Competition: Win Dawes bikes for all the family! (ended 11th August 2014)

Dawes has put together a prize set to make your summer: brand new bikes for two adults and two children. Enter our competition!

The Tour de France’s arrival in the UK is likely to bring more than yellow jerseys to our shores. Cycle fever – kickstarted by the 2012 Olympics and now cemented by the world’s most famous bicycle race coming to Yorkshire – is in full flow. And this month we’re doing our bit for the two-wheel revolution with a brilliant prize.

Homegrown bike company Dawes Cycles has come up with an incredible package to get the whole family out and about on two wheels (Lycra optional). They’ve been making bikes since 1926 and craft each model with carefully tailored components to ensure a smooth ride. Enter this month’s competition for your chance to win four brand-new Dawes bikes (two adult frames and two for children), worth over £1,000.

How to enter

Visit https://www.futurecompetitions.com/BIKES/ by 11th August 2014 for your chance to win four new bikes from Dawes Cycles.

For more about Dawes Cycles and to see their full range of bikes, visit www.dawescycles.com.

the bikes you could win:

1 Duchess (ladies)

1 Ambassador (gents)

1 Lightning (boys)

1 Venus (girls)

The prize can be adjusted to suit your required frame sizes, subject to availability, of course.

Jekka's Herbetum Open Days

Don’t miss the chance to sneak a peak behind the scenes of Jamie Oliver’s favourite herb grower, with open days at Jekka McVicar’s new Herbetum in South Gloucestershire.

Over the last 3 years Jekka has slowly transformed her working nursery into a beautiful display garden that showcases over 300 different culinary herbs in rather stylish (and practical) wooden raised beds. It’s said to be the biggest display of its kind in the UK so you’ll find plenty of inspiration about which herbs you can try in your garden, balcony or window sill.

Jekka takes two mini-tours of her Herbetum during the day, so you have plenty of opportunity to ask her advice and pick up tips about growing herbs as well as taste some of the varieties used in a delicious selection of homemade cakes as well as herbal teas on offer in their tearoom.

Look out for the August issue of The Simple Things, featuring Jekka's herb garden planting plans.

Jekka McVicar’s Herbetum Open Days:

13, 25 & 26 July, 10am - 4pm

(13 July opens for the NGS and a £5 entry fee goes to the charity)

Find out more.

Words: Cinead McTernan

Photograph of Jekka McVicar: Jason Ingram

Summer sounds from Josie da Bank

Hit play on our soundtrack to summer with sounds chosen by Josie da Bank, creative director and producer of Bestival and Camp Bestival.

Take the time to create a playlist of favourite summer songs and you won’t regret it. Long car journeys, garden parties, evenings sitting outdoors – can all be more fun with the right tunes to hand.

No time to make your own? No worries. Hit play, sit back and listen to the sounds of summer with our Spotify playlist, compiled by none less than Bestival founder Josie Da Bank.

Prospect Park, Brooklyn

Heading to New York City this summer? Seek out Prospect Park in Brooklyn: a masterpiece of landscape architecture at the green heart of NYC's largest borough.

Photographer and stylist, Julia Gartland, decided to hold an informal, pot luck picnic in Prospect Park for July's The Simple Things.

And what a location it is. According to Adrian Benepe, "Olmsted and Vaux designed Central Park, learned from their mistakes, and then designed Prospect Park." Indeed, this 585-acre oasis is an ambitious feat of design, packed with attractions such as the Long Meadow, a 90-acre meadow; Prospect Park Zoo; The Boathouse; Brooklyn's only lake, covering 60 acres; and the Prospect Park Bandshell, which hosts free outdoor concerts in the summertime.

Over ten million visits each year prove the Prospect Park has something for everyone, locals and tourists, young and old, from skating to birding to pedal boating to picnicking on the Long Meadow on beautiful days. The Park also boasts a stunning variety of natural and geological features, such as Brooklyn’s only forest, rolling meadows and shaded hillsides.

