An exciting new series of books that will encourage children to get close to nature!

If you want to ski off a cliff or swim with sharks, stop reading now. This book is about achievable adventures that celebrate the best of Britain and Britishness. The 60 mini adventures included are graded in difficulty from comically easy to mildly challenging, making them suitable for a wide range of ages and abilities. They include the most beautiful place to go for a stroll, the easiest place for a wild swim and, more importantly, the most spectacular place to have a cup of tea. Not to mention flying in a Spitfire and finding delicious food among the hedgerows. So what's on this Great British Bucket List? Well, a host of alternative UK adventures to get you out of the house. From fossil hunting on the Jurassic coast to forest bathing in Standish Woods, family-friendly music festivals to spectacular walks and lazy picnic hotspots, this essential guide is packed with must-do experiences. Discover the world of luxury eco-glamping in Devon and Suffolk. Book your tickets for the Minack, Cornwall's world famous open-air theatre. Follow in the footsteps of the Kinder Scout mass trespass in Dark Peak, or go canoeing down the Wye Valley in Wales. Besides old favourites, such as Stonehenge and Westminster Abbey, readers will find a bucket list bursting with suggestions for pleasant days out at some of the National Trust's historic houses. Whether you're luxuriating in Sissinghurst's famous gardens or moseying around Fountains Abbey, you're sure to have a uniquely British adventure.

From the renowned author of the New York Times best seller The Sibley Guide to Birds, a comprehensive, beautifully illustrated guide to identifying birds in the field. Sibley's Birding Basics is an essential companion for birders of all skill and experience levels. With Sibley as your guide, learn how to interpret what the feathers, the anatomical structure, the sounds of a bird tell you. When you know the clues that show you why there’s no such thing as, for example, “just a duck” birding will be more fun, and more meaningful. An essential addition to the Sibley shelf! The Sibley Guide to Birds and The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior are both universally acclaimed as the new standard source of species information. And now David Sibley, America’s premier birder and best-known bird artist, turns his attention to the general characteristics that influence the appearance of all birds, unlocking the clues to their identity. In 200 beautifully rendered illustrations and 16 essays, this scientifically precise volume distills the essence of Sibley’s own experience and skills, providing a solid introduction to “naming” the birds. Birding Basics reviews how one can get started as a birder—the equipment necessary, where and when to go birding, and perhaps most important, the essential things to look for when birds appear in the field—as well as the basic concepts of bird identification and the variations that can change the appearance of a bird over time or in different settings. Sibley also provides critical information on the aspects of avian life that differ from species to species: feathers (color, arrangement, shape, molt), behavior and habitat, and sounds.

Presented in a beautiful gift format and filled with a wealth of new photography, this engaging book aims to introduce to a general audience the National Trust's vast collections - a treasure chest of history. Arranged chronologically, starting with Roman sculpture and ending with 20th-century design, it focuses on museum-quality objects as well as important examples of decorative arts, furniture, textiles, books and items with fascinating stories behind them. Selected by the National Trust's curators from more than 1.5 million objects in its collections, the featured highlights include an ancient-Egyptian obelisk; Cardinal Wolsey's purse; the first English globe; one of the earliest surviving sofas; an incredible 18th-century dolls' house; an elephant automaton; a tent made for a sultan; a dress made of beetle-wing cases; hand-written manuscripts by Beatrix Potter and Virginia Woolf; Rodin's bust of George Bernard Shaw; rare, early colour photographs of the Sutton Hoo discovery; a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth and paintings by Holbein, Rubens, van Dyck, Rembrandt, Velázquez, Reynolds, Stubbs, Burne-Jones, Monet and Sargent. Each featured object is accompanied by an illuminating, easy-to-read caption, a timeline of key moments in the Trust's history and a list of properties housing important collections items appear at the end.

One of the most important collections of eighteenth-century silver in Europe is to be found at Ickworth House in Suffolk. It extends to nearly a thousand pieces, is of the highest quality, style and exuberance of form and survives virtually intact along with extensive and previously untapped archival evidence of its commissioning and use, and of the diplomatic, political and court appointments of its principal patron, George William Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol (1721-75). The finest London makers of the time are represented including Paul de Lamerie, Paul Crespin and, in particular, Frederick Kandler, and it also contains a significant quantity of continental pieces, commissioned contemporaneously whilst Lord Bristol was in Turin. It was in part by maintaining a sufficient state of 'magnificence' there, and in Madrid, that the Earl could hold the diplomatic ground for Britain during the Seven Years War and his silver, of the latest French fashions and of opulent extent, was a critical tool in his armoury. This book, which will be lavishly illustrated, will analyse the individual objects from stylistic and technical perspectives, and use them to shed light on the patronage, fashion and social history of a vibrant and turbulent era of European history.

An adventure guide for boys and girls who love the beach

Presented in a beautiful gift format, this engaging book aims to introduce to a general audience the National Trust's vast collection of paintings through a selection of 100 important examples from the 14th to the 20th centuries. Paintings displayed in properties now cared for by the National Trust across England, Wales and Northern Ireland amount to one of the finest collections of historic fine art in the world. Indeed, many National Trust houses should perhaps be considered miniature 'National Galleries' for their counties as they display works by some of the most renowned European artists of all time including Titian, El Greco, Holbein, Rubens, van Dyck, Rembrandt, Velázquez, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Canaletto, Hogarth, Stubbs, Angelica Kauffman, Edward Burne-Jones, James Tissot, Max Ernst, Vanessa Bell, Barbara Hepworth and Stanley Spencer, to name but a few. Selected by National Trust curators from over 13,000 works, the 100 paintings showcased in this book are arranged chronologically, each accompanied by an illuminating, easy-to-read caption. The book ends with a handy glossary of terms and a list of National Trust properties that house important paintings.