Ellie Harrison has been branded the "nicest" and most "welcoming" person by a Countryfile co-star following the news she'd soon be departing the BBC show.
The 45-year-old is a regular face on the BBC nature show but explained she was leaving to "chart a new course... raising my three wonderful children, growing our family business and following my own creative calling to produce art of my own making".
A number of her co-stars and other big names in the world of presenting have emerged as frontrunners to take over from Harrison but the Beeb is yet to announce an official replacement.
One man who's worked closely with Harrison over the years is renowned botanist James Wong who spoke to GB News about Harrison's exit as well as his time working on-screen across a host of gardening shows, and how a trend known as "grounding" can improve people's wellbeing.
Wong was taken aback when GB News asked him about Harrison's exit as he replied: "I didn't know that! This is my reaction right now!"
He let out a laugh before he reminisced: "She joined at a similar time to me as well, I haven't worked on it for a little while.
James Wong has featured on a number of gardening and nature shows
BBC
"I had so much fun doing that show and it really got to take me to places and do things that I never normally would have done.
"So I wish Ellie all the best. After you work for 13 years on a show, maybe you want to change it up and do different things.
"One thing I will say about Ellie is there are some people on TV that look so nice that when you meet them in reality, you just know that they're going to be horrible - she's exactly the same!
"She's like the nicest, cuddliest, girl-next-door vibe and she was so supportive and welcoming when I was on the show. And it's almost disappointing that she's so nice," Wong joked.
Wong, who has a Master of Science degree in ethnobotany, has lent his talents to a number of TV shows as well as Countryfile, regularly contributing to the likes of Gardeners' World, Springwatch, Grow Your Own Drugs, and Great British Garden Revival, to name a few.
Now, he's teamed up with Yeo Valley Organic to encourage people to embrace the outdoors in order to boost their moods, with "grounding" a helpful new trend that can supposedly enhance mental well-being and mood balance.
Celebs such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Emma Watson, and Liam Hemsworth are just a handful of stars who've lauded the trend across social media.
Explaining exactly what "grounding" is and how it can not only boost moods but also improve health as a whole, Wong detailed: "There's this movement of people largely driven by the internet that are talking about grounding and what they mean by that is physical skin contact with the earth.
"And there's this idea that, for example, walking around barefoot connects you directly to the earth, and as a result, there are a surprising amount of mental and physical health benefits.
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Ellie Harrison has quit Countryfile after 13 years
BBC
"So people will talk about improved immune systems, for example, they may even talk about reduced inflammation."
Wong conceded that "as a sceptical scientist", he'd "argue that a lot of that stuff isn't exactly scientifically rigorous" due to the fact there have been "very few trials on it".
However, that isn't to detract from the benefits he's experienced from being in the outdoors as he explained further: "What I would say is we do have a lot of (positive) evidence for being in the natural world.
"I think anecdotally if you're a gardener, or if you're someone who likes country walks or hikes... particularly in lockdown where our experience of nature was much more limited, (but) when you got to go out into a green space, you felt that difference.
"What's really cool to me as a scientist, is that we now have a growing body of evidence that really backs that up.
"We now know that even very short periods of time and green space can help reduce feelings of anxiety and stress measurably reduced stress hormones."
But Wong is keen to get this message across to the public after recent data suggested a vast number of people admit failing to embrace the outdoors.
James Wong is urging people to take on 'grounding' and be more in touch with green spaces
GETTY
He revealed: "Tthe sad thing is when you look at the latest data - there was a really interesting study carried out by Yeo Valley Organic...
"They found that although 76 percent of Brits wish they could improve their mood - and I think looking around the world today, that is quite understandable - 48 percent of them felt they didn't spend enough time outdoors.
"And I think that when you start to dig down - because the research that Yeo Valley Organic did was really solid - time, money and resources were key barriers that people found were difficult.
"I think that's because people think that spending time in green space means that they've got to track down the Amazon, or they've got to have a weekend away and camp in a remote location.
"If you have a lunch break today, if you spend 15 minutes of it in a park or half an hour of it in a park, as much time as you possibly can manage, but even short bursts like that, the data suggests that that can really improve your mood.
"A house plant on your windowsill looking out onto a green view can do that. So you don't have to do these huge interventions to actually make a significant impact," Wong encouraged.
