Having had a demo of djembe drumming at Guides, my 11 year-old daughter was keen to get a drum, but after much trawling of Amazon, Ebay etc we decided on this pair of drums, not least because playing drums with other people if a lot more fun than on your own. They arrived swiftly and well packed, and make a good noise for their size. The price of £39.99 (delivered) was excellent - the full rrp of £70 would've been a bit steep!

This book is packed with information, albeit at a fairly fruity r.r.p. of close to £30. My main gripe is that this book was clearly intended as a work of reference, hence the A-Z format, but contains absolutely no info as to where these houses stood. The simple addition of a national grid reference (NGR) at the start of each entry would have helped in this regard. Also, the author and publishers have missed out on sourcing conveniently out-of-copyright extracts from vintage large-scale OS maps, which would give far more information as to the extent of these houses and their estates than the relatively few photos included in the book.

As a book to browse in your comfy chair, it's fine. But as a practical guide, it's sadly lacking.

This book is essentially a bit of a 'puff' for Angel Air records, based in deepest darkest Suffolk and set up in 1997 to provide an outlet for recording artists that allowed them a serious slice of the action - a 50/50 slice of the profits in some cases. The content takes the form of an A-Z of the bands or individuals whose material was released up to 2006, which at the very least makes it useful for reference.

The trouble is, the layout and typography is boring in the extreme. It looks like it was put together in Word, with barely any distinction between the component parts of each entry i.e. (a) the biography and (b) the reviews of each Angel Air release that follow on. Something as simple as a heading in bold ("Reviews") would have made things a little more interesting and easy to follow, and any other artsists cross-referenced in the text could also have been put in bold. Simple things, but oddly omitted here.

The other thing to mention is the elephant in the room; the fact that most of the bands/artists were all past their sell-by date when first signed to Angel Air, meaning that some (tho' not all) of the label's releases would be cast-offs, live recordings and so on from personal collections. John du Cann (of Atomic Rooster) had virtually his entire recorded output released by Angel Air, but how much of this was from the original masters is open to debate. One suspects some sly vinyl transfers might have been on the agenda.

So to summarise. A worthy venture, but a rather dull presentation of the label's achievements up to 2007.

Just when you thought the torrent of e-books was threatening the very existence of the traditional printed book, comes along a volume that, as other reviewers have pointed out, can only be fully appreciated in physical form. Mark Hearld is an artist whose influences and techniques are not hard to spot, especially when spelt out in the introduction; John Piper, Edward Bawden, English 'popular' and folk art, collage etc etc. But whilst (say) Piper was prone to employ quite muted colours in his palette, Hearld's pictures are almost uniformly bright and engaging, more 'graphic' in style, which explains why he has managed to combine careers as an artist and designer of book-jackets and so on. This really is a lovely book, thoughtfully put together and a delight to the eye. If it ever gets remaindered I'll try and snap up a pile as an investment - who knows where Mark Hearld's career may take him?

So often, aerial photography [AP] books have tended to show the 'best bits' of England, Scotland, and sometimes counties in particular, but they are only the best bits; this might explain why so many AP volumes swiftly end up in the remaindered bins. This volume is unusual (almost unique) in providing a comprehensive A-Z guide to a particular aspect of our landscape, in this case the surviving windmills of Norfolk, from the unique perspective provided by AP. Coupled with an informative text this is a very well put-together volume, recommended for Norfolkophiles and windmill enthusiasts. Might the authors consider a Suffolk volume next?

There's no doubt that the best of Trunk Records' John Baker releases can be found on the JB Tapes Volume One. For a start there's more identifiably 'Radiophonic' material to be found there. Volume Two revolves around his recordings for the Southern Music Library in the 1960s and '70s (as John Mathews), along with collaborations with Jingle-meister Johnny Johnston, home recordings and so on. It's a very mixed batch and won't appeal in its entirety - some of the abstract electronica from the 1970s grates a little to my ears.

Perhaps when Vols 1 and 2 are long-deleted, Jonny Trunk could combine the best bits of the two, and add in further material (e.g. more from the JB-Johnny Johnston output, I know there's more), for completists like me?

What a strange package - Seal's so-so first album and brilliant follow-up ('Seal 2'), and then fast forward to the 'Soul' album. Does that mean someone's trying to airbrush out all the material in between? What about the brilliant 'Human Beings' album from 1998? I'm confused!

"Langtons Aunt" certainly has the edge on me regarding local knowledge, and there isn't much in his one-star review that I cannot disagree with. But the fact is that this book has had a gestation period of close to 40 years, and the author, Heritage Shell Guides trustees and publishers should all be applauded for seeing this volume through to fruition.

If there are errors, then they exist in the rich tradition of errors (and author subjectivity) established in the original series, which ran from 1934 to '84. Betjeman managed to omit St Ives in the first edition of 'Cornwall', whilst the joint authors of 'Norfolk' (Harrod and Linnell), in drawing a line through the county to establish who did which 'half', managed to leave out any villages obliterated by said line.

I agree that after a hiatus of close to 30 years, to stick to the dour black-and-white photography of the original series seems rather pointless. Betjeman and John Piper both agreed the series was meant to convey a 'sense of place', but can one do this in black and white? It's arguable that sticking to b/w might reinforce any lingering impressions that "it's grim up north." I for one would have preferred more colour photography - it is the 21st century after all - at least the cover features clear and crisp colour images. Shame it wasn't produced with flapped card covers, which are more durable and allow the addition of illuminating front and back 'blurbs'.

Final mischievous point. Peter Burton's 'North Yorkshire' guide (2006) is now out of print and something of a rarity. Perhaps this volume might go the same way, so time to invest in a copy . . . . ?

A kettle does what it does (er, like, boil water) but models differ as to durability, amongst other things. I'm surprised to read of faulty/leaky examples of this model, as mine's been brilliant and has lasted 5 years, with approximately 5-8 uses every single day. However, the catch that holds the lid shut has finally given up, so it's time to look for a new one. Would happily go with another Russell Hobbs, and indeed may well seek out one exactly the same.

Published - it seems - almost too soon after Betjeman's death in 1984, this is part-biography, part-tribute, put together by the author that would go on to write his massive three-part trilogy about 'Betj'. It's clear from the content that Hiller had far more material relating to Betjeman's earlier life, which is arranged around quotations from Summoned By Bells, the result being that Betjeman's later life (say, from 1960 onwards) is covered rather thinly. Still, it's a nice book to have (and find in a Suffolk charity shop for a quid, in my case!).