The Simple Things

Taking time to live well
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Taking Time to Live Well

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Photography by Zia Mattock

The Joy Of | Window Watching

Iona Bower July 17, 2025

People watching is always a pleasure, but it’s particularly enjoyable done from the comfort of your own home, through your very own window

There’s a pleasant comfort in seeing the neighbours unpacking shopping, fetching in a parcel or weeding the front garden from your window-watching position. Nosy it may be (we’ll happily own that) but it also makes you feel part of a community. There goes Susan on her bike off to work. One gust and that packed lunch in her pannier will be gone… Isn’t that a new postie? Hope she sticks around until Christmas - she looks a sensible sort. What are those workmen digging up NOW? Surely there can’t be a square inch of tarmac they’ve not messed with this year… 

And it’s not just people that are worth taking a seat at the window for. As well as seeing folk you recognise (and, much more interestingly, folk you don’t) a seat at the window might give you a glimpse of wildlife - whether a neighbourhood fox, inquisitive squirrel or flock of birds making their way back to warmer climes. A window onto wildlife is like a TV nature documentary that never stops. 

Perhaps you’re a weather watcher, monitoring the approach of enough blue sky for a pair of sailor’s trousers. Or commenting that it’s ‘black over Bill’s mother’s’. Or maybe you simply like to cloud watch, seeing dragons and castles come and go. 

Window watching is a way of marking the day. The keen joggers, off before breakfast, the school run parents hustling children and cardboard models of Stonehenge down the pavement, the older residents keen to get to the supermarket before the queues, the delivery van drivers, to-ing and fro-ing all day, the toddlers scooting back from playgroup, the dog-walkers off to the park, the evening commuters eager to get home again… All of life is out there, framed by your window, hour by hour. 

As well as making you feel part of a community, a window view takes you out of your small world and into the world of others, literally broadening your horizons. 

And if your view doesn’t offer quite enough for you, the magic of technology means you can always visit someone else’s. You could lose hours on WindowSwap (https://www.window-swap.com/Window), clicking ‘open a window somewhere in the world’ and looking through a window in Cambodia, St Petersburg, Montreal, Melbourne… And you can share your own window view there, too. We warn you - it’s dreadfully addictive for window-watchers.

Why not pull back the curtain right now, see what your view is, and make another link with the world?

In our July ‘Fruit’ issue, our ‘My Place’ pages are all about rooms with a view, and we’ve picked out some beautiful windows for you to gaze out of, including the sea view above by Zia Mattocks. The issue is in shops now.

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

More windows and views…

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Jul 17, 2025
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Jul 13, 2023
Wellbeing | Why the Sea Makes you Happy
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May 18, 2021
Ways to spend time in a window seat
May 18, 2021
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More from our July issue…

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Jul 22, 2025
How to | Haggle
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The Joy Of | Window Watching
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In Fun Tags issue 157, windows, views
Comment
westcross_property_renovation1.jpg

Ways to spend time in a window seat

Iona Bower May 18, 2021

A window seat is at the top of our home nook swishlist. Here are a few ways to make the most of yours if you’re lucky enough to have one.

  1. Take tea in it. Proper china, mind. In fact, you probably want to invest in one of those trolleys for cakes and sweet treats, so you can perch your teapot and milk jug on top and not have to make too many needless trips to the kitchen.

  2. Read in it. The obvious thing to do with a window seat is to sit down with a good book and look very picturesque and intellectual from the outside, even if your reading matter is a Jackie Collins and you’ve simply buried the front cover in your lap. Somehow, a window seat increases the appearance of culture in the same way spectacles do. Make the most of it, we say. 

  3. Get a bit Gothic. Go all Wuthering Heights and sit and watch the rain lashing at the panes of glass while thinking wistfully of lovers long out of reach. 

  4. Flaneur the hell out of it. Sit with the intention of doing absolutely nothing but people watching. If your window looks out only onto your garden you might have to employ a gardener first or send your family out to do some chores so that you may observe them hard at work. Try to make them the occasional mug of tea to avoid becoming a bit irritating. 

  5. Become a wildlife expert. Whether it’s birds, butterflies, foxes or merely the local cat population, a window seat affords the opportunity to become au fait with all the living things that pass through. 

  6. Turn informant. If your seat looks out on a public byway, get yourself a notebook and come over all Miss Marple. You never know what you might notice that proves useful at a later date. If you don’t spot anything you can always just pretend to be on a stake out, which is just as exciting. 

  7. Cloud watch. The original and best bit of mindfulness available. Spot dragons, medieval battles and giant rabbits, all from the comfort of your seat in the window. 

  8. Turn the window on its head and become an art installation. Dress up. Use props. Imagine your way into various scenarios and let others enjoy ‘viewing’ you each day, rather than you viewing them.

If you are feeling inspired to creat a window seat of your own, don’t miss our My Place feature in the May issue, in which Lottie Storey has gathered together some of her favourite window seats from Instagram and beyond, including this one, pictured above, which belongs to Jason Korinek @westcross_property_renovation. The May issue is in shops now or available to buy in our online store.

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


More from our May issue…

Featured
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May 22, 2021
How to | Go (Almost) Wild Camping
May 22, 2021
May 22, 2021
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May 18, 2021
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May 18, 2021
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May 15, 2021
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May 15, 2021
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More inspiration for you home…

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Feb 11, 2025
Nest | 5 Famous Chairs
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Aug 15, 2023
Think | In praise of shade
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Jul 13, 2023
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In Nest Tags issue 107, my place, windows, window seats, home
Comment
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

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
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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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