Alex James’s transformation from rock star hellraiser to family man and farmer is entertainingly (and instructively) chronicled in his autobiography bit of a blur (Little, Brown, £8.99). I read it this week with great enjoyment after attending a party he hosted last Thursday in the grounds of his Kingham home to launch Harvest, a food and music festival taking place there between September 9 and 12.

My curiosity had been aroused by something he said in a brief chat (speech is too formal a word) to the guests. It was this: “I absolutely love living here. Claire [his wife and mother to his three children] and I saw the farm on our honeymoon. I don’t know what would have happened to me if I hadn’t bought this. It saved my life, and it’s an extension of my life.”

‘Saved my life’: could things have been that bad? Actually, bit of a blur shows things to have been rather good, as a life of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll — not to mention booze, of which Alex had plenty — will ever seem to some of those not leading one.

Early on, Alex knew just what he was about as a pop star. “I wanted to get drunk and be irresponsible. I was quite resolute about that. I saw life merely as an opportunity to have as much fun as possible . . . It was the duty of rock stars to indulge themselves beyond reasonable limits. If I couldn’t be reckless and extreme, I wasn’t doing my job properly.”

He did it properly, to the extent, as he admits in bit of a blur, to spending “about a million pounds on champagne and cocaine”. But better sense eventually prevailed, partly as a consequence of the awful example of Jeffrey Bernard — like him, a denizen of many Soho bars — hanging before him.

“There is a natural elegance in youthful excess, which gradually turns uglier as one gets older. Uglier and uglier and uglier. Did I want to be chasing women when I was sixty-five or, worse still, drunk, legless and lonely like Jeffrey Bernard? No. The Road of Excess Leads to the Palace of Wisdom.”

You will note that Alex writes well, which is why I have used him to supply half this column. Journalism is now an important strand in his career and he has columns in various newspapers, including a weekly one on food for the Sun. His other roles as a cheesemaker and, from time to time, bass player with Blur occupy him too.

While we sipped his delightful Pommery brut last Thursday — the star is clearly still very happy to buy if not guzzle champagne — he alluded to the lesser perils of his new lifestyle.

“Being a food writer, it’s half the time eating and half the time running around this valley to keep weight off. It’s a struggle.”

On ‘this valley’, his arm moved to encompass the rolling countryside towards the River Evenlode. This is the land he wants us to share at Harvest in September.

“I have wanted to do an event here for years,” he said. “It’s a great use of resources. Music and food go very well together. It’s a perfect reflection of my life. Chefs coming include Mark Hix, Richard Corrigan, Fergus Henderson and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. It’s a Who’s Who of food.”

K.T Tunstall and Jo Wiley will be involved in the music, and Alex said he would be playing too. He also promised a “big cheese surprise that I can’t say anything about at present”.

For information go to www. alexjamespresentsharvest.com