One small household habit that can help keep outdoor dirt where it belongs, make cleaning easier and give your home a rather lovely sense of calm. There’s something…
Simple, time-honoured ideas for slowing down, finding balance and bringing a little more wellbeing into everyday life. There’s something rather comforting about the idea that looking after ourselves…
There’s something about autumn that makes a bowl of homemade soup particularly appealing. Perhaps it’s the cooler mornings, the golden leaves gathering along the garden path or the…
I have a candle I haven’t lit. This isn’t because I don’t like it. Quite the opposite. It’s a particularly lovely candle. It smells wonderful, came in a…
Sometimes you don’t need a book that’s going to change your life. You don’t need 400 pages explaining how to become more productive, wake up at 5am, transform…
From jewel-bright rosehips and inky sloes to sweet chestnuts hidden beneath the leaves, October is one of the richest months in the British foraging calendar. “Season of mists…
October is the month when the kitchen changes gear. September still has one foot in summer. There might be tomatoes hanging on, a few late courgettes appearing with…
October has a habit of sneaking up on us. One minute we’re clinging optimistically to September, wondering whether it’s too soon to put the sandals away, and the…
There is something about an autumn walk that feels different. Perhaps it’s the light. That low, golden light that catches the edges of leaves and makes even the…
As September draws towards its close, one of autumn’s oldest spectacles is waiting just beyond the hedgerows. Tonight, the Harvest Moon rises — a familiar light that has…
There is something about September that makes me want to buy a new notebook. I haven’t needed a pencil case for years. There are no children to deposit…
There’s a moment in September when you realise summer has quietly slipped away. It’s rarely dramatic. There’s no great fanfare. You might notice it while making the first…
There comes a point in life when you realise you can no longer treat your body like a hire car. Drive it hard. Ignore the warning lights. Assume…
There are breakfasts that arrive with a certain amount of ceremony. Eggs Benedict demands its hollandaise. A full English requires several pans, reasonable timing and, ideally, somebody else…
September is a month for looking into hedgerows. The extravagant greens of summer are beginning to soften, seed heads have replaced many of the flowers and, here and…
There is something rather generous about September. Summer has not quite packed its bags. Tomatoes are still warm from the greenhouse, runner beans continue to appear almost as…
There is something rather lovely about the first properly warm day of summer. Doors stand open, washing dries in no time and lunch can be eaten in the…
There is a quiet sort of happiness that often slips past unnoticed. It isn’t found in expensive holidays, winning the lottery or waiting for life to become perfect….
There is a curious idea that seems to have taken root over the past few years. Somehow, self-care has become wrapped in expensive candles, luxury retreats, skincare routines…
There comes a moment in life when something rather unexpected happens. You stop worrying quite so much about what everyone else thinks. It’s not dramatic. There isn’t a…
There was a time when people knew what month it was without needing to glance at a calendar. The blossom told them. So did the swallows returning to…
Food shopping has become something of an adventure. You wander into the supermarket intending to buy milk, bread and a few vegetables, only to emerge an hour later…
There is a particular sort of comfort that begins long before the first mouthful. It starts with the gentle clatter of a wooden spoon against a saucepan, the…
There was a time when people knew the names of everyone who lived along their street. They borrowed cups of sugar without embarrassment, looked after one another’s children,…