TV presenter Laura Hamilton hits back at the haters, as she opens up on her fantastic travels with children Rocco and Tahlia
As a presenter on A Place In The Sun, Laura Hamilton is never too far away from her passport. But the busy mum-of-two always makes sure her travel plans slot seamlessly into the lives of her children Rocco, 12, and 11-year-old Tahlia.
“I’ve travelled with them both since they were three weeks old,” she tells the Mirror. “In the first 11 months of Tahlia’s life, she’d been on 23 flights. Some people say, ‘How do you do that?’
“But it’s actually far easier to travel with a baby. I learned very quickly not to take everything with us, and we only ever have hand luggage. You get in and out of the airport quicker.”
Laura has been presenting the hit Channel 4 show since 2012, and also took part in Dancing On Ice in 2011, finishing as runner-up. She’s now in her 14th year of finding couples their dream home abroad and her passion for the job remains.
“It’s everything I love – people, travel, property,” she says. “You could say we’re ultimately doing the same thing each week, trying to find a couple a house. But every story is different, as is the way you bounce off people. That’s what keeps it exciting.”
Outside her busy TV schedule, Laura co-parents Rocco and Tahlia with her ex, who she separated from in January 2022, and though it takes organisation, they make it work brilliantly.
“They spend 50% of the time with me and 50% with their dad,” she says. “When it’s my week, they’re my priority and I manage work around them. They travelled with me full-time until they were school age, so that’s their reality.”
Family trips aren’t all glitz and glamour, though. “We have done five-star hotels, but equally, I grew up camping and caravanning – they’re some of the best holidays I ever had,” says Laura.
Sadly, she does face criticism over the trips they take. “I’ve had people saying, ‘It’s so unstable for your children. They don’t know if they’re coming or going. But that’s utter rubbish.
“Home is wherever family is. If we’re talking about bricks and mortar, the UK is home and it’s where they go to school. But I want them to see as many different places in the world as possible.”
Laura is also keen to stress that her frequent travelling has no bearing on her role as a parent. “People on social media can make assumptions I’m not with them if I don’t post about them all the time,” she says. “Well, trust me, I’m a very hands-on mum. Just because I don’t post about it all the time doesn’t mean I’m not.”
Though her youngsters seem to have inherited her joy at seeing the world, Rocco appears to have his heart set on another career – professional footballer.
“Doesn’t every little boy want to be a footballer?” Laura laughs. “It’s managing those expectations. He’ll say, ‘Mummy, don’t doubt me,’ and I’m like, ‘I wouldn’t dare.’ But for me, it’s always good to have a back-up option. I wanted to do TV and property was my back-up, and I managed to blend the two together.”
It’s clear she encourages her children to make their own choices. She says, “I’ve always wanted them to be independent. Sometimes if you don’t teach them to do it themselves, you end up with a lazy kid that thinks you wait on them hand and foot.
“Of course, I don’t expect them to come home from school and do the washing and cook dinner, but they’ve definitely got to the point where they wake up and make their own breakfast. Or Rocco will say, ‘I’m hungry. I’m going to make myself some lunch.’ I’m not going to be there forever.”
As a close-knit family, she says both children “literally talk to me about anything and everything”. But like any other parent, she does worry about the impact of social media.
“I don’t want them on certain apps, like Snapchat,” Laura says. “I just don’t like them. I’ll ask Tahlia what she’s looking at and she’s like, ‘I just look at horses and make-up.’ I check, and it’s true. And Rocco says, ‘It’s just football. Occasionally I see the odd boob, but you know…’”
Laura’s property career began more than 20 years ago, and she has been doing up houses since the age of 19. “I’ve developed flats, detached houses. I’ve turned old homes into eco-homes. I’ve learned along the way and am still learning,” she says. “I just have this passion for turning a rundown wreck into something lovely.”
Currently on the go is a renovation in Mallorca. “I’ve always loved it there. It was the first place I took Tahlia to when she was three weeks old,” she says.
But her heart remains firmly in Britain. “I’m going to make a really big statement here. Where I am now in Surrey is my forever home,” she insists.
“You can always say nothing’s forever, whether it’s a relationship, property or whatever. But I don’t want to move from here. It’s convenient for school, the airport, and I love the space and privacy.”
Though she recently turned 44, Laura looks amazingly youthful, and she’s certainly not concerned about ageing. “I don’t worry about it,” she says. “You can’t do anything about it. It’s a privilege to be getting older. But I do notice, the older I get, the years seem to go faster and faster.”
She tries avoid too much booze these days though. “Feeling hungover or rubbish the day after doesn’t work for me because I need to be productive every day,” she says.
“The kids are quite observant now too. If you’re having a glass of wine they’ll go, ‘Oh, you’re not having too many are you, Mummy?’ I don’t really drink anyway, but they’re both very fit and healthy with sports scholarships at school.”
Overall, Laura is very content with life right now. “I used to worry so much about what other people think. The older I’ve got, I block out the noise and the people saying, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t be travelling so much. There’s no stability. Where’s home?’ I used to listen to that, but I don’t any more. As long as they’re happy, I’m happy.”
In fact, she tells us they’ve been more than happy recently. After scrapping a plan to take them to Sri Lanka over the Easter holidays due to the ongoing unrest, she opted for a multi-destination trip to Nashville, Miami and the Bahamas.
“It’s always been on my bucket list to go to Nashville,” she says. “Tahlia loves horses and music, I love music, and Rocco loves the States. We went from Nashville to Chattanooga for a rodeo and it was incredible. We sat right at the front, watching the horses go around. At the start, they have little children in cowboy gear riding sheep, and they go out and work the crowd!”
In the Bahamas, they swam with nurse sharks and the island’s famous wild pigs. “The kids adore wildlife,” Laura says. “Rocco loves watching Attenborough. Maybe that’s the secret to a long life, you know – travel and adventure.”
She also went skiing in France earlier this year with her former Dancing On Ice partner Colin Ratushniak, and it sounds like they had a ball. “We were doing roll-ups, not with ice-skates on, but ski boots – equally impressive. It was lovely. We spent the evenings cooking, playing cards and listening to music,” she says.
“I’m going skiing with Colin in Canada next February. I’ve never been and he’s been saying for ages, ‘Please, come.’ He’s a commercial pilot now for Air Canada, so he may well be flying me there!”
Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
