WINNING the 2015 Charles Causley Poetry Competition was an early Christmas present for one writer, who as part of the prize enjoyed a stay at the former home of the Launceston poet, Cyprus Well, last week.

Novelist and poet Claire Dyer, who lives in Reading, entered the 2015 competition after her friend, Jo Bell, won the prize in 2013, and she studied the winning poem at a workshop.

This was when she found out about Charles Causley, and bought his collected poems.Claire won the competition with poem Trust and the Horse, which is available to read at thecharlescausleytrust.org

She found out she had won on Christmas Eve, adding: “When I got the email I thought it was incredible. I thought when I saw it last year I would support it. It’s nice to be able to give the entrance fee to help these competitions to carry on.”

Claire, who teaches creative writing at adult evening leisure classes at Bracknell and Wokingham College, as well as a poetry class for people with mild mental health issues, has had two novels and one collection of poems published, and has a book of poems coming out this year. She was able to use the time at Cyprus Well to work on a novel.

She said the main discovery, however, was ‘living on her own’ — with two grown-up sons, a husband and pet cats, Claire said she is usually ‘surrounded by lots of family and friends’: “Coming here is like stepping into an oasis. It takes some getting used to.

“I feel as though I’m not being rushed — I’ve been given permission to take my time. It’s an odd honour. I feel he’s here. It’s a very palpable presence but he’s very kind.”

Claire will be putting the remainder of her prize — £2,000 — towards a writers’ retreat, and looks forward to her Reading Town Hall-based launch of her next collection of poems — Interference Effects — based on the Morpho butterfly. She will be working alongside sillouhette artist Charles Burns at the launch, who will be taking silhouettes of the guests.