'I’m happier now... I love my husband even more than when we married!' At 87, Dame Mary Berry is going 十分な-steam ahead with a new cookbook and TV series. But, she says, family always comes first

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Dame Mary Berry lets me in on a culinary family secret: her husband Paul likes nothing better than a breakfast fry-up for his evening meal.?

‘He loves a 伝統的な British breakfast at suppertime. Eggs, bacon. The 十分な 作品. He thinks that’s heaven.’?

So your cookery 技術s are rather wasted on him? ‘井戸／弁護士席 yes,’ she laughs merrily. ‘And he always tells the truth about my cooking. If the sauce is white, I know he’s not going to like it.’?

Dame Mary, 87, has been married to Paul Hunnings, 90, a retired antiquarian bookseller who also worked in the ワイン 貿易（する）, for 56 years. And while she’s still working at a prodigious pace, her husband’s life is rather more leisurely.?

Dame Mary Berry, 87, has been married to Paul Hunnings, 90, for 56 years. The author 述べるs her marriage 説 that she is happier now than ever

As the author of more than 80 cookery 調書をとる／予約するs ? there’s a 選択 of visually 素晴らしい and mouth-watering recipes from the 最新の, Cook And 株, in 週末 today ? she is our best-loved, and probably most prolific, food writer.?

Imparting her own love for cooking, and 株ing her knowledge of it ? with friends and family ? remain her がまんするing passions. She and her long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 assistant Lucy Young discuss food incessantly.?

They have worked together for 32 years and have a very の近くに 関係. Mary often 言及するs to Lucy as ‘the Boss’.?

‘We talk about recipes, try them out, bring in all the new 成分s ? but we never について言及する food at all at meal times because it’s really boring for my husband,’ says Mary.?

Mary is pictured here with her husband Paul who has just taken up croquet. The couple 株 that they have lessons with a Finnish lady

Would he like her to slow 負かす／撃墜する? ‘I’ve asked him and he said, “You love what you do.?

'Carry on! I’ll be here when you come home.” And I always say there’s plenty of time to 残り／休憩（する） in heaven. The moment I run out of ideas is when I’ll stop.?

‘I don’t work the long hours I did during Bake Off,’ she goes on. (Mary, of course, is baking 王族; the Queen of Cakes since she became co-裁判官 with Paul Hollywood of The 広大な／多数の／重要な British Bake Off from its 開始する，打ち上げる in 2010 until 2016 when it relocated to Channel 4.)?

‘Then, I used to be filming until 7pm. Now, I’m always up at 5am, but I’m 支援する home to cook supper for my husband. That’s most important.’?

And here is Paul now, natty in crisp 海軍 shorts and polo shirt. He pops into the kitchen of their home in Henley-on-Thames where we’re chatting, to say hello.?

‘He’s marvellous for 90,’ I say under my breath to Mary. ‘Yes, he’s pretty good. We’ve just taken up croquet.?

The の近くに family 関係 around which their lives pivot are doubly 心にいだくd because they lost a son, William, who was killed, 老年の 19, in a car 衝突，墜落 in 1989

'I’ve never played a sport with my husband before because he says I have no ball sense, but we have lessons with a lovely Finnish lady ? she is so 患者 with us and we 絶対 love it! So it’s a 広大な／多数の／重要な joy to play sport together at last.?

'My husband used to play rugby for Saracens, and tennis and squash, but now he’s 90 he can’t. But croquet is perfect for people our age. We play for two hours and he says he’s knackered at the end but after a bit of a zizz he perks up again.’?

Does this means he’s abandoned tennis? ‘Oh no,’ she says. ‘I’ve played ? very 不正に ? with the same friends for 30 years. These days I’m just careful not to 落ちる.’?

She’s lovely: mischievous, funny ? and very modest ? with a twinkle in her blue 注目する，もくろむs. わずかな／ほっそりした in white ゴルフing shorts and a turquoise and orange 最高の，を越す, she has perfect posture.?

