Springwatch: The 2019 Almanac


Book Description

‘Beautiful, fun, a great book... the best book ever written!’ - Chris Evans ‘It is a brilliant book, a toolkit, packed full of information – even I learnt a few new things!’ - Chris Packham Explore the world outside your window. For 13 years the BBC's Springwatch and its sister programmes, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch, have been bringing the best of Britain’s wildlife into our homes. Now Springwatch: The 2019 Almanac offers the perfect guide for anyone looking to get out and explore the wonders of nature just outside their back door. Taking you month by month through the coming year, the almanac combines compelling stories with practical guidance that will inspire anyone to start exploring. It has all the information you need to discover the natural wonders around you, from how to identify animal tracks and bird nests to the best time to witness starling murmurations and mayflies hatching. Complete with monthly daylight and rainfall charts and beautifully illustrated with black and white line drawings, The Springwatch Almanac is the ideal companion for every nature lover.




The Repair Shop


Book Description

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND OFFICIAL COMPANION TO THE HIT BBC SERIES BBC’s The Repair Shop is a place where Britain’s most skilled and caring craftspeople rescue and resurrect items that owners thought were beyond saving. Their shared love of craft has helped hundreds of people recover and relive cherished memories, and inspired millions to rediscover their own prized possessions. The skill required to properly restore those items may be beyond most of us, but there are small things we can all do to care for the items we love the most. How do you replenish the stuffing in your child’s beloved, tatty teddy bear, for instance? Or remove a water mark left on your wooden table? What’s the best way to prevent your leather from cracking? Direct from the Repair Shop's 'Workshop of Dreams', this ‘make do and mend’ guide collects advice and stories from each of the show’s experts, to help you understand and care for those aging treasures and heirlooms around your house or gathering dust in the garage. Whether it’s wood, ceramics, leather or silverware, you will get to know your materials, tools and terms from Britain’s best, as the Repair Shop experts share their tips on restoring and conserving, reveal their favourite tools, and provide a series of small, manageable projects that help tackle the most common problems that occur in their given medium. Their book, like the show it accompanies, with help you safeguard your sentimental legacy for generations to come.




The Almanac


Book Description

THE ORIGINAL & BESTSELLING ALMANAC 'I love this gem of a book' - Cerys Matthews 'This book is your bible' - The Independent '...it already feels like an annual necessity' - India Knight 'Joyous' - Allan Jenkins 'Updated for 2019 with more lovely ideas to celebrate the seasons' - Gardens Illustrated 'A charming book. This is a real gem of a gift' - Sunday Express, S Magazine. A perfect toolkit connecting with the world around us and the year ahead as it unfolds - all in a compact and pocket size that just begs you to pick it up and browse - Reckless Gardener or Its range of information and depth of understanding of our seasons is priceless - Reckless Gardener The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to 2019 reinvents the tradition of the rural almanac for a new audience. It gives you the tools and inspiration you need to celebrate, mark and appreciate each month of the year in your own particular way. Divided into the 12 months, a set of tables each month gives it the feel and weight of a traditional almanac, providing practical information that gives access to the outdoors and the seasons, perfect for expeditions, meteor-spotting nights and beach holidays. There are also features on each month's unique nature, such as the meteor shower of the month, beehive behaviour, folklore and stories, seasonal recipes and charts tracking moon phases and tides. Why not try identifying trees by their bare buds in January; Enjoy Buttermilk scones with orangle blossom & honey butter in June; Discover the Chinese New Year story of 'The great race' in February. You will find yourself referring to the almanac all year long, revisiting it again and again, and looking forward to the next edition as the year draws to a close. Praise for The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to 2018: 'The perfect companion to the seasons' - India Knight 'A richly layered book of events, celebrations and everyday information that together create a beautiful, fascinating resource . . . In the single month I've had my hands on it, the book has quietly "worked".' - Telegraph 'Beautifully written, this pocket-sized guide is a labour of love and will remind you to appreciate little moments throughout the year.' - Gardens Illustrated 'Elegant . . . an ideal stocking filler.' - The English Garden




The Repair Shop: Tales from the Workshop of Dreams


Book Description

We all have treasures hidden away in the attic, well-loved and well-worn belongings that have been passed down from generation to generation. They may be damaged or no longer working, but we can't bear to part with them. The expert craftspeople of hit BBC series The Repair Shop are dedicated to restoring and conserving these heirlooms. They know that the true worth of these possessions doesn't lie in their monetary value, but in the memories they hold and the stories they tell. In this fascinating book, you'll step inside The Repair Shop's Workshop of Dreams to explore some of the most moving family stories from the hit BBC series. From a glamorous sequinned dress that belonged to a popular travelling circus performer to a pump organ that was brought from Jamaica by a member of the Windrush generation, each family item is brought vividly to life - and lovingly restored by the team of Repair Shop experts who also contribute to these expanded stories. With a foreword by Jay Blades, Tales from the Workshop of Dreams is a heartfelt love letter to our collective past, and a fascinating slice of social history. This book features items fixed by Repair Shop experts Steve Fletcher, Will Kirk, Lucia Scalisi, Suzie Fletcher, Kirsten Ramsay, Dominic Chinea, Brenton West, Tim Gunn, Sara Dennis, Chris Shaw, Matt Nickels, Amanda Middleditch and Julie Tatchell. With great care and attention to detail, the Repair Shop team resurrect priceless pieces of family history and breathe new life into the stories they hold.




