Introducing: Anna Shepard

Anna Shepard has joined the greentraveller team as a contributor to the eco travel writers' blog. Anna is a journalist and author and writes mostly about green living, responsible travel and the environment, contributing to many national newspapers and magazines, including The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Prospect magazine, Red magazine, Elle magazine and The Ecologist.

She wrote the Eco Worrier column for the Saturday Times for four years and was a judge for The Times’ Green Spaces Awards. Her book, How Green Are My Wellies, published by Transworld in 2008, argues that you can make your life greener without compromising on having fun. It was shortlisted for a Clarion Award. She also appears on radio and TV, including BBC News 24, Countryfile, Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Wales.

Her pursuit of green travel has taken her on train trips all over Europe, including one to the Pyrenees for a snowshoeing holiday and another from London to Marrakesh. It also came close to finishing her off in Gabon, West Africa, where an angry hippo and an inexperienced tour guide turned out to be a dangerous combination.

In the last few years, Anna says her attempt to keep air travel to a minimum, as well as the new addition to her family - her son Owen - has put the brakes on far-flung adventures. Instead she is "honing the art of the perfect family-friendly UK-based holiday that neither damages the planet nor breaks the bank. If a babysitter is thrown into the equation, all the better."