At the beginning of 2025, Hammond announced that he and his wife Mindy, who share two children, were separating, just three months after his father died of cancer.
It also came around the time of the final Grand Tour episode which brought his 22-year broadcasting career with Jeremy Clarkson and James May to an end.
Since then, he has been rebuilding his life in Wales, and said his energy levels had “been replenished”.
“I’m now far braver and do things I would never have done,” he said.
He has even joined an Abergavenny running club, bringing his 5k time down to under 25 minutes, and taken up open water swimming in the Lake District as he keeps pace with new girlfriend Keira “Kiki” Glen.
“Basically, she did a triathlon and I went to support her,” he told the Telegraph.
“They were all having such a great time and buzzing afterwards, so I signed up for next year and got swept along.”
While you would expect that classic cars and motor racing still feature heavily in his life, Hammond is aware that his priorities have shifted.
Rather than attending the Goodwood Revival festival this year, he was sampling cheeses and whiskies at the Abergavenny Food Festival.