Hello spring… it’s so lovely to welcome you!
In recent weeks, many of you have kindly taken the time to email me with your feedback on the magazine, often saying how much it’s helping provide you with inspiration, ideas and positivity during this challenging time and allowing you to feel connected with like-minded women while you’re not able to meet others in person. Your messages are incredibly useful in guiding us to how you’re feeling and what you want more of, so do keep them coming (email me at the address below or at worthsharing@goodhousekeeping.co.uk).
Based on what you’ve been saying, I do hope you’ll dive into this issue and feel almost instantly uplifted by it, as it’s packed to the brim with the colours, flavours, smells and general joys of spring! Even if we’re not yet able to entertain others, sprucing up our homes and bringing in fresh flowers and prettiness has the power to make us feel better, and that’s vital when we’re spending so much time indoors. Equally, switching to lighter, brighter clothes can be a great mood booster (I absolutely love our fashion shoot on page 18, and have my eye on one or two of the items!). And this really is one of the best times of the year when it comes to ingredients, so I hope you’ll enjoy our latest selection of recipes – let’s hope we may just be able to get together with our closest family by Easter and enjoy lunch together. Talking of food, I know many of you, like me, have tried your hands at a little GYO (grow your own) in the past year and are getting enormous pleasure from it, so I think you’ll enjoy reading our article on developing a veg plot or going even further and renting an allotment (page 104).
Her love of gardening and growing her own veg is just one of the many surprising things you’ll discover about this month’s cover star, Carole Middleton, in our interview with her on page 10. Meeting Carole (albeit wearing a mask and socially distanced in the studio!) was an absolute delight and we learned about the passion and energy with which she approaches all areas of her life, from her business to being a grandmother.
I do hope you enjoy getting to know Carole and everything else we’re bringing you this month – with spring upon us, I do feel there are good reasons to be cheerful.
PS. Many of us at GH have been talking about ‘brain fog’ as an effect of the pandemic, because of lengthy periods working from home and being cut off from life’s normal stimulations. If this is something you’ve also experienced, you’ll be fascinated by Dr Sabina Brennan’s advice and reassurance (page 82).