Great British Bake Off star Paul Hollywood has shared his deep affection for Cyprus, describing the Mediterranean island as his "second home" — and potentially his future retirement haven.
In a recent interview with Woman’s Weekly , the celebrity baker opened up about returning from a relaxing trip to Cyprus with his wife Melissa, just hours before sitting down to chat.
The island holds special significance for the 59-year-old, who first fell in love with the country in the mid-1990s while working as a head baker at a Cypriot hotel.
It was during that time in 1996 that he met his first wife, Alex. The couple tied the knot on the island two years later.
Following the end of that marriage in 2019, Paul found himself once again drawn back to Cyprus — this time to marry Melissa Spalding, 41, in a ceremony that reinforced the country’s enduring role in his personal life.
“I consider it my second home,” Paul told the magazine. “I might retire there — it will be somewhere that no one will ever find me because I know places in the mountains that no one knows. I can disappear in Cyprus really easily!”
Known for his steely stare and no-nonsense critiques on Bake Off , Hollywood revealed a more reflective side in discussing the serenity and solitude he finds in the Cypriot landscape — especially in the quiet, tucked-away spots far from the spotlight.
The Merseyside-born baker is no stranger to travelling, with his job taking him all over the world. His TV career has seen him travell to the likes of Japan, to learn about the Asian nation’s cuisine as well as Mexico.
He also appeared on The Great American Baking Show - a Bake Off spin-off.
But it was a trip to the Maldives that proved especially enjoyable for Paul, claiming that the trip gave him a chance to unwind as well as indulge in his passion for diving.
Speaking on Alan Carr’s Life’s a Beach podcast, he said: “Maldives was one of those places that, it was a dream destination for me, and I managed to get there a couple of years ago and I just fell in love with it. I was on a beautiful island called Vakkaru and it was just a stunning island.
“The sea, I’m a scuba diver so I did a bit of scuba diving while I was there, and it was just stunning. The fish, the sharks, the rays, and the food.
“Everyone got bicycles, each villa got bicycles to get around the island on, it wasn’t very big, you could literally get around it in a minute, but I loved it. I fell in love with the place."
