** An accompanying journal to the original & bestselling Almanacs by Lia Leendertz.** The Almanac Journal is a place for you to create your own personal almanac, starting and ending at any point in the year. This is a space to write down all of the things you notice about the year's turning, and your own reactions to it. There are pages where you can note all of the firsts: first swift, first rose, first frost; a place to squirrel away your favourite foraging locations - and to jot down the recipes you create from them. There are also pages for pressed flowers and seaweeds, sketches and pictures, feathers and drying leaves. Make it your own. Lia Leendertz is an award-winning garden and food writer, her reinvention of the traditional rural almanac has become an annual must-have for readers eager to connect with the seasons, appreciate the outdoors and discover ways to mark and celebrate each month. PRAISE FOR THE ALMANACS 'Indispensable' - Sir Bob Geldof 'The perfect companion to the seasons' - India Knight 'This book is your bible' - the Independent 'An ideal stocking filler' - The English Garden 'I love this gem of a book' - Cerys Matthews

This book is the story of one garden and one family, over a 40-year time period. In their own words, Michael and Anne Heseltine describe the ups and downs of how they set about transforming and expanding a wild, overgrown and often dilapidated woodland into the magnificent garden they have today. Today, the garden at Thenford has an arboretum which contains more than 3,500 different species of trees and shrubs, including rare plants which were wild-collected by well known plantsmen including Roy Lancaster OBE, Allen Coombes, Keith Rushforth and Chris Chadwell. It is also well-known for its sculpture garden, which has an eclectic collection of work ranging from a white marble Tazza fountain to an enormous statue of Lenin. Beautifully illustrated with both professional photographs and private family images, this personal story of the creation of an extraordinary garden will delight horticultural experts and novices alike.