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Have you ever wondered about the value of those dusty old heirlooms in your attic? Do you want to learn how to sell them at auction? Or perhaps you’d like to know how to pick up a bargain at auction? In Buying and Selling Antiques at Auction, TV antiques expert John Cameron explains the entire process for both buyers and sellers, breaking it down into simple steps so that anyone can take part in an auction with confidence.

John joined the popular BBC1 programme, ‘Cash In The Attic’ as an ‘Expert Presenter’ in 2004. His appearances in series 5 were well received and he has remained with the show having recently completed filming series 10. During this time he has co-presented with Ben Fogle, Alistair Appleton, Jenny Bond, Lorne Spicer and Angus Purden.

This audiobook is based on the DVD of the same name.

A collection of mysterious and fascinating stories about Dragons, told in a unique and original way by storyteller Clare Viner. The stories Clare tells are never written down, so they are never fixed. Each telling is new and spontaneous – like Chinese whispers the stories change a little each time they are told. Things get forgotten and new bits added in; this is the real magic of storytelling, like the breath that tells the tales, the stories themselves are alive, they cannot be pinned like butterflies. So the tales you hear sparkle with spontaneity – like life they are exquisite and unpolished. Listen to them once or twice then recreate them yourself. Let the story change and come alive again, on the pulse of your breath.

The Laidely Worm of Spindlestone High
Clare has re-interpreted this old legend from Nothumbria.
In many early myths the Goddess is represented as an old, wise and very powerful hag – and as a young, fertile maiden. Over time, in stories, the hag has been shown as ‘evil’ – her great wisdom and power being feared. In this story Clare portrays her as a loving initiator, who knows she must teach her daughter – in order for her to survive…

The Gurt Worm of Shervidge Forest
A re-working of an old Somerset legend. In this story, a forest is guarded by a huge fire breathing Dragon. Only one little old lady is allowed into the forest through an archway of Rowan trees and she becomes the Dragon’s best friend. There is a sad ending to this story but it teaches us that the magic of the Dragon and the Rowan tree are for protection.

A collection of mysterious and fascinating stories about Fairies, told in a unique and original way by storyteller Clare Viner. The stories Clare tells are never written down, so they are never fixed. Each telling is new and spontaneous – like Chinese whispers the stories change a little each time they are told. Things get forgotten and new bits added in; this is the real magic of storytelling, like the breath that tells the tales, the stories themselves are alive, they cannot be pinned like butterflies. So the tales you hear sparkle with spontaneity – like life they are exquisite and unpolished. Listen to them once or twice then recreate them yourself. Let the story change and come alive again, on the pulse of your breath.

The Magic Cooking Pot
An old Scottish folktale. If you had a magic pot that gave you any food you wanted, what would you choose? And would you mind if the fairy folk came skipping into your house every evening and morning to collect it? This is the tale of one man who did mind…

Mossy Coat
This is an old Gypsy story collected in Northumberland. As you listen to the story you will find that about half way through…you start to recognise the tale. It is a story that you will have heard before, a well loved fairy tale, but never quite like this!

Abraham Stocker and the Pixies
A mysterious and eerie tale of the pixies scorned. The story was originally written in Somerset dialect and had been collected from a local man on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset.

A collection of mysterious and fascinating stories about Trees, told in a unique and original way by storyteller Clare Viner. The stories Clare tells are never written down, so they are never fixed. Each telling is new and spontaneous – like Chinese whispers the stories change a little each time they are told. Things get forgotten and new bits added in; this is the real magic of storytelling, like the breath that tells the tales, the stories themselves are alive, they cannot be pinned like butterflies. So the tales you hear sparkle with spontaneity – like life they are exquisite and unpolished. Listen to them once or twice then recreate them yourself. Let the story change and come alive again, on the pulse of your breath.

