Quiz | Which member of The Famous Five are you?

Hallo! We’ve a jolly exciting quiz for you all! Just answer the questions below and you’ll discover which Famous Five character you are most like. “Gosh,” we all said. “Woof!” said Timmy. 

1. Which page of The Simple Things magazine do you always turn to first?

1. I always read the Editor’s message. I like to know what the issue is about and make sure I’m clued up as to what it’s all about. 

2. I love to read about others’ adventures and often turn to the Wisdom pages first to be inspired by people doing something new and different. 

3. Anything outdoorsy, especially if it’s on water - wild swimming, boating, paddle-boarding. 

4. Home Tour! I just love seeing the beautiful ways in which people turn a house into a home. And the recipes! I love to whip up a batch of something sweet for my friends!

5. Cake in the House. I could just woof it down in one go. 

2. What’s your ‘role’ in your friendship circle?

1. I’m the leader. To be honest, I don’t know where they’d all be without me. 

2. I’m the crisis manager. I tend to be the one that sorts out all the problems and gets my hands dirty - even though I don’t get much credit for it.

3. I’m the ideas person, I tend to drive our meet-ups, be the one who comes up with the ideas and then sees it through. 

4. I’m the calming influence. It’s always me clearing up at the end of a good night. Someone has to I guess!

5. I’m the loyal one and the glue between us all. I’d do anything for my friends. 

3. What is your must-have picnic item?

1. A delicious ham. An army marches on its stomach and so do I!

2. Spam sandwiches. Easy and delicious. And even better sheltering under a tree in the rain. 

3. Ginger beer! Lashings of it!

4. Hard-boiled eggs. 

5. Potted meat - or a juicy bone!

4. You have caught a cold (due to swimming in the sea in April) and are unable to go on your planned holiday. What will you do instead?

1. I’d look into the mystery of the birdwatchers down by the old ravine. I suspect they are forging banknotes!

2. I’d help Uncle Quentin with his investigations into two scientists who have gone missing, suspected of selling secrets to the Russians!

3. I’d just go swimming some more. 

4. Tuck myself up in bed with a good book and make sandwiches for my holiday pals for when they return. 

5. Round up some other friends and go for a nice walk in the sunshine. 

5. You’ve been locked in a deserted house on an island by smugglers. What do you do?

1. I would delegate someone to alert the police, someone to distract the smugglers and I would get the boat ready to make good our escape. I’m a bit of a hero like that. 

2. I would rig up a rope and pulley system to climb to the top of the roof and use a magnifying glass to start a small fire and alert the coastguard. Then I would swing down and make a citizen’s arrest just in time for the police to arrive. 

3.  I would tear the smugglers off an absolute strip. It’s not their bally island anyway. It’s my island. 

4. Sit tight and wait for help to arrive. Oh, and I’d make everyone a strong cup of tea to see us through. 

5. Run for help. Untie a boat using only my teeth and then float it out to sea and shout loudly for help until someone followed me back to my friends. 

6. What is your ‘Simple Thing’?

1. A job well done. 

2. Small adventures.

3. Swimming outdoors.

4. Making my home cosy. 

5. A good long walk.

Mostly As

You are Julian. A born leader and a great organiser. But perhaps try not to let it always <show> quite so much?

Mostly Bs

You are Dick. You’re always in the thick of the adventure and can be depended on to show no fear.

Mostly Cs

You are George. You love the outdoor life (and your dog) but can sometimes be a bit blinkered to the needs of others at the expense of your own needs. 

Mostly Ds

You are Anne. Welcoming and a wonderful host, you love nothing more than home-making and helping others feel at home, too. 

Mostly Es

You are Timmy the dog. You are loyal, brave and love tasty treats and a good walk!

Read our ‘Nostalgia’ feature, Lessons From The Famous Five, in our September issue, in shops now. 

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More from our September issue…

More fun for fans of children’s books…

How To | Have a Secret Day Off

A day off just to yourself is the best secret. Disappear for a day, Agatha Christie style, and recharge your batteries. Here’s how…

Book a day off, pack up a lunch, turn off your phone, and disappear somewhere nobody knows you! (It’s a good plan to leave a secret envelope and alert a loved one to your vanishing just in case but otherwise, jump on a bus or train and enjoy nobody knowing where you are for a few hours. 

