Caroline Quentin: "Nature has saved my mental health"
The actor and author on finding calm in nature, lasting love with her husband and why she's going to university at 65 to fulfil a lifelong dream.
The actor and author on finding calm in nature, lasting love with her husband and why she's going to university at 65 to fulfil a lifelong dream.
I recently wrote my first essay in 50 years. It was part of my application to study for a postgraduate diploma in the history of art at the Courtauld Institute in London.
I’ve just been accepted and I can’t talk about it without crying as this is the course of my dreams. I left school at 16 with a couple of O levels and never went to university or did any higher education.
I’m so thrilled to be doing it now. I start in September and my husband, Sam (Farmer, 54), and children, Rose and William, both in their 20s, are so supportive.
The kids keep teasing me that I’ll be able to get a student discount card and go to the Student Union bar. It’ll be difficult – and I’m doing it over two years so I can keep working – but the best things in life often involve hard work.
Possessions aren’t important to me any more. I got rid of a lot of things two years ago – I took them to auction and sold them on. I had quite a big art collection and a lot of jewellery and I sold it all. Now we live in a rented house and I don’t have much stuff – that was very deliberate.
There’s an expression about the things you own ending up owning you and I was feeling stifled by stuff. So now I haven’t much left.
I’ve got my engagement ring and my wedding ring – Sam and I have been together for 28 years and married for almost 20 – and they’re the only things I care about.
Spending time with Sam is precious because I work away a lot and miss him so much. The best thing is being in the car with him. I’m not a good driver, so he drives and some of our happiest times have been in the car.
On my book tour a few years ago, he drove and we chatted and pootled for hours. We’d spot a sign for Holy Island or somewhere and stop to visit or we’d do drop-ins to friends and it was magical. I have another book tour this autumn and can’t wait.
Nature has saved my mental health. My mother was bipolar and I have a volatile emotional life. I get lows sometimes and I get highs as well.
The best thing is stepping outside, just listening to birds, being quiet, settling myself, listening to the wind in the trees – my blood pressure drops, my heart slows down.
It’s a valuable resource, the doctor for every ill. Sometimes standing underneath an old beech tree can lift you – the realisation that this tree has been there for hundreds of years and things can come good again. There will be spring, the leaves will unfurl.
Everything is cyclical and we’re part of it. Going for a walk is also powerful – even if I have just 15 minutes, if I’m worrying about something and go for a walk, I’m cured by the time I come home. Magic!
Drawn to Nature - Caroline Quentin (RRP £20, Quarto Publishing)
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