Sammy’s Walks: Dog walks in the Forest of Dean has been around since 2013. My border collie, Sammy (6 Jan 2009-23 May 2022), was an author too. Living in the Forest of Dean is doggy paradise and Sammy and I took advantage of that. But when we first moved here, it was hard to find out where the best walks were or even what walks would get you back to your car or home before dark or before the barriers closed for the night. We got lost, several times, with one hour walks turning into two or three. So when, a few years and many learnings later, my husband suggested I write a book of dog walks, I knew exactly who my target audience would be. Sammy’s Walks: Dog Walks in the Forest of Dean has been in print since 2013, has undergone five revisions and is a steady seller. Available at local outlets and on Amazon.
Meanwhile, here are some of our pictures of the Forest at different times of the year.
It wasn’t only Sammy who was inspired by the Forest of Dean to write about his adventures. It’s also the inspiration behind my Guardians of the Forest trilogy.
When the government decided in 2010 it wanted to sell off England’s public forests, I joined the nationwide battle to save them. We won, and it was after that, wandering through the trees, that the seeds of Guardians were planted, and voila! Three books later … and now it’s five, with the prequel Legend of the Winged Lion and a sequel Winter of the White Horde. And that will be it!
My good friend Lily Lawson interviewed Sammy as an author for her blog.
You can read what he had to say here.
A few days after Sammy passed, the nice people who manage my iPhone sent me this short video of Sam and his friends. Thank you to them.