The Best | Bookshops for Every Genre

Independent bookshops are always a joy but here we’ve rounded up some real specialists in their field. Whether your love is crime or cookery, there’s a bookshop somewhere dedicated to the genre…

Crime fiction

Murder & Mayhem, 5, Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford

This bijou store in Britain’s bookshop capital specialises in the Golden Age of crime fiction as well as ghost stories, Sherlock Holmes and ‘cosy crime’. Don’t miss the chalk outline of a corpse on a floor or the amazingly detailed miniature reproduction of the shop itself in the window. 

Children’s books

Octavia’s, 24, Black Jack Street, Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Whether you’re shopping with children or simply ‘for’ children, a trip to Octavia’s is always a treat. Colourful interiors and comfy seats make it an oasis on this bustling high street, and staff are excellent at giving targeted recommendations. 

Travel Fiction

Daunt Books, Marylebone High Street, London

Inside this magical Edwardian building sit rows of books on polished oak galleried shelves. Its outstanding collection of travel books is arranged by country, which makes for a really pleasant afternoon’s browsing and the choice is unbeatable. Daunt now has several stores and even its own publishing arm but the MHS store is the first and the best. 

Gay and LGBT interest

Gay’s The Word, 66, Marchmont Street, London

Established in 1979, Gay’s the Word has always been much more than ‘just’ a gay bookshop; it’s a community and social hub where everyone is welcome with a thriving events programme as well as a beautifully curated selection of books. 

Natural History

Pemberley Books, 18, Bathurst Walk, Iver, Buckinghamshire

Books on every topic of natural history from agriculture to zoology, passing through everything from entomology to lepidoptera. Good antiquarian stock, also. 

Geography

Stanfords Books, London and Bristol

Stocking huge arrays of maps, atlases and globes since 1853. If you can find your way to one of the two branches of Stanfords you’ll be able to find your way to anywhere in the world. 

Poetry

The Poetry Bookshop, The Pavement, Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye

If poetry is what you’re after,

This airy shop is packed to the rafters

With shelves and shelves of poetry

‘Pon which they’re quite an authority. 

Cookery

Books for Cooks, 4, Blenheim Crescent, London

Cookery and food books from all over the world jostle for space in this amazing book store in Notting Hill, given over entirely to the art of cookery. Feel like you can almost smell the delicious dishes wafting off the page? That’ll be the test kitchen at the back where they try out the recipes they want to champion most. 

Science Fiction

Durdles Books, 51, Cole Bank Road, Birmingham

Specialising in Sci Fi and Fantasy - for both adults and children and incorporating both fiction and non-fiction, Durdles is a geek’s Aladdin’s cave of treasures. 

This bookshops round-up was inspired by our new series called My Living. The first feature in the series looks at people who run their own bookshops and it’s in the April issue, which is out now.

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More things to love about bookshops…

More from our April issue…

Sip one, purl one

A cockle-warming tankard of ale and gin, lifted with heady, woody spices and sweetened with sugar. It sounds like something out of a Charles Dickens story – and, indeed, it is.*

This mulled drink was popular in the nineteenth century, and it’s making a resurgence thanks in part to cocktail expert Tristan Stephenson. “Purl happens to be, in my eyes at least, one of the greatest warm winter pick-me-ups ever to grace a bar top,” he says. “Choice spices and herbs combine with malty beer, bitter wormword and the botanical aromatics of gin to form a delicious concoction similar to mulled wine.” Perfect for defrosting the extremities, and soothing the spirit, after a hard day’s sales shopping or a good winter walk.

Here is Tristan’s own recipe for a purl if you fancy making them to see in the new year. It’s from his book, The Curious Bartender’s Gin Palace (Hardie Grant).

For the Botanical Infusion:
150ml / 5 fl oz Plymouth Gin
3g crushed black pepper
3g bay leaves
3g sage
1g gentian root
1g wormwood
1g star anise
1g nutmeg
1g dried rosemary

For the cocktail (makes 700ml):
150ml of your botanical infusion
500ml or 2 cups brown ale
50g or 1/4 cup demerara sugar
50g or 1/4 cup caster sugar

Method

Macerate all the ingredients for the botanical infusion in a jam jar (or similar), leave for 2 weeks, then strain and reserve. You can speed this process up a little by pressurising the ingredients in a hand-held cream whipper, charged with a nitrous-oxide cartridge.
For the cocktail, build all the ingredients into a glass bottle or a large jar, allowing the sugar to dissolve. The cocktail can be enjoyed cold, straight from the fridge, or warmed up in its bottle. Adjust the sugar according to taste and feel free to play around with different styles of beer.

