Reading | Books that Embrace the Cold

Photography by Joe McIntyre

There’s no time like January for hunkering down with a book but it’s not all about hiding inside from the winter weather. Here are a few of our suggestions for books that will help you to embrace the winter chill.

The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vessas

In a rural Norwegian community two young girls, Siss and Unn, meet and find they have a connection that neither of them fully understands. When Unn goes missing in the wintry landscape, Siss struggles with her disappearance. A wonderful, wintry story that should be a classic by rights. 

A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter

A one-of-a-kind memoir from 1934, when the author accompanied her husband to the Arctic island of Spitzbergen for a year. At first she finds the cold and isolation tough but slowly she begins to fall in love with the wildlife and the wild landscape.

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis

A winter classic that you’re never too old to reread. Lose yourself in Narnia, condemned to an eternal winter by the White Witch, and its cast of enchanting characters. 

A Winter Book by Tove Jansson

A collection of beautifully crafted short stories by the Finnish creator of the Moomins. Spanning most of the twentieth century, this is a wonderful book to dip in and out of while the snow is falling outside.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

This Gothic novel opens with a storytelling session on Christmas Eve. The action then moves to follow the story of an unnamed governess, trying to protect her charges from evil supernatural beings in the house they share. Chills for chilly days. 

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Jack and Mabel are a childless couple living in 1920s Alaska. One day they build a child out of snow and a fairytale encounter begins…

Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg

Set in Copenhagen, this novel follows in flashback Smilla’s relationship with a young boy called Isaiah who is part Greenlandic, as is she. During her own childhood in Greenland she developed an intuitive understanding of the various types of snow, which she used in her adult career as a scientist. Now, in the present day, it will help her to unravel a mystery surrounding Isaiah.

The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse

When Freddie’s car is forced off the road in a snowstorm he takes shelter in a tiny village on the edge of the Pyrenees, where he meets Fabrissa. They spend the night talking of love, loss and mourning but when day breaks… she vanishes. And that’s only the beginning of the mystery.

If you’re looking for more inspiration for winter reading, don’t miss our feature, Fireside Yarns, in our January issue, which is in shops now.

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Reading | Fenland Fiction

Mountains and rolling hills are inspiring but there’s something about a flat landscape that’s a bit special. Here are a few books that allow you to immerse yourself in the UK’s flat, low-lying areas and dream under big skies. 

Waterland by Graham Swift

Set in the Fens of eastern England, Waterland follows the story of Tom Crick but also spans 240 years of his family’s history. The flat countryside of the novel is almost the main character in this haunting, watery story. 

Fen by Daisy Johnson

Weird, wonderful and… flat, this collection of short stories takes inspiration from Graham Swift and lover of fairytales, Angela Carter, and celebrates myth, magic and eels. 

Coot Club by Arthur Ransome

Dick and Dorothea head to the Norfolk Broads to learn how to sail with Tom Dudgeon. But Tom has embroiled himself in trouble, having set adrift a motorcruiser moored among his beloved coots’ nests, and belonging to a bit of a rotter. 

The Wild Fens Murder Mystery Series by Jack Cartwright

Detective Inspector Freya Bloom has moved from her London post to a position in rural Lincolnshire, where she doesn’t always fit in with the locals, who are wilder than the fens themselves about Freya’s arrival. 

The Belton Estate by Anthony Trollope

Trollope was not a fan of the Fens but his portrayal of them in one of his lesser-known novels is still a joy to anyone who knows the area. When Belton himself walks to and from Denver Sluice, Trollope remarks drily that “a country walk less picturesque could hardly be found in England.”

Death of an Expert Witness by PD James

One for fans of Inspector Dalgliesh. When a girl’s body is found in a field the lab begins to investigate but soon one of their own is done away with too. Dalgliesh is called to the dark and gloomy Fens to solve the murders. 

Hereward the Wake by Charles Kingsley

The author of The Water Babies also wrote this historical novel based in the then very watery Fenlands, way before they were drained and became the flat lands they are now. This book looks back to a time when the marshes were sodden with myth and magic. If you thought The Water Babies was damp and a bit creepy… think again… 

The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers

This Lord Peter Wimsey novel is set in the Lincolnshire Fens and the plot revolves around bell ringing… and murder, of course. 

Fen Boy First by Edward Storey

Storey has written movingly about the Cambridgeshire fens where he grew up, largely in poetic form but this memoir is equally beautiful and very evocative of the magical, dramatic flat lands of England. 

Flatland by Edwin Abbot Abbot

Sadly you won’t find Flatland on a map but if you’re a fan of the flat you will love this satirical novella, set in the two-dimensional ‘Flatland’; a commentary on the hierarchy of Victorian culture. 

This blog was inspired by our Outing feature ‘Flat Out’ from our November issue, in which we discover the beauty of this country’s flat landscapes. 

