters. The voices calm me, it’s soothing.

I sleep on the left side of the bed and I need eight hours’ sleep. I don’t get that in London, so I catch up in Somerset. Last night I had four or five, but I can’t keep it up. I prefer really intense sessions of work, where I’m busy and focused, rather than procrastinating.

Then I spend proper time with my son. I take him to school, pick him up, do homework, cook, take him to bloody football matches and all that stuff. Often, on a Saturday morning, I’m sitting looking at a football pitch through a rainy windscreen. The realities of being a mum! I take that job really seriously.