‘I ride a diesel lawn-mower’

“Busted!” I gleefully exclaimed as I read about eco warrior Gail Bradbrook’s admission that she drives a diesel 4x4 … as, of course, do I; how else am I to plough the remote roads and lanes of

Somerset? But it’s not such a dirty secret as the bottle of water I have at my desk: Acqua Panna, Italy’s finest, that I simply must have to hydrate my creaking limbs. Then there’s the Aga, which is blissfully on all the time, along with a second Neff which gives us a little more precision. Oh, and the tumble dryer, because we need it for the scale of washing that goes on in our house and we can’t rely on the weather to dry stuff outside. And of course there’s the Nespresso machine and its glorious capsules. Apart from that I’m as green as the green lawn (which, obviously, I mow with my diesel ride-on …) William Sitwell