Oxford News
BBC TV legend gives insight into ‘end-of-life’ plans
The presenter has hosted the BBC’s iconic Countryfile programme for 25 years, having initially got the gig back in 2001.
Born and raised on his family’s Bemborough Farm in the Cotswolds, Mr Henson has become one of the country’s best‑known farmers onscreen.
Away from television, the 60‑year‑old runs Cotswold Farm Park near Guiting Power, where he welcomes thousands of visitors each year.
READ MORE: Adam Henson praises Jeremy Clarkson after meeting him at Cotswolds pub
Mr Henson had an exclusive chat with the Oxford Mail this week at Porthaven’s Cotswold Gate care home in Burford.
The TV star was visiting to give a talk about his life with dogs over the years, and stopped to sign books afterwards.
Praising the care home, the 60-year-old remarked at how he loved the place and joked to the audience that he needed to put his deposit down to join.
In the talk with this newspaper afterwards, Mr Henson added: “It’s an absolute joy.
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“I’ve driven up to the one in Derbyshire in the past as well as the one in Cheltenham, and then this is my second visit here.
“This one is just 20 minutes from home, and coming through Burford is gorgeous.
“The home is beautifully capped and decorated, and I was sitting in this room that has amazing wallpaper, thinking ‘I’d quite like this in my house’.
“The interior design of these places is so lovely, and I’m getting to an age when I’m starting to think about my end-of-life, and where I’ll go and what I’ll do and what it’s going to be like.
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“I’m hoping my children will be rich enough to pay for me to go into a very nice home like this!
“It’s a gorgeous place, and to be welcomed at the door was lovely, and everybody’s been so helpful, getting me cups of tea and all the tech work [with the talk’s presentation].
“So, you know I’m not just saying it, but it’s pretty faultless really.”
Mr Henson also complimented the crowd, appreciating the small-style venue, which made for a more personal event.
READ MORE: Mary Berry talks turning 91 after finding ‘joy’ at retirement home
“They were a really lovely audience, we had some laughs and some very good questions,” he said.
“It was quite intimate because there weren’t too many people in the room, so it’s quite engaging and, catching people’s eyes, you know you’re getting a reaction.
“You’re interacting with everyone around you in the room rather than when you’re speaking to hundreds of people, so it was lovely.”
We will have more articles coming out from this interview over the weekend and throughout next week on both the Oxford Mail and Witney Gazette.
The Prime Minister is prepared to “explore every option” to keep Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers in jail, a Government source told the Telegraph on Friday.
The Government has so far resisted pressure to exempt the two killers from its early release scheme, which starts in October in a bid to tackle prison overcrowding.
Mr Burnham said earlier this week he had “pushed to the very limits of what is possible to do without risking the prison system reaching capacity and collapsing” by excluding sentences for “rape, serious child sex offences and other grooming offences” from eligibility.
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Some 5,000 people are expected to be released early under sentencing changes, down from 6,000 after the exemptions announced as part of an urgent review of the scheme.
But under current plans, Cole and Bowers remain eligible to be freed halfway through their 13-year sentences after they were convicted of manslaughter in 2020 following Pc Harper’s death in 2019.
Downing Street has been contacted for comment about Mr Burnham reportedly weighing up options to block their release.
PC Harper was 28 when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019.
He died after getting caught in a strap attached to the back of a car and dragged down a country road as three teenage suspects fled the scene of the burglary.
The driver of the vehicle, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence and would not be eligible for release.
Dame Mary Berry has lived in Henley‑on‑Thames, Oxfordshire, with her husband Paul Hunnings since 2019.
She joined the BBC show as a judge alongside Paul Hollywood when it launched back in 2010 and stayed until 2016, before the programme moved to Channel 4.
Now, the 91‑year‑old food writer and presenter has been discussing work on the garden at her Henley home during an appearance on the Grow, Cook, Eat, Arrange podcast.
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Dame Mary explained that she and Mr Hunnings had decided to buy larger yew trees rather than wait years for smaller plants to grow.
The former Great British Bake Off judge said: “Evergreens, a yew is, we put hedges in a yew. And obviously you should buy evergreens like a yew. I suppose about two foot high and wait.”
Dame Mary then made clear why waiting was not a realistic option for her.
“Well, I’ll be in heaven then, so we had to buy them fairly big, I suppose they were about four foot because we needed them to get to the top of the tennis court netting,” she said.
The TV star and her husband moved to Henley to be closer to family after downsizing from their former home in Buckinghamshire.
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In a previous interview, Dame Mary said of her decision to move: “We didn’t want to move too far from our friends, and Henley is only a 35-minute drive.”
She added: “The town is beautiful. It has the river, and there are lots of interesting walks to do. As the years go, we will be able to walk into the town, and it will be nice to not have to get the car out.”
Dame Mary remains a familiar face on television and has continued to share her love of gardening as well as cooking.
Speaking at the Hay Festival earlier this year, she encouraged young people to “work hard and follow your dreams”.
Her garden in Henley includes a greenhouse, pond, beds and roses, while she has said she grows produce including red onions, lettuce and carrots.
Fire services were dispatched to Cowley Road just before 6pm yesterday evening to tackle the blaze.
Photos show the fire behind residential gardens, with black smoke billowing high.
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At least two fire engines were dispatched to the scene with multiple firefighters working to put out the blaze.
Photos sent to this newspaper show fire engines moving into position and the blaze itself seen from behind a garden.
It’s currently not known how the fire started or its exact location.
Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service has been contacted for more information.
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