ABOUT ME
Journalist, Editor, PR Consultant
Surrounded by British craftsmanship.
These days I make the beds as well as admire the furniture
As an army child, I grew up all over the world. My family's most memorable posting was to Vietnam, where we lived in Saigon during the war — experiences that left me with a lifelong love of travel and food from across the globe.
I spent my early years at a French-speaking convent school in Saigon but, like many military children with parents posted abroad, most of my education was at boarding school in the UK.
I had always loved writing and lost myself in books; by the age of 12 I had read the complete works of Shakespeare. English was my passion, so it was no surprise that, from the moment I walked into the offices of the Financial Times, I knew I'd found my vocation.
I started on the Weekend FT under the legendary JDF Jones, who founded the paper's weekend supplement and, with characteristic aplomb, appointed me Bridge Editor — largely because no one else played the game. Having grown up abroad without a television, I'd learnt a plethora of card games, bridge among them. I also worked for him on the FT Arts pages.
From there I moved to Country Life, where I became Features Editor, taking the magazine through its centenary, and later acted as Deputy Editor.
I launched the Travel and Schools sections, brought in Annie Tempest's cartoon Tottering-by-Gently, created and edited the much-loved Living National Treasures section celebrating British artisans, and launched a nationwide, award-winning rural crime campaign that was later adopted by the government of the day. I also edited and published several books and ran a number of events for the magazine.
I went freelance three years after my son Jasper was born, contributing to most of the national newspapers, including the Daily Mail and The Times. I wrote a column on single parenting for the Evening Standard and another on eco interiors for the Daily Telegraph.
I've also acted as a PR consultant for the likes of Cordings of Piccadilly (owned by Eric Clapton and Noll Uloth), Britannia Stone and Penelope Chilvers, among others. In 2005 I moved to Somerset, where I still write and where I met my husband, Martin, with whom I run a busy B&B that has been featured in the Daily Telegraph, Country Life, on Radio 5 Live and by BBC Worldwide.
These days I write Strangers in my Bed, a weekly Substack about life as a B&B hostess — the guests, the calamities and the confidences shared over breakfast. Between Martin and I, we have three children and five grandchildren.