{"id":680328,"date":"2026-01-07T16:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/680328\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T16:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:58:16","slug":"david-attenborough-makes-confession-about-shared-london-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/680328\/","title":{"rendered":"David Attenborough makes confession about shared London ‘refuge’"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Attenborough<\/a>‘s new show, Wild London, highlights the amazing animals living freely and happily alongside the capital’s nine million inhabitants \u2013 including beavers and snakes! As the 99-year-old explored his local area he declared, that he “wouldn’t want to live anywhere else” in the world and he showcased his “refuge” – a park near to his home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the presenter stood in the publicly-accessible Richmond Park, he spoke to the camera: “Standing among these marvellous trees, it is hard to believe that I’m in a capital city. Richmond Park is one of my favourite places. Just minutes from my house, it’s been both a refuge and a source of inspiration over the years. I’ve been coming here ever since I moved to London over 70 years ago, even after all that time and after all the places I’ve visited, I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”<\/p>\n

Our Chief Content Officer, Sophie Vokes-Dudgeon, knows the park’s appeal all too well. “I love early morning walks in Richmond Park before the world wakes up, admiring its amazing wildlife like the majestic deer and beautiful birds.”<\/p>\n

Fan reaction to Wild London<\/p>\n

Fans took to Reddit to share their praise for David’s new show. “Just finished it. A beautiful and optimistic start to 2026!” penned one, and another wrote: “Absolutely fantastic show, loved it. Probably the best nature doc I’ve seen in a while.” A third added: “Loved it so much. Wish it were a series, there’s so much more to discuss.”<\/p>\n

Our Commerce Partnerships Editor, Carla Challis, was gripped by the documentary, too. “We were mesmerised, from start to finish! Seeing the wildlife right here on our doorstep was beautiful, and brought another dimension to the London I thought I knew. My six-year-old couldn’t believe some of the species found thriving in the capital (snakes!), we only wish there were more episodes to watch,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inside David Attenborough’s private home
\n \"david\u00a9 Photo: RexDavid relaxing in his home<\/p>\n

David lives in the affluent suburb of Richmond, where overall house prices stand at \u00a3991,370<\/a>, but with David’s being considerably larger than London average, it is likely it would value at much more. Over the years, we’ve seen a few glimpses into David’s London sanctuary. His living space has unique arched windows that are a focal point of the room, and a well-used brown leather sofa that he’s had in his life for many years. The room also has books, DVDs and ornaments from his travels dotted around.<\/p>\n

\"david\u00a9 Photo: RexAn archive photo of David in his garden<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, David’s garden is a wildlife haven. He tries to attract and look after the local wildlife with a bird feeder hanging from a tree in his city garden. Continuing with the animal theme, David has a rhino-shaped stone seat on his patio.<\/p>\n

David Attenborough’s unique childhood home
\n \"brick\u00a9 Alamy Stock PhotoCollege House at The University of Leicester<\/p>\n

While David may have an idyllic life now with an impressive place to call home, his living arrangements growing up were a little more unconventional and we’ve reported on them in the past. David’s father, Frederick Attenborough, became the principal at University College Leicester in 1932, so the family then moved into the College House on site when David was five. In a\u00a0video shot for the university<\/a> about his life there, he admitted that because the building he stayed in used to be a mental health facility he had a very hair-raising incident. He recounted a story where his eldest brother locked him in one of the padded cells that still existed on the grounds at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wild London is now available to watch on BBC iPlayer<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Attenborough‘s new show, Wild London, highlights the amazing animals living freely and happily alongside the capital’s nine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,12389,20487,393,4884,1268,257,16,15],"class_list":["post-680328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-britain","tag-celebrity-homes","tag-david-attenborough","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-homes","tag-london","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115854882091131537","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}