Inside Prue Leith's quiet life in pretty Cotswolds town where houses fetch £551,000

Dame Prue Leith returns to our screens tonight for the latest series of The Great British Bake Off, where the esteemed judge will welcome a fresh batch of bakers to the tent.

The celebrity chef, 84, has been a judge on the Channel 4 show since 2017, with her colourful clothes, statement glasses and witty humour being a staple of the beloved programme.

She will join fellow judge Paul Hollywood as well as presenters Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond, who returns for her second year hosting the show.

Away from giving verdicts on cakes, biscuits and bread, Prue lives a peaceful life in the beautiful Cotswolds village of Moreton-in-Marsh with her husband John Playfair, whom she married in 2016.

The small yet beautiful market town is known for its with honey-coloured houses, and is located in the Evenlode Valley in the north Gloucestershire Cotswolds.

Prue has lived in the same house for more than 40 years, where she enjoys cooking and gardening.

On the cookery writer’s website, she stated: “I’ve been in this house for 44 years and when I leave, which I must one day, it will be the garden I miss, far more than the house.”

She added: “My first house was a big old house with a ramshackle garden with the bones of good design still visible in the trees and hedges.

“When we took possession, I couldn’t tell an oak from an ash, had never grown so much as a tomato plant, and had little idea where to begin. But ignorance truly is bliss, and gardening quickly became addictive. I loved all my attempts at tree planting, making borders, growing veg – until they failed.”

But Prue doesn’t just love pottering in the garden, with the Bake Off judge also enjoying somewhat of a rockstar lifestyle.

In a previous interview with Good Housekeeping, Prue revealed exactly what she gets up to with her husband when she isn’t being a domestic goddess.

She confessed that the pair ride around on John's Harley-Davidson motorbike to frequent different pubs around the Cotswolds.

“We go pub-crawling around the Cotswolds, I do the drinking because I’m on the back, and it’s the loveliest,” she said. "His [John's] children call it his mobility scooter because it has two wheels at the back, so it can’t turn over – but I love it."

With a population of around 4,000 people, Moreton-In-Marsh is a small town that still has plenty of independent shops, tea rooms, restaurants, antiques stores and art galleries - with no large chains.

It's said the small town inspired J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, with the famous Bell Inn providing the inspiration for the Prancing Pony, Middle Earth’s most famous pub, in his books.

Meanwhile, the Four Shire Stone located, which marks the old point of four counties, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire, is believed to have inspired the Three Farthing Stone.

According to Rightmove, Moreton-In-Marsh had an overall average house price of £551,398 over the last year.

It’s also a popular choice for commuters to London, with a train station having a direct link to Paddington and a journey time of 1.5 hours.

Journeys from the cities of Bristol, Gloucester and Oxford are even shorter, and a train ride from Birmingham is also 90 minutes.