THREE years ago, I was at home with my two young boys, enjoying playing with them and watching them grow. Martin, my husband, was missing out on this idyllic time, working in the city. When the children had gone to bed, we would often sit and watch programmes about trading up, changing rooms, invading gardens.

I felt a yearning to return to France, where as a child I had had a wonderful holiday. Now, aged 40, that did seem an awfully long time ago. Martin is 12 years younger than me, so his energy made it seem possible, even with no French.

We put our house on the market and set off to France on a ten-day house-hunting holiday in the Languedoc. We found a huge house in the small bustling village of Couiza that could be converted into three apartments - one for us and two to let out - with what know-how I had gleaned from the telly. We made an offer which was accepted and sold our house in the UK.

We were now able to put our budget together and after much detailed analysis we calculated our buffer zone to cover any emergencies. It was é13.50. Feeling this was adequate, we took the plunge.

After long months of painting and decorating, putting in kitchens, fixtures and fittings, and endless shopping, we welcomed our first guests. During this time, Martin was continuing to compile the cryptic crossword for the Big Issue in the North, to keep him in touch with England. He also caught up on some quality time with our sons, Saskian and Tormey who are now 4 and 6-years-old.

Film-makers

As our first few guests arrived, we realised that many of them were not just on holiday, but were authors, film-makers, photographers and people in search of a story, the draw for all of them being the little village of Rennes-le-Chateau, perched on top of the hill overlooking Couiza.

This area is steeped in history. Languedoc was its own state until the 13th century. Around the area are all these beautiful old castles on the tops of big peaks that the Cathar Knights built to protect themselves.

I found a book called Key to the Sacred Pattern by Henry Lincoln. It was so exciting that I immediately started reading anything I could find on the subject, including The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail, which he co-authored with Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, exploring the possibility that Mary Magdalene carried the blood-line of Jesus Christ to the South of France, where it is protected today by the secret society of The Priory de Sion. (Baigent and Leigh recently failed to convince the High Court that The Da Vinci Code copied the central theme of their book)

It was at this time that we had a visit from Simon Cox, who was making a film about the book he had written called Cracking the Da Vinci Code and we felt honour-bound to read The Da Vinci Code. We had up until this point avoided it, on the grounds that it was too damn popular and everyone else seemed to be reading it.

To our surprise we really enjoyed it, recognising the many allusions to Rennes-le-Chateau, including the use of the name Sauniére for one of the main characters, that tied the book to a long dead parish priest of Rennes- le-Chateau, who allegedly discovered a fabulous treasure.

Kids

A FEW months later, while watching Martin cut up tiny bits of paper for yet another game he was inventing for our kids, I asked him why he didn't make a Da Vinci Game? He replied, very sensibly, that there must already be hundreds of them, however when we checked on the internet, there wasn't a one. The Da Vinci Game idea was born. At this time our lives became very chaotic.

The gite was so busy that we decided to rent out the apartment we occupied as well, and had a week earlier exchanged on a new house. But three months later we were trying out the game on our buddies and, after incorporating their suggested changes, we sent it by email to a games agent called Games Talk, who said they would like to produce the game themselves, working closely with Fun and Games, who would license the game in the UK.

We had to finish the 800 clues as quickly as possible (we had about 150 at this stage), so we set to work on creating the other 650. For three months we started to think and talk in riddles. Our children had to put up with tired and grumpy parents who didn't get enough sleep and responded far too often to their requests to play with that dreadful word, 'later'.

They were eventually won over to the cause by the promise of a trip to Disneyland Paris, as we resorted to bribery in a desperate attempt to reduce the pressure.

Symbolism

We finished everything in July last year and the game reached UK retailers on October 1. The Da Vinci Game is full of peaceful symbolism and exciting people and places hidden poetically in riddle and code played around a beautiful pentacle, the ultimate symbol of peace. It's great to imagine people as far flung as New Zealand, Australia and the UK sitting down, playing the game and it's always a thrill for us to hear how much fun people are having playing it.

It has sold 50,000 copies since last October. It is not hard to imagine Dan Brown playing the game. It's not about The Da Vinci Code, the book. But it holds with the spirit of the book. It's got the same parenthood.

It's about the whole thing of codes and secrets, the Sacred Feminine and the Holy Grail, mysteries, treasures and Leonardo Da Vinci himself.

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