Beauty Bible Loves… Substack – and here are our top recommendations…
2024 was the year that Substack unexpectedly revolutionised our reading habits. We’ve always been magazine people, but this online platform is attracting some of our favourite writers from the world of print, and we’ve finally succumbed, even if it does mean spending a little more time than we’d like on our screens.
Many Substack newsletters are free – or have a free option. But there are some that are most definitely worth paying for (not least because you know you’re directly supporting the writers themselves, who get most of the cut of the subscription).
On the gardening front, we’d recommend The Gardening Mind by our garden designer friend Jo Thompson – truly a generous fount of knowledge (Jo will be sharing the countdown to her TWO Chelsea Flower Show gardens, in 2025), and there’s a real garden-loving community, among her readers. We’d recommend Tiffanie Darke’s insights into sustainable fashion, too, here. And for gardening AND cooking, Mark Diacono’s Garden To Table, who just in the digital category of the Garden Media Guild Awards. (Ottolenghi just started a Substack, too!) You can get all serious and bone up on history, or global politics…
… But for general intel on everything you might want to know about ‘the art of living well’, as she puts it, nobody beats India Knight, whose Substack – Home by India Knight – you can find here.
India’s writing has always dazzled, but more than that, she just knows her stuff – from the best place to source fairy lights to comfort reading books, recipes, occasional beauty recommendations, flower arranging tips, a playlist for a festive walk through Soho… You just never know what you’re going to get, and we love, love, love it, although it’s right at the top of the price bracket, subscription-wise – £12 a month. Or three, maybe four takeaway coffees, which makes it seem an absolute steal. (On Sundays, meanwhile, there’s a very worthwhile free post which deep-dives into a particular painting, or shares a recipe, on alternate weeks.
As the Christmas break looms, we look forward to catching up with missed Substack posts from our favourite writers, with a mug of hot chocolate, a roaring fire, and – hurrah – time on our hands.
Home by India Knight – sign up here
Also, check out The Gardening Mind here
It’s Not Sustainable by Tiffanie Darke her
Mark Diacono’s Garden to Table – here
Ottolenghi – here
