How to | work a canal lock

Learn a niche skill that looks ever so impressive

It’s always a joy to be able to step up at moments of group panic and confidently and smugly say ‘I’ll take care of that’. Should you find yourself navigating a narrow boat unexpectedly (it could happen) you’ll need to be able to work the canal’s locks in order to pilot the boat up or down the water. While all about you spill their Pimms and flap their hands in despair at the paddles, here’s how to calmly and collectedly navigate a lock. Ahoy!

1. Put down your beer, like a hero.

2. For the purposes of these instructions we’re going to assume you are travelling upstream. You need one person at the tiller (the steering pole) and one person operating the lock (that’s you). Check the lock. It should be clear with no boat approaching the other way. The water in the lock has to be at the same level as you are before you can open the gates and enter it. As we’re assuming you’re travelling up the canal, if the lock is not empty when you arrive, empty it by opening the paddles on the bottom gate. Once the water is at the same level as you, you can open the gates. 

3. Open the gate nearest the boat and ask the person at the tiller to take the boat (carefully) into the lock. It is traditional to shout ‘left a bit, left a bit, NO! YOU PUSH IT RIGHT TO GO TO THE LEFT!. That’s right… No TOO FAR NOW. Lawks! You nearly had the front off it then!’ as they steadily pilot the boat into the lock. Close the bottom gate behind the boat.

4. Open the paddles in the top gate and let the water into the lock. The paddles are the big Victorian iron cog shenanigans either side of the lock. Take your special key (called a windlass), place the hole in your windlass over the sticky-outy bit on the paddle and turn it to open. Stand to the side and keep your knees out of the way. If you accidentally let go of a windlass while the paddle is raised it can drop fast and the windlass can fly off and the paddles drop suddenly, causing horrible damage to the lock or you. It is permissible to swear colourfully if this happens. As the paddles open, the boat will rise slowly in the lock like well-proved loaf.

5. When the lock is full and the levels inside the lock and in front of you are level you will be able to open the top gate. Do so by putting your back against it and slowly leaning back to push it open, rather than bending over and pushing with your hands. This ‘pushing with your back’ manoeuvre prevents injury but more importantly will help mark you out as a canal know-it-all and impress any passers-by. 

6. Let your tiller person know to bring the boat out of the gate. If you want to sound smug and irritate the person at the tiller, shout casual and unhelpful commands like ‘take it to starboard a little’. No-one mortal can remember which way starboard is when under stress and in charge of a 60ft boat. Call them over to the bank with a louche wave of the hand, then step casually back on board and resume your position at your beer.

7. Graciously bask in the admiration of your crew and never tell them that it’s actually much easier to work a lock than it is to pilot the boat through one. Ahem.

In our July ‘Embrace’ issue, which is out now, we tried out a canal boating weekend courtesy of ABC Boat Hire. They are currently offering discounts for 202 and have a few last minute deals on breaks this year, too. Pick up a copy of the July issue in shops now for more details.

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Places to go: Pier review

Who doesn’t love a pier? We’ve found the best around Britain for every sort of seasidey day out

Herne Bay Pier by Rob Ball

Who doesn’t love a pier? We’ve found the best around Britain for every sort of seasidey day out

Piers for pleasure are a uniquely British thing, which is a surprise really. Why wouldn’t anyone want to be able to head out into the sea without getting their hair wet, after all? We’ve selected a few of our favourites from around the country, each celebrated for its own particular pleasures.

Best for a good stroll

You don’t want to take a long walk of a short pier, do you? So head to Southend, which is Britain’s longest pier at 2,156m long. Quite a whopper. Sir John Betjeman, founder of The National Piers Society once said ‘The pier is Southend. Southend is the pier.’

Best for train travel

Many piers have a small railway on them. If it wasn’t nailed down the Victorians put a train track on it, of course. But Hythe Pier is home to Britain’s oldest continuously operating narrow gauge pier railway and has services every half an hour. You can take the train to the ferry service from the end of the pier that crosses Southampton Channel to Southampton.

