AN acclaimed Mills & Boon author popped into a guest house near Knutsford.

Penny Jordan, who has written more than 200 romance novels, visited Rostherne House to talk to 26 fans about her career at a ladies’ lunch.

Guest house owner Katie Riley said: “Penny told us she wasn’t a public speaker but you’d never have known.

“She explained how she got into the business. She said she never thought she’d be a writer.

“As a child, she said she spent a lot of time alone with her thoughts and telling stories so the seeds of it were there from a young age.”

Penny, whose real name is Penny Halsall, has sold more than 70 million books worldwide, with the most recent being The Boss’s Marriage Arrangement.

But Katie said the Mills & Boon author remained down to earth.

She added: “Penny was very warm, nice and professional but also very encouraging.

“I’m certain a number of the ladies have been inspired to write after that.”

The ladies’ lunch is the first of what Katie hopes to be the start of a series of courses at Rostherne House, on Rostherne Lane, near Tatton Park.

Penny, who lives in Nantwich, said: “I understand that Katie is planning to hold a variety of workshops and special interest days at the house and I can’t imagine a better setting or a better hostess for such events.

“From the moment I arrived until the time I left I was made to feel wonderfully welcome and cossetted.

“We were all greeted with a personal welcome from Katie and a glass of wine.

“The house and its owner have that special gift of making visitors feel completely at home the minute they step inside.”

Penny gave her time for free and Katie donated some of the money raised to the Children’s Adventure Farm Trust.

Katie transformed the Victorian, grade II-listed Rostherne House into guest accomodation last year.