London-born with Irish roots, Carol Drinkwater is probably best known as an actress, but is very recognisable too as an author and, to top it all off, she is also an olive farmer.
From the age of four Carol knew she wanted to be an actress. She began writing at the age of eight and became an olive farmer accidentally.
Upon purchasing her dream home in Provence, France, with her husband, TV producer Michel Moll, they got a little bit more than they bargained for.
“We bought this place and when we cut the land back we found 68 400-year-old olive trees,” explains Carol.
“I was just so amazed by the whole story of the olive tree. Then we found someone who taught us how to farm the tress, press the oil and all that.
I just became totally fascinated by the whole civilisation and tapestry of the Mediterranean, how so much of it is based on olive oil.
The All Creatures Great and Small actress spent 17 months travelling around the Mediterranean on her own in search of the history of olive farming.
She found trees 3,000 years older than Christ. Specifically based on that journey, she wrote two books and made a documentary series, as well as penning other books based on her olive farm.
“I am not a big expert, but I am a bit of an expert. They call me the olive queen, that’s my nickname,” laughs Carol.
The Lost Girl
Despite her love for olives, in many of her works of fiction the fruit does not take centre stage. Instead, in her latest novel The Lost Girl flower farming is focused on.
Out in paperback in recent weeks, the novel tells the story of two women brought together by the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015.
One of the ladies lives on a flower farm in Grasse in the south of France, a place that has a long-established history of producing flowers for the perfume industry.
France has proved a huge inspiration for Carol’s writing and, speaking on the phone from the continent, it is clear that she is very passionate about literature.
Actress, author – and now olive farmer – Carol Drinkwater.
“I got my first piece published when I was about 10, in a magazine. It was just a little story about losing my petticoat at a party.
A silly little thing, but I got paid five shillings for it, which was wonderful. It is probably more than I am earning now,” jokes Carol.
Although much of her early career centred on acting, writing has always been a love of Carol’s, and one that takes up much of her time now.
That said, acting was her very first love. Carol’s father was a musician and agent. From watching him at a very young age, she knew the stage was her calling.
“From about the age of four, just from watching my father do shows and sitting in empty theatres while he was rehearsing, I got to love it.
I just got to love the whole smell of the greasepaint, as they say. But I wanted a more serious side of it than him, so I decided that I wanted to be a classical actress, and it just went from there really.”
Even though she was born in London and educated in Kent, Carol describes herself as “three-quarters Irish”.
Her mother was from Laois and one of her father’s parents was also Irish. She has a great affinity with Ireland, owning a house in Offaly and visiting many times each year.
The break
Carol got her first break in A Clockwork Orange, going on to do a whole host of stage productions, films and TV shows. Most notably of these ,the TV series All Creatures Great and Small, of which she has very fond memories.
“It was an incredibly happy experience,” she says. “I have worked on shows that have just been complete misery from beginning to end, for one reason or another.
"In All Creatures that was never the case in all the years I worked on it. There was never a time when it was miserable, ever.
“We went from being sort of unknowns to household names worldwide – and that can change the dynamics of working with people.
"They can get big-headed or they can get grand. I have seen it happen, trust me, but it did not make any difference at all when I look back on it.
"What it did do was give us a sense that we were doing something people loved, and that gave an added joy to the programme.”
At present Carol is still writing away, looking out at her olive trees. Last year she took on a new agent: “So we will see if anything comes of it, maybe it won’t, maybe it will. I miss acting and I love doing it, but I wouldn’t do it instead of writing.”
Carol Drinkwater to speak at the West Cork Literary Festival