Mary Berry bans mobile phones on family holidays.

Mary Berry

Mary Berry

The former 'Great British Bake Off' judge confiscates the devices from her children and grandchildren on holidays to force everyone to speak to each other.

Speaking at the Henley Literary Festival, Mary said: "When I go on holiday with the children, Granny has all the phones.

"My own children say, 'Mum can you be in charge of phones.' So they hand them into me and they're allowed them for half an hour in the mornings and an hour and a half at night while we're getting supper. And it works.

"Your children will begin to talk to you when their tummies are full.

"You don't know what's going on in a house unless you all sit down together and chat."

Mary, a judge on 'Bake Off' between 2010 and 2016, has previously said she installs a "Downing Street rule", where her family hand in their phones when they come over for Sunday lunch.

The 84-year-old cook said: "I call it the 'Downing Street rule' because that's what they make you do if you go to Number 10."

Mary also made a surprise revelation about her new home - it doesn't have a dining room.

She said: "My husband nearly died when we were not having a dining room. I reminded him how often we used it."