Find out more about Prospect Park, and read an extract from Prospect Park: Olmsted & Vaux's Brooklyn Masterpiece by David P. Colley (cover pictured).

Turn to page 26 of July's The Simple Things for beautiful photographs and recipes to inspire your own portable feast - on sale 27 June 2014.

Recipe: Lemon verbena sherbet

In June's The Simple Things, Lia Leendertz picks early-season crops and herbs for that first taste of summer. Turn to page 44 for fresh and tasty home-grown recipes, including this one for lemon verbena sherbet.

If you don't have a dedicated space for growing veggies, you can still pack your food full of summer flavours by growing a few pots of herbs. If you haven't discovered lemon verbena, then make procuring a plant your new resolution. The leaves taste like sherbet and make the best herb tea.

Or try making lemon verbena sherbet: 'A couple of years ago I came across a recipe for making sherbet, and I have been strangely addicted to it ever since. Hand your children a little egg cup full of sherbet with a handful of strawberries to dip in - and they'll be delighted', says Lia Leendertz.

The fizziness comes from the tongue-tingling combination of citric acid and bicarbonate of soda: the moisture on your tongue sets of the reaction, releasing fizzing carbon dioxide.

Lemon verbena sherbet (makes about 70g)

You will need:

Pared peel of 4 lemons About 8 lemon verbena stems, hung up to dry for a few days 60g icing sugar 1/4 tsp citric acid (from chemists) 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1. Roast lemon peel on a baking tray in a low oven for 30 minutes until crispy.

2. Strip the leaves from the stems (they must also be crispy) and whizz peel and leaves together in a blender.

3. Sift sugar, citric acid and bicarb into a bowl and add the ground leaf and peel. Serve with sliced fruit.

Not got June’s The Simple Things yet? Buy or download your copy now.

More recipes from The Simple Things.

Letterpress: top five buys

Letterpress: a mucky, inky, antiquated process that is experiencing something of a revival. Love letterpress style? Here are five top buys from The Simple Things. Letterpress was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid 15th-century to print books and pamphlets. Until offset printing was developed in the 20th century, it was the principal means of distributing ideas and inciting insurrection. Radical stuff.

Today, the irregular fonts and relief printing process of letterpress lend themselves to cards and posters proclaiming nostalgic witticisms, mottoes, and helpful instruction. June's The Simple Things talks to some of the leading lights of letterpress today, offering a 60-second insight into this curious craft and giving three options for learning to letterpress. Turn to page 93 to find out more.

Want the effect without the effort? Try one of our top five buys (left to right):

1. Get your scouse down pat with this Liverpool Scouse Sayings poster, £22, The Red Button Press.

2. Say bon voyage in style with these luggage tags, £6.95, Meticulous Ink.

3. The Great Bear, re-imagined as a letterpress card, £2.95, Ice and Earth.

4. Take note: this Tickety Boo notebook is perfect for sketches, ideas and more, £5.00, SORT.

5. Mais oui! Go French with this poster. It's all good, £7.32, The Motivated Type.

Not got June’s The Simple Things yet? Buy or download your copy now.

Go on a cheese picnic

Which cheeses would a cheese expert choose to have in a cheese-centric hamper? We find out how to compile the perfect cheese picnic.

If you want to make a picnic special but don't have time to start baking quiches and prepping salads, keep it simple and focus on the best bits, the cheese. All you need is a modest selection, some hunks of good bread and/or simple biscuits, a bottle of something cold and, voila, a faff-free feast.

We asked Hero Hirsh from artisan cheese supplier, Paxton and Whifield, for her word on the curd.

Montgomery Cheddar

A full-flavoured, firm cheddar. Every picnic needs one. Drink with: English pale ale or pear juice.

Camembert de Normandie

A soft cheese that ripens nicely in warm weather. Drink with: dry cider or apple juice.

Aged Gouda

Best aged for around 24 months with a sweet, nutty flavour, this has a creamy texture but is firm enough not to melt en route. Drink with: dry cider or apple juice.