* In The Old Curiosity Shop he describes “a great pot, filled with some very fragrant compound, which sent forth a grateful steam, and was indeed choice purl, made after a particular recipe”.

A version of this blog was first published in November 2013.

More from our December issue…

More cocktails to try…

Make | Your Own Gallery

A few ideas for things that look lovely, collected, curated and hung together on your wall…

The oddest things can look really effective hung together as a collection. And it’s not just about looking beautiful or creating something unique; curated galleries can bring back memories, evoke strong feelings and tell a story about ourselves for visitors to our homes to enjoy. We loved seeing all the mini ‘galleries’ in our My Place pages this month and were inspired to hang a few galleries of our own. Here are some ideas we had for things you could curate for your own gallery. 

1. Maps of places you have holidayed. 

2. Old book jackets on a theme.

3. Theatre programmes.

4. Tea towels.

5. Scientific charts.

6. Postcard collections. 

7. Magazine covers. 

8. Train tickets. 

9. Lists (found or made). 

10. Cross stitch kits. 

11. Seed packets.

12. Sheet music. 

13. Children’s book illustrations. 

14. Family photos. 

15. Vintage posters. 

16. Botanical prints.

17. Record sleeves. 

18. Pressed flowers and leaves. 

19. Wallpaper or wrapping paper samples. 

20. Tide times charts.

The gallery above is by Helen Sellwood. You can follow her on Instagram at @baliol.house. Turn to page 110 of our March issue to see the rest of the galleries in our My Place selection, and if you’re inspired to create a gallery of your own, please do send us a photo!

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More from our March issue…

More art to inspire…

Wild Waters | Dipping Your Toe In

If wild swimming is on your could-do list for 2023, don’t just dive right in. You need to have been going regularly as the waters get colder through autumn, or the temperature may be too much of a shock. If you’re a newbie, instead of taking the plunge, start January by finding a swim buddy. Wild swimming is safer and more fun with two.

For January, a swim at Loughrigg Tarn in the Lake District is a great shout. It’s said to be one of the warmest lakes locally to swim in as no rivers feed into it, and a little path running alongside, plus a car park, make it really accessible for beginners.

Stay at the Three Shires Inn nearby (threeshiresinn.co.uk) or head there for a hot coffee to warm up after your swim.

In January the average sea temperature is 6.5° in Airth, and 10.7° in Torquay.

Wild Waters is a new regular slot on our Almanac pages. Find suggestions for wild swim locations, sea temperatures and more each month, alongside other seasonal things to note and notice,
plan and do.

More wild swimming inspiration…

More from our January issue…

Stir-up Sunday

Get stuck in on Stir-up Sunday. The tradition your tastebuds have been waiting for…

LIKE MANY OCCASIONS THAT end up being about cake, Stir-up Sunday was never supposed to be about cake. The name comes from an Anglican prayer delivered on the last Sunday before Advent (this year, 21st November) and intended to “stir up the wills” of the congregation to go off and perform good deeds. No one mentioned cake. However, at some point, the congregation’s womenfolk found these words served as a timely reminder to start “stirring up” their Christmas cake, mincemeat and puds so they could exchange flavours for five weeks. So pile the table high with dried fruits, nuts, bottles of rum and brandy, lemon halves, plain flour, cinnamon, eggs, butter, muscovado sugar, candied peel and whatever else your chosen recipe suggests, dust off your biggest mixing bowl and a wooden spoon and get stuck in.

This blog was originally published in November 2013. If you need a recipe for a fruit cake, there’s a really rather good one on page 25 of our November 2021 issue which you can still buy in our online store and have delivered to your door mat. Our December issue, with lots more ideas for preparing for Christmas is in all good shops and supermarkets now.

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More Christmas bakes to make…

More from our blog…

Eco dilemmas | digital working vs paper

In our new series for Miscellany, we answer the green questions you were too afraid – or too confused – to ask.  This month: is digital working really greener than paper?  

This answer may at first seem obvious but it’s worth remembering digital documents are not carbon neutral. By 2040, if current trends continue, storing our digital data will account for around14% of global emissions – the equivalent CO2 impact of the entire US today. So, while cutting out unnecessary use of paper is a good idea, a virtual declutter will also reduce the environmental impact of your work day: 

• Make the effort to regularly look at what you’re storing digitally, deleting documents you no longer need. 

• Many internet activities can be made greener: switch to an eco-friendly search engine that carbon-offsets the emissions from searches (such as by planting trees), and don’t leave music or videos playing on your computer. 

