Along with having the pleasure of bringing Cornwall to life, I used my home location for the first time in The Forgotten Garden. Literally my home location.

Nell's little timber worker's cottage in the hills of Paddington is the house I lived in with my family while I was writing the book, and the Antique Centre, where Nell and Cassandra have their stall, is a real place. It was such a pleasure weaving a location I'm so familiar with, and for which I bear such great fondness, into my story.

The chapter in which Cassandra is first taken to her grandmother Nell's house is one of my favourites in the book. It really did feel like it wrote itself and required very little editing afterwards. I'm so used to having to stop and research fiddly little details along the way-which flower would be in bloom, do Cornish houses have thatched or tiled roofs, is it possible to pick an apple in Cornwall in April?-that it was incredible to have such minute details leap to mind from personal experience as I wrote.

Having said that, I adore the historical research required to write my books. Sometimes I think I'm in danger of falling inside the research and never finding my way out again.

Initially, I favour a process of immersion, in which I read everything I can get my hands on-fiction, non-fiction, letters, diaries-no matter how loosely they relate to my topic; find pictures, fabrics, maps, photographs, portraits that evoke the setting in some way; watch films and documentaries on the subject; listen to music of the era; and anything else that helps me to lose myself, and discover my characters, in the milieu.

For The Forgotten Garden this process involved disappearing inside a world of classic fairytales, William Morris fabrics, Arthur Rackham illustrations, clifftop manor houses, mazes, gothic aunts and uncles, and a thousand other small and wonderful inspirations.

Later on, when the writing was underway and I had a clearer idea of my characters and plot, I was able to home in on the specifics, like is it possible to find an apple on a tree in a sheltered Cornish garden in April? (Luckily for me, the answer is yes! Though it would have wizened skin and not be particularly juicy.)