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How to | Revamp Your Woollies for Winter

Spend a Sunday getting your woollies out of mothballs and freshening them up ready to do their duty again as the weather cools

Washing woollies

Modern machines are not a friend to woollies – we’ve all had that bad experience where we’ve accidentally put it on a dry spin and that beautiful woollen jumper has come out horribly shrunk. We’d advise only ever hand-washing your beautiful knits and leaving them to air-dry. If that sounds like a lot of work, the good news is that pure wool doesn’t need to be washed frequently. Rather than washing the full garment, try spot- cleaning any marks instead – there’s a guide at woolmark.com/care on what type of treatment works best for what kind of stain. When storing woollens, it’s best to fold rather than hang them, as they keep their shape better. If you need to pack them away, use vacuum-sealed bags or cloth bags and it’s worth checking on them in the summer months to make sure no bugs have made their way in. Rather than using mothballs, cedar blocks are a natural alternative that smell nice and keep moisture out.

Bobbles, begone!

A common problem with knitwear is bobbles. As you wear clothes, the fibres stretch and break from the friction of being worn, as well as from washing and drying. This creates small balls of fibres. While you can’t stop this from happening, using a liquid detergent, washing woollens inside out and air-drying them can all help to prevent too many forming. To remove bobbles, you can find electric fabric shavers online. A lint roller or Sellotape can also work, but may pull on the threads, so be careful. It’s best to use a lint remover or a new razor – the blades make easy work of bobbles.

The advice above is taken from our October Home Economics feature on mending woollens. You can find it on page 46 of the issue.

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Think | Memories of School PE

Whether we were Sporty Susies or, erm… Last-To-Be-Picked Lucys, all of us have a strong memory or two of PE at school. Here some of the Simple Things’ team share theirs

“I'm weirdly nostalgic about musty smelling netball bibs even though they would only let me play wing defence and still shout 'pivot, pivot, chest pass'! in my head whenever I think about netball.” Fiona, Subscriptions Manager

“We used to play rounders in the summer at school - I think by that point of the academic year, the PE teachers had given up persuading us into the more traditional/taxing sports. I remember it being good fun, and one particularly hot afternoon, running to catch someone out, arm outstretched, and the ball landing right into my hand like a mini miracle. Probably the high point of my sporting prowess.”
Jo, Commissioning Editor

“Every year my school held ‘The Dale’, a punishing cross-country run across local fields and woodland. And every year I miraculously came down with an ear infection at the just the right time to hand in a handwritten note from my mum asking for me to be excused (thanks Mum!). However, in my final year, they sprung it on us out of the blue so I had no option but to pull my socks up (quite literally) and get on with it. Having never run it before, I had no idea of the route, so in a panic, I fixed on a girl in my class to follow. I remember several points where I thought my lungs would burst, but I knew I couldn’t lose sight of my classmate, especially as there weren’t many other girls around to latch onto. It was only when I crawled across the finish line that I realised this girl was pretty athletic and in my one and only time running The Dale, I had come in the top five of my year.”
Abbie, Sub Editor

“When I was at secondary school I was fairly happy to do PE as most of the sports I didn’t mind. but as you near the end of secondary, you hit that phase where you want to get out of it and just chat with your mates. I remember a form tutor raising the amount of PE absences with the class once and a girl asked why they have to do PE. Her reply was brilliant. She said that when you're older you'll have to pay to participate in a class, join a gym or do a team sport. This is the one time it’s free and you get to do it with your mates. So make the most of it. Youth really is wasted on the young as she was completely right. What i'd do to be able to play football or cricket with mates twice a week for free now (ignoring the physical pain it would cause)!”
Rob, Sales Director

“I hated almost every sport we had to do (apart from rounders and badminton) until we got to year 10, I think, and bowling - as in ten-pin bowling - became an option. If you picked it, you went into town on a Monday afternoon, bowled as quickly as possible then you were allowed to leave for the day and me, Lila and Carrie would go to Littlewoods in the town centre and share fish and chips. Not sure that was the athleticism they were looking for. I felt it was fair payback for being made to run around our school field in winter in running knickers.”
Karen, Commissioning Editor

“At my rather old-fashioned convent school, we were ‘lucky’ enough to have an outdoor swimming pool, which was the stuff of nightmares. I vividly remember the games mistress using a pole to break up the thin strips of ice that would form on the top of the pool before we got in. We complained about it to our parents bitterly and generally considered the swimming pool to be a form of child abuse. It makes me laugh now to see all the people on Instagram indulging in cold water therapy and posting about how great they feel after a session. I consider myself an early adopter now! Maybe it was character building after all…”
Iona, Editor at Large

This blog was inspired by our wellbeing feature ‘One For The Team’, from our September issue, in which we look at how revisiting childhood team sports as an adult can benefit both body and mind. 

