Win his 'n' hers vintage shoes! (closed 28th February 2014)
agnes & norman
TO CELEBRATE VALENTINE'S DAY we've teamed up with agnes & norman to give away two pairs of beautiful, handmade vintage design shoes - a pair for each of you (or two pairs for you if you like!). Enter our competition below - but first let us tell you a bit about this exciting new vintage shoe brand...
In 1927 Agnes Stafford & Norman Simpson got married. It was snowing so Agnes had to be carried to the church so as not to spoil her shoes. Eight children and 22 grandchildren later, in 2001, one of those granddaughters became a shoe designer, travelling to shoe factories around the world. Several years later in 2008 she launched her own bridal shoe company. Four years on, with the bridal shoe company firmly established, Rachel Simpson returned to her roots to launch her latest venture and in 2013 a brand new and exciting vintage shoe brand was born.
Now agnes & norman want to bring together love birds everywhere and are giving away a pair of his 'n' hers* shoes, perfect for that first date, anniversary dinner or simply walking somewhere hand in hand. One lucky couple could win a pair of shoes each from agnes & norman by clicking here. Competition closes 28th February 2014.
T&Cs * Prize is equivalent to two pairs of shoes from the current online collection. No cash alternative, subject to availability. Prize can be his 'n' hers, hers 'n' hers, or his 'n' his.
Wordless Wednesday
High on the hill. Photograph: Linda Lashford
Inntravel the Slow holiday people
Rabbits are cute, as long as they're not in our gardens...
Remember the story about Beatrix Potter's cheeky Peter Rabbit and the long-suffering Mr. McGregor?
While we might think Mr. McGregor is mean and grumpy towards Peter and his family, it’s a regrettable truth that rabbits and gardens really don’t mix. Though most of us would prefer to live in harmony with our fluffy friends, the reality is they cause immeasurable damage to young trees and munch their way through newly planted borders and veg patches in one sitting.
Forewarned is forearmed as the saying goes, and rabbits are at their busiest during winter and spring, so it’s the perfect time to plan ahead to prevent them from causing mayhem in your plot this year...
It’s thought by some gardeners that family pets can be enough of a deterrent to nervous young rabbits, but while this might help in smaller gardens, a dog or a cat isn’t a practical solution at night when your pets are most likely to be found snoozing indoors (or if you have an allotment or veg patch away from your house). Alternatively, you could try a deterrent-based product that you’ll find in garden centres, DIY stores and online. They range from chemical-based sprays to gadgets that emit a sonic pulse or offensive odour. Be warned, success rates can be fairly erratic so it might not be worth spending too much money trying these out.
Rabbits are inquisitive creatures and will happily try those precious new plants and shrubs that you’ve bought. Try covering freshly planted specimens with nets or, if you’re really infested with rabbits, it might be worth going for varieties that are generally considered to be unpopular with rabbits, like peony, veronica, saliva, siberian iris, astilbe, allium, daylily. The RHS has a useful and comprehensive lists of plants and trees.
When it comes to the veg garden, rabbits can be fairly ruthless, leaving you little in the way of untouched crops to harvest. The one-acre, organic kitchen garden at The Grove in Pembrokeshire is surrounded by glorious countryside, and so vulnerable to rabbits who have to make the short journey from field to veg patch for their breakfast, lunch and dinner. Thankfully, head gardener, David Butt, is something of a horticultural genius and swears by his homemade garlic ‘potion’ to keep the rabbits at bay. The recipe is simple, 400g of garlic granules in a muslin bag tied to the inside of a 10 litre watering can filled with water. He leaves it for a day to steep and then decants the liquid. He dilutes 100ml of the garlic concentrate with 10 litres of water and spray over plants and crops.
However, if rabbits are a real problem for you, Richard Todd, Head Gardener at the National Trust’s Anglesey Abbey, suggests investing in a rabbit-proof fence to secure the whole garden to keep rabbits and all manner of other pests out. When they recently planted their new Winter Garden, the first consideration was to build such a fence around the perimeter to ensure their new, young trees, shrubs and plants would be left untouched. You can build them yourself or if you're not that handy with a mallet and drill, find a pest control company to do it for you. If you’re planting a few trees, rather than an arboretum’s worth, Richard says that a spiral tree guard is sufficient to protect the vulnerable bark. In true National Trust style, he adds ‘wrap wire netting around the tree guard and peg it into the ground as a belt and braces measure’.
