Broadcaster Selina Scott on farm life and making socks

The broadcaster and host of the UK’S first ever TV breakfast show, 69, on creating a wetland on her 200-acre farm while running her sock business

8am I make a pot of Darjeeling first flush tea and let in Killer my cat, who is a hunter. After toast with honey, I walk my dogs, Doogie and Nip, a wire-haired dachshund and a Border collie cross. I feel lucky to have a 200-acre farm in North Yorkshire that I can walk around without picking up Covid. There’s usually a barn owl early in the morning, and I came face to face with an otter the other day. 10am I have a coffee, catch up on emails and read the newspapers online. 11am I’ve been rewilding, creating a wetland for curlews and lapwings, so every day I’m out cutting back overgrown willow. The farm started with six Angora goats, and I used their mohair fleeces to start a sock business [Naturally Selina Scott]. The goats lived until the end of their natural lives, and now a farmer keeps Belted Galloway cattle here.

1pm I’m out most of the day, so lunch doesn’t feature in my life. I have lots of apple trees, so I set off around the farm with apples in my pockets. 2pm I treated myself to an electric bike this year. I’d forgotten how wonderful it is to hurtle down hills at speed. I also walk a lot, exploring lovely places such as Robin Hood’s Bay. Last February, I filmed a ramble around Wharfdale for the BBC’S Winter Walks series. 4pm I shove a rice dish or soup in my Aga in the morning and come back to a hot meal – my comfort food is rice pudding.

5pm My little sock business keeps me busy. When my goats died I went to Outer Mongolia and returned with all this beautiful cashmere, which I have made into shawls, scarves and socks. 7pm In the evenings I call friends and read books – I’m reading Jane Welsh Carlyle’s letters to her husband, the Victorian writer Thomas Carlyle. I’ll be sorry when lockdowns come to an end: I enjoy being able to do exactly what I want, with no commitments. The only thing that’s caused me anxiety is worrying that my 95-year-old mother, who lives six miles away, will end up in hospital or a care home. 10.30pm The cat sleeps in the barn and I have a struggle to get her outside. I take the dogs out, have a cup of hot water and go to bed.

Winter Walks begins on BBC4 on 4 January, at 7pm £14.18, amazon.co.uk