Have you seen this new magazine?
I found it last week whilst having my usual stroll down the magazine aisle at the supermarket. I spend a lot of time looking at magazines and thinking, "hmmmm, I'm not quite sure" when trying to decide whether to buy one or not. But this one caught my eye and a quick flick through the pages had me putting it in my basket without a second thought.
It reminds me ever so slightly of the reason why I used to subscribe to Country Living magazine. I ended my subscription when I came out of full-time work as I felt guilty paying for something that only I read from a decreased family income. And I missed its pages, but also knew that it didn't hold as much interest for Tim.
Landscape is different though. It has all the wonderful recipes and craft pages I love so much in other magazines I buy from time to time, but is complemented by a beautifully balanced range of gardening, agricultural and nature-based features.
A quick glance through the magazine had Tim rather excited too. He found the pages with rhubarb recipes of special interest, as the rhubarb we planted in 2010 and purposefully left unharvested last year is thriving this year and we are looking forward to eating it.
He seemed just as interested in the articles based on woodland scenes and the work needed to sustain our woodlands. Tim is a member of the Woodland Trust and we have always enjoyed driving around our area to find new places to walk in nature. Oscar's bedroom is based on a woodland theme and our wedding also had a tree-based theme. It's pretty much safe to say that anything which features woodland and trees (or any kind of nature in fact) will go down well with us!
Which brings me to another of my favourite features in this launch edition of the magazine:
I have quite a soft spot for deer. We often see them when walking in certain places and in the very early hours of the morning when I was up and ready for some surgery in 2009 we even found a little Muntjac strolling across our front lawn.
Add to this that of the two meaning attributed to the name Oscar, one means "Friend of the Deer" and you'll see just why I have a fondness for the animal.
But that doesn't mean I didn't find the articles about birds and other creatures just as fascinating to read. Tim and I have discussed how we want to raise Oscar on so many occasions and that includes teaching him all about the world around him.
We want him to know the different types of trees, to recognise birds he spots, and to know how precious everything is. And this magazine brings all of that together in a beautifully presented and easy to read collection which I can imagine treasuring for many years to come.
But that's not all...
I'll be making these poppies to adorn bags, hats and cushions as I make them through the year. It is lovely to see crochet featured in a magazine like this. So often I have found that crochet patterns are only found in a very few select magazines. This may well have added to my love of this magazine!
And when Oscar is a bit older I'll be enlisting his help to make bunting to suit every season and celebration!
That's another thing we want him to know as he grows. We want to make a real effort to celebrate the changing of the seasons and the teach him that life continues in a cycle of bursting into life, before lying dormant again for the winter months, before bursting into life once more. And this magazine helps us remember exactly what happens in each month.
If you haven't already figured this out, I cannot rave enough about this new publication. As a new edition of Landscape is published every two months it is a much more affordable choice than many of the monthly magazines. And I am excited to say we'll be subscribing to it, building our collection right from the very start.
Why not check it out next time you're down the magazine aisle and let me know what you think?
