'I wanted to write a solo piano piece that evokes this feeling of wandering and anticipation of seeing the sea, and then finally reaching the water.'

Recently, the composer and BAFTA-nominated film producer, who lives near Holt, released her piano-led five-track EP, North Sea.

Melissa's music is rooted in places that have a special meaning to her. In 2017 she released Scandinavia, inspired by the region's brooding landscape, extreme climate and mythology.

Melissa Parmenter. Photo: Parri Thomas And in 2020 she released Messapica, inspired by the Puglia region of Italy.

For her third release, she had less distance to travel. And indeed couldn't, as it was written during the pandemic. She and her partner, acclaimed film director Michael Winterbottom, had had a home in Norfolk for many years, and during Covid they moved to the county full-time.

Melissa found that the stunning beaches gave her the solace she was seeking and in turn gave her the inspiration she needed to compose music.

'I was struck by the stark contrast between the silence, peace and tranquillity of the countryside and coast around us and the chaos and tragedy of the pandemic spreading across the country,' she says. 'The weather during that first lockdown was also unusually warm and sunny, which made the contrast even more affecting - as if nature was speaking to us.'

Melissa Parmenter. Photo: Parri Thomas Tying together both sides of her career, the EP also has a visual element - there is a video to accompany Holkham, which shines a light on the area's seafaring heritage.

'Similar to a previous video I made for my album Messapica, I wanted to showcase local archive footage for the video,' explains Melissa. 'I was lucky to source some wonderful archive from the 1950s of fishermen out crabbing and fishing just off the north Norfolk coast and my regular collaborator and editor, Marc Richardson, kindly put the film together.'

Cley, Salthouse and Brancaster inspired other pieces on North Sea, which was recorded and mixed by Nick Taylor at Air Edel Studios. As well as piano, cello also features, played by another of Melissa's long-time collaborators, Harry Escott, who has written scores for films that Melissa has produced, including The Road to Guantanamo, The Wedding Guest and Greed, and TV series such as the recent ITV drama Joan.

Says Melissa: 'The cello was written to imitate the movement of these slow moving waves rolling back and forth on the pebbles.

Cley. Photo: Getty Images 'I also often like to include sound effects into the music, like on........

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