Dame Mary Berry

The national treasure talks life in the garden and how she relaxes on a Friday with Monty Don

- With Hannah Stephenson

JOY Mary in her happy place

Dame Mary Berry may be famed for her great cooking skills, foolproof recipes and mouthwatering bakes, but her passion for gardening comes a close second. And while she claims to be no expert, she was president of the National Garden Scheme for a decade and is a Royal Horticultual Society ambassador.

She's also a huge fan of BBC Gardeners' World but confesses she doesn't watch her former show The Great British Bake Off.

"I don't think it's fair on my husband. We're testing recipes all the time, thinking what's going in the next book. It's not fair in the evening to turn on a cooking show as he's seen quite enough of it."

She has now written a book, My Gardening Life, full of memories and snippets about what gardening means to her, interwoven with advice from experts. It also details her favourite plants and offers seasonal advice based on her own experience, from her first tiny garden in London to her huge plot in Buckinghamshire and her current one-acre garden in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, started six years ago.

"The garden has been a great solace and a place I love to be. Whatever life may bring, being out in the garden usually makes me feel a little bit better about it," she writes.

Having a garden has helped her through difficult times. She has a bed of Sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus), dedicated to her late son, William, who died in a car accident aged 19.