Bethuska and the Silver Birch Tree
Based on a Czech folk tale, this is the story of a little girl called Bethuska. All her life Bethuska has been desperately poor but one day, while she is up in the silver birch tree grove, she meets a mysterious fairy woman who will change her life forever…

The Apple Maiden
This is a Celtic legend from Ireland. It is often told as a great tragedy but the angle has been changed a little, to suggest that the kings son may have been happy with his fate…
Next time you eat an apple cut it in half horizontally – this will reveal a star shape inside the apple, an ancient symbol of the fairy-folk.

The Elder Tree
This is a story created by Clare, using traditional folklore and herbal knowledge.
There is a tall, silver woman who lives in the Elder tree. She is a wise woman and can heal many troubles – but be sure to ask her permission before cutting her wood, or, like the family in this story, she might just pay you a visit…

In this irreverent traveller’s tale, two twenty twenty-something trouble magnets wreak havoc across South-east Asia as they struggle to escape the beaten path. From a bizarre encounter with a Xena-obsessed hotel clerk in Thailand to a stoned flight on a crumbling Russian plane in Laos, Tamara Sheward takes a wayward journey through the underbelly of South-east Asia so often ignored by traditional travel writers. Peppered with swindlers, drunkards and uber-hippies, Bad Karma puts backpacker culture through the wringer.

This guide is designed to help cooks of every ability through the confusing minefield of culinary terms from around the world.

I arise from dreams of thee
In the first sweet sleep of night,
When the winds are breathing low,
And the stars are shining bright.
I arise from dreams of thee,
And a spirit in my feet
Hath led me – who knows how? – 
To thy window chamber, Sweet!

Percy Bysshe Shelley


 


The best love poetry is passionate and timeless, expressing our deepest feelings and strongest desires with grace and emotion. Ranging from Sappho, Chaucer and Shakespeare through to Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti, this elegantly illustrated anthology presents a selection of moving and enduring poems that speak straight to the heart.

Say bye-bye to boredom!

School’s out – a time that many parents dread. How is it possible to keep kids from staring at screens or complaining there is nothing to do all day? This survival guide is here to help. It’s packed with brilliant and inexpensive activities to engage young minds and create awesome memories. From outdoor pursuits to indoor amusements, solo crafting to group games, there’s inspiration in these pages to get you through the lockdown.

Designed to boost your confidence with the opposite sex, this book contains tips and advice to help chat-up women.

Joy is all around us. It’s in the first sip of a cup of tea, the beauty of a sunrise, or the simple pleasure of a deep breath, and it’s easy to find when you know where to look. All you need is five minutes.

This book includes over 60 prompts and ideas to help you to find joy every single day. Taking you through your morning, your afternoon and your evening, these tips will help you to elevate your mood and liven up your routine – and each one takes no longer than five minutes.

Tips include:

– Setting an intention for your day
– Performing a small act of kindness
– Eating outdoors in the fresh air
– Trying a grounding ritual
Even the smallest moment of positivity can transform your outlook, so whether you follow one tip or many, you’re sure to lift your spirits and find a small oasis of happiness every day.

Say yes to new adventures! This beautiful book is brimming with tips, recipes, activities and more to help you plan your perfect trip and discover the joys of camping in the great outdoors.

Camping is one of life’s purest pleasures. It’s a way to escape the frantic pace of the everyday, to get back to nature and to discover new experiences – and nothing comes close to the joy of sleeping under the stars.

Packed with ideas for first-time campers and seasoned experts alike, this book is sure to inspire your next trip and help you create memories to last a lifetime. Within these pages you will find:
– Handy camping hacks
– Delicious recipes
– Foraging tips
– Bushcraft basics
– Wild camping advice
– Inspiration for your travel bucket-list

… And much more! Whether you’re seeking a relaxing natural getaway or an intrepid wilderness adventure, the great outdoors is waiting for you. So, pack your bag, pick up your tent and go camping!

The popular party game we all know and love is just about to get a lot more interesting!