• Change your email habits. A 2019 study concluded that if each person in the UK sent one less email a day, national COÇ emissions would be reduced by just over 16,333 tonnes. 

• When you use paper, take time to figure out those printer settings so you can print doublesided and in black and white as a default, use scrap paper for notes and lists, and make sure you recycle everything 

 The answers to our eco-dilemmas are taken from Is It Really Green? by Georgina Wilson Powell (published by DK)  

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More eco ideas…

Recipe | Lamb hotpot and mustardy greens

Gather friends and family for an afternoon walk, then come home to hotpot and slow-cooked comfort food. The traditional Lancashire hotpot, originally made with mutton, makes a virtue of simplicity

Lamb hotpot

A hearty casserole that deserves its place as a classic

Serves 6–8
2 tbsp plain flour
900g diced lamb
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 large onions, sliced
1 large garlic bulb, cloves peeled and left whole
8 small shallots, peeled
500g Chantenay carrots, scrubbed
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary, plus extra to garnish
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
750g Maris Piper potatoes, unpeeled, scrubbed and cut into 5mm slices
40g butter, melted

1 Tip the flour into a bowl, and season with a few pinches of sea salt and a good grinding of black pepper. Add the lamb and toss to coat in the flour. Heat half the oil in a large ovenproof casserole dish and add the lamb (you may need to do this in two batches). Cook for 5–6 mins, until brown all over, then transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon and set aside.
2 Add the remaining oil to the same casserole dish and gently fry the onions for around 5 mins, until translucent. Add the garlic cloves and cook for a further minute before adding the shallots and carrots. Cook, stirring, for a further 2–3 mins.
3 Return the lamb to the casserole dish, and add the mustard and chopped rosemary. Season and stir well, before stirring through the stock.
4 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/ 350F. Arrange the potato slices on top of the lamb, overlapping slightly to create a lid for the hotpot. Brush with the melted butter, season with salt and black pepper, and cover with a lid or foil. Bake for 11⁄2 hours.
5 Remove the lid or foil, turn up the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/400F, and cook for a further 30–40 mins, or until the potatoes are golden brown. Garnish with rosemary sprigs.

Mustardy greens

A tangy mustard dressing is a punchy match for cabbage

Serves 4
200g savoy cabbage, shredded
200g curly kale
200g frozen peas
25g butter
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 Cook the vegetables in a pan of boiling salted water for about 4 mins, or until just tender.
2 Drain the vegetables well. Return the pan to a low heat and gently melt together the butter and mustards. Return the vegetables to the pan, season and serve immediately.

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From our November issue:

More autumn recipes:

Recipe: Deep-fried courgette flowers with broad bean, pea and mint puree and basil pesto

Deep-fried courgette flowers with broad bean, pea and mint puree and basil pesto

As ‘by-products’ go, courgette flowers must be one of our favourites and this is the time of year to enjoy them. This recipe by Lia Leendertz makes a delicious summery weekend lunch or substantial starter. We’ll be planting even more courgettes next year so we can enjoy even more of these crispy, delicate flowers.

Make the purée and the pesto ahead, and fry the courgette flowers at the last minute for a gorgeous plate full of high- summer flavours. Freshly made basil pesto is just right for a touch of something piquant and herbal among the gentler flavours. The smooth veggie purée is easy to whizz up and complements the crunchy deep-fried parcel with its delicate morsel of courgette flowers within.

Serves 4
For the purée
250g broad beans, double podded* (about 1kg unpodded weight)
250g peas, podded (frozen peas thawed in a little lukewarm water will also do fine)
250g ricotta cheese
handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
squeeze of lemon juice
salt and pepper
For the basil pesto
50g toasted pine nuts
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 large bunch of basil (for leaves) extra virgin olive oil
50g finely grated parmesan
For the deep-fried courgette flowers
8 courgette flowers
sunflower or vegetable oil
125g plain flour
1⁄2 tsp salt
175ml ice cold water

1 Put all the ingredients for the purée, except the lemon juice, in a bowl and whiz to a smoothish texture with a hand blender. Add the lemon juice, season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to a day.

2 For the basil pesto, use a pestle and mortar to crush the pine nuts and garlic together. Season to taste, add the basil leaves and grind to a paste before slowly adding olive oil until you have the consistency you want. Stir in the parmesan and set aside.

3 Prepare the courgette flowers by teasing them open and pulling out the yellow stamens or style. Aim to create a completely empty space within the petals. It doesn’t matter if the flower rips a little in the process.

4 Heat the oil in a high-sided saucepan. It should fill no more than a third of the pan to allow for bubbling up. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl and whisk in the water.