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Think | Blackberries and Poetry

Blackberry season is such a memorable and brief time of the year, perhaps it’s no wonder writers and poets love a good blackberry metaphor…

Imbued with myth and symbolic meaning, the humble blackberry crops up frequently in both prose and poetry, as heavy with metaphor as the thorny branches are heavy with fruit. (See? It’s impossible to avoid!) The roots of blackberry symbolism go back to the Bible and beyond. The mortal who tried to ride Pegasus to Olympus in Greek myth falls into a thorny bush and is blinded. Similarly, Satan himself was said to have fallen into a blackberry bush when he was cast out of heaven. Christ’s crown of thorns is also said in some cultures to have been woven of blackberry branches. It’s easy to see why the blackberry has become linked with ideas of sin, or pursuing pleasure and of ultimate downfall. If you want to taste those sweet and juicy berries, you have to prepare to be scratched or, worse, find that when you get them home they’ve gone over and taste sour. Sad times. If you enjoy a blackberry metaphor as much as we do, here are a few thorny verses you might like to have a read of…

If you like the idea of blackberries as a dark, menacing presence try…

Blackberrying by Sylvia Plath

“Nobody in the lane and nothing, nothing but blackberries. Blackberries on either side…” she begins, and you can imagine the dark berries, glowing… growing and watching the narrator with their beady blackberry eyes. She describes them as “big as the ball of my thumb and dumb as eyes”, having clearly underestimated their malevolent genius as they reel her in. “Fat with blood red juices. These they squander on my fingers. I had not asked for such a blood sisterhood. They must love me.” Run, Sylvia!! Run from the blackberries, we scream silently. 

If you enjoy blackberries as a metaphor for the fragility of life try…

Blackberry Picking by Seamus Heaney

“Late August, given heavy rain and sun for a full week, the blackberries would ripen” and Heaney and his family would gleefully collect them, their palms “sticky as Bluebeard’s”. You can almost feel the disappointment coming, can’t you?... “Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour. I always felt like crying. It wasn’t fair that all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot. Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not.” Ah… that’s life for you, Seamus, and especially the fleeting life of blackberries. 

If blackberries for you are a symbol of sensory overload and greed try…

August by Mary Oliver

Oliver describes spending “all day among the high branches, reaching my ripped arms, thinking of nothing, cramming the black honey of summer into my mouth.” You go for it, Mary. Don’t wait to take them home for crumble; blackberries are best scoffed greedily enjoyed in the moment. 

If you like to dance with the devil when blackberrying, you might like…

Blackberry Eating by Galway Kinnell

Kinnell gives the distinct impression of entering a pact with Satan as he makes his way among the brambles: “the stalks very prickly, a penalty they earn for knowing the black art of blackberry-making.” And like others before him (well, mainly like Eve in the Garden of Eden) he loses his innocence to the lure of fruit. “The ripest berries” he insists “fall almost unbidden to my tongue.” Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Galway. That’s what all Satan’s Blackberry Minions say.  

If blackberries symbolise deep and real love for you, try…

The Heart Under Your Heart by Craig Arnold

Blackberries here represent the very real, unswerving sort of love that exists when you know someone completely, with all their thorns and foibles. Arnold tells us “The heart under your heart is not the one you share so readily so full of pleasantry & tenderness. it is a single blackberry at the heart of a bramble.” We’ll raise a jug of custard to that. 

You’ll find more blackberrying nostalgia in our feature ‘Down Memory Lanes’ in our September issue, which is on sale now.

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Geography | Map Secrets

If you think you can trust a map, think again… Many contain twists and tricks that mean you could be navigating your way to something entirely unexpected.

1. Swisstopo Doodles

For decades, mapmakers for the Swiss Federal Office of Topography (Swisstopo) have been secretly hiding illustrations in official maps: a marmot crouched among the contour lines of the Swiss Alps, a fish nestling in the fringes of a marshy nature reserve for example. Once discovered, these humorous additions are removed, which is rather a shame, we think.

2. Maps as propaganda

Maps are political and cultural documents, distorted representations riddled with errors, propaganda and mischief. Some depict Greenland as larger than Africa, others include entirely made-up streets.

3. World War II Escape Maps

 MI9 British Military Intelligence Officer, Clayton Hutton (known as Clutty) invented silk escape and evasion maps during the Second World War. Based on pre-war Continental touring maps, these were printed on parachute silk (and later rayon) as it was durable, easy to conceal inside the lining of a uniform and didn’t make crinkly noises when sneaking around. 

4. Real Life Treasure Maps

 In 2023, the National Archives of the Netherlands released a trove of documents declassified after a 75-year confidentiality period. Among them was a hand-drawn treasure map, sketched by four retreating German soldiers who’d buried stolen gold coins and jewels beneath the roots of a poplar tree. To this day, the long-lost Nazi hoard, believed to be worth millions, has never been found.

5. Filling in the blanks

Sometimes what’s not on a map that proves to be just as compelling. Terra Australis (Antarctica) tempted explorers even before it was a big blank space on James Cook’s 1795 map of the southern continents labelled ‘terra incognita’ (Latin for unknown land). Centuries before anyone ever beheld the frozen continent, ancient astronomers and geographers were convinced it existed, with maps from Greco-Roman and Medieval times fuelling a geographical myth that persisted for centuries. 

6. Telling tales

 Medieval mappa mundi – ancient European maps of the world – blended knowledge with myth, spirituality and cautionary tales. Hereford Cathedral exhibits the largest surviving example. Measuring 5’2” by 4’4”, the map portrays the Garden of Eden at the top and Jerusalem in the centre, while the edges brim with wondrous people and beasts, inspired by early explorers’ tales.

