Home Truths with Mary Berry, The Queen of Cakes

Tell the dogs to be quiet! If I’ve been away, the first thing I do is go into the garden and see what I can pick to make the house home. 

There is always something in the garden to pick – we’ve got some irises and they’re on the kitchen table now.

At the end of the day, you know when you’ve achieved what you’ve set out from your list for the day, and the door closes. 

I think six o’clock is about my favourite time, sitting down, perhaps having a drink and thinking I’d better get on with some supper.

I love my kitchen. We now live in Henley and the house is just what we want. We have a main family kitchen, then we have a little kitchen where we do all the testing. 

People say my recipes work, it’s because they are tried out until we’ve made them perfect for everybody else to make.

A clock, a picture of the children, my book of the moment. I’m reading Diary of a Modern Country Gardener by Tamsin Westhorpe. It’s a diary of each month, and I’m looking at each month and what I should be doing in the garden.

I can’t resist buying jugs to put flowers in, and I’m always looking out for antique mugs. In my English Garden range, I have mugs and jugs – they’re very simple and beautiful china.

From the very beginning when the signature range was produced, I wanted china which was very good quality, dishwasher proof, you can heat it so you can have hot plates, but a very simple design. I’ve used it every day, particularly the dinner plates and I haven’t cracked any.

I don’t like to go to bed without a tidy kitchen, because I can’t bear coming down in the morning to mess.

I love the smell of a good rose, like Chandos beauty. And I love the smell of melting butter for an omelette!

I like everything back in its place – I think that must infuriate people. I’ve got a lot of hooks near the cooker and there are sieves on one, a ladle on another and everything has to be put back in its place, so I know where it is.

I don’t call it a chore, but something I enjoy is always having flowers in the house. I try to have some in the garden all year round. I do like to have something to pick.

Making up a bed from scratch. I really find that frightfully boring! I learnt my hospital corners early on at college, and I don’t like it anymore now.

Every morning I get up and I make a fruit salad for breakfast. I have done it every single day of my life. Then we walk the dogs.

I hope I’m a good host. To me, the secret of being a good host is to have done a bit of organising beforehand. If you’re having a few people round for drinks, it’s essential to have everything ready and prepared so you’re not spending all the time in the kitchen. 

I had all my children and grandchildren round on Monday and I made three curries. All that was cooked ahead, everything was done before they walked through the door. 

It’s important to spend time with your guests and if you have prepared things well, and maybe you’ve frozen the food if it’s suitable, or cooked it the day before or earlier in the day. Then you can enjoy your guests.

I’m more than likely, if it’s a nice day, to be out in the garden, or if I’m on my own I’m very likely to think ‘oh I’ll do a bit of batch cooking for another day.’

I miss the dogs, really. We don’t take them with us usually. We have two, Darcy, named after Darcy Bussell, and Freddy, her son. I love them a lot and they’re lovely to come home to.