5 When the oil is ready (a cube of bread will fizz and go brown), dip the flowers into the batter and lower into the oil. Fry up to three at a time for 1–2 minutes, until golden brown on one side, then flip over and brown the other side. Drain on kitchen paper and serve immediately. 

This recipe was originally published in our Journey issue (no. 37) in July 2015. You can buy the issue in our online shop here.

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From our July 2020 issue…

More recipes for summer…

How to | make daffs look posh

Simple ways to get the best from a bunch of spring trumpets, in time for St David’s Day

Photography: Kirstie Young

There’s little cheerier than a bunch of daffs. We’ve celebrated them (and a few tasty spring recipes, too) in our feature ‘Nature’s Table’ by Lia Leendertz in our March issue. Picking a few daffodils in the garden to bring indoors or even spontaneously throwing a couple of bunches in your shopping basket are one of spring’s greatest joys. Here’s how to make the most of them.

1. Learn from the Dutch and never mix daffodils with another type of flower. They’re thought to secrete a sap that kills other flowers off. You can get round this by placing them in a vase of water for half an hour or so by themselves first and then not retrimming the stems when you pop them in with other flowers. But frankly, who has time for this? And why not let them stand alone in all their daffodilly glory?

2. Despite their strong structural look, daffs have something a bit wild about them, so giving them a laid-back vessel to hang out in always suits them. A nice squat jug or a big teapot always looks jolly. Trim the stems down so they don’t sit too tall in the jug.

3. Change their water ever couple of days and keep it topped up. Daffs like a good drink.

4. If you’re using a taller, more traditional vase, you can give the flowers a ‘tidier’ look by tying them with twine and letting them bunch up together on one side, rather than spend the coming week trying to keep them evenly spaced around all sides of the vase. If the empty space on the other side of the vase bothers you, pop a couple of large, ornamental pebbles in with the tied posy.

5. If the whole ‘arranging’ bit is too stressful, break them up. A row of jam jars, each with a single daffodil in has a rustic look that suggests you just flung them there by accident (rather than spent all morning finding enough empty jam jars at the back of the cupboard). It looks very effective, at any rate. 

Alternatively, fling them artfully on a nature table or snuggle them next to some fig and walnut scones (recipe in our March issue), as pictured above. Spring has definitely sprung.

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More from our March issue…

More floral fun…

Recipe: Fizzy amaretto sours

Prosecco lends festive sparkle to this almondy tipple

Makes 1

2 shots amaretto
1 shot lemon juice
½ shot sugar syrup (see below)
Prosecco
Sliced lemon and cocktail cherries, to serve

1. To make sugar syrup, combine equal volumes of water and sugar (a cup of each, say) in a saucepan, heat gently till the sugar dissolves, leave to cool and store in a bottle or jar.

2. Pile a glass with ice and then pour in the amaretto, lemon juice and syrup before topping with the prosecco. Mix carefully with a spoon and serve with a slice of lemon and a cherry.

Merry Midwinter from The Simple Things!

This cocktail recipe was first published in December 2016. Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our December issue…

More tipples to tickle your fancy…

Festive things | mistletoe auctions

How a small Worcestershire town became the UK’s Mistletoe capital

Are we the only ones who start each December with the promise to ourselves that we’ll give the tinsel a miss this year and just use ‘nice greenery’ instead? (And then panic buy a couple of sprigs of holly for the front door and sneak out under cover of darkness to lean over the fence to pinch some of next door’s ivy?) We thought not.

If you live near a mistletoe market, however, a house full of greenery need not be an unattainable dream.

The tradition of hanging mistletoe in the house goes back as far as the ancient druids. But for more than the last 100 years, the village of Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire has been hosting mistletoe and holly auctions in the run-up to Christmas. 

Many markets of mistletoe and holly were held in the area but Tenbury Wells is the last remaining, holding markets on the last two Tuesdays in November and the first in December, as well as a mistletoe festival, this year held on Saturday 7 December.

The mistletoe and holly auctions are exactly as they sound. Turn up, bid, buy festive greenery. You do need to buy more than a sprig to dangle over your doorway, but anyone can buy at the auctions. Large bundles are sold individually but the first to buy a bundle from any seller’s particular batch has the option to buy all or any of the rest from that seller. 

The sale begins indoors with wreaths and once they are gone moves outside, with would-be buyers following the auctioneer down the rows of huge mistletoe bunches.

We recommend you get there early to bag the best bunches. The auctioneer’s bell sounds at 10am sharp when the selling begins. But if, when your alarm wakes you to the dark of a December morning, you don’t feel very festive, fear not. It will all be worth it when you return triumphant with the back seat of your car full of mistletoe. And next door’s ivy can remain unmolested another year. 

