Wren's Nest inspires children's book

Oakham-born Barry Wyton, who writes as Barry Hudley, is currently writing the second part of his fantasy adventure trilogy The Kat and the Hooligoats, which is set in the Black Country.

Barry, aged 67, is raising money for the Buttercup Sanctuary for Goats through sales of the books.

The first part – And Suet Begins – has already been published and the sequel The Curs of the Weirdwolf is to be released early in the new year.

Barry, who now lives at Norton in Powys, has been given permission to use the names of two of the reserves wardens – Rob Earnshaw and Heather Williams – in his new book and will also use a member of the Friends of Wren's Nest as another character with the group holding a fundraising raffle to decide who will feature.

"If Tolkien’s Mordor was inspired by the Black Country, just think how magical Wren’s Nest might be. After all, Wrosne – the old name for Wren’s Nest –is not only home to some rare species of animals and plant life, but it was also a key supplier of materials that fuelled the industrial development of the region, plus it can trace its history back over 400 million years. With such an amazing background, it’s perhaps not difficult to imagine that, across all those years, Wrosne has seen more than its fair share of hideous creatures and even been base camp for various dark and mysterious forces," he explained.

In part one of the trilogy, ginger-haired eco-worrier Katherine 'The Kat' Briscoe discovers, just before her 12th birthday, that she’s descended from a genetically modified line of Icelandic elf and can transmogrify into a pygmy goat.

Barry, who wrote his first story when he was about seven-years-old.

"The headmaster of Oakham County Primary School, where I was a pupil, seemed quite impressed with it when he read it out to the class," said Barry who worked as an accountant in the Black Country before moving to Rochdale when he was 35.

He used to walk by the Wren's Nest when he worked at Redman Fisher in Bean Road, Tipton.

The origins of the trilogy came a few years ago when his wife Jane ran a cafe that was in an old, converted barn and he got the chance to look after four naughty pygmy goats.

"In fact, naughty is a bit of an understatement, as looking after them quickly became a battle of wits. Mine against theirs. Looking back, I realise I never stood a chance. There was fence-destruction and breakouts, there was head butting my shins, there was head butting my knees, and there was even head butting my nose, when I made the mistake of kneeling down to clip Cuthbert's hooves.

"I tried so many ways to 'train' the goats to behave and eventually found that, if I sat quietly on the bench by their shed and read a story to them, they would calm down and stand by me, happily chewing cud," added Barry.

And Suet Begins can be bought for £8.99 from barryhudleyauthor.co.uk or buttercups.ork.uk to maximise the amount going to the charity which looks after goats that have been mistreated or abused.