Life with Nat - EP130: JULIET SEAR - wonderful woman and baking extraordinaire

Episode Date: July 2, 2025

We have another amazing guest on with Nat today. Juliet Sear went from running a bakery and, through tenacity and skill, became This Morning's baking extraordinaire. With masterclasses on youtube and cookbooks, there's plenty of sky high anecdotes and pitching of TV shows for Juliet and Nat to do together... Let's make it happen! Enjoy!! xx Go and see Juliet's amazing cakes and life - https://www.instagram.com/julietsear And this site has links to all her books and everything else she's up to https://linktr.ee/juliet.sear Please subscribe, follow, and leave a review. xxx You can find us in all places here; ⁠⁠⁠https://podfollow.com/lifewithnat/view⁠⁠⁠ INSTA: @natcass1 We're also on Facebook now too: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/lifewithnatpod⁠⁠⁠ A 'Keep It Light Media' Production Sales, advertising, and general enquiries: ⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠⁠ SHOW INFO: Life with Nat - it’s me! Natalie Cassidy and I’ll be chatting away to family, friends and most importantly YOU. I want to pick people's brains on the subjects that I care about- whether that’s where all the odd socks go, weight and food or kids on phones. Each week I will be letting you into my life as i chat about my week, share my thoughts on the mundane happenings as well as the serious. I have grown up in the public eye and have never changed because of it. Life with Nat is the podcast for proper people. Come join the community. ♥️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello everybody and welcome to Life with Na. I hope you're all good and your weeks going really well. Today I'm really really excited because I have lovely Juliet with me. Juliet's here. Follow her on Instagram if you don't do it already. She's an amazing baker and just a wonderful woman. Welcome. Oh, thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be on your podcast. I think I've listened to lots of your podcasts and see it all on Instagram. So it's lovely to be here. Well, I came over to yours, didn't I? And did your lovely YouTube baking. So I came over to yours didn't I? Yeah. And did your lovely YouTube baking so we'll start from the beginning. Okay yeah let's start. Otherwise we'll just be chatting away. When did we meet or did we just sort of connect on Insta? I think we connected on

Instagram. Yeah. I think we followed each other for a while and then I think like I love your content I think it's because you're so just yourself, which is so lovely. And Madeline said to me, oh, you must meet Natalie. That's right. Yeah. So she's lovely. She's a bit riled, isn't she?

That's right. And then when I had the idea for doing my YouTube series, which is like my Bake It With series where I have guessing, I thought you'd be perfect to come on. So I think I just messaged you and you said you'd be up for it. Absolutely. Yeah. I didn't realize that you had done the bake-off and everything. So it was quite good because obviously you were interested in doing the baking stuff.

Well, I'm not very good at it. You are? Not really. I think it takes a lot of patience, baking. It does. I think that's the thing I always say to people. Like, if you want to do it, just know that it's going to be a good few hours. Yeah.

Just surrender to it. It's not just like making a dish. No. You have to, yeah. But it is amazing. If you give yourself time. I mean you've turned up this morning to my house with the most beautiful, is that a sourdough? Yeah. That is amazing. Do you know it's funny because I never used to be able to bake bread. I was rubbish at it. But it's my favourite thing to eat. So I love to bake it because I love to eat it. And that is one of the easiest things I could have made because you can, I just prepared the dough yesterday. It was really hot. So I just put it in the fridge, went out, did a bit, just stretch and folded it a couple of times. In the evening, I just put it into

its basket, left it in the fridge overnight and I just had to put it in the oven. It's just so, so easy. You make it so... Honestly, it's so easy. And do you know what, actually talking about, because a lot of people are interested in sourdough and can't really get their heads around it, but it's so easy. You make it so easy. Honestly, it's so easy. And do you know what, actually talking about, because a lot of people are interested in sourdough and can't really get their heads around it, but it's so easy. So this week I've got an episode going out with my daughter Ruby. Amazing. What day is that?

It's this Thursday coming out. Oh, well this is out the same day. This week. Oh, that's quick. Yeah, I'm going to get it right out straight away. Brilliant. Brilliant. So yeah, this Thursday then, I've put my video on how to make sourdough.

So you should, do you know what? I wish I'd bought you some of my starter. I'll give you that next time. My brother-in-law, shall we say, although me and Mark aren't married, but it's easier. He gave me a sourdough starter at Christmas time. And then I felt really ill. I got like an awful bug and I didn't look after it. And then I felt really ill. I got like an awful bug and I didn't look after it.

Yeah. And then I felt really bad. But honestly, like sometimes I don't feed my own because I'd love to say that I bake every week, but I don't. The reason is if I ate it every week, I'd be in big trouble. Sometimes I don't even feed mine for four or five weeks. Oh really? I don't know. You think it looks like it's, as long as it's not mouldy, you can bring it back. And what I always say is I always keep two on the go. And I also put a fresh one,

I feed it every sort of six months to put one in the freezer. Because if it does die, I've got some in the freezer. That is good. Yeah. Well, I can't wait to tuck into that later. Yeah. I hope you enjoy it because it well, I'm quite, I think my sourdough is pretty top notch. So you'll have to give me a verdict. I promise I will. I'll cut it all open. For the listeners I'll make sure that you see it. I'll take a nice picture later of me eating it and before it's cut because it is so pretty. Then when you cut it you've got to cut it right down the middle and then open it up. That's how people do it isn't it on Instagram, like the sourdough, down the middle, open

it up and have a look at all that lovely crumb on the inside. Yeah yeah oh it's lovely gorgeous. When did you get into baking then? Tell us about just everything and how it all started. Yeah so I absolutely love food I'm obsessed with food and I always have been since I could remember and I just love cooking for people I love people. So once I got older and I got my own place, I would always be doing parties and hosting things. So George, I mean, I wanted to have my own bars and restaurants, that's what I wanted to do. Yeah, so you're always interested,

wanted to have restaurants, bars. Yeah, definitely. So once I got together with Simon, I used to send him a menu every day on it, because we're at an email. I send him a menu every day with three courses and with a choice of four or five things for each course. That's brilliant.

