Her childhood on the Norfolk coast and East Anglian farmlands inspires much of her work, leading originally to a career in landscape management and environmental policy. Melinda was the first environmentalist employed by the National Farmers Union developing specialisms in sustainable land management and went on to serve on the Boards of English Nature and Natural England.

In 2011 she won Country Living‘s Best Writer Award and saw this as a chance to change direction and focus on her writing, exploring the nature and culture of land. She gained an MA in Wild Writing at Essex University in 2014, following an earlier Creative Writing Diploma from University of East Anglia. Her dissertation examined the writer Roger Deakin; the influences on him and his influence on nature writing.

Melinda believes there are important links between nature and culture, and this underpins her work – her own writing, the courses she leads in landscape writing and in her research into the relationship between people and landscapes.
Melinda served on Waveney & Blyth Arts’ Management Committee until 2020, project managing the creative Doggerland project, organising a River Landscapes event and creating a Bugs & Blossoms festival.