Prue Leith reveals she is feeding 30 nurses in a local care home during lockdown

Prue Leith, 80, reveals she is feeding 30 nurses at a local care home during lockdown – and admits she is having ‘rather a nice time’ because she is ‘so old people bring her things’

  • Bake Off judge, 80, feeds 30 nurses at Penhurst Gardens in Chipping Norton
  • Says she enjoys getting back to proper cooking and is not ‘virtue signalling’
  • Admits she misses family gatherings and wants to see more of grandchildren 
  • Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19

Prue Leith has been feeding an army of 30 care home nurses during lockdown – and admits she is having ‘rather a nice time’ because people bring her things due to her age.

The Bake Off host, 80, is currently isolating at her Oxfordshire countryside home with her husband John Playfair.

Speaking to The Sunday Times Home, she said she is on the ‘lucky end of the age spectrum’ – despite the fact it makes her more vulnerable to coronavirus.

‘I am so old that people bring me things,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to say I am enjoying lockdown, because I want it to end for other people, but I am having rather a nice time.’

Prue Leith has been feeding an army of 30 care home nurses during lockdown – and admits she is having ‘rather a nice time’ because people bring her things due to her age

Every Thursday, Prue cooks up a storm for staff at Penhurst Gardens care home in nearby Chipping Norton.

‘I don’t want to be virtue signalling: I’m doing it because I really enjoy it,’ she said. ‘It’s a chance to get back to proper cooking.’

Prue added that bread is ‘more satisfying than anything’ to cook because it’s a ‘living thing and it grows’. 

‘You have to look after it like a baby,’ she explained. ‘Somebody gave me yeast this morning. I was very impressed with that, because I haven’t been able to buy it.’

Though she added and that she and John are on diet, largely down to the amount of chocolate cakes she’s been baking.

Prue added that bread is 'more satisfying than anything' to cook because it's a 'living thing and it grows'. Pictured during a video shared to her Instagram page instructing people on how to chop parsley

Prue added that bread is ‘more satisfying than anything’ to cook because it’s a ‘living thing and it grows’. Pictured during a video shared to her Instagram page instructing people on how to chop parsley

While she is enjoying walks in the countryside with her two dogs, Prue admitted she misses her regular family gatherings, which often involve between 20 and 30 people, and is desperate to see more of her grandchildren who are ‘growing up so fast’. 

Prue and John are currently building a house nearby, after getting permission to knock down a cottage on the farm Prue owns next door and rebuild a modern home. 

The TV chef added that she is also still receiving physiotherapy for an injury sustained while filming a sketch for the last series of Bake Off. 

Prue and her husband John, pictured together in London in 2018, are currently building a house nearby, after getting permission to knock down a cottage on the farm Prue owns next door and rebuild a modern home

Prue and her husband John, pictured together in London in 2018, are currently building a house nearby, after getting permission to knock down a cottage on the farm Prue owns next door and rebuild a modern home

Prue was left on crutches after pulling her Achilles tendon in a freak accident while dressed as the Cowardly Lion for a Wizard of Oz themed comedy skit.  

She revealed to the Spectator that after ‘leaping’ out onto the yellow brick road while roaring to join co-stars Noel Fielding, Paul Hollywood and Sandi Toksvig, who were portraying Dorothy, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow respectively, she felt the ‘hammer blow’ which left her ‘whimpering’ in the same fashion as her character.

The judge reportedly spent the next hour trying to ease her pain with her leg in an bucket of iced water while being dosed up on painkillers.

Luckily it was the last day of filming, but Prue had to film the whole of Junior Bake Off in a wheelchair and on crutches.