Arthur Parkinson

An illustrated compendium of common and rare breed chickens by the Sunday Times bestselling gardenerIt is my hope that this book will help you discover, or reconfirm, which chicken breeds are your favourites and encourage you to keep them yourself, or at least to remember them.Spotlighting more than fifty breeds of chicken, from the classy Ancona to the lavishly laced Wyandotte, Arthur Parkinson shares everything you need to know about each breed’s attributes, behaviour, quirks and qualities alongside gorgeous illustrations of his ‘ladies’. Later in the book he offers detailed advice that will equip you with the practical skills to look after hens in your own garden, whether the most common breeds or the most perilously rare – for as Arthur notes, if we don’t celebrate all hens great and small, the lesser-known varieties may well disappear.Joyful and inspiring, Hen Party is a riotous, clucking poultry show of a book for anyone dreaming of the good life.

A charming guide to keeping beautiful chicken breeds, both common and rare, by one of Britain's best-selling garden writers. Gardener, artist, and writer Parkinson has kept flocks of happy chickens since childhood. In this wonderful collection, he distills everything he has learned about his feathered friends into one charmingly illustrated, bite-sized volume featuring his own watercolor portraits of nearly sixty breeds. Spotlighting both common and rare chicken breeds from around the world, Parkinson describes the personalities, behaviors, egg-laying abilities, and other characteristics of each type of hen. Along the way, he also covers practical skills to help each kind of chicken thrive. Inspiring, delightful, and adorned with Parkinson's own portraits of his "ladies," this charming book is a delight for chicken aficionados and budding gardeners alike--as well as simply anyone dreaming of a balanced, sustainable life on the land.

A captivating testament to the mutual rewards and delights of keeping chickens, by the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Flower YardMost of us want a dog, or a cat, or a pony when we are young – but for Arthur Parkinson, it was always hens. Growing up in an ex-mining town in Nottinghamshire, the other kids in the playground called him 'Chicken Boy'. The quiet fulfilment of keeping hens became his sanctuary, a tonic for mental and physical health, a connection with his family and the natural world. Illustrated with Arthur's own characterful watercolours and photographs of his ‘girls’, Chicken Boy is a one-of-a-kind memoir of a life in nature.

This lushly photographed idea book proves that it is possible to create a glamorous outdoor space of ever-changing color, teeming with life, in the smallest of spaces, whether a patio, terrace, or front porch. This inspirational guide demonstrates how a glorious outdoor space is possible, even with only a small patio and a few pots. Featuring detailed photos and text by Parkinson who has been named a rising gardening star by Architectural Digest, this new book is the key to success with container gardening. Parkinson shows how to create a veritable paradise in pots with aspirational season-by-season ideas that are easy to replicate in any situation. The emphasis is on creating a small haven for birds, butterflies, and other wildlife--from flowers for pollinators to small fruiting shrubs that provide winter sustenance for birds. Even an upturned pot can create a welcoming space for a mosquito-eating frog. The book is filled with planting and propagating advice, tips on improving soil, seasonal tasks, and suggested planting ideas that include both flowering and edible plants for a vibrant backyard oasis. This is container gardening at its most romantic and stylish.

Selected for The Times Best Gardening Books of the Year 2023Every garden, large or small, in a town or in the country, even one formed completely by pots, can be a living dance of lavish colours, glorious scents and pollen-rich flowers alive to the sound of bird song and the buzz of bees. In Planting a Paradise, Arthur Parkinson, bestselling author of The Flower Yard, focuses on what to grow through the seasons with an array of planting ideas and recommended varieties to inspire the experienced and novice gardener alike. From his newly found love of muscari, narcissi and seeding grasses, to circuses of dahlias, luscious herbs, figs and crab apples, the result is not only a stunning living harvest but also an oasis for wildlife at a time when we need this style of gardening more than ever. Praise for The Flower Yard:'Simply gorgeous' - Nigel Slater'The Kew-trained king of the small-space garden' - Guardian

A captivating, beautifully illustrated memoir of a life in nature, and a testament to the mutual rewards and delights of keeping chickens, by the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Flower Yard'I am a toddler the first time I meet a chicken, and we are equal in size and height. The hen has tiny eyelashes, a strawberry-jam face and a voice of purring clucks. I sense a happy spirit of inquisitiveness and smile in fascination. From that moment on, I will always love the company of chickens. I have found my tribe'Most of us want a dog, or a cat, or a pony when we are young - for Arthur Parkinson, it was always hens. Growing up in an ex-mining town in Nottinghamshire, the other kids in the playground called him 'Chicken Boy'. But the quiet fulfilment of keeping hens became his sanctuary, a tonic for mental and physical health, a connection with his family and the natural world. From the local allotments and his nan's back garden, to Chatsworth and an unlikely friendship with the late Duchess of Devonshire, a famous hen-keeper, Chicken Boy tells the story of the love and satisfaction to be found in caring for living things.Illustrated with Arthur's own characterful watercolours and photographs of his 'girls', and laden with practical hen-keeping tips, gardening advice and introductions to common, rare and pure breeds, Chicken Boy is a one-of-a-kind memoir of a life in nature.

Arthur Parkinson's town garden is like a path of pots, a tiny, exposed stage on bricks. Despite its small size, a flower-filled jungle in Venetian tones is grown here each year, in defiance of urbanisation. The plants act like drapes, closing gently as their growth engulfs the front door, from either side of the path, to the buzz of precious bees. This is gardening done entirely in pots, yet on a grand scale that will inspire anyone who wants their doorstep or patio to be a glamorous and lively canvas that nurtures them visually and mentally. From jewel scatterings of crocus, flocks of parrot tulips and scented sweet peas to galaxies of single dahlias, towering giraffes of amaryllises grown inside for winter and endless vases of cut blooms through the seasons. With his bantam hens at his feet, Arthur shares his life, knowledge, flair and influences for planting creatively, all of which combine to create a space that's rich in ever-changing colour and life.

The Emma Bridgewater factory in Stoke-on-Trent is a mecca for lovers of its iconic pottery; but tucked within is a walled garden bursting with nectar-rich, jazzy-toned flowers and rare-breed chickens. This is where Arthur Parkinson – gardener, florist and poultry keeper – used to work his magic.Inspired by his friend, gardener and florist Sarah Raven, and childhood hen-keeping pen pal the late Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, Parkinson’s domain was one of resplendent flowers, platoon feather-legged hens, handwritten blackboards, flower arranging and wasteland foliage foraging – all carried out in one of the most unlikely places a garden could happen to exist: a working pottery.