Marmalade Wood, Story Calendar, 2026
One Winter evening on a long car journey to visit family, my mind started to wander and dream up a little world full of my favourite woodland characters.
"Think of a name for a fictional wood where you might happen to come across some village shops run by friendly animals," was the instruction I gave to Tom (my partner, trying to concentrate on driving). "I want it to sound cosy and familiar, but also original," I demanded further. After a bit of brainstorming where I mentioned a few references like Beatrix Potter, Brambley Hedge and Paddington, Tom suddenly suggested, "How about Marmalade Wood?"
Here is why it is the perfect name for what I wanted:
There is something about the way the word marmalade feels on your tongue that makes you think instantly of the food, the iconic link to one of the most famous children's book bears and a further reference to a quote (which always sticks in my mind for some reason) from The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe in which Susan exclaims with delight "Marmalade Roll!" in the cosy Beaver house.
At this point I was only thinking about my next picture book, and the world in which it could be set. Thoughts of a new calendar weren't quite in my mind, and it wouldn't be until a few weeks later that a story would emerge of a little mole with a big shopping list.
Sketches for my new book were starting to take shape and I decided to introduce a new character called Daisy who was a mole. When I'm getting to know characters I like to draw them in different action poses which helps me bring out bits of their personality, even before I know what I am going to do with them. With Daisy the mole, I liked the fact that everything she picked up was a little bit big for her, as she was rather a small creature. Before long, I started to wonder what it would look like if she had a lot of items to carry, and then the idea of a big shopping list and perhaps a handy trolley to carry all her goods in.
Once I had settled on the character and title, the story of the shopping list items split over the 12 months came very quickly. It was really an excuse to draw my ideal woodland shopping village! But how to introduce it to viewers was the usual puzzle. Like my previous calendar, the story had to begin on the front cover.
The dilemma with the front cover is that I always want the information communicated to be clear and uncluttered, so that viewers understand straight away exactly what it is. However, I always what to convey a lot of details before the main story of the calendar begins in January!
I love having a little interactive addition to draw people in, and they are becoming a very useful way to get in a little bit more information to set up the story. This time, the idea of a small envelope with an enclosed letter, was the starting point for mole's story.
Inside the envelope was an A5 sized letter from Daisy's "cousin Ivy", and on the back of the letter was a map to Marmalade Wood from Daisy's house. With everything that I do, I like to ground it in some sort of reality - places relevant to me and where I live - so the map is based on a local walk from my house. Of course I added a few extra flourishes and fictional names, but the map is based on a real route which takes you to a real wood. By working in this way, it all starts to become a world that I believe in, and things become more real in my mind, therefore the ideas start to flow and take on a life of their own.
January had to begin with the introduction to the little red shopping trolley. I am planning to feature the "Lost & Found" shop in my next book, and also the little trolley will hopefully have a small role in it too. This feels like a nice introduction to the world I am trying to create.
When it came to illustrating each shop, I wanted to draw as many details as possible, so I knew I was going to have to work twice as big as the printed image. I worked on an off white heavyweight cartridge paper in A4 size, leaving enough space at the bottom of the page, ready to add in the shopping list item.
For Daisy's handwriting, I asked my nine year old niece to write out all the shopping items that I dictated to her. I loved the way she crossed out a mis-spelt word, and decided to leave it in. It seemed like something Daisy the mole might do, as she hurriedly wrote her list.
The world of Marmalade Wood is something that I have been building on for many years, even though it didn't have a name and it is only now that certain elements are starting to merge together. It really began with the Blue Hat Badger Story Calendar of 2021, which sparked off a whole world of imagery that I used in greetings card designs. I have been drawing badger, fox and rabbit for a long time now, and this calendar has given me an opportunity to explore other woodland friends.
This calendar has been the one that I have enjoyed creating the most. The endless appeal of drawing nature inspired scenes combined with the childhood nostalgia links of playing with my Sylvanian Families in my dolls house, means that the ideas for narrative just keep on coming. I feel like I could take any one of the characters and create a story about them, and never get bored.
For the back cover of the calendar, I wanted to give a sense of where each shop might be located in Marmalade Wood itself, so I decided to illustrate another map. I liked the idea of various pathways leading off the page, suggesting that there are far more shops than the twelve that Daisy visits. The back cover also gives the viewer more clues as to what awaits them inside. Both the front and back covers are crucial to selling the product and also helping to tell the story.
I designed a logo for Marmalade Wood with the intention of it being printed onto a circular sticker. I am now in the habit of thinking about the calendar as a whole product because many people come back each year to buy them as a gift. Each calendar is now carefully wrapped in tissue paper and sealed with a sticker, then boxed, ready to be posted.
As I was completing the calendar images, my mind started to dream up what Christmas might look like in Marmalade Wood...and so began my 2025 Christmas collection.
Christmas at Marmalade Wood 2025 card collection comprised of 6 designs which included:
The Christmas Carousel
Christmas Ice Skating
The Little Christmas Shop
The Christmas Train
Christmas Hot Chocolate
The Christmas Bakery
Christmas at Marmalade Wood went on to influence a brand new collection of wooden decorations - a new product that I introduced into my shop at the beginning of this year. This, along with the Christmas cards, and calendar itself, have all been popular, and I hope to build on this world in future collections. Follow the link to my online shop to discover more about each product.
