Sarah Illingworth
I live in the centre of Nottingham with my fiancé Tony and our three cats. We recently got engaged and I’m learning about wedding planning from a whole new perspective! We’re also renovating our house, slowly, and I am delving into the world of interior design and gardening. Who knew pottering about in the garden was so therapeutic.
Aside from taking photos, I love art – looking at it and creating it. I come from a family of artists and sculptors and my grandad was a Master Painter & Decorator. Creativity is in the blood! I can lose hours absorbed in pencil drawing, for which dogs and cats are my favourite subjects. I have aspirations to be the sort of abstract artist who throws paint at a massive canvas (one day!), but in fact I currently work my best with very fine, carefully drawn lines. You could say that attention to detail is one of my personality traits.
I cook a lot too. In my teenage years I wasn’t so confident in the kitchen, so I entered Junior Masterchef and learnt how to cook for TV, eventually winning a place on the televised finals with Rick Stein. It was what you might call a baptism of fire! Aside from the programme itself I was also in The Radio Times, in local and national press and I even had my own teletext page (which is definitely showing my age!). I got quite used to giving press interviews over the phone after school. It was a fantastic experience.
I adore being outdoors, walking or running. Taking in fresh air amongst nature is what I need to stay sane – and to compensate for my love of champagne and dark chocolate!
