What my home means to me Bake Off queen Nadiya Hussain
Her career is blossoming but last year’s Bake Off queen is downsizing. Here, Nadiya Hussain, 31, who lives with husband Abdal, 34, and children Musa, nine, Dawad, eight, and Maryam, five, tells why a tiny house in Milton Keynes is a winner
WHERE I LIVE
The first thing that hits you when you open the door to my new home isn’t the expected smell of baking, but the size. The hallway is so narrow we have to file in one by one – and God forbid if we have shopping bags!
We used to live in a large, spacious Victorian property in Leeds, so this compact 14-year-old house we moved into in July still takes me by surprise. We came to Milton Keynes to be nearer our families and this was only the second house we viewed, because my husband and I are both quite impulsive.
When we like something we don’t hang around, and although this house was clearly a do-upper – a project with dated decor – we liked the area, the school is just three minutes away and it’s close to local shops.
Downsizing is difficult. We had so much more for our money in Yorkshire, and although we planned a gym for my husband in our new home, all my baking equipment has taken over the garage! The move has meant throwing stuff away and prioritising. I joke that it was hard to choose between the children and the cake tins – but I found space for them all!
Through our tiny sliver of a passage, a door leads to a downstairs bathroom, and another to the living room. The kitchen is tiny, verging on a kitchenette, but it’s the place I enjoy the most. There’s an open-plan dining room through an archway. We considered putting in a door but kept it open because it’s nice to see the kids while I cook.
Upstairs on the first floor are two bedrooms and a bathroom, and on the top floor is our bedroom. It used to have an ensuite but I had it taken out to make room for my clothes. We have a great view of the skyline.
When we moved in, the interior was magnolia, but we’ve replaced it with grey in every room and splashes of colour. My daughter wanted purple and green and the boys were keen on black, but I said no. I preferred a relaxing colour and found Dulux Warm Pewter at B&Q. With
lamps on in the evening, the grey is so relaxing and warm.
My kitchen is very modern, with white laminate cupboards and silver handles. It’s extremely neat, which is what I like. Most exciting of all is the dishwasher, because I’ve never owned one before. It felt fantastic to load it for the first time instead of having to wash up by hand.
This is our third house. We bought our first for £75,000 when I was 21 and my husband was 23. It had two bedrooms, and 18 months later we sold it for £95,000. I remember doing it up when I was seven months pregnant, and hunting for bargain paint in Homebase. It was so much fun. Now, we’re so busy we’ve delegated the painting and decorating.
The special things – like taking our children out to choose their beds and bedroom furniture – we still do ourselves because it’s lovely watching them pick out their favourites. It’s one of the most important stages in a child’s life and I’d never want to miss out.
MY INSPIRATIONS
My family was my biggest influence growing up and it still is today. My dad Jamir is a chef, his brother is a chef, and my male cousins are amazing cooks – so the wonderful ritual of preparing food, sharing, eating, laughing and talking is in my blood. My children love baking and making things too – it remains a huge part of our home and lives.
My mother Asma used to cook and then flee the kitchen. She used the oven for storage. But now she’ll come over and if I’m exhausted, she knows instantly. She kicks her shoes off, will cook, clean and tuck me into bed, saying, ‘You’re not moving’.
I’m one of six children and have three sisters and two brothers. One brother and one sister were very poorly in childhood so I spent a lot of time with my grandmother, who’s now nearly 90. One of my treasured possessions is an enamel mug that belonged to my granddad, who died when I was just three. My grandmother always said: ‘I never had anything, I only had him.’
In my old Victorian house, I loved mixing old and new, and I’m finding ways of doing that inside my modern house. I have an antique mirror my dad gave me, which looks good against the grey walls.
I wanted corner sofas but decided on a more old-fashioned and traditional style
– in grey of course! The feet are brass and I chose tartan cushions. I absolutely love anything Scottish, even though there’s nothing remotely Scottish about me. I just love the pattern, colours and the look. My other prized Scottish-themed possession is a tartan doorstop, which was a present from my sister-in-law who’s the only person I know with genuine Scottish blood!
Family pictures are on display but they don’t show my children’s faces. Instead they’re close-ups of their little hands and feet. I love the mystery of hands, fingers and backs of heads. In the living room there’s a large black and white picture of the children on a stone step, showing only their feet. Pictures of little chubby feet and hands always remind me of that moment in time, and how fast the children are growing up.
Pride of place in the living room is our white coffee table from Ikea. It has four compartments underneath a glass top, so to create something special I bought the original illustrations of my cakes, by the artist Tom Hovey, which were used on
The Great British Bake Off, and put them on display under the glass. They’re a real talking point as well as a wonderful daily reminder of how my life was changed by the show.
OUR FAMILY LIFE
When I walk in through the door, I feel so lucky to have a husband who’s amazing and supportive, and three children who understand the incredible changes that have happened to all our lives. They accept it when I’m not around, and they know that when I’m at home I’m always recipe testing.
When I cook I note everything down – so I’m never off duty. In fact, to have fun I enjoy doing the laundry and vacuuming because those daily chores give me a sense of normality.
We spend most of our time in the kitchen, with me cooking while my daughter paints and the boys chat away at the dining table. After we’ve eaten in the evening, we end up in the living room. The other day we had so much fun watching a movie sitting on the sofa – and the new house started to feel like a home.
I bake all the time, but we never eat a full cake because I’m always driving to my mum or father-in-law with a gift of half a cake. At the moment, I have 12 cupcakes iced and ready for my niece’s birthday.
My family have been so good about my fame. They’re the ones who made a sacrifice. I was the only one of my brothers and sisters to leave Luton and when I lived in Yorkshire, they’d only see me once a month, although I rang every day to chat. Then The Great
British Bake Off happened and my life went mad, and I couldn’t always be on the phone. That’s when we realised we wanted to be closer to them – they’re a huge support.
As my sister Sadia is older by exactly a year, we grew up like twins. We went to college together, had the same friends, learned to drive at the same time and almost share the same birthday. Sadia’s birthday is on Christmas Eve and mine is on Christmas
Day. So while as Muslims we don’t celebrate Christmas, thanks to the quirk of our births we have two days of crazy fun and a double joint birthday on Christmas Day.
During this magical time of year, everyone, from my grandma down to Sadia’s tiny baby boy, is together. I once saw my gran trying to have a nap and asked if we should all be quiet. ‘Oh don’t,’ she said. ‘I love the sound of you.’
It was a lovely thing to say and this is where I’m at my happiest, with the sight and sounds of my family around me – and the smell of baking in the kitchen!
Nadiya’s latest book Nadiya’s Kitchen (£20, Penguin), with photography by Holly Pickering, is out now. See page 190 for Nadiya’s chocolate fondant dessert, which is perfect for Christmas