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Wordless Wednesday
Inntravel the Slow holiday people
Ooh la la! The new issue is on sale today
HAVE A FLICK through the brand new issue of The Simple Things by clicking here.
And don't forget our special offer – Save 50% – 2 years for the price of 1 when you subscribe today!
On sale from 31st January in all major supermarkets, WHSmith, M&S and larger newsagents.
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Where is your favourite tea room?
In issue 20 of The Simple Things we share 'the 10 tea rooms we like a lot'! Find out how to add your favourites to the list.
We’re a nation of tea rooms: there’s not a market town, beauty spot or city without its little gem. In issue 20 of the magazine we've compiled a list of our favourites in the following hugely scientific categories:
- For retro indulgence
- For cream teas with a conscience
- For being pretty as a picture
- For coffee drinkers
- For heavenly smells
- For a huge slice of cake
- For the best cuppa in Britain
- For the sea views
- For the treacle tart
- For the English tea
Post your favourites on our Facebook page and share the love! As a little taster here's our favourite retro haunt.
FOR RETRO INDULGENCE... Blackbird Tea Rooms, Brighton, East Sussex In a townhouse just behind the Brighton seafront, they know how to do vintage. Potted palms, broderie anglaise tablecloths, wooden dressers laden with antique jars and tins; even the waitresses sport victory rolls to match their red lips and neat black uniforms. The wobbly cakes on their reclaimed glass stands taste as irresistible as they look, dusted with icing sugar, topped with berries and petals and served on fine bone china – what else. www.blackbirdtearooms.com
Find all 10 of our favourites in issue 20 of The Simple Things.
Photographs: Decades of Elegance
3 tips for small business success
You'll never guess number 3… Nick Cooper, the creative force behind successful small business Stamp Shoes, shares the top 3 things he's learned from setting up his own bespoke shoe workshop.
NICK COOPER, founder of Stamp Shoes, lives in Northampton and creates beautiful bespoke footwear from his own designs.
After my religious studies degree I tried admin at a charity in London but didn’t last long! I ended up moving back to my parents in Shropshire and shelf filling at a supermarket. At this point I asked myself, “What do I really want to do?” I arrived at ‘craft’. I ended up moving to the 'shoe capital' of Britain, Northampton, to learn about shoes. I wanted to create my own set-up as soon as I could, make the designs that I wanted to make and then work out how to generate money from it! Nothing happened for about a year, but then I found a workshop space at the Innovation Centre in Northampton University. I bought a little bit of machinery and some materials and started experimenting. It's all taken off from there.
3 THINGS SETTING UP STAMP SHOES HAS TAUGHT ME
1. Don’t give up your day job until you’re established. Go part-time if you can and develop your passion alongside your other work, or at the weekends. Start your business gradually and slowly scale back your hours of employment when you know you can.
2. I never set a goal of making even a single penny. It was daunting setting up a business so I set my goals fairly low. I just wanted to have a complete shoemaking workshop and create a collection of shoes I was happy with, with designs that I’d wear myself.
3. If you’ve never done it, go and stay in a monastery for at least a week, even if you’re sceptical of religious belief. Every summer I go and stay with some monks in the Burgundy countryside. It’s perhaps the only time when I feel completely safe and fully myself. The monks do ‘simple’ on a daily basis and in a way that enables people to experience a complete and lasting joy.
Read more about Nick in our regular series, Beyond The Nine-to-Five in issue 20 of The Simple Things.
The best rich chocolate tart
Try our rich chocolate tart with a hint of cardamom and cinnamon and you'll be smitten. It's the perfect finale to a romantic supper or a weekend indulgence with friends. Divine.
Few desserts make a dinner guest’s eyes light up like a rich chocolate tart. Serve in lavish quantities.
RICH CHOCOLATE TART Cloves, cardamom and cinnamon make for a grown-up take on a gooey pud.
