The illustrated biography of a Scottish country house, set beside the River Clyde, and of the people who made it their home over the past 850 years Written by four brothers, their sister and the eldest member of the next generation, Finlaystone offers an insidersa view of the house, its beautiful gardens and the surrounding estate. They tell about the lives of its former owners, many of whom played prominent roles in Scottish military, political, religious and cultural affairs. As Scotland moved forward from centuries of feuds between large feudal landowners to the reformation, the age of enlightenment and the industrial revolution, the building evolved from a fortress to a modest but attractive family home in 1746. Its present form as an imposing late Victorian mansion dates from when it was modernised and extended in 1900 by George Jardine Kidston, the great-grandfather of the older authors, who had grown wealthy from running one of the worlda s earliest steamship companies. In its hey-day, Finlaystone was managed for the comfort and leisure of its owners by a bevy of household servants living in a wing of the house, and by an army of workers, including gardeners, foresters, game-keepers, joiners and a laundry-maid. The prosperity that had made such a lavish life possible, however, soon started to decline, with George Kidstona s death in 1909, followed just 5 years later by war, the economic depression in the 1930s, and then World War II. Unlike many other large country houses, Finlaystone remains a family home, kept afloat largely by the hard work and adaptability of the members of the family who reflect in this book on the joys and travails that this implied.

A beginners' guide to growing wild food in pots, making foraging easy.

The Flowerpot Forager details 30 wild edible plants that can be grown at home in containers with as much effort as you'd put into your tending your herb pot from the supermarket, plus a very simple recipe or two on how to use them—think pink clover lemonade, water mint pesto and dandelion salad. Foraging is a perennially aspirational hobby for gardeners and cooks alike, but it's now entering the mainstream; from supermarkets stocking wild garlic to Fever Tree spiking their tonics with elderflower, wild food is everywhere.

Historically, location has hampered the accessibility of foraging—if you don't live near a wood, riverbed or meadow, it can be difficult to find those lusted-after ingredients in cookbooks and on TV shows. But The Flowerpot Forager is here to solve that.