My haven, Kate Humble: TV presenter and writer, 52, in the book room of her home in the Wye Valley

1. RING CYCLE 

This is my book room, where I read and relax. On the side table is this photo of me with my husband Ludo [a documentary film-maker] and our dogs, and next to it is my wedding ring, which belonged to Ludo’s grandmother. 

It’s engraved with the word ‘twelfth’ because she was married on 12 September, as were my parents. We got married on the same day, in 1992. I met Ludo through our families. 

When I was 20, I decided I wanted to work in TV and Mum said, ‘That nice Ludo Graham works in telly. He might be able to help.’ He couldn’t, but he was quite good at kissing.

2. WANDERLUST 

I had a yearning to travel as a child and loved reading stories about 19th and early 20th-century female explorers like Mary Kingsley. 

My first big trip abroad was when I did Interrail with a friend, aged 16. 

It was brave of my parents to let me go. Since then, I’ve been lucky to travel a lot for work. I treasure these old passports because every stamp tells a story.

3. DIVING RIGHT IN 

One of my first jobs for the BBC was in the Brazilian Amazon, looking underwater for a show called Amazon Abyss. 

I spent a month diving with scientists and expert divers – quite a challenge as the water was murky. 

Someone in one of the communities that live along the Amazon had carved this beautiful wooden fish and it made the perfect souvenir.

4. A LITTLE GOON!  

This is my childhood copy of Spike Milligan’s A Book of Milliganimals. I loved the silliness of his rhymes and absurd illustrations. My favourite story was The Bald Twit Lion. I loved the idea of the hairy anteater sitting on his head to keep him warm. 

I was always into animals. I grew up in the countryside in Berkshire and was a real tomboy – I climbed trees, built dens and rode horses. I spent a lot of time in A&E being patched up, but had a proper childhood.

5. SALT OF THE EARTH

I first went to Africa when I was 19 and fell in love with the people, landscape and wildlife. On the table is a discarded weaver bird’s nest which I found in South Africa. 

Later, in 1999, I’d heard that blocks of salt were still mined and carried on camels across the Mali desert from Timbuktu, so Ludo and I did that journey, with a caravan of 50 camels and three men. 

We covered 1,500km in 35 days and it was just remarkable. This salt block from the mines at Taoudenni was given to me by one of the miners. They treated us like family. 

6. ROCK OF AGES 

I found this Stone Age hand axe and these flint arrowheads in the desert in Egypt in 2012 while filming a series about the Earth’s orbit. 

It’s hard to imagine how anyone survived in that bleak landscape, but I visited the Cave of Swimmers – so-called because it contains Stone Age wall paintings which appear to depict people swimming – suggesting the area once had a lake. 

The Stone Age people had left their handprints on the wall and it felt like they were reaching through time. 

As told to Angela Wintle. A Year Of Living Simply by Kate Humble is published by Aster, £20.