A guide to transforming found and cherished textiles.

Textile artist Mandy Pattullo shows how to source, refashion and repurpose vintage textiles to create beautiful collages and other unique textile objects. There are ideas for embellishment, stitch and appliqué as well as tips for transforming material into impressive quilts, bags, books, tablecloths, tapestry panels and wall hangings and much more.

Following the make-do-and-mend and folk art traditions of previous generations, Mandy provides simple instructions for working with a variety of vintage textiles and precious fragments. There are projects for working with quilts, patchworks, linen, lace, wool and even deconstructing pre-loved garments.

Each project beautifully demonstrates how fabrics and textiles can find a new and repurposed life and will inspire textile artists to incorporate these past beauties into their own work.

Tips and techniques for spectacular and sustainable gift wrapping

From simple bows and neat corners to Japanese fabric wrapping, this book shows how to wow friends and family with beautifully wrapped gifts while minimising waste.

You will learn how to master the art of wrapping through easy step-by-step instructions of key techniques. There are ideas for creating both simple and intricate designs, all made using materials that are recyclable, reusable and sustainable. Techniques include wrapping with pleats and pockets, using paper bags and how to wrap unusual shaped gifts, such as bottles. A section on Furoshiki, fabric wrapping, shows how to create gift wraps from tea towels and beautiful pieces of fabric. There’s also guidance on ribbons, bows, string, wool and using plants and flowers to create the perfect gift.

Bursting with ideas, this innovative book offers a mindful creative outlet that will both delight friends and family and help save the planet by reducing waste.

A classic Batsford poetry collection, now reissued with a stunning new cover.

This calming anthology of nature poems, with one for every day of the year, is the perfect bedside companion to help you relax and unwind at the end of every day.

Now more than ever we’re in need of a daily fix of the natural world, to comfort and distract us from the cares of everyday life. Keep this beautiful book by your bedside and enjoy a dreamy stroll through nature every evening, just before you go to sleep. All the great, time-honoured poets are here – William Wordsworth, John Keats, Emily Dickinson, Robert Bridges — along with some newer and less well-known poetic voices. The poems reflect and celebrate the changing seasons: read Emily Brontë on bluebells in spring and Edward Thomas’s evocative ‘Adlestrop’ in summer, then experience golden autumn with Hartley Coleridge and get some winter comfort from William Blake’s ‘To Winter’. Beautifully illustrated with scenes from each season, this wonderful book deserves a place on your bedside table for years to come.

An accessible and authoritative companion to the bestselling Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel, published after the third and final book, The Mirror and the Light. 

Wolf Hall Companion gives an historian’s view of what we know about Thomas Cromwell, one of the most powerful men of the Tudor age and the central character in Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy.

Covering the key court and political characters from the books, this companion guide also works as a concise Tudor history primer. Alongside Thomas Cromwell, the author explores characters including Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cranmer, Jane Seymour, Henry VIII, Thomas Howard, Cardinal Wolsey and Richard Fox. The important places in the court of Henry VIII are introduced and put into context, including Hampton Court, the Tower of London, Cromwell’s home Austin Friars, and of course Wolf Hall. The author explores not only the real history of these people and places, but also Hilary Mantel’s interpretation of them.

‘Perfect for dipping into, beautifully written, and great to look at.’ – Birdwatching

‘An ideal reference book for fledgling ornithologists.’ – The Field

The beauty and fascination of birds is unrivalled. Every day of the year, immerse yourself in their world with an entry from A Bird of Day, where Dominic Couzens offers an insight into everything from the humble Robin to Emperor Penguins, who are in the midst of Arctic storms protecting their young on 1 July. Or discover the fate of the Passenger Pigeon which became extinct through overhunting on 1 September 2014. If you ever visit the Himalayan uplands, go in late November when you can see a flock of the cobalt blue Grandala birds, which is one of the wonders of the natural world.

The author is a world expert on birds and particularly bird behaviour and he reveals endless fascinating stories of birds from all over the globe to give a rich tapestry of avian life with stunning photography, illustration and arresting art. All of bird life is covered, from nesting, migration, and courting to birdsong and curious bird behaviour.

From the promiscuous Fairywren of Australia, who gives petals to his mistresses, to the singing instructions of the female Northern Cardinal in North America, this is a delightful dip-in-and-out book for any nature lover.

A celebration of outdoor swimming – looking at the history, design and social aspect of pools.

Few experiences can beat diving into a pool in the fresh air, swimming with blue skies above you. Whether it’s a dip into a busy and bustling city pool on a sweltering summer day, or taking the plunge in icy waters, the lido provides a place of peace in a frenetic world.

The book begins with a history of outdoor pools – their grand beginnings after the buttoned-up Victorian era, their falling popularity in the 20th century, and the newfound appreciation for the outdoor pool, or lido, and outdoor swimming in the 21st century.

Journalist and architectural historian Christopher Beanland picks the very best of the outdoor pools around the world, including the Icebergs Pool on Bondi Beach, Australia; the 137m seawater pool in Vancouver, Canada; Siza’s concrete sea pools in Porto, Portugal; the restored art deco pool in Saltdean, UK, and the pool at the Zollverein Coal Mines in Essen, Germany. The book also features lost lidos and the fascinating history behind the architecture of the pools, along with essays on swimming pools in art, and the importance of pools in Australia. In addition there are interviews with pool users around the globe about why they swim. The book is illustrated throughout with beautiful colour photography, as well as archive photography and advertising.