And he'd come home and I'd have my pasta hanging. I just, for me, that's my favorite thing, just being at home cooking. So when George was born. Snap. Yeah, it's just nice, isn't it? I love it so much. It's just lovely. So when George was born, I did a party

for his kind of like first birthday. And I had 150 people around to the party, did all the catering. And I thought, oh, I better do a cake, obviously, because it's kind of like a bit of a birthday. And I did. And I just got the bug for cake decorating. So that was George is going to be 20. Oh my God, he's going to be 28 this year. So all that time ago.

So I just started doing it and just got a few books like just novelty cake books was no YouTube or anything and just taught myself. Incredible. Just got into it yeah. They are stunning now I'm not just saying this they are beautiful and I've tasted your cake I'm pleased to say yeah and they are gorgeous but I saw on Instagram you're so busy with lots of different things I mean you were with the King, weren't you? A couple of weeks ago. Yeah.

Tell me about that. Well, I know. Like, I can't. Oh my God. Yeah. I know, like, I have been doing a few things connected to the King's Foundation, often, for a couple of years. I did it with this morning.

I think I went to Highgrove to do something when the coronation was coming. Interviewed the team and everything. Just kept in touch. And I've done a couple of cakes for him before. Did you see the hedgehog one I did for him at Christmas? Just before Christmas. Oh, it must be on my feed. I'll have to show you. So basically, yeah, if everyone's listening, follow me on Instagram. Actually, yeah, see it. Shame is plugged. And you can see it.

No, I'll pop all your info under this episode. Don't you worry. Yeah, so I did a couple of cakes for him and then for this one they said to me, we're doing something for the 35th anniversary, would you do a cake? And would you like to come to St James's Palace? Which is great, because I've obviously done it before but not really got any pictures or even met him properly. So yeah, it was amazing. And I was really proud of that cake actually, because I had an open brief.

Sometimes I don't like to have an open brief, because it's really hard because I like a bit of guidance of what people want. Yeah. So when you say open brief, what did they say? They just say, can make a cake. They don't say, oh, we want it to look like this or can you do a square one with this message or anything? So I could do what I wanted. So I got the logo and I thought, oh, it looks a bit sort of basic. And I didn't want to just do a basic traditional one. So, but I thought about it. And obviously with the King's Foundation,

they preserve heritage crafts. So they do all sorts of like, you know, they do millinery, fashion, woodwork. So I thought about heritage crafts. So I did it in a bit of a sugar craft style. So I got a three and a five and I paneled it in marzipan. Then I paneled it in icing. And then I used sugar craft technique

where you can kind of create the font to be really identical. So that was all done. And then as a nod to the King's passion for organic flowers, I encrusted it completely in edible flowers because I knew I was doing it for ages. So my friend, Jan Billington, she's an organic flower grower. She was picking and pressing edible flowers for six weeks as they came into season for the cake.

Yeah. That's incredible. Obviously they never say whether he's going to be there or anything like that. I didn't know if I was going to meet him. So when I did and I told him all about the cake, it was brilliant. And do you know what? He loves fruitcake. He's nice, isn't he?

He's really... I met him. I met him on Albert Square. Did you? They did a visit before he was king. Did you? Yeah, he came to the set. Brilliant, he was really nice. He was really nice.

I would say, I mean, obviously I don't know him well at all, but he just seems down to earth and he's quite banterous, connects with people, genuinely interested. And I couldn't believe it because after the event, I got a message two days later from the charity, hello, the King was very sad because he had to go off and didn't get the shiny cake, but he loved hearing your story about the recipe and how you made it. Would you mind doing another one? Yeah. So I was like, I was really kind of pleased. I thought, oh that's good that he remembers and like we had the chat and I told him about and I said, you know what, it was like as luck would have it, it was such a big cake.

It's really hard sometimes to work out how much batter you need for a cake. So I'd worked out how much batter I need by like weighing water into these tins but I hadn't made quite enough so I had to make half as much again. So I had two mini cakes left in the pantry that were all from the same recipe. I had the icing, I had edible flowers left and as it happened two days later I was going to stay somewhere six minutes from his house. So I went back up to Highgrove and took another one. That is so lovely. Yeah, yeah. I couldn't believe it. Yeah. That is so lovely. Yeah, yeah. I couldn't believe it.

Yeah. That is, I mean, it's quite special. You are now the King's cake maker. I would say, I would say that is what you are now. Well, you've said it so it must, that's official now. Right? The King's cake maker. Yeah. I know, I couldn't believe it.

And do you know what? I've done so many different things, like with my baking and everything, all through the years and made cakes for amazing people, all sorts of things. And when I really sort of enjoyed that day, I really, because I really tried to be, it sounds a bit, bit wanky, but you know, be present and like, I was like, I really can't believe I'm doing this.

