Kevin McCloud's perfect weekend

Channel 4's Grand Designs presenter

will be visiting Birmingham's NEC from October 7-9 to head this year's Grand Designs Live event. Here the property-lover shares his idea of a perfect weekend.

It's Friday afternoon. What's on your mind?

Generally, it's spent panicking about whether I'll finish in time for Friday evening. I don't describe myself as a workaholic, although others do. But I accept that I'm driven and guilty of taking on too much.

I tend to work too hard and I'm not proud of that. I'm not very good at leisure. I like the opportunity of being able to finish at 4pm or 5pm on a Friday, though it's seldom before 8pm. If I do finish early, it feels as though I've got an extra day to enjoy at the weekend.

There is a fantastic luxury of jumping on the tractor or going for a walk or nipping to the pub.

Who normally has the pleasure of your company at the weekend?

I have this job that takes me all over the country and is very social, so I could be with anyone.

However, I don't see enough of my friends, particularly my good friends; it can be six months between visits.

How do you prepare for a big night out?

I don't think I ever have . . . I've had some big nights out but I don't think I've ever prepared.

If I'm not working I'm doing stuff on my small farm, so I'll be in my overalls and boots. I tend to look at my watch and realise I should already be somewhere very smart, looking shaven – but I'm still in my wellingtons.

I have to effect lightning changes. I have cultivated a rather suave look of unshaven and unkempt, paired with a rather nice jacket, shirt and jeans.

What's your favourite party outfit?

I still surprise myself occasionally by how well I scrub up. I tend not to iron clothes very often but I rather like dressing up in a three-piece suit and cufflinks.

Bookster is a lovely firm, in Herefordshire, that does online tailoring with Scottish tweeds and British fabrics. They are really good value and I have two suits by them. I like Harris Tweed, too, and I am fastidious about shoes;

I have a pair that I love from a Northampton shoe maker. I gulped when I bought them because they cost £300. But I will go to my grave in those shoes, because they will really last. Jeans last for five years then fall apart. But with a really well-made pair of shoes or suit, as they get older they get better.

You've just arrived at the bar. What's your first drink?

Well, if it's a bar that does cocktails, it would be a mojito or a Pimms. Otherwise, it's a pint of real ale. I won't have any of your fancy super-chilled cold rubbish.

What is your favourite nightspot and why?

On top of a mountain under the stars – sleeping out, looking at the sky.

What tune always gets you on the dance floor?

Sister Sledge or Earth Wind and Fire. It's not very sophisticated, but I suffer the accusations of being described as a funk boy. I'm a Hendrix fan too.

It's a sunny Saturday. What are you up to?

At the farm on the tractor, planting trees and picking apples and laying hedges.

What's your most memorable weekend ever and why?

When I was 18. I am very sentimental about one particular time. I was working on a farm and some friends from Florence came up.

We all headed up and camped in the hills and we did that thing of swimming in the lake and watching the sunset and cooking in the mountains.

I have been trying to find those experiences again throughout my life, chasing them like butterflies.

What's the recipe for a perfect night in?

That's a Bach cantata on Radio 3 and a 1982 Margaux – I'm particular about my clarets.

It sounds really elitest to say Bach and claret. But I could happily enjoy that and spend the evening drawing or building an Airfix model, which I haven't done since I was 14. If I could do anything, I would do that.

Drink, music and a nerdy little activity.

Favourite DVD? And what would you eat while watching it?

Kind Hearts and Coronets. I'd drink, not eat.

Sunday breakfast – cooked or continental?

Organic spelt museli, with yoghurt. I'm getting healthy in my old age.

Sunday lunch – home-cooked or down the pub?

I love the pub. I love Harvester, with my mum – apple sauce with pork, or beef with Yorkshire puddings, there's such a choice. If you do it at home, you have to be careful otherwise it'll turn into a whole day.

Where and how do you like to relax?

I don't relax, I'm active until I drop. Even drinking wine is an activity, that doesn't relax it anaesthatises.

You've got a whole weekend off and a wad of money in your back pocket – which country or city would you head to?

I don't fly for pleasure. I try to get the train. I'd go by train to somewhere I've not visited, like Berlin. Alternatively, I'd go to Northern Italy, to Milan, or Vincenza, near Venice, or some of the other quieter smaller towns.

* Visit www.granddesignslive.com for tickets to the live event.