Chaource

Triple cream cheese, very creamy but with a refreshing acidity. Drink with: bubbles - champagne or sparkling elderflower, ideally.

Cornish Blue

A firm blue cheese with a delicious sweetness that's harder than Stilton, so travels well. Drink with: apricot juice or a full-bodied white wine (such as a punchy chardonnay).

Not got June’s The Simple Things yet? Buy or download your copy now.

Recipe ideas from The Simple Things.

Sponsored post: June’s cut flower patch planting diary

Louise Curley, author of The Cut Flower Patch, shares this month’s planting diary.

'June is the month when I breathe a little sigh of relief. The seeds which I have nurtured into young plants over the last few months are all now planted into their final homes on my cut flower patch. The last of the half-hardy annuals have been planted out as the days and nights should hopefully be warm enough now for these tender plants. Cosmos, rudbeckias and dahlias will take a little longer to come into flower than the hardy annuals but they will provide buckets full of blooms throughout the summer and autumn.

'It’s a little odd after months of there being a sea of green my windowsills, greenhouses and cold frame are now empty. It would be easy to sit back and think that was the last of the seed sowing for the year but there’s a range of plants which can be sown now if you can muster up some more seed sowing energy. Miss this opportunity and you’ll miss out on some of the best cut flowers.

'Biennials tend to be a bit neglected but they are well worth the effort. Sow from now up until mid-July and they’ll make small plants this year which will sit in the ground over winter. Then, next spring they will shoot away providing cut flowers in late spring through to August. This makes them perfect for that difficult gap when spring bulbs have finished and your hardy annuals are yet to start flowering. Sweet williams and wallflowers are classic cottage garden flowers; both are fragrant and last well once picked. Other biennials to try are Iceland poppies, forget-me-nots, sweet rocket and honesty.'

Louise Curley is the author of The Cut Flower Patch, published by Frances Lincoln.

Recipes: Five ways with strawberries

Strawberry season is upon us, and we're looking forward to getting out into the fields to pick-our-own. Meanwhile, these five strawberry recipes are summer on a plate.

Not just for pudding, these scarlet nuggets of sunshine can brighten up any plate from brunch to party nibbles.

Strawberry and brown sugar toasted brioche sandwiches (makes 4)

Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F. Cover a roasting tray with foil and place 8 slices of brioche on the tray. Toast till golden brown on each side. Set aside to cool. Hull and quarter 400g strawberries into a bowl, add a heaped tsp of vanilla bean paste and 100g soft brown cane sugar and mix well. Sandwich the strawberry mixture between two slices of thinly buttered brioche.

Strawberry, parma ham and parmesan crostini (makes 8)

Hull and quarter 200g strawberries and set aside. Take 8 slices of sourdough and 8 slices of parma ham. Toast the bread and arrange the ham on top. Next come the strawberries, then sprinkle with parmesan shavings. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, before topping with basil leaves and freshly cracked black pepper. Serve straight away.

Strawberry, pomegranate, fennel and radish salad (serves 4)

Hull and dice 250g strawberries. Slice two heads of fennel very thinly with a mandoline or sharp knife. Finely slice 100g spring onions and 250g radishes. Mix cut fruit and veg and 100g pomegranate seeds with a handful of roughly chopped mint. Combine 50ml olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and 1tbsp pomegranate molasses and season. Dress the salad and top with crumbled feta.

Macerated berries with honey and mint (serves 4)

Hull and halve 500g strawberries lengthways into a large bowl and set aside. In a jug, pour 250ml cloudy apple juice and 75ml runny honey and mix well. Tear a handful of fresh mint leaves into pieces and add them to the marinade. Pour over the strawberries and coat the fruit gently, so you don't bruise it. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave somewhere cool (not the fridge) for an hour. Serve in individual bowls.

