Book Review: The Wild Remedy: How Nature Mends Us, A Diary by Emma Mitchell

With many huge life changing events happening I was aware I could become anxious and easily blown off course so I was excited to read writer Emma Mitchells’ beautiful new book ‘The Wild Remedy’. In this book she takes the brave step to talk openly about her 25 years of living with depression, known to her as ‘the dark slug’. It’s been a long time coming, at last mental awareness has hit the radar, and now it is something we can openly acknowledge and talk about. Walking the paths and landscape surrounding her Fenland cottage she shows a new way of coping with depression, marking time through the year, celebrating the natural wonders as they unfold with her own original drawings and photographs.

Diary like, each month of the year has its’ own chapter, which includes delightful and detailed wildlife descriptions. With her gentle, quirky writing style she shares her excitement as each natural event unfolds and reveals itself. In March she describes the joy of heading off up the coast to spot a murmuration of starlings. Like having a conversation with a friend her tales reignite my own memories of a teenage evening watching their unconcerned graceful balletic swoops and swerves above the clanking din of London’s’ Leicester Square. Through her text we also learn how in some cases nature watching can be as effective as drug therapy to treat depression and how she uses it to help protect her from the dark clutches of depression.

Through her very personal journey, recording the impact of nature on mood, she talks of the science involved in these shifts, highlighting a variety of research backed ways in which this occurs. Along with her walks and nature observations, botanical drawing is another tool that helps her keep depression in check. Bearing this in mind, wishing to bring a little more calm into my life and reconnect with drawing to I went along to her book event in Waterstones, the evening included a botanical drawing workshop. In the past I drew forever, I loved the necessary stillness that came with it, there’s nothing quite like a moment taken for a closely observed sketch with coloured pencils or washing water colour over a pencil drawing. Emma enthusiastically described the observation process needed to accurately draw and record plants and flowers. By breaking the process into simple steps, she created another gateway into being in the moment.

As much as I wanted to sit down and devour this book in one greedy sitting, I’m going to eke the pleasure out, over months with frequent repeat visits in the following years. At those times when I seek calm I’m looking forward to having the luxury of dipping in and stealing a moment of quiet between its’ pages.

The Wild Remedy: How Nature Mends Us, A Diary by Emma Mitchell

Published by: Michael O’Mara Books Ltd

Price: £14.99

https://www.mombooks.com/book/the-wild-remedy/?imprint=1

Waterstones

https://www.waterstones.com/events/search/term/

Emma’s Instagram Page

https://www.instagram.com/silverpebble2/

Here is another book review you might like, go take a look: Book Review - Making Winter: A Creative Guide for Surviving the Winter Months by Emma Mitchel

Book Review: Mad About the House by Kate Watson-Smyth

With a big move coming up I was more than delighted when a review copy of Mad About The House by Kate Watson-Smyth arrived. With over 15 years writing about interiors there’s not much journalist Watson-Smyth doesn’t know about putting together a great interior. It’s a complete, how to on defining your own unique interior style to make your home work for you. Between the covers there a mine of practical good sense tips as well as advice on how to bring that extra edge of wow to your interiors.

Though I’m a designer, stylist and have forever been involved in interiors it certainly doesn’t mean I‘m not still hungry for new ways to make a house into a stylish home. Rest assured this is not glossy coffee table book packed with out of budget fashionable interior images. It’s rather more a work book, future proofed with drawings and carefully chosen photographs, coupled with good solid classic interiors advice to guide you towards defining your interior style.

The book is divided into three sections, the first leads you through the minefield of finding inspiration on the way to defining your style, which includes invaluable information on using colour. To guarantee the success of your interior projects the middle section contains a chapter on every room in the house, each covers details specific to the function of the room, along with lighting, storage and furniture. The crowning glory is found in the last section where Watson-Smyth gives the low down on top design hacks gleaned over her many years of experience.

Creating a stylish home to feel proud of doesn’t necessarily mean splashing the cash and expending eye wateringly large sums of money. This book is there to guide you through sometimes difficult style and decorating dilemmas. It helps you target the look you want to achieve in your home to reflect your own personal style while spending your budget wisely.

