If you haven’t already seen our latest London Mums magazine, you can read our cover interview here, an exclusive chat with British adventurer, TV presenter, author and super Dad Bear Grylls.
I met Bear at the launch of the new family car, Land Rover Discovery. At the unforgettable star-studded party at Packington Hall Bear descended from a helicopter onto a massive replica Tower Bridge made entirely with LEGO to reveal the new SUV. Then he told London Mums what he really loves in life.
Bear Grylls was chosen as Land Rover brand ambassador because he has been using the Discovery for his expeditions and has always very convincingly described Land Rover cars as ‘the unsung heroes’ of his many adventures while filming in deserts, jungles or mountains.
Q: If you were to go on a road-trip with the new Land Rover with your family where would you like to go and why?
BG: Maybe Patagonia – with huge expanses, amazing mountains lakes and people. We filmed there a while back and I always wanted to return with the family and bring our kite surfers and paramotors!
Q: You recently jumped out of a plane free-falling at a rate of 125mph to test Land Rover’s new Discovery “world-first” smart seat feature, which lets owners reconfigure their vehicle seating from anywhere with a data connection with an app on their Smartphone. Why is this app relevant and practical when you travel with children?
BG: Well, as you know, when you have a big family and dogs and life gets super busy, you want ease at the tip of your fingers – every little thing helps and being able to reconfigure the seats at the touch of a button just makes life that much easier. Especially when you need to pack up the car.
Q: What’s your parenting style?
BG: The truth is that I learnt a lot of my parenting skills from my late father. He was the man who taught me to climb, to dream big and not be scared of failing! My mum’s line was always: failure is only failure when you stop trying! My wife and I just want to pass affection and care through to our brood and support them the best we can. Shara and I have three incredible boys with contagious adventure spirits! Parenting style? I try to tell them to follow their dreams and look after their good friends along the way. (And be especially nice to their brothers!) You can sum parenthood up in three words though: example, example, example.
Q: What’s your favourite fun activity with your children?
BG: Every Summer we spend it just us as a family on our small island hideaway in North Wales, where we have limited communications and no mains power or water. It is such a special time as a family. The rest of our year is so busy with lots of people we really value that escape even in the Welsh wind and rain is amazing! So that’s it: up in north Wales, lying in the long grass, with Shara and the three boys beside me, messing around building dens, going on mini adventures to the mainland in our boat, swimming off the rocks, and cooking mackerel.
Q: What’s your favourite food?
BG: I’m a big fan of almond butter! It’s the one thing I make sure we smuggle into all my shoots no matter where we are headed!
Q: It is difficult to imagine you winding down and having a calm evening. What do you do to relax?
BG: It’s not all mud and action 24/7, I also really love winding down with my young family, taking a nice long bath, cuppa tea and enjoying the calm after returning from full on shoots abroad. That to me is heaven!
Q: Do you use meditation and mindfulness techniques to help you keep calm during your adventures?
BG: My Christian faith has been such a rock and backbone through so many ups and downs of life and adventuring, it is that real guiding force in my life that calms me – leading me home and strengthening me when I am tired.
If you haven’t found a print copy our Winter 2016-2017 magazine, you can read it online here.
More Bear Grylls in our archives