Field Guide to the Caterpillars of Great Britain and Ireland


Book Description

'A much-needed guide – you can't truly understand a moth or a butterfly without first getting to know the caterpillar.' – Nick Baker This beautifully illustrated field guide covers caterpillars of the moth and butterfly species that are most likely to be encountered in the British Isles. The comprehensive introduction covers how to study caterpillars and provides a window into their diverse natural histories, while the species accounts cover status, field characters, similar species, habitat, foodplant and field notes, and are accompanied with up-to-date distribution maps.




The Wild Remedy


Book Description

Emma Mitchell's richly illustrated and evocative nature diary tracks the lives of local flora and fauna around her home and further afield, and shows how being in the wild benefits our mental and physical wellbeing.




The Almanac


Book Description

'The perfect companion to the seasons' - India Knight Welcome to The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to 2021. If you are new to The Almanac then welcome; if you are a regular reader then hello! The Almanac is about celebrating the unfolding year in all its various facets. The old dependables which I include every year are back: moon phases, sun rises and sets, tide time tables and the sky at night. As ever there are seasonal recipes and monthly gardening tips for the flower and vegetable garden too, as well as a bit of folklore, and nature and a song for each month. This year's edition has a theme: movement, migration and pilgrimage. This was not a reaction to the unsettling events of last year - it was half written by the time Covid-19 hit - but writing it from lockdown did give me a heightened appreciation of the way in which Britain and Ireland have always and continue to be places of movement, and are intimately connected to the rest of the world. You will find within this book migration tales for each month of this year, but I have also searched out seasonal tales of human movement, and included a pilgrimage for each month, some ancient, some current, all underlining the spiritual benefits of putting one foot in front of the other. Every month I have included a method of navigating using the stars, sun or moon, so you can find your way around in the dark (or just look out of your window and know where south is). And our monthly folk songs are all shanties this year, work songs with movement at their very heart, created to coordinate muscle power to drive sailing ships backwards and forwards across the Atlantic Ocean, and containing influences from the eastern seaboard of the US down to the Caribbean and beyond mixed with British and Irish folk traditions. These songs are stitched through with movement and travel, as is this Almanac. PRAISE FOR THE ALMANAC: A SEASONAL GUIDE 'This book is your bible' - The Independent 'An ideal stocking filler' - The English Garden 'I love this gem of a book' - Cerys Matthews 'Indispensable' - Sir Bob Geldof 'An uplifting nature-inspired guide' - Country & Town House magazine




Murder, Mystery and My Family


Book Description

Five Women. Five families’ search for justice. All Sarah Chesham wanted was to survive, at a time when crops were poor and money was tight. By the time she died she was branded a merciless child killer. All Emily Swann wanted was the love of a man who wouldn’t abuse her. By the time she died she was depicted as a vengeful, drunken hussy. All Edith Thompson wanted was a romance with a man who adored her. By the time she died she was seen as a scheming and manipulative adulteress. All Louie Calvert wanted was to be heard. Yet when she died she slipped almost immediately into the shadows, like thousands of other women like her. All Charlotte Bryant wanted was a distraction from a dreary life. By the time she died she was deemed a seductress and an arch poisoner. No one wants to believe that their mother, sister or daughter is capable of murder. When a woman is charged with a killing, we judge more harshly and punish more severely than when a man does the same. Murder, Mystery and My Family explores five historical true-crime tales from the hit BBC series, each with a woman at the heart of the story, from a case of ‘poison panic’ in the 19th century to a post-war murder that gripped the nation. Tales of infidelity and greed, corruption and deceit run throughout – but was justice served for all? Descendants of those convicted revisit each case in search of answers. Based on extensive research, including original court records and interviews with descendants, Murder, Mystery and My Family delves deeper into each crime, while also looking at our changing attitudes to women who have found themselves at the centre of our darkest dramas.




Bargain Hunt: The Spotter's Guide to Antiques


Book Description

Bargain Hunt is a British institution, entertaining audiences for over 20 years, and encouraging us to look for diamonds in the rough at antique fairs and shops across the country. A Bargain Hunt is more than just a quest for cash, though - from traveller's trunks and tea caddies to walking canes, coins and quirky costumes, each of the items chosen has their own story to tell, forming a small part of our collective social history. The Bargain Hunt Spotter's Guide to Antiques is packed with essential information from the Bargain Hunt experts on identifying quality across a range of antiques. From makers' marks and tell-tale historical styles to details in foils and finials, this will be your one-stop guide to making good choices on your own bargain hunt - while also delving into the fascinating stories behind many of our favourite antiques. With a foreword from Natasha Raskin Sharp, as well as tips, advice, and stories throughout from each of the show's experts (including 'league tables' of best and worst finds), this is the essential companion to all your future Bargain Hunts!




Fingers in the Sparkle Jar


Book Description

Voted the UK’s Favourite Nature Book The memoir that inspired Chris Packham's BBC documentary, Asperger’s and Me Every minute was magical, every single thing it did was fascinating and everything it didn't do was equally wondrous, and to be sat there, with a Kestrel, a real live Kestrel, my own real live Kestrel on my wrist! I felt like I'd climbed through a hole in heaven's fence. An introverted, unusual young boy, isolated by his obsessions and a loner at school, Chris Packham only felt at ease in the fields and woods around his suburban home. But when he stole a young Kestrel from its nest, he was about to embark on a friendship that would teach him what it meant to love, and that would change him forever. In his rich, lyrical and emotionally exposing memoir, Chris brings to life his childhood in the 70s, from his bedroom bursting with fox skulls, birds' eggs and sweaty jam jars, to his feral adventures. But pervading his story is the search for freedom, meaning and acceptance in a world that didn’t understand him. Beautifully wrought, this coming-of-age memoir will be unlike any you've ever read.