Gwen Stefani Says Quarantining With Blake Shelton and Her Kids Was ‘Magical’

When the coronavirus pandemic began, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani headed to Shelton’s ranch in Oklahoma, where they spent the next several months together along with Stefani’s three sons, Kingston, Zuma and Apollo. In a first look at the upcoming season of The Voice, the coaches opened up about their quarantines, which Stefani called “magical.”

“We don’t ever have that much solid time together,” she explained. “We did do a lot of fun stuff. We did a lot of cooking. I learned how to make sourdough bread like everybody else; it took me like a month to get the starter right. We did so much stuff. We built a garden. We planted zinnias. I mean, we planted thousands of zinnia flowers. It was a lot of stuff that you dream about doing that you never have time to do.”

Shelton confirmed that one of the group’s preferred activities was spending time in the kitchen. “This summer during quarantine, I learned how to make jam,” he said in the clip, which also provided photo proof. “I have about six or eight peach trees, and every year they make a bunch of peaches and we eat them. But this year, since we were there and there were so many and there was nothing else to do, we got online and we learned how to make jam. We’ve made, like, cases of peach jam. That’s a lot of work! Probably will never do that again but I know how to do it.”

Stefani and Shelton’s life at home in Oklahoma was documented in the music video for their recently released duet “Happy Anywhere,” which they filmed themselves with the help of Stefani’s brother, Todd. “There was a camera shooting the things we do every day,” Shelton told PEOPLE. “We make biscuits, fish, sing together, spend time with family… just a day in life!”

“The simple pleasure of being together in one place for an extended period of time has been a real gift,” he added. “We cook, we clean, we ride four-wheelers and we just enjoy being with each other and with family.”

Shelton also praised his girlfriend of nearly five years, noting, “An Okie boy and a California girl look on paper like an unlikely match, but what matters is she’s a great human being. She is the most understanding, kind-hearted person I’ve ever met and I learn something from her every day.”