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Illustration by Emy Lou Holmes

Words for Walks | Coddiwomple

Iona Bower May 25, 2024

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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More from our May issue…

Featured
Emy Lou Holmes Coddiwomple.jpg
May 25, 2024
Words for Walks | Coddiwomple
May 25, 2024
May 25, 2024
Simon Armitage National Trust Images & Paul Harris (2).jpg
May 23, 2024
How To | Get Started with Poetry
May 23, 2024
May 23, 2024
Crop dessert pizza Rebecca Lewis.jpg
May 18, 2024
Recipe | Nectarine & Apricot Pudding Pizza
May 18, 2024
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More ways to walk…

Featured
Wellbeing woodland walk.jpeg
Mar 29, 2025
Wellbeing | Moodscapes and walking routes
Mar 29, 2025
Mar 29, 2025
Emy Lou Holmes Coddiwomple.jpg
May 25, 2024
Words for Walks | Coddiwomple
May 25, 2024
May 25, 2024
Screenshot 2023-08-16 at 16.42.07.png
Aug 23, 2023
Playlist | A September ramble
Aug 23, 2023
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In Think Tags issue 143, walks, walking, words, unusual words
Comment

Photograph courtesy of Paul Harris, National Trust Images

How To | Get Started with Poetry

Iona Bower May 23, 2024

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.

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our May issue…

Featured
Emy Lou Holmes Coddiwomple.jpg
May 25, 2024
Words for Walks | Coddiwomple
May 25, 2024
May 25, 2024
Simon Armitage National Trust Images & Paul Harris (2).jpg
May 23, 2024
How To | Get Started with Poetry
May 23, 2024
May 23, 2024
Crop dessert pizza Rebecca Lewis.jpg
May 18, 2024
Recipe | Nectarine & Apricot Pudding Pizza
May 18, 2024
May 18, 2024

More poetry please…

Featured
blackberry pic Kirstie Young.jpg
Sep 1, 2024
Think | Blackberries and Poetry
Sep 1, 2024
Sep 1, 2024
Simon Armitage National Trust Images & Paul Harris (2).jpg
May 23, 2024
How To | Get Started with Poetry
May 23, 2024
May 23, 2024
Alamy Daffodils.jpg
Mar 9, 2024
Poetry | Carpets of Flowers
Mar 9, 2024
Mar 9, 2024
In Think Tags poetry, issue 143, writing, reading
Comment

Photography by Rebecca Lewis

Recipe | Nectarine & Apricot Pudding Pizza

Iona Bower May 18, 2024

Blending the sweetness of the fruits and dark chocolate with the savoury base to prove that pizzas don’t just have to be for mains.

Makes 1 pizza

1 ball of homemade pizza dough (see the May issue for the recipe or make to your own recipe or buy)
2 tbsp apricot jam
1 large fresh nectarine, stoned and cut into 1cm thick segments
1 tbsp dark chocolate chips
2 tsp icing sugar

1 One a lightly-floured surface to stop it from sticking, roll out your dough to create a thin base.

2 Spread the jam on top, leaving a 2cm gap around the edge. Place the nectarine on top of the jam, then sprinkle over the chocolate chips.

3 Use a floured pizza peel to carefully place the pizza in a pizza oven (the temp should be around 400C). Check it every minute and turn halfway through cooking. It should take around 2-3 mins and is ready once the chocolate starts to melt and the edges turn golden.

4 To serve, place on a board and dust with icing sugar.

Cook’s note: To cook in the oven, place on a lined baking tray in a preheated oven at 200C/Fan 180C/ Gas 6 for 8-10 mins, or until the edges begin to brown.

This pudding pizza is just one of the pizza ideas from our May issue feature, Pizza Piazza. Pick up a copy of the May issue for the other recipes, which include homemade pizza dough, homemade tomato sauce, chilli spiced aubergines, Spring Shoots Pizza, Chilli & Paprika Spicy Pizza Bread. The recipes are by Kay Prestney and the photography by Rebecca Lewis.

