FICTION

Carol Drinkwater with Paul Blezard

Actor, author, filmmaker and producer of very fine, single-estate olive oil, Carol Drinkwater has had a remarkable and diverse career. From playing Helen Herriot in the evergreen TV show All Creatures Great and Small to authoring her 20 plus novels and stories, she has also reached a diverse and international audience through her 'Olive' series which documents the trials and triumphs of taking on “Appassionata,” an abandoned Provençal olive farm, with her adored and adoring French film producer husband.

In this enchanting conversation with Paul Blezard, Carol talks about the realisation of her dream to live in a shabby chic house overlooking the Mediterranean, her passion for the history and cultural heritage of olives and those who grow them and how a French estate agent and a Belgian millionairess changed her life. It is not all sweetness and light however, as the looming threat of the devastating tree disease Xylella fastidiosa that is causing such havoc in the olive groves of Italy and Spain creeps ever closer.