No, that's right. I'm just really, really sort of soak it in and be there. And I was thinking about, wow, my dad would be proud of this. And thinking about my best friend that taught me how to make cakes, thinking about back in the day when we were training, like I was training to learn how to do this and thinking about my best friend that taught me how to make cakes, thinking about back in the day when we were training, like I was training to learn how to do this and yeah, Rosie and Chris thinking, well, yeah, I was really proud of it. It's good. Yeah. Yeah. And it, you know what? It's good to be proud of ourselves. Yeah. That's okay. I do think we give ourselves a hard time. Yeah. And we go, oh no, it's all right. It's only that. Yeah. Oh, you know, I'm not, oh, it's just a job. I'm only doing

that. But actually sometimes you have to sit back and go, no, this is really good. Yeah, I think so. Because like most of the time you do think, oh, you know, but I think more and more nowadays where people sort of like we talk a bit more about mental health and all that type of thing and actually allowing yourself to actually, you know, feel happy or proud and, you know, that's, it's good. I was happy last weekend. Oh, what did you do? Well Well I saw three flags with my face on at Glastonbury. I saw that. I was so happy. That was brilliant wasn't it? Yeah it really made me smile. I felt like I was there. Yeah I saw that. I mean that's like iconic isn't it? Yeah but I think a couple of years ago I

probably would have said oh you know it's just a flag or whatever but I did I thought no that is really special yeah that makes me feel really special that someone's carrying that around. Yeah someone's really thought do you know what I'm gonna make this and it's so fun. It must have felt strange for you to see that what do your kids think of that sort of thing when they they Eliza just thinks it's ridiculous and then then when she tells her friends, they're like, no, it's because your mom's really cool. So she kind of likes that. Joni's still a bit young, I think. She's eight, isn't she?

So she kind of sees it and just raises her eyebrows. She's like, what are you doing on a flag? But it's just nice that people are fans. It's just good, isn't it? And it goes on, doesn't it? I mean, that was, I saw the picture of the flag because when you were little, wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

You just think all that time. It's just, yeah, it's hilarious, really. What have you got going on at the moment? Like, because obviously you've left East End, as you're doing this. This is sort of my baby that I love to do, but I'm doing a BBC documentary that my listeners know about, which won't be out till way next year, but I've gone back to college. Oh, I think I remember you saying saying you were going to do this.

I'm doing a level 3 NVQ in health and social care. Oh that's brilliant. So I'm at college a few days a week. Wow. And studying, not studying yet, I haven't done anything. In the classroom and I've got everything ready and I've got my books but I just now need to go write. Wow. You need to sit down, now need to go write. Wow.

I need to sit down, I need to do your study. Does that take, how long does it take? Well I've got a couple of, no no it's sort of a course over a year. Oh so you can just do it, oh okay. I've got an exam in January and then I've got two assignments, sort of units that I need to fulfil. Wow. So yeah. That's cool.

What do you think you're going to do with it? Do you think you're... I mean I've done it for, also, I'm sorry, just so you know, the windows are open today. It's the hottest day of the year. I'm not going to go into the boring conversation about how hot this room is. I am getting air-cons soon. I am going to get it.

But if you hear planes, birds, I don't care. I need the window open. We need the breeze. Not that there is any. But no, because it's for a show, it's sort of highlighting care workers and how much is going on out there because there's so many different charities, so much to do. It's also showing people that if you haven't been in education for ages, you can go back and sort of, you know, just people who haven't done that for a long time.

I've not been in education since I was 16. No. I've not stepped into a school or a college. You know? Are you doing it? I often sort of think about whether I'd want to do that sort of thing. I think I probably would one day. The reason I did this course I suppose is because of my dad. Because daddy lived with me here and I was with daddy till the end of his life and I looked after him. So it just, I really love caring.

Do you? Yeah, I love... I've always had elderly nans live with me or up the hospital. I know it sounds all sort of a bit boring. No, it's not boring. But that was my childhood. Right, yeah. Entertaining old biddies on the hospital wards, having a boogie. Oh yeah.

And that's what your show's also about, like, kind of like, what, the care? It's just sort of the care sector, where we are. Me and the students as well, because I've got student mates who are, you know, 17 and 18. Oh, right. They're in the classroom with me. Brilliant. So it's sort of who's going into care.

That's, you know, that generation. Yeah, well that's interesting. It's a lot to it, which is, it's really good. Is it going to be like over a series? Yes. Oh, brilliant. It'll be 12 half an hours. Wow, that's good. And it, which is really good. Is it going to be like over a series? Yes, it'll be 12 half an hours. Wow, that's good. And it's for BBC Daytime. Wow.

So it's quite a gentle program, you know, but it's lovely. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, apart from that, I'm just sort of whatever comes in, bits and pieces. Cooking with the Stars has been announced, so I'm allowed to say that now. That's so exciting. That's really good. Yeah. Maybe you can give me some pointers.

Maybe I can. I don't think you need any. I think you'll smash it. No Frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC Optimum Points on your first five orders. Shop now at nofrills.ca. What is your favorite thing to cook apart from your baking?

What do you? That's a really good question actually. Do you eat meat, fish, pasta? You know, what do you? Yeah, I mean, yeah, my favorite food is Italian pasta. I love pasta. I love carbs. One of my favorite things to make is just simple alio olio.

Oh yeah. It's so easy, isn't it? Cause you've always got a bit of garlic in the fridge. You've always got a bit of chili and like dried spaghetti and olive oil. But if you're lucky and you've got some fresh parsley, perfect, just whack it together. I love that.

But I also love, I love to make a roast dinner as well. I'm the same. Cause I like to have everyone together. Yeah. Yeah, it's not, it's lovely. I think we're the same in that respect. When's your birthday? April, 30th of April. So you're a Taurus? Yeah. You? Yeah. Yeah, they say don't they? Because it's quite homely. Yeah. Gathering family, togetherness.

