Apologies for such a long break but I’ve not been well for the last few weeks, including an unexpected trip to hospital.

During my convalescence, I was lent an amazing book about my local area by radio presenter, Mark Cummings – Glorious Gloucestershire. This book contains various sections – Literary connections, local businesses and entrepeneurs, good foodie places and dishes and screening opportunities across the county, to name but a few.

J.R Tolkein came from Birmingham but was at university in Oxford and familiar with much of the surrounding area.

Many believe that St Edward’s Church in Stow-on-the-Wold inspired Lord of the Rings. It’s popularity as a tourist destination suggests that many people think it was the inspiration for Tolkein’s Middle Earth.

The less well known ‘tramp’ poet, W.H.Davies after a homeless life in America (hence his name) spent his final years in a small place called, Watledge, just above Nailsworth. Many may not be familiar with his name but his Autobiography of a Super-Tramp published in 1908 – inspiring the name for the rock band, Supertramp – and his often quoted poem Leisure (below) leaves a legacy that needs to be acknowledged.

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

This plaque is still attached to the Cotswold stone house on the Watledge road above Nailsworth.

The other local poet I would like to mention, Ivor Gurney, has a window dedicated to him in Gloucester Cathedral.

The stained glass panels depict various scenes from the poet’s work, who was born and raised in Gloucester.

There are so many more authors and writers I could name from J.M.Barrie, Beatrix Potter to the more modern J.K. Rowling and Jilly Cooper. These and more all get a mention in the book, which I highly recommend as an information guide to my county.