TEA by Roy Moxham (Constable, £14.99): MOST of us love a cuppa. As told here by a former tea planter, its history is a shocking tale of exploitation, but the bitter taste is sweetened by a stirring-in of pleasantries such as the Lyons Tea Rooms, and a short history of the tea bag, the first of which (1908, the USA) were made of silk.

WILD FLOWERS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM IN NORTHERN ENGLAND by Laurie Fellows. (Three paperbacks, Northern Limestone, Waterside, Acid Uplands, Francis Lincoln Publishers, £7.99 each.)

EXCELLENT pocket guides, covering the Dales, Lake District, and Upper Teesdale, with colour photographs of the species, details of habitat, folklore, culinary and medicinal use, and 16 walks in each landscape type.

THE HIVE: The Story of the Honeybee and Us by Bee Wilson (John Murray, £14.99)

THE bee - the earth's most beneficial insect? Probably. In this attractive volume, illustrated with historic artworks, the aptly-named Bee Wilson reveals how deeply embedded the bee is in human culture. The hive is a mirror of society - a picture of industry but also, alas, flawed with injustice and oppression.

A LITTLE HISTORY OF BRITISH GARDENING by Jenny Uglow (Chatto & Windus, £15.99)

NOT that little - 342 pages. But it's still a gem, a very engaging trip through gardens great and small from the days of the Romans onwards. Its strength is Uglow's well-judged choice of detail. In the First Word War, George V dug for Victory, replacing geraniums with potatoes at Buckingham Palace. The gnome arrived from Germany in 1867. Vita Sackville-West refused to plant rhododendrons at Sissinghurst on the grounds that they reminded her of "fat stockbrokers whom we do not want to have to dinner".

HISTORY AND LANDSCAPE: The Guide to National Trust Properties in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by Lydia Greeves (National Trust, £30)

NOW topping three million - far more than belong to all our political parties - the ever-rising membership of the National Trust suggests a thirst for beauty, ill-served in our everyday world. This sumptuous guide, profiling Trust properties alphabetically, but with maps to show their locations, is the next best thing to being there in person.

Published: 07/12/2004