TRAVEL

'From the time I was ten years old and taking two boats, three trains and a bus to reach Brittany for our first family holiday abroad, I have loved travelling. It's an escape from the familiar and the humdrum. New sights, sounds, smells and tastes stimulate the senses almost addictively. My first serious job in journalism was as a travel writer and I've never entirely left it behind. Journeys into other cultures have definitely sharpened my interest in food and drink.'

• Assistant editor, then editor of Aer Lingus inflight magazine Cara 1982-95
• Travel editor of Image magazine (Ireland) 1996-2003
• Travel articles for the Irish Times and the Observer, Independent and Sunday Times (all UK)
• Contributor to the internationally acclaimed wine magazine Decanter
  covering New Zealand, Argentina, Australia and especially the Southern Rhône: Southern Rhône Crus (June 2009), Ventoux Gastrotour (November 2009), Travel Guide to Southern Rhône (February 2011) and Travel Guide to the Luberon (December 2011).
• Travel articles for Bon Appetit (US) have covered Copenhagen, Glasgow and Galway

  Travel assignments have included:
  Japan, Sri Lanka, Marrakech, Boston, Barcelona, Milan, New Mexico, New Zealand, San Francisco, Paris, Brussels, Edinburgh, Tuscany, Argentina, Sydney, Switzerland, Umbria, Washington, Sierra Leone, Chicago, Copenhagen, Swedish Arctic, Jersey

French wine holidays

• Organiser and presenter of gourmet wine holidays in the Southern Rhône for international groups

Books

• The Best of Belfast (A&A Farmar, Dublin 1995) - a guide to Mary's native city
  
• Michelin Green Guide to Provence 2012 (Michelin APA, London 2012) – edited/updated by Mary

• Affordable luxury
• Walking & cycling routes
• Stylishly quirky interior design

Special project

• provencefoodandwine.com - a website which independently lists great gastronomic discoveries all over Provence