Patricia M. Hopf obtained a PhD in agricultural economics at the London School of Economic. She worked in the National Economic Development Office from 1962 and in 1967 was appointed Senior Lecturer at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College, London. From 1985 to 2004 she was Senior visiting Research Fellow at the University of Reading. In 1994 she was honoured by the publication of a Festschrift in her honour. In 1965, she and her husband moved to Scrubs in the Cotswolds and her interest in the history of the surrounding valley grew, leading to the publication of A Turbulent History.