I’ve lived in Shropshire for more than half my life – it’s a beautiful county and I always thought it would provide a wonderful backdrop for a book or series of books.

One of my friends Mick always has two Border-Collie dogs. At the time of writing my stories, their names were Barley, who was mad about biscuits, and Basil, Barley’s nephew. I used to listen to the stories Mick told about the three of them taking long walks around various parts of Shropshire’s many beauty spots. I then got the idea of putting them together as children’s stories. I set out with the aim of writing two Barley’s Biscuit books just to see whether or not people liked them and with the hope of completing a series of twelve. I’ve enough material now to write the other ten and have so far published four. They are all set in beauty spots in Shropshire – all different stories but on a similar theme. I have previously written three self-published novels for adults, a bit of poetry and an autobiography just for fun and as a way of honing my creative writing skills as well as four other different children’s books. In the past, I have worked as metallurgist, an engineer in the automotive industry and as a teacher in primary, secondary and special educational needs schools.

Being a teacher helped me broaden my experiences and build on the joys that a good adventure story brings to the young… and the not so young! I want to encourage a culture of adventure and fun through illustrated reading whilst making Barley’s Biscuit, Mr. B’s Busy-Bea, Marti-Rye the Mole, Konk the White Crocodile and others yet to come easily available for all children to enjoy.