7. Paper Towns

A long-standing problem for cartographers is how to prevent others from plagiarising years of research; the solution is to set a trap. Known as ‘paper towns’ or ‘trap streets’, the London A–Z is said to contain dozens. For a while, Haggerston in Hackney had a non-existent ski-slope next to the city farm.

Our map secrets are taken from our ‘Know A Thing Or Two pages on maps in our June issue by
Jo Tinsley. Read more from page 83.

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How to | Move a swarm of bees (don't try this at home)

If you’ve ever seen honey bees swarm they’re an impressive sight. Even more impressive are the beekeepers that come to collect them. Here’s how the magic is done

Why do honey bees swarm?

Swarming occurs when things are getting tight for space in the hive and some of the bees decide to move on. Occasionally bees swarm and move out in order to reproduce.

When does swarming occur?

On hot days, usually between May and July. Beekeepers call this ‘swarm season’. The bees won’t swarm if rain is due as they don’t like to be caught out of their hives in bad weather, so if you see bees swarming you can be pretty sure it’s safe to hang out your washing before going out.

What happens when they swarm? 

Essentially, the colony splits in two but it’s not a one-day event. First, cells are created to hatch a new queen in the hive, meanwhile the worker bees put the old queen on a diet to enable her to fly better when she leaves the hive. The bees then stock up on honey themselves to see them through until they’re settled in their new home. 

Here comes the swarming bit…

The bees that are packing up leave together and buzz around in a cloud before parking themselves on a solid object nearby, with their queen protected in the middle. Could be a tree, could be a lamp post, could be your garden furniture. Scout bees then head out looking for a new home. This process can take up to a few days and actually begins even before they leave the hive. After plenty of negotiation, a new nest is chosen and the bees move in together. 

How do beekeepers take a swarm away?

Beekeepers love free bees so they’re often happy to be called out to a swarm. They’ll place a large container underneath the swarm, raised up so that as much of the swarm as possible is contained within. They’ll then gently shake the tree or scrape the bees off the solid object into the container. The container is then placed upside down on the ground, with a sheet beneath it and one side of the container is lifted to allow more bees to get in. Any bees that leave the box will home back inside again towards the queen. As long as you’re sure the queen is inside, the box can then be left where it is until the whole swarm is inside. The sheet is then tied up at the top and the whole swarm can be relocated to an empty hive. 

What should you do if you spot a swarm?

Give them plenty of space. They don’t generally sting you but it’s best not to take the risk. The next step is to identify the type of bee. Not all swarms will be honey bees. The British Bee Keepers’ Association will collect honey bees for you but they also have an identifier on their website along with numbers of who to call for each type of bee. Call out a beekeeper and then you can stand back and helpfully read out the instructions above while he or she does all the hard work and you look rather clever.

If you’d like to know more about the care of bees, read our feature How Hard Can it Be… To Become a Beekeeper in our June issue, which is in shops now.

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Words for Walks | Coddiwomple

CODDIWOMPLE ‘To travel purposefully towards a vague destination’ (verb, English)

While striding out to reach a charming village, castle or pub certainly has its pleasures, setting off with nothing particular in mind invites spontaneity; it frees us up to follow an intriguing path or climb a hill simply to see a new view.

A ‘coddiwomple’ might be a wholly unstructured walk or perhaps a moment of drifting away from the path to explore on a whim. If aimlessly wandering feels like a recipe for getting lost (and not in a good way), then why not apply the same principle to exploring a rambling country estate where you can’t go too far astray?

Seek out places that invite wonder such as Hawkstone Park Follies, Shropshire, where you can meander through 100 acres of labyrinthine tunnels, sandstone caves and rhododendron jungles. Or Puzzlewood, Gloucestershire, a maze of enticing pathways between mossy rock formations – with no set trails, when you reach a fork in the path, simply choose your route and walk purposefully ahead.

The extract above is just one of the words for walks in our feature ‘Talk the Walk’ from our May issue. Enjoy a Solivagant, a Dauwtrappen or a Passeggiatta from page 52.

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How To | Get Started with Poetry

If you’ve ever felt like you’d like to read more poetry but weren’t sure where to start, or even fancied penning a few lines yourself, here’s advice on how to begin from Poet Laureate Simon Armitage

Despite it possibly being more accessible than many other forms of writing, being short and easy to dip in and out of, it seems that many of us don’t read much poetry beyond school. Where’s a good place for a poetry newbie to begin? 

“There are some really good anthologies, which are kind of portfolio collections that have lots of different poets writing in lots of different styles. I would probably start with one of those.

“There’s a very good anthology edited by Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney called The Rattle Bag. 

“Bloodaxe have published a really great series of anthologies known as Staying Alive  that’s also really good [The collections are edited by Neil Astley and include Staying Alive, Being Alive, Being Human and Staying Human]. 

“I also like the anthology Andrew Motion edited when he was Poet Laureate called Here to Eternity. 

