A BULLET has been shot through the letterbox at the home of newspaper columnist Liz Jones, who has stirred up a media storm over her writing about life on Exmoor.

Ms Jones, 50, was said to be "traumatised and frightened" after the attack on her home near Dulverton, West Somerset, yesterday.

Police are investigating after a shot was fired at her property near the village of Brushford.

It comes after her column in the Mail on Sunday and her latest book, The Exmoor Files, provoked a flurry of criticism about the way she has portrayed people in the area.

In both, she documents her move away from a luxurious London lifestyle to a rural Westcountry farmhouse, and her difficulties in adapting to her new surroundings.

Much of the content is focused on her own inability to cope, and she frequently talks of her love for the landscape. But she also made references which have ruffled feathers locally, such as referring to "toothless" farmers and criticising the food as being stuck in the 1980s.

Until yesterday, anger had been confined to newspaper pages and web forums. In the Daily Telegraph, an article by Exmoor-based writer Jane Alexander hit out at Ms Jones's take on rural life, saying the local population was "absolutely fizzing with fury" that Jones had portrayed the areas as "cold and dirty, smelly and vicious".

The article sparked 129 comments on the Telegraph's website – but yesterday, the criticism took on a far more sinister tone.

While Ms Jones was out, a shot was apparently fired through her letterbox, startling a friend staying on the property, according to a source close to the writer. Details of exactly what happened were yesterday sketchy, but it is understood nobody was injured.

Ms Jones was unavailable for comment yesterday. But the source said while she was not at home at the time, her friend had called to tell her what had happened. He said: "She's upset, traumatised and frightened. She's worried about her own safety, as well as the person who is in her home and her animals."

Yesterday, Ms Jones's gardener, Brian Greenslade, who lives in Bampton, said he was "disgusted" at the crime.

He added: "Why would anyone want to do that? Someone could have been killed or injured. She's good as gold. As far as I can tell, she only wants to do good things for Exmoor, and she employs a lot of local people. It's only words, and a lot of what she writes is just in humour."

Ian Johnson, of the Lion Hotel in Dulverton, is among those to be offended by Ms Jones's writing. But he said he was surprised by the shooting. "It isn't the sort of behaviour I'd expect from 99 per cent of people around here," he said. He added: "She thinks we're stuck in a time warp, but if that's because we have time for our neighbours and say hello to people in the street, then I think we're in the right place."

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police confirmed they were called to a property near Brushford just before 3.20pm yesterday. The spokesman said: "The caller was reporting damage to a metal mailbox which was discovered earlier in the day. Police are currently investigating the incident."