Helen Winter is a textile artist who mainly uses wool to create stunning artwork pieces and loves to pass on the ‘fabulous craft’ to others through fun, interactive workshops. She lives with her daughter Becca and two German shorthaired pointers, The Pointer Sisters, Dolly and Daisy, who brings so much laughter and naughtiness to the home and are important part of her art business. Helen likes nothing more than walking to gain inspiration for her art, horse riding to recharge her batteries and visiting friends in the UK.

Here is her top 10 books, songs and podcasts:

1) Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

This book really resonated with me as it explores creativity in a world where it can be seen as unimportant. It made me explore my creativity and how to commune with it to ensure it remains a lifelong practice. Her main message is: ‘If you embrace creativity, you’ll experience Big Magic.’

2) Inspire by Ben Fogle

I’ve always found Ben to be incredibly inspirational. I first came across him when he took part in the Castaway TV show back in 2000.

This book is a mixture of reminiscing about his expeditions and thoughts about materialism, environmental considerations and what it means to grow beyond expectations both from ourselves and others.

3) Chill & prosper with Denise Duffield Thomas - podcast

I came across Denise through a business mastermind learning group and have several of her books and her ethos resonated with me. She’s a money mentor and helps entrepreneurs release the fear of money and live a life of abundance.

4) Caffeine for the Soul with Michael Neill

I love that within this podcast Michael manages to use his intelligence, humour and heart to gently reveal his thoughts on the deeper spiritual nature of everyday life with the added bonus of them being in small bite size chunks.

5) A Sky Full of Stars - Coldplay

I’ve loved Coldplay since their Parachutes album so I had to include one of their tracks. Their music is like a timeline of my life and brings back fond memories of each stage.

6) Northern Sky - Nick Drake

I can’t remember when I first came across Nick Drake and this beautiful, evocative song but it must have been when I was at university.

His voice is so soulful and I love the strong acoustic style. It’s such a tragedy he passed away so young.

7) Walls – Kings of Leon

When I first heard this track from Kings of Leon, I got goosebumps and still do. It’s completely unexpected from their usual genre.

Caleb Followill’s voice is so powerful, yet he’s able to evoke such soulful and beautiful emotions.

8) May It Be (Aniron) – Enya

Enya was another favourite at university and this song is in my top 10 for two reasons: it’s so gentle and soulful and is also part of the soundtrack for The Lord of The Rings, one of my favourite films.

9) Insomnia – Faithless

I had to include this song as it was an integral part of my life in the 90s - it’s still a great one to dance around to. We would put this on while making Sunday dinner and it brings back happy memories of when my little brother lived with us.

10) Max Bruch - Violin Concerto No.1 in G Minor 1-3

A bit of an odd choice but I love listening to classical music.

I find violin and piano concertos soothing as long as they not the loud dramatic ones.

This concerto is definitely one of my favourites and I have to thank my mum for having introduced it to me as a child.