Mad About The House by Kate Watson-Smyth is published by Pavilion.

https://www.pavilionbooks.com/book/mad-about-th

Here is another book review you might like, go take a look: Book Review - Making Winter: A Creative Guide for Surviving the Winter Months by Emma Mitchell

Book Review - Modern Lettering: A Guide to Modern Calligraphy and Hand Lettering by Rebecca Cahill Roots

With the infinity of the holiday season stretching away into the future, I get excited there’s time to get to grips with a new hobby. Packed with all the know how to improve my hand writing, Modern Lettering: A Guide to Modern Calligraphy and Hand Lettering by Rebecca Cahill Roots, arrived in the studio at a very opportune moment. 

All this time we’ve been beavering away behind computer screens we’ve all but abandoned our handwriting skills. Meanwhile the cult of celebrating the individual has been on the rise. With its lack of humanity and the predictable regularity of computer text, our neglected handwriting, is having a moment embracing the intervention of the human hand over machine. Rather than leaving our handwriting skills dormant there’s a big move to dust off the art form and use it to create beautiful and special projects, from the heart. Imagine being able to address envelopes in a stylish and eye catching way, writing special stationary for weddings, or designing unique invitations, this book gives you all the tools.

Don’t be alarmed by the words calligraphy or hand lettering, this is the kind of lettering that excels because of its individual hand drawn quality. Within the covers you will find a complete manual to get you writing beautifully, its packed with insider know how along with plenty of detailed knowledge, making the learning process a whole lot easier. 

Full of quirky illustrations this practical workbook of how tos, gently eases you into hand lettering. Divided into sections, illustrated diagrams lead you through the basic tool kit and of the anatomy of the pen before you get started on mark making. There are practice pages for all the letters starting with how to form them including useful information on the names for each part of the letter. There are handy tips on making it your own, along with useful trouble shooting advice. 

And the book isn’t limited to the mechanics of letter forming, once you have mastered the skill there’s plenty more help on designing your page, combining different styles while exploring a variety of media. The book finishes with a plethora of beautiful examples of projects using your new skills.

If you are ready to take on the satisfying challenge of smartening up your handwriting skills while getting the individual edge, look no further than this invaluable volume. It guarantees your new skill will elicit enthusiastic oohs and ahhs of envy and admiration.

Book: Modern Lettering: A Guide to Modern Calligraphy and Hand Lettering by Rebecca Cahill Roots

Published by Batsford

Price £14.99

 If you liked this book review then why not read my book review of Garden Style: Inspirational Styling for Your Outside Space by Selina Lake

Book Review, Garden Style: Inspirational Styling for Your Outside Space by Selina Lake

With the recent upturn in the weather, once more it’s time to get back into the garden and embrace the wide-open spaces. With immaculate timing a review copy of the gorgeous Garden Style: Inspirational Styling for Your Outside Space by the talented stylist, Selina Lake, arrived in the studio. The garden has greened up, here I am falling in love with it all over again, ripe for any garden porn that comes my way.

 Lakes style is approachable and practical, full of beautifully styled shots it is a wonderful book to reach for when you are looking for new inspiration. Divided into chapters, each covers a different theme. Garden Inspirations is the opening chapter, here Lake shows us the spaces and plants she enjoys, as well as encouraging the reader to look for places to help develop their own individual style. I love the chapter name, Decorating Your Garden, it includes advice on choosing furniture, rounding up ways to display plants and also how to get essential decorative details like lighting into the space. Further chapters are about creating garden rooms as well as relaxing and eating outdoors and the one that presses my buttons, wont be any surprise to my readers, as it’s all about Bringing the Outside In, including details on foraging and very usefully tips to help you create your very own cutting garden. 

Lake envelopes us with the idea a garden is an extra space for escaping to, it’s your own other worldly corner. Peppered through out the text are useful style tips along with very doable, attractive projects, for instance, use small vintage bottles to hold posies to jazz up a picket fence. I suggest mixing up one of the recipes for botanical cocktails, settling down in a verdant corner to have a good read of this book, a beautiful and informative garden companion.

