Sophie Dahl knew Jamie Cullum was 'The One'

Sophie Dahl has admitted she knew almost immediately that Jamie Cullum was 'The One' and has praised his ''terrific'' parenting skills.

Sophie Dahl says meeting Jamie Cullum was "like coming home".

The supermodel-turned-TV presenter married the jazz musician in 2010 and gave birth to the couple's first child, Lyra, in March and Sophie knew almost immediately that Jamie was 'The One'.

She said: "I knew very early on that I had met my person. I think we both did. Life just felt fuller. I hate it when people say, 'I felt completed', but it felt like it was always meant to be in that way. He felt familiar to me. It felt like coming home, which I suppose is the mark of something great."

The couple live an idyllic life in Oxfordshire where Jamie has scaled back on his touring commitments to help Sophie with their daughter and the 34-year-old model has praised her spouse as a "tremendously patient and fun" father.

Speaking in the new issue of Red magazine, she said: "I feel very lucky. As a new mother, I have friends whose husbands went back to work within a week and, for me, having Jamie at home was invaluable. We really got to figure Lyra out and she got to figure us out. It's been lovely. He's divine, but I knew he would be. He's a terrific father, tremendously patient and fun. You definitely look for that in a partner, albeit unconsciously. I thought he was great before I knew his background but when you see where someone comes from, it gives you a stronger sense of them and what they are shaped by. The closeness of his family was, and is, very appealing. It feels very natural and easy, like it was always meant to be.

"I have somebody help me in the afternoon, which is when I do my writing and emails, and then we liaise again later for bath and bedtime."