- 375ml double cream
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 3 tsp cinnamon powder
- 3 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 150g dark chocolate, chopped
- 150g milk chocolate, chopped
- A few whole cherries with stems for garnish
1. Prepare and bake a pastry case in a 25cm tart tin. To make life a little easier, you could buy a ready-made pastry case as the base for your tart. We promise we won’t tell…
2. Take a small saucepan, add the double cream and spices and place over a medium heat.
3. Bring to the boil and then immediately remove and set aside. Leave for about 30 mins.
4. Place chopped chocolate in a mixing bowl and set aside.
5. Place saucepan back on the heat and bring to the boil. Remove immediately and then pour over the chopped chocolate. Stir until the mixture is lovely and glossy.
6. Pour the chocolate mix into the prepared pastry case. Transfer to the fridge and leave to set for approximately 2 hours.
7. Serve tart at room temperature topped with the whole cherries.
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- Photography: MINDI COOKE Recipes & styling: LYNDEL MILLER
Find the recipes for a complete Valentine's Day Supper including Mushroom Soup, Herbed Buttered Oysters and Pomegranate Mignonette Oysters in issue 20 of The Simple Things.
Create your own indoor herb garden
Create your own indoor herb garden this weekend and you could be picking homegrown rosemary to flavour your Sunday roast!
WHAT TO GROW There's nothing more rewarding than enhancing your cooking using homegrown freshly picked herbs. Plant this trio and you're covered for a host of dishes.
THYME can be grown successfully indoors – it simply needs a bright windowsill and some basic care and attention to thrive.
ROSEMARY The heady scent emanating from rosemary is delicious, and this highly fragrant herb is very easy to grow. Being a Mediterranean herb, it will appreciate a warm sunny spot.
LAVENDER The lavender plant makes a lovely partner for both the thyme and the rosemary. Lavender is hard to resist, boasting beautiful flowers and an arresting scent. It adds a delicate flavour to cooking that’s especially wonderful in light desserts.
HOW TO PLANT YOUR CONTAINER A wooden crate found in a junk shop makes a perfect herb garden planter.
You will need
- An old wooden crate
- Drainage material eg. gravel or small pebbles
- Potting compost. We recommend environmentally friendly, peat-free enriched BioChar compost eg. GroChar from Carbon Gold.
- Decorative mulch eg. fine gravel or shells
1. Cover the bottom of the crate with a layer of drainage material, such as gravel or pebbles, aiming to fill about a quarter of the container’s volume. This will allow the roots to breathe and prevent them from drowning.
2. Fill the container with potting mix to bring the plant up so that the top of the root-ball is just beneath the rim of the container. Make sure it is not lopsided.
3. Carefully feed more potting mix in between the plants and container, and firm it down. Avoid compacting the potting mix too much, though, as this will hinder drainage.
4. Add a layer of decorative mulch, such as fine gravel or shells, to finish off the planting. Not only does this make the container look more attractive, but it can also help to reduce the rate of water evaporation.
Find more inspiring indoor gardening ideas in issue 20 of The Simple Things.
Bliss in a bite
Impress your friends by offering up these delectable macarons.
Macarons (makes about 30)
175g ground almonds
175g icing sugar
50g (1-2 eggs) egg whites
100g egg whites (about 3 egg whites)
200g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For different flavourings: Pistachio macarons (replace ground almonds with ground pistachios), Coffee (add 2 tsp instant coffee), Raspberry (add 1 tbsp freeze-dried raspberry powder) and Mango (1 tbsp freeze-dried mango powder).
Cookie cutter (about 4cm), large piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle, baking sheets lined with greaseproof paper.
1. Take the cookie cutter and a sheet of paper or card. Draw around the cutter to make rows of circles on the paper, leaving a bit of space inbetween. This is your template.
2. Put the ground almonds and icing sugar in a food processor and process to a fine powder. Transfer to a mixing bowl with the 50g egg whites and beat together with a spatula until paste-like. Set aside.
3. Put the 100g egg whites in a separate, heatproof bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until soft peaks form. Get a saucepan ready on the heat with a shallow depth of simmering water. Set the bowl on top of the saucepan making sure the bottom doesn't touch. Add the sugar to the egg whites and whisk until it starts to increase in volume.