Before you book trains or make plans though, decide what you want from the day. We’ve come up with a few ideas to get you going. 

In need of a bit of culture?

Head to a city with a gallery or museum you’ve never been to. If you’re in the north, Edinburgh, Oxford, York and Glasgow are good options for cities with galleries and plenty of culture. Brighton, Bristol and St Ives are good if you’re a touch further south, 

For a quirky museum, try the dog collar museum in Leeds, the pencil museum in Keswick, or the Flea Collection (viewable only through a microscope)at Tring Natural History Museum. 

In search of adventure?

Climb a hill! Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons is a nice easy hill to climb if you’re a beginner. Yes Tor in Dartmoor or Cat Bells in the Lake District are also good choices for a ‘do in a day’ mountain hike. Just pack plenty of water, snacks, warm and waterproof layers and maps. And this is one to disclose to a loved one, maybe. You don’t want Mountain Rescue being called out for nothing. 

Fancy lunch alone?

Pop a good book in your bag, do some menu perusing and find an eatery where you can relax alone over several courses, not feel silly and - crucially - not have to make pointless small talk. Here are a few ideas that are perfect for a date with me, myself and I:

Asian restaurants where the kitchen is on view give you plenty to look at without feeling silly for being alone. From Wagamamas to Shoryu Ramen, Japanese street food was made for eating alone. If you don’t fancy watching the chefs at work, why not go for a restaurant with a view. Anywhere on the water is a good bet - there the scenery is always changing. We like Hix Oyster and Fish House at Lyme Regis, or the River Exe Cafe in Devon, but you might find the most humble of pizzerias or cafes on the banks of a river anywhere. 

Do a secret event 

It might be a non-league football match (or even a big league team you’ve followed). Or how about seeing a favourite band in concert, a premier for a film or exhibition or the recording of a TV show you love? Or even the opening of the Chelsea Flower Show? Whatever it is you fancy doing, do your research and then book your day off around it. Bonus points if you appear on the big screen in your sunglasses and hat disguise!

Hide in nature for a day

Drive or take a train to a wood or planned walk with amazing views. Visit a beach with great sunsets with a Thermos of soup. Or simply find a path through fields that will allow you a pleasant walk, plenty of fresh air and lots of peace and birdsong. Try The ORdnance Survey’s Get Outside app https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/app/ for more ideas and to plan a walk. 

Looking for nostalgia?

Why not visit somewhere you’ve been before? It might be your home town if you’ve since moved away (and can rely on your playgroup teacher not spotting you and squeezing your cheeks) or it could be the location of a childhood holiday or a first holiday with a new partner. There’s nothing quite like the thrill of turning each corner and saying to yourself “Oh! That’s just how I remember it!”

Feeling spontaneous?

There’s lots of fun to be had in simply sticking a pin in a map or a train route planner and Just Going. You could make it fun by picking a page number of the A-Z and just going there, or deciding to visit somewhere with a rude name, or a castle or a beach that you’ve never been to. The best part is never telling anyone you went there. 

We were inspired to plan a Secret Day Off by our feature How Hard Can It Be to take a Secret Day Off in our September issue.  Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our September issue…

More outings to get excited about…

Recipe | Tomato Focaccia

Almost as much joy to bake as it is to eat. Use cherry tomatoes to get juicy little planets of blistered and sweet tomatoes in the surface of the bread, some sinking into the doughy dimples, and some not.

Makes 1 focaccia

330ml lukewarm water
7g fast-action dried yeast
500g strong white bread flour
6 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
1 tsp salt
200g cherry tomatoes, some halved, some not
8 sage leaves or 3 rosemary sprigs, torn
Generous ½ tsp flaky sea salt

1 Stir together the water and yeast and leave it to sit for 5-10 mins, or until it becomes foamy.

2 When it’s ready, tip the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the yeast mixture, mixing vigorously, either by hand or using the dough hook on a kitchen mixer for a minute or so, then add 2 tbsp of the olive oil and the salt. Continue mixing for a further 10 mins, or until the dough becomes less sticky, smoother and more cohesive.

3 Brush a bowl with olive oil and tip in the dough. Cover and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about 1-1½ hrs, until it has nearly doubled in size.