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More from our December issue…

More winter wonder…

How to do: zero waste shops

Ever fancied zero waste shopping but worried about how you’d get it all home? We asked an expert how to pack no-packaging grocery items. And we want to hear about your favourite zero waste stores, too…

Zero waste shops are suddenly everywhere, and we love using our local ones and having a poke round new ones we find on our travels. But for the newbie it can be a bit of a minefield, knowing what you should take and how you’re going to transport your goods home. Tote bags are all very well but you can’t fill them with milk now, can you? We talked to Tracey Harwood, owner of zero waste store Fetchem From The Cupboard, which has branches in Fetcham and Ashtead in Surrey, and asked her to share her best advice for shopping package free.

Tracey suggests you scope out your local zero waste store before you try and do a shop and see what products they stock, make a list of what you normally use and get containers ready to take with you. Here are her recommendations for transporting various products, from hand cream to quinoa...

Cheese 

Beeswax wraps are a good investment but putting that into an airtight container too will improve longevity of the product.

Dried goods

Tupperware is best and most of us have some in our cupboards somewhere. Any storage containers you normally use for your rice and cereals can just be brought in and refilled. If you don’t have a label write down the date you filled the container. Most produce bought packaging free is fresher than plastic wrapped and therefore lasts longer but you need to use most dried goods within three months. 

Oils and vinegars

Use an old bottle which used to contain oil or vinegar but it must be completely dry to avoid damaging the product. An old jam jar will do if not and is easy to fill. 

Fresh fruit and veg 

Loose produce can just be put straight into a reusable bag. If you want to invest in some lightweight produce bags to separate out your purchases, there are recycled plastic and cotton ones on the market which can be washed and reused. They’re good for things like Brussels sprouts and new potatoes, which can get lost in your basket or your trolley quite easily when loose. 

Baked goods 

Bring a tin or Tupperware again, most stores and even supermarkets will serve directly into your own containers now and they put their dispensed labels onto that instead. 

Frozen things

Tupperware or produce bags are good here - or reuse the bags which you previously bought the products in and replace them as and when necessary. If you only buy small amounts the cotton bags are good enough for the freezer as you will use the product before it spoils. 

Soap and cleaning products

Reuse the containers you have from your old products to fill up or invest in some prettier soap dispensers for ones that will be on display. Think about the fact you will need to refill them, so make sure the opening is not too small otherwise it may be tricky.

More things your zero-waste shopkeeper wants you to know

Tracey suggests you shop little and often if you can and take your time getting used to the self-fill containers. “See-through containers are ideal so you can track your progress when filling but they’re not essential. Ask a staff member of any shop which provides refills to help you until you have got the hang of refilling your containers - they’ll be only too pleased. Sadly, once a product has been decanted, a retailer is not allowed to put that product back, and if you leave it behind or worse, spill it, it has to be wasted, which obviously defeats the object.”

And working with the shop owners is key, she says. They want you to provide a good experience for you not just for the sake of their business but for the sake of the planet, so you’re all on the same side. “Give feedback when something doesn't meet your expectations but also give feedback when you are blown away by a product or service. Try to be patient and understanding - this is a learning curve for all of us and your zero waste shop owner is likely working very long hours, taking very little reward, yet turning up every day to make a difference - we all need your support to build sustainable businesses which can compete with the big boys. We need to work together on this.”

Tell us about your favourite zero waste stores

We loved poking our noses into Fetchem From The Cupboard but now it’s over to you. Do you also have an amazing zero-waste store near you? Somewhere that’s going above and beyond, offers products you don’t see elsewhere, has a brilliant cafe or simply staff that are making a real difference and make it a pleasure to shop there?

We’re hoping to put together a booklet of the best zero-waste stores around the UK, as voted for by readers of The Simple Things. Leave your votes in our comments section, or on Facebook or Instagram. 

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More from our November issue…

More ways to be green…

Recipe: A wild midsummer cocktail

Strawberry Lemony Heaven cocktail

Celebrating the solstice tonight? You can whip this cocktail up quickly or take your thyme and make the syrup, too. Happy Litha!

Serves 1
30ml thyme syrup* (that you prepared earlier) or simple syrup
(if you didn’t)
2 sprigs lemon thyme (if you haven’t made the thyme syrup)
2 large or 3 medium strawberries, washed and sliced
60ml white rum, vodka, or gin
22ml freshly-squeezed lemon juice
soda water
ice cubes

Garnish
lemon thyme sprig, sliced
strawberry
lemon wheel
straw

Tools
muddler
cocktail shaker with strainer
collins glass

1 Fill the glass with ice. If you haven’t made thyme syrup (below), smack 2 fresh sprigs of thyme between your palms to release the essential oils. Drop into the cocktail shaker with a dash of simple syrup.

