BIOGRAPHY

I'm a freelance writer and photographer, specialising in the countryside and travel, mainly in the UK, France, Madeira, the Azores, Denmark and Australia. My writing career began in 1980, at a time when I had a 'proper' job, but I became a full-time professional writer in 1990. As a photographer, I learned the hard way, on the wedding circuit way back in 1969. Since then I've ditched weddings and taken to landscape and travel photography.

Gradually, my work has moved into the realms of travel, cuisine, local cultures, the countryside, and I now write on a wide range of subjects from traditions and superstitions to ecology, conservation and vernacular architecture.

My main areas of interest include Australia (all states and territories); England (Chilterns AONB, Cumbria and the Lake District, Peak District, Lancashire, Oxfordshire, Yorkshire Dales); Scotland (especially the islands, notably the Isle of Skye, the Western Isles and St Kilda); Wales; France (but especially the cities of Paris, Strasbourg, Toulouse and Avignon, along with the départements and regions of Aube-en-Champagne, Aube, the Auvergne, Aveyron, the Somme, Picardy, Charente Maritime, Hérault, the Loire and the Loir, and the Cathars country of southern France); countryside; walking; food and wine.

I have an on-going interest in the Azores, and the island of Madeira, and have been appointed the Festival Director for the Madeira Islands Walking Festival, the next being held from the 13th-17th January 2009.

I am a regular contributor to Living France, Dalesman, Cumbria, and have occasional broadcasts on travel on BBC Radio Lancashire.

I have recently been awarded a Master of Arts degree (with Distinction) in Lake District Studies, by the Centre for North West Regional Studies at the University of Lancaster, where I am now studying for a PhD in Historical Geography. I am a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS), Fellow of the Tourism Society (FTS), and of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (FSA Scot); and a Member/Proprietor of Writers and Photographers unLimited and Guidebookwriters.com ; the Society of Authors, the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild (Secretary, Awards Dinner Organiser, Website Manager and Honorary Life Member), MENSA, NUJ and the British Guild of Travel Writers (Committee member).