Welcome to Willow Cottage – throw open the shutters, let in the sea breeze and make yourself completely at home. Oh, and please do leave a comment in the Guestbook.
As landlady of Willow Cottage, the young widow Annie Butterworth is always on hand with tea, sympathy or strong Norfolk cider - whatever her colourful array of guests require. A flick through the messages in the leather-bound cottage guestbook gives a tantalizing glimpse into the lives of everyone who passes through her doors.
This includes Annie herself - especially now celebrity crime writer Oliver Black, is back in town. He might grace the covers of gossip magazines with a different glamorous supermodel draped on his arm every week, but to Annie, he’s always just been Olly, the man who Annie shared her first kiss with.
Through the pages of the Guestbook Annie and Olly, along with all the guests that arrive at the seaside retreat, struggle with love, loss, mystery, joy, happiness, guilt…and the odd spot of naked rambling!
Forget sending postcards saying ‘wish you were here’ - one visit to Willow Cottage and you’ll wish you could stay forever.
There is a review today on http://artisticnonsensedaily.blogspot.co.uk/
Today we bring you an interview The Daily Moon held with Annie Butterworth
Willow Cottage is beautiful, what made you decide to open a holiday cottage?
That was Nick’s idea. The cottage next door came up for sale not long after we had married. Nick wanted to buy it and make it into a holiday cottage. We didn’t really have the money but the people next door were willing to sell it for a very reasonable price. Simon and Leila from The Frog and Rhubarb donated some money, saying it made good business sense to attract tourists to our little village. Nick didn’t want to take the money at first, but Simon told him he would ban him from the pub if he didn’t. Nick wasn’t going to take that chance. Olly wanted to buy it outright for us, but there was no way Nick would let him do that. We spent weeks decorating it. Three months after we were open, we were pretty much full every week. I admit, I was hesitant about it at first, but I love meeting the guests. Some wonderful people have passed through our doors over the last few years.
Your husband recently died, it must be hard for you to continue the business now he’s gone?
It was hard to do anything after he died. Even getting out of bed was an effort. But Nick had put a lot of hard work into Willow Cottage and it seemed only right that I continued with it after he died. There was insurance money too, which I’ve used to do the place up. I think Nick would be very happy with how it looks now.
Oliver Black, bestselling author of seventeen crime thrillers, is your brother-in-law. All of his books have been made into films. What’s it like to have someone so famous in the family.
I’m incredibly proud of him, he’s done very well and rightly so, his books are amazing. He’s very, very talented. But fame hasn’t changed him. He’s still the same boy I grew up with. He’ll always just be Olly Butterworth to me.
In an interview he once said that you were his first kiss. Has there ever been any kind of relationship between the two of you.
Ha! He was thirteen, I was eleven. I went for a walk on the beach after dark and he followed me. It started to rain hard and we took shelter in one of the broken abandoned beach huts. He kissed me. It was lovely. The next day he was kissing Sally Jenkins. I threw my chicken paste sandwich at him and it stuck to his hair. I didn’t speak to him for a week. That was the extent of our relationship. Nothing romantic has ever happened since.
Mary Gillespie said you were in love with them both growing up, that if it was legal you would have married both of them. What do you say to that?
Mary Gillespie has a sweet romantic heart and I think that she would have liked to see that happen. I was very fond of Olly, but I loved and married Nick.
After your husband died, Oliver stayed with you for six months. There were photos in every national newspaper of you two holding hands and hugging. Are you seriously saying nothing happened between you during that time?
Nothing happened. My husband had died. I wasn’t in any fit state to do anything let alone jump into bed with my brother-in-law. I thought you were here to do a piece on Willow Cottage and the tourist industry in Norfolk. These questions are a bit personal for my liking.
The night before he left, a source said they were walking past your house and heard you two having sex. Apparently it was very noisy.
No one in the village would have said that. Quite simply because it isn’t true.
Quite a few people in this village believe you and Oliver are in love, what do you say to that?
Olly is with Vivienne Lake, they are engaged. Nothing has ever happened between him and me and it never will. If the villagers have spoken to you, which I doubt, they may be telling you what they would like to see happen. It would certainly tie everything up in a neat little bow for them if we were to get together. But Olly is in love with Vivienne and I simply don’t have any feelings for him. I suggest if you want more information on Oliver Black you contact his manager or his agent.
Interview terminated.
The blog tour continues tomorrow withhttp://crooksonbooks.blogspot.co.uk/ and they’ll be a review on http://charliotherworld.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HVD8VX2?ie=UTF8&at=aw-iphone-pc-uk-21&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links
Now YOU can get involved too, here is our very own Guestbook online, take the time to visit and leave a comment, join in the fun and tell us what you thought of your experience. Meet new friends or be nosey and see what others have got up to before you!
http://theguestbookhollymartin.wordpress.com/
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