Best for foodies

You won’t go hungry on Llandudno pier. It has a stall selling freshly baked pies, others selling smoked oysters and muscles, a branch of the Great British Cheese Company and a traditional sweet shop. You can wash it all down with a pint of craft beer from the Pier Bar.

Best for fishing

Deal Pier is apparently a prime spot for landing mackerel, as well as pollack, sole, garfish and mullet in the summer months. Best spots are the lower deck at the south and north corners and the upper deck between the second and third shelters, facing towards Dover. Fact fans: Deal is also Britain’s ‘youngest’ pier.

Best for thrill and spills

Bournemouth Pier has a pier-to-beach zip-line, so you can play at being the Milk Tray Man, and its old theatre now houses activities for adrenaline junkies, such as climbing walls, an aerial assault course and a vertical drop slide. Wheeeeeeeee!

Best for old-fashioned fun

Blackpool’s North Pier is one of the most iconic of all and a trip here is like stepping back in time. Fish and chips, fortune tellers, traditional sweets and carousels… We can almost hear strains of ‘Oh I do like to be Beside the Seaside’.

Best for a brush with wildlife

Fort William Town Pier, on the west coast of Scotland is home to the fabulous Crannog Restaurant. It used to be a bait shed but you can now sit and enjoy some of the best and freshest fish you’ll ever taste and then take a cruise from the pier down Loch Linnhe where you’ll often spot common and grey seals, porpoises and sometimes golden eagles.

Best for completely bonkers entertainment

Southwold Pier is a lovely day out but its best bit is the Under the Pier Show, a room full of homemade penny slot machines created by Tim Hunkin, a writer, cartoonist and engineer. Try, if you dare, the Autofrisk, where a pair of inflated rubber gloves give you the experience of being frisked. Or hop on Walk The Dog, a treadmill with a life-size fake dog and screens simulating both your view and the dog’s view of the walk - watch out for the sudden increase in speed when the dog spies a cat! And don’t miss Fly Drive, a simulator in which you are a fly and have to gorge on as much sugar as you can before being swatted. Utterly mad and total genius.

Find out more about British piers at The National Piers Society. And in our June issue, we have more of the stunning pictures (above) from Funland by Rob Ball (Hoxton Mini Press), a celebration of British coastal communities and their architecture in pictures.

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Recipe: The Picnic loaf

Planning to picnic this weekend? We love this fancy sandwich

Half sandwich, half pie, this picnic loaf crams the best of the local farm shop into one easy-to-carry meal. Prepare it the night before so the flavours have time to soak in. You can chop and change the ingredients according to what’s available. Find this and more in Pitch Up Eat Local by Ali Ray (£16.99, AA Publishing). 

The picnic loaf

Serves 6

1 cob loaf (the crusty round one)
1 garlic clove, halved
2 tbsp pesto (from a jar is fine)

For the filling:
2 courgettes, sliced lengthways
2 red and 2 yellow peppers, seeded and sliced in thick lengths
2 tbsp or so olive oil
200g cheese (whatever you can find locally – a soft-rind/mozzarella/goat’s cheese)
200g sliced charcuterie meats or ham
a good handful salad leaves
2 tbsp fresh basil leaves
salt and pepper

1  Carefully cut the top off the cob loaf (save this for later) and hollow out the middle to leave a shell. Don’t make the walls too thin as it won’t stay crisp.

2  Toss the courgettes and peppers in the olive oil and put on a preheated griddle or BBQ grid. Cook for about 4–5 mins on each side until soft and lightly charred. Put to one side to cool.

3  Rub the cut garlic clove over the insides of the bread shell, then use a spoon to spread the pesto all around the inside walls and under the lid.

4  Blot the grilled veg with kitchen roll, then and slice the cheese.  Season both well with salt and pepper, then start building up layers of veg, cheese, meat and salad leaves. Finish with a layer of basil leaves. The hollow in the bread must be filled well.