Garden Style: Inspirational Styling for Your Outside Space by Selina Lake

Photography: Rachael Whiting

Ryland Peters and Small £19.99

http://selinalake.co.uk

http://www.rachelwhiting.co.uk

If you liked this book review then why not read my book review of Mad About the House by Kate Watson-Smyth

Book Review: WREATHS: Fresh, Foraged & Dried Florals Arrangements by Katie Smyth & Terri Chandler

Foraging flowers and foliage, is now a thing, we all delight at coming home with a handful of hedgerow discoveries, but how to make the most of our collection?

I was sent a review copy of the book WREATHS: Fresh, Foraged & Dried Florals Arrangements by Katie Smyth & Terri Chandler. It gives a glimpse into the world of flower arrangers, Worm, packed with insider knowledge into how they achieve their original and contemporary approach to wreaths and flower installations. Exuberant and full of life, the can do flower company aims to bring the delight of natural foraged flowers to your home or venue.

With their characteristic enthusiasm they set out to demystify the art with a wealth of fresh new tips for constructing and building up original floral installations so they look their very best. Even if you are not into creating with flowers the book is a must for the beautiful images alone. Photographer Kristin Perers, creates serene moments of floral calm leaving us all wishing they were part of our lives.

Liberated from more formal arrangements this book reflects the recent move away from monoculture flower arrangements towards a more seasonal approach, as often as possible, using foraged and farmed British flowers and foliage. People who know me will be aware I am always looking for new ways to bring the outside in and I love the crazy, mad, romantic almost Midsummers Night Dream vibe of Worm designs.

The detailed recipe for Meadow Ball, makes the concept approachable, I’m itching to sling a hook in the ceiling and get on with it. Another design I am keen to try is the Late Summer Chandelier, which uses a gnarled, ropey clematis vine as a base. The smell from the Giant Pine Wreath promises to deliver an intoxicating perfume, so that’s a must when the time comes round. And for sheer vibrancy the Autumnal Wreath would be the star at a Harvest or Thanksgiving celebration.

Dip into the pages of this beautiful book, Wreaths, with its glorious images and all the tools and know how to develop your own instinctive floral style,  you will be ready to create a wreath to celebrate each seasonal event when it comes along. 

WREATHS: Fresh, Foraged & Dried Florals Arrangements by Katie Smyth & Terri Chandler (Quadrille, £14.99)

Photography: Kristin Perers

Worm London http://www.wormlondon.com

Kristin Perers http://kristinperers.com

If you liked this book review then why not read my book review of Modern Lettering: A Guide to Modern Calligraphy and Hand Lettering by Rebecca Cahill Roots

Book Review - Making Winter: A Creative Guide for Surviving the Winter Months by Emma Mitchell

Winter can be a tough time for many with the shrinking of daylight hours and the near constant grey weather Making Winter: A Creative Guide for Surviving the Winter Months by Emma Mitchell is a manual of creative projects designed to help keep the winter blues at bay. During winter months because of the lack of sunlight mood elevating serotonin is at lower levels often leading to gloomy moods, crafting is known to raise levels of serotonin which in turn helps boost mood. Drawing inspiration from the natural winter world Mitchell has designed a beautiful survival manual of simple craft projects calling on a variety of skills to help people escape low moods during the winter. With perfect timing, at the darkest time of year, the book arrived on my desk to be reviewed.

It is an attractive book with beautiful images of domestic cosines and creativity inspired by nature. Divided into chapters, each themed around the different phases of winter, there are several projects to fit the theme with clear step by step instructions. In High Days and Celebrations there's a recipe for streusel cake, a berry cocktail and woodland wreaths, it's a varied selection and none are too time consuming. I enjoyed the outdoors chapter Nature as Nurture, here Mitchell gently coaxes us out of the house, subtly persuading us with the promise of crafty joys such as preserving autumn leaves or making silver fossil pendants after a good walk observing nature. As a stylist I'm always trying to bring nature into interiors and there are lots of examples of this, and don't we all love spreading the love with specimen blooms in vintage bottles. There are also very beautiful crochet projects which I lust after, the hawthorn wrist warmers, with a bobbly berried design is very nearly enough to tempt me to pick up a hook and have a go.

