Dear Reader,

Thank you for coming to my website and showing an interest in what I have to show you.

Before I tell you about my book of poetry and photographs, I would like to tell you a little about myself.

I was born into a large family and am the youngest of six children, although there is a thirteen year age gap between myself and the eldest.

Growing up in the 1970/80’s was , on the whole a lovely time to be a child, and the world , pre – internet and mobile phones, was as far as I am concerned , a kinder and nicer world.

I was very lucky to live in a very beautiful country village (where I still live) in the south east of England, not far from Royal Tunbridge Wells, which lies on the Kent border. I loved the country walks we all did as a family and I felt very early on as a child a kind of peacefulness and tranquillity, which afforded much comfort to me whilst outside in nature.

One of my favourite pastimes playing in the garden of our home was building little camps with sticks and bits of fir tree for the roof. The sense of satisfaction and happiness those little secret hideaways gave is something I remember with a smile.

My other pleasure was making ponds and getting frogs spawn, and watching the tadpoles hatch out. Looking back, I was quite a tom boy really, and was equally happy playing in streams and going on adventures with my best friend, who lived about ten doors away, in the same street.  We spent a lot of time together, and as we grew up became girl guides and rangers.

Looking back on my early life, it’s apparent that I had an early love of history and anything from antiquity.  I’ve always felt as if I was born into the wrong era, as if I would fit in better in past times, if that makes sense.

I loved books and reading became a love of mine and opened up my imaginative world.

Charles Dickens became a firm favourite and his incredible ability to draw one into his wonderful world of character and historical setting, really encouraged me to seek out other nineteenth century authors.

Later in life, I was delighted to have the opportunity to study Dickens and other novelists of the nineteenth century, whilst working toward my literature degree with the Open University.

The poetry component of my degree was incredibly interesting to me and introduced me to a variety of writers and their different styles. It was during this time that I actually wrote my very first poem, which was a sonnet dedicated to my late father.

We were asked by our tutor to have a go at writing a sonnet, based on the Petrarchan, Italian structure.

T.B.C.