Francine Lawrence is an art director, editor, writer and photographer with a wide range of experience in magazine and book publishing. She has art directed and edited several consumer magazines including the award winning Country Living, of which she was editor for ten years. She then took her skills into customer publishing to edit M&S, Dulux Colour, Homebase, English Heritage and Asda magazines before joining Simon & Schuster UK as Editorial Director of Illustrated Books. At Simon & Schuster she project-managed titles for high profile authors including Terry Wogan, Paula Radcliffe, Lisa Faulkner and Dannii Minogue; and for big brand clients such as Weight Watchers, Country Life and Waitrose. Francine also takes photographs and writes features for Woman & Home, YOU magazine and several other publications, and is a visiting lecturer at City University.

Richard Proctor is involved in every aspect of design from concept through to production, typesetting and artwork. He has experience in many forms of design, working for clients such as BT, Axa Art, Hill Samuel Bank, Barkers Advertising (now Penna), the Tote, Globe Business Publishing and the BBC. Projects range from annual reports, business-to-business publications, corporate brochures and websites to complex marketing campaigns. He continues to bring his fine art background to his work and has also photographed extensively for long-term clients. He has also worked on web-based projects, most recently creating a multi-level website BrainNav for sufferers of severe brain injuries and their carers, to enable them to find a pathway to health and rehabilitation.

Oskar Proctor studied photography at the London College of Communication, and in a short time has established himself as a creative yet commercial photographer. His distinctive portfolio includes commissions by 'LuckyPDF S/S 2013', a fashion collective; 'Rogier', makers of contemporary bespoke lamps; 'Bold Tendencies', a non profit summertime sculpture project dedicated to showcasing new art by international artists; and the 'Helen Cody Collection', contemporary fashion. He also works as a photo-assistant and enjoys working for New York-based photographer Todd Eberle and the UK interiors photographer Andreas von Einsiedel.

Sharon Amos is an editor and writer on subjects ranging from gardening and cooking to health and historic buildings for magazines, newspapers and books. She has written four gardening books, including Plants for Free and Country Living’s Create a Wildlife Garden. She recently edited Pomegranates and Roses, a Persian cookbook by Ariana Bundy; Thorny Problems – a compilation of Helen Yemm’s Daily Telegraph gardening columns; and rewrote the US edition of Weight Watchers’ Healthy Parent, Healthy Child, for Simon & Schuster. At Dorling Kindersley she helped produce Practical Self-Sufficiency by Dick and James Strawbridge – getting up to speed on everything from hen keeping to running your car on home-made biodiesel. She also worked with the late Jane Packer on a series of books about flowers for Conran Octopus, and freelances at Saga magazine.

Orlando Murrin is a highly experienced magazine editor, journalist, copywriter and food expert. He was editor of BBC Good Food magazine for six years, launch editor of BBC Olive and author of four cookbooks, including the best selling No Cook Cookbook and A Table in the Tarn. He has, with his partner, renovated, owned and managed le Manoir de Raynaudes in South West France, and Langford Fivehead in Somerset, both successful hotels with world-class gastronomic reputations. As well as being a talented chef, writer and hotelier, Orlando is a gifted pianist.