2 If you have made thyme syrup, skip the step above and instead muddle the strawberry slices thoroughly with a dash of the thyme syrup in the shaker, to release all the strawberry juice. If you like, you can let them sit for about 30 mins to macerate slightly.

3 If you’re using fresh thyme, add strawberries now and muddle as above. For both methods, pour the rest of the thyme or simple syrup and your remaining ingredients (except the soda water) into the shaker.

4 Fill it two-thirds of the way up with ice, cover and shake hard for 20 seconds. Strain the mixture into the glass of ice. Don’t worry about tiny bits of thyme; they look attractive.

5 Garnish with a fresh sprigs of lemon thyme, strawberry slices, and a lemon wheel. Add the soda water and a straw.

*Thyme Syrup (for the Strawberry Lemony Heaven cocktail)

Makes approximately 250ml

250ml water
200g caster sugar
4 sprigs thyme, each about the length of a finger

Equipment
Sealable, heatproof presentation bottle, sterilized

1 Stir the water and sugar together in a non-stick pan over a low heat and let simmer for 2 mins.

2 Smack the unwashed thyme between your palms to release the oils and drop them into the pan. Immediately remove the pan from the heat. Let the thyme infuse for 10 mins.

3 While still piping hot, strain the liquid into a wide-mouthed pitcher, then funnel into the sterilized presentation bottle and seal.

4 Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

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From our June issue…

More midsummer cocktails…

If you’re planning a gathering we have more wild cocktail recipes here on our blog.

Cocktail recipes from Wild Cocktails from the Midnight Apothecary by Lottie Muir (CICO Books, £16.99). Over 100 recipes using home-grown and foraged fruits, herbs and edible flowers. www.thecocktailgardener.co.uk

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…

Recipe: Seville and Blood Orange Marmalade

With Seville oranges in season, it's marmalade time. And this blood orange recipe celebrates all that's flavoursome about the citrus classic.

Seville and blood orange marmalade

Preparation time: 30 minutes 
Cooking time: 90 minutes

500g Seville oranges 
500g blood oranges 
1kg granulated sugar 

You will need:
Muslin cloth
Kitchen string
3 large jam jars (or 6 small ones)
Jam thermometer

1 Clean the oranges well and place whole into a large pan. Cover with 4 pints of water (2.25l) and bring to the boil. Reduce to simmer for 1 hour or until the fruit is soft.
2 Remove the oranges from the pan, without discarding any of the cooking liquid, and set aside to cool. Measure out 3 pints of the cooking liquid, topping up if needed with more water.
3 Halve the cooled oranges and scoop out the flesh and pips into a muslin cloth (or white tea-towel); tie with food-safe string. 
4 Place the muslin package into the pan with the 3 pints of cooking liquid.
5 Slice the orange peel as preferred. Add to the pan. Add the sugar and stir over a low heat until dissolved. Bring to a rolling boil for 15 mins. After this time, keep boiling at a lower temp until the liquid reaches 105C. Take off the heat and let sit for a moment before skimming off any scum from the top of the liquid. Pour into hot, sterilised jam jars and seal. 

This blog was first published in January 2012. Pick up our January 2020 for lots more delicious things to do with oranges and lemons.

From our January issue…

More preserves to make…

Bringing light to dark days

How to love your lighting - and perhaps design your very own shade…

Long, january evenings provide us with good reason to celebrate lighting up the dark. Whether it’s spending a quiet hour with a scented candle, or rethinking your entire lighting scheme in your home.

In our January issue’s The Comfort of Things feature, Clare Gogerty waxes lyrical on the positive vibes good lighting can bring to your home: “Coming home and switching on the lights banishes the darkness, replacing it not just with visibility but with emotional reassurance.”

There’s more on why lighting is so important to our homes in the January issue. However, if you’re inspired to really throw yourself at a lighting project you will also not want to miss The Simple Things’ Lampshade Making Workshop on Saturday 23 February in Hove, East Sussex.

The course is run with Lume Lighting’s Joanna Corney, a maker and designer who has run her homeware business for several years and will take place at her lovely working studio by the sea, in Hove.