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

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More from our May issue…

Featured
Emy Lou Holmes Coddiwomple.jpg
May 25, 2024
Words for Walks | Coddiwomple
May 25, 2024
May 25, 2024
Simon Armitage National Trust Images & Paul Harris (2).jpg
May 23, 2024
How To | Get Started with Poetry
May 23, 2024
May 23, 2024
Crop dessert pizza Rebecca Lewis.jpg
May 18, 2024
Recipe | Nectarine & Apricot Pudding Pizza
May 18, 2024
May 18, 2024
In Eating Tags issue 143, pizza, puddings, barbecue, outdoor eating, pizza oven
Comment

Photography courtesy of readersheds.co.uk

Outdoors | Allotment Sheds

Iona Bower May 14, 2024

Sheds on allotments should be a sanctuary as well as a storage space. Tools are clearly important but there’s much more to an allotment shed. Here are a few of our favourite
‘could-haves’ for yours.

Whether you have a shed on your own allotment, a working shed for your own veg patch, or are just dreaming… you’ll know that sheds are small spaces that can easily become overrun. Here are a few things we think an allotment shed can’t do without, from the most useful tools to the best items to make your shed a little haven. 

1. A few good tools. Otherwise, let’s face it, what you have is a Wendy house. A spade, fork, rake, hoe and some secateurs or a good knife should cover most bases and do all the jobs you need throughout the year.

2. Planting aids. A ball of string or planting line for planting those rows of radishes nice and straight, and a ruler if precise spacing is important to you. A pencil for ‘dibbing’ and writing on seed packets. A small trowel for planting out seedlings. And, of course, a watering can.

3. Harvest help. This is what allotments are all about isn’t it? We know an ice cream tub will do but treat yourself to a lovely trug so you can feel properly pleased with your homegrown spoils when you bring them in. A few empty tubs will be useful too, particularly for small, soft fruit. 

4. Outdoor comforts. A kneeler makes a lot of allotment jobs easier, and easily slides into a corner of your shed. Worth making room for is a decent deck chair, from which to sit back and admire your work. A wool blanket is a sensible addition too - good for draping over chilly knees or shoulders as the sun sets or for spreading on the ground in the event of an impromptu allotment picnic. 

5. Crossword solver. Because everyone knows the best way to do a crossword is while watching over the veg beds on a Sunday morning. Bonus points for managing to pick up the Sunday papers on your way to the allotment, but you can always keep a book of crosswords in your shed, too, for puzzle emergencies. Use your dibbing pencil for your crossword or keep a spare in your crossword solver. 

6. Radio. Quiet enough not to disturb your fellow allotment-owners, of course, but a little battery-powered radio is a nice bit of company in your shed if the rain clouds roll in. Bring on the afternoon play!

7. Comestibles. A tin of good biscuits is an allotment shed staple. You need biscuits that are a bit more than your usual workaday fare - definitely at the lavender shortbread side of the spectrum rather than the plain digestive side. Get a selection if you can, too. Biscuits are a great way to make friends with your allotment neighbours. A selection of fruit teas is a good idea, too. Bring a flask of boiled water and a couple of tin mugs with you and you’ll always have freshly made hot drinks on tap.

8. A battery-powered lantern. Inevitably, you will at some point take on a job that’s too long for the day. When you realise the sun has got the better of you, a small lantern will help you close up your shed and find your way back home safely. 

The allotment shed pictured above belongs to Kelly Haworth (@ohhomelygirl) and is one of the sheds featured in our May issue in ‘Shed Ahead’ by Julian Owen.

