This morning, I’m off down to South Wales. It’s a 4 hour drive and weather conditions aren’t favourable, but I’m really excited about having a few hours away from home. The change of scene will do me the world of good. The main reason I’m going is to get my harp serviced by those fabulous people at Camac Harps. Yes, that’s right. There’s a harp weekend being held by Camac Wales in the beautiful capital, and tonight there’s a concert by wonderful inspirational harpist, Isabelle Moretti. I’m very excited about that. Isabelle was my teacher in Lyon for a couple of years before she was appointed professor of harp at the Paris Conservatoire. She’ll be playing a programme of French and Spanish music at, wait for it, the Impressionists Gallery at the National Museum. It’s guaranteed to be feast for all the senses.

Like many musicians, I spend a vast amount of time alone with my instrument, and I often crave inspiration. Tonight, there’ll be swathes and wafts of delicious pearly continental notes that will feed me for months to come. I know I can listen to CDs and watch videos, but there’s nothing like live music performance to grab you where it matters and carry you wherever your imagination cares to take you.

So I have a very busy couple of days and, although I love performing, it’s quite nice to be going on a busman’s holiday. It’ll be interesting to find out what other harpists are up to and to catch up with news from the harp world. As well as having my heart strings plucked by some very fine musicians, I’m super excited to be mixing business with pleasure and meeting up with a school friend I haven’t seen for a few years. There’s a lot to fit in. And quite a lot of gear to fit into my car too. Not sure I’ll be taking my felt daffodil head though. (Let me explain about the photo - no, I haven’t lost the plot. It was a confidence boosting exercise I did with a Welsh friend from my swimming class for St David’s Day.)