How do famous names spend their precious downtime? In our weekly My Saturday column, celebrities reveal their weekend virtues and vices. This week: Amanda Wakeley
8.30am
One of the biggest luxuries of Saturdays, which I tend to spend in the country at our house in the New Forest, is no alarm clock and not having to race out of bed. The first thing I do, without sounding too ‘woo-woo’ about it, is to put on my gym kit and walk barefoot – rain or shine – on the lawn, with my lunatic Labrador Luna and a cup of green tea. I just love the feel of wet dewy or frosty grass under my feet and find it incredibly grounding.
9am
I’ll then put my wellies on and walk down to the river with Luna to see the sheep and goats we have down here. I often use that time to do my Style DNA podcast research, so I’ll listen to next week’s guests to get into their heads before I speak to them. I’ve already interviewed some amazing people, some from the fashion industry like Elle Macpherson and Jodie Kidd, and some not fashion related like Dame Kelly Holmes and James Blunt. The guest I’d absolutely love to feature would be Joan Collins. I was laughing with her about it the other day and she said, ‘If I did do a podcast darling, I’d do yours, but I’ve never done one and I will never do one.’ And the other guest I’d love? The Princess of Wales. I’d love to explore her thoughts on the power of clothing.
10am
The older I get the more I realise the power of lifting weights, so I’ll get that done. If we’re going out to lunch, I won’t have breakfast. I try to intermittently fast, which works for me.
11am
I love foraging so we go into the New Forest with an expert who makes sure we avoid the potentially lethal, poisonous mushrooms and the hallucinogenic ones and stick to the beautiful winter chanterelles or the bigger pied de moutons. We go through our baskets when we get home and the expert often says, ‘Don’t even touch that one. It will kill you.’
1pm
Then we’ll head down to the Solent to the brilliant Saturday market in Lymington or hop on our power boat over to the Isle of Wight and meet friends for lunch. There are some great spots like beach restaurant The Hut, or Off the Rails, in an old railway station, which serves the best burgers and chips.
3pm
My favourite relaxation is taking a long salt bath while I have a leisurely trawl through all the Saturday newspapers and reflect on my life and career a little. It feels wonderfully indulgent.
6pm
If we’ve been mushroom foraging, my partner Hugh and I will often invite friends over for a giant mushroom risotto, which we’ll all cook together on the Aga. Hugh’s family have some fantastic vineyards so we might dive into a bottle of red wine, although I’m generally a vodka drinker.
8pm
If we’re staying in we might binge watch something like Clarkson’s Farm, which we’ve loved, because although we’re not farmers we have sheep and goats and it’s fascinating to understand how much hard work it takes to run a farm. It’s not an easy life. If we’re going out, we love to eat at the East End Arms in Lymington owned by our friend John Illsley, the bass guitarist from Dire Straits. It’s very low key and we can take the dog.
10.30pm
We generally get to that moment on the sofa where we’ll say, ‘Shall we watch just one more episode before bed?’ which sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t.
11pm
We spend the week in London, where there is so much light pollution, so I love that moment when I put Luna out and you can just savour the shooting stars and the satellites; it’s a totally different end to the day than in our metropolitan existence. Being in nature gives you a different type of tiredness and I find it so much easier to switch off in the country.
Amanda Wakeley, British fashion designer and creative director, hosts the podcast Amanda Wakeley: Style DNA; @amandawakeley
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