A BBC radio star has revealed that he often bumps into Dame Mary Berry, as he and the former Great British Bake Off judge are, in fact, “local” to each other
A celebrity neighbour of Dame Mary Berry has revealed insights into the baking legend’s true nature, describing her as an “icon”. As culinary favourite Mary celebrates her 91st birthday today (March 24), well-known radio presenter Vernon Kay has mentioned that he sees her “in the village” occasionally, disclosing that he and the former Bake Off judge are, in fact, “local” to each other.
Vernon, who resides in a six-bedroom property in the town of Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, with his wife, Tess Daly, shared the revelation on Tuesday morning’s episode of his BBC Radio 2 show.
After he acknowledged that it’s Mary’s birthday today, Vernon played a BBC archive clip from her 90s series Mary Berry at Home. In it, she guided viewers through the process of preparing a Canterbury tart.
Afterwards, Vernon said: “I see her every now and again in the village, Mary Berry. She’s local to us, or we’re local to her. Very, very sweet lady. Always good fun and an icon.”
He didn’t disclose the exact village that he was referring to on air. But previous reports have placed Mary’s former home in the village of Penn, where she is said to have lived for more than 30 years in a Grade II-listed property.
However, it’s understood that Mary has lived in Henley-on-Thames, a town on the edge of the left bank of the River Thames in south Oxfordshire, with her husband, Paul J.M. Hunnings, since 2019. Penn is just a nine-minute drive from Beaconsfield.
Henley-on-Thames is somewhat further afield, approximately 28 minutes by car. It suggests that Mary and Vernon continue to reside within 30 miles of one another.
Meanwhile, an amusing anecdote has recently re-emerged about Mary’s encounter with the law. She previously shared the story during an episode of The Graham Norton Show, whilst speaking with Claudia Winkleman.
She revealed that 25 years earlier, she was invited to travel to the US to participate in cookery demonstrations. However, she would ultimately find herself in trouble as she’s “very particular” about “getting everything right”.
Mary said: “I also try to look ahead, so I thought I ought to have my recipes, all the ingredients, weighed out in case the plane is late, or in case the connections aren’t right. I can go straight on stage to do my cookery demonstrations. So, I weighed out each recipe in little bags, and I had the flour and the sugar and everything grouped together, so that I could lift it out for the first recipe and so on.
“When we arrived, there were dogs, and I love dogs, and I was just ready to go and they all, three of them came up with their noses sort of like this [does the impression], and I thought ‘come along’, but they didn’t want to know me.
“They just began and then suddenly the airport became empty, and there were just uniformed people, and I was with Lucy Young, my assistant. They parted us – Lucy there, me there – into two cells.”
Claudia jokingly stated that Mary was in a cell with a “selection of packets containing white powder”. It was also revealed that the police questioned Mary if she intended to “make money” from them. She responded: “Oh, I do, and my fee has already been agreed.”
