Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Real Housewife of Cheshire Ampika Pickston thinks the Far East is glam, but Llandudno lives on

Llandudno Seafront, Wales (Getty)
Llandudno Seafront, Wales (Getty)

AMPIKA PICKSTON, 35, is one of the colourful characters in ITVBe’s Real Housewives Of Cheshire.

She was married to multimillionaire businessman Mark Pickston, but they are now divorced.

Ampika, who has a son Jake, 10, runs a hair and beauty business and is writing a book due out early next year.

Real Housewives Of Cheshire is on ITVBe on Mondays at 10pm

Ampika Pickston (ITV)
Ampika Pickston (ITV)

I’VE done a lot of travelling and have been to some very unusual and beautiful places in the world.

But my fondest memories as a child were doing things in my home county of Lancashire with my grandfather.

They were days to the seaside at Blackpool and Llandudno or bus trips where it’s the sweet shop visits I remember.

As far removed from those days as possible was a two-month cruise of the Far East with my ex-husband.

We started in Thailand, did Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, Cambodia, so many places.

I found it an absolutely wonderful experience because it was so stress-free.

We had our own private butler, so once I was on the ship there was nothing to do, not even unpack.

At some ports we’d be there for two or three days and we’d stay in a hotel on shore and get a bit more of a true experience of the place.

My mother’s from Thailand, so I have heritage from the Far East, but I’m a massive fan of Europe.

It has culture, lifestyle and beauty that I find appealing. You have everything from fabulous beaches to historic buildings that really aren’t that far away.

I’m quite outdoorsy and I’ve done lots of rambling in Switzerland.

I really love fishing and competitions have taken me all over the world.

I found a love for it when I first met my ex-husband and we used to do as a pastime together. Now it’s something I do with Jake.

Sometimes the places have been glamorous.

We went to the Maldives and fished for four days.

But I just love Scotland. I got married in Dornoch Cathedral, with another ceremony in Skibo Castle where Madonna and Guy Ritchie were married.

Away from all the fancier side of things, though, I’m just blown away by the beauty of Scotland and I love to go back.

I feel totally at peace there.


READ MORE

Don’t worry go to Switzerland!

River City star Sophia Kolinas says her favourite holiday spot has to be Skye