In 2025 my husband and I, both in our mid-60s, spent 2025 volunteering on farms in Spain, Canada and France, bookended by travels in Morocco and Turkey. Gap Gear Granny is the story of our adventure!

During our year away we slept in about 75 different beds, ate at hundreds of different tables and met many powerful older women who had no intention of slowing down or giving up!

Part memoir, part travelogue and part challenge to the prevailing narratives and societal expectations of how older women could and should behave, the book is packed full of cultural observations, foodie titbits, hair-raising stories and heart-swelling moments.

I am an experienced public speaker and media guest and would love to share my stories as a 'Gap Year Granny' with a wider audience.

After 40 years in the corporate world worrying about my image and my professional reputation, I left my office clothes in mothballs, packed away the hairdryer and makeup and spent a year in jeans and work boots.

I swapped my office for the outdoors, traded in my screens for big skies and stayed up at night feeding new-born lambs instead of meeting deadlines.

Let me tell you about a year of highs and lows, of beauty and muck and of excitement and boredom − not to mention the enormous challenge of spending all day every day with my husband!

I've got some great stories about the best bits and the worst bits, the narrow escapes, the rationale for leaving our beautiful home to sleep in some really dodgy accommodation and - last but not least - how getting older has expanded my horizons, not contracted them.

My careers have included public relations, Arts fundraising and, since 2008, running my own intercultural training and coaching consultancy, Cultural Chemistry. You can find me on LinkedIn.

I was a regular media guest whilst living in Australia, commenting on any cultural issues in the news and frequently guesting on talk-back radio as a cultural expert

Years of experience as a trainer and presenter have made me very comfortable with public speaking and led to a good reputation as an engaging speaker.