I am a freelance journalist and editor, specialising in travel and food writing. My work has been published in The Times, The Observer, The Financial Times, Condé Nast Traveller and The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, among others, and I am the former editor at boutique-hotel experts Mr & Mrs Smith. Most recently, I have set up my own publishing company, Bristlebird Books, and have produced The Hive Beach Café Cookbook – Britain's first beach café recipe book – and London By Bus, a guide to exploring the capital via its existing bus routes.

I began my career dressed as a giant banana (complete with yellow tights), handing out flyers to tourists outside Covent Garden tube station. Desperate for a job that would give me some dignity, I went into publishing and – after a spell working on financial directories – I landed the position of Junior Sub-editor at Harper’s Bazaar, where I honed my editorial skills polishing up celebrities’ barely literate copy. A spell at Condé Nast Traveller reawakened a love of seeing the world and, after an enjoyable spell as a sub-editor-for-hire, I became Associate Editor at Psychologies, where I combined the Chief Sub’s role with that of Travel Editor. This led to a job offer from Mr & Mrs Smith, where – until my first child was born in June 2009 – I spent my days, writing, editing, commissioning and blogging, while unsuccessfully trying to convince my team that I was far too busy and important to make them cups of tea.

When I’m not journeying around the UK and Northern Europe, or stuffing my face with some delicious local delicacy or other, I occasionally branch out into other areas of journalism, and produce everything from celebrity interviews and football articles to corporate copywriting for a range of high-end clients. Like pretty much all freelance journalists, I am currently working on a novel.

I am also deeply unpopular in Reading.