Teasel & Skylark

29/05/2026

🔎 Something intriguing is happening in Piddlington Minster...

We're delighted to let you all know that we will be helping author, Faith Eckersall, launch her brand new book next month.

The second in her series of cosy crime novels set in Dorset (and featuring the team behind the Piddlington Gazette), Death by Canapé is published in June. The first in the series, The Body on the Roundabout, has been a favourite with Teasel & Skylark customers and so we are thrilled that Faith is joining us on the evening of Tuesday 16th June in The King's Arms Hotel for the official launch of Book 2.

Faith will be in conversation with her literary agent, Caroline Montgomery, and will be discussing the book as well as signing copies in an evening devoted to cosy crime, Dorset charm .. and, of course, murder!

Further details are on our website or just pop in the shop or give us a call ... it should be a great evening so we hope you can join us.

Discover Dorchester Dorchester, Thomas Hardy Country Books Are My Bag Faith Eckersall Rupert Crew

28/05/2026

Here is what we are planning for Independent Bookshop Week (13 to 20 June)… we are delighted to be one of 20 Bookshop Champions across the country celebrating and promoting the importance of independent bookshops.

For more details and tickets to the events (and other promotions in the shop that week) please do check out our website (link in bio) or pop in the shop to talk to have an old fashioned chat!

Books Are My Bag Discover Dorchester Dorchester, Thomas Hardy Country Dorchester: News and Views

27/05/2026

A lovely visit to Teasel & Skylark today from nature writer and Guardian country diarist Nic Wilson, who popped in to sign copies of her beautiful book, Land Beneath the Waves 🌊📚

Part memoir and part nature writing, the book explores chronic illness, memory, family and our deep connection to the natural world — from chalk streams and wetlands to birds, moths and local landscapes. It’s an honest, thoughtful and hopeful read about how nature can help us find belonging and resilience.

It’s always such a pleasure to meet authors — especially nature writers whose love for wildlife and place shines through every page. Huge thanks to Nic for spending time with us today and signing copies for our shelves.

FInd out more about Nic's book here - https://nicwilson.co.uk/land-beneath-the-waves/ - or why not buy yourself a copy the next time you're passing.

Find your next great read with Teasel & Skylark !

Discover Dorchester Dorchester: News and Views Books Are My Bag Dorchester, Thomas Hardy Country Dogwooddays Summersdale Publishers

22/05/2026

We have some more amazing news to share with you.🎉 We are thrilled to announce that Teasel & Skylark has been awarded a Penguin Children’s Bookshop Grant. This funding will enable us to launch a brand-new project designed to encourage reluctant young readers in our local community to develop a lifelong love of reading and books through 'The Teasel & Skylark Young Reviewers’ Club'.

We are so very grateful to Penguin Random House Children’s for believing in us and recognising what we aim to achieve in this project and for selecting us from over 150 applications. Penguin set up the fund earlier this year as part of their commitment to the National Year of Reading – to encourage children and young people to read for pleasure and make reading joyful, fun, and part of their everyday life, values which couldn't be more aligned to our own.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and thank you to all of our customers for the ongoing support you give us – we are one of only 44 bookshops in the country to receive this funding so we are so excited to put it to good use in our community. We’ll be revealing more details about the Young Reviewers’ Club over the coming weeks so stay tuned to see how it will work. 💚 📚

Penguin Books Discover Dorchester Dorchester, Thomas Hardy Country Dorchester: News and Views Books Are My Bag

21/05/2026

We have lots of new fiction in the shop (paperback and hardback) … and we’re already rearranging our 'to be read' piles accordingly 📚

From big-hearted literary fiction to razor-sharp mysteries, strange journeys, complicated lives, and stories you disappear into for entire weekends — May’s new releases are looking particularly strong.

A few we think are going to prove very popular:
• The Given World
• Table for One
• Heart the Lover
• John of John
• Albion

We’re currently reading 'The Given World' by Melissa Harrison and have a feeling it may become one of our Teasel & Skylark favourites before too long.

Which book would you go for from this stack? And why?

Pop in this week for a friendly welcome, a relaxing browse, and a recommendation or two - you'll be sure to find your next great read with us!

Discover Dorchester Dorchester: News and Views Dorchester, Thomas Hardy Country Books Are My Bag

21/05/2026

We want to thank everyone who joined us on Tuesday evening for the talk with John Wright. We hoped that you enjoyed it as much as we did - and we'd like to say thanks also to John for giving such an entertaining and informative talk.
His passion and enthusiasm for the natural world — especially for Hog Cliff in Dorset — was a real joy to hear. He inspired us all to slow down a little on our next country walk and truly notice what’s around us.

