Source of Inspiration

Womag made a comment on my previous post that reminded me of how often I use the area I live in as a source of inspiration. In my novella 'Prescription for Happiness', Rose and her little niece lived in my ‘house up the hill’. A story I’ve just sent to one of the women’s magazines has a local moorland setting.
The strange thing is, more often than not it’s a character – or characters – who appear in my mind first. Then when I get to know them, whether they are old or young, married or single, alive or a ghost, they so often end up living here. Sometimes it’s here as it is now, other times as how I imagine (or know from research) it was in earlier times.
Although my Pebbledown Bay series for children is set in a fictitious seaside area, things that have happened here sneaked their way into those books and, similarly, some of the animal happenings in the books I wrote in the Animal Ark series were based on experiences I’ve had here.
It isn’t as though I’ve always lived in this area, I was born and lived in Middlesex for eleven years and I’ve lived in a few different parts of Cheshire and Lincolnshire and in three different places in Lancashire as well.
So, referring back to Womag’s comment – I guess I do find living here a source of inspiration.
Who else finds inspiration from the area they live in or visit regularly?