Dartmouth has been a town of kings and princes, pirates and smugglers, explorers and inventors.

And it has also been town of other kinds of dreamers and other kinds of dreams.

Artists, writers and poets are part of the town's rich history.

Agatha Christie, Daniel Defoe, Robert Graves, John Masefield, Christopher Milne and Flora Thompson all wrote about the area, some of them making it their home for many years.

You could even say the town has been built on an incredible tapestry of plain avarice, a yearning for knowledge and new worlds and a need to translate the ordinary day into a wonder of words and pictures.

Even the world of film and TV has helped celebrate the very special-ness of the town – with the Hollywood likes of Kris Kristoff-erson, Meryl Street, Donald Sutherland and Faye Dunnaway all playing their part.

It is that diverse Dartmouth landscape which author Joslin Fiennes has presented to us with her sumptuous book on the town and its special place in both time and place.

Called Dartmouth An Enchanted Place, the 284 page book, packed with pictures, takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride of facts from Chaucer to D-Day and beyond – capturing the people and events which have helped forge the unique identity of the town along the way.

The Dartmouth writ-er has an MA in Mod-ern Languages from Cambridge University and a PhD in economics from George Washington University.

During the 1960s she was a writer, publishing short stories, principally about Africa.

She then worked for the International Mon-etary Fund in Wash-ington DC for more than a quarter of a century.

She has spent more than 10 years living in Dartmouth and resear-ching her book – which marks her return to writing.

Joslin tells us: 'Everyone has their own sense of place. Dartmouth may be somewhere to live and work, to sail or to walk, to admire natural beauty or explore the past.

'This book looks at the town and its surrounding area through a series of features that try to capture something of their culture – the people, the artists and writers and their ever-present history.'

She opens with a look at a cosmopolitan Dartmouth of the medieval era, its links with King Richard The Lionheart and his Crusade and King John – royal links that resonate right up to the present day with a chapter also dedicated to the Britannia Royal Naval College and all its modern day royal connections.

Her Dartmouth journey takes us through the explorers that used the River Dart as a launch pad for their expeditions, Sir Walter Raleigh to name but one, to the smugglers who used the same river to ply their dead-of-night trade.

The plagues, the wars and castles all had their own impact on the town in one way, while the painters and the poets who made the town their own also left their marks behind them.

And it is all happening still today.

Contemporary writers Neville Shute and Leslie Thomas get their say while the book dedicates a chapter to the Dartmouth Five artists – John Gillo, Andras Kaldor, Paul Riley, John Donaldson and Simon Drew.

Joslin's last word on her book says it all.

'The footprint of the past falls everywhere, still visible because generations of people have valued and kept what was there.

'Dartmouth is crow-ded again with people attracted by the harbour, mild climate and the invitation of the sea.

'Most come back year after year, many to live.

Dartmouth does not let go.'

The book has been produced by Diana Steel and the Directors of the Antique Collectors Club in association with Dartmouth publisher Richard Webb.

It is being launched tonight at an invitation only party in Dart-mouth where signed copies will be on sale in support of the Dartmouth Community Bookshop. Joslin will take part in a public book signing session at the White Sails Gallery at 11am tomorrow.