I first taught Permaculture in 2000, but my interest goes back much further than that to being a teenage eco-warrior in the 1970s. I had read ‘Silent Spring’ and ‘Small is Beautiful’ and I got angry about the ‘oil crisis’. I wanted to work in organic farming, but the sector was very small then, and I didn’t find anything. Much later, living in London I reconnected with the Soil Association and I started teaching organic gardening. Since 2000 I have settled in Stroud, which is the quirkiness capital of the Cotswolds. It’s a town bubbling with lively sustainable ideas and projects, making it a vibrant, happy place to be. I now live at Tin Bath House, which is a one acre plot on a slanty Cotswold hill. Here I grow enormous squashes with no outside inputs and look after the wildlife including rare crickets. Tin Bath House is part of the Permaculture Association LAND network, and we welcome visitors and PDC course students.