Now Domestic Goddess Mary Shares Secrets

Karen comes clean: she’s never sure whether it’s a job for disinfectant or bleach… but knows lemons go in gin and tonic.

- Karen Kay

MARY Berry, sometime resident of Buckinghamshire (soon to be Henley) and purveyor of perfect Victoria Sponges, has just published another of her weighty tomes. It is, like the 70 or so others that have gone before, designed to appeal to those who aspire to her domestic goddess status, but its pages are not packed with recipes or guides to serving a Sunday roast. No, this one challenges us to perfect the art of the chore. Mary’s Household Tips and Tricks: Your Guide to Happiness in the Home only serves to highlight how inept many of us are when it comes to cleaning, laundry and other elements of domestic drudgery.

Mary shares her years of experience, offering the sort of expertise that in some families has probably been handed down through generations. I’m fairly certain most of our parents’ generation learned many housekeeping skills at their parents’ knee: from baking scones to floor sweeping and laundry, many young girls (and yes, there has long been a defined gender divide in such matters) stood at their mother’s side and skills were passed on. Larger families meant older offspring mucked in, sharing domestic tasks, while life expectations for young women meant they were largely preparing to be a “good wife”.