A Taste Of Gloucestershire

St Mary the Virgin church. Photo: © F.Hardy

Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival

Deep in Midsomer Murders country lies the quaint Cotswolds village and hamlet that make up Hawkesbury Upton, with its annual literature festival taking place over one day in a Grade One listed church, St Mary the Virgin. From 10.30am until 4.30pm on April 27th, a feast of books and authors – a dozen altogether – each gave a talk or took part in an ‘in conversation’ style interview. The programme was interspersed with readings and poetry, plenty of breaks for tea and coffee, and lunch in the barn across the road.

Dogs were welcome, so my black jackapoo, Fernie, came along for the outing. He slept most of the way through the day, although he also enjoyed a lovely walk through the fields around the church. There’s been a church on the site of St Mary’s since the eighth century, and what you see today is a beautiful Norman building with a fourteenth-century tower. It was a real privilege to be a speaker inside it.

The festival organiser is the multi-talented Debbie Young, an accomplished author with an impressive portfolio of books herself. She is also a public speaker and is ambassador to the Alliance of Independent Authors. I talked to Debbie about my book.

Felice in conversation with Debbie Young. Photo: © P.Hardy