The power of female friendship

Bring the beauty and flavours of the Black Sea and the Transylvanian mountains into your kitchen with Irina Georgescu’s comfort food recipes from the vibrant and diverse lands of Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria

Our latest fiction writing competition asked entrants to pen a love story, and we found find three romantic tales which we’re sure you’ll enjoy over the next few pages. Congratulations to Daniel Taylor with The Clockmaker’s Valentine , which you can read overleaf, along with two runners-up. Plus on page 58, find out details about our next themed short story competition...

Whether you’re celebrating your mum, stepmum, mother-in-law, grandma or partner, we have all the food, gift and entertaining inspiration you need to make this Mother’s Day one she’ll remember…

Of all the recipes we produce, there are some that are guaranteed to go down an absolute storm. Category-wise, it’s the four ‘CHs’ – chicken, cheese, chocolate, cheesecake – that tend to reign supreme

AS PART OF OUR 40TH BIRTHDAY CELEBR ATIONS, WE SHOWC A SE THE TECH, TRENDS AND EVENTS TAKING ROOT IN THE WORLD OF GA RDENING THIS SUMMER – AND ANNOUNCE AN EXCITING COLL ABOR ATION WITH HOR ATIO’S GA RDEN AT THE CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW

I f the brighter days have inspired you ...