Let nature's beauty be your inspiration this Christmas

'Deck the halls with boughs of Holly...' or so the popular carol goes.

Unfortunately, Christmas decorations are more likely to consist of an array of flashing lights, glitz and tack these days, rather than the symbolic, nature-inspired trimmings that would once have adorned our homes.

Most traditional decorations cost nothing because they were made from whatever was found growing in the gardens, hedgerows and woodland, but materials were also chosen for what they symbolised.

For example, evergreen cuttings have been used since the time of the Druids, who favoured them because they remained green throughout the bleak winter days. The prickly spikes of Holly were said to ward off evil spirits, while Mistletoe was thought to possess magical properties and regarded as sacred.

The use of these plants continued with the advent of Christianity, when the white berries of Mistletoe were chosen to represent purity. Holly leaves were said to symbolise the crown of thorns and the berries were the blood of Christ.

There are numerous theories about the origins of the Christmas Tree. It's thought that the idea of decorating a fir tree dates back to Roman times. During the Middle Ages, trees were decorated with apples to represent the tree of life from the Garden of Eden.

The modern custom of bringing a fire tree into the home at Christmas is thought to have originated in Germany and came here with Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert. The Victorians embraced this idea; known for their love of excess, they began decorating their trees with glass baubles, silver wire and tinsel. Although the range of decorations on the market today is endless, there is something timeless and satisfying about creating your own, homemade ornaments and displays based on traditional methods.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Advent rings, wreaths and garlands
An Advent ring makes a pretty table centrepiece and contains four candles - one for each of the four Sundays of Advent. The base is a ring of fresh oasis, which is available from all good florists. Dampen the oasis and cover it completely in fresh foliage; I use a combination of glossy evergreens, such as Holly, Ivy, Winter Jasmine, Rosemary, Laurel, Eucalyptus and whatever else I can find in the garden. Insert the four candles at evenly spaced intervals - you can secure them by taping cocktail sticks to the bottom and pushing these into the oasis. You can then add lengths of ribbon fashioned into bows; pieces of fruit; pine cones; baubles and any other finishing touches you like, attaching them to the oasis with lengths of wire (available from florists and craft shops).

You can create an attractive wreath for your front door using a similar method. Simply cover a fresh oasis ring in foliage, adding the decorations of your choice, and hang it from a length of ribbon, which can be attached to your front door to give guests a cheery welcome.

If you find the idea of making an Advent ring or wreath too daunting and want to opt for something more simple, evergreens also look striking gathered together in bundles and tied with ribbon or raffia, or twisted into informal wreaths and garlands. These can be hung from doors, picture frames, mirrors or a mantelpiece.

Dried materials
There's a fragile beauty to the dried out seed heads, weathered fronds of bracken and grasses, and skeletal twigs that are all that remain of summer's lush foliage. These dried materials make a delicate but wintry-looking alternative to fresh foliage, especially when a little gold or silver spray (available from craft shops) is used to highlight them. You can collect these items from the hedgerows during walks in the countryside, along with pine cones and jewel-coloured fallen leaves.

Gilded pine cones look attractive displayed in a basket or glass bowl. Fallen leaves can be dried out and then wired to long stems of twisted Willow or Hazel arranged in a tall vase to make an unusual alternative to a Christmas tree. The soft light of candles creates a cosy, festive feel and they work best when grouped together in the centre of a table or arranged on a hearth around a roaring fire.

Christmas tree decorations
Red ribbon looped into pretty bows, rosy red apples and pine cones embellished with a touch of gold spray make attractive and cost-effective Christmas tree decorations. Slices of orange can be slowly dried out in the oven at a low temperature and then attached to the branches using lengths of fine wire, along with small bundles of cinnamon sticks, which will smell amazing, as well as looking good.

Once you get started, you'll find that the possibilities are endless. Whatever you decide to make, take your inspiration from the natural world this Christmas. After all, most of the materials you need are free of charge and there for the taking.

