Showing titles in Home & Garden

Most of us have enjoyed walking on a bridleway at some time, but we rarely stop to think about how these old routes came to be. These ancient networks criss-cross the British countryside and are so familiar to walkers and riders that they have become almost invisible as we meander our way along them. From atop a horse and on foot, Tiffany Francis-Baker provides listeners with a new perspective on bridleways and a glimpse into their intriguing history.

Ex-policeman Colin Butcher had just set up his own pet detective agency. It was running smoothly, but he realised he needed a partner. And that's when inspiration struck.... Enter Molly, an unloved and unwanted cocker spaniel rescued from a classifieds website. Clever and charismatic, she melts Colin's heart, and the two are soon inseparable.

The war is over, the RAF uniform has been handed in and James Herriot goes back where he ought to be - at work in the dales around Darrowby. Much has changed, but the blunt-spoken Yorkshire folk and the host of four-legged patients are still the same. So is their vet, who doesn't yet know that literary success is just around the corner.

The Home Distiller’s Workbook tackles the often misunderstood and misrepresented world of moonshine and distillation and reduces them to such simple concepts that even a first time "Shiner" can understand. The HDW will introduce you to the three basic steps in making your own artisan-crafted spirits: brewing, distilling, and ageing. We will be tackling these steps one by one in a way that will have you saying "I just can’t believe it was that easy." And the truth is that it’s even easier then that. If you can follow a recipe to make a cake then with the help of the HDW you could be making anything from Moonshine to Vodka.

Compared to Charles' other books, this is more about no dig, eliminating weeds, garden layout, compost making, and using compost. There is also a history of no-dig vegetable gardening in the last 100 years. I want listeners to understand the context and the reasons why no dig has not been much valued until recently, and why it is now. This audiobook has 18 sections, covering the key methods and wonderful results of no dig, from starting with weeds to sowing and planting straightaway, and cropping soon after.

Winemaking is as old as civilization itself. For thousands of years, from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia to its current status as a global industry, the history of wine has been directly related to major social, cultural, religious and economic changes. Oz Clarke takes a look at over 100 bottles that mark an evolution in the story of wine, capturing the innovations and discoveries that have had the biggest impact along the way.

Alysia Vasey's earliest memories are of walking alongside her grandfather as they explored the West Yorkshire moors that they called home. As an adult, this love for wild things stayed with her, even as she learnt that her family's knowledge of edible plants were a legacy of a much darker time during the Second World War. After leaving Yorkshire in search of adventure, Alysia was eventually guided home by her motto: be true to yourself and you will become the person you were meant to be.

In Spring Rain, writer and gardener, Marc Hamer, now in his 60s, shares his path to contentment from difficult beginnings. Through the prism of family gardens, he reflects on how we reconcile our childhoods with where we end up as adults. Growing up in a violent home, as a young boy, Hamer found solace and safety in his small back garden. In particular, in its shed, where he stumbled across an incomplete set of old encylopaedias. These books, and observing the plants and insects in his private kingdom, began his lifelong love of learning and openness to the world.

In January of 2012, Megan Kimble was a 26-year-old living in a small apartment without even a garden plot to her name. But she cared about where food came from, how it was made, and what it did to her body: so she decided to go an entire year without eating processed foods. Unprocessed is the narrative of Megan's extraordinary year, in which she milled wheat, extracted salt from the sea, milked a goat, slaughtered a sheep, and more - all while earning an income that fell well below the federal poverty line.

It was love at first sight when Tembi met professional chef, Saro, on a street in Florence. There was just one problem: Saro’s traditional Sicilian family did not approve of him marrying a black American woman, an actress no less. However, the couple, heartbroken but undeterred, forges on. They build a happy life in Los Angeles, with fulfilling careers, deep friendships and the love of their lives: a baby girl they adopt at birth. Eventually, they reconcile with Saro’s family just as he faces a formidable cancer that will consume all their dreams.

