What is celebrity chef Tom Kerridge looking forward to this Christmas and beyond? Sandra Carter finds out...

So it’s Christmas – a quite different event with a two-year-old in the home. How do you think your little man Acey will enjoy the festivities?

He still doesn’t know what’s going on, but Christmas will be fun. His first Christmas just after he was born was the best ever, of course. Last year was fantastic, spending time with family and his little cousins. This year will be a family time too.

Any tips for us home cooks trying to stay sane at Christmas?

Make sure you enjoy it. Don’t get stressed – it’ll come through. You can always taste it if someone has cooked under stress. So plan ahead, don’t be too ambitious, let people help, relax.

Your own festive favourite?

I love eating Christmas lunch together but I’m really a Boxing Day man: cold meat and pickles with bubble and squeak, after a morning outdoors with family and our two dogs to blow the cobwebs away. What could be better?

It’s been quite a year (or two) for your wife Beth (Cullen-Kerridge): not only with a little son around, but her sculpture is causing waves in the art world.

It’s brilliant. She’s had an installation in Mayfair this autumn, and she won the Global Art Awards for sculpture. We flew to Dubai for the award.

Your Marlow gastropub The Hand and Flowers retained its two Michelin stars, and in October your pub The Coach won a Michelin star. That must have been a thrill.

I was over the moon for my wonderful team at The Coach. Nick Beardshaw, Tom De Keyser and the whole crew work tirelessly to provide a welcoming, neighbourhood place.

Meanwhile your year has included more TV work, a PopUp Picture House, the hugely popular Marlow Pub in the Park, appearances at food festivals and now the innovative Butcher’s Tap shop-cum-pub. How do you fit it all in?

It’s all built around our team – our chefs Nick, Aaron, Chris, who have been with us for years, and all the rest of them. They contribute so much and are all partners in what we do. They all are valued and empowered and have been so important to us ever since we came to Marlow in 2005.

Do you still follow the low carb, stay-happy Dopamine Diet which led to your amazing weight loss? Or are you bored with it?

It works well for me and it’s easy to stick to once it becomes a way of life. Basically I avoid carb like potato and bread and stick to protein and veg, with just a few carbs from fruit. I wrote the book because so many people contacted me to find out how I had turned my weight problem around, and I’m glad to find it works for others too.

And what’s on the horizon for 2018?

Lots. We’re about to open three more B&B rooms in Marlow, making 11 in total, and we have various pop-up food events planned. But most of all we just want to continue enjoying this great community in Marlow and south Bucks and making our contribution to it. It’s a great place to live and work.