Robert Ashton worked on farms in his teens, studied at agricultural college and spent the first decade of his career selling fertiliser. He followed this with 35 years of self-employment, advising charities and social entrepreneurs who strove to balance income-generation with making a difference. Already an established business author, Robert graduated from the University of East Anglia with a Creative Writing MA in 2020 and now writes about our evolving relationship with the natural world. A Quaker, he is driven by a strong sense of social justice and has founded a number of social enterprises. He and his wife Belinda live near the Suffolk coast.