Take a year off work to be with your children: Emma Thompson

"The Love Actually" actress Emma Thompson, who put her career on hold for 12 months, says it is important to take a year-long break to spend quality time with children.

She has a 14-year-old daughter, Gaia, and a 26-year-old adopted son, Tindyebwa Agaba.

"You can't be a great mum and keep working all the time," dailymail.co.uk quoted her as saying.

The actress recently put her Hollywood career on hold of 12 months to look after her children, but with a wealth estimated at about 30 million pounds, she is better placed than most to be able to afford the time off.

The 55-year-old said: "I wanted to spend more time with my family. A year off was my birthday present to myself. I didn't actually act or write. I was just a mum. I taught drama at my daughter's school, cooked meals and had fun.

"I highly recommend others to do the same if they can afford it."

The actress said she had come to the conclusion that it wasn't always possible to juggle parenthood and a career.

She said: "Sometimes in life you'll have some things, at other times you will have other things. You don't need it all at once, it's not good for you. Motherhood is a full-time job."

"The only way I could have continued working would have been by delegating the running of the home to other people. I never wanted to do this as I find motherhood profoundly enjoyable."

Thompson, who recently played Mary Poppins creator P.L. Travers in "Saving Mr Banks", also described her husband Greg Wise as "a great aesthetic pleasure".

She said: "He is the only luxury I can't imagine ever being able to give up. Because he can cook, wash up, clean, entertain children, understand maths homework, put up shelves, take them down and put them up elsewhere and repair the little holes left behind, garden with a purpose, drive sensibly but very fast on motorways and let me get on with my life."