Di & Tam Murrell spent many years afloat on barges, bringing up their two sons. They worked a pair of canal boats, loading up with barrels of lime pulp which they transported from the Liverpool docks to the wharf in Hemel Hempstead belonging to Rose & Sons, for Rose's Lime Cordial.

They made many trips with heavy loads like sand, grain, coal or lime, and Di learnt the value of slow cooking. For several years they carried grain from Tilbury Docks on the river Thames to Cox's mill on the river Wey.

Now they live in both France and London, although they have just sold their motor barge and find the views from the windows of their houses is nothing like that from the deck of a boat. Di is a travel writer for French magazines published for the English speaking expatriate market, and is well known in both food historian and boating circles.