When I was just a child....

I grew up in the Dorset countryside, and it was country! Frequently snowed in in the winter, had to travel miles to get to school and the shops and very rarely saw school friends at weekends or during the summer holidays. So this meant having a lot of time to daydream and make believe while playing in the woods and streams.

My family tell me that I had an invisible friend for years, little did they know that it was a faerie! So having such a vivid imagination, and still have, I have started to write and illustrate a series of children's books based around the farm where I grew up,  'The Mice of Horsehill Farm.'

They have a series of adventures throughout the year in and around the farm, I would like to say that they are not all good and sweet! which, ahem, very much reflects my own childhood!

"Deep in a small wooded valley lies an
old farm. A small bubbling stream
flows past the old buildings, it's banks are
lined with young hazel and willow trees
and in the summer the farm is surrounded
by a sea of flowers and wild garlic.

Spillers, Teasel and their five children live
 in the crumbling stone barn. In the winter
they hollow out rooms deep in the hay
where they stay snug and warm, and in the 
spring when the barn is empty of hay the
family move up to the top of the stone
 walls where it is cool and airy."

This is their home on top of the barns stone wall.

Their adventures so far have included naughty squirells, grumpy brownies, faeries and lost dragons.

These are going to be published in a series, three so far, some time this year.

One of my children's stories which is already out there is The Faeries Tea Party.

 " Granny was good at telling stories, Chloe would cuddle up
next to her on the big old squashy sofa and listen to 
wonderful bedtime tales about the faeries, goblins and
 monsters that lived in the big wood at the end of the garden.

Granny had just finished a really good story about a giant who 
ate six faeries every day for breakfast when Chloe asked her
 ' Do you really believe in faeries granny?'
Granny smiled down at her.
'Of course I do, because I know that the faeries visit my 
kitchen every night. That's why I always leave a little drop of 
tea in my cup. They like tea.' She pointed to her favourite
 blue and white cup on the table in front of the sofa. 
'See?' "

'The Faeries Tea Party' is available on my website www.magic-myth-legend.co.uk and Amazon