Gardens would be far less calming & enchanting without the cheerful singing of birds. But how can you tell just which birds you have visiting your garden? With this expert handbook you will soon be able to recognise their songs understand their behaviour & appreciate their wonderful plumage. Packed with interesting facts & beautiful illustrations this authoritative guide will help you to appreciate the birds you see every day in your garden. ...

Haynes moves into the garden with this step-by-step guide to constructing an imaginative variety of outdoor buildings including sheds greenhouses pergolas decking & even homes for dogs rabbits & birds. Containing clear colour photographs & detailed plans & diagrams this attractively presented manual will show you how to design plan & construct your own garden buildings along with advice on the tools & materials needed for each job. Discover the enormous satisfaction to be had from creating your own garden buildings that will last for years. ...

Challenged to prove her claim that an 18th-century diet was better than todays for a full year Fiona J Houston recreated the lifestyle of her 1790s rural Scottish ancestors in a basic one-roomed cottage cooking from her garden & the wild often entertaining family & friends & surviving on her own resources. She learned lost crafts & skills making nettle string quill pens & ink as well as cheese & ale lighting her fire from flints & dressing in h&-sewn period clothing with nothing but an old range stove & candles for warmth & light. This beautiful quirky illustrated title tells her extraordinary story & is packed with historical anecdotes folklore practical gardening info seasonal menus recipes wildlife notes & more.

Includes:: linocuts photos & historic engravings.

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The complete guide to choosing fitting & maintaining all the non-living things in the garden with step-by-step advice on everything you could build or use in your garden: Walls fences & gates. Paths drives & patios. Ponds bird baths & bird tables. Pergolas & garden lighting. Barbecues & play areas. Greenhouses & garden storage. Choosing the right materials & tools for the job. How to maintain & repair garden structures. ...

Winner of the National Trust Outdoor Book of the Year 2011 The story of one mans unlikely quest to create out of a mountainous Welsh landscape a garden fit for inclusion in the prestigious Yellow Book -- the Gardens of England & Wales Open for Charity guide -- in just one year. The son of two passionate gardeners Antony Woodward was born with chlorophyll running through his veins. Unfortunately growing up with Latin plant names took its toll & he was ingrained early on with a profound loathing of both gardens & gardening. Buying Tair-ffynnon a derelict smallholding 1 300 feet up in the Black Mountains of Wales changed everything. Hooked by its beauty -- when not buried in cloud -- Woodward battles to meet the strict requirements of the famous Yellow Book in this unlikely terrain. He finds himself driven by apparently inexplicable compulsions: wood chopping hauling a 20-tonne railway carriage up a mountain even beekeeping. Soon his voyage along the rocky path to his own patch of paradise takes on a more personal tenor as he unearths the deep roots linking gardening & his childhood in this warm funny & unlikely memoir. Beautifully written & effortlessly engaging The Garden in the Clouds is a compelling read for anyone who has ever gardened -- or ever dreamt of doing so. ...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2012. Malaya 1949. After studying law at Cambrige & time spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals Yun Ling Teoh herself the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya where she grew up as a child. There she discovers Yugiri the only Japanese garden in Malaya & its owner & creator the enigmatic Aritomo exiled former gardener of the Emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in Kuala Lumpur in memory of her sister who died in the camp. Aritomo refuses but agrees to accept Yun Ling as his apprentice 'until the monsoon comes'. Then she can design a garden for herself. As the months pass Yun Ling finds herself intimately drawn to her sensei & his art while outside the garden the threat of murder & kidnapping from the guerrillas of the jungle hinterland increases with each passing day. But the Garden of Evening Mists is also a place of mystery. Who is Aritomo & how did he come to leave Japan? Why is it that Yun Ling's friend & host Magnus Praetorius seems to almost immune from the depredations of the Communists? What is the legend of ' Yamashita's Gold' & does it have any basis in fact? & is the real story of how Yun Ling managed to survive the war perhaps the darkest secret of all? ...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2012. Malaya 1949. After studying law at Cambrige & time spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals Yun Ling Teoh herself the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya where she grew up as a child. There she discovers Yugiri the only Japanese garden in Malaya & its owner & creator the enigmatic Aritomo exiled former gardener of the Emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in Kuala Lumpur in memory of her sister who died in the camp. Aritomo refuses but agrees to accept Yun Ling as his apprentice until the monsoon comes. Then she can design a garden for herself. As the months pass Yun Ling finds herself intimately drawn to her sensei & his art while outside the garden the threat of murder & kidnapping from the guerrillas of the jungle hinterland increases with each passing day. But the Garden of Evening Mists is also a place of mystery. Who is Aritomo & how did he come to leave Japan? Why is it that Yun Lings friend & host Magnus Praetorius seems to almost immune from the depredations of the Communists? What is the legend of Yamashitas Gold & does it have any basis in fact? & is the real story of how Yun Ling managed to survive the war perhaps the darkest secret of all? ...

This is the International Bestseller. It is the winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize 2012. It is the winner of the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction 2013. It is shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012. With ravishing sensuousness it conjures up the lush landscapes & tea estates of Malaya during the 1950s Emergency...A haunting novel about memory". (Sunday Times Books of the Year). In the highlands of Malaya a woman sets out to build a memorial to her sister killed at the hands of the Japanese during the brutal Occupation of their country. Yun Ling's quest leads her to The Garden of Evening Mists & to Aritomo a man of extraordinary skill & reputation once the gardener of the Emperor of Japan. When she accepts his offer to become his apprentice she begins a journey into her past inextricably linked with the secrets of her troubled country's history." ...

The picture possessed a frightful beauty one which burned so brightly that once witnessed could never be unseen.. . Even the presence of two corpses one clearly murdered the other dead through strange & suspicious circumstances did nothing to distract their attention from the canvas.. . In a hidden studio in an area of Rome where the Vatican liked to keep an eye on the citys prostitutes an art expert from the Louvre is found dead in front of one of the most beautiful paintings that Nic Costa has ever seen -- an unknown Caravaggio masterpiece. But before long tragedy will strike Nic far closer to home. The main suspects identity is known but he remains untouchable -- protected in his grand palazzo by a fleet of lawyers & a sinister cult known as the Ekstasists. If Costa & his team can crack the reasons for the cults existence he may well stand a chance of nailing the double-killer. But the mystery will take him right back to Caravaggio himself & the reasons he had to flee Rome all those centuries before.. . ...

The prequel to the compelling saga that began with ' Flowers in the Attic' repackaged for a new generation of fans. THEIR DARKEST SECRETS WOULD TURN TO SHAME & HAUNT THEIR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN. Olivia Winfield's hopes blossomed when the dashing Malcolm Foxworth asked her to marry him. But her hopes withered like flowers in the scorching sun when his true nature was revealed. Foxworth Hall the beautiful home that should have given them so much happiness became like a prison to her with Malcolm the cruellest of jailers. Suddenly unexpectedly the hand of friendship was offered to Olivia when Alicia her father-in-law's new young bride came to Foxworth Hall. The two women were unlikely companions but soon the laughter of their youth filled the gloomy place. Yet over them both loomed the shadow of Malcolm whose dark desires were to sow the seeds of a shocking secret that would lead in time to a darkened locked attic room... ...