Olympic Flame, Limelight, Mickey Mouse, Persian Pearl, Claudia, Havran, Christmas Dream, Paul Rubens, Red Princess, tulips have stolen the show since they were first introduced to cultivation in Europe. They have been crossed with each other to produce thousands of cultivars that have been registered today like the Parrot Rembrandt and Fringed Bruce and in all colours, shades and shapes. Their incredible colour range includes almost every imaginable hue from pure white through pastels, rich reds and purples to near black. Their shapes are equally varied - short-stemmed, lily-flowered, or even goblet-shaped or stars. Expert Richard Wilford recommends tulips for specific conditions and cultivation preferences, and offers a selection of the brightest, boldest and best in this gorgeous tome published in conjunction with Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. The book celebrates the beauty of each flower with a large colour photograph, description and stats like height, bloom time, cultivation, landscape and design uses and alternatives. Plus a section on cut flowers. 224pp, 17.8 x 22.9cm. Blazing with colour.

The uplifting true story of a family who left their old life behind to spend a year living wild in a tent around Britain. With a baby and a toddler, mounting debt, work demands and stress trampling over their desire to spend time together as a family in nature, Jen and Sim Benson move out of their rented accommodation, sell up their possessions, and decide to live in a tent for a year as nomads around rural Britain in the search for a simpler, more meaningful way of life. This is the story of that year, the doubts, epiphanies and the weather, the hardships of each season experienced in the great outdoors. Chapters include At Home in Wiltshire and the Peak District, From London to Wilder Places, A Cottage on Dartmoor, Christmas Under Canvas in the Blackdown Hills, Restorations in Cornwall and the South Hams, The Kindness of Strangers in Dorset and on Exmoor, The Highs and Lows in the Lake District, Idyllic Summer Days in the Welsh Borders, Festivals and A Return to Dartmoor. With map and photos, 254pp.

'In 2003 I bought a derelict farm deep in the heart of rural France, together with 13 hectares of surrounding meadow. My aim was to create a wildlife sanctuary, a place where butterflies, dragonflies, voles and newts could thrive, free from the pressures of modern agriculture. In particular I was keen to create a place for my beloved bumblebees, creatures I have spent the past 20 years studying and attempting to conserve. This book, in part, is the story of this little corner of the French countryside...' Learn how a deathwatch beetle finds its mate, the importance of houseflies, why butterflies have spots on their wings, about dragonflies' sex, bedbugs and wasps in this wake-up call urging us to cherish and protect life on earth. Steeped in culture and layered with flavours, charming and humorous, we will be engaged as much with the eloquence of his argument as the entertainment of his life. 266pp, paperback.

'The greatest living writer on the English countryside...Blythe's writing dances with self-deprecating wit, rebellious asides, sharp portraits of fellow writers and notes of worldliness.' - Patrick Barkham, Guardian. With all the charm, wonder and eccentricity, here is country life in which to immerse yourself in an East Anglian year as we are reminded of why we love and value the rhythms and realities of rural life. Light as air and full of philosophy, the book is time travel within a sentence, a latter-day Book of Hours to turn to for amusement, inspiration and comfort. Beginning with the arrival of snow on New Year's Day and ending with Christmas carols sung in the village church, Ronald Blythe invites us to witness a simple life richly lived. He meditates on his life and faith, on literature, art and history, and our place in the landscape. Blythe lived at the end of an overgrown farm track deep in the rolling countryside of the Stour Valley, on the border between Suffolk and Essex. His home was Bottengoms Farm, a sturdy yeoman's house once owned by the artist John Nash. From here, Blythe spent almost half a century observing the slow turn of the agricultural year, the church year and village life in a series of rich, lyrical rural diaries. With many biblical and literary references from the enthusiastic church warden, author of Akenfield and the Word column in Church Times. 472pp woodcut illus.

'Go back to nature with the Japanese way of shinrin-yoku' or 'Forest bathing'. The term was coined in Japan in the 1980s and means to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the forest. Trees hold a place in so many people's hearts. We instinctively know that we feel better in nature. Japanese Professor Miyazaki offers a guide to the practice of forest bathing and the science behind it which reveals the healing power of trees and the benefits of going for a gentle walk in the woods, from strengthening the immune system, to immeasurably reducing stress levels and improving mood. Today we are over stimulated and stressed by our man-made world which makes our bodies more susceptible to disease. It is not surprising that attention is turning to shinrin-yoku as an example of a natural and low cost way to alleviate this problem and provide preventative medical effects that makes falling ill less likely. The author says 'I also remember wondering why my body felt so relaxed when I came into contact with soil, flowers and trees' and William Blake said 'The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way... But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.' Here is a practice that involves all the senses as you gently walk and breathe deeply, the essential oils of the trees absorbed by the body having an extraordinary effect on positive feelings, stress hormone levels, parasympathetic nervous activity, sympathetic nervous activity, blood pressure, heart rate and brain activity. A wonderful book by the leading expert in the field where science meets nature. 192 page illustrated paperback.