Celebrate | Independent Bookshops Week

We’re going to be frank: if you don’t love a good bookshop there’s something wrong with you

Let’s face it: all bookshops are magical places, but an independent bookshop is always a particularly welcome find. Unbound by the policy of huge companies, an indie can do pretty much what it likes, catering to the needs of its local community and selling bestsellers alongside books that might otherwise not see the light of day.

Today marks the start of Independent Bookshops Week (15-22 June. Follow @booksaremybag for more information). The week is run by The Booksellers’ Association and aims to celebrate one-off bookshops with events, readings, signings, literary lunches and much more.

Pictured is one of our favourite bookshops, in Lewes, East Sussex. Bag of Books is actually a children’s bookshop but is irresistible, not just for browsing new children’s titles for gifts, but also for unearthing old childhood favourites. Like many towns in the UK, Lewes is home to several indie bookshops so is well worth a weekend trip if you aren’t local. But we’d love to hear about your independent bookshops, wherever you are in the UK this week.

Comment below to tell us about your favourite independent bookshop and what makes it so brilliant. We’ll pick the author our favourite recommendation and send a lovely book from our shelves as a thank you.

Off you go… And SSSSSHHHHHH! We’re trying to read!

More from our June issue…

More for bookworms…

One small change | lose cling film

Little changes you can make to create a big difference for the planet

Here at The Simple Things we’ve been trying to make one small change to our lifestyles each month - things we know we should be doing, like switching to refillable soap and cleaning products, using cloths instead of throwaway wipes. This month, inspired by our Cups of Tea feature with the co-owner of The Beeswax Wrap Company, Fran Beer, we’re hoping to try getting shot of cling film.

Let’s be honest, cling film is super-convenient. But it’s plastic, it’s not (very) reusable and there are much more attractive options. Here are a few swaps you could make to bring a little more joy and a little less wrappy plastic to your life…

Leftover cake

Use a pretty tin instead. If you don’t already have a dedicated cake tin, you need to practise a little more self-care anyway.

Cheese

Beeswax wraps (above) are ideal for odd bits of cheese. Get a pack of different sized wraps and you’ll have enough for your large wedge of brie or your knob-end of parmesan.

Lunchtime sandwiches

Wax or cloth wraps work well for sarnies, too, but a reusable sandwich box will save it from getting squished in your bag.

Half a tin of soup, beans (or anything)

Reusable can lids (like the ones they sell for pet food) work a treat and just pop in the dishwasher after use ready for next time.

Half used veg

If pre-chopped most veg can be kept from spoiling by putting it in a bowl of water in the fridge (good for carrot sticks, scrubbed potatoes etc). Otherwise, store cut veg like peppers and cucumber in the salad drawer. In all honesty, the cut side gets a little dry whether wrapped in cling film or not so you’re best not bothering and just slicing off a thin bit of the exposed edge before you next chop some off.

Bread

Get a bread bin. See our self-care note above re cake tins. It’s just wrong not to have one.

Homemade biscuits

Don’t be silly. Just finish them off, for goodness’ sake!

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More from our June issue…

More ways to live well…

What I treasure | My allotment

Shelley Verdon tells us why this small patch of land is what she holds most dear

Quite what possessed me to get an allotment with no experience in growing anything, I’m not sure, but I’d recently moved back home to my mother’s flat in 2015 after a stint working away. The allotment is on the River Mole in Surrey, nestled between farmland and a wholesale nursery. The first thing I planted was a wildflower meadow. That may seem unusual, but my decision-making about the allotment hasn’t been particularly rational. I wanted plants that would bring me joy.

So I toiled one early-autumn day, clearing the weeds, preparing the ground and then scattering the seeds. And then I waited. Not much happened and eventually, by late winter/ early spring, I gave up and threw some black plastic sheeting over the patch, thinking the area must have gone to weeds.

A couple of weeks later the plants were pushing up against the black plastic, trying to get to the light. I realised with delight that I had a growing wildflower meadow. The meadow is a mixture of cowslips, oxeye daisies, thistles, lady’s bedstraw, sorrel, ragged robin, buttercups and vetch. And the insects came. It started out with mayflies bobbing diligently above my meadow, followed by small beetles, hoverflies, bees, bumblebees, crickets, blackfly and ladybirds. I’ve been amazed at how much pleasure watching the insects gives me. Sometimes I lie down between my rose bed and the wildflower meadow to watch the bees and butterflies moving from thistle to thistle and listen to bumblebees vibrating in my apothecary roses. 

