However much fun it may be to obtain pictures, or whatever, from sympathetic galleries and dealers, it is even more rewarding to have them direct from the artist. A fantasy version of this sort of transaction could involve paintings torn, still dripping with paint,...

Although, of course, I complete the printing of each of our books there and then (and it cannot be reprinted), the binding of the folded and collated sheets is done in batches. We might start off by binding half the edition and, if the book catches many eyes, we might...

Sunday evening. I've had a good day in the printing office, enjoying the advantages of its stone walls and cave-like feeling as the temperatures here creep up the dizzy 20s! All sorts of things I should do this evening, I am sure, but I just thought I would indulge...

If you have been here before, you may remember the above photograph, a plant of rich and velvety lushness that had just turned up in one of our 'pots'. A Mullein of course. Later it was seen to contain at its heart a diamond of great beauty which I also tried to...

Frances says (!) It may seem, to some readers of this blog, as though we spend all our time wafting about in meadows filled with cow parsley, cornflowers and apple blossom but here are some dates when we leave the sunny slopes and head off to places where our books...

This post is not designed to generate lots of late birthday cards or even good wishes for this particular day . . . for I prefer to think of every day as special. It is rather me rejoicing yet again that I was born at this, the most beautiful, time of year. My mother...

Here is a book which I not only objectively admire but which gives me tingles down the spine when I turn its pages. I love sharing the joys of it with friends, not least because the tiny 'run' means that there will not be many other copies around. It was all a matter...

. . . I waste your time with this damn plant BUT, five days after the last photo was posted, the extraordinary sheath-like thing (with another on the way, as you can see) has opened to reveal what would be a bit over the top as a Christmas decoration! I promise that...

I am truly ashamed at having let so much time pass by since my last post BUT it does offer us the possibility of this piece of 'time-lapse' photography! I cannot remember from last year quite what its flower looks like (although I think we have quite a few more leaves...

I have little doubt that folk around the world will be chewing their fingers in eagerness to know how our amazing rhubarby thing is getting on! The answer is, I reckon, . . . quite well! . . . given that the earlier photograph was taken a mere twenty-one days ago! I...

This is Frances, doing some posting (in the photograph above) and (below) getting a rare 'post' in edgeways! I wonder how many of all those wonderful people who order our books realise how the parcels begin their journey. Post Offices all over the country have been...

This post is dedicated to M.G., my most excellent dentist. We have been having to see too much of each other recently but I hope that this will shortly change! Last time he carved a new tooth for me, to sit where, until then, there had been a painful and annoying...

It is Spring gift-time again! The arrival of this Snakeshead Fritillary (just the one but all the more wondrous for that) beside our pond not only gladdens the heart with its fragile beauty but also reminds us of the legacy of Robin Tanner . . . his consummate...

Just look at that for power and strength and the lusty life-force of Spring! Wonderful! There may still be frosts to come but officially Winter must be past. We (with a visiting friend) certainly celebrated today by having our lunch outside in the sun. This amazing...

An email this morning from Ralph Kiggell excited us so much that I rush to pass on the message and enable others to see these amazing photographs . . . and others on Ralph's Picasa site.We knew that he was working (in Foshan, China) on an enormous mural to be placed,...

Our great guru and friend, Robin Tanner, always said that he could not concentrate or settle to anything while there were workers in the house mending something or attending to whatever needed to be attended to. In those less politically correct days, he had named...

I am informed by the ghost in the machine that this is my ONE HUNDREDTH post! I can hardly believe it. It seems only yesterday . . . ! What to do? How to celebrate appropriately? The clear answer is to share with all you gentle readers a treasure that has finally...

. . . is what I said to myself but, waking up after a night of snow that had taken the forecasters by surprise, I could not resist recording this nice demonstration of how protected and snug our little valley is. While the trees towards the top of the hill on the...

As every camera in the land will be clicking away during this unusual weather, I feel that mine should not be the odd one out . . . although I have always been subject to more than a touch of snow phobia. Even as a child I did not rush around in it screaming...

That particular and exciting moment has come round again - the day when the first complete copy of a new book arrives from the binder. Has it worked? Are the pages in the correct order? Do all the colours, carefully compared from swatches of cloth and papers,...

How powerful is this short word, and how deeply important to all of us, especially at this time in world history. This was a New Year gift, sent to us by our friends in New York, Russell Maret and Annie Schlecter who we know spent much time and energy electioneering....

The margins and sheltered backwaters of our river are frozen. This is one of the manmade piers (called cribs in this part of the world) made for fishermen to operate from, which are visible at low tide as here. The country is afflicted at the moment by very cold winds...

William Morris is famous for having said . . . Have nothing in your house [or garden!] that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. I feel that he would heartily approve of this, as both beautiful and useful . . . a customized wheelbarrow, given to...

. . . from a suitably frosty Wye Valley . . . . . . and from old "Bah, Humbug!" himself . . .   and from Frances, unusually in the place where Nicolas is traditionally hidden, behind the camera!