Carol Drinkwater was struggling to find her dream house by the sea when her now-husband suggested they start looking at ruins. An estate agent in the South of France took them to see a run-down house surrounded by ten acres of olive groves — at five times her budget. She took a leap and emerged, 30 years later, with not only an organic olive oil business but a series of memoirs and travelogues centred on the world of olives that have sold millions of copies. She talks to us about her latest novel, A House On The Edge of the Cliff, the resurgence of interest in All Creatures Great and Small, and the plague attacking olive groves in Europe.