Barley grew up in the Welsh hills. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English and Italian Literature with Creative Writing from The University of Warwick, a Master’s degree in The Anthropology of Food from SOAS and a PhD in Human Geography from The University of Sheffield, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

She has lived in Italy—and more recently Catalonia—where her and her winemaker-partner Tom did up a 17th century olive mill, and raised their child.

She learnt to make wine alongside a natural winemaker in the Venetian Lagoon, made vermouth in Spain, and now lives in Bristol with her family. Whilst working in wine she hosted events as a sherry educator and wrote for Fork Magazine and Noble Rot as the Circle of Wine Writers’ Young Wine Writer.

She has worked on oral history projects, permaculture, agriculture, and viticulture projects, editing, mentoring and creative projects with a range of age groups and institutions from The British Library and Radio 4, to schools and cultural associations in Italy.