Adam Henson has spent his whole life on the land he now shows to millions of viewers on a Sunday evening.
Born in 1966 and raised at Bemborough Farm near Guiting Power, he grew up helping his father Joe, a pioneering rare‑breed enthusiast and TV presenter, at the family’s Cotswold Farm Park.
This opened in 1971 and has gone on to become one of the country’s best‑known farming attractions.
When Adam took on the tenancy of the 650-hectare Bemborough Farm estate in 1999, he and business partner Duncan Andrews began modernising the enterprise.
Today, Cotswold Farm Park is home to more than 50 breeding flocks and herds and welcomes tens of thousands of visitors a year.
He joined BBC One’s Countryfile in 2001 after being selected from more than 3,500 applicants and has since become one of the show’s most familiar faces.
Adam Henson joined Countryfile in 2001.
Adam fronts regular segments from his Cotswolds fields on everything from lambing and harvest to hedgerows, wildlife and the pressures facing modern British agriculture.
Away from the cameras, the 60-year-old has written a string of books and campaigned on food education and sustainability.
Last week, the BBC star took a trip to Oxfordshire to give a talk at Burford’s Cotswold Gate Care Home on Friday (June 5).
It was here that Adam spoke with the Oxford Mail about a variety of subjects, starting with the retirement home itself.
After having earlier remarked how he loved the place and joked to the audience that he needed to put his deposit down to join, he added: “It’s an absolute joy.
“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.
“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].
