Blog Tour: My Five Favourite Things by Kitty Wilson

Today it's our stop on The Cornish Village School blog tour and it's my pleasure to hand the reins of the blog over to author Kitty Wilson to tell us her five favourite things.

I am a lover not a fighter and there are many things I proclaim to love, love, love on a daily basis. But, five things in my life remain a constant and I thought I would share them. I apologise in advance to my dog for not including him, but when he stops raiding the bin and hiding its contents around the house then he may be included. This morning is not that day. 

1. Obviously, books. Books were always going to make this list. My mother has always claimed I was some kind of prodigious genius, reading at three years old. I have never believed her, but I do remember spending all my time as a child reading. My parents were very supportive, they provided the books after all, but a constant refrain of my childhood was ‘will you put that ** book down’ (colourful language flowed in our house like water although never in a malicious way). This sounds unreasonable but when you’ve taken your child for a day out, or on holiday, and she’s tripping over because she insists on reading even whilst walking, you can understand why. I used to stash books in my socks. I also remember gleefully stealing one of my mother’s Jilly Coopers when I was eight years old, convinced I was old enough to read anything - it took me until chapter five before I had to admit I didn’t understand a word and slunk it back again. I frequently skipped school to go to the library. Books have always been my life.


2. Food. All of us like food, otherwise we die, but I am a woman obsessed. I kept a diary as a child, it was minimal but it did exist. It would be fair to assume it would be about books, or as I grew older, boys. Alas, no! When I rediscovered my old diaries, they were full of short entries like this – ‘I had two Weetabix for breakfast and ate them before they got soggy, then Mum cooked us chicken mince for lunch. Yum!’ As an adult I wasn’t aware that chicken mince was a thing, but seven-year-old me lapped it up. It was a recurring favourite. ‘N. came to play and we had Findus crispy pancakes. I love them.’ In my twenties I would shamefully slide a packet into the bottom of my trolley and eat them secretly at night. I had one boyfriend who said it was a sackable offence. He was never going to last. These days I have a shocking food habit and am mocked relentlessly because I claim gooseberry coulis is a staple. It is. When not reading as a child I would bake. My parents were subject to a range of phases, from green and purple sponges, to the much-preferred pineapple upside down cake. The first promotional tool I ordered upon publication - edible cake toppers with my book cover on them, and I can safely say - they were yum, I love them! 


3. Music. Growing up I wasn’t exposed to a wide range of music. My father would play a little bit of Jim Reeves on Christmas day and my mother loved David Essex, Elkie Brooks and Chris de Burgh. Somehow, I developed a love for Motown – ‘Me and Mrs Jones’ lifts my heart to this day. At eighteen, a boy I had a mad crush on played me A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Can I Kick It.’ That was it. Life changed forever and I fell utterly in love with hip-hop and have loudly remained so - much to the children’s embarrassment. But it’s not just hip-hop - I love all music; electronica, indie, dub reggae, the list is endless! My top ten albums are ever changing but the three constants are; Massive Attack’s ‘Blue Lines’, Lou Reed’s ‘Transformer’, and I am Kloot’s ‘Sky at Night’. Oh, and choral music makes the hairs on my neck stand up - Love, love, love!


4. Cornwall. How can I not adore Cornwall? My parents moved here when I was a teen and I was full of petulant rage. I moved back after some adventures in France in my very early twenties and intended to stay for a couple of weeks, I’ve been here nearly twenty-five years and I love it deeply. Cornwall has allowed me to raise my children on the coast – all swimming, barbecues and rock-pooling. It has no problem with a woman that wants to fill her days reading and eating, in fact with its laid-back air and beautiful beaches, it encourages it. Cornwall hibernates in winter and comes to life in summer, and we are a perfect fit. My heart will be forever here. 


5. My children. They are little terrors. Not so little now and quite well-rounded adults but still. These two make me laugh more than anyone else, they have a sharp, if cruel, wit and take great pleasure in terrorising each other, and me. They used to have a perfectly polished double act when they met strangers – my son would confide in them that I liked to lock them, starving, in a cupboard under the stairs, and then my daughter, all cherubic and petite, would triumphantly shriek ‘and then she goes to the pub!’ How I was never carted off, I don’t know. Needless to say, I have never locked any children, real or imagined, in a cupboard or abandoned them – tempting as it clearly was. My son, and his hideous imagination, has just completed a screenwriting degree and my daughter supports people with autism and loves her work. As grown up as they may be, they remain sunshine children and a terrifying double act. Like most parents, I am smitten.

These five great passions, everyday obsessions, are ones that most people share. But despite the universality of books, food, music, our homes and our children each one is unique to us. I’m off to bake, read, dance, sunbathe and torture, and wish you all equal joy with the everyday things that are dearest to you. 

Rosy Winter is definitely not looking for love

Following heartbreak, Rosy has rebuilt her life in the beautiful Cornish village of Penmenna. Now, headmistress of the local school, she is living by The Rule: no dating anyone in the village. Easy right? But Rosy Winter has a new neighbour, handsome gardener Matt.

In Penmenna for his new gardening TV show, this guy next door will do everything he can to persuade her to break her rule and win her heart. Meanwhile, Penmenna Village School is threatened with closure and it’s up to Rosy to rally the local community and #SaveOurSchool. Can she bring her worlds together and accept help from the most unlikely of sources? One thing’s for sure… she won’t be giving up without a fight.

All book titles in bold are Amazon UK Affiliate links which will earn me a few pence if anyone clicks through and makes a purchase - any money earned will go towards buying books or gifts for giveaways.