Anna Shepard, Eco Worrier

Want to grow something, but not sure how? Sick of paying for overpriced anaemic vegetables in the supermarket? Wondering what to do with a neglected garden, roof terrace or sunny windowsill? Then sign up to the One Pot Pledge. It’s my favourite campaign of 2010 – check it out, it really is so simple, sensible and easy to follow. The idea is that 30,000 people who have never grown anything will sprout something in a pot or garden. So far, the campaign has already recruited 10,000 people – including Jamie Oliver (see above), Raymond Blanc, Alys Fowler and Arthur Potts Dawson – so add your voice, choose what you’d like to grow (and eat) and sign up here. If you’ve always liked the idea of growing food, but are not quite sure where to begin, it’s the perfect starting point.

Best of all, there’s a website which directs you to simple instructions explaining how exactly you go about growing  a courgette or a row of rocket. It includes watering tips, container tips – everything a novice gardener needs to know. What amazes me is how hard it is to come by this sort of clear advice for people who are not well-versed in terms like mulch and pinching out. Too many gardening books assume some level of gardening knowledge. When I started growing rocket, beans and tomato plants, I looked in vain for a glossary that would explain the basic terms. The nearest thing was Paul Waddington’s lovely book 21st Century Smallholder that laid out practical advice on how to grow fruit and veg.  Now, five years on, I’m still an amateur and I often struggle to keep my small London garden from turning into a wilderness , especially now my toddler son insists on ‘helping’ me. But with the One Pot Pledge, there’s no excuse for not bothering – this is something everyone can do.

The rooms
Launched in 2001, Cornish Yurt Holidays was one of the first companies in the UK to offer accommodation in luxury yurts, enabling you to hold onto your creature comforts while still camping in secluded nature. Nine years on, yurts may have mushroomed across the UK, but Tim and Naomi Hutton, are still leading the field with their cluster of Mongolian inspired yurts, based outside Bodmin, in North Cornwall. As well as beautifully designed and hand-made (by Tim) from local wood, the yurts are erected in a remote spot.

Along with my mum and my 18 month old son, I was put up in Ash Field Yurt, perched at the top of a huge field with idyllic views over the Cornish countryside. Outside, there was a picnic bench for outdoor meals, a compost loo neatly tucked behind the yurt, and a bathroom and outside sink a minute’s walk away, complete with a brilliantly designed wood-burning stove that heats a tank of water for the bath – the result being that you have to light the fire an hour or so before you want to bathe and then sit outside admiring the view while the tank heats up.

Inside, there were Mongolian embroideries setting the scene, a large double bed, a futon serving as another double and lots of space for a child’s cot. There was also a gas hob, a well equipped mini-kitchen and a wood-burning stove to keep us warm. The best things were the little touches – tea-light lanterns, gorgeous soft cotton sheets and a vase of flowers in the compost loo. My son loved the circular space inside the yurt, enabling him to feel constantly at the heart of everything.

To read the rest of this review, visit Green Traveller

Read full article in The Times

When Premila Shaw hit puberty, she noticed thick, black hair growing on her face. Not just on her upper lip and eyebrows, but on her cheeks and forehead. “The only place I didn’t have hair was my nose,” says the mum of two from Essex, now 38. When a doctor diagnosed a hormone imbalance, her mother made her promise not to tell anyone. “She thought I’d never find a husband if I talked about it,” says Shaw, who is now happily married.

Anything that affects fertility is a taboo subject for many Asian families, but for Shaw, the most distressing problem was facial hair, which she treated with electrolysis every week. Ten years later, she had polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) diagnosed — a condition that disrupts the hormones and causes multiple cysts to grow in the ovaries. Read full article here

First published in the New Statesman

This morning, I took a stroll down my local high street. It was business as usual in Marks & Spencers with the latest summer collections being wheeled out. Next door, in Primark, bikinis and strappy sandals drew a crowd. But the mood was sombre compared to the celebratory consumer glee of previous years. You get the feeling no one is being duped anymore into believing that buying clothes will make them happy. While shopping is still part of life, it seems it’s just not as fun as it used to be. (The dress above, by the way, is £58 from leading ethical retailer People Tree)

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