Exactly. It's just so nice, isn't it? Do you have a lot of weekends when family come over? So how many children have you got? Tell the listeners. I've got three children. Ruby's the youngest, she's 24 and then Lydia's 26 and George is 27. Yeah. And we do get together, we love hanging out together. It is sad that they don't all, you know, when they fly the nest and everything, but we do see a lot of each other. Like after I've been here, for example, I'm going to go drive down to Lydia, she's got the baby now, so that's really nice. Lovely. Yeah, we see each other a lot. It's really good. Our family are very close, everyone's either here or, you know, around my brother's.

Would you say you're one of those people that's kind of like the matriarch where everyone comes to you, like, and you're hosting the family? I would say so, I would say so, but that's purely really down to, it's convenient to be here with the little ones, because there's a big, you know, we've got the playroom.

Yeah. You know, it's just convenient. There's space enough for everyone to be here with the little ones because there's a big you know we've got the playroom yeah you know it's just convenient there's space enough for everyone to be here it's not too cramped yeah I do love it I love it that's my dream to have a massive house where I've got loads of rooms where everyone can come and stay that's it yeah no it is really really lovely because this is I bought this because it's got an annex and the annex I'll show you in a minute when we go down. So the annex was for my dad. So the whole reason of me buying this house was purely for my dad really.

Was it? Yeah. I saw it and said this is perfect. We need this one. And now he's not here. I can't imagine moving. I love the house so much. You've got the annex perfect for when your kids get a bit older.

That's it. That's what I'm hoping. It's ideal, isn't it? Then they can go in there. they've got their privacy, they can save, they don't have to rent. You know, that's what I'd like for them. Yeah, that's really nice. I would love to do that because I'm so close to my dad and he's really ill. Like, my mum's got dementia and my dad's, she's got cancer and my dad's ill. And I do sort of think, I just wish I had that sort of opportunity to have him, like, just living right by me.

Yeah. Because I think it's nice, isn't it? It is lovely. Yeah. It is nice. I'm sorry to hear that. It's a lot, isn't it? Yeah. Oh, it's just life, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I'll go down and see him as well. Like he lives near Lydia's. That's nice.

And then his mum, where's mum? She's just at home. She's actually all right. Yeah. She's got dementia, but she kind dementia but she's had it for about 10 years because she got it early on. But she's had the drugs for it so she's not really got much worse. And she's quite with it, she'll have banter and conversations. Her long term memory is fine, but her short term memory, she'll forget what she's done

like half an hour earlier, which is kind of a blessing in a way because she's not really worrying about having cancer. That's good. She doesn't sort of ruminate on it or anything like that. Right. So no, she'll be all right. They say it's completely treatable. Oh, that's great.

Yeah, she'll be okay. That's good. That's good. But it's just a lot. The older parents, you have your children, because my mum was, you must have been young having your kids. Yeah. How old were you?

I was 23 when I had kids. Yeah. Fairly young. Yeah. Mum was 44 you? I was 23 when I had George, yeah. Very young. Yeah. My mum was 44 when she had me. Really? So my mum was 44 and my dad was 46. Oh, okay. So my mum died when I was 19. So it's irrelevant because she was still young. She was 63. But then I was having my children, you know, they were little when my dad was elderly, in a way. Or, you know, the age he was, sort of, by the time he turned sort of 78, 80, I needed to be around for him to care for him.

And then I had like all the young children, my older dad, it was just so much going on. They call us the sandwich generation, don't they? Oh, is that what they call us? They call it sandwich generation, yeah, because you've got like your sandwich between the two, and it's quite a lot of responsibility, having your kids and everything to do for them. Then you've got all of the elderly. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, yeah. But it's all right. It is what it is, like you say, it's life, isn't it? You just gotta get on with it. Exactly. That's it, it's gotta be positive. Yeah. I saw you did a lovely lavender cake.

Oh, one this morning. Yeah. Do you know, it's so funny, because we're not being freelance. I know. I have to like, I just do one job. Yeah, I loved it. That was quite fun, actually. Was it good? I always wanted to go to a lavender field because they look so pretty, don't they? You see everyone on Instagram and, but you know what, it was really funny because I made the cake and everything. It was lovely.

Yeah. But I've got a really bad phobia of wasps. Okay. Even quite bad of bees as well. I can just about tolerate the bees because I think they're important. Oh my god. As soon as the cam wasn't rolling I'm just like running around all over the place. I mean it's not the best place is it? No. The lavender field. No. I was like walking through the sort of purple vein. Yes. Purple lavender lanes and like yeah literally like with my legs all like and on all and there's just bees on everything and I was just like and then they were saying to be crouched down to have like the picture and I was just

shaking but I think it was nice to do it because I do quite like doing this morning especially when you're sort of resident Baker on there aren't you? That's a lovely job yeah how did that come around? Sheer perseverance right so I basically I had a bakery in Leoncy. I'd already had a couple of books and I was kind of, our baker was quite well known. It was quite, I'd say we were probably one of the best cake makers in the country. I was doing all these different amazing cakes. And one of the producers on this morning lived nearby and she came in for a wedding cake. So this was probably, oh God, we're talking maybe over 15 years ago.

She was like, Oh, would you do a cake for Holly as well? Like, it's just gonna be her birthday. So I was like, yeah, absolutely. And I just started doing all the cakes behind the scenes. So I'd do like Holly, Phil, if they had guests on it, Brian Adams, I did one for, did Delia Smith. Every time they'd have like a guest that had a birthday, I would be doing all these cakes. Right, okay. And I kept sort of saying, you know,

I'd love to come on and do some cake decorating. And it was just back in those days, they didn't really have a lot of different presenters. They only had- Yeah, they stuck with what they knew, didn't they? Yeah, Phil Vickery had James Martin, you had John Turrode, Gino, and that was pretty much. So I kept sort of saying, I'd love to come on.