5  Put the top of the bread back on, then wrap the whole thing tightly in clingfilm.  Put a plate on top and weigh down with something heavy to let the flavours fuse together for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight, in a cool-box. 

6  Cut into thick, cake-style slices to eat now, or pack in your lunch-box and take on your adventures.

This recipe originally was published in June 2015 - and it tastes just as good, if not better, now.

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From our May issue…

Forgotten bookmarks

We won’t judge a book by its cover… though we might judge it by what’s left among its pages

Illustration: Jane Mount

A shopping list for a supper with friends, last summer’s postcard, a card advertising a restaurant you don’t remember going to… The things you find you’ve left in books to mark your place, and then forgotten, often bring back a wry smile.

But the things other people have used as bookmarks and then abandoned to the pages can range from the indescribable to the indigestible.

When Washington librarian Anna Holmes tweeted earlier this year: “Dearest patrons, PLEASE stop using cheese as a bookmark. Please. We give away actual bookmarks for free. Or like use a receipt or something. Just not perishables” one would have thought the world would reel, but no.

The world responded with its own tales of bizarre bookmarks they’ve had the misfortune to find: bacon, a circular saw, a piece of broccoli, toenail clippings and a clump of hair.

It turns out forgotten bookmarks are quite a phenomenon. (We’re assuming they’re forgotten and that people aren’t putting deli items into library books intentionally).

To prove it, enter New York State second-hand bookseller Michael Popek, of Forgotten Bookmarks, who catalogues all the strange and wonderful things he has found between the pages of the books that enter his shop.

From four-leafed clovers to a marijuana leaf, love notes to a suicide note (which he chose not to photograph, understandably), each item is a tiny snapshot of an anonymous person’s life and utterly compelling for it. He photographs each object, along with the book he found it in and publishes them together. Sometimes it’s easy to imagine the reader, and the scenario in which the object ended up in the book. One can almost picture the small, slightly grubby little boy who left his Bear Cub Scouting patch inside a copy of Adventure in the Haunted House. Less easy to conjure to mind is the owner of the photograph of a coffin (occupied) inside a copy of Amelia Earhart’s The Fun of It.

Popek has published photos of some of the forgotten bookmarks he has found over the years in a book called, unsurprisingly, Forgotten Bookmarks. We thoroughly recommend it. Don’t forget to take your cheese slice out of it when you’ve finished it though.

And if you’re in search of a new favourite tome in which to lose a slice of cheddar (or worse), you might like to read ‘Looking for Books’ in our November issue, in which Frances Ambler takes an illustrated tour with Jane Mount, author and illustrator of Bibliophile, around some of the world’s best independent bookshops.

More on books…

More from November issue…

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The official rules of conkers

There are varying rules for a conker fight, but these are the ones laid out by The Woodland Trust, so you can run your own back garden championships:

1. Wrap the loose end of the string around your hand. One player should dangle their conker on about 25cm of string, keeping it absolutely still.

2. The other player then swings their conker at it to try to break it.

3. If the attacking player misses, they can have two more chances before it’s their opponent’s turn.

4. Take turns until one of the conkers breaks and you have a winner.

5. A new conker is called a ‘none-er’ as it hasn’t beaten anyone yet. When it beats another conker, it’s a ‘one-er’. If it beats another, it becomes a ‘two-er’ and so on.

Turn to page 64 of October’s The Simple Things for How to do autumn well, including how to pick a prime pumpkin, Apple Day, and how to go mushrooming (without updating your will).

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Old railway tracks

Offering unusual routes and easy navigation, old railway tracks are ideal for hiking, biking or just a wander in nature. 

Some former routes have been restored for use as heritage lines, offering passengers the chance to enjoy the full sensory experience of steam: the smoky scent in the air, the magical chuff-chuff of acceleration and the occasional tuneful whistle.

