TV cook Fanny Cradock's Hertfordshire home up for sale

BBC News

30-04-2025

The former home of forthright television cook Fanny Cradock has been put up for sale with a £5m asking price.Cradock presented her shows from the kitchen of grade II listed Dower House, on the outskirts of the Grove Estate, Watford, during the 1950s, 60s and 70s.In the 1970s, the BBC commissioned a series Fanny Cradock Cooks for Christmas in which she made petit fours, mincemeat, cake, turkey and the pudding.Each year the BBC published a booklet giving a detailed account of every recipe and she used to say "you'll find that recipe in the booklet, so I won't show you now".
Fanny Cradock, who was born Phyllis Pechey in Essex in 1909, used to appear on camera in various ball-gowns with a cook's apron and tried to inspire women with an exotic approach to cooking.She, often described as the UK's first TV chef, enjoyed 20 years of success appearing in 24 television series between 1955 and 1975.Cradock was best known for her on-screen partnership with her husband-to-be Major John Cradock (also known as Johnnie) and her forthright style of presenting.
Her first television show in 1955 was the BBC series Kitchen Magic, followed by a move to ITV to make the channel's first cookery programme, Fanny's Kitchen. She later returned to the BBC and was a constant feature on television until 1976, when her harsh treatment of an amateur cook, on a programme called The Big Time, brought about an unceremonious end to her career on the small screen.
In 1975, BBC Radio 4 broadcast Will the Real Fanny Cradock Stand Up? in which Clive Jacobs visited the home.They took a tour of the house including the large kitchen which had electric doors as she said she "did not believe in staff having to put trays down or balance trays on their knees to open doors".She was asked if she was a good mother and said "well I think I have the perfect relationship with my sons as they say the 'old girl' and 'mum' in front of me, but they call me Fanny behind my back, I know".She said she was scared of people and "we say I am the only shy extrovert in the world and the more I talk, the shyer I become".Jacobs asked how she thought people viewed her and her husband and she said "domineering female" and "gentle, compliant husband".
Cradock wrote many best-selling cookbooks and BBC booklets, including Home Cooking with Fanny Cradock, Cooking with Bon Viveur, Problem Cooking with Fanny Craddock and Ten Classic Dishes. Her recipes went on to define British food, particularly in the post-war period where her Escoffier-inspired recipes and flamboyant style made a change after years of rationing.Cradock died on 27 December 1994, aged 85, in East Sussex where she lived her final years with her husband.A dramatisation of her life, called Fear of Fanny starring Julia Davis and Mark Gatiss, was first broadcast in 2006.The Dower House dates from the late 17th Century, but was mostly built in the Georgian period in the late 18th Century.One other famous resident was the composer Frederick Delius.The house is on the edge of the Grove Estate, which also features a hotel, spa and championship golf course.
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