HEDGEHOGS in a south Bucks garden were the inspiration for a West Wycombe library volunteer's debut book.

Gaynor Hounslow has just had the first in a planned series of ten books aimed at educating children about wildlife published.

The 37-year-old was inspired to write her tale after adopting hedgehogs from St Tiggywinkles animal hospital in Aylesbury while living in Piddington.

She said: “The only way to describe it is a grown-up version of a Beatrix Potter book. It’s fiction combined with non-fiction and it’s an educational book.

“I funded this book myself. I believe so much in education, as I only started in education when I was ten myself.

“There are ten books in the whole series, all about different animals. The second is about a crocodile. A friend of mine owns a crocodile farm in Africa so I have got a lot of information from them.”

The book, called 'Snoop and Sniffly Wiffly - The Tale of Two Hedgehogs' tells the tale of two lovable hedgehogs while teaching readers about animal conservation.

It is based on the fact vast numbers of the spiny creatures are taken from islands off the coast of Scotland because they eat the eggs of the rare puffin birds, before being taken in by members of the public ahead of their release back into the wild.

The book is now on sale online and is due for release in America and Italy.

Ms Hounslow, who ultimately hopes to open a charity in Africa for children who don't have access to education, said she was “excited and surprised” her book would be sold abroad.

The publication of her first book means she has fulfilled a lifelong dream.

She said: “I have been writing since I was first at school. When I was first taught to read and write, I would write about fairies and animals.

“I always wanted to be a writer or a vet, but I thought Latin was too difficult to learn.”

A former event manager, she was diagnosed with ME in 2002 and had to give up her job.

She said: “It’s quite a complex illness and many people don’t understand it. In event management you do 19 hour days and in my condition I couldn’t do it.

“I have to work around my condition. You learn to live with it.”

To help get back to work, Ms Hounslow started volunteering at the library in West Wycombe, where she now lives after spending the last 11 years as a Bucks resident.

She said: “It’s a beautiful library but it gets no funding. We get people from all over the world coming to visit.

"We had a lady from Canada in the summer, and she said she had never seen such a beautiful library.”