They include:

The Bluebell Railway

Climb aboard splendid steam trains with romantic names such as the Sussex Belle and Golden Arrow running between East Grinstead and Sheffield Park in East Sussex; bluebell-railway.com.

North York Moors Railway

Admire the North York Moors National Park from the steam trains on this not-for-profit, volunteer-led railway, which is fast approaching its 200th birthday – don’t miss Goathland, famous for playing fictitious stations including Harry Potter’s Hogsmeade, as well as a turn in 1990s TV show Heartbeat; nymr.co.uk.

Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways

Indulge in afternoon tea and first-class travel as you steam between Porthmadog and Caernarfon along the world’s oldest narrow gauge railway – the carriages’ windows framing magnificent mountainous views as it passes through Snowdonia; festrail.co.uk.

Turn to page 62 of September's The Simple Things for Ruth Chandler on her love of old railway tracks, or read on for some of her favourite routes.

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My Plot | Natural born swimmers

Sarah and Will Murch dreamt of wild swimming in their garden. So they turned a disused patch into a tranquil pool, now a haven for wildlife a well as their family.

'Every time I visit the pool, I am blown away by its magic; it always surprises me. It doesn’t matter if it’s a dull day, windy or sunny – it is always beautiful and every time I swim, I am gobsmacked that we built this. The wildlife that is drawn to the garden is a big thing for me. Sitting by the water and seeing the swallows dip and the dragonflies hover is pretty amazing. It is also the place we all come together as a family – we are all drawn to the water. It is where we gravitate, it calms and revitalises, and not just when swimming in it but also by being beside it. It is a very special place.'

Turn to page 110 of September's The Simple Things for more on how Sarah and will created their pool.
 

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Six medicinal herbs worth growing

The brains behind medicinal plant nursery Barefoot Botanicals are the growers behind August's My Plot. Marina and Ross explain how they turned a rough patch of land into a field of flowers - the ingredients for their nursery and herbal clinic - on page 114 of August's The Simple Things. 
 
Here, they share six medicinal herbs worth growing:

Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris) 

Traditionally used: for menstrual disorders and diarrhoea.

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) 

Traditionally used: to relieve stress and anxiety, insomnia, digestive complaints and flu.

Catnip (Nepeta cataria)

Traditionally used: to relieve stress and anxiety, colic, IBS and insomnia.

Evening primrose (Oenothera biennis)

Traditionally used: as a sedative; to ease whooping cough and to relieve eczema.

Cowslip (Primula veris)

Traditionally used: to relieve coughs, rheumatism, asthma; or as a sedative.

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) 

Traditionally used: to relieve sore throats and respiratorytract infections.

All plants available from barerootbotanicals.ie

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The tiny house movement

Originating in the US, the Tiny House Movement is about the freedom that comes from living with less. Once you understand what you really need and get rid of the rest, life simplifies and opens up. Resisting the urge to buy a bigger house, with all its attendant requirements – maintenance, heating, cleaning, furniture, bigger mortgage – and living in a modest home instead, benefits your budget, your soul and the environment.

Architects and designers have responded to this new way of living by creating a variety of tiny houses that measure no more than 46 sq m. Coming in all shapes and sizes, some with wheels, the focus is on efficient and eco-friendly design. The downside is that you have to be supremely tidy to live in one and get on extremely well with the other occupants. Which is why
many Tiny Houses are used as weekend getaways (see issue 70, on tinyhomesholidays.com) or an extra room in the garden.

Turn to page 104 of August's The Simple Things for a look inside a beautiful tiny house in Johannesburg.

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House in a tree

Whether treehouse, cabin, hut or lodge, there's something we love about a single-room dwelling.

Treetops treehouse, Chumleigh, Devon

If it weren’t for the elevated view from the windows and natural wood décor, you wouldn’t even think you were in a treehouse. But this expansive retreat, sleeping four, is designed around a massive 250-year-old oak, with a deck overlooking North Devon Biosphere Reserve. foxandhoundshotel.co.uk

Turn to page 76 of August's The Simple Things for more of these clever buildings that bring us closer to nature, maybe even closer to ourselves.

