OK, you might not quite take the kitchen sink on holiday with you, but what about the iron? Of course, the last thing you want to do on holiday is the ironing. That's what you're getting away from. Most things don't need ironing anyway, wherever you are.

But unless you pack like our grandparents did - enormous leather suitcases and layers of tissue paper - there comes a time when that special top, dress or shirt looks as if it's been rolled up in a ball at the bottom of a bag - probably because it has.

And I don't know if you've ever tried to sort out the creases in a long dress by putting it in the hotel room's trouser press, but believe me, it doesn't work. Well, only in parts, which looks most odd. So you can call room service or dig out the travel iron.

For people travelling on business or for a hotel stay before a wedding or big occasion, sometimes you've got to get the iron out. Travel irons used to be worse than useless - small, lightweight, no steam and never hot enough. But now a new generation has sorted out the wrinkles. Well, some of them.

All the irons we tested had steam and spray. They were very light and small - almost like dolls' irons - and had handles that folded down to take up less space when packing. All of them - except the most expensive - came with a travel pouch and tiny measuring jug.

They are not meant to be heavy duty irons, nor are they designed to last a long time. One of the weaknesses they all shared was a silly little bendy plastic cap for the water tank - a bit like those you get on water pistols. Once you've used that a fair few times, they'll be chewed to ribbons.

But we were pleasantly surprised at how efficient they were.

We tested them on a nicely scrunched up silk top and a bone dry heavy denim skirt and have been dashing away to find the best solution to our pressing problems.

BEST BUY

ALDI, £6.99

Very good design making it very efficient. Handle stays firmly clicked in place. Steam, spray. Nice to use. Good results. A proper iron, only smaller.

CHALLENGE, £5.95

Tiny. Steam, spray. Very light. Works well. On the one we had the handle slipped a bit as we couldn't get it to lock. Very squishy filler cap.

WORST BUY

GO, £21.99

The only one not to have a little travel bag or a little measuring jug for the water, though it had some horrible bubble packaging that presented a real challenge to open. Perfectly adequate, very light. The spray dribbled rather than sprayed. But we cannot for the life of us see why this one was so much more expensive than the others -the design was virtually identical to the cheapest of all, the Challenge, at around a quarter of the price. Definitely not worth the difference.

RUSSELL HOBBS, £11.99

Good performance. Spray, steam. Handle not quite as comfortable as some but perfectly OK. Seemed a bit more robust than the Challenge and Go.

OVERALL

All our irons coped well with delicate silk and tough denim. But of course because the irons are only about a third of the size of our usual one, it took an awfully long time. So these are recommended just for quick, small jobs.

If it hadn't been for the wonky handle, the Challenge at £5.95 from Argos would have been our best buy. But the better design and comfort of the one from Aldi made it well worth the extra pound.

Aldi have very limited stock of the irons, bought in as one of their special Thursday promotions. If they're out of stock, you might as well try the Challenge - and hope you don't get a wonky handle.

The Russell Hobbs might be a bit better, but probably not worth the extra money. And the Go travel iron is most definitely not worth the extra.

Or you could just not care about creases.

PRICE WATCH

YOU expect to shop around for some things - bread, baked beans, holidays. But medicines?

Reader Dorothy Smith of Shildon needed - as we all occasionally do - some Loperamide capsules. At one local chemist they cost £1.50 for ten.

At another, the same medicine, same brand, same package, same sell by date, cost £2.49 - an increase of 66 per cent. That's a big difference.

At yet another chemist, they didn't have packets of ten, but just six cost £1.99 - making them even more expensive again, more than double the first lot.

Thanks very much to Dorothy for pointing that out. We shall be looking at the price of medicines, among other things, in the near future. But in the meantime, keep an eye on how much you're charged, or being ill could cost you a lot more than you realise. And that could really make you sick.

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