Lydia is an author and content creator – 1.6 million followers and counting – based just over the border in Buckinghamshire. She and her husband, Ali Gordon, live in the former gardening house of a stately home. Together, they have embraced country living; so much so that Lydia’s book, Evergreen, is a paean to the delights of nature, as observed through the months of the year. She is renowned for her personal style, and has appeared in magazines including Vogue, Hello, Country & Town House, and this August, as the Frontispiece Girl in Country Living. Regularly sought after to collaborate with fashion brands, she has recently worked with luxury British country-inspired fashion label, Holland Cooper and her latest book, The Evergreen Journal, will be published on 4 December.
Carefully designed and beautifully illustrated, it is a month-by-month guide to the seasons. It offers gentle guidance to help you embrace the coming year with mindfulness and intention within a format designed to encourage journalling, offering space for reflection. Helping you live a life more in tune with rhythms of the natural world, each month is introduced by Lydia as she shares her inspiration and champions nature’s bounty. Alongside this, are timely prompts on how to slow down, connect with your intuition and craft a life in alignment with your own values.
A promise to yourself for 2026, or a thoughtful gift for a loved one.
What Makes Lydia
Happy
Home makes me happy. Just being here as much as possible. Quiet mornings – whatever the season: dogs snoozing in the kitchen; candle burning, and probably some music tinkling away. I couldn't want for more.
Sad
When other people are sad or upset or hurting – I don't really tend to cry for myself. I tend to cry for others.
Confident
Trusting myself, my intuition. I talk about this a lot in my book, Evergreen. I don't think I ever truly understood what confidence meant until I learned who I was and learned to trust my internal dialogue. I can generally make peace with a situation quite quickly now I know who I am.
Angry
General unkindness – I don’t think I need to say anyone that's unkind to animals – but just the notion of unkindness knocks me. I heard this the other day; if we're kind to ourselves, then automatically, we are able to be kinder to others, which has a snowball effect. Once you've started doing that, the whole world becomes a better place.
Reflective
Being outside gives me time to just touch on everything. So, this morning I've gone out, had my training session, gone for a dog walk and done the chickens. In that time, I'm not listening to anything, I've not got anything going on in my head, and I think that's a super important practice; to actually reflect and think about things, and either make peace with them or take action on them. Just being in nature gives me that touch point and perspective to look at things with a clear head.
Festive
This is a question I love! One thing I've realised over the years is that when I was younger, my grandma and my family did a lot to cultivate the feeling of Christmas. It didn't just happen; they would make it happen. As a child, it feels effortless, like it just happens and I think that can lead to a lot of people thinking Christmas is rubbish now they’re older. But you have to create Christmas.
When we moved to this house, I really wanted to make that feeling of Christmas here. It doesn't just happen – you've got to make it in your home. You've got to understand what makes you feel festive, and then you have to go and do all those things to create that feeling.
Find Lydia on social media @lydia or online, lydiaelisemillen.com
