Paul's Escape To The Country

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Even when he’s rolling around on the floor at Battersea with a batch of adorable new puppies, TV star Paul O’Grady never looks anything less than immaculate. So it’s a surprise to learn that the usually clean-shaven, smartly-dressed presenter actually has a secret wild side.

Few get to see it, but if you venture down to Paul’s rural retreat, tucked away in the Kent countryside, you’ll be in for a shock.

“I go totally wild when I’m in Kent,” he confesses with a laugh. “Friends come to stay and they say, ‘Ooh, look at the state of you!’

“Once I was wearing an apron back-to-front to keep the sun off my back, a pair of filthy shorts and one flip-flop, because the dog had run off with the other. I hadn’t shaved for a week and my hair was on end – I looked like Catweazle!

“But that’s one of the joys of living in the country – you don’t have to get dolled up and you can go around stinking of pigs, sheep and dogs. It’s a sense of freedom.”