The Camargue in France at Christmas-time
France has a coastline of approximately 7330 kilometres. Much of it is magnificent and many of those kilometres are uninhabited, wild even. I am a sea baby. The old adage that being by the sea does you good, clears your… Continue reading
HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM US ALL AT THE OLIVE FARM
Apologies for the lack of Newsletter this side of the holidays. I am fiendishly busy. News after the holidays.
Here is Samson who some of you will know came to us as a rescue dog in April. See how he… Continue reading
The Secrets of the City of Metz, eastern France
Metz is a city in the northeast of France, Le Grand Est, capital of the Lorraine region, and one that I had never visited before last weekend. It sits alongside the winding Moselle river and is surprisingly inspiring.
I was… Continue reading
The Forgotten Summer
I am two novels along since I published THE FORGOTTEN SUMMER with Penguin in March 2016. For those who read my post last month you will know that my latest novel, THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF, to… Continue reading
October Newsletter 2018
Dear Friends,
Where has this year gone to? We have hit the olive harvest season and I am not really prepared for it. The trees are laden and the fruits are fat and healthy. If only I could persuade the… Continue reading
Paris, May 1968, the student’s revolution
These photos were taken by Bruno Barbey who was a twenty-five-year-old photographer in ’68 and a superb visual chronicler of the events of May 1968. He wrote later, “I went with Cartier-Bresson to buy helmets to protect us from the… Continue reading
The Panthéon welcomes a woman, Simone Weil
Every now and again I feel fortunate to stand face to face with a remarkable piece of history. Last week, while I was in Paris, I swung off Boulevard Saint-Michel and strode to the Panthéon where hangs a huge photographed… Continue reading
Stop Press
Hello Everyone,
If you are lucky enough to find yourself along the Côte d’Azur on Saturday 21st July, PLEASE come along and say hello at the English Book Centre in Valbonne any time between 3.30 and 6.30pm. There will be… Continue reading
La Cité du Vin
The Kings Arms in Askrigg was the real name of the pub we used as The Drovers Arms in All Creatures Great and Small. I returned there seven years ago when I was writing a feature for the Mail… Continue reading