ReadingLasses Licensed Bistro 6pm

3 courses £15, 2 courses £12.95

Date: Sunday 5th May 6pm

A special fun menu for everyone and especially for those who love making things.

Talk and share what you do - or would like to do - to be more creative.

Register your interest by email Books@reading-lasses.com

Book Festival Drawing Drop-In

Date: 5th and 6th May 2013 - 10am – 4.30pm - £5

Artist Hope London leads relaxed drop-in sessions about enhancing your ability to see the world around you finding beauty in ordinary things. All materials provided.

Register your interest by email Books@reading-lasses.com

Crafts Alive: Local Crafters and Makers

Date: 4th and 5th May 2013, Time: 10am – 5pm, This is a Free Event!
(Dinner Follow this event at 6pm, Fees Apply*)

Date: Saturday 4th May, Sunday 5th May and Monday 6th May 2013

There will all kinds of local crafters and makers in ReadingLasses all day. No need to book.

Weavers, spinners, shabby chique artists, knitters, crochet and more!

Come along and buy, try out or just watch. 12pm - 5pm. Join the Crafters for a Craft themed menu. Dinner at 6pm on Sunday. (*£15.00 for 3 courses, £12.95 for 2 courses)

Register your interest by email Books@reading-lasses.com

Traditional Knitting Techniques

Two wristwarmers from Northern Climes

Date: Saturday 4th May and Sunday 5th May 2013

Traditional Knitting Workshop sessions. You can choose between 1 and 4 sessions.
Suitable for beginners and experienced knitters.
All materials supplied.

Saturday and Sunday 10am -12pm and 2pm - 4pm
Cost: 2 hour sessions: £12. All day session: £20
Max 7 people per session.

Optional evening session on Friday or Saturday could be arranged if there is a high demand (please book so we know). Talk and Film on Traditional Knitting from Scotland and Estonia.

Register your interest by email Books@reading-lasses.com

Knit and Craft Dinner with Alyne

ReadingLasses Licensed Bistro

Date: Saturday 4th May 7pm 2013

Saturday 4th May 7pm, 3 courses £15/2 courses £12.95

Eat, drink and talk all things knitting and crafting . Menu to include e.g. Felted Tart, Purl Pudding, Bramble Stitch Crumble, Stocking Stew.

Register your interest by email Books@reading-lasses.com

Jen Campbell Book Launch

Date: April 25th 2013

Jen Campbell, author of “Weird Things people say in Bookshops” and “More Weird things...” is coming to ReadingLasses to launch “More Weird Things people say in Bookshop”. FREE talk and signing at 6.30pm.

Register your interest by email Books@reading-lasses.com

Dine with Jen Campbell

Date: April 25th 2013

Dine with Jen Campbell. Literary themed, fun menu: chat and you might have your own weird sayings in bookshops for the next collection! Tickets: £12.95 for 2 course meal or £15.00 for 3 courses (Licensed to serve wonderful wine etc!) Please phone or email or use the enquiry form to make your reservation (limited tickets)

Book by email Books@reading-lasses.com

Book Town Ghost Town

Submission Date: 13th April 2013

ReadingLasses Press is planning a ghostly anthology. 13 stories will be selected. The deadline for submission is 13th April 2013. Stories around 1000-3000 words featuring spirits and ghosties, real or imagined, who wander Wigtown and surrounding area, most welcome.

Submit by email Books@reading-lasses.com

WINTER ‘DAY BREAK’ WORKSHOPS

Date: January 2013: Wed 16thJanuary or Sat 19th
Date: February 2013: Wed. 13th or Sat. 16th
Date: March 2013: Wed. 27th, Sat. 30th

Fancy a “day break” to brighten up the winter months after Christmas and Hogmanay? Treat yourself or someone you love to a relaxing day of drawing and seeing with artist Hope London at ReadingLasses bookshop, cafe and self catering in Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland -www.reading-lasses.com With delicious ReadingLasses’ morning and afternoon refreshments and lunch included, it will truly be a day away from the usual and perhaps even a chance to improve your health and wellbeing.

Drawing and seeing is about enhancing your ability to see and appreciate the world around you, finding beauty in even the most ordinary things. You'll have a chance to experiment in black and white as well as colour, and to create work to take home with you. All materials will be provided - but please feel free to bring your own if you wish. Old shirts will be on hand to protect your clothing or you can bring a smock or apron... or better still, just wear comfy old clothes!

