Inside the elasticated folder is a large envelope containing 20 photocopiable practice sheets and a highly instructive and stylish guide. Discover the joy of calligraphy and creating beautifully formed characters using pen and ink. The renowned calligraphy expert Joyce Lee helps us flex your nib to discover old-fashioned cursive writing by simply varying the pressure exerted on your pen. She presents a 30 day challenge to motivate you to practice daily covering the basic strokes like the compound curve and oval, ascender and descender loops, and exceptions, then covering lower case and upper case and tips on stringing letter together into words to make simple banners, name cards, DIY plant labels, a digital monogram, a colourful splash artwork, glamorous gold acrylic gift tags, gold rings on handwritten envelopes, invitations from formal to varying your style and the use of coloured paper and elegantly handwritten envelopes. 'I found the movement of writing in cursive enchanting.' 128 page very large softback, colour photos.

Reduce what you consume and throw away and discover the joys of slowing down, living self-sufficiently the Good Life, and nourishing your mind, body and spirit with this guide to creating a natural, low-waste home. DIYs for helpful household items such as reusable drawstring bags, beeswax wraps, scrap apple cider vinegar and wool dryer balls. Tips for line-drying laundry, backyard composting, sourcing essential oils, easy recipes for non-toxic cleaners, zero waste kitchen and bathroom swaps, natural cleaning supplies and tools and stocking your wellness cabinet. Learn natural remedies to help stave off a cold, ease a headache, relieve stings and sunburns; homemade non-toxic package-free bath and body essentials and handmade gift ideas like peppermint lip balm, bath bombs, lemon-rosemary lotion bars, wild flower seed bombs and bird seed ornaments. Plus vegetable recipes like Sautéed Beet Greens with Pine Nuts and delicious vinegars or Chilled Cucumber-Avocado Soup. There is a herbal hair rinse, face washes and tea, a liquorice-thyme cough syrup and an easy fabric softener made with distilled white vinegar and drops of essential oil to avoid commercial fabric softeners which often contain chemicals that trigger asthma and damage the reproductive system. Dried Apple Rings, waste-free hummus, Coconut Yoghurt, and tons of tips for reducing household food waste like understanding date labels and serving smaller portions and eating up leftovers and creative uses for coffee grounds like deodorising your hands after chopping garlic or onions. Packed full of fascinating information, 272 very large and glamorous pages with beautiful design, practical checklists and full page colour photos.

'Venturing out with my camera to take photographs of the landscape and wildlife that surround my farm in the Derbyshire Peak District offers many rewards on a daily basis... We have three resident Robins in our garden but Bobbin Robin is my favourite. I have the pleasure of her company for the past three years, during which time I have witnessed her tirelessly bringing up four clutches of chicks... Just turn the pages to discover a mere fraction of those special moments I have captured with my camera.' Bobbin and her friends have a huge social media audience with tens of thousands of viewers from the RSPB and on Facebook following their adventures daily. Open up these pages to see these goings-on of wildlife friends, Jim's very best pictures taken in this beautiful setting, expressing the mood and spontaneous character of each individual shot. With humorous captions like 'Number 29 in the Miss Slim Legs Competition' and 'Don't mess with me, and no, you can't come in.' Shown with a rather grumpy looking face. And polishing up her moves for Strictly, and singing her little heart out all the time wondering what Jim is putting out for her today. In flight with wings outstretched, a bird on a wire, landing on Jim's shoe as he snoozes in the hammock, under beautiful flowers and on mossy branches or landing on Christmas decorations or like an angel on a cloud of snow, this is a very characterful subject from the BBC Countryfile and Springwatch competition winner. 128pp, 24.8 x 17.8cm, full page colour photos throughout.

Birds, bees and a whole host of other flora and fauna that share Villager Jim's garden in the tiny Peak District village of Foolow are featured in his book of stunning colour photographs of the regular visitors to his garden. There are birds and deer and a dove in a bed of crocuses, frogs in a spring pond, close-ups of bees and bird chicks and jenny wren and a close up of a starling where all the dots are tiny heart shapes on his chest. Dierdre the bluetit pops by and lands on his mug, a goose waddles in, a mother duck and her tribe paddle off for a morning dip in the pond, dragonflies mate, Georgy flies into Jim's hand to collect mealworms, a tawny owl hides up a tree and the many birds fly onto the garden table to be photographed in close up by this genius nature lover. And there are rats and hares and cockerels and of the course the beloved Bobbin the robin and all manner of frozen chickens waddling about in the snow. 128pp. 24.8 x 17.8cm, full page colour photos throughout.

What could be more satisfying than making your own furniture and the sheer pleasure of using hand tools to cut a beautiful piece of wood with the saw, chisel or plane? Learn how the wood responds and become capable of reading the grain and find yourself seeing, imagining and feeling what will happen with each cut. Whether hard, soft, green or seasoned, choose the right wood from oak, ash, cedar, elm, tulip wood, Douglas fir, walnut and how knots make the wood trickier to use. This wonderfully practical book is aimed at anyone looking to balance their busy lives by mastering core woodworking skills. Build your skills and your tool kit as you progress through the five step-by-step projects - a work bench, hook, box, decorative shelf and chest. Learn about drilling and joining with screws, measuring and marking and getting things square, using the drill, marking up brackets, cleaning with herbs, using dowels, making the pegs and locking the surfaces together with joints, all explained in wonderful colour photographic sequences. 128 page extra large sized softback, packed with colour photos.

