FOR someone who writes prolifically about old Richmond, Audrey Carr is surprisingly modern. Elegant, well-groomed, and incredibly talkative and funny, an hour of her company is a recommended tonic.

Her conversation is packed with reminiscences, but thankfully not at the expense of appreciating what's on offer today. She thinks a skateboard park in Richmond will be an asset for youngsters. She enjoys lunch at the town's newest venue, The Garden Bistro, and can't wait to see the Georgian Theatre once it has been restored.

Hers is a way of life that takes many by surprise. She's a mother, and grandmother, but there are few trappings of either in her spacious Edwardian home.

Bright walls and floors abound, as do stylish, minimalist furnishings and delicate curtains of white voile.

Her creative rooms have a character of their own. One room, dedicated to writing, pays testimony to a lifetime's fascination with local history as reported in decades of faded newspapers. Another room, used for painting, is a happy, colourful place. There is a living area set up for reading, equipped with a fireside cat and simple white rocking chair.

"It's important to have the right space in which to work," she says. "When I am writing I am in a different frame of mind from when I am painting. It helps to be able to move from one part of the house to another."

Audrey began her adult life at London's Trent Park College of Music, Art and Drama before making her way up to Winchester for a three-year teaching spell.

She eventually returned to Richmond, having accepted a teaching post at Northallerton Grammar.

Soon afterwards, she joined the staff at Richmond School, during which time she wrote plays and musicals and went on to rekindle her interest in her own childhood.

Brought up by one of life's natural story-tellers, Audrey's formative years centred around her mother Julia's animated commentary on life.

Julia worked in the family business, Mattison's Bazaar, a busy emporium in Richmond market place. She collected anecdotes and snippets of history that were to capture Audrey's imagination and go on to shape her writing career.

"My mother's story-telling had a life of its own and when I came back to Richmond and began hearing her again I could see that her tales were crying out for an audience. She teamed up with her great friend Hubert Blades and between them the memories came flooding back."

Persuaded by Audrey to submit articles to this newspaper, Julia's efforts did not go unnoticed.

The year Julia died, Audrey took it upon herself to collate her mother's and Hubert's writings in the form of a book.

She launched her own imprint, Aztec, and published Remembering Richmond, a book noted for its dramatic opening story describing an incident in 1836 when an ancestor accidentally blew up Richmond market place, shattering shop windows and roofs, and, tragically, killing four people.

Two years later, Audrey wrote You Must Remember This, followed by Time Goes By in 1989. Both were hugely popular and quickly sold out.

Well Played, the history of Richmond High School, A Visit to Richmond and Climbing The Stairs, an autobiographical account of growing up in Richmond, all followed.

Audrey is adamant she is not in the nostalgia business. "I do not want to come over as some old dear who hankers after the past. Change is an endless source of fascination to me. I spend hours studying old newspapers and maps and take great pleasure from passing on the fruits of my research to others. You have to do lots of digging around and be very persistent. I guess I'm really just a frustrated historian."

Audrey's latest book, Richmond From Low Up In The Air, looks at changes in the town as shown in original aerial views.

"I got the idea for the book when I first came across some old aerial photographs. I bought as many as I could find and sat down with a magnifying glass to see which bits of Richmond I recognised.

"It was the most thrilling experience. The more I studied the photos, the more I could remember of the past and they became like 3D models jumping out of the page.

"I got so excited by this, I decided to group them in decades and embarked on a written commentary."

One section is devoted to the Station Building, an item of huge local interest and controversy.

"In researching the book I began to realise the building's historic influence. The BBC recently did a news item on it and I was able to lend them an out-of-print greetings card used in the book showing an original painting of the station when it first opened.

"I understand there is a bid going into the council to refurbish it as a concert venue.

"It sounds great, but people feel very protective towards the building and developers will have much to answer for if they get it wrong!"

Meanwhile, as a painter, Audrey continues to sell her work in art galleries in the town, but is looking to move away from her acclaimed pastel landscapes into something more abstract.

"I'm entering a new phase - probably quite vibrant, using montage and flamboyant colour. I'm not sure how it's going to turn out, but I'm enjoying experimenting with different techniques."

Whatever the outcome, she's unlikely to stand still. Within weeks of her 70th birthday she received mail shots for reclining chairs and automated stair lifts. "What an insult," she screams. "Why is it assumed that once you reach a certain age you become infirm?"

Bad assumption. A mail shot from Habitat would have gone down far better.

l Audrey Carr's Richmond North Yorkshire - From Low Up In The Air is available at local bookshops, price £12