You won’t catch TV presenter Helen Skelton working out “for going to the gym’s sake”.

Although she loves getting outside to hike, run and play golf, the mum-of-three insists she’ll only do it for how it makes her feel, rather than how it makes her look.

“I’ve always said I exercise to keep my head peachy, rather than my bum peachy,” she explains.

“I do it for me – you’ve got to enjoy it. I can’t just go to the gym for going to the gym’s sake – I sort of wander around and chat to people, and I’m like ‘I don’t really know why I’m here’.

“I’m the kind of person that needs to have something to train for.”

BBC’s Morning Live presenter Skelton, 43, is currently training for the Great North Run half marathon on September 13, and says: “I’ve done it loads over the years. My brother does it every year. He’s super-competitive, but I do it to get through it and say I can do it.

“I can’t nag the kids about doing stuff if I don’t do it myself. So wellbeing-wise, I always have something to train for.”

She says she runs about three times a week, hikes, plays golf, and swims.

“This time of year is good for running,” she says, “So I go out early, before the kids are awake, or they’ll be on their bikes.”

But once she’s done the Great North Run, Skelton happily admits she’ll just turn her exercise attention on to something else. And it could be anything – after all, she’s a former Blue Peter presenter who’s completed the 78-mile Namibian ultra marathon, kayaked the entire length of the Amazon River, and was the first person to reach the South Pole using a bicycle (as well as cross country skis and a kite ski).

She says: “My friends always laugh because they’re like ‘You just decide to do something about 11 weeks before’. People train a whole year for something, and I’m like ‘Yeah, but I’d get bored’.

“So when I’ve done the Great North Run in September, I’ll think ‘OK, what should I do next? And then I’ll train for something else. But I’m a big believer in doing stuff you enjoy.”

So she plays “a bit of golf” because her dad, brother and sons like the sport, and she says: “My boys think I’m cool when I can hit it far, so I do a bit of that.

“God, that’s a terrible thing to admit, isn’t it – I do golf because my kids think I’m cool. I’m never going to be as good at football as my kids, but golf – they’re like ‘Oh, that’s impressive’. And I just like hitting stuff with big sticks.”

Skelton has lived in Cumbria, where she grew up, with her three children – Ernie, aged 11, Louis, aged nine, and Elsie, aged four – since she split from her husband, rugby player Richie Myler, in 2022.

She loves hiking in the beautiful Lake District nearby, and has just done a two-hour Go Outdoors guided family community hike from Yew Tree Farm – one of Beatrix Potter’s old properties – starting with story time led by Skelton to commemorate Potter’s 160th birthday.

Skelton took her kids, mum and dad, sister-in-law and nephews on the hike, and says: “My life is very much village-style parenting, so I had seven kids with me on that day – there was definitely a big old gang of us.

“The idea behind the community hikes is just to give people an opportunity to get stuck into a hike in a safe, easy environment where someone’s guiding it, so you can just enjoy the walk. Everyone finished with a smile on their face.”

But while Skelton is a big fan of the outdoor lifestyle and hiking through the countryside, how does she persuade her kids that exploring the countryside is a good idea too?

“It is not without coercion and control,” she admits with a laugh. “We always have to factor in somewhere where they can swim, somewhere they can build something, plenty of snacks, and an ice cream van on the way home.

“Given the capacity, they’ll whinge, but we get out in front of it and put stuff in place to stop it.”

The hike is just one of many ways Skelton has been keeping her kids entertained this summer – and unlike many frazzled parents, she insists she loves the school summer holidays.

She says: “I’m lucky – I live in a part of the world where everybody is outdoors a lot, and I don’t take that for granted. We always joke that living in the countryside in the summer is amazing, but you pay for it in the winter when it’s harder. In the summer we’re just outside a lot.”

The family has just been camping, and at a festival, they’ve been to Cornwall, and have enjoyed boating on local lakes.

“Do you know what? I might be in the minority, but I really, really enjoy the summer holidays,” says Skelton. “I like the no-routine, I like the eating tea outside. Someone asked me the other day if my youngest child ever wears shoes, and I was like ‘Not in July’.

“I really like this time. Touch wood and long may it last, my kids want to go out on their bikes with me, and they want to do stuff with me. So I’m leaning into it for as long as I’ve got it.”

Of course, she has to fit work in around her family time, and she sometimes takes the boys with her to work, one at a time.

“That’s not without its challenges,” she admits.”I’m very lucky, my work is is largely term-time, and I don’t take that for granted.”

She’s recently been filming Lost And Found In The Lakes, where experts look for people’s lost items in the Lake District, and an expert had a dog that wasn’t allowed on the shoot – so Skelton’s middle son kept it distracted during filming.

“I try and make them useful when they’re at work with me,” Skelton says happily. “I appreciate you can’t do that if you’re a surgeon or an accountant, but where possible, they come along.

“And my parents are both retired now, so they’re really good with the kids. And I live near my brother and he’s got kids the same age as mine, so there’s a lot of communal parenting between my brother and my parents.”

** Helen Skelton is an ambassador for Go Outdoors. For information on upcoming hikes, visit the website or the GO Outdoors Instagram @gooutdoors**