Karen Wright: Cakes, castles, old friends and boat trips make for best times

we have three birthdays. Former Great British Bake Off contestant Karen Wright shares her recipe for happiness with Your Time readers.

We started with a visit to a patisserie in Cheltenham. Terry and I were taken aback by the sheer beauty of the products.

We were gowned up, including disposable pixie socks, so looked like scientists! We got lucky as we were given a selection to take back to the caravan site to sample.

The next day was active and we had a walk along the top of the Malvern Hills. Not too arduous, although I did let Terry and John scale the beacon without me.

We had a feast of a barbecue that night as our last evening together. The next day Terry returned home, and we continued south. We arrived at the Caravan and Motorhome Club site near Portsmouth, called Rookesbury Park.

We got organised and setled down to making plans. Day one we investigated Portchester Castle, a medieval castle built on a Roman site, and strategically positioned to defend Portsmouth. Very interesting.

The next day we had the best time. We went to the historic dockyard in Portsmouth – home of HMS Victory and the Mary Rose. I remembered a visit to the Victory as a child in the sixties but back then the Tudor warship, the Mary Rose, was still undiscovered on the seabed afer sinking over 400 years ago.

We purchased our Mary Rose tickets online, so were sure of our time slot. The museum is fascinating and there are over 19,000 items found during excavation and recovery on display, including the full skeleton of the ship’s dog, thought to be a whippet kept on board as a rat catcher.

After the museum we took a boat trip around the harbour. This was great. The commentary was very interesting. We sailed by aircraf carriers, tugs, banana boats and ferries. We saw the spinnaker tower and a yacht that can be hired for £650,000 per week, plus fuel! Food wise I am still trying to use up Elgars’ apples!

I have made apple biscuits, puddings and savoury meals.

We also managed to catch up with a friend from our France days, Janise, who lives near here. All brilliant.

Tomorrow we move on to Brighton. It’s family time as we have three birthdays.