My grandmother died a couple of years ago, then my mother was diagnosed with an illness and made redundant. I would bring her to the allotment on Sunday evenings, the evening our family used to get together before my brother and his family moved to Australia. She’s a barefoot and haphazard gardener, which is fascinating, amusing and infuriating to watch. She throws seeds without care, then proceeds to grow things that no one else on the allotments can.

I’m not sure how I’d have got through the last couple of years without the allotment. It has been a godsend. “Better than winning the lottery,” said my mother. I should point out, however, that neither of us has won the lottery yet.

Tell us about your treasures

What means a lot to you? Tell us in 500 words and email to thesimplethings@icebergpress.co.uk and your essay could appear in a future issue of The Simple Things.

The above piece was featured in the June issue of The Simple Things. Get hold of your copy of this month's issue - buy, download or subscribe

More from our June issue…

More things we have treasured…

Folklore | foxgloves

Why foxgloves are called foxgloves

The tall, colourful spires that tower over cottage garden borders in June have a wealth of stories behind them. And no wonder really. They are fascinatingly paradoxical - digitalis is a deadly poison but is used in life-saving heart medicine; beautiful - the pretty, bell-shaped flowers, are dappled with spots inside… All in all, they are simply crying out for a fairytale backstory, and folklore has provided generously.

Some stories have told that the word ‘foxglove’ is merely a misrepresentation of ‘folk’s glove’, ie gloves little people might wear.

Another says that the gloves do indeed belong to foxes and that fairies gave them to the foxes to put on their paws to enable them to sneak silently into the hen house without being heard.This story is echoed in the belief that the mottled spots inside the flowers are actually fairy handprints. DNA evidence will always catch you out in the end, fairies.

What fairies have against hens we aren’t sure, but perhaps it was more to do with being fans of foxes than enemies of friends. Because another tale goes that the bell-shaped flowers would make a magical noise when rung and the fairies taught foxes to ring the bells of foxgloves to warn other foxes when a fox hunt was nearby.

The botanist RCA Prior thought that the name came from foxes-glew, meaning ‘folks’ music’, supporting the ‘bell’ theory, but this idea has been debunked by etymologists [https://blog.oup.com/2010/11/foxglove/].

Indeed, the argument becomes more complex when you take into account that the foxglove is known by several different names, including todtail (fox tail)’, dead men’s bells, ladies’ fingers, bunny rabbits, floppy dock and dragon’s mouth.

So who knows where the name originated. But if the glove fits...

In our June issue, we have a feature on Anne-Marie Curtin’s cut flower garden, where the beautiful foxgloves above were grown (foragefor.co.uk).

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More from our June issue…

More on cutting flowers…

Cook | Mackerel and samphire fishcakes

Samphire is summer on a plate. Try these with a vibrant Green Goddess sauce

These delicious fishcakes can be made with foraged samphire, which is all over mudflats and estuaries at this time of year. But feel free to buy it from Waitrose or fishmongers if you had a less active lunch in mind. You can also buy samphire plants to grow from specialist nurseries. Plant next year in April or May for a crop in summer. Make the Green Goddess sauce before you go if you’re off foraging and keep it in a tightly sealed jar.

300g new potatoes

2 tbsp soured cream

A couple of knobs of butter

250g smoked mackerel fillets

A handful of samphire, washed and chopped

A few tbsp plain flour

Lemon to squeeze over for the dressing

2 anchovies

1 clove crushed garlic

5 tbsp mayonnaise

5 tbsp sour cream

A handful of parsley leaves

handful of tarragon leaves

A bunch of chives

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain, add the soured cream, a knob of butter and a few grinds of black pepper and mash roughly, so there are still plenty of bigger chunks. Set aside to cool.

2 Flake the mackerel fillets into the potatoes, again leaving plenty of larger pieces, and add the samphire. Form into little patties and transfer to the fridge to firm up.

3 Meanwhile make the dressing. Put all the ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth and green. Taste and season as required. The dressing will keep in a jar in the fridge for up to one week.

4 Put the flour on a plate, then roll the chilled fishcakes in the flour. Heat a knob of butter in a frying pan and fry the fishcakes until nicely browned on both sides. Serve hot with lemon and the green goddess dressing.

This recipe is from Lia Leendertz’s foraging feature in our June issue, which has lots more samphire recipes in it from a light lunch idea to a fresh sea vegetable and seafood dashi, as well as information on where to find samphire and how to cook it.

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More from our June issue…

More foraging ideas for throughout the year…

Places to go: Pier review

Who doesn’t love a pier? We’ve found the best around Britain for every sort of seasidey day out

Herne Bay Pier by Rob Ball

Who doesn’t love a pier? We’ve found the best around Britain for every sort of seasidey day out

Piers for pleasure are a uniquely British thing, which is a surprise really. Why wouldn’t anyone want to be able to head out into the sea without getting their hair wet, after all? We’ve selected a few of our favourites from around the country, each celebrated for its own particular pleasures.