And then one time, it was when William and Kate were getting married. And I did a massive commemorative range for their wedding in Harvey Nichols and Fortnum and Mason. I did all this stuff and had ITV America in the shop filming. And I got a phone call and they said, would you come on and show like how to do wedding cake? Because like everyone's interested in the Royal Wedding. Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to do that. Didn't hear another thing. And then about two weeks later, I saw Phil Vickery doing it. Oh no!

I kept like, I was like, no. But eventually, yeah. And I think it's just, to try out someone new on camera, I think like, yeah, now they have lots of different people, but I just kept going, kept going. And then eventually, I think I did have Kate Pollard said you can bring it on. And then my first time going on,

they asked me to do gingerbread for Christmas so I went on and it was brilliant. The first time I went on we turned the entire kitchen into a gingerbread house. Oh wow. Yeah. Oh I need to look at that. We should look it up. I will.

And that's the first time and that was nearly 10 years ago. That's brilliant. Yeah. That's good. So how many times do you go on? Is it like a couple of times a month? It varies. A couple of times a month usually is kind of the general but sometimes more. In the lockdown I was doing it all the time.

But it's lovely because I feel like they've got some really lovely people. You know, you've got Lisa Snowden doing a lot of the fashion. She's lovely. You're lovely. It's just a really nice vibe. Yeah, and they have obviously goth us a bit. It's great. And all the team are lovely. Most of the people that I work with, they've been there the whole time, they've been there all the time, all the crew and everything, so it's really nice. I was going to say to you, how do you find the television industry, you know, tele-celebrity stuff, because, you know, that's not where you've come from, but that's what's happened and you're sort of in that world, as well as doing all of your other amazing things.

But it's interesting for me because I've been in it since I was, you know, two foot high. So I wondered what you thought because I find it, it can be very shallow at times. Oh, yeah, it is. It's a funny old world. And I think, yeah, you do have to have a very thick skin, like because, and especially with something like this morning, it's live, it's like they might just drop you the day before or they'll change it or whatever but I think it's definitely changed like when I used to do it like years and years ago it felt a bit more maybe it was like more popular like live tv but now I just think general tv it seems it's just going down and down and down

because I think most people are like going on streamers or they're watching youtube so yeah I think at the moment it's quite a challenging time for... I think it is challenging, but I think, A, we've got to move with the times and not worry about it, because I'm the worst one. But then I also have faith in telly, because for instance, something like Gavin and Stacey last Christmas day, with everything together, I think it was over 20 million people sat and watched that. That's amazing, isn't it?

So you go, if something's good enough, people will sit down and watch it. Yeah, yeah. And you still have to do like obviously all the soaps and everything where... The soaps is still, I mean, there are millions of people that used to watch it. Obviously it's all gone down. Yeah. It used to be over 10 million every night without a doubt. And then, oh, 16 million, 17 million, like, mag numbers.

Yeah, yeah. Over 20 million for some big events. Really? I don't know what it is at the moment. Yeah, it's funny, isn't it? I'm not there. It's sort of over maybe two to three, two to four million. Right, right.

So it's still got a very loyal. It's pretty good. Yeah, good audience. Yeah. I think people, like you say, they just get what they want from wherever now. Yeah, I think there's just so many different types of media. Podcasts are huge, obviously. Yeah.

I think, you know, a few years ago I didn't listen to any podcasts at all. But now, like now I've got a few that I'll listen to and you can sort of like just listen to it on the go, can't you? You can be working out, you can be in the car. Absolutely. And then you've got all the kind of streamers and everything. So yeah, it's just funny. I was really lucky. I did have my own ITV baking show as well. Yes, I saw this.

So when was that? When was it? Yeah. I've missed that. I don't know why. It was just before lockdown. Just before? Okay.

I was busy at work. I couldn't believe it. I loved doing it. I was so proud because to get your own TV show. It's amazing. Yeah. So what was the slot? It was a morning slot so basically it was I think at the time you know how you've got like Sunday brunch? Yes. I think ITV had got this kind of like funding package where they wanted to have all food in the morning kind of to be about the same time as Sunday

brunch. Yes. So there was three shows that were made. It was my one and then there was Nadia, Nadia, it's this one. Oh yes, Fahala. Yeah, and then who was the other one? And then, and then there was another one. Don't know who the other one was. Oh, it was the one? Yeah, so, yeah, so it's really good. And I loved doing it. And what was that, a series?

It was a series, 10 episode series, yeah. Oh, that's brilliant. And it was called Beautiful Baking with Juliet Sears. How lovely. Basic name. But I loved doing it And that came out just before the lockdown. And it was like for sort of autumn winter. So it was autumn winter and then Christmas and New Year. And it did really well.

And then they said, yeah, we want to do another one. We'll do a summer one. So we all sort of started planning it. But this was when all the sort of like coronavirus thing happened. So this was like January, we were talking about it. And then it was in March, everything went lockdown. So it didn't ever happen. Never happened.

And by the time everything kind of like came back all that funding model was gone. So yeah, but at least I had one. Oh it's lovely. It's a brilliant thing to do. It's fantastic. We should do something together. I would love to do that. Do you know I've got a couple of ideas. Have you? Yeah that we should do. What are your ideas?

