We were the local cockneys, well I wasn't quite a cockney, but I was certainly enchanted by the contrast between city and village life.

When I started writing, I thought the only way to write books that were set in the country was to go and look at the primroses on Putney Common.

You've simply got to go on and on with your family and friends and tell them how much you love them because you never know whether they'll be there tomorrow, do you?

The bank told us we ought to sell this house to pay off our overdraft. Riders saved the day. I was so pleased when it got to number one, I went all around the fields crying and crying.

I've got a book coming out soon so I just must get some weight off.

If you look across the valley, you can see exactly what I mean: about four beautiful houses, and you think something is happening in each of them. It's like a mural.

And all these magazines started buying them. And my agent - my now agent - wrote to me and said these would make wonderful novels.