Arnold Schwarzenegger lived a "rich life" growing up in Austria.

He said: "Back then I thought there was nothing going on in this boring town and I was always complaining about it.

"Now I see it and think: 'Look at the luxury I had'. I was able to grow up in a playground that in America people have to create."

The 'Terminator' star also lamented the fact he now has to travel to take his children to experience things which were on his doorstep growing up opposite an 11th century castle.

He said: "Now I have to go to take the kids down to the beach and to the swings, or to some special place where they can ride on a pony, or to somewhere else where they can see a cow or something like that. I grew up literally across the street from a castle."

Schwarzenegger loved showing his children the rustic tasks he had to do as a child and thinks they would have benefited from the "rich"

environment he grew up in.

He added to Shortlist magazine: "My kids, when they went over to visit, they were like, 'Oh my God, look at this.'

"I got a can and I milked a cow. I told them that I used to do it at six every morning ... Today I look at it as a rich life ... I grew up much more normal because of that environment."