4 Once proved, brush a deep-sided baking pan with a little olive oil, then tip the risen dough into the pan. Pull the dough towards the edges of the pan and use your fingertips to dimple it in places, keeping some spots still nicely aerated. Add about 1 tbsp more of olive oil over the surface of the dough, cover and leave to prove once more for about another 20 mins.

5 Preheat the oven to 230C/Fan 210C/Gas 8. Add the cherry tomatoes to the dough, squeezing some deep into pockets and leaving others protruding out a little more. Do the same with the sage leaves or torn rosemary sprigs, then sprinkle over the flaky sea salt.

6 Bake the dough in the very hot oven for about 25 mins, or until the crust is golden brown and puffed around edges.

7 Once baked, remove the focaccia from the oven and immediately drench it with the remaining olive oil, then allow it to cool for at least 10-15 mins before slicing.The loaf should sound hollow when it is tapped on the underside.

Taken from Tomato by Claire Thomson (Quadrille) Photography: Sam Folan

Find more tomato recipes from the book above in our September issue, including Tomato Carpaccio with Tapenade, Roasted Tomato Falafels with Tomato Yogurt and a Borscht.

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More from our September issue…

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Book Group | To The River

To The River by Olivia Laing

Share with your book group, read alone and join us virtually on The Simple Things sofa, or simply find a bit of inspiration.

In To The River Olivia Laing follows the River Ouse, where Virgina Woolf drowned herself 63 years ago, from its source to the sea one summer’s day. As we follow her, we reflect not just on this one river and its literary connections, but also on the role that rivers play in fiction, mythology and more. A lyrically beautiful non-fiction read.

Questions to ponder
How does history weave its way into landscapes that you know? In what ways are rivers a metaphor for creativity?

Further reading
In A Sleepwalk on the Severn, a play for voices, poet Alice Oswald describes walks along the Severn

Find our book group every month on our Almanac pages where you can also read about seasonal things to note and notice, plan and do each month.

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More from our September issue…

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Beachcombing | Things you can take home from the seaside

Photography by Greta Rybus from Remodelista in Maine by Annie Quigley (Artisan Books)

Pebbles and stones may be out but there are lots of inventive ways to find a souvenir to take home from the seaside

If you’ve spent a holiday or even just an afternoon at the beach, it’s lovely to be able to take a small memento home with you. Pebbles are out of the question now but there are plenty of ways you can remember a favourite bit of coast while leaving the wild habitat as it should be.

Seaside souvenir no-nos

Sadly, but with good reason, it’s not ok to raid your local bit of coastline or holiday destination for pebbles and sand. The Coast Protection Act of 1949 made it illegal to remove natural materials such as these from any UK beach. The law is there to protect Britain’s beaches from erosion and encroachment by the sea, so it’s in all our interests to help. 

Coastal takeaways that can be ok

While pebbles and sand are totally off limits, other items are ‘grey area’ and not illegal to remove. Shells should never be taken if inhabited of course, but what about empty shells? Well, they’re ok. Empty shells can still provide important habitats for seaside creatures so think carefully before you take a shell home and definitely don’t be greedy - you’re applying the same rules as foraging here - but the odd empty shell isn’t too much of an issue. 

And what about driftwood? It’s ‘a natural material’; it doesn't ‘grow’ on the beach but is washed up, so you are allowed to take it away. As with shells, driftwood can be a good habitat for small sea creatures, however, so be thoughtful about what you remove. A nice, big piece of driftwood with lots of nooks and crannies might make a rather lovely community for some tiny sealife, but little stubby bits of smooth wood might not be missed so much. And again, be abstemious about what you take. One lovely piece of wood to close your hand around in your coat pocket is fine - bags of driftwood to use for craft - not so much (try Hobbycraft, please!)

But there are plenty more environmentally safe ways to bring a little of the seaside back home with you still. Here are a few ideas. 

Sea-safe seaside souvenirs

Sea glass

Unlike pebbles and shells, sea glass is essentially litter. Very beautiful litter, but litter all the same, so good news - you’re fine to pick it up. It’s simply broken glass bottles, polished smooth by the sea. Sea glass is a lovely thing to collect and the green, blue, white and brown sea glass pebbles you find on most of Britain’s beaches look a bit magical stored in a glass jar on a shelf, or made into a mosaic. 

