Caroline Quentin: "An influencer at 63? Why not?"

By the time actor Caroline Quentin entered her 60s, she thought that she'd be accepting roles as grannies and kind old neighbours (her words, not ours). Instead, she is fast becoming something of a gardening influencer, with an Instagram account that's amassed some 150,000 followers,

It's now spawned a book, Drawn To The Garden, which Caroline has both written and illustrated and is out now in hardback. In an exclusive interview in Good Housekeeping's April issue, Caroline opened up about why her 60s have been her most transformative decade yet.

'It's wonderful that, in my 60s, I'm suddenly doing something entirely different. I'm amazed that what started as an Instagram account has sort of blossomed into something much bigger,' she says.

Caroline, who lives in Devon with her husband, Sam Farmer – founder of SamFarmer skincare – explained that her passion for gardening started during a challenging childhood.

'Ever since I was little, it's been a sort of security blanket. My childhood was quite chaotic; my mother, who had bipolar disorder, would often spend time in psychiatric hospitals,' she says.

'When I was 10, I was sent to boarding school with these horrible, grumpy matrons and regimented bath and mealtimes. I was a painfully shy child - I still am shy beneath my loud persona - and I remember being so homesick and discombobulated by everything in my life.

'But getting out in nature and watching things grow felt like time out from the 'real' world. It was an opportunity to leave all the sadness and scary things behind.'

Caroline, who is best known for her roles in Men Behaving Badly and Jonathan Creek, is also mum to two children, Rose, 24, and Will, 20, and revealed that if she has one regret, it's working so much when they were little.

'God, I missed them. I mourned them terribly when I was away. I think that's probably why I feel so bad about it, because it left a hole in me,' she says.

'People said, "Oh, they're young for such a short period of time", and I didn't listen; I thought I knew better, and I didn't.

'I should have said no to work and yes to them, but because I was the breadwinner, I thought I had to do it. Well, I didn't, did I? But you can't turn back the clock; you have to live with these things.'

Reflecting on what she’s learned about love after two decades with her partner, Sam, she emphasised how important communication has been - and still is.

'You have to speak, speak, speak. I've nagged Sam from day one to do that because I can't bear sulking or silence,' she says.

'For him, it's the other way round. He has to tell me to be quiet and do an Instagram post instead of talking to him all day! But I feel very lucky because I wouldn't have achieved half of what I have without him.'

So where does she find her greatest happiness now? The answer, she said, is simple.

'Swimming in a river on a warm summer's day. When you're young, you think happiness is shouty parties, but actually it's peace.'

Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping’s April 2024 issue, on sale now. Drawn To The Garden (Frances Lincoln) by Caroline Quentin is out now in hardback.