‘The revolution in electronic communications means that we can spend our time in the heart of rural Normandy, surrounded by open countryside and my wife’s ever-growing menagerie of animals,’ says George, ‘and still run our business. In a way, we are carrying on the tradition of the cottage industry. All those years ago, the miller would work and live here, producing and selling his products from home. We are doing just the same.

'It’s been a long hard road, but we have made it at last. Although we must have set some sort of world record for the sales of self-published books, we will certainly never get rich from what we do. But we have a wonderfully rewarding and fulfilling life here, and true contentment is certainly something that money alone cannot buy…’

When asked if he has any advice for other would –be entrepreneurs who are sure they have a good idea but can’t seem to make it happen, George recalls an after-dinner speech by Sir Winston Churchill, made when he visited his old school: ‘ Everyone sat back an expected him to deliver a long and inspirational talk about his life and achievements,’ says George, ‘but he just stood up, looked around the hall, and said: "Never give in, never give in, never give in," and then sat back down.

'What we have achieved by keeping on keeping on may not be that much of an achievement, but it does show that the great man was absolutely right. If you are sure that your idea is a good one and you are not prepared to take ‘no’ for an answer, I don’t think there’s any substitute for determination. Or, as in our case, good old-fashioned bloody-mindedness…’

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