It has been one year since Bake Off star Mary Berry said she walks out of her home when there is a disagreement with her husband.
The legendary cook, now aged 91, was a judge on the BBC's Great British Bake Off between 2010 and 2016 before it left for Channel 4.
Dame Mary has lived in Henley with her husband Paul Hunnings since 2019.
In an interview with Radio Times last year, the 91-year-old spoke of life in her £2.6m Henley home with her husband.
She said: "Paul always says that the secret to our long marriage is his saying, ‘Yes, dear’ to everything, and then going his own way. But we don’t argue.
"If any disagreements come up, I open the back door and just go out and maybe pick some flowers or get some apples. It’s amazing if you can walk away.
"Of course, if I was living in a top-floor flat, that would be difficult. But we respect each other."
The four-bedroom riverside home has an indoor pool, tennis court and home gym.
Dame Mary added: "I’m very lucky. He has mellowed in his old age and he’s become very appreciative of me. So I look after him, and it’s a great pleasure.
"That’s what I promised to do. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer. And we are very happy in our dotage."
Speaking to Lumity Life in 2021, Dame Mary revealed: "I play tennis and I garden and walk the dogs, but I’ve not stepped inside a gym since I was at school."
The TV cook married antiques dealer Paul Hunnings – famously after he proposed three times – 60 years ago this year.
“Things have changed,” says 91-year-old Berry. “When I got married in 1966, the chaps – or partners – didn’t cook very much. Now everybody’s enjoying cooking.”
Her first TV series was Afternoon Plus with Judith Chalmers in the early Seventies, and by 2010 Berry was a judge on The Great British Bake Off, with many of her own BBC cooking shows between and since, along with publishing over 80 cookery books.
“I absolutely love what I do, I’ve got a lovely team and that makes all the difference. We have a good laugh and we take it quite seriously,” says the food writer and presenter.
At home the couple try to focus on lighter, plant-packed meals. “We eat less meat – we certainly eat meat and we enjoy it,” she says. “Slightly smaller portions, because we’re older. Lots of salad, [I enjoy] an avocado caesar salad, or a roasted fennel, onion and potato [bake] with parmesan on top.
“We have vegetarian often – humble pie is one of our favourites, that’s with cauliflower and a cheese sauce, pastry on top, leeks and peas to give it colour – a midweek supper, it’s delicious.
“In my time of cooking things have changed – the vegetables have changed. Butternut squash was not something that was available. When I started cooking, there wasn’t even an avocado.”
For her latest cookbook, Mary All in One, Berry is trying to save busy home cooks washing-up time, focusing on 120 of her favourite recipes through the years that can all be made in one pot.
Mary’s All in One – My Favourite One Pan, One Pot, One Dish Recipes by Mary Berry is published in hardback by BBC Books, priced £28. Food photography by Tara Fisher. Available October 8
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