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Life Skills | Flower arranging

A day spent learning a new skill is mindful and mind full (in a good way) living. This month, Rebecca Frank learns flower arranging.

As somebody who loves flowers but knows little about picking or assembling them, I signed up for a summer vase workshop to learn more about the types of flowers and gain confidence in my artistic ability. India, the young, passionate founder of Vervain Flowers, is based on the farm and nursery in Worcestershire, where she grew up and now grows the majority of flowers for her wedding business and workshops.

We start with a garden tour while India explains her informal and intuitive style of floristry, love of garden roses and irises (“I know they only flower for a few days, but when they do, it gives me the best feeling so I grow them anyway!”). Our classroom is a large barn filled with buckets of the prettiest summer blooms in unusual varieties and shades, from deep purples to apricot, all freshly cut and ready for us to play with. After India has demonstrated, we set to work – a ceramic bowl from a local potter has been provided in which to create our own display.

I fiddle around for ages creating a shape with my foliage before moving on to the fun and slightly nerve-wracking bit of choosing and adding my flowers. The beauty of the plants and the focus required soon distract me from what everybody else is doing and I become completely absorbed. After a Mediterranean-style lunch in the garden, we head back to tweak and photograph our displays and to admire each other’s work.

I come away keen to grow more of the flowers that I love, both for my house and garden, and with the liberating attitude that – whether I really know what I’m doing or not – I can always just give it a go.

Seasonal vase classes cost £185 and are suitable for any level of experience. One-to-one classes are also available; vervainflowers.co.uk.

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How to buy a camper van

The camper van is so much more than a vehicle to sleep in, says motorhome lover Martin Dorey who shares his tips on buying one. 

Have you got your heart set on a camper? Congratulations. I look forward to waving to you on the road somewhere. But first ask yourself a few questions about why you want one and what you want to do with it.

Do you want to own a classic? Is it to travel the world (or even a bit of it)? Is it to camp in a little more comfort? Will it carry what you want to take with you? How many do you need to be able to sleep? Two is easy, more then four is trickier – and remember, kids get bigger.

Firstly, set a budget as it will decide everything from age to the interior, the condition and mileage and comes back to the ‘why’ question. It’s worthwhile totting up the running costs, too. You could consider alternatives to a VW and bear in mind that imported vans from dry places like Australia and South Africa are often rust-free and right-hand drive, too.

Rent before you buy to make sure a camper is really for you, before you spend thousands. Then go to as many big dealers, motorhome retailers, VW festivals and conventions as possible. Nose about in as many vehicles as you can, to check layouts, seating arrangements and budget, and try to identify the vehicle that’s just right for you. There’ll be one, all you have to do is find it.

Serial camper van owner Martin Dorey is author of The Camper Van Bible and his latest book, Take the Slow Road: Scotland (both Bloomsbury). You can get signed copies at martindorey.com.

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Eat better service stations

Anyone who despairs of shoddy motorway service station food and the appalling provisions available in petrol stations throughout the land should know there are alternatives. And they are handily listed in the glove-box sized The Extra Mile: Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services, which proffers motorway by motorway suggestions of off-piste cafés, tearooms, pubs, farm shops and delis around the country.

Try these for starters:
M4: The Bell at Ramsbury, Wiltshire, SN8 2PE
A Georgian era coaching inn off junction 14 of the M4, on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, The Bell offers seasonal food and drink drawn from the local Ramsbury’s estate’s own brewery, distillery and smokehouse.

M5: Court Farm Shop, Cheltenham, GL52 7RY
With a ridge of the Cotswoldian Cleeve Hills as a backdrop, Court Farm Shop started life as a roadside egg shop but has blossomed into a purveyor of local produce. Two thirds of its wares are sourced within a 30-mile radius, and the farm’s own livestock is the basis for acclaimed burgers, sausages and meatballs. A hop from junction 11.