Making Winter, with its beautiful images and full of plucky hope is a wonderful happiness manual to inspire, a great gift for a crafty friend, whether or not they find the winter months taxing.

Making Winter: A Creative Guide for Surviving the Winter Months by Emma Mitchell, out now in hardback, priced £14.99 (LOM Art).

If you liked this book review then why not read my book review of Making Concrete Pots, bowls, and Platters by Hester van Overbeek

Book Review - Millinery, The Art of Hat-Making by Sarah Lomax and Rachel Skinner

Now more than ever we all want to learn new crafts and skills and the New Year is as good a time as any to start mastering one. Sadly, hat wearing has been relegated to special occasion wear, the book Millinery, The Art of Hat-Making by Sarah Lomax and Rachel Skinner has a varied collection and wearing one to top off a carefully curated outfit is made a real possibility. With its beautiful timeless illustrations, variety of hat designs and detailed techniques it gives plenty of information to help you get started creating your own unique hats. After a detailed browsing of this book, as an eclectic designer, maker, I felt fired up with ideas for the many possible occasions for sporting a distinctive and elegant hat.

Have you ever wondered how a hat shape is made from a flat piece of fine woven straw or how to create a distinctive trim that is guaranteed to lift a bought hat from ordinary to extraordinary? With a wide choice of hat shapes and embellishment to create, Millinery is the book for you. A beautifully designed volume it is divided into two sections. The first covers the nitty gritty with equipment, materials and techniques each supported by text and images. The second section has twelve very different hat projects with easy to follow step by step instructions. Choose from soft sewn hats to a gorgeous feather creation to a full on felt trilby. I am drawn in by the detail, and long for a neat feathered tear drop, complete with the swish and flourish of a long plume. 

Emphatically, yes, I would recommend Millinery, as it gives a glimpse into the art form and plenty of information for you to successfully make your own high-end millinery. With its wealth of inspiration and variety of techniques it won't be long before you have created a unique hat collection.

Millinery, The Art of Hat-Making by Sarah Lomax and Rachel Skinner

Published by GMC £16.99

Available from www.thegmcgroup.com

If you like this book review why not read my review of The Gentleman’s Wardrobe: Vintage Style Projects for the Modern Man by Vanessa Mooncie

The Gentleman’s Wardrobe: Vintage Style Projects for the Modern Man by Vanessa Mooncie

I was really excited when The Gentleman's Wardrobe by Vanessa Mooncie arrived on my desk. I'm a designer maker and creating a capsule wardrobe that sums up your own unique style, seems like a very fine thing. There are lots of sources out there for women but what about the men? The book does just what it says on the cover with all the know how to make an entire gentleman's wardrobe. The garment collection was inspired by old black and white family photos showing beautifully dressed relatives taking great care over their immaculate appearance.

This is a beautiful book packed with a wealth of contemporary lifestyle fashion plate images to give you all the inspiration you need to get cracking. The 14 projects cover a wide range of skills, there's an elegant garment or accessory for everyone to make following the easy step by step instructions and sewing patterns. All levels of sewing are covered from simple beginners projects like a cravat and for makers with a higher level of expertise there are more complex garments such as shirts and jackets. With a wide range of projects all styles are catered for, choose a different fabric and change the style of garment to create a unique expression of yourself.

With its indepth knowledge and lots of attractive fashion images it's an easy and approachable way to start building a stylish gentleman's wardrobe. Flicking through the pages a young man with beginners sewing skills was blown away by the idea of making his own silk dressing gown and I was taken with the images for making a tweed flat cap. Whether you are a maker yourself or want to give this book as a gift it's the perfect book to turn to for both reference and a source of projects. With ideas for a quick project or something that will take longer this book would win long term space on my book shelf and remain there long after today’s love of vintage fashion has been superceded.

