Actor Martin Shaw (pictured) believes holding trees allows people to feel an ‘extraordinary energy’ As a child he admits he and his brother ‘ridiculed’ their father for being a tree hugger. But yesterday actor Martin Shaw revealed he believes holding trees allows people to feel an ‘extraordinary energy and force’. The Inspector George Gently star has also blasted rural overdevelopment and fears many areas are in danger of looking like a ‘theme park’. The 70-year-old has become a countryside campaigner and said he is infuriated by inappropriate housing developments and rural areas being ruined by signposts and car parks. He said he learned about the force of nature from his father Frank, who used to place his hands on trees to feel their energy. ‘My love of the countryside was something I got from my father. My brother and I would ridicule him slightly,’ he revealed to Countryside magazine. ‘He would walk past a tree and say, “Oh, can you feel that?” And we would go, “Feel what, Dad?” And he would place his hands on the tree and say that he could feel this extraordinary energy and force coursing up through the tree. My brother and I used to go, “Hmmm, yeah, sure, OK.” But of course he was right. ‘The rural issue that most annoys me is the inappropriate housing development. If people need houses, then absolutely we must have houses, it’s iniquitous that we don’t. However, when those houses are provided, they must be provided with a view to our heritage. ‘The suburbinasation of rural life infuriates and upsets me. You’ll find woodlands where people have found their own ways through, their own walks, for hundreds of years, and suddenly they have gravel paths and signposts and car parks. 'The countryside becomes a theme park rather than something that just is, and of itself.’ He revealed his hobby flying planes has allowed him to witness how the countryside has changed in the modern age. ‘I like to fly old aeroplanes. You really only notice the ravages of the 20th and 21st centuries when you’re close up. If you’re flying over rural areas, you’re really looking at Britain the way it was 100 years ago, or maybe even more,’ he said. The Inspector George Gently star blasted rural overdevelopment and also lamented that his hectic schedule gives him little time to explore the ‘breathtaking’ countryside where the programme is based . But the actor, who has recently been filming a new series of BBC One police drama Inspector George Gently, said his hectic schedule means he has little time to explore the ‘breathtaking’ countryside where the programme is based. He said: ‘Our filming schedule on Inspector George Gently is very intense. A typical day is prob-ably 15 hours. There is very little time to explore the country, but sometimes we are on location and it’s absolutely breathtaking. The Durham countryside has a beautiful atmosphere.’ He also has a second home in an ‘extremely remote’ part of Scotland which he describes as his ‘real retreat’. ‘You can’t even get to it without a four-wheel drive. There’s an absence of mental noise. The re-moteness engenders a sense of calm, the absence of competitiveness,’ he said. Shaw, who has three marriages behind him and had three children with his first wife Jill Allen, has lived in Norfolk for the past two decades. He said: ‘I see wildlife on an almost daily basis. Every morning I come down and there are birds just outside my window on the birdfeeders I put out.’ The 70-year-old has become a countryside campaigner and is infuriated by inappropriate housing developments. Pictured: Martin Shaw and Lee Ingleby .
The Inspector George Gently star has also blasted rural overdevelopment . The 70-year-old has become a countryside campaigner and is infuriated by inappropriate housing developments . ‘My love of the countryside was something I got from my father,' he says . Hobby of flying planes allows him to see how countryside has changed .