M11: Shelford Deli, Cambs, CB22 5LZ
Off junction 11, the Shelford Cafe-Deli serves up delectable homemade sandwiches, salads, cakes, pizzas, ice-cream, coffee and much else beside – all with a contemporary twist – that have made it beloved of foodies far beyond those simply stopping by off the motorway. Its assets also include a sunlit garden with a wendy house to play in.

M6: Whale Tail Café, Lancaster, LA1 IXN
A Mecca for vegetarians and vegans, this caff, off junction 34, is famed for its meat-free breakfasts, and cakes that are ‘masterful examples of alternative baking’. Ingredients where possible are free trade and organic.

Foodie pitstops taken from The Extra Mile: Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services by Alastair Sawday and Laura Collacott (Printslinger)

Turn to page 68 of August's The Simple Things for more detours worth making. 

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Be more there

Ask people why they travel and not many would say their goal is to skim the surface of a foreign culture and take photos to share online while answering office emails. Yet, too often that’s the reality.

Before you go away next, consider whether you could travel more slowly and mindfully and with a little more integrity. The following ideas from Sara Clemence, author of Away and Aware (Piatkus), apply to any destination and budget. They will help you become a more considerate and respectful visitor, attentive to the people you meet and the places you see, travelling in a way that leaves your heart bigger and your mind broader.

Taper off

Try to extricate yourself from the stresses of daily life a few days before your trip begins. Consume less news, change your notifications, eliminate brainless browsing time. All this will make the transition into a mindful- travel mindset easier.

Schedule naps

A siesta is one of the simplest and most powerful indulgences. Naps boost imagination and alertness, reduce stress and improve health. Build them into your daily travel schedule to help your mind process all the new experiences of a trip – and just because naps make you feel good, too.

Embrace JOMO

JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out) is way better than FOMO. It’s letting go of being in the know, enjoying real connection instead of virtual approval, and focusing on yourself instead of everyone else. To achieve a state of JOMO, you might need to let yourself be uncomfortable, but remember that you’re probably not missing anything of any actual importance. And think of the power of saying no to endless doses of affirmation. To help, consider buying a new, basic phone that only lets you perform the simplest tasks – phone calls and texts. The old made new again.

More on page 88 of August's The Simple Things, including trying a new food everyday, making a holiday resolution and taking up a hands-on hobby.

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Games for the car

No phones, no headphones and definitely no death by I-Spy: our five fun and portable pastimes can make road trips a lot more pleasurable

Pub cricket

Difficulty level: Easy

What you’ll need
A route in Britain where you’ll pass plenty of pubs.

How to play
In this British institution of a driving game, count legs on pubs to score ‘runs’. One player ‘goes in to bat’ or, in other words, looks out for pubs. At each pub passed, count the number of legs implied by the sign and score that many runs. So, ‘The Bull and Last’ would be 4 runs for the bull’s four legs, ‘The William Shakespeare’ would score 2, and ‘The Fox and Hound’ would score 8. For plurals, such as ‘The Cricketers’, assume there are two of them unless it specifies otherwise. So for this pub, you’d score 4 runs.
Pass a pub with the words ‘Arms’ or ‘Head’, you’re out!
Note down the score before play passes on to the next batsman.

Turn to page 74 of August's The Simple Things for four more car games. 
 

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My Plot | The 7 layers of a forest garden

Edible forest gardens imitate the tiered structure of natural woodlands, but have a higher proportion of edible species.

