About us

Real Life Books was started by Sally Dean and Robert Elliott, five years after taking up residence at Aspen House in Hoarwithy, Herefordshire, to run it as a food-orientated B&B. Sally has a background in health, exercise and real food. She is also a qualified nutritional therapist. Rob has been cooking since he was about 13. Together they have embraced a real food philosophy that will not allow any processed or industrialised foods to be on the menu at Aspen House, whilst everything is sourced directly from farmers, growers, producers and independent shops within a 10-mile radius.

The Real Life Book Company was born of a desire to communicate the important messages about food, health, life and lifestyle to a wider audience, but to operate outside the confines of the corporate book world. We believe that the corporate approach to life (not just in publishing, but in every other aspect of life too) is responsible for most of our social, personal and environmental problems. It is our firm conviction that the future for this unique planet and all that lives on it lies in a move away from corporate domination, centralisation and homogeneity. It is vital that we work towards a social structure that is locally orientated, where individuality and community work together.

Standing outside the walled city of corporate power means that the Real Life Book Company is different. We believe in trading at a personal level and building up solid human relationships with those with whom we do business. In the same way that our ideal at Aspen House has been to reduce the food chains to single links, our ethos at Real Life Books is to deal with our customers on a one-to-one basis. Thus, if any hiccups or problems occur, we are the ones who will deal with it. Our reputation depends on tackling all aspects of our business with speed, efficiency and effectiveness, whilst we work to reinstate some of what has been lost in the modern business world – trust, integrity, honesty and respect.