MY LOVE OF THE COUNTRYSIDE

As the daughter of a farmer, I joined the protest march in Westminster on Tuesday. I’m so glad that I did. The turnout was astonishing! There must have been about 13,000 people braving the inclement weather - which, of course, is nothing for farmers who are out in the fields come rain or shine - standing shoulder to shoulder against a government who appears not to understand the countryside. They looked incongruous in London in their green coats, tweed caps and gumboots, but one hoodie stood out and made me laugh. Written on the back was: Farmer born, farmer bred, stronger in the arm, better in bed.

I grew up on a farm in Hampshire. My grandfather bought it just after the war and my father has farmed it since he was twenty-one. He’s eighty-four now and he’s still on his tractor, in his blue boiler suit and tweed cap. It’s the life he loves, and we love it too. My most treasured childhood memories are of picnics in the shade of an old oak, watching the combine harvesters munching through the wheat as the setting sun turns the sky pink and the tiny specks of dust to gold - that gorgeous roseate glow of late summer. Blackberry picking to the sound of tractors rattling up the tracks, transporting trailers of grain to the farm. Peddling my bike to the fields with baskets full of cold beer for the workers. Occasionally, riding the combines. Playing on hay bales, climbing mountains of warm grain, watching the tiny mice scurrying about the barns. There’s nothing like waking up to the clamour of birds. Nothing like the views of rolling fields, for as far as the eye can see. Nothing like the peace of the woods, and the feeling of being embraced by nature. The sweet smell of harvest. The sound of light summer rain. The wind in the lime trees. The simple things. I just love it all.

This is a photo of me pretending to be Dad in his boiler suit and cap!

Every one of my novels is rooted in my love for the countryside, be it the English countryside, or abroad. It’s against the backdrop of rich woodland, tempestuous seas, rugged hills and battered cliffs that my characters face their deepest challenges: Kitty Deverill rides furiously over Ireland’s wild terrain when she faces her greatest trails; Sofia Solanas’ heart pines for the golden planes of the Argentine pampa when she’s forced into exile in England; Evelina Pierangelino falls in love in the inky shade of the cypress trees at her dilapidated home in Tuscany; Florence Lightfoot struggles to accept that her husband is missing in war-torn France, in their secret cave on the Cornish beach at Gulliver’s Bay. There’s something magical about nature that inspires us to seek answers to life’s biggest questions. It’s in nature that we realise what’s important, the we see the bigger picture, that we heal. If it wasn’t for my upbringing in the English countryside, and my love for my home, I wouldn’t have written the books that I have. I might not have written at all.

Now the evenings are drawing in and the last leaves are falling from the trees. Winter is upon us. It’s time for log fires, glasses of red wine, thick sweaters and chocolate. Our heating isn’t working at the moment, so I’m sitting at the kitchen table with a hot water bottle and two jerseys. I’m well into writing the third part of the Timeslider trilogy. My Labrador Simba is curled up beside me in his basket, snoring loudly. I’ll go and make myself yet another cup of tea. I’ll watch the final episode of Rivals tonight - I’m absolutely LOVING it! I wish you all a lovely weekend and hope the sun shines!

SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT is out now in hardback. Will be published in paperback in February.

Synopsis:

When Pixie Tate is summoned to the wild Cornish coast to investigate a mystery at St Sidwell Manor she senses that something malevolent is hiding in its shadows.

Over one hundred years ago, in the deepest night, a little boy vanished from his bed – and Pixie must find out what happened to him.

But Pixie is no ordinary detective. She has a unique gift: she can travel through time. As she slips back to 1895, secrets are revealed, love affairs exposed and, ultimately, Pixie will be forced to make a devastating choice that will change her life forever...

Shadows in the Moonlight is a sweeping and devastatingly romantic time-travel mystery, and the first book in Santa Montefiore’s sensational new series.