Julia Bradbury's favourite family walks

Walking is a very personal thing for Julia Bradbury.

Best known for presenting Watchdog and Countryfile alongside Matt Baker, she’s been venturing into the great outdoors since she could toddle, and her new series, Best Walks With A View, features eight picturesque walks across the British countryside, starting in Dorset and finishing up in the Peak District “They’ve all got a good pub involved as well,” she says.

The Peak District ramble is the Derbyshire lass’ favourite. “It’s where I started walking with my dad as a little girl,” she explains. “I went to school in Sheffield and my dad started taking me for walks in the Peak District when I was about six years old, and in this particular walk in the series, I meet up with my dad again, who has actually been on-screen with me a couple of times (Railway Walks, Countryfile), and he tells me all about the Peak District and our early walking days together, and it’s just a very lovely, personal walk. And it also happens to be a fantastic walk because the Peak District is just one of the most wonderful places to walk in this country.” The 45-year-old, who left school after her O-levels at 16, is as obsessed with walking at home as on the telly - her house is littered with pedometers. “I try and make 5,000 steps a day,” she says, and also trains at home using TRX bands. “I don’t really like the gym; I prefer to do it myself.”

Bradbury has has been open about her struggles with womb tissue condition, endometriosis, as well as the 33-hour labour and early onset pre-eclampsia she experienced before giving birth to her “miracle” son Zephyrus in 2011, when she was 40.

Last year she and her property developer husband Gerard Cunningham also welcomed twin girls - Xanthe and Zena - following a round of IVF.

“They’re still a little bit small, but I can’t wait!” buzzes Bradbury, looking forward to when they’ll all be big enough to go on long family walks together. “My eldest is only four and a half and walking him to school and walking to the park is a bit of a challenge at the moment, but you know, I’m working him up to it, and my lovely girls are still only 10 months old - although one of them has just started climbing the stairs, so I have high hopes for her! She’s quite ahead of the game.”

Bradbury adds with a laugh: “Zeph was up at the top of Malham Cove in Yorkshire when we was three months old and he did a poop - I’ve got a great photo - but the girls, they’ve made it to the park so far.”

Between the three of them, the new show and the accompanying book, Unforgettable Walks, Bradbury’s busier than ever.

“I gave myself six months off, did this project and I’ve got a couple of months off before the next project,” she says. “I’ve been so busy that now I’m going to enjoy the girls a little bit.”

Unforgettable Walks by Julia Bradbury is published by Quercus, £16.99. Available February 18

Best Walks With A View will air on ITV on Friday, February 19 at 8pm