Life was much simpler when there was just Glastonbury and the Edinburgh Festival. The explosion of festivals; music, food, culture and literary, has made choosing a stress-inducing decision. Although there’s no need to fret over the banana split festival; you’ve already missed it. That was in Ohio in June. In America though you would still face the anxiety of choosing between two testicle festivals; Montana’s Testicle Festival (or Testy Festy)
Mike Small started the Fife Diet in 2007, a campaign to eat locally sourced food. Forty years ago he would have had his work cut out; chips, white bread, macaroni cheese pies, scotch pies topped with baked beans and mashed potato, and everything cooked with cloak of batter or pastry. Fast forward to 2011 and the Fife Diet is not a sitcom joke but a healthy, tasty selection of organic
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According to Amy Sedaris, it’s often said that ugly people craft and attractive people have sex. But in her new book Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People she does for crafting what she did so successfully for entertaining in her bestseller I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. Described as a subversive take on the made-by-hand movement, Sedaris shows that anyone with a couple of hours to kill and access
In the hands of Danish artist Peter Callesen a single sheet of white paper can spring to life as a god like figure freeing himself from the flat blank page, an ethereal fairytale palace, a delicate evening gown and a flying angel. It seems anything Calleson can imagine he can bring into existence using just paper and scissors. Some pieces are created using a single sheet of A4, others are large scale installations. Many
The witty and vivid work of multi award winning Jonny Hannah will be on show from tomorrow in an exhibition called White Horses and Unquiet Graves at the Hornsey’s Gallery in Ripon, North Yorkshire. Jonny’s distinctive screenprints, linocuts and objets d’art, boldly coloured and featuring recurrent themes of Americana, jazz, childhood memories and folklore, are not only instantly recognisable and much emulated but increasingly coveted by collectors. Born in Dunfermline
The Music of the Woods by Edward Atkinson Hornel, 1906. Kirkcudbright Jazz Festival, starts today, 16th June and runs till the 19th June with a programme that focuses on traditional jazz. Even if traditional jazz is not your thing the pretty town is worth a visit if you happen to be in the area. Established as an artists colony from 1850 to 1950 it is said the quality of the
It's Father's Day this Sunday and it seemed timely to look at the controversy over the aesthetics of the Dad's chair. Frasier's relationship with his father Martin Crane's battered yellow and green recliner chair, patched together with duct tape, sums up the design industry's relationship with TV recliner chairs. When Martin moves himself and his beloved chair into Frasier's apartment the conversation goes along the following lines, Frasier: 'So what
A pretty, brightly coloured parasol is a good way to brighten up your garden should you have failed to coax many flowers into bloom. The gorgeous, vivid parasols above are from Hedgerow Studio in California. They are pricey, starting at $1399, but you get to choose your own combination of pattern and colour and can add lights too. Below is a sweet chinese umbrella, just £4.50 from The Chinese Shop and beneath
A friend mentioned recently that she was thinking of buying a divan bed complete with padded headboard – it made me smile. This friend is as stylish as they come and her bedrooms over the years have been graced by the latest bedsteads in iron, leather and linen. But, sick of creaky springs, Ikea sized mattresses, wobbly frames and an uncomfortable reading position, she has decided that a divan may just be