Birdwatch | Treecreepers

Treecreepers live in the UK all year round, but they’re hard to spot so many people mistakenly consider them to be rare.

Look for: A brown, speckled back and a white undercarriage, as well as a distinctive long, curved beak for winkling insects out of the bark of trees.

Spot them: Distinctively climbing upwards on the trunks of trees, in woodland all over the UK. You’ll need to look carefully, though, as they’re well camouflaged.

Listen for: A trilling, high-pitched ‘see-see-see-see’ sound

Look out for Birdwatch every month on our Almanac pages, which are full of seasonal things to see, do, note and notice.

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Simple Things Tour | Oxford in Books

Follow in the steps of Lyra, Alice and Morse with a bookish outing around the dreaming spires of Oxford 

You could happily wander without aim around Oxford for an entire weekend, but if you would prefer a stroll with purpose, there are lots of places with literary connections to stop and stare at. We’ve put together a Simple Things literary outing to Oxford for you,  with suggestions for bookish sights to see and fictional food and literary lunches to fuel you along the way. 

1. Christchurch College, Cathedral Garden
   Our tour begins in the south east corner of the city centre with an entry to the wonders of Oxford. On the wall between the gardens and the deanery is a very special gate, said to have inspired Alice’s door into Wonderland from the bottom of the rabbit hole. It’s said the ‘real’ Alice (Liddell) who lived at the deanery when her father was the Dean of the college, used to watch her father rush through the gate on his way to Cathedral services - always late, just like the White Rabbit. Only the Dean could cross the garden so Alice was only ever able to catch glimpses of it through the gate… 

2. Christ Church Dining Room
   While you’re at Christ Church, do join a tour so you can poke your head round the door of the dining room and see the dining hall which is said to have inspired The Great Hall of Hogwarts in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. 

3. The Botanic Gardens
   Just beyond the cathedral, are the peaceful Botanic Gardens. Take a bottle of Cointreau (or perhaps a coffee if it’s a little early still) and channel your inner Sebastian Flyte from Brideshead Revisited. Then make your way to the lower garden where you will find in one corner, the bench where Will and Lyra from Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy agree to meet each year. It’s charmingly covered in ‘Will and Lyra’ graffiti now and a beautiful spot to rest a while. 

4. Merton College gardens
   Just around the corner at Merton College is an old hexagonal stone table where JRR Tolkien is said to have mapped out many of his story ideas. Take a good look round for hobbits, before you leave and walk up Logic Lane. 

5. New College Lane
   At the top of Logic Lane, cross the high street and then walk up Queen’s Lane to New College Lane, where Dorothy L Sayers’ novel Gaudy Night ends. Here, Sayer’s crime writer character, Harriet Vane finally accepted Lord Peter Wimsey’s marriage proposal.

6. The Ashmolean Museum
   Make your way past the Bodleian Library to the Ashmolean Museum where you can see the Oxford Dodo, stepped right out of Wonderland. The Ashmolean is also home to the gold posy rings that served as the inspiration for Tolkien’s One Ring in The Lord of the Rings. 

7. The Morse Bar
   If all that museum wandering has left you with a thirst, fear not. It’s time for a real ale or two. Just around the corner is the wooden panelled Morse Bar at the Randolph Hotel, where Morse’s creator, Colin Dexter, is said to have written several of the books about everyone’s favourite Oxford detective. 

8. The Covered Market
   After that ale, you should have worked up an appetite, so head south again past St Peter’s College to The Covered Market, where you might well spot Lyra, in an alternative Oxford, darting among the stalls and shops. We think if she were here today, Lyra would enjoy a Mediterranean lunch in the bohemian Georgina’s, perhaps washed down with a colourful milkshake at Moo Moo’s. 

9. Exeter College
   Close by Lyra’s covered market is Exeter College, which Pullman based Lyra’s home, Jordan College, on. Pop your head into the courtyard and see if you can spot Lyra’s attic window she climbs out of onto the rooves.

10. Lincoln College
    Leave Exeter and walk past Jesus college, which was once home to the author William Boyd, and make your way south to Lincoln College, where John Le Carre studied. Some of his later novels, such as Our Kind of Traitor, were based on his time at Oxford as an undergraduate. 

11. St Mary’s Passage
    Head down Brasenose Lane and turn right in front of the Radcliffe Camera library. Down here, you’ll find St Mary’s Passage, and opposite the entrance to the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, you will find the Narnia Door, heavily etched and with a lion’s face in its centre. It’s apparently the inspiration behind CS Lewis’s wardrobe door into Narnia. 

We’ll leave you here. Don’t go accepting any Turkish Delight from ornately dressed, strange women, now…

Our tour of Oxford was inspired by our Weekend Away feature in our March issue, in which Lindsey Harrad stayed at Keble College. You can read all about it from page 114.

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Etymology | Tilting at Windmills

Etymology from the land of giants and jousting

The phrase ‘tilting at windmills’ is often said to ‘come from’ Cervantes’ Don Quixote. In fact, the phrase never appears there, but it does refer to the title character’s strange belief that windmills are giants… "with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length” that he must fight. 

Tilting, for those who are wondering, means ‘jousting with lances’, and the phrase has come to simply meaning ‘fighting an imaginary enemy’. 

It was first used in reference to Don Quixote 40 years after the novel was published, in The Character of a London Diurnall in 1644, where John Cleveland wrote "The Quixotes of this Age fight with the Wind-mills of their owne Heads." But the phrase as we know it today is first used in April 1870 in the New York Times, which reported that the Western Republicans “have not thus far had sufficient of an organization behind them to make their opposition to the Committee’s bill anything more than tilting at windmills.”

