Jane Gordon-Cumming has been writing for as long as she can remember.

The author of the newly published ‘A Proper Family Christmas’, Jane has lived in Minchinhampton since 2013, after appearing on the BBC property-hunting programme ‘Escape to the Country’.

“I’ve loved the Cotswolds since a week spent helping to excavate a Roman villa in Cirencester as a teenager,” explained Jane, who is originally from Wimbledon.

“My sister (fellow author Katie Fforde) moved to Rodborough in 1981, and I got to know the area better, and chose it for the DPhil thesis I started on the Landscape History of the Cotswolds – which I’m afraid lost the battle to fiction.

“I’ve lived in Oxford for almost all my adult life, but we moved here to be nearer Katie and her family.”

Writing seems to run in the family, with Jane and Katie’s mother Barbara also having two novels published, before the pair were born – “she of course encouraged both me and Katie,” added Jane.

In the past, Jane has written sketches and short stories, and since moving to Gloucestershire, she has penned her first novel, a romantic comedy set around a dysfunctional family Christmas in the Cotswolds.

She continued: “I wrote the first six chapters and a plan for the rest, and then put it aside.

“Then I heard that a new publisher was looking for romantic novels featuring heroines over 40, so sent it to them. They loved it but needed it to be finished within a few months in time for Christmas. I’m a very slow writer, so it meant getting up at dawn to put the hours in.”

‘A Proper Family Christmas’ tells the story of William Shirburn, a rich, grumpy old man who lives in a Victorian mansion in the Cotswolds.

“Various relatives, knowing what a gold mine William is sitting on, invite themselves for Christmas, expecting to be able to manipulate him into signing his will in their favour,” continued Jane.

“Caught up in the shenanigans are my two heroines; Frances, recently engaged as nanny to William’s spoiled little grandson, and Hilary, the widow of his favourite nephew. Scratch the Cat also plays an important part in proceedings.”

The book has been republished this year by Headline Accent, and has received unanimously glowing reviews.

But despite the great detail in the novel, Jane assures that the story does not come from her own past experiences of the festive season.

She added: “I should say that our own Christmases are nothing like the dreadful one in my book.

“There was a time when Edwin and I had to eat two Christmas dinners – lunch with his family in Oxfordshire, and then all over again in the evening with mine in Stroud, but nowadays we have a much more relaxed day with Katie and Desmond and their lovely children and grandchildren.”

And plans are already in place for Jane’s second novel, also based in a Cotswolds manor but this time around Easter.

‘An Easter Conspiracy’ tells the story of an aristocratic family forced to rent out their stately home to tourists, to help pay for repairs.

Events unfold as ex husbands and wives are reunited in the house, and Jane says her passion for grand houses found in this part of the world provide so much inspiration.

She added: “We were driving through Frampton-on-the-Green one day and I saw exactly the kind of Gothic confection I’d had in mind peeping over a wall.

“I said, ‘Stop the car! There’s my house. I must take a photo!’ I couldn’t believe it when a bit of research revealed that it did in fact belong to a stately home, and really was rented out for holidays.”

For more information on Jane and ‘A Proper Family Christmas’, visit www.janegordoncumming.wordpress.com