My countryside CHILDHOOD

Louisa Adjoa Parker, 49, is a writer of English-Ghanaian heritage who lives in Somerset with her husband Peter Fry.

There’s a photo of me giggling in the surf, smiling in the sunshine, yet bracing myself as the cold water laps my legs. I remember the moment so well. I was seven years old and visiting my maternal grandparents, who had recently moved to Devon. I was happy there, yet never felt I belonged in rural Britain.

My dad is from Ghana, my mum is from Reading, Berkshire. They met