About Books at the Barn

Books at the Barn is a series of Author Talks for adults and children. It is based in The Old Dairy barn on a farm in the village of Hatherden, just outside Andover in Hampshire. It was started in January 2012 by Louisa Symington, ex-Publicist from Penguin Books, and Sarah O’Rorke, of Forton Fine Art, www.fortonfineart.co.uk

Events are held at The Old Dairy, Hatherden or at Farleigh School. Adult events are aimed at a Book Club audience, whilst children’s events take the form of talks or creative writing sessions.

During 2018 and 2019, Books at the Barn held  author events with Lucy Worsley, Clare Balding, Alexander McCall Smith, Frank Gardner, Terry Waite, Earl Spencer, Andrew Roberts, and Barney Norris.  Previous speakers have included: Kate Adie, William Dalrymple, Jeremy Vine, Max Hastings, Ed Stourton, Lady Carnarvon, Helen Dunmore, Marina Lewycka and Rachel Joyce. 

For children, we have held events with Cressida Cowell, author of the bestselling HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON series, and Lauren St John, author of the White Giraffe trilogy and the Laura Marlin mysteries.

Books are sold at the events by Book Mark,  an independent bookshop in local Stockbridge. Books are on sale at all events and the authors do a signing after their event.

Our venue is 10 minutes drive from Andover station, just over one hour’s train ride from London. We are 30 minutes drive from Salisbury and Winchester. Events are held in the evening or afternoon, and a glass of wine or cup of tea is included in the ticket price.