Basics like fishing, bee-keeping, candle making and knitting are all featured alongside trickier skills like spinning and weaving. Interspersed with great recipes . . .

Clarissa is better known as one half of cookery duo Two Fat Ladies . . . there's also a great section on using your produce to create a well-stocked larder (think cheeses, pickles, smoked and dried goods and home brew) while a useful seasonal diary indicates the best time of the year for growing, sowing, foraging and creating.

Essential reading for evoking The Good Life or recapturing the lost art of country living.

M&S's new labels

In an effort to encourage customers to cut down on their energy consumption, Marks & Spencer has introduced a new labelling initiative that suggests lowering your washing temperature to 30degreesC. Aside from being more economical, it's better for the environment, saving around 40% of energy on each wash.

Independent tests have shown that around 70% of M&S clothes can be effectively washed at 30degreesC without any significant reduction in performance for everyday washes. Over the next few months the chain plans to re-label almost three quarters of its clothing ranges to include the words 'Think Climate . . . Wash at 30degreesC'. Log on to www. marksandspencer. com for details.