I love travel shows with food. Sounds right. Because I was used to one of my favourite ever shows was the Rick Steine ones. Oh in Cornwall. On his barge. Oh I don't think I've seen the barge. Oh it's brilliant. He'd have a barge and he'd go around and he'd have his little dog on there. But I thought we could do a... That's right up my street. Yeah, it was lovely. But we could definitely do either on a barge or in a camper van, going all around the country, meeting different people and finding all the best bakes of the regions. That sounds, I'm sorry.

That's good, isn't it? I think camper van. Camper van would be so funny. Only because the barge has been done a lot. Yeah, camper van. Because you could get, you could definitely. Proper, old, lovely. In fact, one of my listeners has got a vintage camper that she's doing up. Oh how lovely. I'll find out I'm gonna I'm gonna find it. I've always wanted a campervan. Yeah we should do that shouldn't we that'd be good or another idea I had which I thought because I'd love to do a show with

you would be have you ever seen the tv show it's with Monica Galletti and Giles Coram where they go and they go and investigate all amazing hotels. Have you seen it? No. It's really good. But we could do that where we could go and find all the best afternoon teas around the world. Oh that would be good. That would be good wouldn't it? That's good. I must tell you one thing though. Yeah. I don't really like aeroplanes. Do you not? Not massive. Traveller. I love travelling in the UK. So we'll just do a UK one. No I don't, I mean, I'm, you know.

Are you a bit sort of nervous about flying? No, no, I just, I can't be asked. Brilliant bird, isn't it? That's funny, isn't it? It's really weird. You've got a quiet life. I do. Fair enough.

I've put, this summer we're going to Greece. Nice. And I'm sure it will be nice. But when the weather's like this, I'm just very happy sitting in the garden. I'm just very happy sitting in the garden. I'm just very happy sitting in the garden. I'm just very happy sitting in the garden. I'm just very happy sitting in the garden. I'm just very happy sitting in the garden. I'm put this summer we're going to Greece. Nice. And I'm sure it will be nice. But when the weather's like this, I'm just very happy sitting in the garden.

Is that bad? No, not at all. And I think that's brilliant because like you do spend a lot of time traveling. Don't you? I think when the weather's good here, like that's what we don't ever usually go away in summertime because it's such a waste.

But I do like to go away somewhere like January, February, you know it's all grey. Yes, I'm up for that. Yeah, in that time period. My earlier did that, my niece Elle's and Maria actually, both of them went away early in the year, they said it was a game changer just for a bit of sunshine. Yeah, a bit of sunshine, don't they? Yeah, see I love Italy. If I go anywhere, that's really my favourite.

Yeah, because you can go to Italy by train now, can't you? I think there's lots of people doing travel by train. Market like that. Yeah. I like taking in, you know, it's all about the journey, isn't it? Like seeing the scenes out the window. Yeah, train journeys are lovely, aren't they? Yeah, and it's a bit less hassle because with a plane, with the airport, you've got to

figure out how to get to the airport. It's just the way it is. How am I going to get there? Like, make sure you get there really early. Then the security, then sometimes you might get through and can be stressful and then you have lots of chopping and changing, whereas if you get on the train, it might take you double the time,

but you just get to the book. But you're there, aren't you? You're done. A little nap. Yeah, do you like cruises? Never been on a cruise, but it's very odd you said that because you know you get the supplements in the Times. Yes. Oh I don't know if it was the Observer. They have a great big cruise thing don't they? And I was sat there looking at those the other day thinking I think I'm quite

fancy a cruise. I don't think I'd like it. Why? I just wouldn't like to be stuck on a boat like... I know but imagine that's your hotel right I think what I would really worry about is if I couldn't see land right okay I just think I would I think I find them a bit scary okay quite big aren't they yeah the cruise ship goes down and you're on it right unless you get on one of those dingy things you're going down with it because it will suck you in you've watched too much Titanic we're not. We're not Kate and Leo now. We'll be alright. I know what you mean but I think if you overthink things you wouldn't

go anywhere would you? That's true. So you know. Yeah don't overthink it. You've got aeroplanes and then people are worried about them. Then you've got boats and. Because I used to fly planes. No you didn't. I did. I've got, honestly. This is brilliant. My dad used to have a plane. Right. It was this one. It was just a four-seater plane.

Yeah. He did quite well. He wasn't super rich or anything. He was an engineer, but he was sort of in the 80s and he bought a plane and we always used to go to the flying club every week and he'd go with his friends. They all had planes. Yeah. And we'd fly to France every weekend for lunch.

How lovely. But, but. No wonder you like bread and food. Yeah, but you know what, every time we'd do that, my dad was drunk. My dad and my brother used to fly planes. Absolute legend. They used to be, they'd go to the flying club, they'd all be there with their friends drinking, they'd all go fly over, go and have lunch, drinking wine and then fly back. And my brother used to

fly as well and he'd get completely drunk, he'd be like 17, 18, completely drunk and then would take me up in the plane and fly me all, just for fun, fly me up the Thames and they'd do acrobatics. So I'd get out and I'd brace myself like that and I just don't know how, like nowadays you just wouldn't do it would you? No. One time they were so drunk they tried to take off the wrong way, on the runway. They did. Yeah. It's funny, isn't it?

But I used to fly planes, so I started to learn to fly planes and I could take off and land and stuff. That's brilliant. Yeah. Mark's got quite an interest in that. One of his friends had a plane. Right. What did he like to do?

He'd go off, you know, with him and fly wherever. So I don't think I'd do it now, I'd be too scared. No, I wouldn't do it now. No. We went up in a Microlite once. Did you? See, that's quite scary. Up in the clouds.

Was it nice? Yeah, it was really nice. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure, I'm not sure. It's very expensive business, isn't it, having a plane? I think so, yeah. Yeah, I was just about to get in the car.

