Blog
Taking Time to Live Well
Making it to the market on time: “Fortified by a delicious breakfast, we arrived in the main square to find Provençal life laid out before us: cheeses and meats galore; piles of fresh fruit and vegetables; and cafés full of coffee and Pastis-sipping locals. It was a Monday morning like no other.”
Moments that matter… brought to you by Inntravel, the Slow Holiday people
Turn to page 68 of May's The Simple Things for more.
Founded by three writers, Dan Kieran, John Mitchinson and Justin Pollard, Unbound books is trailblazing a new way of getting books to readers. The trio had already headed down the traditional route to publication – publishers, bookshops, marketing departments – and felt that there was too much distance between author and audience, so they set about bridging the gap. Crowd-funding, they decided, was the way forward. Caitlin Harvey, Unbound’s community co-ordinator, explains: “An author comes up with an idea and if we think it has legs, then we film a pitch video, calculate the
amount we need to raise to publish the book and then put it live on the Unbound site. If we get enough people to pledge for the book in advance, we publish it and send all the supporters the ebook, a limited first edition and any other rewards included with their pledge level.” They’ll consider everything as long as it’s well written, and once you sign up to an idea you get access to the authors’ shed, an online space where writers share their techniques, showcase their work, ask for readers’ opinions and talk about all things book related. Brilliant.
This simple punch originated in Germany and is traditionally served on May Day. Sweet woodruff*, Galium odoratum, is a creeping herb found in shady patches under trees. Its leaves and flowers add sweet, herbal, vanilla and woody notes to dry white wine and champagne. Pick the leaves and flowers the day before, so they dry out slightly and give off a stronger scent.
MAKES 14 SERVINGS
1 small bunch fresh sweet woodruff
250ml water
4 tbsp caster sugar
750ml bottle dry white wine, such as a German Reisling
750ml bottle champagne or dry sparkling wine
TOOLS
baking sheet
sealable Tupperware
paper towel
small nonstick pan
wooden spoon
punch bowl
plastic wrap
ladle
1 First you need to dry out some of the woodruff. Remove any damaged leaves from the bunch and spread out about a third on a baking sheet. Place on the bottom shelf of a recently switched-off oven, with the door open, or in an airing cupboard, overnight.
2 Meanwhile, line a Tupperware box with a damp sheet of paper towel and place the remaining leaves and flowers inside to stay fresh. Seal the box and place in the fridge until just before you serve the punch.
3 About two hours before serving, heat the water and sugar in the nonreactive pan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool. Meanwhile, place the semi- dried woodruff in a punch bowl and pour the dry white wine over it. Cover and put in the fridge for at least an hour.
4 As soon as the sugar syrup has cooled, add it to the punch bowl, stir, and return to the fridge for an hour. Before serving, remove the semi-dried woodruff with a ladle and replace with the fresh leaves and flowers from the Tupperware box.
5 Serve in a wine glass topped up with bubbly and garnished with a woodruff leaf or flower.
Suggestion: Strawberries, or even better, wild strawberries would also make a great addition to this punch, as would wild violet flowers and lemon slices.
* Sweet woodruff has been used since the Middle Ages to treat everything from cuts to liver problems. Today herbalists use it as an anti- inflammatory and to treat stomach ache. It contains coumarin, which is toxic in high doses, so drink this punch in moderation, won’t you?
Recipe taken from Wild Cocktails by Lottie Muir (Cico Books, £16.99) Photography by Kim Lightbody.
At last we have a new Apple app!
‘The Simple Things – Taking Time to Live Well’ is available to download here
We’ve got a very nice special offer to new subscribers: If you take out a year’s subscription to The Simple Things Magazine digital edition through Apple newsstand between 29 April and 25 May, you’ll receive 12 back issues (May 2014 to April 2015) FREE on 26 May.
A year’s subscription costs £44.99, saving 26%.
Already a subscriber? Our old app is now closed, however you can continue to enjoy the magazine through our new app. And as a thank you for staying with us, we’re giving you the special offer of 12 back issues for free too!
Full details of how you can get a refund for any remaining issues on your subscription are posted on your existing app. Note that you will still be able to read any issue of The Simple Things that you have already downloaded on the old app. However, if you change devices or delete the app then you may not be able to access it again.
New shoots abound. Not just in the garden and the forest but in our daily lives. Enjoy a leafy brunch with friends and let the wisdom of others inspire you to grow tall and strong. It's a time to plan your weekend over a morning cuppa, then pull on your wellies and be outdoors. Fling open the French windows, peg the washing on the line and head off to find a wild garden. There are tomatoes to grow, cow parsley to gather and tents to pitch. Life's good when you remember The Simple Things.
May's The Simple Things is out today - buy, download or subscribe now.
Join us for a special ‘veg and hedge’ day, hosted by Yeo Valley. Tour the gardens, make a planting plan and fresh pesto to take home, and learn what to cook with wild plants.
The day takes place on Friday 22 May. Arrive just in time for elevenses in the tea rooms where you’ll be making fresh pesto with ransoms (wild garlic). Then the chefs from Yeo Valley’s staff canteen, Fodder, will bring in foraged finds from the hedgerow and demonstrate what you can use them for.
