Carol Kirkwood made the tearful announcement that she is stepping down from BBC Breakfast earlier this week. It was a shift in priorities that led the meteorologist and broadcaster, who has been the main weather presenter on BBC Breakfast since 2010, to leave the BBC after more than 25 years.
"I want to spend more time with my gorgeous husband, Steve. We're ships that pass in the night, so I'm really looking forward to doing that. We want to travel as well," Carol told presenters Jon Kay and Sally Nugent.
© Jeff Spicer/Getty ImagesWith this in mind, Carol will be able to spend more time with police officer Steve, whom she married in 2023, at their Windsor home. The pair live in Maidenhead and have done so since before their nuptials. It is private time at home that means the most to Carol.
Inside Carol's Windsor home
Speaking with Prima two years before her wedding, Carol revealed the romantic way her then-boyfriend would take care of her, explaining: "He always makes me a cup of tea before I go to work in the morning, which is very romantic - it's 2:45 am, and he often leaves me a little love note for when I come home from work. That, to me, is worth a million red roses."
As far as their home itself, Carol has previously opened up to HouseBeautiful, though she likes to keep photos at home to herself. She revealed in 2024: "My home is a small, quite contemporary detached house near Windsor. It's my refuge, a place where I can come home, relax and switch off."
Of the outside space, the TV star said: "It's got a reasonable, certainly manageable-sized garden and we do enjoy pottering. I can't believe I'm saying that because when I grew up in The Highlands, I used to hate doing the garden because we had an enormous garden. I'd do anything other than gardening, even cooking. Now it's the other way around!"
Carol's favourite part of her home
As far as her favourite room in the house, Carol makes it clear that her living room holds a special place in her heart. "It's really bright and airy. We've got floor-to-ceiling windows with shutters on them and the colour scheme is cream and grey — very tranquil, restful, relaxing colours," she explained.
"I make the room brighter with cushions. I've got zebra print, teal, silver and fuchsia cushions. The whole thing sounds revolting because there are so many colours going on, but they all do work together and lift the room."
The pieces in her home vary in terms of extravagance. While she loves her sale item air fryer (or her husband does – she says she's the "sous chef"), she admits that her Italian leather sofa set her back thousands of pounds. But her and Steve's matching mugs with "Mr and Mrs Randall" on them, a nod to her married name, is her most sentimental household items.
How did Carol and Steve meet?
Carol and her second husband (she was married to Jimmy Kirkwood from 1990 to 2008) were friends before getting together. She previously told Closer of their budding romance: "We were friends before we became romantically involved, so we knew each other quite well before we started dating. That was nice because it just kind of happened. Neither of us was looking for romance, and there it was; it just evolves."
© GettyThe presenter, who started her career on BBC Radio Scotland, announced her engagement at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2022, flashing her beautiful diamond ring.
She said on live TV: "We went out for a picnic, I had absolutely no idea. The weather was glorious, we were sitting chatting…He was fumbling in his pocket and then out came a ring." Carol added: "I thought he was joking, actually, I didn't believe him to start with… It was quite romantic."