Strawberry, goat's cheese and black pepper tart (serves 4)

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Roll out a pack of shortcrust pastry then cut circles big enough to fit 4 mini tartlet tins. Blind bake for 20-30 minutes. Hull and halve 400g strawberries and mix in a bowl with 1tsp cracked black pepper. Chop a spring of rosemary needles and mix with the fruit. Spoon the filling into the pastry and top with a slice of soft goat's cheese. Pop back in the oven for 10 minutes.

Not got June’s The Simple Things yet? Buy or download your copy now.

More recipes from The Simple Things.

Wordless Wednesday

The perfect spot to reflect. A jetty at Aperlae, The Lycian Way, Turkey. Inntravel the Slow holiday people

Making: Upcycled jeans runner

Give an al fresco meal the stylish setting it deserves. Turn a picnic into an occasion with our upcycled jeans runner project. Ditch the saccharine sweeness of picnic pastels, and add a contemporary edge to your outdoor table instead. Just rummage for old jeans and begin. Make the denim runner to whatever size your table dictates.

Supplies

Old pair of jeans Fabric scissors Sewing machine Thread

1. Cut the legs off a pair of jeans (as far up towards the crotch as possible) using fabric scissors.

2. Cut down the inside-leg seam to open each leg out and then iron them.

3. Now hem each edge using your sewing machine.

4. Hem the cut edge at the end of one of the jean pieces, then hand-sew or machine-sew it on top of the other piece.

Project by interiors journalist, Heather Young, who blogs about her enviably stylish and crafty life at Growing Spaces.

For two more midsummer table makes, turn to page 40 of June's The Simple Things. Buy or download your copy now.

Win a personalised OS map and binoculars with Inntravel! (archived)

We’ve teamed up with Inntravel to give one lucky reader the great prize of a pair of Nikon Travelite bins and a customised OS map focused around your area of choice with a personal front cover! The Nikon Travelite VI 8x25 binoculars are just the thing to take on holiday, for a bit of bird-spotting or to stash in a day-sack for long walks. Retailing at £80, these great little bins are waterproof, fog-proof and foldable and a handy addition to any trip. The personalised OS map can be centred around the location of your choice in the UK – a favourite walk perhaps or simply centred on your home – just choose the location for the map; pick a scale and format; and select your own photo for the cover!

Remember the moment – and the place, with Inntravel. Just ‘like’ the Inntravel Facebook page to enter!

Simple style: The White T-shirt

Read our potted history of the classic white T-shirt in June's issue of The Simple Things? Have a little look at our tee outfits. Don't be fooled by its uncomplicated looks - the white T-shirt declares angst and rebellion like no other item of clothing. Since being liberated from underwear status by American sailors, who revealed it when removing their shirts in hot climates, it has become the wardrobe staple for the disaffected.

For women, it should be crisp and chic. Jane Birkin got it right in her Serge Gainsbourg days as she padded around Paris wearing one with jeans and a gap-toothed grin. Its combination of insouciance and comfort maintains its style status, but finding the perfect one can challenge even the most fashion-savvy.

White T-shirt style – three outfits, from left to right:

1. A true wardrobe staple, this classic white t-shirt (CC, £25) is probably best worn under a fitted jacket (Warehouse, £60), with jeans (M&S, £23.60) and loafers (Swear, £130) for a soignee, Rive-Gauche kinda vibe.

2. Made from linen with cascading sleeves, this is a pretty take on the classic (Mango, £17.99). Team with a broderie pencil skirt (Boden, £79) for a delicate summer outfit.

3. A flattering V-neck (J Crew, £30), especially when teamed with tanned collarbones and a pair of boyfriend jeans (H&M, £29.99).

Turn to page 24 of The Simple Things June issue for more t-shirt style. Buy or download your copy now.

Recipe: Elderflower champagne

Read our feature on ‘posh squash’ on page 35 of June’s The Simple Things? Get picking elderflowers before the season’s out, and use them to make this simple elderflower ‘champagne’ from blogger, Emma Bradshaw. With elderflowers in full bloom, it seems a waste not to use them in the kitchen. Have a go at this recipe from blogger Emma Bradshaw, who says: 'I've tried lots of different ways to make elderflower champagne, but this is my favourite most tried and tested method.'

