Former BBC newsreader Kate Silverton tells OK! how she’s swapped her TV career for a new life in the country
WORDS: MITYA UNDERWOOD PHOTOS: STEVE SCHOFIELD/CONTOUR BY GETTY
GOING PLACES
Kate Silverton apologises as soon as she dials into our call – her WiFi is “all over the place” and she’s surrounded by cardboard boxes.
The former BBC newsreader and mum-of-two has just moved house and waved goodbye to her old life in London and although she tells us her new family home in the country is almost organised, chaos still reigns in the two places she calls her own – her bedroom and office.
The move signalled the start of an exciting new chapter for Kate, 53, who recently swapped her TV presenting career to work as a child therapist and author of parenting advice books, and she’s enjoying every moment.
“I said to myself, ‘I want to see trees outside of my window,’ and now I’ve got a garden for the first time and I can see trees and snowdrops out of the window, it’s amazing,” she says.
“I absolutely loved living in London but I don’t need to be there any more. I’m someone that loves to travel and as a former Girl Guide I’m probably happier actually living under canvas than I am with bricks and mortar. My husband is military, so he’s the same.”
The new rural pad is now home to Kate, her former Royal Marine husband Mike Heron, who she has been married to for almost 25 years, their children Clemency Florence Rose, 12, and Wilbur, nine, as well as their cocker spaniel, Gatsby.
Spending her downtime in the garden (she’s “off to pick up the leaves this morning”), she has some other important things to investigate in her new neighbourhood. “I’ve landed with some really lovely mums where we are and the first things on the list have been, ‘Where do I get my hair cut?’ and ‘Where can I get a massage?’” she says.
“I just want to go and decompress because I’ve been sitting in a chair for the last two years writing a book.”
New challenges and fresh starts don’t daunt Kate. Before becoming a journalist and presenter on the likes of BBC News At One and BBC Breakfast in the early 2000s, she worked in banking after graduating from Durham University with a degree in psychology.
After 20 years at the BBC, she retrained as a child therapist and counsellor and now also works in a primary schoo