As John put it so beautifully, if we can learn to see the beauty in these often-overlooked species, we can learn to love them — and if we love them, we can inspire others to protect and preserve them too. It’s a message that feels especially important at a time when so much of the natural world is under threat.

Discover Dorchester Dorchester: News and Views Dorchester, Thomas Hardy Country Books Are My Bag

16/05/2026

'From meadows to wetlands to chalk downlands, John Wright takes the reader through a kaleidoscopic journey of biodiversity of life, whether flora, fauna and of course fungal.'

Grasslands by John Wright is our latest book review online (link in bio) - check out what David thought of this new book by Dorset-based author and naturalist John Wright online or in the shop ... and if you like the sound of it, why not get a ticket to John's talk being held on Tuesday 19th May from 7pm at The King's Arms Hotel, Dorchester.

Tickets are £5 or if you buy a 'ticket + book bundle' for £20 you save 30% on the RRP and get it signed by the author. Tickets can be bought in the shop or online - it's been in the Dorset Echo today so we imagine all tickets will go over the weekend - don't miss out!

Find your next great read with Teasel & Skylark Books!

Discover Dorchester Dorchester, Thomas Hardy Country Books Are My Bag Dorchester: News and Views Profile Books

15/05/2026

We were really pleased to receive this amazing award last week from Action Coach, sponsors of the 'Business of the Year' category of the Dorchester Business Awards earlier in the year.

In addition to winning that title and the certificate (and now trophy) we were also given two free coaching sessions with Duncan Mckechnie from Action Coach, pictured here presenting the award.

We'd like to say a huge thank you to Duncan and everyone at Action Coach for what has been a useful, interesting, and enjoyable experience and for the award which is now taking pride of place in our window!

Discover Dorchester Dorchester, Thomas Hardy Country Dorchester: News and Views Actioncoach Dorset

13/05/2026

David and I are really excited that Teasel & Skylark has been named as one of only 20 Bookshop Champions in the country - we have had a whirlwind of a first nine months in the shop and things have happened very fast but we are always hugely grateful for all the brilliant support we have received and continue to receive from the local community. We'll be putting out details of what we have planned for Independent Bookshop Week very soon - keep an eye on our social media, posters in shop, or subscribe to our monthly newsletter. Thanks everyone, Richard 😃

13/05/2026

A lovely moment in the shop this week — John Wright dropping in ahead of his Dorchester event later this month 🌿

John’s new book, Grasslands, is a celebration of one of Britain’s most overlooked landscapes, and as you’d expect from him, it’s full of warmth, curiosity, humour, and a deep love of the natural world.

If you’ve ever heard John speak before — whether about fungi, folklore, foraging, or the Dorset countryside — you’ll know these evenings are never dry lectures. They’re funny, thoughtful, and full of stories.

📍 Tuesday 19th May
📍 The King’s Arms Hotel, Dorchester
🕖 7pm (doors 6.30pm)

🎟 Tickets are £5
📚 Or £20 with a copy of Grasslands included

We genuinely love being able to bring writers like John to Dorchester, and community support really does make these events possible — so if this sounds like your sort of evening, we’d love to see you there.

Tickets available in the shop or online via the link in comments.

And a question for fellow Dorset folk…

What’s your favourite patch of Dorset landscape — a meadow, hill, woodland, footpath, or hidden corner you always return to?

Profile Books Discover Dorchester Dorchester, Thomas Hardy Country Dorchester: News and Views The King's Arms Books Are My Bag

12/05/2026

Time to celebrate a fantastic recent release now, and one of our current staff picks, the paperback version of Peter Ross's brilliant Upon A White Horse. It launched to much acclaim in hardback last year and has featured in many publications as well as being a Radio 4 Book of the Week.

Peter delightfully manages to convey a real sense of humanity and empathy throughout this highly accessible book, delivering a true understanding of the parts played by history, people, and place as he travels across the UK and Ireland.

As is proving to be a bit of a thing for me, I enjoyed the book to the extent that I have written another short piece of music which is accompanying this reel. Head over to our YouTube channel to hear the whole piece and why not subscribe when you're there!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H8-UtgqX2w

Thanks again, Peter, for this very entertaining book, available, of course, from Teasel and Skylark Books!!



📚

Another musical dedication, this time for the brilliant Upon A White Horse by Peter Ross.