Keeping hens in your garden

It was once the norm to keep a few laying hens in your garden or backyard but the advent of factory farming and availability of cheap eggs from the supermarkets meant that this way of life all but disappeared. However, as we become increasingly aware of where our food comes from and more of us than ever before want our very own taste of the ‘good life’, hen keeping has enjoyed a surge in popularity

During the summer of 2009, we re-homed four ex-battery hens and, since then, we’ve added another three hens, given to us by friends, to our little flock. Having grown up on a farm, I knew roughly what keeping hens entailed but the past year has been a voyage of discovery none-the-less. Although we give our hens layer’s pellets (a high protein feed available from most animal feed suppliers) and a little corn each day, we’ve discovered that they will happily wolf down any leftover bread, pasta, rice, cooked potatoes, vegetables and fruit.  They even love cold baked beans and particularly enjoy pecking the last bits of flesh from the skin of a melon before using it as a drinking vessel from which to sip every last drop of juice. When there’s an abundance of herbs in the garden during the summer months, I often pull a bunch of mint, lemon balm, basil or oregano for them. They go crazy for the soft, flavoursome leaves and, apparently, you should be able to detect a subtle taste of herbs in the eggs that they produce.

If you’re even remotely protective of your flower beds and lawn, it’s best to section off an area for your hens to minimise damage as they love nothing better than scratching and digging in the soil. We’ve also learnt the hard way what great escape artists hens can be and just how important it is to make sure that their run is completely secure; earlier this year I was reduced to tears when our marauding flock managed to find a way out and cheerfully destroyed our newly-planted vegetable patch.

Despite such incidents, keeping hens is extremely rewarding and they ask for very little in return for the abundance of fresh eggs that they provide us with; we've had a near constant supply since they arrived. During the peak laying season our girls give us between 25 and 35 eggs a week. Last year, they even continued laying through the darkest and coldest days of winter, when we’d fully expected them to stop laying for a time. This means that there are usually plenty of eggs to go round, and visiting family or friends often go home with half a dozen.

One of the biggest joys has been watching our four ex-battery hens adjust to free range life. When they arrived, they were missing feathers; had pale, floppy combs; and were generally very weak and lethargic. Now they have bright red combs, glossy, fluffy feathers and are full of energy – as their little jaunt in the vegetable patch testifies! One thing I’d not expected was for hens to make such charming and amusing characters. They are surprisingly endearing and, once they’ve got used to you, are happy being stroked and handled.

If you'd like to keep hens in your garden, here are a few tips on how to get started:

Buying your hens

Even in a small garden you will have enough room for a couple of hens. If you live in a built-up area it’s not a good idea to add a cockerel to your flock as its crowing will disturb neighbours, but, unlike wild bird, your hens won’t need a cockerel to produce eggs.

You can buy hens from a local livestock market or find them advertised for sale in poultry and farming magazines. However, it’s well worth considering re-homing ex-battery hens, which will be little more than a year old when you receive them. Visit the British Hen Welfare Trust’s website to find out more - www.bhwt.org.uk

Accommodation

Although you’ll find all manner of different coops and runs on the market, all they really need is a secure, waterproof hen house with perches and nest boxes. Even if you live in an urban area, you need to safeguard your hens against foxes and other predators. We converted an old dog run and kennel for ours so that they can be locked up safely at night, but during the day we open the door of the run so that they can forage in the garden. We raised the dog kennel up off the ground, adding a ramp for the hens to climb up, and fitted out the inside with nest boxes and perches. As hens tend to excrete mainly when they’re roosting at night, be prepared to clean the hen house out at least once a week. Hen droppings can always be put to good use as a fertiliser for your vegetable patch!

If you do decide to let your hens roam free in your garden during the day, you may want to clip their flight feathers to stop them from flying up onto fences and escaping. All you need to do is trim the ends of the main feathers on one wing to unbalance the hen so that it can’t take off, taking care not to cut too close to the quills.

Food

Hens should have a supply of fresh, clean water at all times and special drinking containers can be bought relatively cheaply. Each hen needs around 100 grammes of food per day, which could be layer’s pellets or mash, or grain. Free range hens will supplement their diet by foraging in your garden, but confined hens will need grit to help them digest food and crushed shells so that they get the calcium they need to form strong shells on their eggs. You can buy both from your local animal feed supplier. You can add variety to their diet by giving them scraps from the kitchen, although raw potato, citrus peel and banana skins should be avoided. Bunches of nettles and even grass clippings will be gratefully received, particularly if your hens are confined during the day.

Useful reading:

The book Hens in the Garden, Eggs in the Kitchen by Charlotte Popescu has been an invaluable resource, particularly in the early days when it reassured us that the squabbles that arise from establishing a pecking order are part and parcel of a hen’s daily life.

There is also lots of useful information on keeping hens on the British Hen Welfare Trust’s website - www.bhwt.org.uk