Hope has taught drawing to adults and young people of all levels of ability since starting out as an artist in New York in the 1970s, where she gained a Masters degree in Fine Art (MFA) from Brooklyn College, City University of New York. She later worked as a special effects artist on animated films in Los Angeles and has taught drawing at California State University Northridge and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. In the UK since 1987, she specialised in arts management and ran Manchester's Castlefield Gallery before coming up to Scotland where she is now a full time artist. Her paintings are represented by McGill Duncan Gallery in Castle Douglas.

Classes are small to ensure individual attention, limited to 6 people where possible. Group bookings are welcome. The day starts with coffee, tea and fresh baked scones at 10:00 and finishes at 4:30 in the afternoon. Please be sure to let us know if you have any special dietary needs or access requirements and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Minimum age 16, all levels of ability and experience welcome.

The workshop costs £55 and includes everything - materials, lunch and morning and afternoon refreshments.

How to book: Contact Reading Lasses on our enquiry form on our website or email us on books@reading-lasses.com If you want to buy a Gift Certificate for someone special, just ask when booking and provide a mailing address so we can send you a lovely gift card.

If you have any questions about the workshop or gift card, please contact Hope directly on 0770 2421720. For questions about special dietary needs and disabled access, please contact ReadingLasses.

Cost: £55 per day all materials included

3 day workshop (or just book 1 or 2 days)

Date: TBC

Please contact us for the dates (probably May and November).

Cost: £40 per day all materials included

Reading Lasses Writers' Retreat

Date: any time by arrangement

Nestle above the books, all cosy and comfy in your private space. We will bring you great meals and drinks on request to strengthen your resolve to get a few more chapters written.

Cost: : £5 for day use with free wifi. Overnight stays with free wifi from £30 (minimum 3 nights)

Visit some of the most amazing gardens in Scotland

Date: Sun 26th - 29th August 2012

Come with us to visit some of the most amazing gardens in Scotland. The warmth of the Gulf Stream means these gardens are impressive in their range and colour. We will definitely include:

Logan Botanic Garden: At the south-western tip of Scotland lies Logan Botanic Garden, unrivalled as the country's most exotic Garden. With a mild climate washed by the Gulf Stream, a remarkable collection of bizarre and beautiful plants, especially from the Southern Hemisphere, flourish out-of-doors.

Glenwhan Gardens: RHS Partner Garden and 4 Star Scottish Tourist Board Garden

Castle Kennedy Gardens: 'Riches and Ruins – laid out dramatically on an isthmus between the remains of the original castle and its nineteenth century replacement – have a rich history of horticultural development, continued to this day by the family which lives there'. House and Gardens July, 2008

Ardwell Gardens; fine views over Luce Bay, camellias, azaleas and rhododendrons galore

Logan House Gardens: 21 Scottish champion trees, rocks and “forty shades of green”

Dunskey Gardens: A unique maze, a walled garden gem with woodland, lochs and Victorian glasshouses providing an ever changing palette of colour.

...and there's more – lots more.

Price £99 per person including entry tickets to the gardens and dinner every evening in ReadingLasses (BYOB)

Day Price £25 per person including entry ticket and meal at ReadingLasses (or a picnic from ReadingLasses)

We can arrange these optional extras:

• Breakfast in ReadingLasses
• Accommodation in ReadingLasses or within walking distance
• Book Town picnic
• Transport on arrival/departure
• Transport to and from the gardens

And you can even wield a trowel in the ReadingLasses Organic garden – just in case you are missing getting your hands into the soil! We grow for the ReadingLasses kitchen – and for pleasure.

Wherever possible, we will also arrange some great discounts for you in local Garden Centres.

For more information: www.visitdumfriesandgalloway.co.uk/gardens/

Living Well With Long Term Conditions Events

Date: (Contact us for more details)

Individual and small group sessions looking at a range of self management tools to help with living with issues such as chronic pain, fatigue, stress.

Susan Douglas-Scott has lived with a long term condition for over 40 years. Professionally she has been Chief Executive of Epilepsy Scotland, fpa(Scotland), Terence Higgins Trust and noteably the Long term Conditions Alliance Scotland.  She was an Occupational Therapist by profession (eons ago!) and now advises the government on what people with long term condtions are saying is important to them.

Come along by yourself or organise a small group of friends or colleagues and see what support there is out there for you and how you can find ways that will help you deal with your long term condition. The sessions are held as people request them, so please don’t hesitate to contact us to talk about times and dates.