Nancy Birtwhistle, a former winner of the BBC’s The Great British Bake Off (GBBO), will join the Fred Olsen cruise line this summer.

Birtwhistle won GBBO in 2014, and will be joining part of The Great British Cruise, an 11-night voyage on board Braemar, which departs from Southampton on 8 August.

She will be on board between Cardiff and Rosyth and will take part in a question-and-answer session, where the cruise director and audience will be able to ask her questions about her time on GBBO and glean baking tips.

Hull-based Birtwhistle will also be hosting a live baking demonstration on board, and will be spending time meeting Fred Olsen’s guests around the ship during her stay.

Self-taught baker

A self-taught baker, who only decided to pursue her passion seven years ago, when she retired as a GP’s practice manager, Birtwhistle said some of her first memories of baking were Christmases with her grandmother.

Birtwhistle said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be joining The Great British Cruise this year. We will enjoy the best that the British Isles has to offer and I look forward to sharing some of my Bake Off stories, along with some very special cooking and baking secrets.”