Richard Hammond has been pictured with his new girlfriend for the first time as he embarks on a new life in Abergavenny.
The Top Gear star, 56, moved into a £2million sprawling Georgian farmhouse near the Welsh town earlier this year after the end of his 23-year marriage to former wife Mindy.
The TV presenter, who shares two children, Izzy, 25, and Willow, 22, with Mindy, was turfed out of his £7million former family home in the tiny hamlet of Weston under Penyard in Herefordshire – and forced to live in a converted barn on the property as part of their divorce battle.
But he is now enjoying a fresh start in the Welsh countryside in his six-bedroom manor house in Upper Triley Farm which boasts a tennis court, a wine cellar and outbuildings to store his collection of super cars.
And last week he revealed he has a new girlfriend as he described his quieter lifestyle post-divorce which centres around cooking, running, walking and enjoying the countryside.
The pair, who are frequently spotted in their local pub, were pictured walking together in Abergavenny.
Locals in the picturesque market town, near the English border, say The Grand Tour host is now ‘one of us’ and describe bumping into him in Waitrose and Morrisons.
Discussing his new lifestyle, Mr Hammond said he eats early by himself or with his girlfriend and admitted he is content with a quiet night in watching TV.
Richard Hammond admitted earlier this week in an interview that he had a new girlfriend following his divorce. He and the mystery woman have been pictured in Abergavenny
The ex-Top Gear host was married to wife Mindy for 23 years with the former couple having two grown up daughters from their time together
Since the end of his marriage, Richard, 56, has bought a £2million sprawling Georgian farmhouse near the Welsh town of Abergavenny as he seeks a fresh start
But residents say he and his partner are a frequent fixture at his local pub The Crown at Pantygelli.
One staff member told the Daily Mail: ‘They come here all the time, at least ten times since they moved here.
‘He’s a local. We sit him away from the front so people don’t see him. He just wants to sit in peace and enjoy a burger.
‘He doesn’t want to be bothered. He wants to be treated like anyone else.’
Mr Hammond’s new home is near Hereford, where he runs car restoration business The Smallest Cog.
He had previously been renting a property in Hereford after being banished to sleep in a barn in the grounds of the marital home, the mock-Gothic Bollitree Castle in Herefordshire set in 20 acres.
Despite the divorce, the pair appear civil and appeared together at their daughter Willow’s graduation from Hartpury University in Gloucester after splitting.
The couple, who had been together for 28 years, said last year they had an ‘amazing’ relationship with ‘two incredible daughters’, adding they would ‘always be in each other’s lives and are proud of the family we created’.
The divorce came soon after the end of The Grand Tour, the Amazon show Mr Hammond hosted with former Top Gear colleagues Jeremy Clarkson and James May, and the death of his father Alan, who was 80.
When Richard and Mindy – who had been together for 28 years – separated, they said they had two ‘wonderful’ daughters and that they would always be in each other’s lives
Their marital home was this £7million mock-Gothic Bollitree Castle in the tiny hamlet of Weston under Penyard in Herefordshire set in 20 acres of land
Last year Mr Hammond told the Daily Mail he had a ‘year from hell’, including the ‘devastating’ collapse of his marriage.
His relationship with Mindy became increasingly strained in recent years due to injuries sustained in two near-fatal car crashes.
And she had previously warned him he was on his ‘last chance’, eight years before the couple announced their marriage was over
In 2006 he was hospitalised after crashing a Vampire Dragster at a speed in excess of 200 miles per hour and was put into a coma while filming a segment for Top Gear.
Eleven years later on the second season of The Grand Tour, he crashed a Rimac Concept One at a hill-climb in Switzerland, rolling the car several times and fracturing his knee.
An insider previously said: ‘Richard has been through an awful lot and the knock-on effect from the crashes has impacted his relationship.
‘It’s understandable given the sheer magnitude of the accidents and the impact caused both physically and mentally, he’s done so well to recover and get back to normal life.
‘But they have changed him, there’s no getting away from it, and his relationship with Mindy has been harmed during the fallout.’
Richard made a name for himself alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May in Top Gear on the BBC and later The Grand Tour on Prime Video
Announcing the divorce in January 2025, he said: ‘A little update from us; this Christmas we were together as a family and this year we will still be a family but just structured a bit differently.
‘Our marriage is coming to an end, but we’ve had an amazing 28 years together and two incredible daughters.
‘We will always be in each other’s lives and are proud of the family we created.
‘With Love, Richard and Mindy.’
