This was the hens’ first encounter with snow and they weren’t impressed, choosing to stay inside their coop but Molly enjoyed it – running about and pushing her nose into it like a little snow plough!

But it’s very hard to concentrate on the new book which is set on a summery Greek island when it’s like Narnia here.  Perhaps I should be writing a few chapters of my Christmas novella instead!

The price – £85 – includes a home-made lunch in the mill’s wonderful farmhouse kitchen and there will be plenty of time for you to take inspiration from the surrounding countryside, sit by the mill pond and watch out for otters and kingfishers or meet the local herd of white goats.  It’s going to be a fabulous day so book now as there are only 10 places available!

I am finally getting into a writing routine here in our new home in Suffolk and have been making good progress on my new novel, The Aphrodite Touch, although the great outdoors is still proving a big distraction.  We’ve had some beautiful frosty days here and, when the sun shines, it’s absolutely magical.

We’ve also been musing over seed catalogues, planning the garden so we can grow masses of vegetables and I managed to sneak in a few roses too!  Well, you can’t have a cottage garden without masses of roses, can you?

The wonderful thing about winter is that you get magnificent sunsets and the colours in the sky were lovely.  I often envy my husband with his summer birthday but I always try to make the very best of my Twelfth Night one!

And I’m delighted to report that the ebook edition of my romantic comedy, Molly’s Millions, is currently riding high in the Amazon Top 100 chart and is Number 1 in the Humour Chart!

Today is also a very special day as it marks the ban on barren battery cages for hens.  From today, these wonderful birds will have a little more room in their cages, somewhere to perch and somewhere private to lay their eggs.  It’s still not ideal and it’s far from the free-ranging life that they should be leading but it’s a definite step in the right direction and my three ex-bat girls approve wholeheartedly!

Life at Mulberry Cottage continues to make me smile and, this week, it was super smiles as we bought our first Christmas tree and decorated it with all the pretty gold, purple and pink decorations I’ve been collecting over the past few weeks and it looks lovely!  I can’t wait to show it off at the little party we’re throwing next week.

On the writing front, I’ve been scribbling down my thoughts about moving to the countryside and I hope to publish Escape to Mulberry Cottage some time next year so you can read all about it then.  And exciting news for my Jane Austen addicts’ trilogy – it’s going to be published in Russia!  I’m so thrilled and can’t wait to see my first book in Russian!

I am definitely going to have to rearrange my writing timetable.  I used to do my best writing in the mornings but, by the time I get back from these long dog walks and see to the hens (who are loving their new garden!) it’s almost time for lunch!  I’ve been working best in the evenings since moving here – once it’s dark and the great outdoors is no longer a temptation!  I’ve got rewrites to finish for The Runaway Actress and I’ve been working on a novella too – more about that another time.  Then, it’s back to the brand new novel, The Aphrodite Touch.  I’m really excited about this one and can’t wait to return to work on it.

We have so much to look forward to – we’re planning to get a puppy in the spring and hope to have some more hens too.  The husband is getting nervous in case I sneak in a few goats, geese and pigs too!

And I’ve decided to write about the experience of leaving the city for a slice of the good life so watch out for Escape to Mulberry Cottage sometime next year.

So, this is my last blog from London and I look forward to writing my next one from my very own study overlooking those fields full of horses.

The coastal path is so beautiful and I even spotted a few red campions!

I often complain about walking my dog in the London suburbs but at least we don’t have signs like this:

Now, it’s back home and there are rewrites to do for The Runaway Actress and also a house to pack because – at long last – we are leaving the noisy London suburbs and moving to rural Suffolk.  I can’t wait although the day itself is bound to be stressful with dog and hens in tow!

I can’t tell you how much fun it was to write this trilogy and it means the world to me to see them doing so well especially this week as it is 200 years since Jane Austen’s first book was published.  Happy Birthday, Sense and Sensibility!