Strictly for over 18s, Adult Charades is bulging with hilarious ideas for TV shows, films, books, songs and much, much more, for you and your friends to act out in all their glorious detail.

With content including ‘Die Hard’ and a ‘Slow Comfortable Screw’ cocktail, you’re certain to be in stitches with this compendium of saucy and innuendo-laden suggestions!

From bathing rituals and sleep yoga to solitude and mental relaxation, discover the restorative power of rest and sleep with this beautiful little book

When was the last time you truly felt well-rested? Perhaps it’s hard even to remember. With so many demands on our energy, modern life can make it challenging to devote enough time to resting. However, it can be just as important as diet and exercise to our overall sense of well-being.

This little book will help you find ways to bring more rest into your life. It’s filled with practical tips and simple ideas, including:
– Different kinds of rest, and which kind your body may need
– Techniques to allow your mind and body to take a break
– Sleep self-care to help you fall asleep and sleep well
When you know how to get the most from your down-time, you can step back into your day-to-day life feeling revitalized, refreshed and reconnected to the best version of you.

This beautifully illustrated guide contains specific month-by-month ‘to do’ lists for ornamental gardens, edible crops and general maintenance, as well as tips on things to look out for, such as pests and how to eliminate them. With diary pages for making your own notes each month, this pocket-sized calendar is a must-have whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just starting out. Pippa Greenwood is a leading light in the world of horticulture. She was a presenter on BBC Two’s Gardeners’ World for over 13 years and the gardening consultant for Rosemary and Thyme. She is a regular panellist and bug expert on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, has written a number of award-winning books and contributes to BBC Gardeners’ World magazine.

There is a moment every morning when the countryside takes a pause. The birds stop singing, the dogs choke back their barks, and cats pause mid-stride. Everything waits. It’s in this vacuum that a man working alone has the best chance of finding truffles. The plot of land was perfect, just what they’d been looking for, offering expansive views across the valley and within walking distance of the local village. There was only one small problem, there was no house. And yet the land was affordable and came, the agent promised, with a possible income from a copse of truffle oaks. Just after the birth of their first daughter, after leaving the London rat race behind, here was a chance for Jamie and his wife to finally realise their dream of owning a property. With one final salivating glance at the oak trees the decision was made. All they needed now was a dog. And their quest to find and train a truffle dog turns out to be as full of hidden discoveries as a truffle hunt itself.

With delicious humour and superb storytelling, Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog is sure to delight anyone who loves dogs, food and rural France.

This charming compilation of 40 of the best-loved traditional nursery rhymes offers clues as to their true meanings and often surprising origins.

Many of the catchy songs we grew up with were not nonsense verses for the playground but served as satirical commentaries on political events of the day. These seemingly innocent vehicles were once used to spread subversive messages at a time when illiteracy was commonplace in society and direct criticism of the authorities was punishable by prison or death.

Sing a Song of Sixpence, a Pocketful of Rye, Four and Twenty Blackbirds Baked in a Pie… Was this simply about a delicacy of the day? Or was it, as some claim, a coded message used to recruit members for Blackbeard’s pirate ships?

This humorously illustrated book offers a trip down memory lane and some fascinating food for thought for anyone interested in English history and language.

Designed for the inept armchair gardener, this title gently guides the reader month by month through the seasons, showing what are weeds and what are not (even if the weeds are pretty), how to dig holes, and how to squish unwanted insects. You too can create a tranquil haven in your own backyard that you’ll be too exhausted to appreciate.

The English tongue has never tasted more delicious than in the mouth of Stephen Fry: his chokingly brilliant sesquipedalian prose is like a shaft of sunlight through the drizzle of quotidian language. Now, with this bound monograph, we can all emit a similarly exquisite effulgence and enjoy the bright shaft of Stephen Fry locution in the privacy of our own smallest pavilion. May his shaft continue to pleasure us for many years to come. After all, what could be fluffier?