“So I’d try any one of them. Anthologies are like samplers really. You get a little bit of everything. If you find something you like, you might be inclined to follow up that point with more of that poet’s work. But I’d also say don't feel bad if you don't get on with a poem. Remember, it might well be the poem’s fault rather than yours.”

How would you encourage someone who has never done so to begin to write poetry themselves?

“I'd encourage them to, to collect words around the subjects they’re interested in first. So make yourself an inventory of words that you can use. Because when you’re writing poetry, there is always a better word; there’s always a word that will do a bit more work or have a better sound, if you can find it.

“Sometimes people come to me and say, ‘I want to write poems, because I've got something to say’. And I always think ‘Oh, no, that's no good’. You know, we've all got something to say. Even if it's just ‘I took the bin out today’. The point is, if you want to be a writer, it's because you want to work with language. You can have something to say as a painter. You can have something to say as a potter, and you can have something to say as a racing car driver, but you've really got to be interested in language to be a poet.” 

You can read more of Simon Armitage’s thoughts in our Wisdom feature in our May issue. Simon’s latest anthology, Blossomise, illustrated by Angela Harding, is available now, too.

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Wellbeing | How not to say 'Sorry'

Sorry to bother, but we just wondered whether you find yourself apologising too often. No worries at all if you don’t have time to think about this…

If you recognise that you regularly use apologetic language, pause and take a moment to read back over your emails or messages before you press send, and tweak them to ensure that you’re not devaluing your needs.

Positive psychology practitioner and coach, Ruth Cooper-Dickson says we should also take a moment before responding if somebody asks something of us, especially if it’s a colleague, client or even a friend who we always say yes to. This is obviously easier if the request comes in by email or text message, but if you’re speaking directly, you could simply say that you need to check your workload or diary, and you’ll get back to them as soon as you can.

Ruth says: “Be honest and assertive, sometimes you really do need to put yourself first.” My own experiences of over-apologising led to me write a novel appropriately entitled No Worries If Not! (HarperNorth) about one woman’s mission to stop saying sorry. And while I never use that phrase to sign off emails any more, I know I still apologise when I needn’t.

The key is not to beat yourself up over it. As Ruth says, self-compassion is about recognising when we over apologise, but being kind to ourselves when we slip up. She said: “Instead of hitting ourselves over the head with the proverbial stick when we catch ourselves needlessly apologising, we should see it as a learning exercise and move on.” Besides, as Charlotte finds out in my book, sometimes there is a place for an apology. Do it less often and it can pack a much greater punch.

This was an extract from our wellbeing feature ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ from our May issue. Read more about why we tend to over-apologise and how to stop from page 48.

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Folk | The Magic of Maypole Ribbons

Maypoles are surely one of the more colourful and quirky of our folk traditions, but is there meaning and method in the May madness and what do those coloured ribbons symbolise?

One of the most British of sights is surely that of multicoloured ribbons, fluttering and being plaited around a Maypole under a blue late spring sky. Maypoles are imbued with a rich history of symbolism, as you might imagine. Folklorists argue about whether the phallic shape of the pole is in fact a symbol of male virility. We couldn’t possibly comment, but it would make sense if you believe, as many do, that the wreath of flowers that tops many poles is representative of female fertility. 

While the poles have been around for many centuries, the ribbons that adorn many a Maypole now were a later addition, some say they arrived post-Restoration, some time in the mid 18th-Century, others say it was the Victorians who added them. Whoever we have to thank, the ribbons are there not only to flutter prettily in the breeze but to be held by the dancers who go round and round the Maypole, plaiting the ribbons into pretty patterns as they go, until they are all neatly tied to the pole. They then repeat the steps in reverse to unwind them, which is said to symbolise the lengthening of the days, as the ribbons are freed and become longer again. 

Maypole ribbons come in many and various colours. Red and white is said to represent the ‘earthly’ and the ‘divine’, but various towns and villages choose their colours for various reasons. 

Some Maypoles use colours to represent the season and the harvest to come: gold for the sun, green for the leaves and vines and purple for grapes (and hopefully wine). As the dancers weave the ribbons together, it’s hoped they act as a prayer for all these elements to work together in harmony and produce a good crop. The dance itself is a symbol of the villagers working together as they will work later in the year to bring the harvest in. 

Other Maypoles are simply a celebration of spring, with green for growth, yellow for light and blues and reds for flowers. Pink and purple are said to symbolise feminine sweetness and also power. 

Our blog was inspired by our May issue ‘Modern Eccentrics’ feature on folk dancers by Johanna Derry Hall with photography by Jonathan Cherry. It starts on page 14 of the May ‘Folk’ issue and is in shops now. 

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Think | Local Words for Rain

As a nation that ‘enjoys’ its fair share of the rain, at least we’ve embraced April showers with various terms for the many and varying types of rain, and some rather specific regional words, too. Here are just a few of our favourites from across the country.