The Gentleman’s Wardrobe by Vanessa Mooncie

Published by GMC £16.99

Available from www.thegmcgroup.com

If you liked this post why not read my book review of Quintessential Baking by Frances Quinn

Book Review: House of Cards By Sarah Hamilton

Have you ever wanted to find out about the ins and outs of selling your own handmade cards? We are a nation of card givers, greetings cards punctuate and chronicle our lives, House of Cards by artist Sarah Hamilton is a book that celebrates the greeting card industry as well as showing you how to become part of it using your own designs.

It is an attractive book full of fresh bright visuals and shows you how to make money from your art. Full of sassy know how, packed with expert tips and advice from practising artists, it's a designers must have manual. A practical as well as informative book it helps short circuit some of the hard work of starting out selling your own cards.

Card by Sarah Hamilton image by James Bolston

The book is divided into two sections, the first contains an informative account of the history of greetings card giving, along with all the nitty gritty and practical detail to help get you started with card creation and sales. There is also an invaluable chapter by artist agent Jehane Boden Spiers giving inside advice on liscencing art work as well as insight into the deals available to designers to increase their portfolio of earning potential as well as providing a nest egg.

Artwork by Lynn Guinta mage by Kevin Cozad

To get you started on your own creative journey the second section has 10 exciting practical easy to follow step by step projects introducing many techniques such as lino, screen printing and decoupage. Show casing ten artists it gives us the unique opportunity of having a private glimpse into the artist working studio. The book is generous and each case study starts with a short piece about the artist as well as hints on tools and techniques and inspiration to help you create your own personal artwork.

Card by Lynn Guinta image by Kevin Cozad

The book supports the inspiring Just a Card campaign. The premise is that card sales are an important part of independent artists and shops income generation and if we all buy cards when we visit them we help keep them going.

An attractive book full of energy and packed with invaluable advice, it's an indispensible bookshelf addition for anyone in the visual design industry wanting generate an income in the world of greeting cards.

Cards by Gabriela Szulman image by Kristy Noble

House of Cards by Sarah Hamilton is published by Pavilion.

Find them on Instagram at -

@pavilionbooks @hoc.cardbook @justacard @sarahhamiltonprints @jehanebodenspiers_

If you liked this book review, why not read my review of 'Home For Now' by Joanna Thornhill

Book Review - Urban Pioneer: Interiors Inspired by Industrial Design by Sara Emslie

Architecture Design by Manifold Architecture studio, Brooklyn, NY

How can I resist the new book by interior stylist that just arrived on my desk, Urban Pioneer: Interiors Inspired by Industrial Design. The pioneers, mostly designers and artisans have colonised and renovated exindustrial and non residential buildings where they combine work with living, to create a new urban lifestyle. They have thrown out the rules of traditional interiors and the newly emerged style reflects the remnants of the industrial past, generous windows letting in lots of light, metal finishes, exposed pipes and brick work. 

The canalside home and gallery of creative director, art dealer and location owner Mark Chalmers in Amsterdam www.thegarageamsterdam.com 

The urban pioneer is a style that's in demand, we are all familiar with the open plan look of these large industrial spaces, flexible, less permanent and more mobile. The pioneers have licence to break the mould, be bold and take the opportunity to experiment, take risks while rethinking scale. The book examines twelve case histories, all individual, illustrating a variety of ways to design post industrial interiors.

The London home of Peter Wim

While all the spaces have a strong sense of reflecting the anatomy of the building, pioneers adapt their space to their individual needs. And don't think it's all about the utillitarian, as this ultimately depends on where the pioneer chooses to draw the line. Some like to allow for domestic softening and flights of fancy. Amsterdam interior by designer James van der Velden has a spectacular lush wall painted in the manner of a classical artist.

 Designer James van der Velden of Bricks Studio

While the kitchen of graphic designer Anouk Pruim, is pared back, no frills, basic chic, reflected in salvedged utility used for furnishing the space. In the New York home of Houssein Jarouche my favourite, a vintage modern interior, has ecclectic kitchen cupboards that are boldly collaged with colourful graphic tape.

