Waterstones, Cheese and Wine:Five things that presenter Alex Jones can't live without
TV PRESENTER Alex Jones, 37, lives with her partner Charlie Thomson in west London.
1 Home town
I come from a small Welsh mining town called Ammanford, which is in Carmarthenshire and although I now live in London it will always be home.
It’s the people who live there that are important to me, rather than the place itself. My parents Mary and Alan still live in the house that I grew up in and I absolutely love visiting.
I feel very fortunate to have such a welcoming retreat to escape to.
2 Waterstones
There is nothing on this earth I find more relaxing than immersing myself in a good novel.
If I go on holiday for a couple of weeks I normally get through about seven or eight books and one of my weekend treats is a leisurely trip to Waterstones. I love the fact that most of the stores combine reading with coffee and cake. The shop assistants are always very knowledgeable and I normally leave with a massive pile of new books.
At the moment I am re-reading some of my favourite classics such as Jane Eyre and The Bell Jar but I love contemporary fiction too. I recently read The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and it completely blew me away.
I am shocking in the kitchen so when we have friends round I prefer to whip out the cheeseboard and a couple of bottles of wine rather than a home-cooked meal
3 Cheese and wine
I am shocking in the kitchen so when we have friends round I prefer to whip out the cheeseboard and a couple of bottles of wine rather than a home-cooked meal.
Sadly I am not much of a wine buff, although Charlie and I are trying to become a bit more knowledgeable. We have even started taking photos of our favourite labels so that when we go to the supermarket or the off-licence we can find them again.
I adore Caerphilly cheese and camembert and I have also recently discovered Shorrocks’ cheese bombs, which contain handmade, matured cheese that has been wrapped in muslin then dipped in wax.
4 Dressing room
Charlie and I have been renovating our house for months now and as neither of us is remotely domesticated we have often found ourselves living in complete chaos. I got home from work one evening to discover that he had transformed our spare bedroom into my own personal dressing room.
All my clothes were colour co-ordinated on racks and he had even bought me a gorgeous vintage dressing table for my make-up. It is one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me and having a special space for all my stuff has definitely made me feel calmer and more in control.
5 friends
I have a very close gang of good friends who I met almost 20 years ago at Aberystwyth University. We all bonded over the fact there were no decent shops in the town and while all the other students liked going out in jeans we all preferred getting dressed up.
My mates Louise, Magi, Sara and Marge all mean the world to me and over the years we have forged an incredible bond.
We have shared some wonderful holidays and we even celebrated our 30th birthdays together with a trip to New York.
Tumble, presented by Alex Jones, continues on BBC One this Saturday at 6.30pm.