A chat with Julia Bradbury

By Allison Hay

ITV presenter and former Countryfile host Julia Bradbury, 49, on health, saving the planet and getting the kids to brush their teeth

I’ve been recognised in a lot of weird places. I was in a portaloo at a concert recently and three ladies in the cubicles next to me recognised me. They wanted a selfie in the loo and it was weird – funny, but weird. They were lovely. After taking photos with a couple of them I had to say to the third, “Can I just wash my hands?” It’s not the weirdest place but it was just strange – I’m not a movie star.

To stay healthy, walk everywhere during the day. Try to reach 10,000 steps a day. Whether it’s walking in the park or gardening, it’s so good for your overall health and completely underrated. The average person does less than 3,000 steps a day, so you’ve got to up your game. Just get out as much as possible. It’s proven in research, lots and lots of research with children, if children can stand at least an hour outside every day, their concentration levels improve, their resilience levels improve, their mood levels improve. It’s just good for you and connecting with nature, whenever you can, whether it’s a walk in the park, whether it’s gardening, whether it’s fiddling with the window box, that is generally so good for your overall health and completely underrated and children, in particular, aren’t spending enough time outside. Less and less children have access to the outdoors and it doesn’t mean you have to go on a big country walk all the time, love your parks, use your park, by the canal, just do it.

I’d urge everyone to consider their plastic use. The easiest thing you can do is buy a reusable coffee cup and water bottle. Yes, your coffee cup has plastic in it! The lining is made of plastic, and they are usually not recyclable and go straight to landfill. Buying a reusable container makes a huge difference if you are somebody who drinks water, tea or coffee on the go.

Simplyhealth’s Big Family Brush-Up has revolutionised teeth-cleaning in our household. I love the campaign because it offers practical advice for parents who want to get their kids into a good hygiene routine early on. Like a lot of households trying to leave for school in the morning, ours is a bit hectic, and so getting everyone to brush was sometimes difficult. Then our dentist told us, “Just do it first thing in the morning, it doesn’t have to be after they have had their breakfast.” And it turns out that’s the healthier time to brush your teeth anyway. That’s changed everything for us.

Julia Bradbury is an ambassador for Simplyhealth’s Big Family Brush-Up campaign, raising awareness of the importance of a proper tooth brushing routine. For tips and advice for your family, visit www.bigfamilybrushup.co.uk.

Julia on Holidays…

The problem nowadays is that it’s incredibly hard not to be available, because we’re all connected with emails and smartphones. It doesn’t matter whether you tell people you are going on holiday, they can still get you. Next time I go away I am going to the jungle in the middle of nowhere! Nobody can get me then.

Healthy living doesn’t go out the window on holiday. It just means you can do it at a more leisurely pace. Mornings are my favourite on holiday, outside in the sunshine, jumping in the pool with the kids. It’s nice. I’m not my sparkiest in the morning. If I can wake up a bit more leisurely, I am a much happier person.

Holidays are such a precious time with young kids. It’s the one time when they get dedicated “Mummy time”. I’m not going away, I’m with them. I’ve got two 4-year-old twin girls who are just adorable, and a very active 8-year-old and he is a morning person. He’s like a meerkat in the morning. It’s testing my powers of parenthood.

Bucket List

My professional bucket list goal is I want to present another game show. I’ve done it once. It was called Take On The Twisters, on ITV, but it didn’t get recommissioned. I’d like that. I like game shows with a bit of a twist.

Inspired By…

One of the people that I interviewed, very early on in my career, is Jane Fonda. She’s been political, an activist, she’s made some great movies. I’m inspired by people who are passionate about what they do, people for whom it’s not really about monetary success.

What are you working on when you get back from your holiday?

As soon as I’m back I’m straight off on a work trip. Yes, straight away – new project and basically I think I’m committed now and will be tied up with the next two projects up until November. I can’t say what they are yet, but it’s busy and lots of filming, some travel, all the usual stuff.

What do you think you would have done if you weren’t a TV presenter?

I would have been I think advertising, marketing, in that world. When I was at school I wanted to work in advertising. I like the whole idea of putting a campaign together and selling your brand value and trying to pass that on, however it may be, and what is interesting as well in the advertising world as well is it changes so much. Today, in the 21^st century, it’s not just a case of creating an ad and putting it on the telly or a magazine, it has become a much more experienced-based process and you need to be clever and I would obviously try and work with people who I have a residence with as well if I had a chance.

Julia is supporting the Big Family Brush-Up campaign

Julia is working with Simplyhealth this summer as the face of its Big Family Brush-Up campaign, helping families understand the importance of a proper brushing routine for their oral health. From now until the end of August, we’re challenging families to really focus on their brushing habits for a four-week period, to ensure children are brushing thoroughly for two minutes, twice a day.

We know that many families could use a helping hand in understanding how to take care of their children’s teeth. In fact, in a recent Simplyhealth survey almost two thirds of UK parents (64%) said that getting their children to brush for two minutes, twice a day, was a challenge.