Conversation meanders 支援する to her marriage and she says, ‘I think I’m happier now and I love my husband even more than I did when I married him.?

'A marriage has to be worked at. I never shout. If something 困らすs me I just go into the garden and do some hoeing.’?

I’m tickled to learn that it took three 提案s before Mary agreed to marry Paul. ‘He was very nervous and he kept 示唆するing we get married after he’d had a drink.?

'I’d say, “井戸／弁護士席 you’re drunk.” And finally he said, “I’m not getting any younger so it’s now or never.”

‘So I said, “Yes, but you’d better ask my dad.”’ Mary’s father, Alleyne Berry, a surveyor and former 市長 of Bath who helped 始める，決める up the university there, lived with her mother Margery at Charlcombe Farm north of the city.?

‘Dad kept doves and when Paul went to ask for my 手渡す he drove over one. Dad called him a ‘blithering idiot’ and Paul thought it wasn’t the best time to speak to him.?

‘The next week he went 支援する with a 事例／患者 of ワイン ? he worked for Harveys of Bristol then ? and gave it to my father before asking the question. Dad said, “Yes, but you’ll find her やめる difficult.”’?

Mary baking with daughter Annabel in the 1970s. The couple 持つ／拘留する の近くに Annabel 同様に as? their son Tom

What on earth can he have meant? ‘井戸／弁護士席, I was やめる a strong character,’ says Mary.?

Her husband says she has ‘certainly mellowed’ over the years. ‘Life was so hectic when we were bringing up three children.?

'You just have to hang together and be a team. Now there are just two of us and it’s lovely ? but we welcome the children and grandchildren 支援する with open 武器.’?

Which, of course, is always an 適切な時期 to 株 her delicious cooking with loved ones.?

The の近くに family 関係 around which their lives pivot are doubly 心にいだくd because they lost a son, William, who was killed, 老年の 19, in a car 衝突，墜落 in 1989. His sister Annabel, travelling with him, was mercifully spared.?

Now they 持つ／拘留する の近くに Annabel, their son Tom and?five grandchildren ? twins Abby and Grace, 18; grandsons Louis, 17, and Hobie, 15, and 11-year-old Atalanta ? who visit often.?

Her 最新の 調書をとる／予約する 含むs crowdpleasing recipes with 十代の少年少女s in mind: you can imagine them wolfing 負かす／撃墜する 巨大な Lentil Rolls, tucking in to a Provence Tomato And Garlic Pistou Tart

‘The children come to stay and I don’t mind what time they get up in the morning. I coo k their favourite things; 絶対.?

'And my food has 発展させるd to 融通する their more creative and adventurous tastes.’ Meals, too, have become いっそう少なく formal.?

‘We don’t have three-course dinner parties so much and it’s rather a 救済. I still like to 準備する ahead because you never know what will happen on the day, but I’ll put a pile of plates and the food on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and everyone will help themselves and we’ll often eat outdoors.’?

Her 最新の 調書をとる／予約する 含むs crowdpleasing recipes with 十代の少年少女s in mind: you can imagine them wolfing 負かす／撃墜する 巨大な Lentil Rolls, tucking in to a Provence Tomato And Garlic Pistou Tart or 破壊するing a slice of Ginger And Orange Polenta Cake.?

The 調書をとる／予約する is …を伴ってd by a six-part BBC2 series, Mary Berry ? Cook And 株, in which she travels the length and breadth of Britain, connecting communities and 世代s through food.?

At Edgbaston, home to Warwickshire?郡 Cricket Club, she makes hot smoked salmon rice and asparagus salad for the team ? and is 説得するd by England international Jonny Bairstow to 攻撃する，衝突する a few balls.?

She goes to Bristol, too, where her late son William was an undergraduate when he died, and granddaughter Grace is now 熟考する／考慮するing. Time is always made when she’s in the area to visit the 記念の plaque there in William’s memory.?