Best for a good stroll

You don’t want to take a long walk of a short pier, do you? So head to Southend, which is Britain’s longest pier at 2,156m long. Quite a whopper. Sir John Betjeman, founder of The National Piers Society once said ‘The pier is Southend. Southend is the pier.’

Best for train travel

Many piers have a small railway on them. If it wasn’t nailed down the Victorians put a train track on it, of course. But Hythe Pier is home to Britain’s oldest continuously operating narrow gauge pier railway and has services every half an hour. You can take the train to the ferry service from the end of the pier that crosses Southampton Channel to Southampton.

Best for foodies

You won’t go hungry on Llandudno pier. It has a stall selling freshly baked pies, others selling smoked oysters and muscles, a branch of the Great British Cheese Company and a traditional sweet shop. You can wash it all down with a pint of craft beer from the Pier Bar.

Best for fishing

Deal Pier is apparently a prime spot for landing mackerel, as well as pollack, sole, garfish and mullet in the summer months. Best spots are the lower deck at the south and north corners and the upper deck between the second and third shelters, facing towards Dover. Fact fans: Deal is also Britain’s ‘youngest’ pier.

Best for thrill and spills

Bournemouth Pier has a pier-to-beach zip-line, so you can play at being the Milk Tray Man, and its old theatre now houses activities for adrenaline junkies, such as climbing walls, an aerial assault course and a vertical drop slide. Wheeeeeeeee!

Best for old-fashioned fun

Blackpool’s North Pier is one of the most iconic of all and a trip here is like stepping back in time. Fish and chips, fortune tellers, traditional sweets and carousels… We can almost hear strains of ‘Oh I do like to be Beside the Seaside’.

Best for a brush with wildlife

Fort William Town Pier, on the west coast of Scotland is home to the fabulous Crannog Restaurant. It used to be a bait shed but you can now sit and enjoy some of the best and freshest fish you’ll ever taste and then take a cruise from the pier down Loch Linnhe where you’ll often spot common and grey seals, porpoises and sometimes golden eagles.

Best for completely bonkers entertainment

Southwold Pier is a lovely day out but its best bit is the Under the Pier Show, a room full of homemade penny slot machines created by Tim Hunkin, a writer, cartoonist and engineer. Try, if you dare, the Autofrisk, where a pair of inflated rubber gloves give you the experience of being frisked. Or hop on Walk The Dog, a treadmill with a life-size fake dog and screens simulating both your view and the dog’s view of the walk - watch out for the sudden increase in speed when the dog spies a cat! And don’t miss Fly Drive, a simulator in which you are a fly and have to gorge on as much sugar as you can before being swatted. Utterly mad and total genius.

Find out more about British piers at The National Piers Society. And in our June issue, we have more of the stunning pictures (above) from Funland by Rob Ball (Hoxton Mini Press), a celebration of British coastal communities and their architecture in pictures.

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More from our June issue…

More seaside pleasures…

Sponsored post | The Only Way Is Ethics

Abel & Cole is committed to food sourced from organic farms. Ed Ayton from its Green Team explains

How did it all start?

It was 30 years ago (aah, the 80s!) that Keith Abel ditched law for veg and never looked back. He started with a bag of spuds, selling door to door. Before long, a chap called Bernard Gauvier, who we still work with today, offered him some organic potatoes. Organic spuds became spuds and eggs, and then spuds, eggs and vegetables, and so Abel & Cole’s organic veg box was born.

What are the biggest changes that have happened since then?

Going digital in the early 00s. We went from going door to door to selling online. It’s meant we can share our love of organic food more easily.

What are you most passionate about?

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention what started it all – a love of organic. It’s at the heart of everything we do. We’re about food as it should be, free from artificial fertilisers, herbicides and GM feeds – food that meets UK certified organic standards. Real commitment is needed to go organic, and you can taste the difference.

Tell us about the eco credentials you’re most proud of.

We have a lot to be proud of! For starters, the packaging innovations we’ve made. We avoid it altogether where possible, and invest a lot into reusing, recycling and reducing what we do use – we’ve calculated that our fruit and veg deliveries use 71% less plastic than the major supermarkets. Instead of polystyrene boxes we use wool to insulate the cold items in our deliveries, and we’ve also developed alternatives such as our compostable carrot bags. If any of our customers aren’t able to recycle or compost something we’ve sent, we’ll pick it up the next week and do it for them.

