Nancy Birtwhistle

The Bake Off winner is back with recipes of a new kind to keep your home clean and green

- With Hannah Stephenson

If you want to have a clean home, save money and help save the planet, Nancy Birtwhistle has the magic recipe for you.

Well, several magic recipes. Instead of focusing on cakes, the baker, who won the fifth series of The Great British Bake Off in 2014, is on a mission to encourage the nation to make their own green cleaning products.

They range from her multipurpose Pure Magic “beast of a cleaner”, to laundry detergent, stain removers, furniture polish and even dental retainer stain remover.

Grandmother-of-10 Nancy became more eco-focused a decade ago after learning how discarded plastic polluted the oceans.

“I think it was the David Attenborough programmes that first raised my awareness, when you saw the plight of aquatic life affected by discarded plastic, I thought this was horrendous,” she says.

Since then, she has championed reducing single-use plastics and harsh chemicals, and has been creating her own cleaning products using everyday, affordable ingredients like baking soda and white vinegar. As well as cookery books, she’s written about eco-friendly living, and her latest book is Clean Magic.

“Once you've made the switch and see how good it is, and that you're doing your bit for the planet, but fundamentally how much money you're saving, you'll never look back,” she says.

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief someone else will save it. I can, in my little house, do something to help every single day. As well as brilliant cleaning up of our homes, the cost savings of going green are tangible.”