Writer and photographer Peter Ashley has travelled widely across England, but keeps returning to North Norfolk. He tells Jon Welch how his love of the area inspired a chapter in his latest book, Cross Country.

It's a part of Norfolk many of us already think we know well, but if there is anyone who can show it in a new light it is Peter Ashley.

A photographer and writer specialising in England and all things English, he has a keen eye for quirky detail and is likely to be just as enthused by a rusting enamel sign or a chipped toby jug as a perfect sunset.

Happily, his rich, descriptive writing, peppered with personal reminiscences and anecdotes, is every bit as evocative as his pictures.

Despite being born and raised in Leicestershire, where he still lives, Peter, 63, has been a regular visitor to North Norfolk since he was a boy and rates it as one of his favourite parts of the country.

It has also inspired a chapter in his latest book, Cross Country.

'It's not a guidebook,' Peter stresses. 'It's about what I see and how I react to it, whether it's a beautiful church or just an old bike propped up.'

His love of North Norfolk results from childhood holiday.

'Norfolk is this great bulge of England; this great disc of land that sticks out into the North Sea. From Leicestershire, one was very quickly there.'

And although he has travelled extensively with his camera, Peter's love of North Norfolk has never dimmed.

For the full interview with Peter Ashley and an excerpt and some pictures from his book see the EDP Sunday supplement in this Saturday's EDP.

Cross Country: English Buildings and Landscape from Countryside to Coast by Peter Ashley is published in hardback by Wiley, �24.99.