You will need:

About 30 elderflower heads, in full bloom (pick on a sunny day away from the roadside, making sure you don't strip a tree of all its flowers!) 2kg natural sugar 4 litres hot water + 2 litres cold Juice and zest of four lemons 1-2 tablespoons white wine vinegar A pinch of dried yeast (although you may not need this)

Method:

1. Put the hot water and sugar into a large container (a preserving pan or spotlessly clean bucket is good) and stir until the sugar dissolves, then top up with cold water to 6 litres. 2. Add the lemon juice and zest, the vinegar and the flower heads and stir gently. 3. Cover with a clean muslin and leave to ferment in a cool, airy place for a couple of days. Take a look at the brew at this point, and if it’s not becoming a little foamy and obviously beginning to ferment, add a pinch of yeast. 4. Leave the mixture to ferment, again covered with muslin, for a further four to five days. Strain the liquid through a sieve lined with muslin and decant into sterilised glass bottles. 5. Seal and leave to ferment in the bottles for a further eight days before serving, chilled.

Makes around 20 bottles.

Recipe and images by Emma Bradshaw. Visit Emma's blog for more wild food recipes and outdoor adventures.

Not got June's The Simple Things yet? Buy or download your copy now.

More recipes from The Simple Things.

WIN a week in a VW camper! (closed 10 June 2014)

Enter our competition to win a holiday in a classic VW campervan. Thanks to O'Connors campers we have a week's stay up for grabs. Choose between a 1960s splitscreen Volkswagen, a 1970s bay window or a California campervan and you could be roaming Cornwall, Devon and Somerset with your family. Kitted out with everything you'll need, these stylish vintage campers will make for a memorable holiday.

Find out more about campervan holidays at O'Connors Campers

Click here to enter. Closing date is 10 June 2014.

The prize includes fully comprehensive insurance for the first driver, a sink, cooker, fridge, camping gas, mains hook up, cooking equipment, crockery, cutlery and an extra outdoor table and chairs.

Terms and conditions apply. Visit www.futuretcs.com for more details.

Food from afar: Pintxos recipe

Pintxos are elegant bites from the Basque region. Try a recipe for Sun-dried Tomato, Goats Cheese, Pistachio & Balsamic Pintxos.

Pintxos - pronounced 'pinch-oss' - may have much in common with their Spanish relatives, tapas: bite-sized snacks consumed in bars with amigos until long after stuffy, old northern Europe has gone to bed. However, they differ in crucial ways.

One, the bread factor. In pintxos, it's used as a mattress for a variety of fresh toppings to recline upon.

Secondly, there are the toothpicks from which they get their name - 'pinto' meaning thorn or spike - which lock bread and topping together, and enable the waiter to tot up the bill at the end.

Try your hand at an easy pintxos recipe for Sun-dried Tomato, Goats Cheese, Pistachio & Balsamic Pintxos from Anneli Faiers and her Delicieux blog.

Turn to page 52 of June’s The Simple Things for the full feature (buy or download now).

More recipes from The Simple Things.

Homemade sweet recipes

Clear an afternoon, you're going on a confectionary adventure! We've found four homemade sweet recipes. 'Fruit pastilles aren't tricky to make,' says Annie Rigg, author of Sweet Things, whose recipe is featured in the June issue of The Simple Things (p112). 'All you need is a sugar thermometer, heavy based saucepan and an hour.'

If you've tried your hand at these already, you probably want to make more. Go Willy Wonka and turn your kitchen into a candy production line with our top picks for homemade sweets from around the web.

Red candy apple slices

Let's kid ourselves these aren't all bad, shall we? Recipe here.

Microwave salted caramels

Yes, you read that right - salted caramels you can make in the microwave. This could get dangerous... Recipe here.

