CELIA WARREN


the past 20 years. It was an occupation that she could continue to pursue while she and her husband juggled careers and acted as full-time carers for their respective parents. her husband’s parents’ health needs brought them back to his Devon roots and, soon after, celia’s elderly parents followed them to strete. celia had always written as a child and was delighted when she was able to combine her love of poetry with educational texts, helping to instill that interest in others. she said: “my mother loved poetry and used to read


aa milne and Walter de la mare to me when I was little. later, charles causley soon became a favourite but my all time favourite individual poem is The Donkey by GK chesterton. “I wrote lots of poems and stories as a child. as soon


as I found out that what could be read could also be written I started writing.” The first poem she took pride in was called A Paddy


Bird from Ceylon, inspired at the age of nine by the text on her brother’s model plane kit. she added: “It’s still in a notebook somewhere. my older sister quoted from it in her university thesis on language, which made me think it must be good!” “That poem spurred me on to write more and, from the age of 12, I started sending stories off to publishers. I collected lots of rejection slips but one editor wrote back to encourage me to keep practising. I then had book reviews and poems published in the teenage magazine elizabethan and used to write a magazine for my family called morning magazine. I wrote it every week for about seven years, emulating publications I loved, including their fashion and music pages and competitions. my parents, brother and sister were very encouraging and used to enter my competitions to win my drawings!” celia has always enjoyed drawing and painting and


Fast Rabbit Farm


Garden created in sheltered valley with natural stream. Several ponds and lake, partially wooded, rockery, extensively planted, extends to 43 acres plus


new woodland planting and walks. Car park. Some level walks


Garden created in sheltered valley with natural stream. Several ponds and lake, partially wooded, rockery, extensively planted, extends to 12 acres plus new woodland planting and walks. Car park. Some level walks


focused on modern languages and art at school. she got top grade at art a-level and studied art and education at university. she still uses her artistic skills to illustrate her website and poems with quirky line drawings. her first properly published poems were “grown up poetry” – in magazines such as Outposts, Orbis, envoi and The countryman. One year she received a special commendation in the BBc’s annual Wildlife poet of the year competition. since then, one of her children’s poems was cast in iron as part of hampshire’s stockbridge poetry trail. and, as you can imagine, celia has written lots of poetry inspired by the sea since moving to Devon. she is planning to put together a collection of sea poems in the near future. she said: “Devon is so beautiful.


NOW OPEN DAILY, ALL YEAR ROUND (see website for details) Admission £5.00, Children 50p Parties welcome by appointment Disabled: please phone prior to visit


Open Sundays 11am-5pm March to November Bank Holiday Mondays


Admission £3.50, Children 50p


Monthly guided walks with local naturalist (call for details) PLANTS FOR SALE


Parties welcome by appointment. Disabled: Please phone prior to visit www.fastrabbitfarm.co.uk


PLANTS FOR SALE


spike milligan’s eccles said, “everybody’s got to be somewhere” and this is a great somewhere to be.” “I love Dartmouth. I love the


coastal path and the sea – it’s different every time you look at it. and it’s such a fantastic place in which to write poems and stories.” For more information visit www. celiawarren.wordpress.com


This interview and all previously published interviews in this magazine can be found on By The Dart’s website www.bythedart. co.uk


Strawberry Valley, Dartmouth, Devon TQ6 0NB www.fastrabbitfarm.co.uk


Ash Cross, Dartmouth Tel: 07813 504490


Tel: 07813 504490 BTD033


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132