Last week, we visited St Mary’s Church in Radnage, hidden in a secluded Buckinghamshire valley. It was used as the main setting in the 1987 film adaptation of J L Carr’s novella, A Month in the Country, starring Colin Firth … Continue reading →
After fifteen years of not travelling abroad and not even having a valid passport, I suddenly got the travel bug and, this year, I’ve been fortunate to see three new cities (Amsterdam, Bruges and Ghent) and three beautiful Mediterranean islands … Continue reading →
There are few things I enjoy more than a visit to a garden, and few books I love more than those by the writer Dora Saint who wrote as Miss Read. So the opportunity to marry these two passions was … Continue reading →
Last Sunday, I travelled to the heart of the Cotswolds to a very special place – Wood Green near Witney – the inspiration behind Miss Read’s fictional ‘Thrush Green’. I’ve visited here before, but it’s always a joy to see … Continue reading →
Earlier this month, we visited beautiful Kent and stopped off at a very special place – Chelsfield. This is the village that the seven-year old Dora Saint – ‘Miss Read’ as she became known to readers – moved to after … Continue reading →
This week, I had the great pleasure of meeting up with Jill Saint, daughter of Dora Saint, who wrote as ‘Miss Read’. We met for lunch at The Swan in Minster Lovell in the heart of the Cotswolds. This is … Continue reading →
Earlier this month, my husband and I spent a day in the beautiful countryside of West Berkshire, meeting up with Jill Saint – the daughter of Dora Saint who wrote as ‘Miss Read’. It’s no secret that I’m a huge … Continue reading →
Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting ‘Thrush Green’ with Jill Saint – the daughter of Dora Saint or ‘Miss Read’ as she’s widely known to her readers. Where Miss Read’s ‘Fairacre’ is a fictional place, ‘Thrush Green’ was … Continue reading →
Last week, we welcomed four gorgeous new ex-commercial hens to Mulberry Cottage where they’ll have a happy retirement after their stressful factory lives. Named after characters from Miss Read’s Thrush Green novels, they are: Winnie, Ella, Agnes and Violet and … Continue reading →
Last summer, I heard about the release of a brand new Miss Read book. Dora Saint’s daughter, Jill, had been helping to collate the articles and essays which her mother had written before her more famous Fairacre and Thrush Green … Continue reading →
It’s no secret that I’m a big Miss Read fan. Her Fairacre books are amongst my favourite and I even named our first flock of ex-battery hens after characters from her novels. Sadly, Dora Saint (who wrote as ‘Miss Read’) … Continue reading →
Yesterday, I had the very great honour of giving a reading at Dora Saint’s memorial service. Dora wrote under the name of ‘Miss Read’ and I adore her novels – particularly the Fairacre books. They never fail to raise a … Continue reading →