After two years of stress and disruption, Angela Rippon tells Imy Brighty-Potts how food and friends are a match made in heaven.

We have all had reasons to be stressed over the past two years, and TV presenter Angela Rippon is no exception. Losing valuable contact with friends, and with Covid calling a halt to her love affair with tennis, she's had little to help her switch off from a manic work schedule.

Fresh in from time tending her garden, Rippon, 77, casually reveals she understands how difficult we have all found the last two years.

"Everybody feels there have been so many restrictions on what they can do, when they can do it, and where, that now we're - sort of - out of the pandemic, there's an opportunity to get out and enjoy [life]."

When it comes to relieving stress, she likes to keep active and social.

"My happy place is pottering in my garden," Rippon says. "And my de-stressing activity is playing tennis. There's nothing like whacking a tennis ball to get rid of your stress, if you give it a good wallop. You can't really think about anything else, except how you're going to get the ball back over the net, or what your partner is going to do."

She's keen to be calm and mindful, and finds a massage particularly helpful. "I really love massage. That's the ultimate de-stress. To go and have a really lovely deep-tissue massage and come out feeling totally relaxed and refreshed."

"I have always loved having friends around for supper."

Cooking and eating for her is bliss. She enjoys the whole process, and finds joy in the methodical routine and excitement of bringing food and friends together. "It's the things that are associated with food and cooking. I wouldn't say I'm a brilliant cook, but I'm an enthusiastic cook. And I enjoy my cooking."

We can be so quick to fall into a state of flustering when entertaining, but Rippon tries to enjoy every moment of it, cooking in a calm, stress-free way. She makes everything, buying as little as possible, and the pleasure of it all starts when she tries to think of what to cook.

"I must have something like 80 to 100 cookery books, and when I travel abroad, I buy a cookery book from each country. That's part of the pleasure of organising a dinner party, thinking what my guests would like, finding the appropriate book and then going through it."

But really, she says, the best part is when the doorbell rings and the first friends arrive - something we all missed enormously during lockdown.

As a TV regular, she doesn't tend to find much time for it, instead opting for relaxation through audio. "Radio 4 Extra has this huge archive of plays to listen to. I like to put my earphones in and listen to a whole play.

It's this mindset that lead her to narrate Maltesers Meditations, a new series of baking videos.

She shares, matter of fact, that "the only thing to be taken seriously is the idea that you should have some 'me time', whoever you are; a moment where you sit down and relax. Even if all you do is just watch one of these fun little videos".

Angela Rippon narrates 'Maltesers Meditations', a new series of baking videos from Maltesers Bunny. For more information and to watch the full series, visit youtube.com/maltesers.