Designer James van der Velden of Bricks Studio, Amsterdam

If you want to get that Urban Pioneer look, this book, packed with visual pointers will help you put together your own take on interiors inspired by industrial design.   

The New York home of Houssein Jarouche of micasa.com.br 

The home of Anouk Pruim, graphic designer

Urban Pioneer by Sara Emslie

(Ryland Peters & Small, £19.99)

Photography by Benjamin Edwards © Ryland Peters & Small

If you like this post why not check out my book review on Making Winter by Emma Mitchell

Making Concrete Pots, bowls, and Platters by Hester van Overbeek, Book Review

Here’s an inspiring book that recently landed on my desk, Making Concrete Pots, Bowls, and Platters by Hester van Overbeek. On a quick flick through with it’s attractively styled images and easy to see there’s a wealth of projects to get stuck into. Top of my list is a two-tone decorative bowl, but with summer fast approaching a fire bowl would be great and then there’s a cheese board that can double up as a sharing platter when the family’s together.

There are step-by-step instructions for all the very doable projects, the most taxing aspect is carrying home the bag of concrete mix. A look around your house or a trip to the pound store or supermarket is sure to come up with solutions for molds or you can get casting using sand. The project top of my list is the garden planter, currently succulents are on everyone’s agenda and the texture of the grey concrete against the chalky blue of the fleshy leaves would be perfect. 

With 35 projects to choose from, I’ll be returning to this informative book every time I want inspiration. A must for anyone wanting clear step by instructions for making highly desirable, simple, contemporary concrete makes for the home and garden.

Making Concrete Pots, Bowls, & Platters by Hester van Overbeek,

Published by CICO Books (£12.99)

Photography by James Gardiner © CICO Books

If you like this post make sure you read my book review of 'My Tiny Indoor Garden'

Book Review - IN THE MOOD FOR COLOUR Perfect palettes for creative interiors by Hans Blomquist

We’ve been stuck in a neutral colour rut for so long, how can I resist the lure of this book title In the Mood for Colour by Hans Blomquist, everyones all time favourite interior stylist, art director who recounts his story of colour, which is a major interest for me. To find all this rolled into one generous tome means well established books at the top of my extensive must have list have been bumped off in favour of this colourful newbie.

The book opens with A World Full of Colour, a lush mosaic of mainly polychrome images from around the world, its grid format is very familiar to Instagram users. It is then divided into chapters, Dark, Pale, Natural, Soft and Bold. Each chapter is layered with a visual feast of colour images illustrating ways to bring colour into interiors. Running through both text and images the constant message to remember is 'designed by nature' when using colour in interiors. In order to grow your confidence combining different hues, take note of  the many ways nature successfully combines colour. This is a personal account of his relationship with colour, his response to the different colours is engaging and effervescent particularly when he discusses how his mood responds to different combinations. 

The eclectic schemes illustrating ways to use colour are summed up with delightful names like Pistachio, Duck Egg and Faded Denim, hinting at a layered experience that engages all the senses. The double page spread, Rose, Powder, Petal, like a mood board, uses a variety of illustrations, paint, fabrics and flowers, with the main image demonstrating how to layer up with style and confidence. 

With its wealth of eye candy still lifes and dreamy compositions it’s an invaluable tool for anyone wanting to find ways to launch into the colour zone and on their way to creating confident colourful interiors. In the Mood for Colour is now my go to volume for inspiration. I’ve worked on many rewarding projects where colour has been pivotal. As lead colour expert on an innovative government research project, colour was used to show how environment affects children learning. Further projects have used colour to develop rooms for teanage cancer care as well as psychotherapists consulting rooms.

IN THE MOOD FOR COLOUR Perfect palettes for creative interiors

Hans Blomquist

Published by Ryland Peters & Small £19.99

If you like this post check out my post on 'The Flower Farmers Year' 

Book Review 'The Shop Keepers Home' by Caroline Rowland

Published by Jacqui Small, £25 hardback.