Celebrating seasonal food and prioritising UK farmers reduces our energy costs. Working closely with our suppliers to plan their harvests together, being flexible and seasonal with what goes into our boxes, and inspiring our customers with delicious leftover recipes, are some of our strategies for reducing food waste. In our pursuit of offering the most sustainable service we can, everything is considered: even our paper newsletters are FSC-certified, carbon-balanced and printed using vegetable ink.

How do you keep ahead of the competition?

By sticking to our values and always asking what we can do better. Through working directly with our growers, makers and bakers, we can continue to bring our customers new and exciting organic food. We can offer technical and financial assistance to support their innovation (like unheated polytunnel growing, to achieve what could be the first commercial, organic sweet potato crop in the UK), or help them through their organic certification process.

What’s next for the company?

Lettuce just look into our crystal ball... We continue to innovate, whether that’s developing our packaging, being part of the Clean Van Commitment (helping the UK put more electric vans our roads) or building on our work as a socially responsible B Corp. We’ve never been ones to rest on our laurels – it’s what’s kept us going since the 80s

More from our June issue…

May: a final thought

We hope you enjoyed our May ‘Relish’ issue, and our back cover cartoon

This month we have loved celebrating the outdoors, relishing long weekends and making the most of the late spring sunshine. In homage to all that, here’s our May haiku. We’ve chosen the theme of casting not a ‘clout’ until May be out. But do have a go at writing your own (on anything May-related) and leave it in the comments below. We’ll send a lovely book to the author of our favourite.

Discard vests in May!

When they said ‘cast ne’er a clout’

They meant the hawthorn.

More thoughts from our back cover…

More from our May issue…

Recipe: The Picnic loaf

Planning to picnic this weekend? We love this fancy sandwich

Half sandwich, half pie, this picnic loaf crams the best of the local farm shop into one easy-to-carry meal. Prepare it the night before so the flavours have time to soak in. You can chop and change the ingredients according to what’s available. Find this and more in Pitch Up Eat Local by Ali Ray (£16.99, AA Publishing). 

The picnic loaf

Serves 6

1 cob loaf (the crusty round one)
1 garlic clove, halved
2 tbsp pesto (from a jar is fine)

For the filling:
2 courgettes, sliced lengthways
2 red and 2 yellow peppers, seeded and sliced in thick lengths
2 tbsp or so olive oil
200g cheese (whatever you can find locally – a soft-rind/mozzarella/goat’s cheese)
200g sliced charcuterie meats or ham
a good handful salad leaves
2 tbsp fresh basil leaves
salt and pepper

1  Carefully cut the top off the cob loaf (save this for later) and hollow out the middle to leave a shell. Don’t make the walls too thin as it won’t stay crisp.

2  Toss the courgettes and peppers in the olive oil and put on a preheated griddle or BBQ grid. Cook for about 4–5 mins on each side until soft and lightly charred. Put to one side to cool.

3  Rub the cut garlic clove over the insides of the bread shell, then use a spoon to spread the pesto all around the inside walls and under the lid.

4  Blot the grilled veg with kitchen roll, then and slice the cheese.  Season both well with salt and pepper, then start building up layers of veg, cheese, meat and salad leaves. Finish with a layer of basil leaves. The hollow in the bread must be filled well.

5  Put the top of the bread back on, then wrap the whole thing tightly in clingfilm.  Put a plate on top and weigh down with something heavy to let the flavours fuse together for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight, in a cool-box. 

6  Cut into thick, cake-style slices to eat now, or pack in your lunch-box and take on your adventures.

This recipe originally was published in June 2015 - and it tastes just as good, if not better, now.

More picnic inspiration…

From our May issue…

Competition | Win a £500 garden spending spree

You could win a voucher from Garden Trading to transform your outdoor space

Summer has arrived and it’s time to make the most of your garden. A few plants are a must, as is a comfortable place to sit and soak up the sun. Once you’ve got the basics covered, the rest is up to your imagination and the constraints of your purse. Which is where this brilliant £500 voucher from Garden Trading comes in. With such generous help with the budget, you can make a garden that’s all your own, manicured or informal, urban or country.

For a summer of dining outdoors, you could spend part of your voucher on beautiful crockery and cutlery. The tactile new Ithaca Meze crockery collection is handcrafted and glazed in neutral tones and specially designed for sharing feasts. Mix and match pieces including ceramic bowls, sharing boards and stylish brass cutlery, then gather friends and family for a celebratory outdoor meal. Find the full collection at gardentrading.co.uk.

Enter below and answer the following question: What is the name of Garden Trading’s new crockery collection?

