With summer just around the corner, Emma Hughes picks five British books that are perfect for reading outside in the sunshine
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
A newly qualified vet moves to the Yorkshire village of Darrowby in search of a quiet life. But the locals (including Nugent the pig, one of fiction's greats) have other ideas...
Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
Charabancs, gallons of scrumpy and that encounter under the haywagon. Summers aren't what they used to be.
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The Perfect Summer: Dancing into the Shadow in 1911 by Juliet Nicolson
The opulent, hazy days before the First World War broke out are brought vividly to life by Nicolson. A window onto a vanished world. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
It's July of 1962, and a pair of timid young newlyweds prepare to embark on a life together as they travel to the Dorset coast for their honeymoon. Inevitably, things go heartbrakingly awry. A deeply moving little book that gets under your skin. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
The Durrell family arrive on Corfu ‘like a troupe of medieval tumblers', and chaos ensues. Worth it for the euphoniously named Bootle-Bumtrinket alone.
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The smooth collie: A working breed with beauty and brainsOnce the go-to Scottish herding dog, the smooth collie is as elegant as it is dependable — a working breed with beauty and brains.
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Blurring the lines between ornament and recreation: Nine of Britain’s best Arts-and-Crafts swimming pondsBefore the vogue for bright blue, chlorine-treated swimming pools, members of Victorian and Edwardian society built naturalistic bathing ponds inspired by the Arts & Crafts movement.
