This is St Mary's Church in Appledore and my eldest daughter and I came here today as it was the venue for a talk that was part of the Appledore Book Festival. Now in its second year it has managed to attract a fair few famous names to this week long event, including, Tony Benn, Roy Hattersley, Kate Aide, Jeremy Strong and Penny Vincenzi.We purchased tickets back in May to see Jacqueline Wilson but due to ill health she has cancelled all her speaking engagements this year and we got what Nick Arnold, book festival director, author and Appledore resident, called 'the next best thing', Nick Sharratt, Jacqueline Wilson's illustrator. This was a disappointment to my two youngest daughters who then opted out of the visit. But daughter no.1 and I enjoyed it. He was a little quiet and nervous to start with, but he soon warmed up and it was incredible looking at the drawings he had done at a mere 10 years old. I couldn't do that in a million years!
Anyway - book lovers out there - keep an eye out for next years event. They do have a website, and things do get booked out early.
