A STORY OF SEVEN SUMMERS

From London journalist to owner of the historic, ramshackle Nuns' House and two alpacas (named Jack and Kerouac) and providore of local produce, this is Hilary Burden's journey.

A beautiful, intimate and inspiring story of having the courage to step into the unknown and change your life. Hilary Burden was living a glamorous life. She was a busy high-flying, globe-trotting magazine journalist based in London, who'd think 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 in her life and she didn't know quite what it was. Deciding on impulse to come back home to Tasmania, she found a ramshackle old house with a sprawling, neglected garden - The Nuns' House - and gave herself the time and space to begin a new sort of life. She didn't have any kind of a plan, but things just somehow fell into her lap. Now, seven summers later, she has a home, a garden, a lover, two alpacas (named Jack and Kerouac), a business, a purpose and a passion. She met the love of her life when she stopped to ask him directions, and she now runs two businesses with him - a very successful business sourcing and supplying fresh fruit and veg boxes and the other finding, renewing and reselling vintage wares. She loves Tasmania - its landscape, people and produce - and living honestly and simply, and her passion comes through - vividly and abundantly - in her writing. Hilary Burden was born in Britain, grew up in Tasmania and has worked away - Sydney, London, Tokyo - for over 20 years while still calling Tasmania home. She is a journalist who has worked with Conde Nast, Elle, The Sunday Times, the BBC, Cosmo and Grazia. She has also run her own business in Shoh. Seven years ago, she sold her flat on Hammersmith Bridge in London and moved to Karoola in the northeast of Tamania where she now lives on roughly two acres.