‘We often go to Devon or Cornwall and we always 減少（する） off the M4 and pop in to see Will,’ she says, やめる as if he’s still with her (which, in a sense, he is.) ‘We always have a 静かな few moments with him.’?

Her reflections are never 示すd by self-pity: you sense that a strong 約束 支えるs her.?

‘We go to our 地元の church. We have a lovely vicar, and we go wherever he is for Sunday communion. It’s part of our 決まりきった仕事.’?

But she has played （着弾の瞬間に破裂する）着発 for Rick Astley. On the week I visit, she is 予定 to cook at the Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire and 会合，会う headline performer Sophie Ellis-Bextor.?

I ask if she’s ever been to a music festival before and she exclaims: ‘Oh yes! I went to （軍の）野営地，陣営 Bestival and Rick Astley ? such a lovely, warm person with very shiny shoes ? asked if I’d play the 派手に宣伝するs and 申し込む／申し出d to teach me.?

'So I went and had a little practice on 行う／開催する／段階 that afternoon. Then in the evening ? in 前線 of 20,000 people ? they wheeled the 派手に宣伝するs の上に the 行う／開催する／段階 and I had to bang away.?

'I’d no idea what I sounded like and I was petrified. Afterwards Rick said, “That was brilliant” (which was rubbish) and Lucy had half a pint of ワイン in a plastic glass waiting for me ? and it went 負かす／撃墜する like 雷!’?

What strikes me ? aside from her 乗り気 to take on new challenges ? is her 有罪の判決 that she won’t be any good at them. Dame Mary may be baking 王族 but she is utterly bereft of pretension.?

にもかかわらず her 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の 業績／成就s, she still reproaches herself for not working at school. ‘My 広大な／多数の／重要な joy is that my grandchildren work very, very hard at school, 反して I did not and in retrospect, I 悔いる it.?

'My exam results were not 許容できる,’ she chides herself. ‘I didn’t do homework. That was for swots!’?

A 広大な／多数の／重要な favourite of our young 王室のs ? no t that she’d make such a （人命などを）奪う，主張する for herself ? she remembers helping to 静める the 神経s of the Duchess of Cambridge before she made a speech at RHS Wisley three years ago.?

‘I was walking along, talking to Catherine about this and that, and she said, “I feel a little nervous.” I laughed and said, “Hang on a minute. What do you suppose I’m feeling?”?

'Then we stretched our 手渡すs out and held them, and walked along forgetting anyone else was there.?

‘Catherine’s a natural with her children and cooks with them, and when I did my Christmas programme with her and Prince William, he said how immensely proud he is of her.’?

Last time I visited Dame Mary, a year ago, she was recuperating from an op on a broken hip, に引き続いて a 落ちる in her garden. Spry and 肯定的な, she was 十分な of 賞賛する for the NHS staff who had helped her.?

Today she gives me an update: ‘My GP told me: “You’ve two 選択s.?

'You could sit in a 議長，司会を務める and do no 演習 and やめる probably be dead in four years, or you can 始める，決める to, walk (上りの／困難な too!) and do everything you can, and it’ll take 18 months for a 十分な 回復.”?

‘And gosh, she was 権利. I’ve 演習d and had lots of physio and it’s not やめる normal yet, but it will be.’?

Her default 方式 is 肯定的な: she does not complain. She even makes a 最近の 一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合 of Covid seem like a blessing.?

She and Paul had it a few months 支援する, while on holiday in Corfu. ‘We were lucky!’ she says.?

‘We got it together. We didn’t have to be 分裂（する） up. Imagine if it had been just one of us, in a room on our own.’?

On cue, Paul arrives for his midmorning hot chocolate. Lucy appears with home-made shortbread, which Mary 小包s up for me to t ake home.?

She walks to the 前線 door to wave me off; slender, upright, elegant ? and as delighted as ever to spread joy by cooking and 株ing.

• Mary Berry ? Cook And 株 starts 7 September at 8pm on BBC2.?