Richard Hammond is pictured with his mystery girlfriend for the first time – as he starts new life after divorcing ex-wife Mindy

Richard Hammond has been photographed with his new girlfriend for the first time as he starts a new life in Abergavenny.

The Top Gear star, 56, moved into a spacious £2million Georgian farmhouse near the Welsh town earlier this year following the end of his 23-year marriage to ex-wife Mindy.

The TV presenter, who has two children with Mindy, Izzy, 25, and Willow, 22, was evicted from the £7million former family home in the tiny hamlet of Weston, near Penyard, Herefordshire, and was forced to live in a converted barn on the property as part of their divorce battle.

But now he’s enjoying a fresh start at his six-bedroom mansion at Upper Triley Farm in the Welsh countryside, which has a tennis court, wine cellar and outbuildings where he can store his supercar collection.

Last week, he revealed he had a new girlfriend as he described his quieter post-divorce lifestyle, centered around cooking, running, walking and enjoying the countryside.

The pair, who are often seen in local pubs, were photographed walking together in Abergavenny.

Locals in the picturesque market town near the English border say the Grand Tour presenter is now ‘one of us’ and describe encountering him in Waitrose and Morrisons.

Speaking about his new lifestyle, Mr Hammond said he ate early, either alone or with his girlfriend, and admitted he was content to have a quiet night watching TV.

The former Top Gear presenter was married to wife Mindy for 23 years and the former couple have two adult daughters from their time together.

Since the end of his marriage, Richard, 56, has bought a spacious Georgian farmhouse worth £2 million near the Welsh town of Abergavenny as he looks for a fresh start.

But locals say he and his partner frequent local pub The Crown in Pantygelli.

One staff member told the Daily Mail: ‘They’ve been coming 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 can’t see him. He just wants to sit in peace and enjoy his burger.

‘He doesn’t want to be disturbed. He wants to be treated like everyone else.’

Mr Hammond’s new home is near Hereford, where he runs his car restoration business, The Smallest Cog.

He had previously been renting a property in Hereford after being exiled to sleep in a barn on the grounds of his marital home, the mock-Gothic Bollitree Castle set on 20 acres of land in Herefordshire.

Despite their divorce, the pair appear civil and after their split appeared together at their daughter Willow’s graduation ceremony from Hartpury University in Gloucester.

The couple, who have been together for 28 years, said last year that they had a “wonderful” relationship with their “two incredible daughters” and that they “will always be in each other’s lives and will be proud of the family we have created.”

The divorce came shortly after the end of The Grand Tour, the Amazon show which Mr Hammond hosted with former Top Gear colleagues Jeremy Clarkson and James May, and the death of his father Alan, 80.

Richard and Mindy, who have been together for 28 years, said when they split that they had two ‘wonderful’ daughters and that they would always be in each other’s lives.

Their marital home was this £7 million mock-Gothic Bollitree Castle, set on 20 acres in the tiny hamlet of Weston below Penyard in Herefordshire.

Last year Mr Hammond told the Daily Mail he had had ‘a year from hell’, including the ‘devastating’ collapse of his marriage.

His relationship with Mindy has become increasingly strained in recent years due to injuries sustained in two near-fatal car accidents.

And he warned her it was her ‘last chance’ eight years before the couple announced their marriage was over.

After crashing a Vampire Dragster at more than 200 miles per hour in 2006, he was hospitalized and fell into a coma while filming an episode of Top Gear.

Eleven years later, in the second season of the Grand Tour, he crashed the Rimac Concept One on a hill climb in Switzerland, rolling the car several times and fracturing his knee.

An insider previously said: ‘Richard has been through a lot and the knock-on effect of the accidents has affected his relationship.

‘Given the magnitude of the accident and the impact it caused both physically and mentally, it is understandable that he was very successful in recovering and returning to normal life.

‘But they changed him, there’s no escaping it, and his relationship with Mindy suffered in the process.’

Richard made a name for himself alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May in BBC’s Top Gear and later Prime Video’s The Grand Tour.

Announcing the divorce in January 2025, he said: ‘A little update from us; We were together as a family this Christmas, and we’ll still be a family this year, just structured a little differently.

‘Our marriage is coming to an end but we have had a wonderful 28 years together and have two incredible daughters.

‘We will always be in each other’s lives and we will be proud of the family we have created.

‘With love, Richard and Mindy.’