I grew up in a town called Knaresborough in Yorkshire where I enjoyed a very free childhood, able to run around the fields and play outside with my brothers and sister, damming streams, climbing trees and exploring the castle and crags.

I have always loved reading and writing, spending all my pocket money on books, usually about ponies. I was pony mad and when I was thirteen I took my savings to a horse market and bought a pony. My parents were very shocked when I came home with Smokey Joe but I was allowed to keep him providing I earned the money myself to pay for him.

I am currently writing this story into a new book called Smokey Joe. Look out for it next year!

When I was fourteen I was runner-up in a national newspaper’s Young Writers’ Competition, with a story about a horse in the Crimean War. Inspired by my success I decided I wanted to study English but somehow I ended up studying science and went on to get a Master’s Degree in Animal Behaviour at Aberdeen University. I ended up marrying a Scotsman and lived in Scotland for thirty years. We lived in on a farm where my children grew up able to run around and build dens in the woods and enjoy the sort of freedom I had as a girl. We had lots of cats, dogs and ponies and horses and had a wonderful time playing with them.

We now live in South London where my husband now works, and are near our family. We still love Scotland and visit frequently, often to talk  at schools and festivals where I love to meet my readers.

We now have a beautiful puppy called Mathilda Pipkin who is a black Labrador and she is very bouncy and full of fun. We also have two cats, Casper who is a Maine Coon, and Alexander Pushkin who is a very regal white and grey Ragdoll and thinks he is very superior to us all. 

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