I was born in Calcutta, India. I grew up in British Government schools until I was 15 when I came to Australia, then we lived in Melbourne. After that I married a lovely Australian and we were posted overseas for two stints including Edinburgh and London. I had always wanted to go to Edinburgh so it was perfect going there. I had already been doing a bit of Scottish dancing so I felt very much at home…

I just love the garden and I love my roses; I’m very fond of perfumed roses. I have a really good carer from Warrigal, Greg. He is a wonderful help with the garden. My orchard keeps me occupied these days. I make lots of jam. The fruit is preserved when I get it and I make plum jam, apple jelly and I also just bottle apples and pears. I’m going crazy bottling fruit at the moment! I sell the jam and the apple jelly at markets. I do four markets a month which keeps me very busy and is very tiring. Now that it’s getting colder its getting harder. You’ve got to get up early to get to the markets.