Put simply, Wales is beautiful. Or at least the tiny part I just visited is. The area around Southerndown comprises stunning, untouched landscapes that go on for miles and miles. Vast beaches flanked by towering rugged cliffs are almost deserted bar the odd person looking for shells or for crabs in rock pools. There are no cigarette butts on the floor, no McDonalds rubbish floating about. You can buy a coffee from a surfer guy in a little shack. Don’t look for Costa, they aren’t here. (I almost put ‘yet’, but I don’t think even giants Costa could ruin this.)

Here, I felt like a lead character from a Jenny Colgan book. I am the heroine that leaves all the hustle and bustle behind, packs her bags and relocates. I open a little tea room and make friends with the locals, charming them with my gooey brownies oozing with salted caramel. The brownies and my Chatham accent of course.

When reading ‘The Loveliest Chocolate Shop In Paris’ or ‘Rosie Hopkins Sweetshop of Dreams’ I am transported to a magically different world, and visiting Southerndown gave me that same excited ‘anything is possible’ feeling.

Of course, I came home. Those brownies and granola bars weren’t going to make themselves, no matter how nicely I spoke to them. But that doesn’t mean the dreaming stops. Today, pop up goody tent in Kent, tomorrow a bubbling tea room in South Wales…

And until then, I’ll keep revisiting those Jenny Colgan books

Nic X