A MULTI-talented business man has just had his second novel published after beginning his writing career in the back of his school exercise books.

Ken Crowther, who runs Crowther Landscapes from its headquarters at Shaftesbury Farm, Epping, loved writing from an early age and has kept those exercise books where he made his first novel notes.

But Ken, who grew up in Chigwell, decided instead to follow a career in gardening and won an apprenticeship with London Parks, after which he set up his own company in 1966, maintaining and landscaping gardens.

Having presented a weekly gardening radio programme on BBC Essex since 1986 he decided a few years ago to turn his talents to writing and started on his first novel called Jack The Gardener.

His new novel, Two Weeks in Nice, is set in the 1960's, an area of France that Mr Crowther knows very well.

He said: “It tells the story of apprentice gardeners Jack and Nick on their very first holiday away from their parents. They take the overnight train to the south of France and with their sketchy French, they experience the gastronomic, horticultural, and feminine delights of France in the 60's.”

Published by Vanguard Press, the book was released last week and can be bought in most book shops.