The competition closes at 11.59pm on 12 July 2019. A winner will be selected at random from all correct entries received and notified soon after. The winner cannot transfer the prize or swap it for cash. Details of our full terms are online at icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.

More from our June issue…

More garden inspiration…

Playlist | Songs about meeting up

How sweet and joyous the sound whenever we meet.

Listen at thesimplethings.com/blog/meetingupplaylist

More playlists to listen to…

More from our June issue…

How to: go it alone (briefly)

The art of enjoying your own company is one well worth acquiring

Jean-Paul Sartre wrote: “If you feel lonely when you’re alone then you’re in bad company.” Sartre was not renowned for his gregarious nature (or gentle words), so try not to take this to heart if you, like many of us, find being alone a little, well, lonely.

But there’s definitely truth in what he says and learning to love your own company is something that can enrich all our lives, whether we are alone regularly or very seldom.

In our May issue, we have a feature by Ella Foote, a keen wild swimmer who set off solo in a campervan to discover the wilder parts of Scotland. Her description of her break with herself made us all want to down tools immediately and enjoy some time alone:

“While I love the company of others, and I would describe myself as extrovert, I have learnt in recent years the joy of solitary exploring. There is a magical thing that happens over time spent alone, particularly when travelling. The first few days are a whirlwind as you begin the journey, excited, discovering and moving. Then, as you settle into routine, you make space for your fears and worries to visit. They can sit at the table while you drink wine and eat shellfish on the Amalfi Coast, or lie on the hot stone with you while you enjoy the lick of the Adriatic Sea in Croatia. I have found there isn’t much to do other than to pull out the chair and let them join you. Facing them rather than numbing them, like we do in our day-to-day lives, gives you a chance to understand and accept them. This is followed by the best bit of travelling alone: you create a huge opening for the new. You see, hear, smell, taste and dream bigger than you remember you are capable of.”

If you like the idea of some time spent in your own company, here are a few tips on how to make the most of it:

Being alone at home:

1. Enjoy the freedom of not having to put on a face for anyone. In your own home, you can sit in your underwear and eat beans out of the tin if you want to. No one will judge you because no one will see! That said, there’s also something wonderful about cooking yourself your favourite meal, choosing the best ingredients from your favourite shop, spending a relaxing afternoon cooking and then enjoying your meal on your favourite crockery. Because you’re worth it.

2. Take up a new hobby. If you’re worried about boredom in your time alone, use the opportunity to learn a new skill - it could be a craft you haven’t tried, or learning a language online. What it is matters less than the chance to do something to stretch yourself without having to worry about the pace you go at or whether anyone else is enjoying themselves.

3. Be creative. Most of us grown-ups don’t get to spend time painting a picture or writing a poem very often. When you’re alone, you have space to let your mind wander and be as creative as you wish without fear of judgement. Heck, you can make up an interpretive dance routine if you like. Just close the curtains if you’d rather not get a standing ovation from the neighbours.

Appreciating going solo out and about:

1. Be a flaneur. Take a leaf out of Walter Benjamin’s book and wander with only the purpose of strolling about, observing and experiencing life going by. If easier, pretend you are wandering the streets of Paris in the 19th century, but any town will do.

2. Get close to nature. When you’re in company it’s so easy to miss what’s all around you. Head to a park or forest, where you’ll hear the birdsong you would miss if you were chatting to a companion, notice the small changes in season that would otherwise pass you by and stop whenever you want to look more closely at the natural world, all at your own pace.

3. Eat alone. The idea of a restaurant meal without company terrifies most of us but once you’ve done it a few times there’s nothing that feels quite so serene as a meal with oneself. You can watch the world go by, smirk inwardly at the couples bickering and the groups of friends dividing a bill with difficulty, while enjoying your meal in your own marvellous company - and no one can steal your chips!

If you’re inspired to spend some time enjoying your own company, you might like this video by The School of Life on how to eat alone.

You can read more from Ella Foote in this month’s The Simple Things, which is in shops now.

More from our May issue…

More wellbeing advice to soothe your soul…

Make: An Ordnance Survey garland

Create a nostalgic reminder of a fun weekend

Poring over a map is a sure-fire way to ramp up the anticipation for a long weekend away (and with two in May, there are plenty of opportunities). There’s the road trip to navigate, the B&B to locate, the nearest stretch of beach to find, and day trips to plan. And, even better, when you get back home, that same map will remind you of where you have been: retrace your steps up contours to that spectacular viewpoint or along the dotted lines of a coastal footpath to the beach cafe.

