Emma Connolly

is an artist, gardener and floral stylist. She lives in a small Bedfordshire village with her family. She creates atmospheric paintings, floral-inspired ceramics and puts together seasonal arrangements from the garden. She also teaches from her garden, encouraging others to slow down and connect with nature. Her work is influenced by the seasons and landscape. She spends a lot of time in Suffolk for the quality of the light, and exhibits her work at small fairs and shops. In this Slow Spotlight, she shares more of her own journey towards a slower, simpler and more seasonal life.

From Belgium, via Spain and Scotland, to the midwestern U.S., Rachel Shenk and her husband have cultivated a way to live that embraces simplicity, slow living, or what she calls, focused living, that naturally follows the seasonal rhythms. Influenced by the back-to-the-earth movement, they have combined her love of baking bread and her husband, Jim’s work as a luthier of guitars and mandolins, to create a life which allows them to be more aware of the smallest changes around them, focusing on the process rather than outcome.

Sarah Robertson, founder of These Are The Days, is a brand designer and creative mentor approaching her 20th year in business. She collaborates with businesses and creatives to define their vision, craft their visuals, and discover their voice. She recently launched the Brand Seasons® publication, where she explores the connection between creativity and seasonality. Originally from Edinburgh, she lives in the Scottish Borders, and in this Slow Spotlight, she shares more about how she’s cultivating a seasonal approach to life and work.

As the heat rises and the colours in the garden increase in their vibrancy, summer brings with it bountiful fruit, and with that, the simple joy of making jam. Stubborn as I am, I enjoy these anchor points of the year. They offer us a sense of continuity, of maintaining a tradition from the days when it was an essential life skill. It is a reminder that our lives can be so richly blessed by living within and alongside the changing seasons.

Kasannah Greely, the owner of Kindly Grown Designs, a wedding floral and garden design studio in the Midwestern United States, shares how motherhood and the beauty of local flowers inspired her to seek a simple and seasonal life.

Helen Izzard has a soft furnishing and interior designer business based in Somerset. She loves working with natural fabrics and colours that are inspired by nature and the landscape around us, and in this Slow Spotlight, she shares more of her own journey towards a slower, simpler and more seasonal life.

Whether it’s at the start of a new year, or indeed, anytime, if you’re looking to find inspiration for a slower, simpler and more seasonal life, then here are some books which I have found especially inspiring over the years.

Mindful, emerge, voyage and present. I’ve been choosing a word of the year since 2020, but what is it, and why would I encourage you to do the same?

Slow living. Simple living. Seasonal living. In many respects, these three are inextricably linked. I think I can pinpoint the exact moment when they clicked for me, and it all began with a book.

I’m thrilled that you’re joining me on this journey. If you’re wondering where to start, here are some suggestions.