business

I wake up suddenly and early, the dog lying so heavy across my legs that my feet have gone numb. I extract myself and hobble across the bedroom until circulation is restored. Then I throw open the curtains to introduce my wife to the new day. “Ugh,” she says. “I was just having this dream,” … Read more

Secateurs are the single most valued tool in the gardener’s trug, an implement as personally prized as the bricklayer’s trowel. With time, their weight and shape wear familiarly into the hand, becoming a companionable tool for all garden tasks, from pruning woody shrubs and cutting back perennials to slicing twine and preparing cut flowers. The … Read more

Not long before the Covid pandemic, my dad threw out my cardboard box of mementoes that I had stored in his garage for “safekeeping”: years’ worth of personal journals, Polaroids and photos with no negatives, love letters, all of my degree essays, reams of teenage poetry, etc – the classic priceless time capsule stuff that … Read more

Dusk in Tavira is a masterclass in seduction. On my first evening in the Algarve’s most easterly city – just 18 miles from the border with Spain – tangerine skies smudged by pillowy clouds unfurl above the old town, with its jumble of church towers and terracotta roofs. For such a romantic spectacle, the best vantage … Read more

Are you going to be handing over more cash for less Easter egg this year? You’ll need to have your wits about you to bag a bargain – or at least not get ripped off – as the surging cost of cocoa has pushed up the price of popular Easter eggs from many big brands, … Read more

With Birkenstocks and Crocs now ubiquitous, fashion’s ugly shoe trend was in danger of losing its shock factor. So the arrival of Balenciaga’s collaboration with the orthopaedic brand Scholl could not have come a moment too soon. The collection, which launched this week, includes a “Frankenshoe” style that combines the buckle and front strap found … Read more

I spend quite a lot of Easter-time licking chocolate out of my molars, and using every reflective surface to check that my teeth haven’t dissolved. When chocolate is necessary, so is a wine that cleanses the palate, to drink alongside and to complement its flavours. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission … Read more

Growing up in Norway, I had heard a lot about polar exploration, including how Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was the first person to reach the south pole in 1911. As a child I spent a lot of time outdoors – building bonfires, camping and skiing in the mountains. Aged 14, seven years before my south pole … Read more

A trip to the coast felt in order when the temperature recently suggested that we, the residents of the United Kingdom, have survived another winter. Behold: sunshine, green shoots, cherry blossom, fresh hope and all that good stuff. And, soon, a glut of bank holidays during which we can unveil our factor 50-smeared knees at … Read more

Six years ago, the Royal Horticultural Society drew attention to the escalating challenges faced by independent plant nurseries. Citing pressures such as an ageing customer base, fewer skilled workers and the arrival of new pests and diseases, the gardening charity warned that nurseries – the “lifeblood of gardening in the UK” – were becoming increasingly … Read more