4. Remove the bowl from the heat and continue to whisk until thick, glossy and cool. Add the vanilla, gently fold in the almond mixture being careful not to over-mix. Add flavourings if using and a couple of dots of food colouring paste to boost the colour if you like.
5. Slip your template between the prepared paper and baking sheet. Fill a piping bag with mixture and pipe rounds onto the paper, gently pulling the template out after you've finished. Set aside for 30-60 minutes to firm up and form a slight skin. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 160C (325F) Gas 3.
6. Sprinkle any chosen decorations on top but not too much otherwise they won't rise. Bake the macarons with the oven door slightly ajar for 10-12 minutes, keeping an eye on them in case they brown too quickly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Fill with creme patisserie, (loosened with a mixture of whipping and double cream) a flavoured ganache (see below) or just jam.
Recipe taken from Patisserie at Home by Will Torrent, Photography Jonathan Gregson (Ryland, Peters and Small, £19.99). For details on how to make raspberry, pistachio, coffee and mango ganache see page 108 of the book.
Read our mouth-watering interview with king of patisserie, Will Torrent, in Issue 20 of The Simple Things, on sale 31st January.
Say it with a poem
You'll notice we're in rather a romantic mood in the next issue of The Simple Things (Issue 20, on sale 31st January). In the wonderfully nostalgic The Lost Art of Writing a Love Letter we uncover the principles of penning the perfect love note. A few lines from a beautiful poem can capture a feeling perfectly. If you're looking for inspiration check out three of our favourite love poems. Click here to read Carol Ann Duffy's 'Words, Wide Night', here for Frank O'Hara's 'Animals', and here for 'You're Beautiful' by Simon Armitage. Get your tissues at the ready..
Those who can, do
IF YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF Do Lectures you're missing out on free talks on big ideas and clever thinking from very bright people. Think Tim Smit of the Eden project, the chief of the Sioux nation, the man who reinvented meditation for modern living and the woman who directed Pixar's Brave. For starters.
You can read our interview with the inspiring Hieatts (David and Clare) who began Do Lectures in issue 20 of The Simple Things. And when they are not doing Do they have got a town in Wales making jeans again.
Make your own simple spit
In the new issue (on sale 30 January), our adventurous River Cottage chef Gill Meller wraps up warm and prepares fire-roast leg of lamb. But first you need your fire – and something to roast it on. Gill used an old estate railing he found but for those of us not so lucky, click here for instructions to make your own. And if that's too much trouble, you can buy one here. How to light the fire? You're on your own there.
Wordless Wednesday
Inntravel the Slow holiday people
The Simple Things – Beth Nielsen Chapman
American singer songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman has long been a favourite of ours, so we were thrilled to hear that the lead track on her new album is called The Simple Things!
A beautiful song with beautiful lyrics we're sure you'll agree.
Uncovered by Beth Nielsen Chapman is now available to order from her website.
Just fondue it
You don't need to live in the Alps - or, indeed the 1970s - to enjoy the fun of a fondue. Our gathering this month have reinvented this unfairly ridiculed dish into a pretty classy looking supper party.
Fancy having a go yourself? John Lewis has a cast iron fondue set. And here's the recipe for a classic version:
Cheese fondue (for 4)
800 g cheese (Gruyère, Comté, Appenzeller, Beaufort)
250 ml white wine
1⁄2 garlic clove, peeled and halved
1 teaspoon cornflour
1. Cut the skin off the cheese and grate it.
2. Using the cut side of the garlic clove, rub the bottom and side of the fondue pot. Pour the wine into the fondue pot and warm over a medium heat until the wine starts to simmer.
3. Turn down the heat and add the cheese step by step, stirring constantly (drawing an eight pattern)*. When all the cheese has melted and the texture is smooth, mix the cornflour to a paste with a little water and then add to the pot. Stir well. Remove from the heat and place the fondue pot on top of the burner on the table. Serve with cubes of good quality bread.
* If your cheese starts to curdle just add extra warm white wine.