My country memories: Richard Madeley

Presenter Richard Madeley's passion for the countryside and appreciation of nature began on childhood visits to his grandfather's working farm in Shropshire. By Kerry Fowler

'My grandfather lived in Shropshire at a place called Kiln Farm, near Shrewsbury. Most of it was dairy pastures, but he also grew crops of corn and sugar beet. When I was young we couldn't really afford to go on holiday, so we'd travel up from Essex and spend quite a lot of time there. Sometimes I'd go by myself from Romford on the train. It was an adventure and a proper rustic treat. I went from when I was a very small boy until I was in my twenties, when my grandfather died and the farm was sold.

 

'The aroma of the farmyard was intoxicating. There were always cattle coming in to be milked, and I know it sounds sentimental, but I recall that honest pong of cow manure. People who don't understand the countryside get squeamish about dung, but herbivores produce something rich, warm and aromatic. I also remember helping my granddad ratting in the meal store - a great big shed for the cattle food. He had a ‘fourten' shotgun and I had my air rifle and we'd go in and kick the sacks and getthe rats. That was something you couldn't do in Romford.

 

'I also went fishing a lot on the Roden, which goes down to the River Severn, and there was a bit of trout, grayling and roach. It was very pretty. As a fisherman, I was rubbish but my dad did catch a trout one day, which he wrapped in dock leaves and put to one side. Deciding to put it safely in the long grass somewhere, I accidentally lost it.

 

'My experience of Kiln Farm was a treat, a pleasure. It undoubtedly sowed the seeds of my abiding love of the countryside. The farm was leased by my great-uncle and his sister at the turn of the 20th century and then they bought it. After a long and chequered relationship with his older brother, my grandfather came to own it and worked it for the rest of his life. It was the focal point for the Madeleys and where we all congregated.

 

'When I left London, aged 19, to go to work at Radio Carlisle, I rented a bungalow way out in the countryside in theCaldbeck Fells. I was living with the girl who became my first wife and from our front garden you could just see the top of Skiddaw in the Lake District. I fell in lovewith the Cumbrian scenery. It's not just the lakes, there'sthe Eden Valley and the land that rises to the Pennines, and the much less busy north fells - places such as Keswick and Bassenthwaite.

 

'Driving around there to do interviews, I thought to myself this is such a treat - all this incredible beauty and it's my job, too. Judy and I now live in north London but I discovered not long after we moved here that it is very easy to get into the Hertfordshire countryside. There are surprisingly unspoilt parts with lovely lanes and undulating fields, not dissimilar to Shropshire. I also like to do a lot of walking in Cornwall, where we have a house. It's an odd quirk to my character that although I really enjoy being with people and talking - I'm very loquacious - I'm equally comfortable with protracted spells in my own company. In many ways I prefer to be by myself - you can think and reflect. It's nice to be word-less and surrounded by nature. You don't need words to interpret or appreciate it; you can almost float in that natural environment.

 

'Without being too New-Agey, I think Cornwall is quite a spiritual place for all sorts of reasons. Separated from mainland England by the River Tamar, it feels a bit like an island. They have their own culture and language, and so there's a sense of otherness about the county, which I really like. I have a friend who goes down there a lot and whenever she drives over the Tamar Bridge into Cornwall, she takes her watch off and throws it over her shoulder.

 

'If I couldn't get out into the country, I wouldn't have the chance to be solitary and I'd miss the sea tremendously. I do a walk from our house to Polperro to pick up the papers and bread. It is along a cliff path and even if the weather is static, the views are always subtly different. Looking out onto the sea from our house is like having a huge masterpiece on the wall that - through some Harry-Potter-style magic - changes every day: some days it's a millpond; others it's thunderous and crashing. It's proper Atlantic down there - waves, and tides and storms - and I absolutely love it.'

 

 

Fathers & Sons by Richard Madeley (Simon & Schuster, £7.99) is a sensitive, thought-provoking memoir, it tells the story of four different generations of his family and their relationships with each other.

 

 

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