The companion reissue to The Spirit of London, this classic text from 1934 is still an invaluable aid to understanding England’s cathedrals. It aims to give a brief account, and pictorial review, of each cathedral in England. Simply and concisely written to be read by anyone with an interest in the subject. From mighty York minster, Durham and Canterbury through St Albans to Ripon and  Southwark, all the cathedrals are covered. 

The full list of cathedrals covered are: Bristol, Canterbury, Carlisle, Chester, Chichester, Durham, Ely, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln, London, Norwich, Oxford, Peterborough, Ripon, Rochester, St Albans, Salisbury, Southwark, Southwell, Wells, Winchester, Worcester, York. Also the Parish church cathedrals of Birmingham, Blackburn, Bradford, Chelmsford, Coventry (pre-war building), Derby, Leicester, Manchester, Newcastle, Portsmouth, St Edmundsbury, Sheffield and Wakefield. 

Not only does it have the stunning Brian Cook illustration on the cover (Gloucester Cathedral), but several of Brian’s line drawings are used inside the book. 

A beautiful book to have on any shelf, this is also a practical guide that still works as a reference guide. It should be stocked in all the cathedral shops across England! 

A guide to landscape painting for complete beginners with simple exercises.

Hazel Soan is a hugely successful painter and an outstanding teacher and author of art books, which have introduced the wonders of art to a generation of amateur artists. In this book she teaches you how to get to grips with watercolour landscapes in the space of an afternoon.

The book explores the basics of watercolour landscapes with lots of simple exercises and step-by-step demonstrations that are perfect for beginners. That life-long ambition of painting somewhere that is important to you can become a possibility with the help of this nifty little book.

Topics covered include creating space, composition and focus, light and shadows, colours of the landscape and the mixing of watercolours. Watercolour painting techniques such as painting en plein air, brushwork, creating texture, wet into wet and wet on dry are explained. The book also explores specific landscape themes such as skies, foliage, forests, gardens, seascapes, wilderness, sunsets, urban landscapes, panoramas, sunsets and many more.

A fascinating and nostalgic collection of over 40 wholesome recipes from the Second World War

At a time of shortages and rationing, the British were challenged with providing nutritious meals daily for the family. This pocket-sized compendium of recipes is illustrated with contemporary propaganda notices, photographs and advertisements.

Dishes such as Scotch Broth, Dumplings, Savoury Onions, Corned Beef Rissoles and Coconut Orange Pudding recall the ingenuity and camaraderie of those wartime days.

Look out for more Pitkin Guides on the very best of British history, heritage and travel.

An inspiring guide to creating successful landscapes and seascapes in mixed media, including watercolour, pastels, wax crayons, ink and acrylics.

Mixed media is ever growing in popularity. In this useful and insightful book, artist and teacher Chris Forsey shows how to use this technique to create stunning landscapes and seascapes. The book concentrates on combining water-based media – watercolour, pastels, wax crayons, ink and acrylics – to create an exciting and often unpredictable way to paint. It allows the artist to create textures and effects that can exhilarate the painting surface with unusual serendipitous washes, smears and drifts of colour and tone.

The book encourages readers to experiment with media, wile providing advice, instruction and step-by-step demonstrations to show how to get the best from two, three or four different media working together. The introduction helps the reader determine what they wish to achieve in a painting. The following chapters then goes on to focus on one of the media combinations: wax crayon and watercolour; oil pastel, watercolour and acrylic; oil pastel and acrylics; oil pastel, watercolour, ink and acrylics.

Featuring plenty of step-by-step demonstrations on how to combine the materials, with finished examples of finished paintings. The book offers the reader an array of ways to improve their landscape and seascape painting, taking it to a new level.

Are you longing to know where your favourite scenes in Poldark were filmed? Or discover the secrets behind the derelict mines and perfect, unspoiled beaches? Pitkin’s latest addition to the Film Locations series allows you the inside knowledge to go behind the scenes and follow in the footsteps of Ross and Demelza. Travel back in time and join them along the windswept cliffs, rugged coastline and untouched, pristine beaches. From Padstow to the Lizard peninsula, Cornwall takes centre stage, providing the breath-taking backdrop that brings the series to life.

The latest awarding-winning adaptation of Winston Graham’s Poldark, produced by the BBC, has captured the hearts of millions of viewers worldwide. As the third series returns to our screens this summer, and with a forth series underway, tourists from all over the globe are flocking to the deepest corners of the UK’s southwestern tip. Over the last three years the series has brought the region’s rich heritage back to life, with tales of smugglers, shipwrecks and the secrets of the mines gripping viewer’s imaginations.

Visit the Poldark family mines at Agnes Head or Levant Mine, a World Heritage Site. Gallop along the clifftops of Chapel Porth, and learn of famous shipwrecks at Gunwalloe. If it’s the glistening, azur waters you’re after, don’t miss Holywell Bay, Cornwall’s largest stretch of coastline, which becomes the Warleggans private beach in series two.

Cornwall has been an inspiration for writer’s, film directors and artists alike for centuries, and Eleanor Tomlinson (Demelza) sums up its magic. “So much of the piece came alive when we were filming in Cornwall and everyone found their character in the outdoors."

Britain’s best kept secret is yours to enjoy.