Kathryn Thomas won't return to RTÉ's No Place Like Home this year

The RTÉ star hosted the hit series, which focused on the best staycation spots Ireland has to offer, for two seasons.

But she revealed that she will be taking some well-deserved maternity leave over the summer months after welcoming her daughter Grace in November and returning to work on Operation Transformation just two months later.

“No Place Like Home is not coming back this year from what I know,” she told RSVP Live.

“I have decided to take my maternity leave. I decided last year that if I was going back to work from Operation Transformation that I would go on maternity leave during the summer.

“While I loved going around Ireland in a campervan, it was still work. We had great fun, but we were still working.

“I want to take a couple of weeks off and go away with the girls. I want six weeks without having to think about work at all.

“I want to use that time with the girls because you will never get it back. When you are a freelancer and self-employed, you have to be strict with yourself and take time out. For me, that time will be this summer.”

Kathryn said that she found it easy to work on Operation Transformation while looking after baby Grace and praised the team at RTÉ for being so accommodating.

“I had two months with her and then I went back to work in January, but she came with me when we recorded on set every Saturday,” she said.

“I did the voiceovers from my wardrobe every Tuesday morning. The lads would drop in the equipment and new batteries. I had the script in one hand, I had her on the boob and off we went to do the recording.”