About Cherry
In a Cretan cave
I live in the the old port of Topsham, Devon with my husband, artist Robert Lee-Wade. The town lies beside the estuary of the River Exe, where the play of water, light and indeed mud, is always changing, and beautiful. There are calls of curlews, the whirring of wings as geese fly overhead and squabbling, cheeky gulls, providing a lively background to the ebb and flow of the tide. If you're interested in seeing images of the town and its setting, and learning more about its history, I've written a series of blog posts on Cherry's Cache, beginning with The Tidal Town of Topsham.
I have lived in many other places – born in Edinburgh, spent my early childhood in Sandwich, Kent, then at school as a teenager in Birmingham, and later as a student at Cambridge. This was followed by periods living on Exmoor, in Bristol and Bath, and on the edge of the Cotswolds near Stroud. Each change of scene, I have found, is significant for the writer’s imagination as well satisfying my natural curiosity to explore new surroundings.
Since the age of four, I knew that I wanted to be a writer, and in my teens began publishing poetry, stories and articles. A poem published in the prestigious Poetry Review contrasted rather sharply with features that I was writing for the teen magazine Jackie at the same time! (Click on the links to read about these!) However, my first novel, written about ponies at the age of ten, and my second at eighteen, chronicling the angst of a long hot summer in France, unsurprisingly didn’t make the bookshop shelves. Since then, I have stayed largely within the realms of what I see as 'creative non-fiction', and found it just as good a medium for expressing creativity and insight. There's also plenty of scope for story-telling within this genre.
I’ve always kept different strands of work going over the years, apart from writing, such as running a vintage clothes shop and later a Russian arts business, plus performing early music and teaching singing. I also love to travel to ancient places and exotic destinations: favourite countries visited over the years include Easter Island, Ethiopia, Kyrgizstan, Syria and Siberia. Robert and I have been cruise lecturers on global journeys, which have taken us as far afield as South America and the Arctic Circle.
Home is my secure nest, though, and it wouldn't be complete without an animal or two. Our black cats Zaq and Cassie keep the mice down and our toes warm at night.
I am also deeply interested in inner journeys; meditation and wisdom traditions have been a part of my life from an early adult age.
I have lived in many other places – born in Edinburgh, spent my early childhood in Sandwich, Kent, then at school as a teenager in Birmingham, and later as a student at Cambridge. This was followed by periods living on Exmoor, in Bristol and Bath, and on the edge of the Cotswolds near Stroud. Each change of scene, I have found, is significant for the writer’s imagination as well satisfying my natural curiosity to explore new surroundings.
Since the age of four, I knew that I wanted to be a writer, and in my teens began publishing poetry, stories and articles. A poem published in the prestigious Poetry Review contrasted rather sharply with features that I was writing for the teen magazine Jackie at the same time! (Click on the links to read about these!) However, my first novel, written about ponies at the age of ten, and my second at eighteen, chronicling the angst of a long hot summer in France, unsurprisingly didn’t make the bookshop shelves. Since then, I have stayed largely within the realms of what I see as 'creative non-fiction', and found it just as good a medium for expressing creativity and insight. There's also plenty of scope for story-telling within this genre.
I’ve always kept different strands of work going over the years, apart from writing, such as running a vintage clothes shop and later a Russian arts business, plus performing early music and teaching singing. I also love to travel to ancient places and exotic destinations: favourite countries visited over the years include Easter Island, Ethiopia, Kyrgizstan, Syria and Siberia. Robert and I have been cruise lecturers on global journeys, which have taken us as far afield as South America and the Arctic Circle.
Home is my secure nest, though, and it wouldn't be complete without an animal or two. Our black cats Zaq and Cassie keep the mice down and our toes warm at night.
I am also deeply interested in inner journeys; meditation and wisdom traditions have been a part of my life from an early adult age.
