I did have two dogs, Duke, a Springer Spaniel and Dougie, a Jack Russell but sadly, Duke died recently of cancer. They were both rescue dogs and there’s a very touching story about how they came to be with us – but I’m in the process of writing a book (on the back burner at the moment!) about that so I won’t divulge anything here. We got them from the Blue Cross, though, and that’s really excellent organisation if you are looking for a rescue animal.

Dougie is very friendly to people but nasty to other dogs so I have to be careful to put him on a lead when we meet one. Once he got ahead of me, met another dog who hated him just as much and they had a fight. The other dog’s owner tried to split them up and got bitten in the process which was very upsetting for him and embarrassing for me – until I took him some chocolates and his wife explained that he thought it was his own dog that had bitten him!

We also have a young cat, Samson, who is a short-haired tabby and white moggie. He’s very gentle and friendly and enjoys playing with the cat next door. They have boxing matches on our trampoline. When Samson was a kitten, he loved cuddling up with the dogs. I think he sees himself as an honorary dog as he almost always he comes on our evening walk.

We have just got two chickens called Ed and Ted (Edwina and Theodora!) and it’s taking them a while to settle in. Suddenly, every cat in the neighbourhood is paying our garden a visit, although Samson doesn’t seem very interested in them at all – but then he thinks he’s a dog!

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