Lynda Bellingham laughs long and loud when I tell her I've seen lots of pictures of her with sexy young chefs in a kitchen.
Laughing is something the actress does easily and frequently. It's clear that her upbeat, practical, funny on-screen persona in such shows as All Creatures Great and Small, At Home with the Braithwaites, Second Thoughts and Faith in the Future is close to her off-screen personality.
After joining the girls for lunch-time gossip in ITV's massively successful Loose Women, she is taking on a new challenge as the presenter of Country House Sunday, which takes her to some of the country's most beautiful stately homes.
She visits Renishaw Hall in Derbyshire, home to the Sitwell family for nearly 400 years; magnificent Ragley Hall in Warwickshire, one of England's finest Palladium mansions and family home of the ninth Marquess and Marchioness of Hertford and their four children; and Ugbrooke House in Devon, which has been in the Clifford family since 1604.
It is at Ugbrooke that she was pictured with chefs James Tanner of Tanners and The Barbican Kitchen in Plymouth and Paul Ainsworth of Number 6, Padstow.
Part of Lynda's brief is to explore upstairs and downstairs in these country estates. She looks at their rich history and life, from cooking (hence the chefs) to the gardens and interiors.
Food reporters Ed Baines, Stacie Stewart and Claire Richards will explore some of Britain's best foods throughout the three regions. Larry Lamb will present a strand of heritage walks, exploring the worlds of Bronte, Shakespeare and Agatha Christie.
And antique experts Tom Keane and Paul Hayes will explore some interesting and quirky treasures within the houses and surrounding areas.
Lynda is an enthusiastic ambassador for the show, which was made by Plymouth-based Twofour.
"One of the things I liked was that I feel very strongly that there was a divide between town and country – a lack of understanding in inner cities about what life was really like in the country," she says.
"With London, people know what it's all about; but there's a belief that people in the country are either toffs or an idiot or both."
The people running the estates Lynda visited may come under the "toffs" banner, but she had nothing but admiration for the way they kept the estates – which had been in their families for generations – running, despite the harsh economic realities.
"The thing that really impressed me about the lords and ladies of the houses, which I hope comes across, is that they absolutely have a handle on reality. They really have to struggle to keep these places going.
"They are doing it for us as much as they do it for themselves. It's hard work. They can't have a garage sale and sell off a few Gainsboroughs. I have never seen people work so hard. And they were so welcoming and so interesting. I mean, what would you do? What if you wanted to just run away?
"Ugbrooke House in Chudleigh is actually, in a way, the most interesting. The Clifford family live in it so much and it's really like being in someone's home."
Lynda seems very much at home here. The programme suits her love of good food, her enthusiasm for meeting people and her natural charm, and a fascination for antiques.
"My mother used to deal in antiques and my sister was an antique dealer for 20 years," she says. "About 30 or 40 years ago you could pick up some real bargains. I had a Victorian silver plate epergne that I used to put out for dinner parties – when I was cooking chilli con carne on a one-ring stove.
"I suppose it's all about aspiration – nice linens and lace tablecloths; it's about beautiful things. Today, everything is mass-produced."
Lynda is passionate about many things. On the day we talk, she's been at a school for children with autism on behalf of the Lady Taverners and is enthusiastic about the work they do.
She is a mother of two sons and talks with enormous pride about them and how she pushed her youngest into a job as a porter at the Athenaeum.
"He was appalled that I thought he should be portering. But four years later he is duty manager and he loves it."
And 16 years as the Oxo mum have instilled what is almost a sense of anger about how little home cooking is done and how wasteful we are as a nation.
"There is no waste in these country houses; cook will be using all the leftovers," she says.
"When I was doing Oxo, one thing I always wanted to do was travel the country and show someone on a housing estate with no fridge how to cook. The amazing thing about the school I went to today is that all the kids are being taught how to live on their own. Even if they might not be able to.
"I live in Muswell Hill in London and I always support the local butcher, fishmonger and baker."
It's the kind of thing we're very keen on in the Westcountry, I tell her.
"We're on our way!" Lynda laughs. "My husband is from Somerset and it's an absolute imperative to us and we are looking. Somewhere on the Somerset-Devon borders. I've got a novel coming out in September and a book deal, and I'll be 65, so now is the time.
"I love Devon. I had an uncle Percy who had a farm near Totnes. I remember going there when I was about eight and there was a little stream with celandines and watercress. It was heaven."
Country House Sunday is on ITV1 on Sundays at 8.25am.