When creating a forest garden, it is important to ensure enough light reaches the lower layers for healthy plants and maximum yields. The seven primary layers are:
1 Upper canopy The tallest tier is typically made up of standard fruit trees, nut trees and trees that fix nitrogen. Only suitable for large gardens.
2 Sub canopy, or canopy trees for smaller gardens: mid-sized trees, including most familiar fruit trees.
3 Shrubs Bushes that produce berries and plants that attract pollinators and offer habitats for wildlife.
4 Herbaceous plants A perennial layer including some herbs and medicinal plants.
5 Ground cover Low-growing edible and often nitrogen-fixing plants which enrich the soil and help control weeds.
6 Underground plants Edible roots and tubers and micro-organisms including fruiting fungi (mushrooms).
7 Climbers or vines Plants that trail along the ground, over branches and up into trees and shrubs.

Taken from The Garden Awakening by Mary Reynolds (Green Books).

Turn to page 114 of July's The Simple Things for more from this month's My Plot - how Claire Leadbitter turned a bare paddock into a forest garden.

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Where to get wild

Take an outdoor course and you could learn a new skill and return home smugly clasping a new spoon, dreamcatcher... or goat (maybe not the goat)

There are plenty of local courses online, or look at those run by the National Trust (nationaltrust.org.uk/build-your-skills). Wild guides (wildthingspublishing.com) also list local courses by region. 

Woodcarving with Woodmatters, Cumbria

Try your hand at carving anything from spoons to stools. From £65, woodmatters.org.uk. 

Woodland Women, near Bristol

All-female day and weekend retreats in Tortworth Arboretum, eg, willow skills and campfire cooking. From £16.50, honeywoodscamping.co.uk. 

Wild Things weekends, Scotland

Women-only wilderness weekenders include foraging, wild medicinal plants and natural navigation. From £160, wild-things.org.uk.

Wild Bushcraft Company knife-making course, Wales

You’ll use 100% recycled materials to forge your own knife, complete with an antler handle. Four-day course, from £350, wildbushcraft.co.uk.

Wood craft courses, Sheffield

Craft courses are run throughout the year in Ecclesall Woods in Sheffield. From blacksmithing to furniture- making, the bustling Woodland Discovery Centre is a hidden oasis in the city. From £85, ecclesallwoodscraftcourses.co.uk.

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Unexpected treasures | Outdoor art

From waymarking sculptures on coastal paths to pieces made from the earth itself, outdoor art comes in many and various forms.

GALLERIES IN THE GLADES

Forests can often feel a little like galleries: the hushed atmosphere, the filtered light, the sculptural forms of the branches. It’s no surprise then that several forests have taken this one step further, installing site-specific sculptures, to help us explore and understand the woods and their history. So in the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail, lines of compressed charcoal by Onya McCausland signal underground coal mines, while in Kielder Water and Forest Park in Northumberland, Chris Drury’s Wave Chamber projects the rippling waters of the adjacent lake onto the chamber’s floor.

SCULPTURES BY THE SEA

Summer is often when we head to the coast and, just as many of our seaside towns are now home to impressive art galleries (think Margate and Dundee), so outdoor art has stepped into the limelight. Another Place by Antony Gormley is undoubtedly one of the most haunting works: 100 life-size cast-iron statues “trying to remain standing, trying to breathe,”as Gormley has said, in the shifting sands of Crosby Beach, just north of Liverpool. Due to its size, and therefore the statement it makes, a lot of outdoor art tends to be by well known artists with guaranteed ‘pulling power’ (eg, Maggi Hambling’s Scallop at Aldeburgh). It’s refreshing then to note that the five new waymarking sculptures created for the Gower coastal trail between Mumbles and Rhossili this year are all by lesser-known artists, all women, handcarving in oak.

PARKLIFE PIECES

Purpose-built sculpture parks got going in Britain in the late 1970s with the launch of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the first in the UK and, with more than 500 acres to play with, the largest of its kind in Europe. The rolling open fields provide an expansive backdrop to monumental pieces by Henry Moore, while the landscaped grounds and woods shelter works by a roll call of leading names from Elisabeth Frink to Andy Goldsworthy. Entrance is free, but donations are invited. If it’s site-specific art you’re after, head further north to Jupiter Artland, just outside Edinburgh, where collectors Robert and Nicky Wilson have invited contemporary artists to make new pieces for their 100-acre estate. Highlights include several works by Goldsworthy and Cells of Life by Charles Jencks, in which the earth itself has been sculpted into sinuous, swirling landforms.

