ALAN Titchmarsh is one of the UK's best-loved TV personalities thanks to his work on such shows as Ground Force, The Nature of Britain, Love Your Garden and The Alan Titchmarsh Show.

He's also written several books, including novels, and this week sees the publication of his factual tome The Queen's Houses.

Here, he talks about that project, but first he explained why he won't be seeing him dancing in sequins...

IS IT TRUE THAT YOU WERE ASKED TO APPEAR ON STRICTLY COME DANCING?

I've been asked for the last few years, which is very flattering, but I've said no. I love watching it, but I don't want to be the old man. You know on Strictly that you're the old one when they keep your shirt buttoned up to the top, and it'd feel rather sad to get to that stage!

HOW DID THE NEW BOOK COME ABOUT?

I've been in and around Royal houses and their gardens for quite a while, and it just struck me that I didn't have a book about them all. I thought it might be nice to take a modern look at the history of all the Queen's houses - Buckingham Palace, Sandringham, Windsor Castle, Balmoral and Holyrood, the ones that are hers both privately and officially.

WERE THERE ANY SHOCKS WHILE YOU WERE RESEARCHING?

They're a lot more colourful than you think they are, the amount of things that've gone on within their walls. The stories are fascinating, stories of real people who did amazing things. People have even been murdered.

DO YOU THINK YOUR BOOK COULD BE TURNED INTO A TV SERIES?

It would make an excellent series. Bits of it have been done. We've had programmes about Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, but Sandringham isn't really known, and neither is Balmoral, so it's a possibility.

IS IT TRUE YOU'RE SCALING BACK YOUR WORKLOAD?

I am, slightly, but I'm certainly not retiring. I'm doing the last run of my chat show at the moment, and I'll still be on television, but hopefully it'll mean I can spend more time with my children and grandchildren.

WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU GOT IN THE PIPELINE?

I've got another series of Love Your Garden next year, which have been great fun to do. I've just finished a series that'll air next year called Britain's Best Back Gardens, and I've been going round about 30 of them.

ANY MORE BOOKS?

There will be another novel. I've got one to write that will come out in the Spring of 2016.

l The Queen's Houses, by Alan Titchmarsh (BBC Books, £20)