One way to remember a journey is simply to frame a map of the area travelled. Bring it alive with pins marking memorable places visited or by adding snapshots of special meals or locations. Alternatively, scour local charity shops' book sections where there is often a bucket or basket of old maps waiting to be snapped up and recycled, and turn them into this simple but pretty paper garland to hang in your hall, above your bed or whatever spot in your home could do with an injection of bank holiday nostalgia once May is over.

What you’ll need

One or two vintage maps (depending on preferred length of garland)

A craft cutter (we used a 2-inch heart cutter but you could use a similar-size circular cutter)

Glue stick

Sewing machine and thread

A felt ball or bead (to weight the garland at the bottom)

How to make your garland

1. If your map is one-sided, cut it in half and glue the 'wrong' sides together with the glue stick. Make sure that both sides of the map are the right way up. Allow to dry for a couple of minutes.

2. Using your craft cutter, cut out the hearts. You may find it easier to cut the map into strips first.

3. Leave a good length of thread at the top, and sew your hearts together with the sewing machine. To make your garland 3-D, sew the hearts in pairs. A contrasting red thread will bring out the detail in the map. (When lining up the next heart, have the foot and the needle of your machine down so that you can use the needle as a guide to get the heart in the right place each time.)

4. Keep going until the garland is your desired length. Leave a good length of thread at the end and hand-stitch a little felt ball to add weight and help it hang straight. Tie a loop or knot at the top of the garland so that you have something to hang the garland form.

5. Open the hearts to create a 3-D effect. Hang or drape your garland.

Created by Charlie Deighton and first published here in June 2014.

See more of her work at her Etsy shop, or follow her on instagram.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our May issue…

More makes for bank holiday month…

Etymology: jukebox

Photography: Jonathan Cherry

Because words are important (and rather fun, too)

Jolly jukeboxes - they conjure up images of 1950s American teens, jiving around milk bars, or perhaps a memory of pubs in the late 1980s where you could spend 20p selecting a careful playlist of Bros’s Drop The Boy, back to back with Rod Stewart’s Maggie May.

But, interestingly, the roots of the word ‘jukebox’ go much further back and much further afield. Specifically, to the Sea Islands, just off the Carolinas where a tongue known as ‘Gullah’, a creole of several West African languages and English, which grew up around slaves, was brought to the region in the 18th century.

In Gullah, the word ‘jook’ meant disorderly or living wickedly. A jook house was a sort of dance hall, gaming room and brothel, rolled into one. Wicked indeed! And not a spot for a quiet evening out with religious folk, but much fun if you wanted a dance, a cup of moonshine and perhaps something even more ‘jook’. The term was first written down in the 1930s but probably goes back much further.

The first jukeboxes, back in the 1890s, were known by many names, but mostly ‘nickel-in-the-slot machines’ and the term ‘jukebox’ was first recorded in Time magazine, referencing the jook houses of the period: “Glenn Miller attributes his crescendo to the juke-box’, which retails recorded music at 5c a shot in bars, restaurants and small roadside dance joints.”

So there we have jukeboxes: making the journey from wicked (as in evil) to wicked (as in wonderful). Don’t even get us started on the etymology of that one.

We do love a jukebox. If you do, too, don’t miss our ‘analogue’ feature, which takes a look back at the inventiveness and craftsmanship of life before the digital age and this month features a company manufacturing jukeboxes.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our May issue…

More fascinating historical things…

Cake facts: the best banana loaf

Because if a cake’s worth doing it’s worth doing properly

We’ve got a delicious banana walnut loaf in our May issue (pictured above, from Nourish Cakes by Marianne Stewart, Quadrille). Everyone has their own tips for creating the ‘best banana loaf cake in the world’, usually handed down from capable grandparents and great-grandparents. But the one we all know is that black bananas are best. But why?

Black (or slightly over-ripe bananas) are often recommended as being easier to digest, but what makes them the best choice for a banana loaf cake is their flavour and texture.

Firstly, as they ripen and the yellow skin gets steadily blacker, chemical reactions inside the banana flesh turn the starch into sugars, making them taste sweeter and that bit more banana-y in the cake.

Secondly, the flesh becomes softer and easier to mash, and it also breaks down more easily during the baking process, so you don’t get lumps of banana in the cake once it’s cooked. You might like lumps of banana in your cake, in which case, don’t allow us to lead you down a black banana path - feel free to go your own way - but a riper banana gives a smoother cake, nonetheless.

