This week, I am delighted to escape to Normandy, with my guest Jan Baynham, as she talks about her novel, Her Nanny’s Secret.

Thank you for having me on your blog, Carol. As with all my novels, Her Nanny’s Secret is set in both beautiful rural mid-Wales where I grew up and in a foreign location. In this case, the contrasting setting is Normandy in Northern France. When writing the parts set in France, I was able to escape to a country I love and reminisce about the numerous visits we’ve made there on family holidays.

Although the town of Ville de Roi and the surrounding villages of Collinac and Sainte Marie-Hélène are fictional, I’ve based them on the area around southern Normandy. The Norman town of Avranches is steeped in history and there is plenty to see and do there. One of my favourite places is the peaceful botanic garden, Jardin des Plantes, with its view of a famous landmark in the distance out in the bay. In the novel, we accompany my main character, Annie, on a visit to Mont St Michel as she enjoyed walking through the narrow streets and winding her way up to the Gothic abbey perched on top.

The view from the very top was spectacular and worth the effort. They wandered around the arched cloisters that edged formal gardens.

In summer months, wherever you look in the area there’s an abundance of flowers in towns and villages as they compete in an annual contest started in 1959 after the devastation caused by the war. It was felt that the planting of flowers helped renew and repair communities.

A yellow road sign with three flower symbols proudly welcomed the visitor to a Village Fleuri… Everywhere they looked were tubs of flowers in vibrant colours, edging the cobbled pavements, in front of each shop window…

What’s great about visiting France is being able to sit at the numerous pavement cafés and sample French foods and drinks. This was new for Annie and when she visited La Belle Époque, she was overwhelmed by the wide choice on the menu.

Annie couldn’t decide from the images between a savoury galette filled with ham and cheese, topped with a fried egg, or, to satisfy her sweet tooth, a crêpe, oozing with cooked local apples and whipped cream. Pancakes were only ever eaten on Shrove Tuesday at home and then always with sugar and lemon juice.

The area is full of pretty villages all with their own mairies and central squares. At one, Annie is fascinated by a group of elderly men playing a game she hadn’t seen before.

‘Pétanque,’ said Clara. ‘It’s very popular in this part of France.’

… In turn, each player threw a larger silver-coloured ball, a boule, as close to the jack as they could. The men became more animated as the game went on, especially when someone’s boule knocked another’s further away from the jack.

Annie would never forget her first escape to Normandy, the landscape she travelled through, the pretty villages, the language she heard spoken and the warmth of the people she met.

Buying Links for Her Nanny’s Secret, OUT NOW:

Amazon | Kobo | Barnes and Noble

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About the author:

After retiring from a career in teaching and advisory education, Jan Baynham joined a small writing group in a local library where she wrote her first piece of fiction.  From then on, she was hooked! She soon went on to take a writing class at the local university and began to submit short stories for publication to a wider audience. Her stories and flash fiction pieces have been longlisted and shortlisted in competitions and several appear in anthologies both online and in print. In October 2019, her first collection of stories was published. Her stories started getting longer and longer so that, following a novel writing course, she began to write her first full-length novel. She loves being able to explore her characters in further depth and delve into their stories.

Originally from mid-Wales, Jan lives in Cardiff with her husband. Having joined the Romantic Novelists Association in 2016, she values the friendship and support from other members and regularly attends conferences, workshops, talks and get togethers. She is co-organiser of her local RNA Chapter and a member of the Society of Authors.

Find out more about Jan Baynham and her novels here: Website/Blog | Twitter | Facebook |

Thank you for the great post, Jan, and for stopping by my blog. xx

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