David J. Gatward's Blog

It’s fair to say that I don’t really get out much what with writing all these books and juggling various other aspects of family life. So the chance to high tail it to London for the Kindle Storyteller Awards on 13 th November was a welcome change from the norm. I hopped on the train to London (or ‘that there London’ as we call it in the west country) on Sunday afternoon and arrived in the Big Smoke just an hour or so later. After a few hours sightseeing and wandering around Covent Garden market, I collapsed into bed to make sure I would be looking fresh and beautiful for the awards ceremony the following day.  As per the schedule my fellow nominees (Francesca Catlow, Cary Hansson, C J Ogden and M. L. Rose) and I were ushered into the Houses of Parliament for a round of photos, interviews and more photos before the event itself started. Which it did promptly following the arrival of guest judges Baroness Floella Benjamin and Sue Perkins (both of whom were wonderful and lovely, i...

  Back in October, when I was up in Hawes for the Meet the Author event, I had an amazing opportunity to visit the old police station in Leyburn (about 16-ish miles from Hawes). Closed in 2021, it has now been bought by a property developer who is in the process of turning it into flats. Luckily for me, the new owner is also a fan of Grimm, so when he offered to give me a tour, I jumped at the chance! As you can see from the photos, it’s an imposing Victorian building (they certainly built things to last back then). Inside, as you’d expect from a building that’s been empty for two years, it’s a bit run down, but you can still see all the features of the old station – the front desk, various admin offices, an empty computer cabinet, the parade room, a sound-proofed room, which left us all a bit baffled, and a handy height measurer to record the height of suspects. Best – and creepiest – of all, was the one remaining cell, with the observation hatch in the door. I wouldn’t have wante...