Philippa Pearce had an idyllic childhood growing up in a beautiful old mill house on the banks of the River Cam just outside Cambridge. The youngest of four children, she and her brothers and sister canoed, swam and fished in the river and, in really cold winters, skated on it.

Philippa was ill for several years of her childhood and so didn't start school until she was eight or nine. Once she did, she worked hard at the things she was interested in, particularly English, and went on to study English at Girton College, Cambridge.

Philippa worked as a scriptwriter/producer for BBC schools radio and as an editor for a publishing company before really getting going writing her own books. Her first two books drew on her childhood experiences, for example the house where Tom goes to stay with his aunt in Tom's Midnight Garden is the mill house in which Philippa grew up. Later stories, such as the Battle of Bubble and Squeak, were written for her daughter Sally who was a passionate animal-lover.

Philippa now lives just down the lane from where she grew up with her dog, cat and a huge vegetable garden.