The workshop is exclusively for The Simple Things readers and is ideal for beginners who want to learn the craft of contemporary lampshade making. You’ll be given all the skills you need to make your very own custom shade, meeting like-minded people and eating some delicious food along the way. You’ll make either a 20cm or 30cm diameter fabric drum lampshade, which can be used on a lamp base or ceiling pendant. At the end of the workshop you will go home with your very own bespoke lampshade – perhaps just the first of many more beautiful customised designs.

COURSE DETAILS

The Simple Things’ Lampshade Making Workshop, which has seven places available, will be held at Joanna’s studio in Hove, East Sussex, on Saturday 23 Feburary 2019. Time: 10.30am–3.30pm. Ticket price: £60, including all tools and materials for the class, plus tea, coffee, cake and lunch. You’ll need to make your own way there and home. The only thing you need to bring is the fabric of your choice to cover your lampshade.  

HOW TO BOOK

Email hello@lumelighting.co.uk. Joanna’s website is lumelighting.co.uk.

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More from the January issue…

More ways to bring light to your home…

Recipe: Yule log

Roll up, roll up – for our festive yule log! 

This bake is just a little bit fancy but when the making of it is as leisurely and lovely as the eating of it, it’s all worth it. This is no chuck-it-in-the-oven crowd pleaser so embrace the opportunity that brings: take an afternoon off work when the house is quiet and dedicate it to some mindful baking to share with friends and family later on.

The filling

250ml whole milk
1 vanilla pod
3 medium egg yolks
60g caster sugar
25g plain flour
100g soft butter, cut into pieces 
50g hazelnuts in their skins

1. Pour milk into a heavy-based pan. Split the vanilla pod, scrape seeds into the milk, along with split pods. 2. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the flour and mix until smooth. Put the pan of milk over medium heat, bring to just under the boil, take off the heat and slowly pour half of it into the egg, sugar and flour mixture, whisking well as you do so. Add the remaining milk and whisk in well, then pour mixture back into pan.
3. Bring to the boil, whisking continuously, then keep boiling and whisking for one minute, take off the heat and pour into a clean bowl.
4. Scoop out the halves of vanilla pod. Cover the surface of the bowl with greaseproof paper straight away to prevent skin forming. Cool in fridge. Once cool, remove from fridge and whisk to the consistency of a light mayonnaise. Add butter, whisking in a little at at time until the cream is smooth and quite white.
5. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/350F. Spread the hazelnuts out over a baking tray and toast for 15–20 mins, shaking occasionally for even cooking. Leave to cool, then grind to a paste using a coffee grinder or pestle and mortar. Mix this into the cream and set aside.

The sponge

125g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
1 tbsp cocoa powder
125g plain flour
25g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
You will need:
Two 35cm x 27cm x 2cm baking trays, greased and lined

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/350F. Whisk sugar and eggs in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water (don’t let base of bowl touch the water) for 3-4 mins until foamy and tripled in volume.
2. Transfer to a food mixer with whisk attachment or use a handheld one and whisk at high speed for 4–5 mins until mixture has cooled and clings easily to the whisk, leaving ribbon trails when you lift it.
3. Sieve cocoa into flour and gently fold in to the mixture a little at a time with a metal spoon. Do the same with the melted butter.
4. With a spoon, turn the mixture into trays and tilt so it spreads into the corners. Bake for 12–15 mins until golden and the centre is springy. Turn out onto cooling rack.

And the rest...

100g sugar
2 tbsp kirsch
Icing sugar, for dusting
500g good natural marzipan 
400g good quality dark chocolate (70%), broken into pieces
Dark chocolate curls or ‘pencils’, cocoa powder, and edible gold leaf (optional), for decoration

1. Start by making a kirsch syrup. Put the sugar in a pan with 200ml water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the sugar has dissolved and you have a colourless syrup. Take off the heat, stir in the kirsch, and leave to cool.
2. Have ready a large sheet of baking paper. Turn the chocolate sponge onto it so that the top is downwards. Brush with two-thirds of the syrup, then spread hazelnut cream filling on top. Now roll up like a Swiss roll. Lift up the baking paper
and as the sponge starts to roll, tuck it under with your fingertips, then continue to lift the paper and it will continue to roll.
3. Lightly dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll out the marzipan to 2mm thick. Cut out a rectangle just large enough to wrap the log in and set aside trimmings. 
4. Brush the log with the remaining syrup, then lay on top of marzipan, off centre, seam upwards. Bring the marzipan over the top and press down lightly, so that it fits snugly. Tuck marzipan under the log and fold in the ends.
5. Mould marzipan trimmings into balls, then roll into ‘sausages’ to snake along the top of the log, pressing down lightly so they stick. 
6. Have ready a rack over a tray or sheet of baking paper. Using a palette knife or fish slice under each end of the log, lift it onto the rack. Leave these in position so you can easily lift the log up again.
7. Put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water – make sure the water comes close to the bottom of the bowl but doesn’t actually touch it. Keep the heat very low so that you don’t get steam in the bowl. Keep stirring all the time and let the chocolate melt slowly, then remove bowl from heat. A little at a time, with the help of a spoon, pour the chocolate over the log until it is covered.
8. As it begins to cool and set a little, use the tip of a spoon or fork to make rough bark-like marks in the chocolate. When the coating is set enough to stay put, lift the log off the rack and onto a board or plate. Decorate with cocoa, chocolate and gold leaf, if you like. Leave for 3–4 hrs at room temperature, then put in the fridge, if necessary, in a box to keep its shine.