Yeah. I'm sure that up, I'm not really bothered. I'll stick to trucking the kids in the car, heading to Cornwall. Yeah, or a camper van. Or a nice camper van. I do like the new ones. I love them, the little VW ones, the electric ones. Yes. I know, I really want one of those.

They look really good. They look really cute, don't they? Yeah, they do look sweet. And they've got character. Yeah, they do. Like the oldies. Yeah, I like them. They've got a bit of character about them. Yeah. You've got an electric car, so are you? I've got an electric car, yeah.

How are you finding it? It's brilliant actually, like because obviously you went to Cornwall recently didn't you? So we go to Cornwall quite a lot. Yeah. And even going to Cornwall like you just find somewhere with a fast charger, there's loads of them now and literally 20-25 minutes fully charged and just charge it once and also because because we live in London, we don't use it that often. No. We don't even. But it's really handy in London because they're so keen on you to drive electric. Yeah.

That there's so many, you know, you've got your spaces, it's free. Exactly. And at the moment, I think you don't have to pay for the congestion charge. No. Yes, it's quite good. I know. It's really, really good. I was was thinking about it but then if I'm going into London really I'll get the train just because it's such a the traffic so bad. Yeah. I just jump on the train but I did think would I drive in a bit more if I had a little something just a little mini or something that was electric. Yeah if it's electric. Anyway. Well we should get sponsored by VW and do our show. Oh, that would be perfect, actually.

Have one each. That would be really good. Take a couple of the kids. It'd be good. Little family, little show. Well, if anyone's listening, let us know what you think about Juliet's ideas, because I love them. So let us know. 07788 2019. Let us know. 07788 201919. Do you exercise a lot?

I really do actually and I wanted to ask you all about your wheel powders and things you've been doing. Oh yeah yeah. I do, I love, I do exercise a lot. Only because you look amazing. I just think you're just incredible the way you look. Oh that's very kind of you. No I really mean it.

Oh thank you. I just think, now you've told me, that's very kind of you. No, I really mean it. Oh, thank you. Now you've told me the ages of your children. Yeah. I just think you look amazing. Oh, that's really kind. I mean, what does age look like? Don't get me wrong. But I just wanted to ask you, actually,

how do you look so good? What do you do? Well, I'd say up until the age of about 35, I could eat whatever I wanted. Nothing would touch the sides. I didn't really exercise, did nothing. But once I got a bit older after 35, I'd start to put a bit of weight on. I thought, oh God.

And I do kind of like care about my appearance, but I don't really, I hated exercise, hated running. But what I've got into, I started doing weightlifting about probably five years ago. And I really enjoy it because I don't like to get out of breath. I don't like to really be doing like HIIT or anything like that. No, no. But I love doing weightlifting and apparently, so when you get older. It's meant to be the best thing for you. Yeah, especially for women. Well, actually everybody because you start to lose muscle like by some quite alarming rate every year. So it's the

best thing to do because I think when you build muscle, your metabolism goes up. So you can sort of eat more. So that's kind of my goal, really, to be able to just eat more. But I do do my weight lifting two or three times a week. That's perfect. Yeah, and I do try and do a bit of running,

but I'm not very good at it. But you're quite good at running, aren't you? No, I did two marathons. That's what I was gonna say. I did, and I was so... If my mind's set on something, then I will absolutely go for it. I'm a bit like, that's the way I am. So I'll give it 110%.

If I say yes to something, I'm there, I want to do it, brilliant. If I haven't got that in place... At the moment in my life, I'm not finding time for exercise and I've got a Peloton bike downstairs. Oh have you? My sister's got one of those and she doesn't use it. And I've got no, I just, you know. Yeah. But you're quite into your fitness and stuff, aren't you?

But I mean, you're into kind of like wellness and stuff. I am, no, I'm just aware that, well, as we get older, we just need to look after ourselves a bit. But you know, everything for me is moderation. Yeah. Because I love having a drink. Yeah. And I love my food.

Yeah, same. I'm not going to stop that. No. It's just the way it is. I'm not going to stop those things but everything in a bit of moderation enjoy yourself Yeah, that's why I like to do the bit of fasting. That's what you're asking me about. Yeah. Yeah And yeah, I do the fasting but I've seen you've been having like the collagen Powders and all that sort of thing and I really want to get into this because I think it is important to have all the collagen But I don't know a lot about it but I was seeing you put it on Instagram and you have your you do it like you have your a creaming thing. That's right Keto creamer. I'll tell you all about it. I'll show you it all. Yes I should start doing it.

She's I had her on the pod da Vinci and I just find her so interesting she She's, you know, fully into it. I would never be as fully into something as she is because that's just not my life. What's interesting about her, she's an addict, isn't she? So she's obviously good for her as well. She's probably completely addicted to this lifestyle, which is brilliant. Amazing. It's amazing. And she's so, you know, where everything comes from. She visits all the countries, so you know what you're eating.

Do you know what? It's really impressive. And that's why, yeah, that's why I did the ads with her, really, because I'm not one, I don't do loads of, I don't do a lot of that. No. I do. I don't, because you don't want to be advertising things

for no reason. I know what you mean, yeah. So I had two little things come up recently, one of which was that, and the other one's quite contradictory, but that looked really good. So I've got to be really interested in something and like it to do it.

I'm very much the same, like, you do get offered, would you do this, would you do that? And if it's just, you think, well, I'm not just going to do it for the sake of it, because it's just not very authentic, is it? No, and maybe one day I'll have to. Everyone needs to pay the bills though.

