When I scroll through your gallery, I imagine a Charlotte Brontë scene in England. What do you see when you look out the window?
When I look out, I see our field, with chickens and ducks wandering around. And beyond that, the farmer's field, where various crops grow. At the moment, everything looks quite gloomy and earthy - it's very muddy and the trees are bare. But in the summer, when the grass is a beautiful green, when the trees have leaves (we have an orchard, lots of willows and big old trees: ash, elm, maple and birch), it's incredibly lively.
Do you have animals? Which ones? And their names, if the list isn't too long...
We have some animals. I have my dog, Ginny, and a cat, Narcissa (she had a sister, called Bellatrix). Then there are twelve chickens - I think I have named them all, but I sometimes get them mixed up. At one point in the six years we've lived here, we had 25 chickens. Many of them had names of Harry Potter characters. We also had a drake called Neville.
We currently have six ducks. Five hatched last year and we've had the sixth for a few years. Only the oldest one has a name - DuckFace!
I wonder how the black cat and Nelly the chicken get along?
The chickens are the boss of the dog and cat! My cat is from the animal shelter and can be very shy. So she doesn't get too close to the chickens. And the dog knows her place, she would never think of chasing them. However, she guards the ducks like sheep when I try to drive them into their coop.
Judging by the name of your account, you are a big reader and baker. How do these two activities fit together? And what are you currently reading and baking?
When I started A Bookish Baker, I was writing about food in literature and trying to find a publisher for a cookbook on the subject. Over time, my interests have broadened, but the name stuck.
Recently I made simple sponge cakes with a blood orange icing, these oranges are in season and I love their colour. I am currently reading Maggie O'Farrell's novel This Must Be the Place.
What do you like about country life? Have you lived in a larger city before? And if so, do you sometimes miss it?
I used to live in London and I can honestly say that I don't miss anything at all. When I go back sometimes I find it stressful and noisy. I enjoy being in the city but even more I love the contrast when I come home and the first thing I do is check on the chickens and ducks and take the dog for a walk in the fields.
You've actually been working on a successful blog for a few years now. What does it mean to you and what's special about it?
I love blogging. I've been doing it for eleven years now. It's a place where I can write whatever I want. It started when I joined a writing group - before Facebook, Instagram and Twitter existed - and over the years my blog has grown. A place to write, to explore my creativity, to discover my literary voice and to experiment.
Instagram is an extension of my blog. I can tell stories on it through photos, stories and text. I've learned through captions to express what I taste, feel, see, hear and touch. And through stories I've learned to tell stories in a different way in the form of films. When editing videos, you cut out what isn't absolutely necessary to move the story forward. That also helped me when writing.
This year we have chosen one of your photos and printed it as a greeting card and postcard - a duckling in a cup. Tell us how the photo was taken?
Last year one of my hens, Wincey, started to brood. She sat on the same eggs and wouldn't let go. But since we don't have a rooster, the eggs were unfertilized and she could have sat for a long time. So I bought her six fertilized eggs from eBay. I had done that the year before and she successfully hatched four chicks. This time, however, I bought duck eggs - Indian runner ducks. They take longer to hatch, but she sat patiently and hatched five. The duckling in the cup was only a day or two old when I took the photo. It was the quickest photo shoot ever - about 30 seconds - because I didn't want to separate the little one from Wincey for too long.
What is your most ambitious plan for 2018?
Grow the blog, share my stories and help other people with their blogs with my e-course. Oh, and a book deal would be nice too.
Thanks so much!
