Inspired by her work as an architectural illustrator, Sam Sharland likes to create buildings and places that have as much personality as the characters that inhabit them. A love for both painting and storytelling led Sam to study an MA in Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art, from which Valentine's Guest House was born. Her favorite place to draw is outside surrounded by fascinating people and crumbly old buildings. Otherwise, you will find her in her studio, pen in hand, and cat on lap. In her spare time, Sam likes to play golf, read and cook, and firmly believes buying recipe books is a hobby in its own right.