I want to
Books and reading
Book lists and awards
24/7 Library
Subject resources
More from your library
Home & garden
Also on this page: Do-It-Yourself | Gardening | Food & drink | Pets | Pests and pest control
Key links
-
BBC Homes - Property matters and home improvements, with links to related BBC programmes.
-
HintsandThings - Everything you need to know about running a home from decluttering the attic to finding lost contact lenses.
Do-It-Yourself
-
DIYFixIt - Advice on a large range of DIY tasks around the home.
-
Julian Cassell's DIY Blog - The website belonging to the DIY author Julian Cassell providing several sets of instructions advice and tips relating to a variety of subjects.
Gardening
-
Royal Horticultural Society - Gives access to the RHS's popular Garden Finder, Plant Finder (you can search by a range of criteria, not just name, and the database also provides supplier listings), as well as details of all their events and properties around the country.
-
BBC Gardening - this site includes a plant database, project instructions and a Today in Your Garden feature..
-
National Gardens Scheme - Includes a searchable directory of the gardens all over Britain that open (sometimes for just one day) to raise money for charity.
-
Garden Organic - Gives practical advice for organic gardening, and gardens to visit, with links to many other useful sites.
Food and drink
-
Food & Drink from Oxford Reference Online [24/7] [Can't get in?]
-
BBC Food - Including a recipe database and biographies of celebrity chefs.
-
Recipe search - Part of a food website from Sainsbury's, this is a recipe database searchable by combinations of ingredients (e.g.: beef and chocolate!).
-
Food Standards Agency - Government site with lots of useful information, from food safety to healthy eating to the facts about food labelling.
-
British Nutrition Foundation - Site promoting healthy eating by assessing current knowledge and research, including analysis of food ingredients.
-
Still Tasty - Search for almost any food or drink and get practical advice on storage times and methods. Also features a useful Q&A section (this is a US site, so some terminology varies from the UK).
-
Food Reference - Strong US bias, but home to a wealth of food information, facts and trivia.
Pets
-
Find a vet - Database from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, searchable by area and type of animal.
-
RSPCA - This site from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has information on their campaigns, animal care in general, a large section on the most popular pets and their needs, and a site for under 12s called Animal Action Park.
-
Pet Advice - from the animal re-homing charity Blue Cross.
Pests and pest control
-
Rentokil pest guides - Whether you have insects or something bigger these pictures and articles will help you identify, get to know and deal with them.
-
Pest control in Westminster - Find out about what pest control you can get from Westminster Council. Plus some useful links to websites and organisations of interest including the BPCA.
Useful links - other categories:
Quick reference
Advice & help | Art & design | Beliefs & customs | Biography | Books & literature | Business & economics | Computers & the Internet | Education | Environment & geography | Family & personal | Family history | Government (local) | Government & politics (national & international) | Health & medicine | History | Job search | Languages | Law | Libraries | London | Music | Newspapers & magazines | Science & technology | Society & citizenship | Sport & recreation | Stage & screen | Statistics & figures | Transport & tourism