Romantic author Erica James loves Lake Como

Beautiful, and 20 mins from George Clooney!

“I grew up on Hayling Island, a good old-fashioned seaside resort so we didn’t actually go away on holidays.

Work took my dad away a lot so the holidays I did have were trips with school. Educational cruises were popular back then on the SS Nevasa and SS Uganda.

I’ve since met a number of people my age who went on them. They were basically an excuse for dating boys!

The place I’ve gone back to, time after time, is Venice. I grew up by the sea, so I love being beside water.

Everyone knows Venice is on water but they tend to lose sight of the fact that it’s a city. So it ticks so many boxes of a small city, with that buzz, but with the tranquillity of water.

The other place is Lake Como yes, water again. When I wrote Gardens Of Delight I went to Como to do some research and fell in love with the place.

I kept going back until, in a moment of madness, I bought an apartment overlooking the lake. George Clooney’s place is 20 minutes away but mine is much more modest.

I think Como is the most beautiful of the lakes. Because it’s surrounded by mountains it has a more intimate feel than Lake Garda for instance. The other place I’m very fond of is Tokyo, where my youngest son lives.

This is a city unlike any other. The people are wonderful, and they’ll go out of their way to help you. I also love shopping and it’s out of this world for that.

I’m quite small so I find it great for clothes because many Japanese people tend to be on the smallish side.

I’m only 5-foot tall and a size eight but I had to cut the label out of a dress once as it said “large”. It’s a very efficient city with fantastic transport I love the trains and a great buzz.

However, you can come off a bus on a main road, go through the gates of a temple and have instant tranquillity. I’ve also had some of the best meals ever there, although it’s hard to beat Como for food.

I have a favourite little pizzeria just off the main thoroughfare. The lady who runs it doesn’t even need to give me a menu, she knows exactly what I’m going to have.”

Erica James is one of Britain’s most successful romantic authors. In 2006, Gardens Of Delight won the Romantic Novel of the Year award. Over the past 19 years she has published 18 books and her most recent, Summer At The Lake, was yet another bestseller. Erica’s latest book The Dandelion Years is published by Orion on February 26, at £16.99 in hardback and £8.99 for the eBook. Erica, 55, is divorced and has two grown-up sons, Edward and Samuel. She splits her time between Suffolk and Lake Como in Italy.