Bange (East Anglia) - dampness in the air

Damping (Midlands) - generally pretty wet

Bouncing off the ground (Lancashire) - raining so hard it’s bouncing back

Degging (Northumberland) - sprinkling or moistening

Dibble (Shropshire) - slow rain drops

Dringey (Norfolk) - light rainfall

Hadder (Cumbria) - from ‘heather’, a feathery, light rain

Harle (Lincolnshire) - drizzle from the sea

Hi’n brwr hen wraegedd affyn (Wales) - meaning ‘it’s raining old women and sticks’

Letty (Somerset) - enough rain to make outdoor work hard. From the old English let, meaning to disallow

Mizzle (Devon and Cornwall) - might sound like a portmanteau of misty and drizzle and it does mean ‘a misty drizzle’ but likely derives from the Dutch miezelen

Picking (Wales) - from pigan meaning ‘starting to rain’

Pleasure and pain (Cockney) - rhyming slang

Plodging through the clart (Northumberland) - so wet you’re wading through mud

Raining forks tiyunsdown’ards (Lincolnshire) - very hard, painful rain, raining like pitchforks

Smirr (Scotland) - a drifting, fine rain

Smithering (Suffolk) - drizzling

Wet rain (Northern Ireland) - that soft, sheeting rain that gets into everything

Our dialect words for rain were inspired by our feature, All Weather Friend from our April issue, which is an extract from In All Weathers: A Journey Through Rain, Fog, Wind, Ice And Everything In Between by Matt Gaw (Elliott & Thompson).

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Language | Buttons

We defy anyone not to smile at the sight of a tin of buttons, so we’re taking a moment to consider the humble button and its place in the English language.

The word ‘button’ comes from the Old French ‘boton’ meaning ‘bud. ‘Bouter’ means to thrust or push - like a bud bursting into bloom, you see? - and we guess, like the way a button pushes through a button hole. It’s all starting to make sense. It’s striking how much buttons crop up in metaphors, sayings and phraseology, though. 

Should you be ‘as bright as a button’, you’re probably smart and quick-witted enough to spot the double meaning of bright as in shiny and bright as in clever. Or perhaps you’re as ‘cute as a button’, a phrase some think refers to a button quail, which were allegedly very cute little birds indeed. 

If you’re less cute and more prone to angry outbursts you might ‘bust your buttons’ in reference to Bruce Banner, whose shirt would bust open, buttons popping all over the place, whenever anger turned him into his alter ego, Hulk. On the other hand you might bust your buttons because you have swelled with pride, although perhaps not with pride at your own sewing skills.

And don’t boast about the source of that pride too much or you might be asked to ‘button your lip’, a phrase originating in The States, used as a (slightly) politer way of asking someone to stop talking. This is less likely to be a problem if you’re the sort of person one would describe as ‘buttoned up’, meaning excessively conservative in appearance or approach; not the sort to loosen your collar, much less let your hair down or chat away garrulously. 

Fascinating stuff. And if you wish to share it with friends who seem less fascinated than we are, you may want to ‘buttonhole’ them, that is to grab them by the buttonholes on their coat to prevent their escape while you talk at them. 

And with that, we’ll button it. 

The buttons pictured above are from our March issue’s back cover, the first of a new series we’re calling ‘Treasures’. We hope you like it.

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Outing | Hunting for Dragons

February 10th marks the beginning of Lunar New Year and the year of the dragon. Britain also has a long and fascinating dragon history. If you’d like to walk in the scaly footsteps of dragons, here are a few places you might like to try hunting one down.

● Dinas Emrys, North Wales Under this Iron-Age hillfort in Gwynedd sleep the Saxon white dragon and the Welsh red dragon, symbols of both ancient conflict and Britain’s intermingled cultures.

● Dragon Hill, Oxfordshire Legend says that St George killed the dragon on this hillock below the Uffington White Horse. Apparently, no grass grows on its top due to the dragon’s spilled, poisonous blood.

● Orkney & Shetland, North Sea Hero, Assipattle, killed a sea dragon called Mester Stoor Worm. Its teeth formed the islands of Orkney, Shetland and the Faroes, while its body became Iceland.

● The Quantocks, Somerset Legend has it a terrible lizard known as the Gurt Worm was dispatched near here – the severed halves of its writhing body now form the Quantock Hills.

● Exe Valley, Devon Not all the UK’s fantastical monsters have been slain. Every night, a dragon residing in Devon’s Exe Valley is said to fly between the Iron Age forts at Dolbury Hill and Cadbury Castle to protect buried treasure. In a fiery twist, Dolbury Hill is the remnant of an extinct volcano.

This Dragon-Hunting Guide is taken from our ‘Know A Thing or Two’ feature on the creatures in our February issue by Nick Hunt. You can read more by turning to page 69.

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Kitchen disco | Songs to Swing Dance To

We could hardly stop tapping our feet after we finished reading all about the swing dancers in our December issue. So we’ve put together a playlist of songs that are great to swing dance to.

You can listen to our Swing Dance List here on Spotify, and meet the dancers from page 76 of the December issue, which is on sale now.