Sea water

The days of filling a glass bottle with pretty sand on your seaside trip are definitely in the past, but if you’ve enjoyed a wild swim in the sea on holiday, no one will begrudge you taking a small bottle of sea water home to occasionally sniff the ozoney scent and be transported back to the days of late summer. Label your bottle and pop it in your bathroom to remind you while you take your morning shower. 

Buoys

Occasionally those brightly coloured reddy-orange balls wash up, slightly broken or dented on the sea shore. They make great garden ornaments if you’re lucky enough to happen across one. 

Lost metal

Taking a metal detector to the beach is a fun way to spend an afternoon. Why not make a collection in a little box of all the coins, ring pulls and other tiny scraps of metal you found and display it as a piece of art? Who knows, you may even happen across some pirate gold!

Fossils

Lots of beaches in the UK are home to amazing fossils. If you’re lucky enough to find one, do take a photo and note the location so you can tell the relevant agencies or local museum. Some areas have restrictions on fossil hunting so pay attention to signage and check local rules. In many cases, fossils belong to the landowner. But mostly, in the UK, it’s fine for amateur fossil hunters to take home the odd find. It’s not like you’ll be falling over perfectly preserved ammonites wherever you go anyway. 

Actual litter

Be a beach Womble and take a bag with you so you can do your bit and collect any rubbish you find (do take gloves and be careful about what you pick up). You find all sorts of mad things left on beaches so you could make a piece of modern art from your finds. Or you could just, you know… bin it. But there’s less fun in that!

Seaweed

Beautiful in water - a little bedraggled looking when washed up on sand - seaweed can be brought back to its beautiful self by pressing it as you would press a flower. Find the instructions for making a seaweed print like the one pictured above on page 104 of our September issue. 

No-trace souvenirs

If you want to leave no trace of your visit at all, modern technology allows us lots of ways to take a little of the seaside home with you while leaving no footprint. You could make a sound recording of the waves to listen to in bed at night, or take a photo of a rockpool filled with seaside treasures and blow it up into a canvas to hang on your wall. The seaside may need protecting but we can all carry a little piece of it in our hearts, after all.  

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More things to enjoy by the seaside…

Recipe | Ricotta & basil stuffed nasturtium flowers

Packed with vitamin C, everything about the nasturtium plant is edible - and bold and beautiful, too

Makes 25

25 nasturtium flowers
125g ricotta
2 tbsp finely chopped basil leaves
30g finely chopped walnuts
¼ tsp sea salt, plus more to taste

1 Trim the nasturtium stems to around 1cm, then submerge flowers in water for 5-10 mins to remove any dirt or bugs. Gently rinse in cool water before placing on a towel to dry.

2 Meanwhile, combine the ricotta, basil, walnuts, and season with salt.

3 Using about 1 teaspoon per flower, stuff each nasturtium with the flavoured ricotta.

These nastirutium flowers make a wonderful nibble with drinks or a starter to a late summer lunch. They’re just one of the recipes by Lottie Storey in this month’s edible flowers series, Pick n Mix, in which we look at different floral edibles. August’s edible flowers are nasturtiums and chives.

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Tipple | Mason Jar White Sangria

A refreshing tipple that always tastes better outdoors and goes beautifully with a picnic or garden lunch

Serves 4
180g strawberries, hulled and cut in half (or frozen berries)
180g grapes, cut in half
1 lemon, thinly sliced
120ml white rum
750ml bottle white wine (preferably Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio)
Ice cubes
750ml lemonade

1 Divide the fruit between four jars.

2 Pour the white rum and wine over the fruit and give it a little stir. Close the lid tightly on each jar and keep chilled for up to 24 hours.

3 To serve, add some ice cubes and pour the lemonade to the top level of the jar.

This is just one of the recipes from our feature ‘Making Camp’ in our September issue, which includes lots of ideas for food with friends outdoors, such as Smoked Aubergine Dip, Toasted Breadsticks, Potato, Chorizo and Beans Pan Pie, Herby Nut Salad and a Deconstructed Peach Cobbler.

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More summer tipples to share…

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Playlist | Clever covers

You can tell everyone that this is your song… But is it actually Elton’s song, or maybe Billy Paul’s? We’ve gathered together some of our favourite cover versions to make a playlist – let us know if we’ve missed any ones that you love.

Take a listen on Spotify here
And browse our back catalogue of playlists here