Sarah Beeny exclusive: how I’ll cope with an empty nest when my four sons leave home

When it comes to her four sons leaving home, property presenter Sarah Beeny is in denial.

At the moment the grand Somerset mansion that viewers saw her build in her TV show New Life in The Country, is full of noise, as Billy, Charlie, Rafferty, and Laurie spend five hours a night in rehearsals with their dad Graham Swift for their band The Entitled Sons.

Having already played at Glastonbury, the boys are tipped to hit the big time, so they may move out sooner than she thinks. But for now “I can’t imagine it really,” says Sarah in this week’s Second Act podcast. “My youngest is still in school for the next two years and they practice at the house every night for five hours. 

“I do look at other people and I recognise I’m in quite an unusual position. I know people who have children the same age as my eldest two and they are now home alone.

“Our house is absolutely stuffed full of people all the time. There’s girlfriends and friends there, like a big happy, noisy home. 

“I can’t picture what it would be like without them there.”

New hobbies

When the music stops and they eventually move out, Sarah has a back up plan to occupy her time and keep her spirits up.

She has joined the latest trend of midlife celebrities such as Zoe Ball and Jo Whiley taking up a new mindful hobby.

“I like gardening,” says the I Bought It At Auction star. “So I’ll probably take on something else. I like pottering, I’m not a very good gardener and I’ve got a gorgeous friend called Bert.

“He’s wonderful. And he comes and drinks tea with me and gives me advice, and he’s really clever. Last year we pruned my grapes and I had literally went from one vine to bunches of grapes. I must have had 150 bulbs because he’s really clever.

“And I had thousands of tomatoes. Basically, if you’ve got a friend who knows about it and gives you some tips, it’s just bountiful, the amount of vegetables you can have. So I do love gardening.”

While she is fully embracing the ageing process, Sarah, who started her first property business aged 19 with her husband, says there is one thing she is struggling with about getting older – the younger generation.

“It’s weird sometimes when you meet someone and they’re really clever and they know loads of things and you could have given birth to them,” she laughs.

“That’s just really weird. Why do you have a job? You’re a baby. No, you’re 25 years or 20 years old. I’m talking about what I did on millennium night and they’re like, oh, I wasn’t born. And then they take you out for lunch, like you’re the boss and you can’t help talking to them about their mum.

“I don’t dislike it. I love it, by the way. It’s just weird to me that someone’s qualified in something and you think you could be one of my babies. It’s very difficult not to talk to people as though they’re one of your children’s friends.”

Listen to the Second Act podcast, now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts and Youtube.