Taken from Patisserie Maison by Richard Bertinet (Ebury Press, £20)

This was first published in our December 2014 issue. Our new December issue is out now. If you enjoyed this recipe, be sure not to miss our feature, For the Love of Baking in there. It has recipes, by Rachel de Thample, for Austrian Linzer biscuits, Icelandic Klejner, mulled wine brownies and more. The perfect way to occupy yourself on a quiet, calm day at home during Advent.

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Create a space just for you

Hoping to carve out a study, nook or understairs hole just for you this weekend? Here’s how.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT LIGHT Sitting in your own pool of light creates a boundary. This, it says, is my area where I do my things. A floor lamp positioned directly over a chair in a corner of the room creates a reading nook. An Anglepoise directed at a desk sends a subliminal ‘I’m busy’ message.

SIT IN A COMFORTABLE CHAIR Essential, whether an enveloping armchair to curl up in with a book, or a proper office chair. Make sure everyone knows it’s your chair and your chair alone, like Martin’s in Frasier.

HAVE A SIDE TABLE AT THE READY A table beside you is necessary to put your things on. These might include a radio, a vase filled with your favourite flowers and, obviously, a mug of tea.

KEEP A BLANKET HANDY Nothing says: ‘I’m enjoying some down time’ like a throw tucked around your legs or across your shoulders.

WELCOME PETS You might not feel the need for human company, but a pet will always be welcome. A cat purring beside a computer as you type, or a dog lying across your feet as you listen to the radio, provides exactly the amount of interaction and affection required.

Read more of Clare Gogerty’s advice on creating a room of one’s own in our November issue. On sale now.

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Read more on simple interiors…

More from the November issue…

Judith Shakespeare: heroine who never was

A short biography of an imaginary woman we should all get to know a little better

We’ve been hankering after ‘a room of one’s own’ this month. You can read about how to create the perfect R.O.O.O. in the November issue, but one thing’s for sure, a little spot somewhere in the house that is ‘just yours’, whether to glorify in mess, old books and bits of paper, or to keep like your own tiny palace, is a luxury we all would love.

In her essay ‘A Room of One’s Own’, published in 1929, Virginia Woolf asserted that a woman must have “money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction”. It never stopped JK Rowling, but to be fair she had the advantage of women’s liberation.

To prove her point that in Elizabethan times it would have been impossible for a woman to have written the works of Shakespeare, no matter what her talent, Woolf introduces us to Judith, Shakespeare’s sister. “We thought his sister’s name was Joan?” we hear you cry, as one. Well, yes, it was. No one is quite clear whether Ginny just wanted to jazz her up a bit or if she’d made a mistake. But nonetheless, Judith Shakespeare is the imaginary sister of William who appears in the essay.

She is a clever girl, with all the gifts of her brother but they come to naught: "She was as adventurous, as imaginative, as agog to see the world as he was. But she was not sent to school.” She hides her reading and study for fear of a telling off from her parents and is forced to become engaged at a young age. To avoid a life of domestic drudgery she runs away to become an actress, is roundly ridiculed by all and sundry, falls pregnant by her employer and takes her own life. “She lives in you and in me,” said Woolf, “and in many other women who are not here tonight, for they are washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed.”

The sad story of Judith Shakespeare is one of the most famous parts of Woolf’s essay and has inspired all sorts of writers and artists since. Not least, the band Shakespeare’s Sister who named themselves for Judith, and The Smiths, who recorded a song of the same name.

The inspiration we are taking from poor Judith’s short (imaginary) life is that we owe it to our literary fore-sisters to make the effort to find space for a room of our own. Because we’re worth it. Our regular feature, The Comfort of Things, in the November issue has more on how to create your very own ‘room of one’s own’.

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Read more on The Comfort of Things…

More from the November issue…