Ben Fogle and wife Marina's 'fury' over social services investigation

New Lives in the Wild presenter Ben Fogle, 51, has two children with his wife Marina - Ludovic, 15, and daughter Iona, 13.

Marina has revealed that she and Ben were once wrongly reported to social services for "verbal abuse" of their children.

She recounted the dramatic story to The Times, explaining that they returned home from a holiday to find a letter from social services. It claimed that "there had been a report of verbal abuse at our address" she recalled.

"[Someone] had reported us for supposedly shouting at our children, they said, the kind of sustained verbal abuse that was simply unacceptable," she explained.

Going on to say: "My husband, Ben, was so shocked that anyone even knew this was possible, combined with the fact that we are very much not a shouty household, suspected it might have been someone wanting to cause trouble."

The claims were disproven not just once the family revealed they were in fact on holiday at the time of the alleged abuse, but also after a house visit to check on the children's safety.

Marina admits she was "anxious not to convey the frustration and emerging fury" she was feeling. "Even though I was completely innocent, my interaction with social services rocked me," she added.

The ordeal is now behind them, and their happy children feature on Marina's Instagram feed, usually enjoying their vast back garden at their stunning property.

Back in 2019, Ben and his wife Marina decided to move out of London and onto a sprawling countryside estate in Henley, Oxfordshire.

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The property has a tennis court, a swimming pool and a vegetable patch, among other amenities. Sitting on 1.3 acres, the estate has plenty of land for Ben's lively Labradors to roam freely.

In various social media posts, Ben has shown off his impressive garden, stunning lounge and even his bathroom along with his "view from the loo" – yes, really!

Marina recently revealed the family's dining room with rustic table, green in-built cupboards and gorgeous statement lighting.

Children Ludovic and Iona both attend a boarding school nearby, and when it was time for their daughter to fly the nest, Marina couldn't believe it had come around so quickly.

The doting mother revealed to The Times: "For the first time in nearly 15 years, I won't have any children at home during the week. My 13-year-old daughter has now joined her brother at a weekly boarding school."

Marina has admitted that this major upheaval was all the more heartbreaking because of the couple's experience with their stillborn son. "This change for me is harder because my nest wasn't supposed to be empty quite yet. Our youngest child, Willem, was stillborn 10 years ago."

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