Hello!

I’m Becky. I’m a bit of an introvert and a home body. I love interiors, journalling, gardening, travel, books and cooking, and you’ll find a bit of all of that here.

If you’ve just arrived – welcome! Read on to find out a little bit more about me:

I live with my partner in the beautiful Chilterns (yes, it turns out you can find the love of your life in your fifties) where we’ve just renovated a cute 500 year old cottage. I have two ridiculously handsome and wonderful grown up sons (yes, I’m biased - India Knight always says you should create grown ups that you’d like to hang out with). We’re both mad about food, and love cooking and wine and eating out. We also both love to travel, so you’ll find a bit of that here too.

Why I write

Many, many years ago, I moved to Ireland. I was really homesick and a bit sad, and I started a blog as a way to update my friends and family back home about our life in Ireland. It started off as English Mum in Ireland and soon developed into much more than just a letter home. I used it as a way to record recipes that I was cooking, and soon I guess I was kind of a food blogger. When we came home again, the blog became englishmum.com and soon became my full-time job. I wrote for magazines and newspapers, and was Contributing Editor at a cruise magazine. Life changed massively at the end of 2019 with the breakup of my marriage, then shortly after, the start of the pandemic. I went to work part-time in the NHS, found out I absolutely loved it, and have never left. I’m now a Service Manager, but I still write for fun and for me, and I like it even better.

Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and publication archives.

Stay up-to-date

Never miss an update—every new post is sent directly to your email inbox. For a spam-free, ad-free reading experience, plus audio and community features, get the Substack app

White Cottage logo by Belinda Goss Lambourne.

To learn more about the tech platform that powers this publication, visit Substack.com.