Ex-Strictly star Kelvin Fletcher embraces Peak District farm life

Former Strictly Come Dancing champion Kelvin Fletcher has swapped urban life to start farming in the countryside.

The ex-Emmerdale actor and his wife Liz Marsland have moved to a farm in the Peak District with their two young children Marnie and Milo.

Their 120-acre farm has an 18th-Century cottage, outbuildings, 20 sheep, three pigs and three alpacas.

He said he did "wonder whether we've taken on too much" but added farming had "ignited something inside me".

The family moved from their home in Oldham to the farm on the edge of the Peak District National Park and it has been captured as part of BBC One programme Kelvin's Big Farming Adventure.

In an interview with the Radio Times, the 37-year-old said it was a "big step", but they were ready to "embrace something new".

He added: "Often life is a case of always being on to the next thing, and I guess lockdown was a real pause when you couldn't help but be present and reflect.

"Sometimes I do wonder whether we've taken on too much.

"But I can't imagine us not doing this now. It's ignited something inside me, and I love it."

Fletcher won the 2019 series of Strictly alongside professional partner Oti Mabuse after being a last-minute replacement for an injured Jamie Laing.

"If you'd have told me the night I lifted that glitterball that 18 months later I'd happily be shovelling pig poo, I would have struggled to believe you," he said.

Fletcher, who played Andy Sugden on ITV soap Emmerdale for more than 20 years, admitted his first visit to the countryside was as a teenager when he was cast in the soap.

He said: "I'd never even been close to a sheep before then.

"I always enjoyed the scenes out in nature, but that was in a controlled environment.

"I didn't even know what TB was, I was just saying my lines.

"Now I understand that if you have TB in your cattle, it's devastating."

The first episode of Kelvin's Big Farming Adventure, a six-part series, will air on BBC One on 17 January.