Catching your bananas at the perfect level of cake-readiness is tricky. Ideally, you want a banana that is pretty dark but still has some yellow on it and lots of big, black spots and patches, but you can definitely still bake with completely black bananas. And here’s a pro-banana tip for you: if you’ve got to Tuesday and your bananas look perfect for a loaf cake but you know you won’t be baking until Saturday, pop them in the freezer. The skins will turn completely black in there but the flesh inside will remain at the same level of ripeness, waiting for you to release it from the freezer drawer (take them out a couple of hours before you want them), mash the banana and help it on its way to its higher state of being, transformed from slightly disappointing fruit bowl fellow to much welcomed fluffy banana loaf.

You’ll find the recipe for the banana walnut cake on p29 of our May issue.

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More from our May issue…

More cakes to bake…

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Get to know hedgerows

They’re the stitches in the green and brown patchwork quilt of the English countryside; we should all get to know hedgerows a little better…

Hedgerows are among the most diverse habitats in Britain, sheltering 125 of our most threatened species. They also are a visual historical timeline, showing us where boundaries were made, lost, fought for and farmed over millennia. Yep. The humble hedge is Great British phenomenon. In homage to hedges (hom-edge, perhaps?), here are few quite interesting facts about hedges you may not know…

1. The word ‘hedge’ comes from the Anglo Saxon word ‘haeg’, meaning ‘enclosure.

2. Bats use hedges to navigate by, like natural sat-nav.

3. You’ll notice that in fields, the corners of hedges are usually a steady curve, rather than a sharp right angle; this was to allow space for a team of oxen and a plough to turn.

4. The most common hedgerow plant is hawthorn, by quite a long chalk. No one is absolutely sure why but it could be because the Celts had a tradition of planting hawthorn around their sacred places.

5. Some parishes in England and Wales still practise the Roman tradition of ‘beating the bounds’. On Ascension Day, locals would gather to march around the boundary hedgerows of the area, beating the stone walls and hedges with sticks.

6. You can work out the age of a hedge by picking a 30-metre length, counting the number of different species of trees and shrubs in it and mulitplying that number by two. So if you spot five different species, you can reckon on the hedge being around 500 years old.

In our May issue, which is in shops now, foraging guru Lia Leendertz has lots of tips for foraging in hedgerows and recipes for your hedgerow treasure, from hawthorn and basil mayonnaise to elderflower champagne. Find it on p6.

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More foraging fun…

More from our May issue…

5 things | you probably should do on an island adventure

Take a leaf out of the Famous Five’s book and do it properly

Britain has 82 large islands around it, and more than 6,000 smaller ones. And each is special and worthy of an adventure in its own way.

In our May issue, we’ve an extract from Islandeering: Adventures Around the Edge of Britain’s Hidden Islands by Lisa Drewe (Wild Things Publishing) which has lots of great ideas for walks, swims and things to see on 50 islands in our archipelago. But to make life simple, if you’re off on your own island adventure this week, we’ve got five things you really should do to up the Blytonesque fun factor.

1. Eat something you foraged yourself. From cockles to dandelion leaves, it always tastes better when you found it rather than bought it. Pretend you’re stranded and it will taste even better!

2. Explore some rocks or ruins. Paddle in rock pools hunting for crabs or scramble up the banks of a ruined castle. Every discovery is exciting on your own island.

3. Ride out in a little boat if you can (take care to tie up your oars so no gold thieves can row your boat back out leaving you stranded a la Anne and George on Kirrin Island).

4. Plan a big walk - walking the perimeter of an island all around the coastline will give you a smug glow but if that’s not manageable walk the shortest path across it or perhaps up a significant hill. Be sure to take a map - or draw your own.

5. Take a picnic. Eat it on the sand, a rocky outcrop or find a more sedate picnic bench, wherever you like, but it must contain a fancy sandwich, some good cake and, obviously, lashings of ginger beer.

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More from our May issue…

More simple outdoor adventures…

Why we love a secret garden

Come through the gate with us into a wonderful, walled world

Wouldn’t we all love a walled garden? Who can honestly say they’ve not wandered through the pretty paths of a walled garden in a stately home, between manicured flower beds and pleached fruit trees and pretended just for a few seconds that they are lady of the manor, taking their crinoline out for an airing on a turn round the estate?

Something about their secluded nature makes them just a little bit magical. It’s little wonder many a novel and film features a walled garden, symbolic of the fertile ground hidden inside the walls of our mind, the wonder of a secret well kept, the idea that behind any ordinary brick wall one might find something fantastical…

One of our favourite fictional walled gardens would have to be in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. “It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of climbing roses which were so thick that they were matted together.” But the sweetest thing about it for Mary Lennox is the chance to learn to tame the garden and to grow within its walls. The garden, abandoned for a decade, (note that orphan, Mary, unwanted and then left by her own parents, is also ten years old) is an allegory for Mary’s spiritual self. Inside the brick walls of abandoned garden are bulbs waiting to shoot and then bloom. And inside cold, self-centred Mary Lennox is all sorts of good just waiting to be nurtured into growth.

