TV shows such as Escape to the Country and Location, Location, Location have long been testament to the British love affair with the countryside. Many of us wish we were one of those lucky couples on the telly having Phil and Kirstie running around searching for our dream cottage in a picture-postcard village with a paddock, heavenly views and a cosy local on the doorstep.

Flaunden in Hemel Hempstead nestles at the edge of the Chiltern Hills, set on a gentle slope looking down towards the valley of the River Chess. The village is in a conservation area and the fewer than 300 residents enjoy its attractive mix of old and new buildings and the idyllic countryside beyond.

One of those residents is Anna Hutton-North, who has used the village and its lifestyle as the basis for her Drayton Beauchamp series of novels, the latest of which, Rural Affairs, is out now.

Drayton Beauchamp is a fictional village set in Oxfordshire, but Anna has used her own experience of life in a picturesque village to inform her books.

“But not directly,“ she laughs, “I haven’t used any of my actual neighbours or their stories in the book!“

Rural Affairs tells the story of three friends in Drayton Beauchamp: sassy solicitor Alicia who is forced out of London and back to her childhood home after an accident; farmer’s wife Matty, whose marriage is struggling and who is finding village life claustrophobic; and Chloe, the eternal romantic who can’t find a man and blames her limited social circle for this.

“The story takes you through these three parallel storylines,“ explains Anna, 41, “and although there are tears and traumas throughout, it’s very much a feelgood story.

“Living in a village and seeing friends and family tackling the same sorts of issues, gives me my inspiration. It makes me realise that everyone wants the rural dream, but it’s not always roses around the door, it makes you look into the issues of country life.“

One of the issues that Anna addresses in Rural Life is whether living in a village is right for you, or whether you prefer the excitement of living in a city or town, an issue facing both Alicia, who misses her London life, and Chloe, who wants to broaden her social circle.

“I’m lucky,“ says Anna, who was born in St Albans and lived in Princes Risborough before moving to Flaunden. “I can commute into London whenever I want that buzz, but I always like to come home to village life.“ Another problem is everybody knowing everybody else’s business, something that character Matty struggles with as her marriage founders.

“People have this dream of living in a community and it is nice, but it can be difficult to have privacy,“ Anna admits.

Anna has lived in Flaunden for six years, with her husband and three-year-old daughter Olivia and a little boy due in a month’s time. She has wholeheartedly embraced being part of a close-knit village community and belongs to her local Women’s Institute, does the church flowers and attends local coffee mornings.

“I love the scenery and being able to go for walks. I write looking out of the window on to my garden. It’s always changing, there’s always something going on out there and that helps me write.”