J E Rudd

I was born in the early 1960's to working class, left wing parents; my father was an active trade unionist and had studied psychology and philosophy, but never took it up professionally. Books filled our home and I aspired to be a writer, but I also had a deep love of wildlife. The opportunities for a girl of my background were limited but I found something that ticked a lot of boxes and became an apprentice gardener. I rose in my career and after obtaining the prestigious Kew Diploma in Horticulture I taught gardening and then had my first Head Gardener role. This makes it sound simple, but my life was more complicated than that of course.

I survived an traumatic early marriage, then thought I'd found happiness with a different partner. In 2004 we took a 'grown up gap year', leaving our jobs, selling our house and buying a narrowboat. After 15 months he hated it, but as I was the one with a career I got a full time job as a Head Gardener again.  After several changes of jobs over the next decade we went our separate ways;  I moved onto the boat with my cats and started a garden consultancy business but when this didn't work I went back to actual gardening again. I still live on my boat, travelling at a snail’s pace around the heart of Britain's canals with my partner who moors up alongside.

Life is a journey and I aim to explore some of the many things that fascinate me, inspire me and make me question.