If you’d like to tilt at a windmill, or perhaps just enjoy a spring walk to a windmill, do read our Outing feature from page 60 of the March issue.

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Make | Garlic & Thyme Oil

The trick with making infused oil (be it chilli, lemon, orange or a herb oil like this) is to use dried produce. Fresh ingredients can dilute the preserving qualities of oil, which could lead to the growth of botulism. Dried oil infusions, however, are safe. This oil uses leftover woody stalks from fresh thyme and the papery skins from garlic – both of which don’t contain significant moisture yet offer a surprising amount of flavour.

MAKES 250ml
12-15 stripped thyme sprigs (just the woody stems, no fresh leaves)
The papery skins from 7 garlic cloves
250ml olive or rapeseed oil

Tuck the stripped thyme sprigs and garlic skins into a sterilised bottle or jar. Pour in the oil, ensuring the ingredients are fully covered. Seal the bottle or jar with a lid or cork and leave to infuse for 2–6 weeks at room temperature then strain or decant into a fresh (sterilised) bottle. Best used within 1 year.

Cook’s note: Always use a good quality extra virgin olive oil or rapeseed oil (which has a relatively mild flavour so it can take on the thyme and garlic). Store in a dark glass bottle (to prevent oxidation) in a cool, dark place, well away from the oven or any other heat sources.

This make is from our Early Spring Home Economics feature by Rachel de Thample, with recipes for now, for this week, for your freezer and larder, with clever ways to make more of a meal and use leftovers well. It includes recipes for Thyme & 40 Garlic Clove Roast Chicken, Sweet Potato Wedges, Lemon Kale with Marcona Almonds, Cheat’s Aioli, Anchovy Butter, Kale Caesar with Chicken Crackling, Chicken Bone Broth, Sweet Potato Soup, and even a Kale Stalk Powder for those serious about using every inch of their veg!

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How to | Plan a Good Walk

As with so many things in life, the key to a good walk is all in the planning and anticipation… and the pub

Spontaneity definitely has its place, but sometimes you just need a solid plan, and a spring walk is one of those times. Heading off into the great outdoors, breathing the cold air and the world opening up before you can fill us with a confidence like nothing else. But a fair idea of how far away the nearest fish pie and a pint and a clean toilet is can really improve the mood on a long walk. Here are a few steps to planning a good walk and putting the pedestrian fates in your favour. 

Start with a good map. 

An Ordnance Survey Explorer map is best, as it gives you the best scale for walking and enough detail to be able to see where you can cross private land, find a phone box and might need wellies to cross a stream. If you don’t have a paper map you can always plan online at https://explore.osmaps.com/en?l. 

Devise a circular walk or at least make sure there’s a bus back

Many planned walks you’ll find in books or online can leave you five miles from your start point with no hope of getting home, so plan your own but do your research. Circular walks (where the end is back at the start) are ideal, dropping you back home or to your car. But if you want to go out and not back, plan your walk to some public transport (and don’t forget to check timetables and make sure the buses run on Sundays and don’t stop at 4pm). 

Get the boring but important bits out of the way first

Are you walking at the coast? You might need to check tide times. How about crossing railway tracks or busy roads?  It might be an idea to check busiest times and ensure you’ll be able to cross safely. It’s also important to check the weather; not only will you need to be properly dressed and kitted out but the weather might also affect your route if high winds are predicted, for example, and you need to avoid areas that are high up or close to trees that might shed branches, perhaps. 

Plan the pub

Now for the fun part. Locate the pubs (look for a PH) on the map and then do some research. There’s nothing so disheartening as arriving at the pub in the rain, ready for a roaring fire and a large glass of red only to discover it’s closed for refurbishments. Call and check they’ll be open on the day and check out the menu as well so you know what you’re looking forward to. 

Plan in your snacks

While we’re on the subject of sustenance, pack plenty of water and check that there will be shops or pubs where you can refill along the way. And plan to pack up a few snacks, too, if it’s a long walk. Some cake or flapjack, wrapped in foil and a flask of tea or coffee will see you right when lunch feels a long way off.

Ditto your walking companions

Think carefully about whether your walk pals will be up to the route you’ve planned, will get on with each other and will appreciate the walk as a whole. If you choose to go alone, perhaps plan in a podcast to listen to along the way. 

Seek out an adventure

Find a ‘main event’ to plan your walk around. It might be a fabulous view, an ancient church to look round or a geographical feature you want to stop off at and explore. Try to plan the walk so that the ‘event’ is about a third of the way through. You don’t want to peak too soon but you also don’t want the walk to feel like the first third of The Lord of the Rings. 

Keep them guessing

Plan in a surprise, too. Your companions will thank you for something that lifts their spirits in the last part of the walk, and post pub. It could be something as silly as a great photo opportunity, or a good ice cream shop, or as impressive as a fine piece of architecture or a point of historical interest. If you’re struggling, a good tip is always an ice box with ice creams inside, stashed in the boot of your car when you get back to the start. 

In our March issue, we have a feature all about ways to walk, adapted from 52 Ways to Walk: The Surprising Science of Walking for Wellness and Joy, One Week at a Time by Annabel Streets (Bloomsbury). Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

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Playlist | Let's drink to that

Our drink-themed playlist may be just the tonic – cheers!

Take a listen on Spotify here
Or search ‘simplethingsmag’ on Spotify to find all our playlists.