‘My wife worries I do TOO MUCH!'

Alan Titchmarsh on his 46-year marriage, successful grandparenting and how his wife became his cameraperson during lockdown

- SOFIA ZAGZOULE

Alan Titchmarsh is a busy man. As well as hosting ITV’s gardening show Love Your Garden, Alan, 72, has a Saturday morning show on Classic FM, and his latest novel, The Gift, is out on 3 March. He has written 12!

‘Certainly next year I don’t intend to work so manically. I want one or two days off a week. But I love what I do,’ Alan says ruefully. ‘My wife and family – bless them – worry that I do too much. You get to a certain age, you still think you are 35 but you’re not. So, it is all about trying to get that balance right. You can still enjoy what you do but have more slack. I will get there. But everyone needs a sense of purpose and a reason to get out of bed in the morning. I am blessed with that.’

‘So if I weren’t writing or broadcasting, I would be filling the hours doing something else. There’s lots of physical activity making gardens – that keeps me fit. You produce something at the end. The problem with a job that is creative is that it’s fulfilling, and I enjoy that.’

But alongside a hugely accomplished career, Alan’s greatest achievement is his 46-year marriage to his wife, Alison, and being a grandfather to his two daughters’ children. So lockdown was difficult.

‘Abiding by all the rules was very hard with grandchildren. It was awful to only wave at them across the garden gate,’ Alan admits.