Helen Steadman, who was born and raised in County Durham, and lives in Bridgehill, near Consett, is celebrating her 50th year with the publication of her debut novel, Widdershins. Its subject is witches and here she explains how she fell under their spell

I’VE been writing all my life. From when I was tiny, I was always writing poems, stories and plays and always dreamed of being an author, but only started writing seriously 12 years ago as my 40th birthday loomed.

I didn’t really choose the subject of witches – it feels more like it chose me. I’d been writing away for years and had various half-written novels under the bed. When I decided to do an MA in creative writing, I knew I’d have to write a full-length novel to pass the course. Reading Hilary Mantel’s magnificent Wolf Hall inspired me to want to write a historical novel, but I was still in need of a subject.

When I was on a woodland dog walk one day, I smelt a lovely smell and followed my nose uphill. It turned out to be sap from dozens of Scottish pines that had just been cut down. At the top of the rise, I looked down into a sort of natural amphitheatre and began wondering what might have happened there in centuries past. Perhaps I was overwhelmed by pine sap, but a song by Florence & the Machine jumped into my head: ‘Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up)’. This set me off thinking about sacrifices and rituals, which led me to witches.

I discovered the North-East had experienced the horror of witch hunts, which surprised me, and Widdershins uncovers the truth behind the little-known Newcastle witch-trials of the 1600s. While I knew about the Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, in Essex and also about the Pendle witches in Lancashire, it was news to me that witch trials had happened on my own doorstep. This news arrived courtesy of a book by Ralph Gardiner: England’s Grievance Discovered in Relation to the Coal Trade. It sounds an unlikely source of inspiration, but Gardiner described the witch trials that resulted in a mass execution on Newcastle’s Town Moor in the mid-17th Century.

A Scottish witchfinder was sent for and a bellman went through the streets ringing his bell and inviting people to send out their witches. Thirty people were tried and 16 were hanged for witchcraft, making it possibly the largest execution of so-called witches on a single day in England.

As I continued researching witches, I realised they were probably innocent people who had fallen prey to gossip, supposition and spite. It struck me that many so-called witches were healers, working with the natural resources at their disposal: plants. Rather than casting spells and conjuring demons, they were simply using natural magic to help people. So, I decided to learn about herbal medicine for myself and signed up for training at Dilston Physic Garden, near Corbridge.

I learned to identify plants and trees, which is vital as it’s easy to pick the wrong plant, with disastrous consequences (my training was supervised by a qualified medical herbalist). After training, I set up my own little herb garden to help me get into character before writing the book. The easiest plant to grow was lemon balm. I stuck it in a corner where it thrives to this day with minimal care. And it makes heavenly tea – rinse to get rid of any critters, add boiling water, wait a few minutes and drink. It’s very refreshing and uplifting, but moderation is needed as it’s something of a euphoric.

Anyone reading Widdershins will quickly realise that one of the most important characters in the book is the County Durham countryside where the main character, apprentice healer Jane Chandler, lives. For Jane, I wanted to create a place that was safe, serene and immune to the effects of the outside world, and where better than the beautiful Derwent Valley? By constantly walking in ‘Widdershins Country’, I absorbed some of the beautiful landscape by osmosis, and hopefully that comes through in the book.

I feel blessed to have such beautiful countryside outside my door. Although I was born and bred in County Durham, I did spend almost a decade in London. I moved back North after I gave birth to my eldest son because I wanted him to grow up surrounded by fresh air, huge blue skies and green countryside. From a historical writer’s point of view, County Durham is also a treasure trove of stories begging to be told. I recently started writing a novel about Grace Darling and I’m currently carrying out research into the Shotley Bridge swordmakers for a future novel.

I’m also keen to discover whether the notion of method acting can be successfully applied to writing, so part of my research will involve training in blacksmithing. I’ve already done some training and so far I’ve made a rat-tailed iron poker and a firesteel, which is the one described in Widdershins. The scene where Jane Chandler uses a firesteel and flint to start a fire is based on my own experience of starting a fire with the firesteel that I made myself!

The Northern Echo:

Widdershins (Impress Books, £8.99). Website: helensteadman.com