Mary Berry's holiday heaven and hell Good company. I'm not the sort of person who would enjoy going on holiday by myself. My daughter went off on her own to do things when she was travelling but I have to share a view. Food is important too. I'm not too fussy about it as long as it's really fresh, local and well cooked. A hot water bottle because you never know if you're going to get ill on holiday or if it will be cold in the night. I recently bought a lightweight suitcase that I can take on the plane with me and I'm thrilled to bits with it. It weighs almost nothing and it's also got four wheels instead of two. I'm going to Barbados in February and I'm very excited about that. We're going to St James" and my husband will get to play golf and I'll be happy by the pool. The weather in England is dreadful at that time of year and nothing happens in the garden, so it's a good time to go away and there are some fabulous restaurants on the island too. It was a holiday to Cornwall when the children were young and it rained every single day. The children loved the beach so we were on it every day but we were there with a group of families and there were no drying facilities so we'd come home and everything would be wet and we couldn't get things dry. That was really rather sad. But we had our friendship and we had wine and picnics, which made the experience a little more palatable. I was once asked to be a cooking lecturer for a fortnight on the Black Watch cruise ship. Bunny Campione was also on board talking about antiques and Edwina Currie was there to talk about her books. I gave the organisers all my recipes typed out with a list of ingredients and they said: "That's absolutely fine. No problem," but I got there and there were no ingredients and no scales on the ship. Can you imagine? Flour and sugar came in sacks. There were also no facilities and we didn't have any spice. Everything came in mixes and barrels and they didn't even have a tablespoon, so I had to guess everything. It was an absolute disaster. I'd asked for fresh mangos and fresh fruits but they hadn't even got those. And then they had asked me to do demonstrations but they had no mobile cooker so anything I cooked had to be rushed to the kitchen by a chef and brought back again cooked. It was a total nightmare. I don't know how I managed to create a single dish but I managed somehow. It was horrendous. Going to Sri Lanka and losing my luggage. I have now learnt that when you're packing your hand luggage, you put in enough clothes to cope if you're luggage is lost; like a skirt for the next day; a change of clothes. I never thought about that before. I was with friends and I borrowed skirts and we were staying in a house and it wasn't the end of the world but that's the biggest mistake I've made and I've learnt from that so now in my hand luggage I would take a spare set of clothes ready for if you lost your luggage. The worst hotel you've stayed in? I've stayed in all sorts of hotels, some good and some bad. I can't think of the worst specific one although some of the bed and breakfasts haven't been the best but the way I judge a hotel is by its orange juice in the morning. And it's amazing how few hotels have fresh orange juice. You've got to pay an awful lot for your hotel before you get fresh orange juice. If a hotel has got proper orange juice - and you do expect it if you're abroad - I rank the hotel highly. What do you avoid on holidays? On the whole we avoid crowds and like to do our own thing. I love walking holidays and I like it to be just us. I just like to keep to our own lot. Food wise there's nothing I avoid. I try everything that's going. I'm into small portions of really good food although if I'm in strange places I might not try prawns. You do have to be careful. It's a silly thing but I hate that feeling when you're packing when you think, "Oh, am I taking the right thing?" and it's always such a relief when you get there and you think, "Thank Goodness, the weather is as I thought it would be and I've got the right kit." There have been occasions where I've got it wrong. So many of these places are cool in the evening and it's worth remembering that, so I always pack a pashmina in case it's cold. The Great British Bake Off - Learn to Bake: 80 easy recipes for all the family by Linda Collister (forward by Mary Berry) is published on October 25 by BBC Books, priced £18.99. The final of the Great British Bake Off is broadcast tonight (October 16) at 8pm on BBC Two.