There was someone standing further along the beach, facing out to sea. An old man dressed in… I blinked… battle fatigues? Second World War U.S. by the looks of the helmet. I looked on for a moment, squinting into the sun-streaked coconut smoke.

‘You won’t like Bonga’s Guest House, I can tell you now. Maximo Bonga…’
said the fisherman’s wife. She was lost for words, shaking her head.

‘Maximum Bongo?’ I asked.

‘Bonga,’ she said. ‘It means flamboyant.’

Based on a true story

On one of South East Asia’s most remote beaches, a young woman’s body is found. The corrupt local police think they have found the perfect fall guy in Maximo Bonga – cantankerous World War Two veteran and owner of the weirdest guesthouse in town.

But unbeknownst to them, an unlikely friendship has been forged between Maximo and John, one of the boarders of Maximo’s guest-house-cum-boot-camp, where an old machine gun and camouflaged mantraps stand guard, sandbags form fences and a tyrannical pet rooster terrorises the guests. Along with an eccentric bunch of modern-world rejects, John sets out to defend the old soldier in a kangaroo court set up at the local cockpit, in a paradise like no other.

‘Brussels and all those Eurocrats on the gravy train? It’s just so boring. Why, you can’t even name ten famous Belgians!’

Until 1993, Alec had never been to Belgium, so it came as some surprise when in August that year he found himself at the altar of a small church in Flanders, reciting wedding vows in Flemish. It was the start, for better or for worse, of a long relationship with this unassuming and much maligned little country.

As he ordered yet another pint of Stella, it dawned on him that perhaps it was time to immerse himself in Belgian culture, especially when there were over a hundred locally produced beers on the menu. He vowed to put worldwide opinion to the test: just how boring can Belgium be?

Did you know that up to one in five people in the UK suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)?

Are you one of them?

In this easy-to-follow book, Wendy Green explains how diet, food intolerances, gut infections and bacterial imbalance, stress and hormones can contribute to IBS and offers practical advice and a holistic approach to help you deal with the symptoms, including simple dietary and lifestyle changes and DIY complementary therapies.

Find out 50 things you can do today to help you cope with IBS including:

• Identify your IBS triggers and learn how to manage them
• Choose beneficial foods and supplements
• Manage stress and relax to reduce flare-ups
• Learn which types of exercise can help to relieve symptoms
• Find helpful organisations and products

night. It was around midnight and we strained our ears to hear, hardly daring to breathe. And there it was a kind of crunch, crunch, crunching sound.’

John’s life as a travelling brocanteur (antiques dealer) in rural France is decidedly less colourful as his unscrupulous yet affable partner in crime, Serge Bastarde, marries and decamps to Martinique. But, like a bad penny, Serge returns, his personal life in tatters. What follows is a madcap adventure which sees John being coerced into striking deals with the Romanian ‘mafia¡’, re-roofing a huge Basque house and getting trapped in a skip in the dead of night, while Serge rides an emotional roller coaster.

Serge may be as faux as some of his antiques but, with John’s help, he eventually strikes gold in this laugh-out-loud romp.

This book will help you save money, buy less and do your bit for the environment – just through loving your leftovers! It’s your essential guide to shopping smarter and making meals that go the extra mile.

Trying to be more sustainable and eco-friendly in the kitchen may seem like a daunting task, but with a little bit of help and encouragement you can dramatically reduce your food waste. Not only does this help your budget, as you don’t have to buy so much food, but it can also help to save the planet – because when you’re using up your leftovers rather than throwing them away, you reduce your carbon footprint.

The Zero-Waste Kitchen includes:
– Meal-planning hacks
– Simple ways to store your food for maximum freshness
– Ideas for growing vegetables and fruit from the scraps you usually throw away
– An A-Z guide to common leftovers and how they can be used in the kitchen and beyond
– Easy-to-follow recipes for using up ingredients that tend to go to waste
And much, much more!