Celebrity traveller

breathtaking with the Andes all around you. The whitewashed city of Popayán is just stunning.

AND YOUR WORST?

In the late Eighties, Jack, the children and I stayed at a villa in the Dordogne in France. Our sons Harry and Joe were aged five and three, our daughter Amy had only just turned one – and all three had chicken pox!

Travelling with one child with the illness is bad enough but three at the same time is dreadful!

FAVOURITE SOUVENIR?

Jack has what I would describe as a ceramics habit; wherever we go on holiday he likes to bring back some plates or bowls. It means we’re always the most annoying passengers on the flight home carrying bags full of fragile goods! My favourite are some bowls from Essaouira

in Morocco.

BEST MEAL?

One winter we went to south India and the food in Kerala was incredible. We had a range of curries with prawns that had just been fished out of the river, loads of coconut milk that had just come down off the trees, and the most delicious fresh vegetables that you can imagine.

BEST HOLIDAY READ?

I like to read a book which is set in the country I’m visiting. You won’t catch me reading about France when I’m, say, in Greece.

I really like to get into the zone. So when I was in Colombia, I read One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel García Marquez. It served as an alternative tourist guide which gave me a real sense of the people and the place.

HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR TIME ON HOLIDAY?

I’m lucky enough to go on holiday twice a year. In winter Jack and I go and discover somewhere we’ve never been before. Those holidays involve lots of travelling within a country so they’re generally very energetic. In the summer Jack and I go away with the extended family and that is more relaxed. It’s like a week of lazy Sundays.

WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO REVISIT?

Last summer we went to Sicily which is just lovely. The food, the culture and the climate are delightful.

WHERE NEXT?

This summer we’re going to the Luberon in France. Jack and I are going for a week with the family and then just the two of us will probably do a bit of agriturismo the following week.

I love the fact France is so easy to get to nowadays. When I was young it was such a huge venture to cross the Channel.