Distractions & Inspirations - September

September always seems to bring a bit of a shift. The days are getting shorter, there’s a definite change in the air and, after the comings and goings of summer, we’re quite enjoying settling back into a slightly different rhythm. 

We’ve found ourselves going down a few interesting rabbit holes this month (always dangerous), passing recommendations around the shop and adding things to our ever-growing lists.  So, as ever, here are a few things we’ve been enjoying, thinking about and generally telling other people they should know about...

Robert Macfarlane’s Reith Lectures

This one isn’t available quite yet, but it’s firmly on our radar. Robert Macfarlane will deliver this year’s Reith Lectures, exploring our relationship with the natural world and challenging the idea that humans somehow sit above it. Across four lectures, he’ll look at everything from birds and rivers to what it means to be a good ancestor. Big subjects, but in Macfarlane’s hands we’re expecting something thoughtful, hopeful and very much worth listening to.

Youth
 
We’ll admit that “new Sharon Horgan comedy” was probably enough to get our attention. Youth follows Alex, a fifty-something divorcee attempting to navigate dating, family, ageing parents and a son who isn’t quite as grown-up as he perhaps should be. It sounds funny, messy and poignant in that very Sharon Horgan way and exactly the sort of thing for the darker evenings! 

The Louisiana Channel
 
A recommendation from a friend of Winter’s Moon, and what a find! Louisiana Channel is the online arm of Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, with a huge and ever-growing collection of films. There are interviews, studio visits and conversations with artists, writers, architects and designers, with new films added regularly. Exactly the sort of thing that makes you feel a little more in tune with the world of art!

A Year in My Kitchen by Skye Gyngell

A rather special book to have back on the shelves. First published twenty years ago, the cookbook has been reissued in a beautiful anniversary edition following her death last year, with a new foreword by Nigel Slater. Her cooking was all about using ingredients when they’re at their very best and letting them do the talking, an approach that feels particularly right as we head into a new season.

British Landscapes at Pallant House
 
One on our doorstep this month. Pallant House’s British Landscapes: A Sense of Place brings together artists looking at the landscape in all sorts of different ways, from the familiar and beautiful to the changing and sometimes contested. It feels particularly appropriate for this time of year, when we’re noticing the landscape shifting almost daily. On until 1st November. 

Great Dixter Autumn Plant Fair

One for the diary and a bit of a Sussex hidden gem. Great Dixter’s Autumn Plant Fair returns on 3 & 4 October, bringing together specialist nurseries from near and far in the rather wonderful surroundings of the garden. There are short talks, plenty of plants to tempt you, and importantly the famous cake stall. Your ticket includes entry to the gardens too, which should be looking particularly lovely in their autumn colours. No need to book ahead, just turn up on the day.