Writer and illustrator of children’s book series about a community of mice in the English countryside had sold more than 7m copies

Jill Barklem, whose intricate Brambly Hedge stories have delighted children for decades, has died at the age of 66.

Her publisher HarperCollins Children’s Books said this morning that the author died peacefully in London on Wednesday following a long illness. Barklem had sold more than 7m copies of her Brambly Hedge books, which tell the tales of a community of mice in the English countryside.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hawthorn blossom, as pictured in one of the Brambly Hedge books. Illustration: Jill Barklem

Barklem first conceived the stories in the 1970s, as she commuted from her Epping home into St Martin’s School of Art on the London underground. “I did not have a very clear idea of my future but assumed I would earn my living by illustrating other people’s books. I certainly never imagined that one day I would write my own,” Barklem said.

She went on to publish Spring Story, Summer Story, Autumn Story and Winter Story in 1980. They were followed by The Secret Staircase, The High Hills, Sea Story and Poppy’s Babies. Each of the stories was deeply researched, and would take up to two years to finish; all of the food that features in the stories, for example, was created by Barklem in her kitchen first, to see that it worked. In 1996, the stories were adapted for television, using the voices of actors including Jim Broadbent and June Whitfield.

Ann-Janine Murtagh at HarperCollins said the publisher’s staff were all deeply saddened at the news of Barklem’s death. “Her exquisite Brambly Hedge stories have enchanted children and many adult admirers across the world for more than 35 years. Jill was a lovely person with a rare talent to turn her astute observation of the English countryside into an enchanting miniature world,” she said. “Her enduring stories about the mice of Brambly Hedge remain as beautiful today as when she first created them and will continue to be treasured by future generations.”