AN author who has grown to love Herefordshire's charms is set to publish her first novel set in the country of her birth.

New Zealand-born Judith Hereford may be over the age of 70, but that isn't stopping her from taking on the publishing world with her first self-penned book.

She is used to such challenges however, and always looks forwards to seeing 'what is around the next corner'.

Married to Major James Hereford, little could she have imagined the path her life would take from the 'land of the long white cloud', to taking up residence at the family seat of the Hereford family, and become a firm member of the 'county set'.

Mrs Hereford said: "I've been writing 'Calling Time' on and off for 10 years now and just decided to get it published.

"Writers are always being told to persevere, so that's just what I've done."

The novel follows the fortunes of two very different characters, with particular focus on the poor treatment in residential care in a New Zealand home in the 1950s and addresses topical discussions around elderly care.

All writing has autobiographical elements, and Mrs Hereford's first offering is no exception.

She has been on the committee, and is now chairman, of a local residential home for 30 years, and, as a 16-year-old, worked in a care home in New Zealand before leaving to train as a nurse.

Mrs Hereford added: "It's all so different now, but back then, while I didn't see abuse, I did see neglect. The young people were not properly supervised. It made me think how those young people would experience care when they were older and living in a home.

"I do feel people go from struggling to do their own things to total dependency when go into homes. It could be so different if they had some help."

Born south of Christchurch on New Zealand's south island, Mrs Hereford was the only girl in a family of five boys.

"I wanted to be all sorts of things growing up, including a ballerina, but it was nursing I went on to train in."

Like generations of Aussies and New Zealanders before and after her, she joined the great exodus and headed to Europe after her training, working in England and camping and travelling across the continent, including Russia and Denmark.

Once back home in the southern hemisphere again, she joined the army and was posted to Malaya at the end of the sixties, where she was to meet her future husband, Major Hereford, and her life was to take another, unexpected course.

But she is reluctant to give too much away. She is already planning to write her autobiography.

"This is my home, I've had my children here, and I love it here, but I have never quite got used to the weather. It's summer and freezing cold."

While ostensibly retired, Mrs Hereford keeps herself very busy on the family farm in Mordiford, her unstinting work at the local residential home and preparing for publication of her first novel.

For more information or to order a copy of 'Calling Time', contact Orca Book Services at tradeorders@orcabookservices.co.uk or call 01235 465521.