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I grew up at Balmoral Beach, one of Sydney’s most beautiful locations, in a time (the 1950’s) when children were allowed the freedom to roam their environs fearlessly. I climbed over rocks, was taught to fish and sail and became a strong swimmer at an early age. 
In the early 1970’s I met producer David Hannay while were both working in television at Channel 9 in Sydney. We started a family and by late 1975 I had my hands full with a daughter (Miriam), a son (Aaron) and a stepson (Tony).
During this period I read a lot about chemicals in the food chain and decided to grow my own organic fruit and vegetables. So, in the spirit of the popular TV series 'The Good Life' the whole family, including my mother Muriel, moved to Leura in the Blue Mountains.
 There I taught myself to garden (the hard way; sweat and tears) and my career changed direction. I transformed an acre of barren ground into a thriving vegetable, herb and fruit garden and reared chickens and ducks for eggs and meat. Undaunted by the difficulties of climate and poor soil the family became semi-self sufficient and by 1980, when our last child Ethan was born, I had started writing gardening columns about my experiences as a passionate, if untrained, gardener.
In time I became a fully-fledged gardening writer. I wrote about the pleasure of gardening and my accessible style of writing hit a note with readers. Over a period of twenty-five years I wrote and edited dozens of gardening books and magazines. Many of my books have been published internationally and translated into other languages. A full list of all my books can be found on the Books page, and many of the older ones are still available second hand via the internet.
In 1992 I was approached by ABC Television to become part of the weekly gardening program 'Gardening Australia' . It was a very satisfying – although hectic – period of my life as I combined motherhood, my on going passion for my garden and my career. I spent nine years as the NSW Presenter on the program, and also edited a series of organic gardening magazines, and produced several specialist gardening documentaries.
 In 2000 I spent six months living in southwest France and wrote a best-selling book (Au Revoir - Running Away from Home at Fifty) for Pan Macmillan about my experiences as an Australian women living alone in a French village. I fell in love with the remote rural region known as The Lot and bought a small house in the village of Frayssinet-le-Gelat.
Since then I have followed the success of that book with three further memoirs (Last Tango in Toulouse, The Long Hot Summer and Sweet Surrender). I now divide my time between our family farm near Bathurst NSW and the house in France. I lead botanical and walking tours in France and various regions of the Himalayas (see The Tours for the latest details).
I also wrote a book and directed a documentary for SBS Television about a delightful rural restaurant in a village close to where I live in France. Both are called 'Lunch with Madame Murat' and both book and DVD will soon be available directly through this website. Also my family cookbook, The Long Table (ACP Books) is a collection of my favourite recipes from both Australia and France and it, too, is still in print in Australia and will also be available for sale through this site.
I now have eight grandchildren and a hectic work and family schedule that keeps me busy and happy.
Very best wishes, Mary Moody
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