James Colville
GARDENING EDITOR: Landscape gardener; James lives in the north of the Charente with his Dutch wife and 3 young children. He has a degree in Agriculture and Countryside Management and a National Diploma in Rural Studies. Multitalented, he divides his time between the business Nature sur Mesure, restoring their farmhouse and creating a stunning garden. He is passionate about self-sufficiency and with a 3.5 ha smallholding can enjoy keeping sheep, pigs, chickens and rabbits (all who “pay their way”)!! After work he likes to enjoy the culinary pleasures that France has to offer and to hit the mountain bike trails on the weekend.
Nicki Wade
EDITOR & PUBLISHER: Nicki lives near Cognac with her husband David, their two children and three dogs. Prior to life in France she successfully published a range of award-winning women’s magazines for EMAP – one of the UK’s largest consumer magazine publishers. She has over 18 years experience in the publishing industry and is a self-confessed magazine addict!
Phone: 05 45 32 16 42
Jo Wilds
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: Jo is married with 3 grown-up children, a granddaughter and lives in Deux-Sévres. She is a qualified Interior Designer, Graphic Designer and Photographer. Her photography work is very much inspired by a love of nature and wildlife. Living in Poitou-Charentes provides her with a never ending supply of wonderful images to capture.
Teresa Hardy
CONTRIBUTOR: Teresa is English and lives with her French partner and their children in Charente. She ran away to France in 1995 from a career in Engineering and now writes fiction and teaches English. Her favourite places in Poitou-Charentes are the village of Tusson, la côte sauvage and the Charente river.
David Wade
ADVERTISING: For the last three years David has been working for English language newspaper ‘French News’ and prior to that was the Sales Director for FHM magazine – the biggest selling magazine for men in europe. When he is not busy working he can be found fishing in the nearby Charente or snail hunting with his son Ollie.
Phone: 05 45 35 82 14
Jules Hanna
FEATURES WRITER: Jules lives with her husband, Leo, and 4 year old son and Spiderman fanatic, Freddie. For 5 years she worked across Europe as a features editor for British forces broadcasting; to this day maintaining the highlight was interviewing Jason Donovan ‘in his pomp’. Following this Jules spent the next decade in business development roles in the United Kingdom and then Australia for technology firms including Microsoft.
Chris Luck
WILDLIFE WRITER: Chris lives in the south of the Vienne departement with wife Lynne Taylor in a “ruin” with 3 hectares of managed habitat that they call home. He is involved with several French Associations for birds and wildlife; a local representative for the LPO Vienne and he has a regular zone for the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris for the National bird records.
Phone: 05 49 87 65 18
Lesley Trett
MAGAZINE DESIGNER: Lesley Trett is a freelance Graphic designer with many years experience. Before coming to live in France she was a Lecturer in Graphic Design in Higher Education for 12 years in Taunton, Somerset, specialising in computer applications.
She has also freelanced for over 5 years both in England and France. She is currently designing a glossy fashion/style magazine every month for a London publisher as well as designing for ‘Living Poitou-Charentes’.
Lesley is also a painter and inspired by the light of the Dordogne valley (where she lives), she enjoys painting large abstract canvasses.
