I'm intrigued that edible dormice may share this very barn, my son’s workshop in South Bohemia in the Czech Republic, where I have temporarily set up a desk.

THE scent of mown hay, kicked up after we emerge from the dappled woods and cross the baking fields to reach my son’s workshop in a huge and ancient barn deep in the Czech Republic countryside, brings back memories, as if the nose can remember the sweet smells of long ago.

Petra and Padraig Quirke are a heady combination.

LARGE swathes of central Europe were on flood alert last night as the death toll from swollen rivers rose and more people were evacuated from their homes.

As many as 40,000 residents fled low-lying parts of Prague before dawn today, hours before the worst flood in more than 100 years was expected to hit the Czech capital.