She Leads The Field: Ivy — The Female Gamekeeper in Tuscany

“You just get on with it.”

Life as a British Gamekeeper in the Tuscan Hills

Some people grow up surrounded by field sports. Estate life, shoot days, dogs and countryside traditions woven naturally into childhood.

Ivy’s path into gamekeeping looked very different.

Before Tuscany, before shoot days beneath the Italian sun, before managing pheasants, partridge, vermin control and long days in the field, she worked as a carer in the UK. She had married young, raised three children, and lived an entirely different life from the one she leads now.

Gamekeeping was never part of the plan. It started quietly, simply by helping her partner in Scotland. He was a head keeper and Ivy found herself gradually becoming more involved. Collecting eggs. Going lamping. Learning routines. Spending more time outdoors and around working dogs. Then came the turning point. She got her shotgun licence and slowly realised this wasn’t just something she enjoyed helping with, it was something she genuinely loved.

“I wasn’t sure if I’d be any good at it full-time,” she admits. “But I really enjoyed it.”

When the opportunity came to move to Italy in early 2020, just before Brexit and just as the world was shutting down during COVID, Amanda took the leap. What began as helping in the field evolved into becoming the keeper on a Tuscan estate.

And despite the challenges, she’s never looked back.

Life as a gamekeeper in Tuscany is far from the romanticised version people often imagine online. Yes, there are rolling hills, vineyards, beautiful drives and warm evenings. But behind those snapshots is relentless work. During peak season, Ivy works seven days a week, often clocking 16 to 18-hour days. Last year, from February through to mid-December, she had virtually no days off.

“There’s no routine really,” she says. “You just keep going because the birds still need feeding, dogging in still needs doing, and things don’t stop just because you’re tired.”

Summer brings another level of pressure. Temperatures regularly climb above 40 degrees, making dogging in and bird management physically exhausting. Birds wander in the heat, requiring constant vigilance to keep them settled and safe across the estate. Then there are the jobs people never see. Cleaning out rearing sheds for days at a time. Repairing damaged infrastructure. Managing vermin control. Watching trail cameras for wild boar activity. Preparing pens. Sorting feed. Solving problems as they appear, often with limited resources and very little downtime. Ivy works closely alongside her partner, the estate’s beat keeper, and estate manager Lorenzo. Together they’ve adapted traditional UK gamekeeping methods to suit the Tuscan climate and landscape. They’ve learned which crops survive the dry heat best. They’ve expanded the estate with new pens to improve bird distribution and continually adjust management techniques season by season.

“There’s always something to figure out,” Ivy explains. “Every year you learn more.”

The differences between gamekeeping in the UK and Italy are striking. In Britain, gamekeeping has a long-established community and structure. In Tuscany, it feels far smaller and more isolated.

“There are only a handful of driven shoots around here,” she explains. “And there’s not really the same gamekeeping community.”

Brexit has added another layer of difficulty. Hiring experienced British keepers has become increasingly complicated because of visas and customs restrictions, while sourcing equipment and supplies now takes longer and costs more. Then there’s the cultural adjustment. Italian working life operates differently. Long lunch breaks. Slower systems. Different priorities.

“You have to learn quickly when places shut,” Ivy laughs. “Otherwise, you turn up needing something and everything’s closed.”

The language barrier can make even simple tasks frustrating. Banking, paperwork, shopping, organising deliveries, everything takes longer when you’re still learning the language around you. But despite the challenges, Ivy has built a life there. A demanding one, certainly, but one she’s proud of.

Social media has given people a glimpse into Ivy’s world, but it has also exposed the reality of being a woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry. While she says she’s always felt respected by colleagues and beaters in Italy, online can sometimes feel different.

“There’s always people who want to comment,” she says. “Most are supportive, but some people just can’t say anything nice.”

Still, she refuses to let it distract her. Ivy doesn’t present herself as someone extraordinary. She isn’t interested in being treated differently because she’s a woman, nor does she feel the need to constantly prove herself.

“If someone’s right for the job, they’re right for the job,” she says simply.

What matters to her is capability, work ethic, and willingness to learn. And slowly, she believes attitudes are changing. More women are stepping into field sports, more are sharing their experiences openly and more are finding confidence to take up space in industries where they may once have felt unwelcome.

“It doesn’t have to be perfect,” Ivy says. “You just have to get involved and do it your own way.”

What stands out most about Ivy isn’t just the workload or the resilience it takes to maintain this lifestyle. It’s her honesty. She speaks openly about exhaustion. About struggling to balance work with the expectations still placed on women at home. About the overwhelming feeling that sometimes comes with trying to manage everything at once. But she also speaks with genuine passion. About the satisfaction of seeing birds hold well on a drive after months of work. About learning year after year. About looking back at the end of a season and realising everything somehow came together.

“The best bit is when you can finally stop and reflect,” she says. “You forget sometimes while you’re in it just how much work has gone into everything.”

And despite the pressure, the heat, the unpredictability, and the endless hours, there’s still nowhere else she’d rather be.

Quick Fire with Ivy

Must-have bit of kit: A knife
Favourite day in the field: Feeding days
After a long day: Tea
One word to describe life in the field: Chaotic

A note from Amanda, Founder of Nordic Field & Sport

What struck me most about Ivy was how grounded she is. There’s no performance to it. No polished version of countryside life. Just honesty about the reality of gamekeeping, the hard work behind it and the determination it takes to keep showing up every single day.

Her story is proof that there is no single route into field sports. You don’t need to grow up in it, inherit it or fit a traditional mould to find your place within it. Sometimes the most inspiring stories come from the people who simply said yes to an opportunity and worked hard enough to build a life from it.

Ivy represents exactly what She Leads the Field is about, resilience, adaptability and women carving their own paths in industries where they continue to challenge expectations.

— Amanda

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She Leads the Field is about sharing the stories behind the women shaping countryside life, field sports, and rural industries in their own way.

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