In 2008, 26-year-old Tik Maynard faced a crossroads not unlike that of other young adults. A university graduate and modern pentathlete, he suffered both a career-ending injury and a painful breakup, leaving him suddenly adrift. The son of prominent Canadian equestrians, Maynard decided to spend the next year as a "working student." In the horse industry, working students aspire to become professional riders or trainers, and willingly trade labor for hands-on education.

When Allie Casazza first became a mom, she found herself struggling to make it through each day. She battled fatigue, depression, and the unsettling feeling that she didn't have what it took to do "this mom thing" well. When she realized the root of her burden was the overwhelm of physical clutter, she got intentional about what took up her space and time. The path she carved brought her and her family greater contentment and more abundant living, and she shares it in her much-anticipated first book, Declutter Like a Mother.

‘He invented a whole cat world’ declared H. G. Wells of Louis Wain, the Edwardian artist whose anthropomorphic kittens made him a household name. His drawings were irresistible but Catland was more than the creation of one eccentric imagination. It was an attitude – a way of being in society while discreetly refusing to follow its rules. As cat capitalism boomed in the spectacular Edwardian age, prize animals changed hands for hundreds of pounds and a new industry sprung up to cater for their every need. Cats were no longer basement-dwelling pest-controllers, but stylish cultural subversives.

In this illuminating book, brain scientist and horsewoman Janet Jones describes human and equine brains working together. Using plain language, she explores the differences and similarities between equine and human ways of negotiating the world. Mental abilities—like seeing, learning, fearing, trusting, and focusing—are discussed from both human and horse perspectives. Throughout, true stories of horses and handlers attempting to understand each other—sometimes successfully, sometimes not—help to illustrate the principles.

When Christine Platt set out on her journey to live with less, she never intended to become The Afrominimalist. She just wanted to tame the chaos in her closet! But after struggling with the austerity and whiteness of mainstream minimalism, Christine realized why minimalism often seems unattainable for so many: the emphasis on all-white, barren aesthetics distracts from the practice of living with intention. And so, she decided to do things her way by curating a life of less influenced by the African diaspora.

In the era of screens and devices, the average American spends 90 percent of their time indoors, and children are no exception. Not only does this phenomenon have consequences for kids’ physical and mental health, it jeopardizes their ability to understand and engage with anything beyond the built environment. Thankfully, with the right mind-set, families can find beauty, meaning, and connection in a life lived outdoors. Here, outdoors expert Steven Rinella shares the parenting wisdom he has garnered as a father whose family has lived amid the biggest cities and wildest corners of America.

From an early age, Grace Dent was hungry. As a little girl growing up in Currock, Carlisle, she yearned to be something bigger, to go somewhere better. Hungry traces Grace’s story from growing up eating beige food to becoming one of the much-loved voices on the British food scene. It’s also everyone’s story—from treats with your nan, to cheese and pineapple hedgehogs, to the exquisite joy of cheaply made apple crumble with custard.

This is the story of Kitty Tait who was a chatty, bouncy and full-of-life 14-year-old until she was overwhelmed by a cloud of depression and anxiety and she withdrew from the world. Her family tried everything to help her but she slipped further away. One day her dad Alex, a teacher, baked a loaf of bread with her and that small moment changed everything. One loaf quickly escalated into an obsession and Kitty started to find her way out of the terrible place she was in. After a few months, she and her dad opened the Orange Bakery, where queues now regularly snake down the street.

Create Space shows you how taking steps to clear and simplify your living space can also clear your mind, improve your relationships and enhance your wellbeing. This room-by-room guide to organising and decluttering your home is packed with ideas, advice, tips and techniques that are practical and functional as well as beautiful. Turn chaos into calm with step-by-step methods that you can adapt and sustain for your own needs.

James Herriot brings back familiar and much-loved friends, including his partner Siegfried and his most lucrative patient, the delightful Tricki Woo. There are some some new arrivals too, such as the abandoned and terrified mongrol Titch who finds the perfect home with a gruff grocer and feral kittens Olly and Ginny who live in James and wife Helen's back garden. Above all, the veterinary practise in Darrowby is enlivened by a marvelouslly eccentric assistant, Calum Buchanan, who arrives with a pet badger and proceeds to add dogs, owls and a monkey called Mortimer to his growing menagerie.