One last cough from the overheated engine of the Morris 8 and the bulging doors appeared to burst at the seams, with children tumbling eagerly out and dispersing in all directions - rushing past the shabby old weather boarded cottage into the tangled orchard and, with joyous whoops, discovering the gnarled plum trees groaning under the weight of huge, glistening purple-red Victorias. At the outbreak of World War II seven-year-old Sheila and her family left London to take refuge in Suffolk. For a city girl life was strange at first, but roaming the fields and picking wildflowers was what childhood dreams were made of. When the bombing died down, the family moved back to London, but Sheila would later return to the countryside when she, her husband John and their children arrived at Crabapple Cottage, their new home in Kent. Over the next few years, they had many adventures as they adapted to the seasonal rhythms of country life. Sheila Newberry spent her whole life writing but it was no
