Melanie Jones

I started blogging when I lived in deepest rural France. My (now ex-) husband worked in the film and television industry. He was often away for long periods leaving me to bring up our two teenage children largely on my own with all the inherent difficulties that can bring, from the practical - I can swing an axe better than many men, to the social - no-one wants the single woman at the dinner table.

Since returning to the UK for the sake of my sanity, to wear fashionable clothes instead of wellies and a housecoat (OK, I never wore a housecoat) and have a social life I have blogged about all aspects of our new life in the West Country, a place I had never even visited before but which I have grown to love. The result is The River Cottage Diaries, not to be confused with the former home of a certain celebrity chef. Our River Cottage is set in the beautiful Wylye Valley in Wiltshire and in any case, I can't cook. My blog is sometimes political, sometimes funny, sometimes passionate but always, I hope, entertaining.

In 2013, my first book, L'Amour Actually, was published, based loosely on my life in France.