Countryfile star Matt Baker has opened up about the devastating loss he suffered last year, admitting that he’d found it “tough” to get over.
The former The One Show presenter owns a small farm in the Chilterns Hills in Hertfordshire, where he lives with wife Nicola and their two children and the family keep livestock including chicken and sheep.
Baker also has two dogs – a miniature dachshund called Ivy and a young border collie called Ted – with a second collie called Bob sadly dying last year.
In a new interview, the 48-year-old opened up about losing his pet Bob, telling the Radio Times that it “took a lot to get over”.
“He’d been with me for the major moments in my life, so it was tough when he wasn’t,” Baker said.
“We’re fortunate to have these animals in our lives. Every single one has taught me something and I’m grateful. Grief is the price you pay for love.”
While Bob passed in 2025, Baker only announced the death in May of this year, as he’d been too “incredibly sad” to share the news at the time.
In an Instagram Reel featuring the dog – who had been a long-term fixture on Baker’s social media – he explained that Bob had been “gone for a while”.
“It’s with a very heavy heart that I’m letting you know our wonderful Bob is no longer with us,” Baker wrote. “It’s broken my heart but I feel hugely grateful to have had him in our lives and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for everything he’s taught me and brought to our family.
”I’m sure all you dog lovers will agree [that] the reason we love our dogs so much is because the only time they break our hearts is when they leave us. RIP Bob X.”
Dogs weren’t just a ”constant presence” in Baker’s childhood, but something that followed him into his early career on Blue Peter.
Baker joined the long-running kids’ TV series in 1999, with border collie Meg by his side during his seven years on the show.
Opening up about working with Meg in the interview, he said: ”When I moved down to London it was the first time in my life that I’d been without a dog and I felt quite lost. So when I began Blue Peter I realised it would be ideal to get one and have some amazing adventures.
”My time on Blue Peter was a partnership with Meg. We had over seven glorious years on the show and we left together. She was my dog, not the show’s, so she came with me and spent the rest of her days on the farm.”
