There’s more to Kent than lorries and Operation Stack
Paul O’Grady has travelled the world, but is staying close to home for his latest TV venture. MARION McMULLEN finds out more about his Great British Escape
FOREIGN holidays are off the cards at the moment, so Paul O’Grady decided to head off in search of thrills, spills and adventure on his own doorstep. Paul’s mission was to share the ultimate home staycation and discover the world outside his farm in Kent. So how did he find the experience of celebrating the region known as the Garden Of England?
Was it difficult filming with the Covid-19 restrictions?
I WAS always getting changed behind a bush or in the back of a car, but the hardest thing was I had to take a packed lunch.
I’ve never made a packed lunch in my life, but nowhere was open, or you had to book months in advance, and we didn’t have time for that.
Actually, I did manage to get fish and chips in Dungeness one day and they were so good I ate them with my eyes closed. It was just heaven.
How has lockdown been for you?
DURING lockdown we did what everybody did and had a big clear-out. We opened cupboards we hadn’t been in for 20 years. It was like, ‘hang on, let’s see what all this junk is’.
And then, the apple trees and plum trees were hanging with fruit. So I start making chutney and jam and tomato chutney, you name it, anything that could be pickled in this house, was pickled.
And then I had ukulele lessons and then I thought, ‘What else can I do?!’
What made you decide to do this series?
LIKE everybody, there are things I’ve missed out on doing this year. I was supposed to go to Thailand to see elephants, there was a studio show postponed, there’s no For the Love of Dogs at Christmas, it just seemed endless.
So someone suggested I go around Kent, because it was safe to go out on my own doorstep.
I’ve lived here over 20 years now and I’m really fond of the place.
I know at the moment it’s known for the lorry parks and Operation Stack and asylum seekers assessment camps, but there’s more to the place than that.
It niggled me a bit and I thought, ‘Henry VIII coined the phrase Garden of England, and it still is.’ And that’s what we tried to show in the series. We went around Kent and made a cheerful series. It’s such a beautiful county, Kent, it really is. There’s Dungeness and the Romney Marshes and these really mysterious places that are just beautiful.
I mean one half of me doesn’t want to promote Kent too much as I don’t want too many people coming down! It’s been a bit of a well-kept secret, some parts of it. Like Dungeness, for instance. But the last time I went, we drove down one Sunday just when the first lockdown had finished and the place looked like it was New
Year’s Eve, it was heaving. I’ve never seen it like that before. Normally you go down there and you have solitude, it’s really quiet. I love it. It fascinates me.
What did you find yourself doing during the series?
SOMETIMES I had to say, ‘Look, I’m not an 18-year-old stunt man, you know.’ We went to Canterbury Cathedral and I was going on the roof. However, it was so windy and rainy that they couldn’t use the lift, so they asked if I’d mind going up the scaffolding steps.
So, like a fool, I said, ‘No, not at all.’ And up I went and I laid a stone in the steeple. I was really thrilled about that.
I’ve been in a Tiger Moth over the
White Cliffs of Dover. I’ve been cutting down hops, up on a 20 foot ladder on the back of a tractor. We were really lucky because for the most part we had beautiful weather, and then towards the end it turned.
I was down at Whitstable shucking oysters and it was lashing rain. Lashing.
I was soaked through. Socks and drawers soaked through, everything. But I didn’t mind because I got to eat a load of oysters.
It was so interesting because I went to places I have never been to.
Do you have a favourite place or moment from filming the series?
MAKING this programme, I was in a cage with two cheetahs and the first thing I say is, ‘I want one.’
I’ve b been with alpacas on the Romney Rom Marshes and now I’m toying toy with getting a few alpacas, al because they’re a delight. d
I also saw some seals. There are lots of animals. I flew sea eagles, and that was remarkable. At Canterbury Cathedral t they’ve got pigs. In like a s secret garden they have pigs an and chickens and all of a sudd sudden it’s like you’ve gone back to Cha Chaucer’s time.
And I s saw leeches. I went leech fishing, b but I can’t show any affection for a leec leech.
You’ve lived in Kent for 20 years. What made you move to the area?
I DIDN’T really know Kent, but if I wasn’t working we’d go for a drive and have something to eat in the countryside and I always veered towards Kent. And I just loved it because it is so rural and lots of it was so unspoilt as well.
It felt different. Like I was in a different place. Also I always fancied having a bit of land. I spent a lot of time in Ireland when I was a kid, so I had all the animals, cows and all that business, I could milk a cow at six, so I thought, ‘I fancy a bit of that.’
I thought I’d get a couple of cows and a pig, and I did. So I’ve got pigs, goats, chickens, barn owls, sheep, dogs... and I might get an alpaca.