My favourite place in the world is Heaven's Gate on the Longleat Estate in Wiltshire. I discovered it in 1996 when, three days after my mum died, I packed my car and left my life in London behind. I took my two children (then aged 8+6) a bag of clothes, three bicycles and a copy of Pippi Longstocking, and rented a house in Horningsham where I spent the next 9 months grieving. After a month my sister and her three kids joined us and we all lived together for a while. Most mornings, after dropping our kids at school, my sister and I would walk through the incredible woods surrounding us and sit on one of the benches at Heaven's Gate to cry. We cried out our traumatic childhoods, our broken marriages, our lost dreams and the death of our lovely mum. The view at Heaven's Gate is so amazing, almost magical, borderline biblical in it's sweeping beauty that, like a balm, it somehow soothed our inner turmoils. It offered us space to breathe, to feel ourselves as more than the painful drama of our lives. And from that special place we learned, baby step by baby step, to live again.
Now it's a place I go if I'm feeling happy or sad. It offers the most amazing sunsets. It reminds of how wonderful it is to be alive.
Now it's a place I go if I'm feeling happy or sad. It offers the most amazing sunsets. It reminds of how wonderful it is to be alive.
Thank you Kate for sharing your place and your incredible story xx
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From such an experience must be born more stories - stories that need to be told - and it is very exciting to discover Kate's books.
Kate's books with titles such as 'A Sea of Stars' and 'A Million Angels' are real life stories with topical issues. They are aimed at girls aged 8-12 - that time of significant experience and questioning, when life can throw difficult things at you, as the path to adulthood can be fraught. Yet there is still magic to hold on to.
Kate expresses it so beautifully:
I want kids to know that they are a gift waiting to be unwrapped by life, that they have talents and possibilities beyond their wildest dreams. I get them to promise that however difficult life gets they'll never give up on their dreams and that the only thing in life worth anything is Love. I hope to inspire them to follow their truth and live their bliss.
Here is where you will find Kate, for those of you who wish to connect, share a story, find her books and spread some love - as that's what it's all about!
Where's your favourite place?
Perhaps it's granny's garden, your local park, a far-flung island, a museum, or cafe. Perhaps it's a building in your city, a shop window, a shady spot under a tree.
Whatever, wherever your favourite place is we want to share it.
Here's how to get involved:
• Send us a picture of your favourite place - or we can source one for you as we have above.
• Tell us where it is. If you'd like to tell us why even better.
• Email it to : info@sistersguild.com
We will share each one, each week, here on our blog and we will create an interactive global map of all the places we receive, building a community of people and places and making our global neighbourhood that little bit closer.
So, put your place upon the map and shout a big 'Hello'
Imagine all the people all the places we could know
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