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November | Things to Appreciate

A few things to see this month, and a thing to do, too

They say it’s not about where you go; it’s about the journey. A day out spent on a train is very much in that spirit. There’s something a bit romantic about a train journey, whether you do it alone or take a friend along for the ride. All you need is some good scenery, a travel board game (we favour Travel Scrabble) or a book and a train picnic. And we’re talking a Proper Picnic, here. Hamper, flask of tea, cake, sausage rolls, the lot. Perhaps leave the hard-boiled eggs at home for the sake of your fellow passengers, though.

A steam train journey brings instant atmosphere, with the sound of whistles, heavy carriage doors slamming and the smell of the coal. Almost wherever you are in the country there will be a steam railway near you, from the Bluebell Railway in West Sussex to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. But you don’t have to step back in time to enjoy a scenic rail route. Londonderry to Coleraine is arguably one of the prettiest train journeys in the UK, with fabulous sea views. An equally lovely coastal trip is the newly reopened Exeter to Dawlish line. Find a scenic rail route near you, but make sure you leave just enough time for tea and a scone in the station café at the other end before the whistle blows for the return leg. 

This idea for a day out was featured on our Almanac Pages, where each month we collate a few seasonal things to note and notice, plan and do. The nature table image above was taken by Alice Tatham of The Wildwood Moth who takes a photograph for our back cover each month, featuring things to appreciate in nature. She also runs workshops on seasonal photography and publishes seasonal journal stories from her home in Dorset.

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Create | Fairytale Story Starters

We all love a fairy story. If you fancy getting creative and penning your own, all you need is a handful of fairytale tropes and a sprinkling of magic. 

Fancy yourself as a Brother (or Sister) Grimm? Fairytales lend themselves to rewritings and reimaginings, with their familiar tropes and age-old stories. Find a quiet spot, gather your writing materials (and a Thermos of coffee to sustain you) then choose three of the fairytale tropes from our list below as a starting point for a story. We’ll see you at ‘happy ever after’. 

Pick three of these fairytale tropes to inspire your story

1. A mirror

2. A castle

3. A princess

4. A deep forest

5. A stepmother

6. A witch

7. A child given up as payment by their parents

8. Royalty disguised as someone in poverty

9. Frogs

10. Enforced hardship and hard work

11. Humans disguised as animals

12. Wishes granted

13. Things happening in threes

14. Rules being broken

15. Animals being kind to humans

16. Dragons

17. Wolves

18. Damsels in Distress

19. Knights in Shining Armour

20. Loving fathers

21. Objects imbued with magic

22. Poison

23. Dances and balls

24. Long hair and long beards

25. Gruesome endings

If you’d like to learn a little more about fairytales and their roots, read our feature, Once Upon Some Times, in our October issue.

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Think | We are history

History is about so much more than dusty books and chalky memories of school days. You can bring history into your everyday easily by engaging with it in real life. Here are a few ways to immerse yourself in history and feel more meaningfully linked to the past.  

Try historical re-enactments 

Don’t panic. You don’t need to be able to joust or throw axes for this. Historical re-enactments have had a bad press historically (sorry) as something slightly nerdy and perhaps seen as the preserve of beardy middle-aged men. Today lots of historic sites and houses put on re-enactment days where you can get a taster for the past (and no beard required). Kentwell Hall in Suffolk, for example, runs Hands On History Days in August where you can meet more than 200 Tudor historians who’ll take you back to 1564 and help you get involved with brewing, stitching, felt-making, bread baking and many more activities from the time. 

Visit a historic site

We’re blessed with historical sites scattered all over our countryside here in the UK. Whether it’s climbing an iron-age hillfort or walking the corridors of a Georgian manor house, there’s nothing like walking in the footsteps of our ancestors to connect us immediately to the past. You can find the nearest historic sites and houses to you on The National Trust’s website. 

Learn an ancient skill

The past is a different country; they do things differently there. So there’s no way to connect with the past like learning how to do things the way they were done hundreds of years ago. You might want to learn how to build a dry-stone wall or how to spin wool into yarn by hand. Whatever tickles your distaff there’s sure to be a course in it somewhere near you. For a bit of inspiration, have a look at The Field Studies Council website, which offers courses in everything from bookbinding to spoon carving.

Immerse yourself in a podcast

If the plethora of podcasts about the past had been around when we were at school, the Industrial Revolution might have felt a lot more accessible. Listening to a podcast is a very simple way to learn a little about an event or period you know nothing about. We particularly love The Rest is History, available on the BBC, Spotify and all the usual podcast platforms. 

Listen to sounds from long ago

There are several sound libraries available online, but we love the British Library’s version, where you can listen to everything from Fairground music from the 1980s to  Queen Victoria’s voice.

Archive of smells

The thing about history is it’s pretty smelly. Those pomanders only go so far. If you want a real sense of what the past was like, you’ll want to give it a sniff. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) you can’t be transported so easily to the times of plague pits but you can get an idea by browsing the Odeuropa Smell Explorer, where they have collected information about various smells from visual and text sources, from coffee houses to public baths.