The Secret Garden is considered a classic British children’s book, but the interesting thing about it is that it was written neither as a book, nor for children. The story was first published, serialised, in an adult magazine. It wasn’t until 1911 that it was published in its entirety as a book, and then it was marketed to both adults and children simultaneously, in much the same way as the Harry Potter books or Philip Pullman’s Lyra trilogy were decades later.

In its time, The Secret Garden was a bit of a damp squib among Frances Hodgson Burnett’s far more successful novels, such as A Little Princess and Little Lord Fauntleroy. What probably saved it from obscurity was a sudden adult interest in the studying of children’s fiction at the time and that marketing of it as a book for adults.

It’s a strange thing that we adults, who hold all the cards really where children’s fiction is concerned, spotting authors, paying illustrators, devising budgets for the marketing of all these books, are so reticent to step forward and enjoy them. We feel, for some reason that we have to leave these books for children, wait to be invited into their secret garden. And every few decades, along comes a book that transcends the barriers between adult and children’s fiction, and the people in suits at the publishing houses feel they have to throw us a bone with an ‘adult version’ cover, or at least one we won’t be embarrassed to be seen reading on the bus. It’s a great shame, really.

We’d like to encourage you to pick up a book that’s ‘too young’ for you this month and read it proudly in public. Who knows? Behind that cover that says ‘not for you’ you might find a long-forgotten secret garden with all sorts of wonders just waiting for your imagination to carefully weed around them, tend to them and watch them grow.

Reading list

If you love a book about gardens, you might like to try (or re-read) one of these:

Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce, 1958

Tom is staying with his aunt and uncle in their flat while his brother recovers from measles. The flat has no garden and quarantined Tom has no playmates, until the clock strikes 13 and the Midnight Garden appears…

The Camomile Lawn, Mary Wesley, 1984

One that really is for the grown-ups. Wesley’s novel about youth, love and loss that begins in the summer before World War Two, has at its centre, the scented camomile lawn in Helena and Richard’s garden by the sea, which epitomises holidays, summer and carefree youth.

The Forgotten Garden, Kate Morton, 2008

An abandoned child, a secret garden, a mystery… If you enjoyed The Secret Garden you’re sure to enjoy this.

If you’d like to read about the history of walled gardens don’t miss Wonder Walls in our May issue, in shops now.

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More from our May issue…

More on children’s books that have inspired us…

April: a final thought

Please enjoy our back page chalkboard message and a seasonal haiku

We’ve loved all the fun of our Treat issue and we hope you enjoyed the slightly out-of-the-ordinary cover of this issue.

Here’s an April haiku in homage to all that. Do have a go at your own and leave it in the comments below. We send a lovely book to the author of our favourite each month.

April brings showers,

But sweets, treats and flowers, too.

It’s a spring surprise.

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More from the April issue…

More wisdom from our back cover…

Make: your own clean, green oven gel

Oven looking a little tired and emotional after a big Easter gathering of friends or family? This oven cleaning gel tackles your least favourite job without the caustic fumes of conventional cleaners

Makes 1-oven’s worth

1 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsp glycerine

2 tsp washing-up liquid

300ml just-boiled water

1 tsp salt

5 tbsp soda crystals

1 Put the xanthan gum and glycerine in a large bowl and stir well to combine. Add washing-up liquid and stir again. 2 Put the just-boiled water in a jug and add the salt and soda crystals. Stir until the crystals dissolve. 3 Pour the warm solution into the bowl with the gum mixture and use a hand-held blender to pulse for 1 min, until fully combined. Use immediately.

How to use

1 Switch off your oven at the socket and remove the racks from the inside. Wearing rubber gloves, use a sponge or scrubbing brush to apply the gel liberally to the surfaces of your oven, including the door.

2 Leave the gel on overnight. In the morning, again wearing rubber gloves, use a scrubbing brush to give your oven a thorough clean. If burnt-on spots remain, sprinkle over some bicarbonate of soda to give you extra scouring power.

3 When you’re satisfied, wipe the oven down with a clean, damp cloth, rinsing the cloth in fresh water as necessary. You can use this solution on the oven racks and trays, too, but avoid use on aluminium surfaces.

Recipes taken from Fresh Clean Home by Wendy Graham (Pavilion). Photography: Rachel Whiting.

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More from our April issue…

More kind cleaning ideas…