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe


More from our May issue…

Featured
Emy Lou Holmes Coddiwomple.jpg
May 25, 2024
Words for Walks | Coddiwomple
May 25, 2024
May 25, 2024
Simon Armitage National Trust Images & Paul Harris (2).jpg
May 23, 2024
How To | Get Started with Poetry
May 23, 2024
May 23, 2024
Crop dessert pizza Rebecca Lewis.jpg
May 18, 2024
Recipe | Nectarine & Apricot Pudding Pizza
May 18, 2024
May 18, 2024

More allotment inspiration…

Featured
Allotment Shed.jpg
May 14, 2024
Outdoors | Allotment Sheds
May 14, 2024
May 14, 2024
Rainbow Carrot & Beetroot Tart.jpg
Feb 7, 2023
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Feb 7, 2023
Feb 7, 2023
What I treasure.jpg
Jun 9, 2019
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In Growing Tags issue 143, allotment, sheds, outdoors living
Comment

Photography by Matt Russell

Recipe | Spiced Honey Scotch Bonnet Ham with Pineapple Rice

Iona Bower May 7, 2024

Inspired by the spices used in Caribbean dishes, this rich and sticky celebration ham makes a tasty spring Sunday roast.

Serves 7-8

Ingredients

2.5kg unsmoked or smoked boned and rolled gammon joint
1 onion, halved
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1 fresh bay leaf
1 scotch bonnet chilli, halved
½ bunch of thyme, tied together

For the glaze:
½ tsp allspice
1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
100g clear runny honey
½ scotch bonnet chilli
50g pineapple, peeled and cubed
1 tbsp vegetable oil

For the rice:
80g unsalted butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp garlic granules
1½ tsp allspice
2 tsp dried thyme
400g long-grain rice
300g pineapple, cubed
2×400g tins kidney beans, drained
4 spring onions, finely sliced

1 Place the ham in a deep pan and add the veg, chilli and herbs. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and cook gently for 1hr 40 mins. Turn off the heat and leave for 30 mins.

2 Line a roasting tin with foil, add the ham and leave to cool. Retain the cooking water – you’ll need 650ml, so top it up if needed.

3 Preheat the oven to 220C/Fan 200C/Gas 7. Using a knife, remove the ham skin, then score the fat.

4 For the glaze, blitz all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Brush half over the ham and roast for 15 mins. Brush again with the remaining glaze and roast for a further 10–15 mins. Leave to rest, but keep the oven on.

5 For the rice, heat the butter in an ovenproof pan. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and fry gently for 15 mins. Add the garlic granules, allspice and dried thyme, and cook for 1 min more. Stir through the rice, pineapple and kidney beans, then pour over the reserved ham stock and bring to a simmer.

6 Once simmering, cover and transfer to the oven for 20 mins, then remove from the oven and leave the lid on for 10 mins. Fluff the rice, stir through the spring onions and season with salt.

7 Slice the ham and serve it alongside the pineapple rice.

Cook’s note: Bring the ham to room temp 2 hours before cooking to help it cook more evenly. It’ll keep for up to 3 days in the fridge.

Taken from The Modern Spice Rack by Esther Clark and Rachel Walker (Hardie Grant). Photography: Matt Russell

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May 11, 2024
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May 11, 2024
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May 7, 2024
Recipe | Spiced Honey Scotch Bonnet Ham with Pineapple Rice
May 7, 2024
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Maypole Cake crop.jpg
May 4, 2024
Recipe | Maypole Cake
May 4, 2024
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In Eating Tags issue 143, food to share, ham, spring recipes, Sunday roast, Spice, spice
Comment

Photography by Jonathan Cherry

Folk | The Magic of Maypole Ribbons

Iona Bower May 6, 2024

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. 

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

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May 6, 2024
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In Think Tags issue 143, May, maypoles, may day, folk, spring, spring traditions
Comment

Playlist | Folk

David Parker April 24, 2024

DJ: Frances Ambler
Image: Shutterstock

Our May issue celebrates the goodness of FOLK in all its forms… including folk music. Have a listen to our latest playlist here.
Or have a browse of all our playlists here. We publish one in each monthly issue.
Happy listening!

In playlist Tags playlist, folk, issue 143, may
Comment

Photography by Stocksy

Think | Local Words for Rain

Iona Bower April 2, 2024

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).

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

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In Think Tags issue 143, rain, words, dialect
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Featured
  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well
Feb 27, 2025
Feb 27, 2025

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See the sample of our latest issue here

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Feb 27, 2025
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The Simple Things is published by Iceberg Press

The Simple Things

Taking time to live well

We celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and feeding them well. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with a job well done.

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