Sunday with Deborah Meaden: ‘The cats get me up about 9.30am by tapping my face’

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Up early or lie-in? My husband, Paul, is up and out coaching for the local rugby team; I’m not an early riser. The cats get me up about 9.30am by tapping my face. First thing you do? I walk around the garden in bare feet. Then I’m on feeding duties. As well as the cats, we’ve got horses, sheep, rescue dogs, ducks and angry geese. I wander with my coffee and say good morning to them all. Breakfast? I only eat breakfast on holiday. I have wholemeal toast around lunchtime, but don’t eat properly until around 6pm. Sunday morning? I see my sister, Gail, who lives 20 minutes away – close, but not too close. I keep horses there so we go out for a ride, then I treat myself to an oat-milk latte and we have a chat. Sunday afternoon? I’ll have a fiddle around in the garden. I don’t pretend I look after it particularly well because we have a gardener and he should take all the glory when people say, ‘Oh, how lovely.’ Then Paul and I walk our five dogs as a group before I take them out one by one. They’ve got different personalities. I do that so they focus on me, to remind them I’m in charge. Sunday dinner? A ‘this isn’t chicken’ roast with stuffing, cabbage, leeks and broccoli. Paul makes himself a chicken casserole. I’ve been vegan for three years. I don’t cook and he’s a fantastic cook, but he makes the fair point that I decided to go vegan, he didn’t, so he’s not cooking two meals. Monday dread? On Friday, I look at the next week ahead so I know what is coming my way, but I never look at it on a Sunday. It is my day away from everything. Sunday is a time for contemplation, not for work – it’s for remembering what life’s all about. Wind down? I sit with a heap of animals on my lap and can barely see the television. We watch something lovely like The Piano, because Sunday nights have a different feel to other days. We’ve just finished Baby Reindeer. That is definitely not for a Sunday. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Observed Free weekly newsletter Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Deborah Meaden Talks Money (Red Shed) is out in paperback on 23 May