Di Murrell

I have spent all of my adult life working and living on inland waterways. Once we carried lime pulp in canal boats for Rose's Lime Juice, coal for the Cadbury's Chocolate factory and later grain, loaded at Tilbury Docks on the river Thames bound for Coxes flour mill on the river Wey. Our children, two boys, were born on the boats and were largely home-educated. We have spent the last twenty-plus years traveling the canals and rivers of mainland Europe in our motor barge 'Friesland'. I came to writing a little late in the day but was rather spurred on when I won the highly esteemed Sophie Coe Prize for Food Writing in 2012. This was for a piece entitled 'Food on the Move': https://www.writteninmykitchen.com/blog/Entries/2019/3/food-on-the-move.html. I have written a blog www.foodieafloat.com for many years. It was said by The Times to be the best blog to discover life on the waterways of Europe. It is now discontinued, replaced by www.writteninmykitchen.com. which is largely about our life in Burgundy, France. I also write regularly, and do book reviews, mostly for the food history publication Petits Propos Culinaires which is published 3 times a year. I have given talks on our boating life at the Museum of London, the London Canals Museum, the River Thames Society and to many other groups and organisations. We sold our beloved barge about 2 years ago and are now land-based but still with our feet (almost) in the water in a small village beside the river Seille in the Saone et Loire department in France. We also have a home in West London where we spend as little time as possible!