Farm not hero status matters most to Countryfile presenter

The farmer and BBC presenter has a sizeable fanbase, but said that being the next big outdoors television hero is not for him.

He said: “No. Bear and Ben are London boys, and they love adventure and all that. But after a tough day on the farm, I don’t feel the need to go and sleep on a hammock, in a wood. I wouldn’t mind doing a sky dive, but I don’t have a desire to do it.”

Henson was born into farming and broke into presenting in 2001, when Countryfile held a search for a new presenter.

The told the Radio Times: “What I do have a desire to do, and I am very happy to rough it while doing it, is look at the culture of farming and how they produce food around the world. Because I have a connection with the land and food production and I am genuinely interested in it.”

Henson, 50, runs the Cotswold Farm Park which his father started in 1971.

Referring to the former Countryfile presenter Miriam O’Reilly, who won a landmark legal case against the BBC over age discrimination in 2011 after being dropped from the rural affairs show, he said he is fortunate to have something to fall back on.

“It [the O’Reilly row] made me realise you aren’t there for ever, you need to watch your back and you need to consider your future.

“I am lucky I have got the farm. The Cotswold Farm Park brand has been around for 45 years.”