Exactly. Yeah. You know, that's what I always say. Yeah. That's what I say about eating kangaroo bollocks, Juliet. If I've got to go over there, one day you might see me in the jungle and I might be in there. That would be, you would be really good in there. I would not, I am.

You would be hilarious. Honestly, I've had this conversation so many times on this pod, I'm not going to go into it, but generally I'm scared of everything. So am I, because I had Melvin on my YouTube. Yes. Did you see him on there? Yeah.

Because he did really well, didn't he? But I was talking to him about it because my kids, George and Ruby always say to me, you should go on. I think you should. And I always say, well, no, I probably wouldn't go on there because you have to be pretty big. No, you don't. Well. I think you should. And I always say, well, no, I probably wouldn't go on there because you have to be pretty big. But no, you don't. Well, not all the time. I would. Of course, of course I would do it. But I am absolutely I'd be petrified if I couldn't be lying there like when you Oh my God, no, I couldn't be lying there with

all the maggots. I think I'd be the one that's voted for every night to do it. Oh, yeah, because I'd be that funny on there just because I'm petrified. I'd be a mess. They'd be like, go on, let's vote for Nat again. Yeah, just to see you completely freak out. Squirm. Yeah. I think the only thing I'd be alright with, even though I'd probably be a gagger, but I think I'd be alright with the food side of it.

I think, I know what you mean. I just think it wasn't live. Yeah. You know, sometimes they have to eat those bugs and things that are all alive, don't they? They're all alive, yeah. Or could you do that? Once you're there, you're there, you get on with it, don't you?

I suppose so. I mean I know quite a few people that have done it and they say it's the best experience of their lives. That's what I've been said. I mean they love it. Yeah. Yeah. Who knows?

I bet you'll go on it. I bet you will. Honestly, at the moment, I have no plans to, but who knows? Yeah. Never say never. I love the show as well. Yeah. I love watching it.

It's one of those shows, actually. It's quite good, isn't it? Some reality shows get a bit boring, like the format and everything. Yes. Yeah. But with that, I think, because you've got, it's just so kind of crazy, isn't it, what the situation

people are put in. And who's together? It's sort of that thing, you know, when you had Nigel Farage in there, and then you've got, like, you just have the most random people all together. My favorite pairing on I'm A Celeb was Grace, GK Barrie, and what's his name?

The Vicar Reverend, Richard Coles. Oh wait, were they good together? Because I didn't see that one. Honestly, it was just so funny, because he's so straight-laced. She's a gay lady who's really sort of cool. And you just had these two people. And they were opposites attract. And they had the sweetest relationship.

Oh, that's cute, isn't it? It was absolutely really lovely. Really good. And you can tell that they've kept in touch, which I really like. That's really nice, isn't it? It must be quite a a bonding thing to do, like, because, like I was saying to Melvin, like I was saying, is it really like that? Are you really, like, you imagine that maybe they kind of can, like, come out and have a little break, but they can't.

No, they can't, at all. And they asked, he said, like, they do, like, you're really hungry and all that, so you can't keep up a false persona, I'm a false persona on that sort of thing. I think people would easily you'd be found out you couldn't be a fake you know your true personality would surely come out. Yeah I think so I did Big Brother years ago. I thought you did yeah. Who was on it with you when you did it? I was with Denise Welch. Oh yeah. Nicola McLean. Yep. Frankie Koza of X Factor fame years ago. Oh yes. Yeah loads of people, we were all on it. But you are right, you can't, I just went in there and cleaned and had a laugh, chatted

away and I came out early. Did you? Happy days, yeah. Yeah. Yeah it was brilliant. Yeah. I thoroughly enjoyed it but you can't, you're right, you can't be a false person. You can't.

Because you just got to go and be, if you're yourself and you're comfortable with yourself, then you can do those shows well. Definitely. Yeah. I think. I think so too. Yeah. Oh who knows what the future holds. Right so we're going in the jungle, we've got a camper van series that's gonna happen. Yeah. Gotta manifest these things. Yeah and we're not going on a cruise. No we're not going to do a cruise. We might pop to Italy by a train. Yeah Well, thank you. Thank you so much. I loved it. So your YouTube series, where can people find it? So I think I've got a few series.

I've got Bake It With, which you came on and did. So that's on my YouTube. So my YouTube is usually lovely guests where I've got have lovely people in the kitchen, have a nice chat about what they do while we bake something, they learn how to do something. But I also do masterclasses on my YouTube. I think with baking, it's a really important thing to actually really see what someone's doing. It's quite visual.

Yeah. And then I do, my other thing I love to do is just comfort food because I just love carbs. So it's kind of really delicious, naughty food, masterclasses and then my guests. Yeah. And I think I'm on YouTube, I'm just Juliet Sierra. You are, fine. Yeah, yeah. Lovely. Brilliant. Well I'll pop it all on the bottom everywhere of the pod. And yeah, I can't wait to see you again. Yeah, next time I'll bring my starter. Yeah, bring the starter. That'd be lovely. But no, we should do a nice meal and get the families together is what we should do. Yeah, that'd be lovely. Definitely.

Because you're friends with Emma, aren't you? Lovely Emma. Yes, yeah, yeah, she's so lovely. She is. She's amazing, yeah. So we need to sort something out and get us all together. All the people that we like, Mads and this one and that, you know, have a bit of a lunch. Yeah, that'd be lovely. Yeah, everyone together.

Yeah. All right, lots of love. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you, darling. Everyone, I hope you're good, and I hope you have a really lovely weekend. What a lovely chat that was.

It's nice to have someone new sometimes in and keep it fresh and have a nice natter. Have a fantastic weekend and I will talk to you on Monday. Lots of love. Bye!