This beautiful book is a practical guide to growing and using herbs to help maintain health and wellbeing. The book opens by tracing the history of their use, and it shows how to design and plant a herb garden or container with plants suitable for treating specific health issues. There are easy-to-follow instructions that highlight the different ways in which herbs can be safely used at home including advice on making herbal teas, infusions, tinctures, decoctions, compresses and a range of lotions. The second section of the book is arranged according to common ailment. The symptoms of each complaint are described, together with the different methods of herbal medicine to help alleviate each condition. Finally, an A–Z visual directory catalogues the herbs most often used in herbal medicine, their active properties, uses and contra-indications.

Jessica Houdret was a past Chairman of the Herb Society of England and has written more than 20 books on growing plants and how they can contribute to health including Healing with Flowers and The Home Apothecary. Consultant Claire Goulding, MNIMH is a Medical Herbalist, Facilitator and Aromatherapist based in the southwest of England, with over 15 years of experience working in education, environmental conservation and the complementary therapy sector. Claire holds a BSc (Hons) in Clinical Herbalism and runs a specialist Women’s Health Clinic . www.learnbotanics.co.uk.