'Diana's style of writing is certainly brimming with enthusiasm for her adopted county, and reflects a varied life which has given her an incredible open mindedness...' Lee Moran Bridgwater Times, Sept 2006

Diana Crighton has a degree in History of Art, Architecture and Design which she read as a mature student at Kingston University.

She was educated at Roedean School, where she sang in the choir. Of  her several careers, the first was in fashion, marketing and P.R, launching the ready-to-wear dress collection, made in England, designed by the French couturier Louis Feraud. This was at the cutting edge of the 60s. For this she developed a portfolio of customers, finding the best stores and boutiques in London and the rest of the country. 

Diana then trained as cook, worked in London for corporate and private clients. Having cooked for the 'great and the good' she wanted to bring good food to public venues. She set up a wholefood cafe- The Tea House- on the edge of Richmond Park to do just this. Locals, media stars and families all came to eat the homemade food, often organically grown, always seasonal, without E's, and locally sourced.

The Tea House won her many friends and press coverage.  Not content with just selling tea, Diana organised sponsorship for Shakespeare plays for children, in the open air, as well as one of the earliest easter egg, hunts. She went on to research similar places throughout the country. 

After managing the restaurant and catering at the Victoria and Albert Museum, she recorded the design and food at hundreds of cafes in cultural locations, photographing and looking for more and more local producers. Later she made comparisons by visiting major museums in Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam and Barcelona.

Whilst studying for her degree, she founded an innovative consultancy to improve taste, both in food and design at galleries, museums, historic houses and gardens. Her ethos being that the whole visit should reflect the location, collections, its food history and local food producers.

Her projects were far-ranging. Many were lottery-funded. She worked alongside architects and other designers. Clients included the Geffyre Museum, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, the cafe at the Slimbridge Millennium centre, Banbury and the Fitzwilliam Museum. Both the menu and food research helped Nottingham Castle win an award in 1994.

She took part in a BBC radio 4 food programme based on the ground- breaking ideas in her book, Visiting with Taste,(1992) and subsequently her first book for the general reader was launched on this programme.

 Diana wrote the next two volumes pulling many cultural threads and experiences together. She has written for local and national magazines, lectured in England: for universities, arts and architectural students and organisations, libraries and arts festivals, and in America on her Northern Journey. She has been invited to speak at the Wells Festival of Literature October 2007

Her taste and love of music is as eclectic as her passion for art and architecture, gardening, food- good ingredients- the landscape and living in Somerset. Another book is in the pipeline.