PUPILS at a West Cumbrian school were delighted to welcome a local author - accompanied by a fell pony.

Keswick School English teacher and librarian Helen Robinson recently had her first book published. Little Pearl is based on her first pony.

She was delighted when Christine Robinson agreed to bring along her pony to meet pupils at Seaton C of E Junior School before they took part in reading workshops.

Christine, who lives in Anthorn, has been breeding fell ponies for many years.

She introduced pupils and staff to eight-year-old Kerbeck Night Breeze.

"Breeze seemed to enjoy the visit and did lots of whinnying at the children and gave a few children a friendly nudge when they came to pat her," said Helen.

"Children asked questions about Breeze's personality and what fell ponies were used for."

Helen, who writes under her maiden name Haraldsen, grew up in Whitehaven. She now lives in Great Clifton and is working on the second book in her Amber's Pony Tales' series.

She spent the day at school, working with pupils in Year 3 and 4.

"I was promoting my book but also reading in general, with a particular focus on animal stories," said Helen.

"I showed them some of my favourite animal stories and they took part in a quiz to name animal characters and the authors of the books they feature in.

"I read an extract from the book and spoke to them about competitions related to my next book 'The Second Best Pony' that they can get involved in.

"The pupils had an opportunity to ask me questions and mainly wanted to know about what Pearl was like, whether I have horses now, and what they're like.

"This led to me talking a lot about how animals are all individuals with their own personalities, which is perfect as it's one of the main themes in my series.

"It was good to be able to speak about the responsibility we have towards animals in our care. I think the fact that the pony came to visit will have helped get this message across."

Helen will be returning to the school next Monday to work with the upper juniors on creative writing.

Head teacher Amanda Dickinson said: "We encourage our children to have aspirations for the future and having a local author in our school is a great example of this.

"They loved having a fell pony visit - all part and parcel of Cumbria's culture."