We Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

In the Conservatory. Photo: © Peter Hardy

Felixstowe Book Festival

Felixstowe Book Festival took place on Saturday 24th June at Harvest House in the Edwardian seaside town of Felixstowe in Suffolk. It was a long drive there from Somerset, but the traffic wasn’t bad until the A12 when we had to make quite a long detour on small roads to avoid roadworks. Anyway, we arrived at our B&B, a red brick Edwardian building in a pleasant street set above the seaside, by 3pm. There was enough time to change and get to the festival for my 4.30pm talk.

Harvest House is a former hotel that opened in 1903 – the year of my grandmother’s birth. Since then it’s been used for all sorts of things, including the setting for the Felixstowe Book Festival that launched in 2013. Festival patrons are Esther Freud and Terry Waite, both speaking at the festival on the same day as me, so I was in good company. Past festival speakers have included Tracy Chevalier (one of my favourite authors), Deborah Moggach, Stephen McGann and Prue Leith.

Felice being interviewed by Catherine Larner. Photo: © Peter Hardy

My talk was in The Conservatory – not the coolest place to be on such a hot day! There wasn’t a ceiling fan and I was only too aware that members of the audience would be just as hot as me…but at least I had a glass of water on the table in front of me. They didn’t.

The talk went well, and this was my first time being interviewed live by someone I’d never met before. Until now it’s always been my husband, Peter, asking the questions to which he already knows the answers! Local journalist and presenter, Catherine Larner asked me some searching questions. I did one short reading and then there were lots of questions from the audience. Annoyingly I didn’t have any books to sell, as they are still at the warehouse, but people ordered them for me to send to them next week.

One of the houses on Queen Street, where we were staying within a short walk of the beach. Photo: © F. Hardy