'TV's taken me away from sheep shearing but I miss it'

Adam Henson's farm in the Cotswolds employs more than 100 people

Countryfile's Adam Henson is known to households across the UK as one of the most famous farmers in the country. But his media work means he has not sheered a sheep for more than two years, which is something he misses.

"I grew up on a farm and still love it," says Henson from his Bemborough farm in the heart of the Cotswolds.

"The telly world has taken me slightly away from that, though I do get to tour the country meeting farmers and picking up ideas.

"If one day my face doesn't fit and the BBC drop me, I'll go back to being a proper farmer."

In person, he's as passionate about farming as he comes across on screen.

"It's a joy, something I adore doing," he says.

"I wake up in morning and walk the dogs and I'm immediately in beautiful countryside, watching swallows overhead.

"I genuinely can't wait to get away from my computer and get outside."

His farm employs more than 100 people and neighbours the Cotswold Farm Park attraction in Gloucestershire, which was founded by his dad Joe in 1971.

"Dad had a passion for keeping old-fashioned farm animals," he says.

"Breeds such as the Old Gloucester Cattle, Gloucester Old Pig and Cotswold Sheep were going extinct, so dad decided to start keeping them.

"Eventually he had 50 different breeds, so to pay for them he decided to open the farm up to make it work.

"He was very much ahead of his time allowing visitors to bottle-feed a lamb or hold a chick."

Henson said his father noticed how some breeds of farm animals were becoming extinct, so decided to breed them

Clearly proud of his father's legacy, Adam is as enthusiastic about the wider farm too.

He suggests we jump in his car to properly see the full 650-acre estate and soon we're in open countryside. He points excitedly to one field in the distance.

"That was a grass field for a long time, but our old landlord invested heavily to create a farm centre," he says.

Elsewhere, there's rye grass growing as part of an environmental scheme to benefit birdlife.

Given the weather, this year, he says it is plots such as the rye grass that pays best and a third of the farm is involved in environmental schemes of one kind or another.

"Spring was horrible," says Henson.

"The crops won't yield, and prices are low for the grain we'll sell.

"The commercial flock lambed well, and prices are good, so the sheep will break even.

"But it's the support of the SFI - the Sustainable Farming Incentive from the government - that will help this year. Public money for public goods, supporting conservation and wildlife - that helps a great deal."

The celebrity farmer said he expected the farm's sheep prices to break even this year but expected some crops not to yield

Adam admits farming is tough and many might be surprised to learn he doesn't actually own the farm.

"I'd love to, but I'll never be rich enough to buy it," he says.

Instead, it's part of a farm business tenancy he runs with his business partner Duncan Andrews.

"When I'm away doing media work, Duncan runs the farm," he adds

Henson admits he hasn't sheered a sheep in more than two years and now works more on the farm's overall strategy.

"My hands are soft," he says, referring to his lack of manual labour.

"I still get out and work with livestock which is my favoured part of the business. I did used to drive the combine or sheer the sheep, but I popped a disc a few years ago and have a bad back which gives me a good excuse not to sheer anymore."