Henson's grandfather Leslie Henson, was a music hall and musical comedy comedian and actor. His farmer father Joe HensonMBE,[2] presented a countryside TV programme with Angela Rippon and Phil Drabble; while his uncle, Nicky Henson, was a successful actor. Henson is married to Charlotte "Charlie" Henson and has two children.[3]
Born on the farm he now works, Bemborough Farm near Guiting Power, Gloucestershire, he was educated at Cheltenham College and later at Westwood's Grammar School, Northleach.[4] Henson did some work at the Chatsworth Estate, and gained an HND in Agriculture at Seale-Hayne Agricultural CollegeinNewton Abbot, Devon, where he met his business partner and friend Duncan Andrews. After graduation, the pair travelled for over a year through Australia working on sheep and arable stations, then a kiwi plantation in New Zealand, before returning to plant tea in the Atherton TablelandsinQueensland. After diving on the Great Barrier Reef, they returned via California and Canada.[5] Henson now runs the Cotswold Farm Park which his father started, which attracts over 70,000 visitors per annum.[6]
Adam Henson and Duncan Andrews took on the lease of Bemborough Farm from his father in 1998, and the pair now jointly run the 1,600-acre (650 ha) estate, growing wheat, spring barley and oilseed rape, alongside a flock of 350 commercial ewes and numerous rare breeds of farm animals.[7]
Henson broke into television work in 2001 when he was successful in gaining a presenting position on the BBC's Countryfile programme, after it ran a presenter search. Since this time he has worked on programmes such as Countryfile Summer Diaries and Inside Out. Due to his extensive farming knowledge, he has also worked on BBC Radio 4's On Your Farm and Farming Today, and the joint presenter with Kate HumbleofLambing Live.[citation needed]
He now has a wider presenting portfolio, which includes BBC's Gardener's World Live in June 2010.[8]
At a farmers' conference in St Mellion, Cornwall, Henson revealed he received death threats against his children after he presented reports on Countryfile about badger culling.[9]
In November 2013 he starred alongside Nigel SlateronBBC's Nigel and Adam's Farm Kitchen.[10]
