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Clockwise from top left: a pale pink watering can spouting water, against a purple background; a trowel sticking out of a mound of soil on a bright green background; a hammer and nail against an orange background; a saw and plank of wood against a dark blue background.

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The best DIY and gardening books

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8 books to inspire your next hobby

Alan Titchmarsh's Fill My Stocking

Alan Titchmarsh MBE is known to millions through his career as a television presenter of shows including Love Your Weekend, Love Your Garden, Ground Force, Gardeners' World, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and Spring Into Summer. He has written more than forty gardening books, as well as twelve novels and three volumes of memoirs. He was made MBE in the millennium New Year Honours list and holds the Victoria Medal of Honour, the Royal Horticultural Society's highest award.

A great raconteur and entertainer, Alan Titchmarsh gets together every Christmas with family and friends to celebrate the season and performs much-loved anecdotes, stories, poems and sketches - old and new. 
 
Fill My Stocking combines these well-known favourites with his own self-penned festive pieces, each beautifully illustrated with his own watercolour vignettes. 
 
Collected together for the first time, this is the perfect stocking filler for his legions of fans. 
 
Alan Titchmarsh has presented numerous television programmes including the hugely popular How To Be A Gardener and British Isles: A Natural History. He is also a best-selling writer and novelist.

Lost Skills and Crafts Handbook

In this inspirational and practical guide to country life, passionate and hugely knowledgeable countryman Alan Titchmarsh explores the heritage of rural Britain, its landscapes and wildlife, its traditions, customs and crafts. 
The Lost Skills and Crafts Handbook will help you rediscover your love of the countryside, including: 
 
- a checklist of British butterflies and where to find them 
- how to keep chickens, ducks, goats and sheep 
- how to make soap, candles and your own herbal remedies 
- how to track animals and forage for food 
- essential knot tying 
- how to build a campfire without matches 
- how to create a kitchen garden 
- the origins of country superstitions 
 
And much more. With beautiful line art illustrations throughout, this compendium of the British countryside and its delights will be an essential read for any nature lover in your life.

Grow your Own Fruit and Veg

In these turbulent times, Britain is rediscovering a passion for gardening and home produce - and the nation's favourite gardener is here to provide the definitive book on the subject. 
 
Alan Titchmarsh's comprehensive guide will tell you everything you need to know about fruit and veg and how to grow it, from herbs, baby veg, salads, and every-day fruits to gourmet and unusual varieties. As well as providing the key facts needed to yield good results and what to do when things go wrong, the text is sprinkled with Alan's personal observations, anecdotes, culinary tips and quirky historical uses. 
 
Alan's practical approach starts from scratch for those who've never grown their own before, but is also ideal for those with some experience who might be growing edibles in a new way - perhaps in a small space that needs to look attractive, or on a new allotment. Lavishly illustrated throughout, Grow Your Own Fruit and Veg offers inspiration, in-depth knowledge and practical advice, whether you are looking to be self-sufficient or just to grow a few items on your patio or window box. 
 
Originally published as The Kitchen Gardener: Grow Your Own Fruit and Veg

Alan Titchmarsh the Gardener's Year

Bestselling author Alan Titchmarsh brings us the definitive guide to gardening throughout the year.

Gives brilliant hints and advice to the beginner and the experienced gardener alike... As stunning as you would expect from a BBC publication

No cheesy makeovers, no outrageous fantasy gardens, this is the real garden. What to do, when to do it, how to do it, all clearly explained and lavishly photographed... Any gardener will be digging  into this one all year round

The Gardener's Year is not about quick fixes, design makeovers or hard drudge, but simply about knowing what you should be doing in your garden, when, and why. 
 
Month by month Alan gives us the low-down on garden maintenance enabling you to keep your garden looking its best all year round. In-depth and packed full of useful gardening tips, it includes advice on everything from what seeds you can plant out in your vegetable plot in May, to how to keep your hanging baskets looking stunning in September.

The Complete How To Be A Gardener

The complete edition of the million-selling gardening series

Whether you're a complete beginner or a keen gardener, there are always times when it helps to have a reliable expert at your side. In The Complete How to be a Gardener, Alan Titchmarsh draws on his extensive knowledge and experience to give you a comprehensive guide to becoming a successful gardener. 
 
 Alan starts with the fundamentals, covering the absolute essentials that every gardener needs to know, including information on how plants work and what they need to survive, as well as where to begin if you're a first-time gardener. Each chapter includes practical advice and step-by-step techniques and projects, as well as information on garden maintenance and a host of Alan's favourite plants to help you in your selection. 
 
 With its perfect balance of down-to-earth information and inspirational garden ideas, this complete paperback edition of How to be a Gardener gets to the very heart of gardening and provides a comprehensive reference manual for any garden owner.

Alan Titchmarsh How to Garden: Lawns Paths and Patios

Expert advice on surfacing and practical guidelines on designing and constructing gardens with lawns, pathways, terraces and decking

Lawns, Paths and Patios focuses on creating the basic structure of your garden, and complementing the basic features with planting, design and furniture. 
 
Includes: 
* how to prepare your site and lay turf, paving, paths and decking 
* guidance on choosing materials 
* tips on labour-saving methods and devices 
* practical advice on seasonal care, feeding and watering 
 
Alan Titchmarsh imparts a lifetime of expertise in these definitive guides for beginners and experienced gardeners. Step-by-step illustrations and easy-to-follow instructions guide you through the basic gardening skills and on to the advanced techniques, providing everything you need to create and maintain your dream garden.

Alan Titchmarsh

The gardens and the people who made them

Home to sixteen generations of the Cavendish family over nearly five centuries, Chatsworth has played host to as rich a cast of characters as you are likely to find anywhere in the world. They have been, in turn, loved, reviled, extravagant, parsimonious, reclusive and sociable, but they have all left their mark on the landscape that surrounds their fabled family home, the Palace of the Peaks. 
 
Follow Alan Titchmarsh into this irresistible world of visionaries, mavericks and English eccentrics. 
 
Meet the indomitable Bess of Hardwick and her second husband Sir William Cavendish, who bought the Manor of Chatsworth for £600 in 1549 and built the first house there. Since then, the Estate has evolved with each generation, from the 4th Duke and Lancelot 'Capability' Brown in the 1700s, to the Bachelor Duke and the indefatigable Joseph Paxton the following century. From Andrew and Deborah Devonshire, who inherited an Estate that was on its knees in 1950 and ensured its survival when all seemed lost, to the 12th Duke and Duchess, Stoker and Amanda Devonshire, who have taken the reins since 2004. Alan explores the gardens they created. He discovers the real-life stories behind each horticultural triumph and architectural wonder, and we see how this great house and estate has flourished in all its beauty through changing times 
 
With stunning, specially commissioned photography alongside long-forgotten images and memorabilia newly unearthed in the estate archives, this landmark new book is a glorious way to experience the magic of Chatsworth, past and present, wherever you are.

Alan Titchmarsh

Books by Alan Titchmarsh

Series by Alan Titchmarsh

How to Garden

Articles featuring Alan Titchmarsh

Beautiful coffee table books

The best DIY and gardening books

8 books to inspire your next hobby

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