I grew up in a small village in the heart of Bulgaria, surrounded by nature and by people who grew their own fruit and vegetables. I was my dad's right hand in the garden, helping with digging, sowing, planting and harvesting. To this day, my mum believes that gardening is in my blood.

I'm not entirely convinced by that idea — after all, how can gardening be in your blood? But I do remember saying, while eight months pregnant with my first child, “I wish I could go and do some digging!”

We lovingly named our garden The Haven. It became a place where we could grow our own food, spend time outdoors and enjoy making something together. Growing our own food also made us think more about where our food comes from. There's something satisfying about planting a seed, looking after it and eventually bringing what you've grown into the kitchen.

While I was getting back into gardening, Chris was rediscovering his love of woodworking. He built our allotment terrace and made furniture for it. We wrote about what we were doing in the Allotmenting Into Pictures blog, from the building projects to the work involved in turning a neglected plot into a garden that produced food and that we loved spending time in. I'm working on turning the blog into a series of books, which I hope to finish in 2027.