'Helen Skelton ate my guinea pig', well, not quite.

The 40-year-old mother of three recently moved back to the Lake District to enjoy some well-needed home comforts, Cumberland sausages and what have you.

Yet whilst chatting on the Spooning with Mark Wogan podcast, she described a lunch that'll stay with her for life.

Cumbria's most beloved TV presenter has described the time she accidentally picked out "the cutest guinea pig" for lunch whilst filming in Peru.

She said: "So I went to Peru and did a lot of filming with some wonderful charities who were educating children who worked on rubbish dumps, who basically went out every day, scavenging for bits, take them back, clean them, sell them.

"And so the charity were trying to get them into schools and they were showing us their wonderful work and as part of showing us what happened they took us out for lunch."

Helen went on to reveal that she was taken to "the middle of nowhere" and was shown a "big garden" filled with hutches with guinea pigs.

After saying "Oh that's cute," she had no idea what was in store for her.

"I was enthusiastic because they were proud and I was being respectful," she commented.

"I thought they were just showing me their guinea pigs, I didn't realise that I was picking my lunch!" Helen exclaimed before going on to say her chosen guinea pig was "spatchcocked and deep fried".

"I can't say that's wrong, that's their world"

The former Strictly star stated that she has filmed in "loads of random places" which had different cultures. "I can't say that's wrong, that's their world," she added.

Helen went on to say that the guinea pig was served to her with coleslaw as a side, with its claws still intact.

"It was a delicacy, they were really proud," she added before saying that her translator was "looking" at her, implying that it was important for her to eat the lunch prepared for her.

Helen Skelton on moving back to Cumbria

Skelton says she is happily ‘living in 1985’ as her friend put it during a recent visit.

“My house is always full of so many kids because you’re repaying the favour.

"The adage that it takes a village [to raise a child] is 100 per cent true,” Skelton told The Times.

“Anyone with small kids knows that there’s certain times in your life when jobs work, and certain times when they don’t. I’ve got three very busy kids who do three very different activities and most of them happen on a Sunday morning. It was just the wrong time.”