Ugh!” she groans. “It makes my flesh creep! I saw it in the newspaper in a petri dish and it looked like an enormous amalgamation of little worms. Pam is the author of several best-selling poetry collections, including The Works, With These Hands, Surgically Enhanced, You Made Me Late Again!, and Up In The Attic.

For BBC Radio, Pam has recorded six series of Ayres On the Air for BBC Radio 4, she is a regular guest on Just A Minute, and she is one of the comparatively few guests who have appeared twice on Desert Island Discs, the first time in 1979, and again in 2018. Famous circles: Pam Ayers and comedian Tommy Cooper chat to the Duke of Edinburgh at the Royal Variety Gala in 1977 For your chance to WIN one of FOUR copies of Pam Ayres on Animals, please submit your details via the Competition Entry form below. Three poems in particular always really affect people and you see them being visibly moved. September Song, about the empty nest when children leave home; Pollen on the Wind, about moving out of the family home, as I've done myself, and leaving memories and a garden which you've poured love into and where family pets are buried; and Tippy Tappy Feet, about the death of a pet." Pam Ayers has been fascinated by animals since her first encounter with a friendly golden Labrador at the age of three. She has owned sheep, hens, and mischievous puppies, as well as fallen in love with British wildlife ranging from hedgehogs to bees.Of course, those performances are enlivened by her distinctive accent, which happily she's never seriously considered changing. I’ve loved animals for as long as I can remember,” she says. “When I got my first rabbit, I was so thrilled; then I longed for a dog; and then I longed for a horse. I liked being with animals and looking after them and making them comfortable. It’s just the way I’m cut out.” Pam had appeared three times for HM The Queen – at the Silver Jubilee Royal Variety Performance in 1977, at a Royal Gala Charity Reception at St. James Palace in 1996, when Pam, as the only entertainer, performed part of her solo stage show, and finally at Sandringham Women’s Institute in 2004, when the Queen attended in her capacity as President of the Sandringham WI. Subsequently, Pam was honoured to be awarded the MBE in Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2004. People often ask me how audiences differ in Australia or France, but I don’t actually find that much difference,” she says. “After all, if you’re talking about how you wish you’d looked after your teeth, everybody feels the same, no matter where they come from!”

From her very first encounter with a friendly golden Labrador at just three years old, Pam Ayres has been enchanted by animals. Now, for the first time, in this beautiful new illustrated work, she has gathered together her life's work of poems, new and old, dedicated to her love of them. I think we should all have smaller families: we should all just replace ourselves. Nobody wants to talk about that because it’s such a controversial subject; but if we limited the size of our families, we wouldn’t need so much food and we wouldn’t need to make this horrible slime in laboratories – but that doesn’t fit in with everybody’s culture. I’ve got two sons and I’ve loved having two sons and they were enough. I’m one of a family of six but times have changed since then.” I considered changing it briefly at one point, only because people seemed more focused on that than my writing, but to do so would have felt disloyal to my family and the area where I grew up. It's part of my identity." In June 2022, at the grand age of 75, Pam was delighted to appear in the Glastonbury Festival. Also in June, as part of filming for her Channel 5 TV series about the Cotswolds, Pam had the opportunity to interview HRH The Prince of Wales, now King Charles, at his Highgrove country home to talk about his garden, and their shared love of wildlife and natural history. The interview featured in Pam’s second TV series for Channel 5, The Cotswolds & Beyond, which was originally broadcast in Autumn 2022. I do now have a beautiful grandchild, Arthur,” she grins. “After my performances, I do a book-signing where people come up and have a word. They always used to ask, ‘Have you got any grandchildren yet?’ and say things I thought were rather sugary and saccharine. One lady said, ‘Oh, you wait! It’s like falling in love.’ And I thought, ‘Where’s the exit?’ It didn’t seem like me at all.It’s interesting you say that because, when I sent the poem to my editor, Charlotte, she said she has to take a photograph of her tongs turned off before she goes out.” Pam laughs. “That does seem to be taking it a bit far!” We’ve teamed up with Ebury Press to offer this fabulous book prize. For your chance to WIN one of FOUR copies of the wonderful Pam Ayres on Animals simply enter your details below. Recent TV appearances have included Morning Live, Alan Titchmarsh’s Love Your Weekend, This Morning, Would I Lie To You, and two series for Channel 5 TV, The Cotswolds with Pam Ayres.

There’s an extra reason for coming to the farm park nowadays; a six-month-old reason, who features in Pam’s latest book of poetry, You Made Me Late Again!This definitive collection brings to life the charming characters and voices of all creatures great and small through Pam’s poetry over the past five decades and is perfect for all animal lovers.