'Fizzing with fruity stories and yeasty historical tales' - Alice Roberts, the sub-title of the book is 'How an Ancient Craft Became a Way of Life' and the book is enormously fun and a BBC Radio Four Food Programme Book of the Year. Join James Crowden as he embarks on a journey to distil the ancient origins of cider, uncovering a rich culture and philosophy that has united farmer, maker and drinker for millennia. It has been at the heart of country life for hundreds of years, but the fascinating story of how this drink came into existence and why it became so deeply rooted in the nation's psyche has never been told. Crowden traces an elusive history stretching back to the ancient, myth-infused civilisations of the Mediterranean and the wild apple forests of Kazakhstan. He meets cider experts, farmers and historians and we read about monks, pirates and politicians who formed a pioneering and evangelical fan base. The nation's love affair with cider didn't fully blossom until after the Reformation when the thirst for knowledge about the drink was at its peak. This infatuation with the experimentation would lead to remarkable innovations and the creation of a 'sparkling cider', a technique that predated Dom Pérignon's Champagne by 40 years. And today Crowden meets the next generation of cider makers and unearths a unique philosophy that has been shared through the ages and new ways to produce this golden drink enjoyed by so many. It is a story of our country through the culture, craft and consumption of our most iconic rural drink. 448 pages, paperback with fairly large print and illus.

When I grow up I will stand TALL and as you open the pages the 3D fantastic paper engineering shows a huge white fir tree rising to the sky. When I strive for my goals I will savour the outcome. When I share my dreams we will fly together as a flock of white birds literally leap from the page. When I dream of the future I will dream big as the huge sailing ship with six sails and two decks lifts from the grey lilac and pale green background. When I build my life I will reach high - and a huge castle with church-like and crenelated turrets appears before your eyes. From a humble beginning to a life among the stars - the space rocket takes off from the puffy white clouds on the final page of this most imaginative pop-up book by the world acclaimed paper engineer Robert Sabuda. A book to inspire you to reach for the stars and a special gift book for the star in your life. Colour.
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When cathedrals were bright with paint... colonnettes, gables, pinnacles and statues were rich in colour. Red, blue and yellow helped the viewer to identify the holy figures and to decipher the great book of stone. The largest medieval drawing in existence, measuring more than four metres in height, provides exceptional evidence for this. Dating from c.1360-65, it represents the central part of the façade of Strasbourg Cathedral. Even now the great cathedrals of the Middle Ages overwhelm by their imagination, technical daring and sheer scale. How could such structures be built when cities had only a few thousand inhabitants, and only the most primitive machinery was available? Who initiated them? Who designed them? Who paid for them? All around the world but especially in Italy and in Gaul, each Christian community was driven by a spirit of rivalry to have a more glorious church than the others. Gothic and Romanesque building sites are shown in detail in manuscript illumination. As the Medieval town grew, buildings turned from wood to stone and grew ever higher. Patrons sought master masons, intellectuals became administrators, artists and architects established their independence and rights. Discover tracings on stone such as in the sacristy of the Roslin Chapel in Scotland where construction began in 1450, remarkable drawings from workshops, organised guilds, the octagon of Ely Cathedral 1322 and how metal became an essential material. Fully documented and splendidly illustrated throughout in colour, 176pp, paperback.

Between 80 and 87 Cryptic clues across and down and the same number of quick clues for the same grid, the choice is yours across all 100 giant sized crosswords, one per right hand page in this extra large softback. A cracking collection of super-sized grids from the Daily Mail Saturday newspaper, how you solve the puzzle is up to you, whether you choose a relaxed approach or race for results. A perfect test of your vocabulary and mental agility, the book is discounted for the first time. Paperback.

'Your Guide to a Happy, Well-Behaved Dog' is the sub-title of a book by a man who has worked with hundreds of clients and their dogs all over Britain and Europe covering a wide spectrum of behaviours from many breeds and difficult situations with varied attitudes from the owners. You will be amazed at how simple and effective Nigel's methods are and every dog owner will want to reach a greater understanding with their dog. Every dog desperately wants to be understood by their human family so that they are able to relax and enjoy their life. Dogs which exhibit a wide range of behavioural problems from pulling on the lead and not listening when called to aggression and nervousness put the human dog relationship under strain. The book is a narrative that reveals the key principals to securing your dog's wellbeing. One side relies on stimulus response training and the other school of thought believes that an understanding of wolf behaviour is critical to understanding a dog's motivation. Once your dog can assess your reactions and trust your decisions, it is reassured about the world around it and your dog's confidence will grow in every situation. We look at techniques to reduce your dog's state of anxiety if it does arise, to reinforce your position as an effective decision maker, and teach your dog self control. This means we need to examine leadership style, management of situations and mindset. The book covers training models, language, issues with food, perceived dangers, dogs that do not get on with each other, attention-seeking behaviours, rough play, separation anxiety, the walk on lead and off lead, obsessive behaviours, toilet issues, children and puppies and managing other people. Packed with new and vital information no matter what age, breed or history of dog. 227pp, paperback.