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For TV presenter and father-of-two Jeff Brazier, a walk in nature has always helped lighten the load of life’s challenges.“Putting yourself amongst a beautiful space almost lifts the weight off your shoulders and sometimes just holds it for you while you’re interacting with that space,” says the 45-year-old presenter, who has hosted various television programmes, including Finders Keepers, This Morning and The One Show.
“My life has been full of some really interesting lessons and challenges and I think I’ve always referred back to the fact that when some thinking time is needed, that those are the environments that they should be done in – opposed to late at night lying in bed.
“Being purposeful and mindful about the fact that I’m going to go to this place, I’m going to walk around this lake in the morning means I know I’m going to feel better at the end of it, because, oddly, I think it sort of helps your ability to process things and find solutions.
“I’ve always been a believer that we have the answers to the majority of things that we go through, but sometimes we don’t give ourselves the right time or the right places to be able to access them.”
Realising how much nature helped his own mental health provoked Brazier to launch PRJCT WLKS in 2022 – a series of walk-and-talk events supported by Turning Point Counselling Service.
“I see how much joy these sessions bring people, it brings them to beautiful spaces, but also to connect with other human beings as well,” says Brazier.
The TV presenter, known for his glowing tan and signature blond locks, recently featured in the latest season of Pilgrimage on BBC Two. He joined six other celebrities from diverse faiths and belief systems on a journey through the Austrian and Swiss Alps, culminating at Einsiedeln Abbey – a pilgrimage site for over a thousand years.
“Life had been challenging leading up to it, so I felt like it came at a beautiful time,” shares Brazier. “On my community mental health walks, I try to be the person that holds onto whatever people want to share, whereas I saw the pilgrimage as an opportunity for me to actually be the person that benefited equally as much as anybody else.
“I was lucky that I was in a group of people that were kind enough to hear that, to validate it, and to help me in the way that I asked to be helped.”
As an avid outdoorsman, Brazier was captivated by the stunning mountainous Swiss and Austrian landscapes that he walked through on the programme, however, he says he equally enjoys discovering trails closer to home. The TV presenter was recently invited to serve as a celebrity judge for the Ramblers’ Britain’s Favourite Path 2025 competition.
“Being close to nature is something that I really appreciate, and I saw this as an opportunity for people to educate me on some of the paths around Britain I might not have necessarily been on yet. It’s also a chance to compile a list of beautiful places that I need to go visit,” says Brazier.
This love and appreciation for nature stems from his childhood, where he used to visit his beloved nan who lived in a remote cottage in Berkshire.
“It was fairly disconnected, and we used to walk for miles and miles next to a big railway line, and I just remember some of my fondest memories were walking along the path,” shares Brazier. “We were in the middle of the forest, and it just amazed me that they could live so remotely.” He says this was a stark contrast to the environment he grew up in.
“I was in one of the worst environments that you can grow up in, Harold Hill in Romford, so there wasn’t much sort of natural beauty around it,” reflects Brazier. “Luckily, I used to visit my nan quite a lot, and I just knew that there was something special about where she lived.
“I remember it being quite peaceful, which was quite a contrast from my ordinary home life. I think as children, we sort of operate on what feels safe and what doesn’t, and I felt a lot safer in the woods with the dog and my nan.”In addition to walking, cold water and journaling play important roles in Brazier’s wellness routine.
“If I am able to get up early, I have a cold shower, meditate, do some breath work or read a chapter of a great book, and then do some journaling,” says Brazier. “If I prioritise myself first before I give to anybody else or anyone else ask for anything on me, then there is no way my day isn’t going to be a success as a result of that.”
He is also very passionate about the power of meditation.
“It’s about connecting with with yourself internally, instead of looking externally for the answers and solutions to everything that we struggle with,” he says. “It’s also a way of dissipating trauma and being able to kind of heal from within, but being proactive about that.
“I didn’t want to wait for someone to fix me or to make me feel better about any of the things that I’d endured as a kid, so the fact that it could be in my hands, and I could do it through my thoughts, but also through stillness felt like I was really onto something.
“Some people are like, I can’t do it because I just keep thinking of things. I always describe it as, imagine you’re in a cinema and thoughts are floating across the screen like clouds. But the difference between meditation and not is observing the clouds and letting them drift across the screen without interacting with them.
“Meditation is just simply having the discipline to resist getting lost in that thought and just observing it and staying separate and dis-attached from it.”
The Ramblers, Britain’s walking charity, in partnership with Cotswold Outdoor, is inviting the public to take part in the search for Britain’s Favourite Path 2025. To enter, submit a photo and short story about your favourite path at ramblers.org.uk/britainsfavouritepath by May 31.
English (US) ·