I can’t believe we’ve had our three new hens for two whole weeks.  We let them out last week and there were a few spats with our three old girls with dear Primrose getting the very worst of it.

Primrose is a little adventurous and tries to join in with the old girls but they really don’t like it and Dotty takes great exception to Primrose entering the conservatory which is – of course – her special space!  But, overall, things have been good.  Old girl, Minnie, has even tried to get into the nest box and sleep alongside Little Flo!

Little Flo is really enjoying her new freedom and is particularly agile – jumping up onto things and exploring everywhere.  One thing we didn’t expect, though, was that she’d take a dislike to our spaniel, Molly, and charge at her everytime she walks by!  Poor Molly is now absolutely terrified!

Mariette is the shy one.  She gets really anxious if you approach her and prefers to do her own thing in the garden.  It’s a joy to watch her discovering things for the first time.

On the writing front, The Runaway Actress has been edging towards the Amazon Top 100 on Kindle which is really exciting and I’ve already had lovely feedback from readers.  If you’re in the East Anglia region, check out my diary as I’ll be doing a few events over the next few weeks.

In the US, Mr Darcy Forever has been getting some wonderful reviews and there are rumours that the ‘Mr Darcy Wet Shirt Competition’ which features in the book might become a real event at the Jane Austen Festival in Bath this September!

Sad news last week – one of my favourite writers, Miss Read, died just a few days before her 99th birthday.  She wrote the loveliest books about English village life with the most beautiful descriptions of the changing seasons.  I particularly loved her Fairacre series which began with Village School.  Truly inspirational.  I even named my first hens after characters from her books.