Tower and Town, July 2021

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'Avebury has always been mum: she is buried in the churchyard there, behind the house'

Sir Simon Russell Beale, 60, lived in Avebury as a child and, after spending most of his life in London, returned to Wiltshire in 2019. He has been described as "the greatest stage actor of his generation".

When I was a young man, going up to the pub at the top of the road in Avebury on a winter's evening was always my idea of heaven. When I did Desert Island Discs, one of my music choices was A Spotless Rose. It's a cold, frosty carol. For me, it's that walk to the pub and back. 

My father was in the army and we had a very peripatetic life when I was young. I was born in Penang, Malaya, as it was then. When I was 13 or 14 my dad got a job in RAF Wroughton hospital and mum found her dream house, a beautiful thatched cottage, in Avebury, where dad still lives.

Home was mum and Avebury has always been mum: she is buried in the churchyard there, behind the house. Her funeral service was amazing; the church was so full that people were standing in the pulpit. Three of my siblings were married in the church and my brother Matt was nearly killed there. A bell weight fell when he and I were standing underneath and it almost landed on him. You can still see the damage on the floor.

I boarded at Clifton College. After I left, before going to university, dad and I would sing in churches around the county. Dad used to drive very fast, whizzing through the lanes, listening to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

I went to the Guildhall in London as a singer, then became an actor. Two years ago, I decided to leave London and return to Wiltshire. I was doing the Lehman Trilogy in New York and came back to look at houses in Marlborough. I walked into the one I finally bought because I loved it straight away.

Marlborough makes me feel safe. Always has done. My brother Andrew and his family live here. Now the White Horse Bookshop is part of my life. And Waitrose. I love Waitrose! My daily social is to go there in the morning to see Ann and Denise on the tills. They give me advice on recipes and tell me what to do with Puy lentils.

Simon Russell Beale