My country memories: Amanda Lamb

'Even though my work is about people relocating abroad, I could never live anywhere but England because I love the countryside so much. When I was a little girl, every Sunday we'd pile into the car for a family day out. I grew up on a huge council estate just outside Portsmouth, so there wasn't much greenery there, but we were surrounded by lovely places such as Chichester and West Dean and the South Downs. The seaside was about 20 minutes one way, and the deepest countryside about 20 minutes the other. Mum was always very good at making sure we left the estate and got out and did things. I don't know how we did it because we only had a little Morris Minor and there were seven of us and a dog. Mum, Grandad, my brother and sister and I squeezed into the back, my grandmother sat in the front with the dog on her knee and dad drove.

'At blackberry time we'd all go out with our empty ice cream tubs and scour the hedgerows to see who could find the largest berries. We inevitably ate most of them before we got home, and mum would have to make a very sparse blackberry pie. On our summer walks we stopped and had picnics, but in the winter, we'd all jump back into the car and the windows would steam up as we warmed ourselves with flasks of hot tea. Our day trips to the seaside often involved cockling. We weren't far from Langstone Harbour where there was this fantastic pub called The Royal Oak - we'd sit with glasses of lemonade and a tub of cockles, and the adults with halves of cider.

'Langstone Harbour was always a favourite place of mine, and when I was a teenager my best times were the summer evenings I went there for walks with my little dog Pepi. He was a scruffy black poodle but looked more like a big black ball of wool, and we rescued him from somebody who kept him shut up in a flat all day. One evening, I was walking him around the harbour and he was so interested in sniffing something he didn't notice we'd turned a corner. The next thing I knew I was fishing him out of the water. From then on he would walk around that spot very gingerly. Another favourite walk of mine and Pepi's was up at Stansted Park in Rowland's Castle on the South Downs. The moment I pulled the car into the car park Pepi knew where he was and what was about to happen. He would get so excited when I let him off the lead and would bounce along - I know dogs can't smile, but it kind of looked as if he did.

'Pepi wasn't my first dog. When I was five we had a springer spaniel called Jason. He was really loopy - he used to jump up to the washing line and eat my brother's socks and then throw them up. We ended up giving him away to a farmer so he could be a working dog - he had too much energy for us. When I was growing up, my mum was fascinated by history and archaeology, which was great because we were close to Fishbourne and Chichester. She had read somewhere that if you ever saw a molehill you should kick it, because if you were in an area with lots of Roman ruins, as we were, the moles sometimes push up artefacts as they dig. I became convinced I was going to find an ancient Roman necklace or the Holy Grail, but all I ever got was muddy trainers.

'Arthurian legend was another of my mother's interests and so as a teenager we'd often go to Glastonbury because of its links to the ancient Isle of Avalon. Now it is one of my favourite places. I even saw the sun rise on the new millennium from the top of Glastonbury Tor. We climbed up at about five in the morning and there was a man up there playing the drums, and another with an owl on his shoulder. It was all very hippy, but great fun. Although I travel for work, I have at least one holiday in Britain each year. We do a lot of camping and love going to the Tamar Valley in Cornwall. When we were there last summer we discovered Golitha Falls, which is the most magical place I've ever visited. It's like something out of "The Lord of the Rings", with all these beautiful trees and mossy banks and right at the bottom is a plunge pool. We were all keen to try a spot of wild swimming - when we jumped in, the water was so cold it took our breath away.'

Amanda Lamb presents 'A Place in the Sun' and 'Market Kitchen'. She also supports the charity Shelter, which is encouraging schools to host fundraising Cake Time events - visit www.shelter.org.uk for further information.

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