RIDING HIGH: 'I don't have airs and graces - my animals won't let me'

Broadcaster Sara Cox on her growing menagerie, fitness in her forties and why were all doing it wrong when it comes to reading books

- JEN PHARO

She’s the queen of Radio 2 Drivetime, is about to publish her second novel and is hosting the seventh successful series of her BBC Two book club, Between The Covers – but there are moments in life that bring Sara Cox back down to earth with a bump. “Nelly pooed on my hand the other day,” she deadpans as she reveals how buying a horse during lockdown changed her life, mainly for the better.

“She dropped lovely big, warm, soft, ping pong balls of s**t on me,” laughs Sara. “She trumps on my head most days as I’m picking out her back feet, but this was a new one on me, where she actually s**t on me. I can’t have any airs and graces around my animals.”

Nelly is a half-thoroughbred, half-Irish draught, and owning her has fulfilled a lifelong dream for animal lover and Jilly Cooper fan Sara. She also has three dogs named Daisy, Dolly and Pip, two cats named Watson and Peggy, and two “quite posh” tortoises called Tom and Chally.

The tortoises are currently hibernating. “They’re packed away in a cat carrier with loads of straw and shredded paper,” explains Sara. “I’ll get them up about April, depending on the weather.”

The tortoises were given to Sara by an elderly lady she met while volunteering with ReEngage UK, which runs monthly tea parties aimed at helping older people connect.

“One of the lovely women asked me if I could take them on, so I asked my husband and I expected him to be like, ‘Nah!’ but he said, ‘Why not?’ so now they just wander around the garden all summer,” she says.