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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Lizzie Edmonds

Jools Oliver pens emotional social media message as eldest child Poppy goes off travelling

Jamie Oliver’s wife Jools has paid an emotional goodbye to her daughter Poppy who has gone travelling the world with her boyfriend.

Oliver, 48, posted a picture of herself and her eldest daughter on Instagram on Friday as the 21-year-old prepared to travel the world with her boyfriend, Ben.

The celebrity chef and Oliver share five children – Poppy Honey, 21, Daisy Boo, 19, Petal Blossom, 13, Buddy Bear, 11 and River Rocket, five. The couple were teenage sweethearts, and have been married since 2000.

The former model and children’s fashion designer said sending off her child for an “adventure of a lifetime” was another “milestone of parenting that I am not that into.”

She wrote: “Oh my word well that was SO hard. Another milestone of parenting that I am not that into! Have the time of your life little Pops, we are so proud of you and Ben.

“Make the most of every single minute and have the adventure of a lifetime. It goes without saying that each and everyone one of us are going to miss you so deeply. I have lost my little school run/coffee mates now you and Dase have both almost flown the nest.

“Just be safe and happy and look after each other. It goes without saying that I am counting down the days till you come home. LOVE YOU.”

She also shared a couple of images of Poppy and Ben in the airport on her Instagram Stories.

The celebrity chef also posted about the milestone, saying Poppy was the “apple of his eye” and wishing the couple “godspeed” on their adventures via his Instagram Stories.

It comes just months after Poppy graduated from university.

At the time, her mother shared a series of pictures from her graduation day from Leeds University and captioned the post: “What a wonderful, happy, extremely emotional day celebrating Poppy’s graduation.

“We have never felt so proud.”

She also shared how her daughter had initially struggled with reading, but then had developed a “complete obsession with books, reading and writing”.

“At the age of four you came home from school without your first reading book as they felt that you were not ready, though many of your classmates were,” Oliver wrote.

“You were so upset, so I brought you the same books and we read them together every night at bedtime and you came on in leaps and bounds! It was wonderful to watch.”

She added: “That’s my earliest memory of your complete obsession with books, reading and writing and thankfully it has never stopped!

“Pops this really is an end of an era and we can not wait to see what your next challenge and adventure brings.”

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