For 35 years I’ve been working as a guidebook writer and more recently as a contributor to the national press and travel websites.
My travels have taken me to destinations as diverse as the Amazon jungle in Peru, the ancient sites of Lebanon and the game reserves of Namibia.
My writing career began with Holiday Which? magazine (now Which Travel? published by the Consumers’ Association) first as Chief Hotel Inspector, then as a contributor to destination articles and guidebooks.
Having had no encouragement for further education at my all-girls’ boarding school I felt it was time, at the age of 30, to go to university. As a mature student at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, I studied Modern Languages and History of Art – both of which helped to further my career as a travel writer. My degree dissertation on Constable was published in the (former) Tate Gallery Magazine and I have always taken an interest in the visual arts.
Since then I have written over 35 guidebooks, mainly on Europe. My specialist areas are Italy and Portugal. I have also written books on Malta, Amsterdam, Crete, France, Majorca, the Channel Islands, Cambridge and East Anglia. I developed a particular passion for Italy many years ago and have written extensively on its cities, regions, lakes and islands. I was the main author of the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Guide to Venice, the first book of the DK travel series, and I have since written two more guides to Venice and the Veneto. More recent travels have taken me to Portugal, for books on Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve. After countless flights on Ryanair and easyJet for research trips on European destinations, I was delighted to have a commission for a book on Cambridge and to be able to cover all the sites by bike! ‘Cambridge in 50 Buildings’ was published in 2022 and my second book on the city, ‘Celebrating Cambridge’ in 2024. The latest commission, ‘Quirky Cambridge’, will be out by Christmas, 2026.
Taking a break under the biggest and oldest baobab tree in Sri Lanka, Mannar, 2025
I have been a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers for 17 years.
