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HOUSE & GARDENS
THE STRANGER'S GUIDE TO TALLISTON
The Stranger's Guide To Talliston is a fantasy adventure set in Britain's most extraordinary home: Talliston House & Gardens. Aimed at Years 11-16, it is timeless story to be enjoyed by readers of any age.
Abandoned and alone, thirteen-year-old Joe’s world is shattered when he enters a deserted council house and becomes trapped within a labyrinth protecting the last magical places on earth. There, Joe discovers The Stranger’s Guide, a cryptic book charting this immense no-man’s land and his only map through its dark and dangerous puzzle of doors and rooms.
Hunted by sinister forces, Joe is forced ever deeper into both the maze and the mystery of his missing parents. What lies at the labyrinth’s centre and will it reunite him with the family he so desperately needs?
THE STRANGER'S DOOR TO TALLISTON
It is Twelfth Night 1590 and thirteen-year-old Bríane races to save her grandmother from execution for crimes of witchcraft. Only one thing can prove her innocence: a magical grimoire owned by the town’s dark and sinister lord. In the attempt the girl loses the precious book at a crossroad of all worlds called the Forest of Doors. Can she locate the spell book in time to save Old Mother Moore from her terrible fate? Or will she fall victim to the wood’s dark and dangerous puzzle of doors and rooms?
Both sequel and prequel to The Stranger’s Guide To Talliston, this new story revisits many of the original thirteen locations but in entirely different moments – plus adds two dozen new rooms in its extraordinary expanded universe. Starting in Elizabethan Essex, The Stranger’s Door To Talliston goes deeper into the mysteries, adventures and heroes battling to save the last magical places on Earth.
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THE TALLISTON GRIMOIRE
The Talliston Grimoire is the magical guidebook to Britain’s Most Extraordinary Home, Talliston House & Gardens, being a great & arcane work of antiquity and strangeness, encompassing the thirteen rooms, doors & moons and the spells & enchantments, sorcery & wizardry that brought the house & gardens into being – and in which the secret mysteries of magical living are revealed for a life of health, happiness & harmony.
Join author, creator and wizard John Tarrow as he takes you through the quarter-century project to transform the UK’s most ordinary house, reveals how this unique interior design transformation was conceived, sourced and accomplished, his thoughts and ideas about magical living, a full almanack of days, how to create your own ritual year and a globetrotting culinary journey around the times and places of the house and gardens.
To be launched to coincide with the Tenth Anniversary of the end of the Talliston project: October 2025.
LETTERS FROM THE LABYRINTH
Letters From The Labyrinth is an illustrated fantasy story based on the worlds from The Stranger’s Guide to Talliston.
Written by author John Tarrow and illustrated by Rebecca Solow, this quality A4-format hardback is a sequel, prequel and standalone story to the novel, exploring the same thirteen locations of the house and novel, but now in a whole new set of magical moments. Each of the thirteen letters is a work of art, illustrated with beautiful full-page watercolours, plotting an adventure set in a vast collection of extraordinary times and places.
On the night of the dark of the moon when all the doors to the Talliston labyrinth open, a raven delivers a letter from your friend trapped within the labyrinth of the house & gardens.
THE TALLISTON ROOM ATLAS
The Talliston Room Atlas is the official companion guide through the magical labyrinth of Talliston house & gardens, charting each location as a 36-page premium magazine.
Every large-format page is packed with beautifully rendered full and double page colour photographs captured by award-winning photographer, Gavin Conlan, on high-quality velvet-finish paper.
This gorgeous guidebook captures the true essence of Talliston's magical locations: the magical morning light in the New Orleans kitchen; the eerie darkness of the Scottish Edwardian bedroom and everything in between. The Room Atlas is truly astonishing in the way it encapsulates the beauty and details of the house and gardens, plus each location is accompanied by full details of the story and occupants of each time and place.
THE TALLISTON BOOK OF DAYS
Thirteen-month almanack charting all the times and places of the house and gardens in glorious full colour. Featuring stunning images by GilesG Photography, this A4 wall mounted calendar is printed double sided in full colour on high quality 200gsm Silk paper. It’s beautiful. The colours are bright, the paper is glossy sheen.
A unique and beautiful reminder of guests’ visits to the house and gardens.
As everyone knows, Talliston is a place where time holds no power, so what better from its calendar than something that is just as completely out of time as the house and gardens. As gorgeous as it is impractical, each page has a calendar from the time and place of the location it represents and also shows the exact moment of each room, plus information on the Talliston Almanack of moons, elements, oracles – and more!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Tarrow is an English novelist, poet, storyteller and award-winning writer. His fascination with folk and faerie tales has taken him around the world, gathering threads of story and legend to weave into his own mythologies.
His extensive studies in Lakota Sioux and Druidic traditions offer readers stories resonant with magic, folklore and the wonders of the natural world.
As creative lead at Talliston, John's transformation of the house and gardens showcases his ability to design extraordinary locations in the most ordinary of places. Using objects sourced worldwide, these spaces tell incredibly powerful and timeless stories.
"A truly inspirational guest speaker"
