Freelance travel writer, photographer, sub-editor and copyeditor

Even though I didn't leave the UK until I was 18 I've always been a bit of an adventuress and enjoyed visiting new places and meeting new people. Travelling around the UK's great, particularly the Scottish Highlands, Cornwall, Wales and Berkshire (where I currently live), but I am always fascinated to venture overseas and feel very fortunate that I'm able to combine my passions for travel, writing and photography and to be able to share my experiences with others through my work.

Background

I lived in London for ten years working as a journalist for the Press Association, BBC Worldwide, News International, and Time Out. I've been fully freelance since 2009 so I could escape to the country and spend less time commuting and more time doing what I love: writing, photography and editing.

Travel writing

Adventure travel and horse riding are my particular interests and assignments have included:

• Crossing the stunning and unspoiled Tian Shan mountain range in Kyrgyzstan on horseback;
• Being awestruck in Austria watching the Spanish Riding School training in its baroque Winter Riding School in Vienna then meeting the Lipizzaner foals at the SRS stud in Piber;
• Travelling to the United States where I dressed up in my finest frock and hat and sipped mint juleps while watching (and placing a bet on) the Kentucky Derby.

Recent trips:

• Crossing the central Australian desert with my dad in a customised Land Rover on a three-month camping odyssey;
• Cruising the spectacular Tierra del Fuego fjords and disembarking at Cape Horn;
• Installing water pumps in a Nepalese village as part of a Brita-funded volunteering project;
• Discovering Tokyo's kitten bars;
• Exploring the Knoydart peninsula in knee-deep snow;
• Walking the West Highland Way from Glasgow to Fort William.

Photography