What bibliophile hasn’t dreamt of a magnificent library with wall to ceiling sliding ladders, nooks and comfy chairs?

This illustration by artist Frank Hampson of ‘The Bookroom’ in the final Peter and Jane book (1967) probably fed into my vision

I got pretty close to my dream with my bookshed – which has sat in my garden being beautiful for the last 15 years. It was a wrench for my husband to give up his garden shed/studio/office (which he had lovingly constructed and wired up and insulated and painted) to my hobby. But he bowed to the inevitable and the books moved in. And kept on coming. His sacrifice did serve the advantage of rounding up most of the books scattered around the rest of the house and confine them into one place. (Well, two places, if you count the main collection, which is in my study. And there was the loft, of course. Both of them.)

But my bookshed soon became my haven. Picture me with a big box of books to sort out, a steaming cup of tea and my music on shuffle. That was my happy place – where time stood still. And can you imagine what a blessing it was over lockdown?

The Royal Mail sent a photographer down when they were preparing an entry in the 2017 year book after bringing out a set of vintage Ladybird stamps. They took a beautiful picture which really summed up the place.

Sometimes I had visitors – Jason and Joel visited me when they were in the middle of writing the uber-successful pastiche ‘Ladybird books for Grown Ups’. Other people too came to visit – I can’t list them all here but many had a connection with Ladybird and all seemed to enjoy the atmosphere.

Joel and Jason and I – back in 2016ish

But mostly it was a place where I was alone with my tea and my music and my head and my books. In wet weather it was a treat to put on the heater and the lights, make the tea and head down the path towards the orange glow from the window, for an hour or two of book therapy.

Approaching the shed in the dark or the rain it glowed with invitation

But everything changes. The book shed wasn’t perfect. It was hard to stop the books getting too hot or too cold or too damp given that – at the end of the day – they were stored in a shed. And anyway, husband and I decided we needed to move house to be closer to family. So the house was put on the market – which meant a big tidy-up and putting vast quantities of books into storage – and we exchanged contracts a couple of days ago. In less than a month we should be in a new house in the centre of Leamington – a town we like but don’t really know.

Packing up the books

The new house has a little annex – and this will one day be the new site of Ladybird Land. I hope, but can’t be sure, that the magic of the bookshed will come with the books and make itself at home there. I’ll keep you posted on this new adventure – but wish us luck!