I joined the Guild in its early days. I was a sub-editor on Marshall Cavendish’s partwork Robert Carrier’s Kitchen. Many fellow GFW members worked on this or were contributors. I looked after parts of the ingredients section, especially veg, fruit and herbs. I was also involved in the recipe for the back cover, linked to the wine or alcohol highlighted on the inside back cover. I held the key to the wine cupboard making me a popular person when birthdays needed celebrating or simply to cheer up Fridays!

The GFW has always been important to me and in these past years with the Facebook Forum, the virtual meetings and other offerings, from the Committee it has been invaluable in keeping morale high and keeping us in touch with each other.

I grow my own fruit, veg and herbs and this led me into garden writing. I love using home-grown food plants in my kitchen and herbs have pride of place. They are my ‘go to’ plants and I have written three or four herb titles, the first being The Herb Garden Month by Month. I write about herbs on my blog: the gardenpost.com and on instagram (@barbarasegall)

I write about Christmas, the plants, customs and legends and my very first book on that theme –The Holly and the Ivy – won a Quill and Trowel award in1992 from the American Garden Writers (now Gardencom). This was followed by The Christmas Tree