Go to a history festival

Pick an era and transport yourself there with one of the many historic festivals that take place around the UK. You can even dress up if you like, though it isn’t usually mandatory. We like the look of The Largs Viking Festival near Glasgow, and the medieval Loxwood Joust in Sussex. 

Enjoy an immersive experience

You won’t get much more immersive than an immersive historical experience, from escape rooms to theatre, there’s something for everyone and every era, and you’ll leave feeling like you’ve time travelled. The Gunpowder Plot Experience, which is currently being staged next door to the Tower of London, is full of 1605-style thrills and spills, using a mixture of live theatre and digital technology. 

Volunteer for local heritage projects and museums

Appreciate history while giving a little back by volunteering for a local museum or heritage project. The opportunity to be there ‘after hours’ gives you a connection to the past that you don’t get as a mere visitor and you’ll have the joy of imparting your newfound wisdom to others, too. Historic England has some good ideas about how to get started. 

See a living museums

Wander down an Edwardian high street at Beamish, or sit around a fire in a Tudor kitchen at the Weald and Downland… There are so many living museums to visit in the UK, where you don’t just look at the exhibits but become part of them. You’ll find more inspiration in our feature, A Slice of Life, from page 68 in our August issue. 

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Think | In praise of shade

In summer our thoughts are with light and sunshine. But here, we appreciate all that is wonderful about shade

Sunny days are wonderful but isn’t it lovely to step into the shade, too? To cool off, open ones eyes a little and appreciate the sunny side of the street from the shadier side? 

In sunshine terms, it’s easy to forget that shade is not its own entity but merely a shadow. Its etymology is in the Old English sceadu, or ‘shadow’ . There is literally no shade without light. 

Some of its meanings are darker still. In the 15th century, a ‘shade’ was a ghost - a shadow of a former person, if you like. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, his guide, Virgil is described as a ‘shade’. It was not necessarily something to be feared; more a fact of life. Or death. And the state of being dead was often described as being ‘in shadow’ as in ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…’ It was believed that the dead lived in shadow in the underworld, with only a very select through making it into heaven’s light. Well, we can’t all excel at everything. 

Wander through a graveyard and you’ll see many an older stone referencing shade… ‘Peace to thy gentle shade and endless rest’, as Alexander Pope wrote. The idea of death here is as a place of rest and cool, somewhere to lay down your head and look back on the sunshine years of your life. Not something to be feared, merely to yang to life’s yin. The shade to the sunshine. It almost sounds a little lovely. 

So next time you pass under a shady tree, sit down a moment and enjoy looking out at the sunshine from its shelter. Cool down, rest. Shade is not only the foil to the sunshine; it’s something to be treasured in itself.

In our August issue, our My Place feature is all about shady spots, such as the one pictured above, belonging to Liz Boyd, The Simple Things’ Picture Editor.

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Reading Lists | A summer smorgasbord

Just like you’re meant to ‘build’ a cheeseboard, we reckon there’s a few select kinds of book that add up to a tasty summer reading selection. Our books editor, Eithne Farry recommends these for starters…

Worthy but rewarding

Because coming home feeling a little bit cleverer AND having enjoyed a book you suspected would be hard work is always very satisfying.

Middlemarch by George Eliot (Penguin Classics)

Moving, nuanced and intricately plotted, this is a glorious look at Victorian provincial life and the flawed, but unforgettable characters. A sweeping tale of bad marriages, emotional struggles and intellectual pursuits, it’s a classic for a reason.

More worthy additions: The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon (Penguin Classics); Beloved by Toni Morrison, (Vintage)

Cosy crime

When you need a bit of page-turning intrigue but nothing that’ll give holiday nightmares.

The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett (Profile Books)

Red herrings, elegant puzzles, poised prose and engaging characters make for a mystery worth solving as ex-con Steven Smith attempts to unravel the secret code that marks the margins of a children’s book and solve the disappearance of his beloved teacher Miss Isles.

Also making a good case: Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers by Jesse Sutano (Harper Collins); Look To The Lady by Margery Allingham (Vintage)

Family fortunes

An epic saga always feels like good value suitcase-space-wise. (A weighty tome makes an excellent fly swat, too.)

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Faber)

Set in the Appalachian mountains, this is a stunning retelling of Dickens’ David Copperfield. A coming-of-age tale, it charts the moving story of charismatic Demon and his embattled family as the opioid crisis wreaks havoc in the lives of their struggling community.

Or make room in the family suitcase for: Memphis by Tara M Stringfellow (John Murray); Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (Bloomsbury)

Fun froth

Easy digestible and diverting, the palate cleanser you’ll want amid more worthy titles.

The List by Yomi Adegoke (Harper Collins)

A smart, savvy take on the dark side of social media as a young couple’s marriage plans are upended when the groom-to-be appears on an anonymous internet list, pitching his fiancée, ardent feminist Ola, into a tailspin of doubt about their relationship.

Or froth things up with: Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny (4th Estate); Darling by India Knight (Penguin)

Read more of Eithne’s summer reading recommendations on our feature on Summer Reading in the August issue of The Simple Things.

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