When Sue Moseley returned to England after years in South Africa, she opened a new business and was looking to the future.

Little did she know that in starting that new venture, her past would catch up with her.

From the minute she opened her doors, her guests have brought with them a series of amazing coincidences and unearthed details she never knew about her family.

Now, after 15 years of providing hospitality at The Old Post Office in Fittleworth, Sue has put all those stories together in a book called Sorry, No Vacancies Tonight.

Sue, who wrote the book under her maiden name of Susie Hyde, said: "These are stories about the interesting guests who have come to stay and how they have affected my life."

After losing her first husband, Sue remarried and moved to South Africa. However, the marriage failed and after six years she returned to England.

She said: "I was in my 50s and didn't really know what to do with myself. It was a defining period in my life. Eventually a friend said, "Why don't you start a B and B?' So I did."

Her cottage, which was the first post office in the village in 1860, now has two double bedrooms and a four-diamond rating from the English Tourist Board.

Sue runs the business alone - "I do everything but mow the lawn" - and spends a good deal of time talking to her guests.

The first one through her door was a businessman from New York. The man told her he had stayed there before, which Sue argued was impossible because he was her first guest.

"It turned out that he used to own the house," she said.

"His son had been born there. That was the first of a series of extraordinary coincidences."

Another couple who booked in told her they were there to research the life of the composer Elgar, who had stayed there several times during the Twenties.

She added: "I had no idea and when I mentioned this to my father's sister, I learnt my grandpa, who had been an opera singer, knew Elgar."

A German couple who had survived an horrific car crash had returned from New Zealand and traced exactly the same steps Sue had done when she visited the islands.

And, through another guest, she learnt that her own father, then only three years old, would have perished on the Titanic if her grandmother had not refused to make the journey.

Sue, 67, reckons she has catered for 750 guests.

She said: "I invite the guest to join me for a glass of wine and often they open up.

"It is hard work but it is fun and I have met some wonderful people."

Sue published the book herself and the illustrations are by her daughter Zoe.

Sorry, No Vacancies Tonight is available for £6, including post and packing, by calling her on 01798 865315.