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The best DIY and gardening books

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8 books to inspire your next hobby

The gardens and the people who made them

Chatsworth

Discover Jane Austen's real-life inspiration for Darcy's Pemberley. 
 
Follow Alan into Chatsworth's irresistible world of visionaries, pioneers, heroes, villains and English eccentrics, and celebrate the men and women who have shaped the history of the estate over five centuries. With his passionate knowledge of both the house and gardens, as well as his long-established relationship with the Cavendish family, Alan is the perfect guide with whom to explore the Palace of the Peaks. 
 
Featuring stunning, specially commissioned photography of the gardens and parkland, alongside long-forgotten images and memorabilia newly unearthed in the estate archives, this vivid companion, crowded with character and colour, is a book to treasure and revisit over and over again.

Alan Titchmarsh (Author) Alan Titchmarsh MBE is known to millions through his career as a television presenter of shows including Love Your Weekend, Love Your Garden, Ground Force, Gardeners' World, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and Spring Into Summer. He has written more than forty gardening books, as well as twelve novels and three volumes of memoirs. He was made MBE in the millennium New Year Honours list and holds the Victoria Medal of Honour, the Royal Horticultural Society's highest award. Jonathan Buckley (Author) Jonathan Buckley is an award-winning specialist garden and flower photographer who has been sole photographer on over 30 books, as well as contributing to a wide range of magazines and newspapers worldwide. Awards have included the Garden Media Guild Garden Photographer of the Year, Features Photographer of the Year and Single Image of the Year.

Home to sixteen generations of the Cavendish family over nearly five centuries, Chatsworth has played host to as rich a cast of characters as you are likely to find anywhere in the world. They have been, in turn, loved, reviled, extravagant, parsimonious, reclusive and sociable, but they have all left their mark on the landscape that surrounds their fabled family home, the Palace of the Peaks. 
 
Follow Alan Titchmarsh into this irresistible world of visionaries, mavericks and English eccentrics. 
 
Meet the indomitable Bess of Hardwick and her second husband Sir William Cavendish, who bought the Manor of Chatsworth for £600 in 1549 and built the first house there. Since then, the Estate has evolved with each generation, from the 4th Duke and Lancelot 'Capability' Brown in the 1700s, to the Bachelor Duke and the indefatigable Joseph Paxton the following century. From Andrew and Deborah Devonshire, who inherited an Estate that was on its knees in 1950 and ensured its survival when all seemed lost, to the 12th Duke and Duchess, Stoker and Amanda Devonshire, who have taken the reins since 2004. Alan explores the gardens they created. He discovers the real-life stories behind each horticultural triumph and architectural wonder, and we see how this great house and estate has flourished in all its beauty through changing times 
 
With stunning, specially commissioned photography alongside long-forgotten images and memorabilia newly unearthed in the estate archives, this landmark new book is a glorious way to experience the magic of Chatsworth, past and present, wherever you are.

Alan Titchmarsh's Fill My Stocking

Alan Titchmarsh MBE is known to millions through his career as a television presenter of shows including Love Your Weekend, Love Your Garden, Ground Force, Gardeners' World, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and Spring Into Summer. He has written more than forty gardening books, as well as twelve novels and three volumes of memoirs. He was made MBE in the millennium New Year Honours list and holds the Victoria Medal of Honour, the Royal Horticultural Society's highest award.

A great raconteur and entertainer, Alan Titchmarsh gets together every Christmas with family and friends to celebrate the season and performs much-loved anecdotes, stories, poems and sketches - old and new. 
 
Fill My Stocking combines these well-known favourites with his own self-penned festive pieces, each beautifully illustrated with his own watercolour vignettes. 
 
Collected together for the first time, this is the perfect stocking filler for his legions of fans. 
 
Alan Titchmarsh has presented numerous television programmes including the hugely popular How To Be A Gardener and British Isles: A Natural History. He is also a best-selling writer and novelist.

Lost Skills and Crafts Handbook

In this inspirational and practical guide to country life, passionate and hugely knowledgeable countryman Alan Titchmarsh explores the heritage of rural Britain, its landscapes and wildlife, its traditions, customs and crafts. 
The Lost Skills and Crafts Handbook will help you rediscover your love of the countryside, including: 
 
- a checklist of British butterflies and where to find them 
- how to keep chickens, ducks, goats and sheep 
- how to make soap, candles and your own herbal remedies 
- how to track animals and forage for food 
- essential knot tying 
- how to build a campfire without matches 
- how to create a kitchen garden 
- the origins of country superstitions 
 
And much more. With beautiful line art illustrations throughout, this compendium of the British countryside and its delights will be an essential read for any nature lover in your life.

Grow your Own Fruit and Veg

In these turbulent times, Britain is rediscovering a passion for gardening and home produce - and the nation's favourite gardener is here to provide the definitive book on the subject. 
 
Alan Titchmarsh's comprehensive guide will tell you everything you need to know about fruit and veg and how to grow it, from herbs, baby veg, salads, and every-day fruits to gourmet and unusual varieties. As well as providing the key facts needed to yield good results and what to do when things go wrong, the text is sprinkled with Alan's personal observations, anecdotes, culinary tips and quirky historical uses. 
 
Alan's practical approach starts from scratch for those who've never grown their own before, but is also ideal for those with some experience who might be growing edibles in a new way - perhaps in a small space that needs to look attractive, or on a new allotment. Lavishly illustrated throughout, Grow Your Own Fruit and Veg offers inspiration, in-depth knowledge and practical advice, whether you are looking to be self-sufficient or just to grow a few items on your patio or window box. 
 