When it comes to the stylish peoples’ houses, don’t we all just love to get in there and have a bit of a snoop? Packed with images Caroline Rowland’s The Shop Keeper’s Home gives us the chance to check out the houses of the some of the most influential independent retailers worldwide. The book is divided into two sections, the first comprehensively covers the nitty gritty details of interior design and the second using the chosen interiors gives an in depth exploration of different types of retail experience.

This book is lavishly illustrated, Caroline Rowland seeks out retailers with stylish interiors and curates them to show core practical interior design tips like clever storage and lighting while giving us a strong flavor of her own personal aesthetics. We are taken behind the closed doors of diverse lifestyle store locations, there’s a cafe, craft shop, old barn and even a repurposed gas station.Boo

One of the shops featured is the Hambledon in Winchester, here at R&B we’ve always been fans and an excuse for a visit is never difficult. As well as old favourites we are introduced to new retail emporiums to inspire us to go out and seek. A wonderful visual resource, The Shop Keeper’s Home gives us a chance to indulge our curiosity as well as feeding the soul with a wealth of very stealable ideas.

If you like this post check out my book review of 'Urban Pioneer'

My Tiny Indoor Garden by Lia Leendertz, Book Review

If you have no garden and are thinking you are never going to have enough space to have your own or grow your own plants and salads look no further than My Tiny Indoor Garden. House plants are having a moment just now, I use them for styling in so many projects, they are something we can all have and everyone wants to be in on the act. This delightful book by Lia Leendertz with beautiful images by Mark Diacono is packed with space saving indoor gardening ideas. It includes lots of ways to display flowers and plants as well as a wealth of tried and tested growing tips.

Before I go any further I have to declare my interest in this title and tell you I was one of the featured case studies. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty more case studies with very doable projects I want to immerse myself in.

There’s lots of detail on plant maintenance and how to keep them in prime condition from the people growing the plants. There’s a pretty succulent garden in a porch with a useful demonstration on how to take cuttings to increase your plant collection. Cookery writer Deborah Robertson shows us the secret of reinvigorating mint plants to keep them producing flushes of beautifully scented leaves. And who couldn’t linger over a fabulous multicoloured hyacinth jar collection, attractive whether or not they have blubs in them. 

Full of beautiful images and information this book would have shelf space for a long time even if I wasn’t in it. Great as a gift to inspire again and again as well as being a reliable and in depth reference book.

By Lia Leendertz

Published by Pavilion Books

Images Mark Diacono

If you like this book review check out my review of 'Making Winter' by Emma Mitchell

The Flower Farmers Year : How to Grow and cut flowers for pleasure and profit by Georgie Newbery

Everyone loves to give and be given flowers, and if they are British grown even better. Georgie Newbery runs Common Farm Flowers and she’s used her flower farming knowledge to create the beautiful book The Flower Farmer’s Year, jam packed with sumptuous photos of British home grown flowers. It’s certainly not just a coffee table book, it’s an extensive how to guide, giving the secrets from start to finish to help you successfully grow your own cut flowers. And if you get bitten by the bug  the know how to create a thriving artisanal floristry business.

Over the past 30 years British flower growing has all but evaporated, to be replaced by supermarket flowers flown in from all over the world, arriving with their huge environmental impact. Flower farmer, Georgie asks the question why import flowers when we are perfectly capable of growing our own British flowers without damage to the environment? Georgie is generous with her knowledge and with step-by-step instructions she shows us how we can have a year round cut flower patch outside the back door. Georgie makes cut flower growing doable for both amateurs and professionals while still paying their tithe to nature .

A visual treat the pictures are of generous and exuberant confections of British seasonal flowers and foliage, rare as hens’ teeth in the high street florist. The variety of British flowers is stunning, there are fragrant sweet peas and romantic Love in the Mist, delicate roses mixed with feverfew, grasses marigolds and cow parsley.

