You live and breathe the countryside at work. Do you manage to enjoy it off-duty?

I go tramping around the countryside anyway, even if I don't have to do it for work.

There must be some downsides ...

There are times when I wish it could be a little warmer or a little less wet, but I'd much rather be fit and get my exercise from work.

No treadmills for you, then?

No, I have a natural gym on my doorstep. I live on a very steep hill in the Welsh countryside and am on my feet all the time. I have a dog called Badger that we got from the local RSPCA and we can walk anything from five to 20 miles a day. I also have Bertie and Lawrence, my two rescue donkeys. Living off the lovely Welsh grass, they have a tendency to run to fat.

Do you have a tendency to do the same?

I love my food. I'm not a pudding person; my big weakness is cheese. If I've had a big physical day, with lots of exercise, then I should be allowed to eat anything I like. But there are days where I wake up and think: “Is my tummy really that shape?”

A couple of body hang-ups, then?

Like all women, I stand in front of the mirror and think, “Why am I not like Elle Macpherson?” But then I remember I am bloody lucky that all my limbs work properly.

No secret body makeover wish list?

I probably wouldn't choose to have such quite big feet. They are a size seven or eight, and very wide. I spend most of my time either barefoot, or in wellies. I once tried on a pair of size eight Jimmy Choos and couldn't even get two toes in. Who wears those shoes?

Stilettos aside, are you generally healthy?

I think I have SAD (seasonal affective disorder). I never do terribly well in the winter. I can get up at 6am, or 4.30am in the summer, but getting up in the dark feels brutal. And if it's cold and wet, it's particularly miserable.

So the sunnier the better?

Yes, although I've been away to hot places, and come back with malaria because I didn't take the pills, twice. I had cerebral malaria; both times it meant that I had to spend a week in hospital.

You travel quite a bit in your job. How do you find that?

I get bad motion sickness. Last year I did a TV series called Pacific Abyss, which required living on a boat for five weeks and I was worried about sea sickness. Someone suggested hypnosis. The hypnotist suggested it might clear my mind of the worry of being sea-sick, which is half the problem. I don't know what he did, but I had two sessions, and managed five weeks on that boat without being sick at all.

So, you're not averse to a bit of alternative medicine.

Well, I've had bouts of insomnia and didn't want to go down the sleeping pill route, so I tried reflexology. It was amazing. A friend found it very helpful while she was pregnant.

What about having a child yourself?

I've never been interested. Women are always cross-examined about it. Men never are. I have a husband [the television producer Ludo Graham] whom I adore, godchildren whom I love. I think there are too many people in the world; not that that's why I've decided not to do it. It's just not for me.

You sound pretty content. Is there anything that keeps you awake at night?

Nothing, really. I don't think of myself as a celebrity. I don't go to the opening of anything with my bottom hanging out of the end of a sparkly dress. But I hope that the things I do inspire people to see the countryside as never before. People are always telling me that they have put up bird feeders, and how much joy it brings them.

What about your co-presenter Bill Oddie? Does he bring joy to you?

I won't lie to you. He's a challenge. You never know what you are going to get with him, and I never know what he is going to say when he opens the show as it's unrehearsed. But I adore him. We are like a funny, not quite functional, married couple.

The new series of Autumnwatch will be screened at 8pm on BBC Two, Monday to Thursday, for two weeks from October 27

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