Turn to page 64 of July's The Simple Things for more extraordinary and challenging, joyful outdoor art that helps us see the world differently.

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Life Skills | Sea kayaking

A day spent learning a new skill is mindful and mind full (in a good way) living. This month, Kate Pettifer learns sea kayaking.
 
A pond off the A10 is where I learnt to canoe. It involved a minibus and changing out of school uniform, so it was a while ago. The idea of getting out to sea on a kayak, in Dorset’s beautiful Studland Bay, is all the temptation I need to try it again.

I’m on a three-hour taster session: we kit up at the hut, then it’s down to the beach to practise our paddling, sitting on the sand, wearing wetsuits, helmets and spraydeck skirts. As you do. Josh, our instructor, runs through the basics. In touring kayaks, we head across the bay towards Old Harry Rocks to practise going forwards, backwards, left and right. No swimmers are harmed, no boats bashed – I take this as a success.

Then – joy of joy – we’re out of the wind and alongside the chalky cliffs, paddling serenely through mirror- calm shallows, a colourful garden of seaweed swaying just centimetres below in the bathwater-clear sea.

We paddle onto a pebble beach, only accessible by boat. Josh talks a bit about the geography and nature of the area. We sample pepper dulse, a feathery purple seaweed with a buttery-then-fiery taste. Then it’s back in the canoes to manoeuvre through a gap in the rocks, into open water, to see Old Harry himself. Paddling under an arch in the cliffs is a real highlight, before we set off back.

It’s a fairly strenuous couple of hours – sitting upright, bracing your legs, and paddling, of course. But touring kayaks lend themselves to slow and steady handling, so there’s no pressure to bomb along. More than exercise, though, it feels like a privilege to visit such a picturesque spot from sea level, enjoying the clear waters and the peace that bobbing around on the sea can bring.

A three-hour sea kayaking taster with Fore/Adventure costs £60; foreadventure.co.uk.

 

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My Plot | Daily life at Freedom Cove

As innovative gardens go, this water-borne home and veg patch takes some beating. In western Canada, Freedom Cove is a world filled with greenhouses, produce and art

Catherine King and Wayne Adams met in 1987 and immediately felt a connection through a shared love of nature and art. When they came across a pile of storm-strewn lumber in Cypress Bay, on Vancouver Island, they saw an opportunity to turn it into a home. Today, Freedom Cove has a lighthouse, four greenhouses, a dance platform, smokehouse and a candle-making workshop.

Daily life at Freedom Cove

We both get up around 7–8 am. In spring and summer, the first thing I do is check my plants to make sure they have enough water, open my greenhouses, and water any plants in propagators in the house while Wayne gets the fire going.

We eat breakfast together, then I do household chores and Wayne tends to the generator or solar system. Once I have done my bodywork – pilates, tai chi, or yoga – I head out to the garden to pot up plants, sow seeds, weed, prune, and do general maintenance.

We have lunch together and then focus on our art. We both carve, and I write, paint, dance, play musical instruments and sing. I am also a healer, so people come out to Freedom Cove to see me or we speak over Skype.

Wayne is constantly repairing water lines, painting, rebuilding damaged areas, repairing greenhouses, doing boat- and chainsaw-maintenance and getting firewood. He is also a fisherman, so spends a lot of time out on his boat. I am a vegetarian.

From June until September, tours come out to visit and we both show people around. We also make moulds of our carvings and turn them into beeswax candles, which we give to anyone who visits. In the evenings, after dinner, we’ll either work on a creative project, Skype with family and friends, or watch a movie.

Turn to page 110 for more from Freedom Cove.

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