Readable and inspirational, the book’s packed with information including tips from top gardeners and specialist growers. The chapters are handily divided to cover different kinds of plants and unusually there’s even one on shrubs for cutting. To help make the dream a reality there’s a useful resources section with advice on where to get seeds and plants. But don’t think growing all these flowers will turn you into a basket toting Marie Antoinette. The chapter on cutting and conditioning flowers finds Georgie advising, to keep flowers at their very best, cut them straight into a deep bucket of water. 

This book would make wonderful gift for any gardener or flower lover. Whether you’re an amateur gardener or aspiring artisanal florist the book wont be read just once, with it’s wealth of invaluable information and beautiful pictures you’ll find yourself returning to Georgies blooming corner of Somerset again and again.

The Flower Farmer’s Year: How to grow cut flowers for pleasure and profit

By Georgie Newbery

Published by

If you like this book review check out my review of 'My Tiny Indoor Garden' 

Quinntessential Baking by Francis Quinn

You might find it strange, a designer writing a review about a baking book, but with her serious design credentials, Frances Quinn the winner of the Great British Bake Off in 2013 has shown she’s one to watch. Since she wowed the nation with her amazing baking skills and fabulous creations the designer baker has been writing her unique baking book Quintessential Baking, while creating commissions for huge brands like Nike and Cadburys as well as celebrities and tastemakers Jo Whiley, Paul Smith and Jo Munroe.

This is a book for everyone, novice or experienced baker. With her unique imagination, designer Quinn conjures up witty bakes that could sit happily on the pages of the books of writer Roald Dahl and illustrator Quentin Blake. The book is divided into sections, a different one for each different cake type. Proportions for these ‘master bakes’ are shown in easily readable pie charts of ingredients, giving the essential know how, leaving you to concentrate on creating your own imaginative bakes.

Packed with puns her gentle humour shines through in her playful bakes. We love her witty Sandwich Toast Cakes, look again to see it’s not beans on toast but peanuts in caramel on cake. In her Cheese Biscuits she cleverly manipulates your response with her attention to detail with holey ‘cheese biscuits’ and an entire paper wrapped Brie made from white chocolate.

The images play with scale, we are spell bound by a Lilliputian vintage ice cream van, monster cornetto strapped to the roof, driving across a beech of crushed biscuit sand. The creations look doable though many will take a large investment of time, one of the simplest was a very beautiful cup cake, decorated with flower confetti scattered over the buttercream topping and when you bite into it there’s a lovely surprise.

Extracts taken from Quinntessential Baking by Frances Quinn (Bloomsbury £25.00)

Photography © Georgia Glynn Smith

If you like this post check out my post on Millinery, the Art of Hat Making

Home For Now by Joanna Thornhill

If you are thinking personalizing your space on a very restricted budget is impossible, Home for Now by Joanna Thornhill is the book for you. It spotlights the challenges people are facing in housing, with astronomical house prices many are finding they have to live in temporary accommodation for much longer than expected. And even after managing to get a foot on the housing ladder, with the substantial debts incurred there is little budget left for splashing the cash when making home your own.

Home for Now has a wealth of inspirational detail and practical tips to show you how to make the most of the space you live in. The book is divided into chapters that target and analyse the needs of different living spaces with the message, plan and asses your needs before you start buying. As well as the practicalities, the book is packed with creative ideas and visuals to help you make changes reflecting your life and loves, the emphasis being very much on comfortable and stylish.

The style of Home for Now is eclectic, it’s about being flexible and taking a fresh look at what you have, can you repurpose or display it? In each chapter there are interiors make projects, refreshingly they are all hands on, using the minimum of skills to achieve stylish transformations of skip rescues, car boot finds and family hand me downs. Our favourite project is a very doable no sew chair, repainted and covered in a wild African print fabric.

Home for Now will leave the reader feeling confident about stamping their personality on their space and making home on a very restricted budget. Remember rules are there to be broken and be playful.

Home For Now by Joanna Thornhill, published by CICO Books (£16.99)

Photography by Emma Mitchell and James Gardiner © CICO Books

If you like this book review read my review of Making Winter by Emma Mitchell