Practical Self-sufficiency

Find your route to a more sustainable lifestyle with Dick Strawbridge, of Channel 4's Escape to the Chateau, and his son James. We can all take steps to reduce our carbon footprint and be more self-sufficient. For some, that might mean upping sticks and living off the land. For the rest of us, the reality might involve smaller, but no less important, lifestyle changes: cutting back on plastic or food waste, growing vegetables, preserving meat and fish, preparing jams and chutneys, baking sourdough bread, making your own plant-based milks, or keeping a chicken or two. Dick and James Strawbridge know what it's like to make these changes. Between them, they've lived on a smallholding, in a terraced house, and even a chateau. In this updated edition of Practical Self-sufficiency they share everything they've learned, and give you the tools you need for a more rewarding and environmentally conscious life.

Dick Strawbridge's road to a self-sufficient lifestyle was documented in three series of It's Not Easy Being Green (BBC). He co-wrote the first edition of Practical Self-Sufficiency with his son James, and also It's Not Easy Being Green (BBC Books, 2009). His current TV project is the Channel 4's primetime Escape to the Chateau (March 2016), now in its sixth series. James Strawbridge, Dick's son, co-presented It's Not Easy Being Green and co-wrote the first edition of Practical Self-Sufficiency and It's Not Easy Being Green. James also co-wrote the Made at Home series on artisan skills (Octopus, 2012).