Originally published as The Kitchen Gardener: Grow Your Own Fruit and Veg

Alan Titchmarsh the Gardener's Year

Bestselling author Alan Titchmarsh brings us the definitive guide to gardening throughout the year.

Gives brilliant hints and advice to the beginner and the experienced gardener alike... As stunning as you would expect from a BBC publication

No cheesy makeovers, no outrageous fantasy gardens, this is the real garden. What to do, when to do it, how to do it, all clearly explained and lavishly photographed... Any gardener will be digging  into this one all year round

The Gardener's Year is not about quick fixes, design makeovers or hard drudge, but simply about knowing what you should be doing in your garden, when, and why. 
 
Month by month Alan gives us the low-down on garden maintenance enabling you to keep your garden looking its best all year round. In-depth and packed full of useful gardening tips, it includes advice on everything from what seeds you can plant out in your vegetable plot in May, to how to keep your hanging baskets looking stunning in September.

The Complete How To Be A Gardener

The complete edition of the million-selling gardening series

Whether you're a complete beginner or a keen gardener, there are always times when it helps to have a reliable expert at your side. In The Complete How to be a Gardener, Alan Titchmarsh draws on his extensive knowledge and experience to give you a comprehensive guide to becoming a successful gardener. 
 
 Alan starts with the fundamentals, covering the absolute essentials that every gardener needs to know, including information on how plants work and what they need to survive, as well as where to begin if you're a first-time gardener. Each chapter includes practical advice and step-by-step techniques and projects, as well as information on garden maintenance and a host of Alan's favourite plants to help you in your selection. 
 
 With its perfect balance of down-to-earth information and inspirational garden ideas, this complete paperback edition of How to be a Gardener gets to the very heart of gardening and provides a comprehensive reference manual for any garden owner.

P.G. Wodehouse

Frank Skinner

Roddy Doyle

Alan Titchmarsh

Dominic Sandbrook

Deborah Frances-White

Andrew Hunter Murray

Scarlett Curtis

Jasper Fforde

John Finnemore

Ian Moore

William Rayfet Hunter

Fergus Craig

A multi-voiced tribute to a literary great . . . jolly good fun

The funniest writer to ever put words to paper

He has made a world for us to live in and delight in

Wodehouse is the greatest comic writer ever

Paper has rarely been put to better use than printing Wodehouse

For as long as I'm immersed in a P.G. Wodehouse book, it's possible to keep the real world at bay and live in a far, far nicer one where happy endings are the order of the day

Incomparable and timeless genius - perfect for readers of all ages, shapes and sizes!

I'm not sure I can entirely like or trust anyone who doesn't love Jeeves and Wooster

Twelve New Stories

'FULL OF FIZZ AND VARIETY' Sunday Times 
 
'JOLLY GOOD FUN' i Paper 
 
FEATURING HUGE NAMES FROM LITERATURE, COMEDY AND BEYOND - INCLUDING RODDY DOYLE, FRANK SKINNER AND ALAN TITCHMARSH - THIS ANTHOLOGY OF STORIES REIMAGINES JEEVES AND WOOSTER THROUGH FRESH EYES. 
 
The irrepressible duo first appeared on the page in 1915, coming to feature in more than 35 short stories and eleven novels over the course of Wodehouse’s lifetime. 
 
Each story in this new collection offers a delightful and original reimagining of the incomparable Bertie Wooster and his gentleman’s gentleman – seeing them journey to the horse races in Paris, solve puzzles at a wartime Bletchley Park, and even transported forward in time to the year 2025. 
<ul><li>Frank Skinner</li><li>Roddy Doyle</li><li>Alan Titchmarsh</li><li>Dominic Sandbrook</li><li>Deborah Frances-White</li><li>Andrew Hunter Murray</li><li>Scarlett Curtis</li><li>Jasper Fforde</li><li>John Finnemore</li><li>Ian Moore</li><li>William Rayfet Hunter</li><li>Fergus Craig</li></ul> 
JEEVES AGAIN is a joyful celebration of Wodehouse as a much-beloved British literary icon – as well as a timely and entertaining reminder of the lasting impact of his characters on a whole new generation of readers and writers. 
 
*** 
 
HEAR FROM THE WRITERS . . . 
 
'A Wodehouse book is a journey into joy.' RODDY DOYLE, Booker Prize-winning author of PADDY CLARKE HA HA HA 
 
'Anybody who has even a vague interest in good writing should read Wodehouse.' DOMINIC SANDBROOK, author and co-host of THE REST IS HISTORY 
 
'I simply adore Wodehouse.' ALAN TITCHMARSH MBE, broadcaster and writer 
 
'To stumble into the world of Wodehouse is like sinking into a warm bath.' SCARLETT CURTIS, Sunday Times bestselling author of FEMINISTS DON'T WEAR PINK (AND OTHER LIES) 
 
'What Wodehouse is still today, just as much as ever, is funny.' JOHN FINNEMORE, creator of CABIN PRESSURE

Alan Titchmarsh

Praise for Jeeves Again

Reviews for JEEVES AGAIN

Full of fizz and variety

A multi-voiced tribute to a literary great . . . jolly good fun

Reviews for JEEVES AGAIN

Full of fizz and variety

A multi-voiced tribute to a literary great . . . jolly good fun

Reviews for JEEVES AGAIN

Full of fizz and variety

A multi-voiced tribute to a literary great . . . jolly good fun

Books by Alan Titchmarsh

Series by Alan Titchmarsh

How to Garden

Articles featuring Alan Titchmarsh

Beautiful coffee table books

The best DIY and gardening books

8 books to inspire your next hobby

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