Lia Leendertz, a former writer for HortWeek, sparked a quiet revolution in publishing when she revived the traditional almanac for a modern audience. Her annual volume became an instant Christmas gift favourite, inspiring high-profile imitators from the RHS to the National Trust. Yet, Leendertz’s original masterpiece remains the unrivaled gold standard of seasonal companions.
An almanac is fundamentally a calendar-bound reference guide, packing tables, statistics, and lore into an easily digestible format. Leendertz refines this age-old concept into a delight designed for passive dipping over the Christmas holidays and consultation throughout the next year. Rather than offering rigid instruction, it helps readers reconnect with the natural world month by month.
Inside, the book weaves together practical garden guidance, moon phases, tide tables, seasonal recipes, folklore, and poetry. One page might invite you to track the solstice or identify late-winter flora; the next offers a medieval folk song or a recipe for wild-foraged cordials. This eclectic mixture reflects the genuine joy and curiousity of an author clearly having as much fun assembling these tidbits as her 50,000 annual loyal readers have discovering them.
