MY COUNTRYSIDE
Ben Fogle
The TV presenter and intrepid explorer on the natural beauty of our National Parks
I think what I love most about spring is the hopefulness.
You get the first flowers coming up and that sense of excitement for what’s ahead. We have a dog, which means we go outside twice a day whatever the weather, but at this time of year it’s a lovely way to observe the changing seasons. We also have fruit and vegetables growing in our garden, as well as a beehive, so it’s nice to see all that come alive.
A lot of people don’t realise that London is a fantastically green city.
I live opposite a park in North Kensington, so it means I am able to enjoy a very outdoor London life with my family. There’s an idea right now to get the city recognised as the first urban National Park, which I think would be the most amazing thing.
I want to show my kids as much of Britain as possible.
It’s very important to me that they get to know their country. So we all tend to travel a lot – we go to north Norfolk and north Cornwall, and have been up to Lancaster and to Wales. A lot of our weekends are also spent near Henley in Oxfordshire because my wife’s parents have a house there, and we often visit Arundel in West Sussex where my parents live. We’ll be doing an Easter egg hunt in one of those places this year.
As a TV presenter, there aren’t many parts of the British Isles I haven’t visited,
but I’m always surprised by how diverse they are. I was recently in County Durham where there are some unbelievably beautiful waterfalls. I hadn’t realised we had falls that high in England.
I have a soft spot for the South Downs
The Peak District is one of my favourite walking spots. But it’s
actually one of the most urbanised National Parks in terms of the number of big cities around it. I also have a soft spot for the South Downs. I was part of the original campaign to get them recognised as a National Park, so I’m very proud of that.
I happen to endorse many different environmental campaigns.
[Ben is involved with more than a dozen charities, plus is a patron of The Royal Parks Foundation and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.] At the moment, there are huge pressures on our rural areas due to urban sprawl, development and encroachment on national parks. Rural communities are struggling and the countryside is under threat in many ways, so providing support has never been more important.
My ultimate dream is to live on an island one day.
I’ve filmed on almost every one around the UK and have been to look at a few that have come on the market over the years, but they’ve either not been quite right or I haven’t been able to persuade my wife. I actually named my daughter Iona after one of the Scottish isles.
I have always driven a Land Rover Defender.
I love the way this simple car, dreamt up on an Anglesey farm in 1948, has become so iconic. It’s what inspired me to write a book about its history. The Defender is now used by everyone from the police to the fire services, army, search and rescue and in all of the National Parks. It’s incredible to think that such a humblelooking vehicle has made such a contribution to the very fabric and infrastructure of Great Britain.
Land Rover: the Story of the Car that Conquered the World by Ben Fogle (William Collins, £20).