Catherine Baddeley lives in Devon, with her husband Chris, their two young boys Hamish and Digby and Pumba their spaniel. They moved back to Devon, where Catherine grew up, about four years ago after living in Bristol for seven years.
Catherine said once she had the children, her priorities changed and she wanted to try and find a way to work from home more and be at the farm. This ultimately was the seed that grew into the idea for Farmer Christmas. As well as writing, she am also a freelance Town Planning Consultant, working across the South West and they run a holiday cottage.
Catherine says she is incredibly lucky to be able to live on the family farm, with her parents, sister and her husband who are a key part of the team too, and as an associate director within a rural estate and property management team, she always has great advice, according to Catherine.
Catherine says she tries to get on with as much work as I can on the days where the boys aren’t at home so that when they are there, they can focus on family time which I think is lovely. A most working mothers though, she says more often than not she does find herself frantically sending emails or packing books late at night. Luckily, she says her parents are on hand who are amazing.
On hopes for the future, Catherine said: “In the short term I hope that the boys will get to grow up in the same Devon countryside and amazing community that I did. In the longer term I hope that there will be a farm here for them to make a life from. Our country’s proud farming credentials are so important to support and protect in whatever way we can.”
I certainly can’t argue with that.
Catherine’s motto in life is to not wait for the right moment – it will never come. “If you have an idea or something that you are passionate about, but aren’t sure how to go about it, just stick with it and you will find a way, some way, to make it happen,” she says.
If you would like to know more about Farmer Christmas, follow them on Twitter, Facebook or check out their website. You can also read what we thought of the book here.