Homemade sweet tarts

We love how cute these look all wrapped up and ready to go - recipe here.

Homemade marshmallows

Easy to make, apparently, and can be flavoured with anything that takes your fancy. Let's give it a go. Recipe here.

Turn to page 112 of June's The Simple Things for a homemade fruit pastille recipe (buy or download now).

The Simple Things June issue: out today

June's The Simple Things is out today - find out what's inside our midsummer issue  When dawn comes early and dusk comes late, it seems like there's all the time in the world to do, or not do, stuff. Time for strawberries, of course, for a clinking glass of elderflower cordial, to admire a single bloom or go looking for ladybirds. Embrace T-shirt weather and tea bread loaves, walking and talking, sailing and snoozing. Being busy merely means there are peas to be picked, fishing rods to be held. It means taking time to live well. Time to enjoy The Simple Things.

Join us for a midsummer feast: all manner of delectable nibbles and devilish puds to share in our Gathering feature, page 26.

Pev Manners, cordials king, explains how he seals summer's flavours in a bottle to savour all year, page 35.

The woman behind Camp Bestival, Josie Da Bank, gives us her take on fun, family, and fancy dress, page 54.

Turn to page 62 for Arianna Huffington's secret to success - it doesn't involve sitting still.

River Cottage's head chef, Gillon Meller, fishes for supper from the deck of a wooden boat, page 64.

We explore where and how to tackle the art of fishing on page 72.

If you hanker for more greenery, reinvent your indoor space with foliage and fronds on page 82.

A room of one's own - it's time to reclaim the shed: the perfect place to think, create and escape (page 90).

Plus - turn to Miscellany on page 107, for a curious combination of the practical and the playful, including how to finesse a G&T, pitch a tent, take lavender cuttings, get a kick out of Brazil, make fruit pastilles, know your ladybirds, strawberry recipes and more.

Have a flick through our sampler for more

The case for meat

At the close of National Vegetarian Week, biologist Colin Tudge argues the case for meat. Vegetarians and vegans say we should not eat meat. The agricultural industry, meanwhile, strives to produce as much as possible. The former claims that livestock farming is cruel and unsustainable. The industrialists say that by supplying more and more meat they are satisfying demand. The truth lies in between - but where?

Biological and historical evidence reveals us not as frustrated carnivores but as opportunist omnivores. We like meat, yet, as with other primates, a little goes a long way. But since World War II, meat has been marketed with all possible vigour. The real purpose of this was not to meet demand but remove the market ceiling on cereals. It is all too easy with industrial methods to produce a glut, and waste must be built into the system to keep prices up. Factory-raised livestock consumes 50 per cent of the world's cereal output and more than 90 per cent of soya output, and does the job perfectly. The same principle is applied to diamonds. Demand is not a measure of desire but of how much can be sold.

So where do we strike the balance between vegan austerity and industrial excess? Here we find huge serendipities. For if we kept just enough animals to clear up surpluses and made reasonable use of land that cannot easily be cultivated, we'd produce quite a few animals, though far fewer than now.

By farming sustainably, we would produce 'plenty of plants, not much meat and maximum variety' which is what nutritionists say we should eat. This nine-word adage, 'plenty of plants, not much meat and maximum variety' summarises the basic structure of the great cuisines: Indian, Chinese, Persian, Lebanese, Italian, Provencale, or indeed Polish or traditional American. All consist of huge piles of staples (rice, bread, potatoes, beans) with vegetables and meat used primarily for garnish and stock - and just the occasional feast, like the Christmas turkey.

Turn to page 96 of May's issue of The Simple Things for the full article - buy or download now.

Recipes from The Simple Things.

See our vegetarian Mediterranean feast for some meat-free meal ideas.

June issue cover reveal!

Psst! Have a look at the cover of the June issue of The Simple Things.

Out on 30 May 2014, The Simple Things June issue is available from all good newsagents and supermarkets, or you can buy online or download an issue now.