Nancy Birtwhistle

What’s your favourite thing to bake?
I adore bread so a fresh loaf will always be top of my list. As soon as it is cool enough to slice I will add butter and enjoy the first slice. Coffee and walnut cake is a close second.

What’s a surprising, fun fact about you?
I don’t feel any different now to how I did forty years ago, so at the age of 70 I thought, why not learn to play tennis? I joined a club and have lessons every week.

What’s growing in your garden at the moment?
Everything I can possibly find space for! I have just over an acre and every available patch is used to grow food and edibles. My aim is to be self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables and I am almost there. However, I’m not quite growing enough potatoes to keep me going all year and by January this year I had to buy some. I freeze, dry, bottle, preserve, store and ferment, and try not to buy supermarket produce. When I do buy from a supermarket I try to ensure that it has been grown in the UK.

What motivates you?
I believe I am gathering a group of like-minded people that want to also do their best for themselves, their families and our planet. Together we are ditching the harmful chemicals, growing our own and working at reducing our dependence on ultra-processed foods. Every positive comment or ‘before and after’ success story keeps me motivated and has me always looking for better and more sustainable ways to live.

What’s the one cleaning remedy you could not live without?
Pure Magic. It’s the best eco-friendly recipe for a toilet cleaner and descaler, with so many other uses - and unlike chlorine bleach it is not toxic and will not kill fish.

What’s your go-to comfort food?
I think a bowl of home-made soup can so often hit the spot. Quick to make, tasty, inexpensive and nutritious - and when I’m in a hurry and don’t have the time to make it from scratch there will always be a batch of homemade soup I can get out of the freezer.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
My grandmother once said to me, “If you think you can do it, then you probably can.” I repeat that to myself many times.

What’s one thing you wish everyone did for the planet?
Read the reverse labels on their cleaning products. The warnings are there but in very small print - “toxic to aquatic life with long-lasting effects”.

If you could invite any three people to dinner, who would they be and what would you cook for them?
I eat less meat now than I used to, and when I do want to serve meat I choose a ‘less fine cut’ because the taste is so much better. My 12-hour slow roast belly pork with a crispy slither of crackling always goes down a treat, and it’s possible to make it in advance so there are no last-minute panics.

I would invite Nigella Lawson (I owe her one because she recently took me out to dinner). I would invite Sir David Attenborough because I admire him so much and would love to hear more about his amazing life’s work, and the third person would be Billy Connolly. His humour, experiences and attitude to life I adore.

What project are you currently working on?
I continue to write and am pleased to be working on my seventh book. I try to be very disciplined. Early mornings work for me so I get up at 5:45am, to be ready at my computer by 6am. I can write for four or five hours and always leave my work knowing exactly where I will pick it up again the next day. Thankfully I have not ever suffered from ‘writer’s block’.

Nancy Birtwhistle is the author of six books, including the bestselling cookbook, Nancy's Green and Easy Kitchen, out now