A Story of Seven Summers - 9781742376844

From London journalist to owner of a historic, ramshackle Tasmanian cottage and provider of local produce, this is one woman's beautiful, inspiring story of having the courage to step into the unknown and change her life

Looking back over seven summers, I know that who I am is where I am. It might not be the secret to life, but it is the secret to this life . . . I'll tell you how that came to be and that will be the story of The Nuns' House.

Hilary Burden was a busy high-flying, globe-trotting magazine journalist based in London, who'd think of nothing of flying to New York for a weekend, interviewing movie stars in luxury hotels, or jetting off to Italy on assignment to hunt truffles with Curtis Stone. But something was missing and she didn't know quite what it was. Yearning for a life lived on her own terms, Hilary returned to her hometown in Tasmania. She found a ramshackle old house with a sprawling, neglected garden—The Nuns' House—and gave herself the time and space to begin this new sort of life. She didn't have a plan, but things just somehow worked. Now, seven summers later, she has a home, a garden, a lover, two alpacas (named Jack and Kerouac), two chooks (called Marilyn and Monroe), a purpose, and a passion. She met the love of her life when she stopped to ask him directions, and she now runs a successful business with him, sourcing local growers and supplying fresh fruit and vegetable boxes to growing numbers. She loves Tasmania—its landscape, people, and produce; and living honestly and simply; and her passion comes through vividly and abundantly in her writing.