The TV presenter (54) talks about her happy marriage, being comfortable in her own skin and finally finding a true home
WORDS: VICKI POWER
● I’ve had a philosophy that I’ve followed from the very beginning of my working life. It was, “Don’t do anything that you don’t really believe in. Only do something that will push you or make you smile every day.”
● So I’ve never done anything just for the money. At the very beginning of my career I was lucky if I earned £100 a week. But doing what I believed in meant I eventually landed amazing shows like Springwatch and The Spice Trail and Extreme Wives.
● I’m fascinated by the idea of what makes a place home. Having left home when I was 18, I lived a pretty peripatetic life with my husband [TV producer Ludo Graham] and none of the places we rented or bought really felt like home.
● Then 16 years ago Ludo was offered a job in Cardiff and we found our home in the Wye Valley. And I love it with a passion that I didn’t think I could ever feel for anything. So for my book, I travelled around meeting people who all had fascinating stories of home.
● The best thing about being in my fifties? I’ve got to a point where I realise there are more important things than worrying about what other people think of me.
● The secret of our long marriage comes from the prophet Khalil Gibran, who says when you marry you become two pillars holding up the same roof. I
