My Favourite Holiday: Novelist Kimberley Chambers remembers a childhood full of sunshine and stars

Eastbourne's pier and beach at English Channel, United Kingdom (Getty)

KIMBERLEY CHAMBERS became bored with her life as a London cabbie and started a second career as a novelist.

She has now written 11 crime books. Her latest, Tainted Love (HarperCollins), was a No 1 bestseller in hardback earlier this year and is now out in paperback. Her other thrillers include The Betrayer and Born Evil.

Kimberley, 49, recently moved from her East End roots, to Hornchurch in Essex.

I’M actually just about to combine a bit of work and play.

A group of 10 girl pals and myself are heading for a nice sunshine break in Benidorm.

Well, I say nice, but with my freckles I just seem to go red in the face while everyone else tans.

It turns out that someone on the staff at the hotel they use for the Benidorm TV series is a huge fan of my books and she’s asked me to do a signing session while I’m there.

I’ve visited a few of the Greek islands but the classiest place was a really unspoiled part of Majorca where I stayed with a friend.

But when it comes to holiday memories, the place that instantly springs to mind is my all-time childhood favourite, Eastbourne.

There was a place called King’s Holiday Park that was mostly nice chalets and bungalows.

Back in the day, though, and I mean the late 1970s and early ’80s, there was also a place for static caravans and my mum and dad saved up to get one.

It wasn’t just for main summer holidays but shorter stays, too.

The club there attracted stars all the time and in its heyday coachloads of people would come to stay and see the big act.

I remember seeing everyone from the Three Degrees and the Drifters to Jim Davidson, Bernard Manning and Bobby Davro.

I wouldn’t say they were necessarily more innocent times – I remember we girls used to sneak off for a drink or a ciggie – but they were certainly marvellous.

I have such a lot of happy memories of the whole family, nan and granddad included, being together.

In fact, the recollections are so clear in my head I’ve used them in my latest series of books.

Author Adrian White’s favourite holiday on Arran was also his worst