My Story

I’ve not always been a country girl. I grew up in a small council house in a large town in Hertfordshire, and this is where my love of nature began. My father was, and still is, completely passionate about the natural world. Every spare minute he has is spent photographing, recording and writing about things he has observed in the natural world and it’s his love and curiosity about all of the wildlife that surrounds him, that has formed the basis for my own relationship with nature.

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As children, my father would take my brother and I to sit on Dunstable Downs as the sun went down, so that we could watch the badgers poke their sleepy heads above the ground and take their first sniffs of the night air. We would go on night time trips near the local canal and help toads across the road, we played in the woods and we camped by fishing lakes, we were completely immersed in nature.

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Often nature would be invited into our home and it wasn't unusual to find moths in pots in the fridge (waiting for an id), fish in the bath or pigeons I was nursing back to health, in my bedroom! All a regular occurrence...

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With my father I have seen killer wales and dolphins, I’ve snorkeled with parrot fish and barracudas, I’ve accidentally caught a puffer fish*, whilst being observed at very close range by a large pelican; never fearful and always respectful and curious about the wildlife around me.

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*The puffer fish was unharmed and safely returned to the sea.

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Moving to Kent as a teenager, after my initial sulk, developed my relationship with nature further, and this has only grown deeper the older I’ve become. You will now often find me barefoot in the grass, growing my own food, or paddling in the sea, there is something about that physical connection that energises me - it’s like fuel for the soul. If there are times when I have to be away from nature, it impacts upon me almost instantly, and I have to find some way to reconnect on a smaller scale.

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For me, a disconnection from nature has never been an option, and so I count myself as very fortunate that the natural world has become my place of work where I can nourish my soul and help others to heal and grow. What an absolute privilege.