Before I began writing novels the word 'research' conjured up an image in my mind of reading through piles of books and making copious amounts of notes that may or may not get used.

I'm sure with many non-fiction books, and particularly historical fiction, that's something that still needs to be done but so far I've managed to avoid it in my novels.

That's not to say I don't do any research. In my first novel, Driven to Distraction, I really needed to find locations that I could use as a basis for the excursions that the coach party travels to. I created the entirely fictitious county of Tenhamshire but to be able to describe the places the characters visit, so that the reader can picture them in their own minds;I had to start with a real place that I could then adapt using poetic licence.

My village of Baddlesbury, the first excursion of the trip, is based on the beautiful, medieval village of Lavenham in Suffolk. I added a farmers' market and changed a few buildings and the view from the top of the church tower (which is actually based on a view of Dunstable Downs, as seen from beside the penguin enclosure at Whipsnade Zoo). I so like the village that I've returned to it in my third novel, Long Shadows, that I'm currently writing a first draft of.
Several places in my home county of Essex have also been inspirations for places in Tenhamshire; including Two Tree Island in Leigh-on-Sea, Greensted Church near Chipping Ongar and RHS Hyde Hall, which is the inspiration for the grounds at Tenham House.

My third novel features an expensive retirement home which I needed to be an old manor house of some kind. It had to have grounds too. My research for that turned out to be a particularly lovely few hours spent at Ham House in south-west London. I've added some bay windows and balconies to the back view of the house and also added a large conservatory but the outside of the house provided me with enough inspiration to create the place I wanted. They have a garden surrounded by a large hedge that has had squares cut out of it so that people can look into it. I was so taken by this that I've created a residents garden at my fictional Home with the same hedge surrounding it.

Sometimes a bit of research is necessary just for a small scene. In second novel (Nothing Ventured, out November 2016) I have a sixty-five year old couple who are trying to bring a little excitement into the bedroom. They aren't the main characters but I think their part of the story is probably my favourite. The two try lots of different things and one of them is to look through a sex toys catalogue together to see if there's anything they fancy using. It's the first time either of them have seen a catalogue like this and the scene is very amusing. Of course to write that scene I had to spend some time looking at sex toys online (and that's my defence for the items on my browser m'lud).
I think a friend of mine probably regrets texting me at that particular moment to see how my writing was going. Still, perhaps she learnt something new about love eggs.