Alan by the trowel load

Could gardening hero, housewives favourite and so-called 'Sex God' Alan Titchmarsh be going through a mid-life crisis?

In the space of a year he's made three life-changing decisions. He's in the process of selling his house, Barleywood, which has been the family home for the last 20 years, has quit Gardeners' World and Ground Force, the programmes which raised his profile immeasurably, and is again looking to pastures new.

At the age of 53, with a huge mound of success under his belt, many men in his wellies would be hanging up their spades and sitting back to savour the fruits of their labours. But not Titchmarsh.

"I didn't intend to do it all at once, it just happened that way. It's a bit scary and it looks like a classic mid-life crisis when you analyse it like that, but it isn't. It's mid-life blossoming. It's still accepting challenges and I don't intend to move again.

"I just thought seven years on Gardeners' World and six years on Ground Force - it was time for fresh fields. I've always preferred to move before I've been asked to leave. And there were other projects being offered.''

He's going to do a big natural history series on Britain for the BBC. "It's a step on from gardening,'' he enthuses. And he's nearly finished the next series of BBC2's How To Be A Gardener, which should be televised in the spring.

Now he has written his memoirs, Trowel And Error, charting his life from his childhood in Ilkley to his horticultural career and rise up the TV ladder.

For a man who should be supremely confident in what he does, he seems surprisingly vulnerable. When he read a scathing review of Trowel And Error, it took him two days to get over it.

Whatever his critics say, fans still flock to see him - he has to have minders when he does BBC Gardeners' World at the Birmingham NEC to keep the hordes of fans at bay.

Several years ago one magazine voted him the sexiest man on TV after George Clooney - and the label has stuck. He just smiles at the thought of it.