Annie Tempest's Norfolk-inspired cartoons

Everyday stories of the county are fertile fodder for her delightful Tottering-By-Gently cartoons - and she is certainly in there too, as she tells Angi Kennedy.

Champagne glass in hand, bubbling away nicely; Barney the dog snoozing on the sofa beside her, Annie Tempest betrays the reason why she claims she is gradually turning into Lady Tottering, one of the leading lights of her much-loved cartoon strip.

Her charming creation, Daffy Tottering, is a woman of a certain age, who has been taken to the hearts of the many thousands of fans across the world who follow Annie's hugely successful weekly strip cartoon, Tottering-By-Gently in Country Life.

Although Annie is closer in age, looks and family situation to Daffy's daughter, the beautiful mother-of-two Serena, there is a tangible sense that the artist herself is becoming increasingly comfortable within the role of the older, wittier woman who is at the centre of life in the fading grandeur of Tottering Hall.

'Oh, yes I am certainly growing into Daffy,' Annie laughs heartily. 'Serena is meant to be my generation, but she feels too young for me - I just can't get into writing her as me.

'I am much more with Daffy, although she is also half based on a dear woman from Billingford, Minnika Gregori who died three years ago. She had that wonderful humour and was someone I admired so much - a really good fun person, no nonsense, the perfect English woman.'

Anyone who has caught Annie's cartoons will know that this is the character of Daffy Tottering exactly; never far from a good glass of wine but always with a wry comment that sums up our attempts to cope with the problems facing women in everyday life.

Her partner in crime is the lovable Lord Dicky Tottering, a country gent who loves nothing better than going shooting with his adored black Labrador, Slobber.

Read more about Annie's Norfolk inspirations in the May issue of EDP Norfolk, out now!