Meet the Locals: Bestselling author Todd Alexander spends his days writing, renovating and hanging out with his rescue animals

Alexander moved from Sydney to a property at Lower Belford 10 years ago to escape the city and with hopes of finding a quiet and idyllic life.

"The pace of life is about 100 times slower than Sydney, which I love," Alexander said.

"There's also a certain integrity and honesty to people who live in the Hunter."

Alexander's parents have also moved to the Hunter and he said he loves having them close by.

In fact, his relationship with his parents has a lot to do with the inspiration behind some of his novels.

An aspiring writer for as long as he can remember, Alexander said he released his first novel back in 2006.

"My whole life I had dreams of writing and making a living out of that," he said.

In 2019 Alexander released his bestselling memoir Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Called Helga and followed it up in 2021 with You've Got To Be Kidding A Shedload of Wine and a Farm Full of Goats about his treechange life on a farm.

He has recently released his thirteenth novel, titled Over the Hill and Up the Wall and said for him writing never gets tiring.

"Every time a new book comes out, it's so exciting to see it on the book shelf," he said.

Drawing from personal experience, his novel Over the Hill and Up the Wall is a comedic memoir which looks at family, ageing and the changing relationship between children and their parents.

"For a while I'd been ribbing my parents and having a little tease of them about some of their behaviour later in life," Alexander said.

"I wanted to bring it all together so people could find a bit of themselves in the pages and have a good laugh."

Before becoming a best selling author, Alexander studied a Law degree at Macquarie University.

"I knew at my very first lecture that it wasn't for me but I finished the degree anyway," he said.

When he's not writing, Alexander is looking after his rescue animals and renovating with his partner, Jeff.

Their rural property located in the outskirts of Branxton includes eight goats, two sheep and one pig.

Each with their own individual name, Alexander said he likes to spend up to an hour with the animals each morning.

"If you would have told me 10 years ago that a sheep would come to me for cuddles, there's no way I would have believed it," he said.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Alexander will be discussing his latest novel at Cessnock City Library on Thursday, March 30 at 5:30pm.

Bookings are recommended and can be made online on the Cessnock City Library's website.