I have worked with children and young people across the globe for over 20 years. I am a mentor, Waldorf Teacher, Forest School leader, creator, traveller, writer and mother.

Below is a little gallop through my story. I wrote it for the young people, so please do share it with those who are interested.

My current home Winter 2020/21

I grew up by the sea, daughter of a naval officer and a sports teacher with a love of travelling and moving my body. I went to school next to the beech woods filled with bluebells and magical light in Springtime. I had three older brothers and loved to play their rough games as well as dressing up in colourful clothes and having tea parties, for friends real and imaginary. I climbed trees. I sailed my little boat on the sea, delighting in the power of the wind and waves. I had pet cats, woodlice and stick insects. I trained my adopted grandmother´s dogs and won prizes at dog shows. I played the piano. At the age of twelve I started to study Spanish after I saw a photo of an indigenous woman in the mountains of Peru. I went to boarding school and missed home terribly. I hid away in the craft block and made things out of wood. I put my sadness and frustration into my drama and won prizes for comedy and tragedy.

When I was 18 years old I got three jobs to save up to go to South America. I sold ice creams at the theatre, washed floors at the local hospital and served behind a bar at the horse races. I walked the Andes mountains with my backpack, through dizzy heights of beauty, snow storms, sickness and ancient cultural remains of dazzling skill and intelligence. I worked in orphanages in Peru and translated poetry for a Quechuan visionary. I learnt that I could dance, that anyone can dance.

Back in the UK, I studied English Literature and Spanish at Leeds University. I was inspired by the Romantic Poets and the Spaniards Lorca and Neruda. In between my studies I walked and camped out on the Yorkshire Moors, wandered round sculpture parks and art galleries. I tried out being an anarchist and activist, got arrested for ´breach of the peace´, sitting in a road with hundreds of others objecting to the use of nuclear arms. We formed a cooperative collective and squatted an old church to set up a café and arts centre.

I started work looking after children at the age of fifteen and have continued throughout my life to be fascinated by the exploration of human development. I studied Steiner Waldorf Education and Practical Skills such as blacksmithing and green woodwork. I travelled around New Zealand exploring the mountains, teaching and working on farms and smallholdings. I taught in a township school in South Africa for a year. I mentored teachers in Mexico. Built a pit forge with a group of children in the snowy winter of Upstate New York. I stayed with the Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert.

Hawthorn Valley, Upstate New York

Papalotes school, Oaxaca, Mexico

Tracking with the Bushmen

I lived in a van and repaired the engine with the help of a fiery, red headed Mancunian friend. I bought a Mongolian yurt and lived in a friends garden, supporting each other through our different kinds of grief. I taught a classroom full of unruly children and we made a clay oven to make pizzas and learn about fractions. I learnt about the traditional crafts and longed to preserve them. I designed and helped to build my tiny house on wheels, was joined by Stella (Estrella Feliz, Happy Star) the Jolly (cross between a Jack Russell Terrier and a Border Collie, Sheepdog).

I moved to my current home, where I have found community living alongside another family who inspire me every day. I set up Firelight: Hearth (Heart/Earth) Centred Education www.firelight.org.uk. I married a craftsman, a Spanish leather worker. He built our round house of oak, nestled in a grove of oak trees next to a stream. Our twin boys were born in Spring 2019, they are full of energy and ideas, free range and grubby!

My yurt, nestled amongst the nettles