SIX years after her last visit to Hereford with her stand-up show Old Dog, New Tricks, when she'd hoped to open the show with fire, but settled for a hula hooping trick, Jenny Eclair returns to the city with How to be a Middle Aged Woman (without going insane).

"Somebody might go after me under the Trades Description Act," she concedes, "as the title may suggest I've found an answer, and people might feel cheated of solutions!"

Which is not to say that Jenny, well-known to many as one of the Grumpy Old Women, hasn't found the odd answer: "There are a few things that help, and one of them is tapestry," but definitely not, she reveals, baking: "I have never been able to make a cake without having a migraine. I don't have a sweet tooth at all - I'm a pork pie girl."

All of which leads her to muse on what happens to all the baked goods enthusiastic bakers make: "What are we doing it for? Making all these fabulous things? We're very schizophrenic about food - we need the comfort but none of us want to be wobbling around in a size 24 whatever."

As a veteran of one of the biggest reality TV shows - she interrupted her Old Dog, New Tricks tour to take part in I'm a Celebrity," she would, though, have happily taken part in a Celebrity Bake Off show. But, she says, drawing comparisons with Brexit, another ill-conceived, greed-driven decision has ensured that won't be happening.

And, while she enjoyed doing the jungle - she came third - there are, she observes many 'horrific' reality shows she wouldn't touch, among them Celebrity Island. "But I'd never rule out reality TV shows, because they're part of the business now."

The current show, How to be a Middle Aged Woman has, says Jenny, "No tricks, not what I'd call tricks. There's an entrance, some dancing and then the show," she reports. "But although there are no tricks, there are tiny events, things I point at with a stick," which is as much of an explanation as she provides, adding only that there will also be "a couple of home-made props"!

"It runs itself now," she says of the show. "It's a bit of a show and tell, a bit more broken stand-up with other things in it."

Once the current series of 38 dates comes to and end, Jenny will turn her attention to her fifth novel, and have a writing year. "I really like the mix (of writing and touring), though I find touring in the winter hard, especially now the clocks have gone back.

Jenny Eclair will be at The Courtyard with How to Be a Middle Aged Woman on Sunday, November 13. To book, call the box office on 01432 340555 or visit courtyard.org.uk