A MILTON Abbot author could not have hoped for a better present when her debut children’s book was released on her 45th birthday last year.

Kate Leeves, who wrote under her full name Catherine, never thought she would become a published author when she started to pen her novel Mischievous Mabel as a covid lockdown project.

’I just wanted to see what I could do,’ she said. ’Having never written a book before I just thought "well, let’s give it a go and see what happens" and when my publisher read the manuscript and said they’d like to be involved I was over the moon. It was released on my birthday which was an absolute dream.’

Kate was inspired to write story about a ’very naughty puppy that was frequently getting up to mischief’ after hearing about all the antics of her friend’s border terrier puppy, Mabel.

Kate has been a lifelong animal lover frequently going horse-riding with Mabel’s owner, Christina, and cherishes her ’Mabel time.’

’Christina and I go horse-riding together, which I love and after we’ve been riding I drive [Christina] home and we have a coffee and what we call ’Mabel time,’ she said.

Kate described herself as a ’happy hacker’ and has loved riding since she was a girl. In fact, it is so integral to her life today that she asked her vicar if she could be baptised on horseback.

She said: ’My late grandmother insisted I learn to ride because she had to. I learned and I loved it!

’Back in 2015, I was on holiday in Portugal and I had something of a spiritual experience riding on the beach. It was really emotional and I felt something extra extra special. That led me to have my adult baptism.

’While I was ironing I had the idea and asked the vicar if I could have it done on horseback. He kindly agreed.’

But Kate admitted that despite her great love for animals her busy lifestyle means she feels unable to care for a pet properly.

In her free time, Kate has undertaken a wide range of charitable endevours including a flight down the Eden Project’s zip wire, known as the longest and fastest in Britain, to raise money for Plymouth’s Derriford hospital.

She has also kindly donated signed copies of her books to the Children’s Hospice South West, a charity which provides end-of-life care to children.

She said: ’Once I got the book published I wanted to do something for charity so I donated signed copies as a Christmas donation to the children’s hospice. That gave me great pleasure and it was just nice to do something children relate to.’

Kate now wishes to follow Mischievous Mabel’s antics and is ’continuously hunting for ideas’ for the next episode of Mabel’s adventures.

For more information about the book, visit www.youcaxton.co.uk