Barbados

• Nelson got it wrong, Antigua is fab! - Antigua
• I don’t like Antigua. I love it! and so will you! - Antigua
• My Millionaire Week - Bahamas
• The Bond hotel to die for - Bahamas
• Join the stars in the sun - Barbados
• Short Cut to Paradise - Barbados
• My Adventure on the wild side - Barbados
• How to find the bed of your dreams - Barbados
• My Barbados Love Affair - Barbados
• The Urban Spice Man - Grenada
• The island that time forgot - Nevis
• Heaven, no news for a week - St Lucia
• The Spice Island girl - Grenada
• Slow Time! - Grenada
• Star Grazing - Necker Island, Antigua
• Where Nelson won his spurs - Nevis
• Chill Out Caribbean - Spas
• Chicville-sur-mer - St Barts
• The Most Exclusive Island of All? - St Barts
• Spring into the Caribbean - St Barts
• Frightfully Fabulous - St Kitts
• I Love Lucia! - St Lucia
• So you want to live like a millionaire? - St Vincent & the Grenadines
• My perfect Martini - Turks and Caicos
• The plot thickens in Antigua - Antigua
• Sun, rum and my Mum - Caribbean
• Call me Anneka Spice - Grenada
• My Caribbean dreamland - St Lucia
• A right royal getaway - Antigua
• Babymoon in Barbados - Barbados

MY SCHEDULE FOR TWO YEARS had been really hectic and my property developer husband Matthew and I really needed to go somewhere special and chill out for a week – especially as I had just discovered I was pregnant.

We picked Barbados – I asked my doctor about our plans and he said I was fine to travel. It was all very weird.

Playing my character Maria, I was used to having an on-screen bump – and now I was going to have one of my own (which as things progressed was to mean viewers seeing a lot of my top half only!).

We had to leave the booking quite late. My dad was poorly – sadly he has since passed away – so we weren’t sure whether we were going to be able to travel.

It was a period of tremendous emotional turmoil and a holiday was a very welcome escape.

I was nine weeks’ pregnant when we left – and hardly anyone knew. Barbados was somewhere that had always appealed to us and this was our first visit there, indeed our first trip to the Caribbean.

We knew we would be taking it easy

Many of our friends go there and they had always told us how beautiful it was. We’d heard them talking about their favourite restaurants.

We liked the sound of it all and certainly fancied a change. We stayed at the Fairmont Royal Pavilion on the west coast, where every room faces the ocean. There’s an accent on activity and you can play golf, tennis, snorkel, sail or water-ski. However, we knew we would be taking it easy.

I was tired anyway before the trip and as I was pregnant I was quite limited in what I could do. We did go on a boat ride one day, arranged by the hotel.

I’m not sure of the geography but we sailed off to the right, straight past Simon Cowell’s house – I know that much! Normally boat trips in Barbados involve drinking rather a lot of rum punch but I can assure you I was drinking only fruit punch.

Our friends were right, there are lots of great places to eat. Everyone told us we had to go to The Cliff, which is consistently rated one of the island's best by critics.

We also loved the Lone Star restaurant, which is just down the beach from The Fairmont – so much so that we went several times. The restaurant has a spectacular setting on the ocean with a very laid-back atmosphere.

Another place that we enjoyed was Groots, a restaurant and bar outside Holetown. Apparently it’s owned by a man from Warrington near Manchester.

Everybody is so friendly

It is very chilled and you can order fish and chips, pies and other English things. The place looks like a shack and everybody writes on the walls, although we resisted the temptation to add anything.

We ate out almost every night – finding little local restaurants is one of the joys of going on holiday. We thought the local cuisine was superb. Our only other major excursion was to the Royal Westmoreland estate.

We had met the man who owned it on the flight over and he invited us to have a look round. We spent a very pleasant afternoon there. We really loved the beautiful Fairmont and would definitely go back.

Barbados is very popular with Brits – and you can see why. One big attraction is that everybody is so friendly.

One day I had a massage on the beach from a guy called Dr Cool, a big Rastafarian. He was a bit scary to look at but he did a really good massage.

He has been wandering up and down the beach for years, so everybody knows him. He just plonks himself down by your sunlounger, gets his fresh aloe out and then rubs your back with it – it’s lovely.

Beach hawkers can be a bit of a nuisance but Dr Cool was a welcome one.

The holiday turned out to be what people now call a ‘babymoon’, a luxury pre-birth getaway for parents-to-be. When I was lying on the beach in Barbados, I was thinking of my giving birth scenes on the beach in Southport.

Shame we couldn't have done those scenes in the Caribbean… Matthew and I try to travel as much as possible and we aim to take a couple of holidays a year.

We also visit Wales often as Matthew has been going there since he was a child and his family have a holiday home in Abersoch.

We go there for weekends and we can take the dog as well. The cast of Coronation Street are fairly well travelled – we do like our holidays and often share ideas.

A few of the cast had been to Barbados so I had a lot of recommendations about what to do while we were there.

Being recognised on holiday is as difficult as you want it to be. If you put your head down and keep yourself to yourself, it’s fine.

The staff were really charming

And on holiday people are always really friendly, so I’ve not found it a problem. It helps that my character is not hated by the public – it might be more difficult for Gray O’Brien, who plays bad guy Tony.

I'll still be keen to travel abroad with a baby; having a child won't stop us. When we’re away we always see families with young children.

We go to child-friendly places anyway, so taking a baby will be exciting. The Barbados trip was one of our best ever holidays.

The hotel was lovely, the staff really charming and we had a great room overlooking the beach. We went to Dubai last year and stayed at the Madinat, which we loved. That was another of our favourite holidays.

My father was Lebanese so the Middle East is in my blood. As a child I used to live in Abu Dhabi, so I’ve always wanted to go back to the region.

I love Middle Eastern food and I was in my element in Dubai. I’ve never been to Lebanon, and would love to go. It is on my list and I’m sure I’ll make the trip one day. From Weatherfield to Beirut – that would be quite a journey.