POET Jo Bell, 40, co-ordinates the UK’s National Poetry Day from her narrowboat on Macclesfield Canal.

The brilliant bard was Cheshire Laureate in 2007 and can often be seen performing in and around the town.

Currently planning the sequel to the hugely successful Bunch of Fives roadshow – a show last year when five poets held a poetry slam at a make-believe boxing ring in Prestbury – her mission is to take the stuffiness out of sonnets.

She said: "I want to make poetry entertaining so that people see it as an enjoyable evening, not a chore distantly remembered from school."

If you want to find out more, visit the website at www.bell-jar.co.uk .

The best thing about Macclesfield is... The hills all around it. I love the fact that from the very centre of town you can look out to the green back of Kerridge, and Croker Hill with its radio mast. I can walk out of my door and be in full-fat Peak District country within five minutes.

The worst thing about Macclesfield is… Its lack of self-belief. I often come up against the feeling that something is ‘good enough for Macclesfield’. It is hard to get new cultural ideas off the ground; far harder than in other towns of a similar size. The Loop e-zine is starting to address this.

My favourite place in Macclesfield is… Christ Church on Great King Street. It’s a glory of Georgian church architecture with its box pews and gallery. I also love Cinemac, our characterful cinema in the Heritage Centre which shows films every day and night – use it or lose it!

Ideally I would spend every day... Writing masterpieces of contemporary poetry. Like most writers, I love writing once I’m doing it, but will do anything to put it off.

My favourite night out is... A good film, play or spoken-word event, followed by a drink in the pub with friends.

The best holiday I’ve been on was... Actually for work! I was an archaeologist for many years and spent several summers working in Turkey and Greece. We saw extraordinary, secret spaces and stood in underground chambers no-one had seen for a thousand years.

If money was no object I would... Spend the winter in California. My love of the Peak District doesn’t extend to its weather.

My one piece of advice would be... Hold your nerve. When tackling any new situation, or feeling daunted by a job, a person, a journey – just hold your nerve and keep going.

My first job was... Working in a cardboard box factory in Sheffield. It quickly convinced me to go back to college and get into something more interesting.

If I could do one thing again, it would be... Flying kites on Tynemouth beach, which I used to do every weekend when I lived in Newcastle.

What I am reading now is... Carlyle, On Heroes. Someone gave me an old copy because the theme for National Poetry Day next year is Heroes and Heroines, so I’m swotting up!

On my CD player is... The new Bellowhead album, Matachin.

My favourite TV show is... I haven’t had a telly for ten years and life has been much better since. But I do watch Rome over and over on DVD. You can’t beat a bit of historically-accurate sex and violence.

My biggest inspiration has been... Unsatisfactory relationships with wildly inappropriate men. I don’t recommend it, but I’ve got some great poems out of them.

If I could invite anyone round for tea, it would be… Gertrude Bell (no relation). She was a fantastic explorer, archaeologist and politician of the early twentieth century. She travelled across the Arabian deserts before Lawrence of Arabia, and by George, she knew how to hold her nerve!