After a leisurely lunch, during which you can taste the morning’s work, you’ll get the chance to tour the gardens with Eileen, Yeo Valley’s garden designer. She’ll talk about how to make your garden both pretty and productive, answer your questions and you’ll get a planting plan for a raised bed to take home with you.
Tea and cake will furnish you for the journey home. All equipment will be provided, just bring your enthusiasm.
To book, contact Jill at events@yeovalley.co.uk or call 01761461425. Limited to 24 places. Price £65 per person. The day takes place at Yeo Valley Organic Garden, Holt Farm, Bath Road, Blagdon, North Somerset BS40 7SQ. Travel to and from Yeo Valley is not included.
Within weeks, the fulcrum of power in the country will shift as the government changes, and it’s still anyone’s guess quite what the outcome will be. Despite election coverage spanning the economy, the budget deficit, the EU and taxes, one topic that doesn’t often come up is the country’s cultural landscape and the sticky wicket of its funding, or lack thereof.
It’s obvious why – with cuts being made to essential public services like the NHS, who is going to put their energy into championing more money for something like regional opera? But those who work in, or care about, the country’s artistic and cultural legacy would say that view is short-sighted. Those voices had the backing of MP Jennie Lee (1904–1988), whose life and legacy we celebrate in the May issue. Jennie was the author of the only white paper on the arts ever written. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of A Policy for the Arts – First Steps (you can read it here: http://b.3cdn.net/labouruk/e30626bec6f30f5893_mlbrotg01.pdf) and, weeks from a general election, it seems an apposite moment to compare the situation today with that of the time of Jennie’s call to action in 1965.
Then, as now, there were obviously other priorities for government cash in the post-war period. Jenny identified the problem thus: ‘People who had never known what they were missing did not press for galleries, theatres and concert halls. Certain sections of the press, by constantly sniping at cultural expenditure, made philistinism appear patriotic.’ She suggested that the solution was to start them young, and make creative pursuits as much of a priority in the education system as the widely-established pillars of reading, writing and arithmetic: ‘If children at an early age become accustomed to the idea of the arts as a part of everyday life, they are more likely in maturity first to accept and then to demand them.’ She also stressed that there was a need for new arts venues nationwide – ultimately, plays and musical performances could only reach those in the provinces if there was somewhere for them to perform.
So, has Jennie’s vision come to pass? Well, as she herself predicted, ‘There is no short-term solution for what is by its very nature a long-term problem.’ Those who were at primary school in 1965, when the paper was published, are now in their 50s, and yet the demands Jennie made for the needs of arts education sound as relevant today as ever.
London still gets the lion’s share of the Arts Council’s funding (what’s left of it) and music education in schools still needs to be extended to reach every child as a matter of course, rather than the postcode lottery it still is. Though the government-backed In Harmony project (based on Venezuela’s phenomenally successful El Sistema) has had a huge impact in the six areas where it functions, there are still many parts of the UK in which children simply do not receive anything approaching a well-rounded music education at school.
Neglecting to support the arts all over the UK, not just in the capital, could prove a false economy. The fact that the contribution of art galleries, libraries and musical performances to the nation’s economy and mental health can’t be measured doesn’t mean it is non-existent. Local services have been a boon to autodidacts over the years – journalist and author Caitlin Moran [live link to http://www.caitlinmoran.co.uk], who grew up in Wolverhampton and was home-educated, says: ‘A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life-raft and a festival. They are cathedrals of the mind; hospitals of the soul; theme parks of the imagination.’
There’s also a deep, unquantifiable value in the kind of intellectual stimulation that inspires the mind to wander from the narrow annals of the everyday to a slightly higher – or simply more entertaining – plane. I can’t put it better than Jennie herself: ‘In an age of increasing automaton bringing more leisure to more people than ever before, both young and old will increasingly need the stimulus and refreshment that the arts can bring. If one side of life is highly mechanised, another side must provide for diversity, adventure, opportunities both to appreciate and to participate in a wide range of individual pursuits. An enlightened government has a duty to respond to these needs.’
Do you hear her, party leaders? In fifty years there has still been no update on Jennie Lee’s pioneering work, so we must refer to it still. As the nation goes to the polls, those who care about the country’s cultural and artistic future have Jennie to thank for opening up a discussion about the purpose and meaning of the arts to the country as a whole. Let’s hope it won’t be forgotten.
You can read more about Jennie Lee in The Simple Things new May issue - buy, download or subscribe now.
By Catherine Smith
Sometimes, you might think, it’s all very well trying to be mindful and appreciate the simple things… but the world around you doesn’t always seem to keep pace with what your heart or mind is telling you. If you’re a quiet person, at times the world can seem overwhelmingly loud and fast-paced, and your own contribution to it under-valued by the assertive, confident types around you.
Susan Cain has made the case for introverts in her world-famous book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, and through a TED talk that has had over 11 million views on YouTube.
If you identified with our feature in the May issue on being an introvert, or if you aren’t sure whether or not this is you, why not take a quiz at Susan’s site www.thepowerofintroverts.com, which also has forums, reading guides and everything you need to explore and understand your more contemplative qualities.
READ… The Highly Sensitive Person – How to Thrive when the World Overwhelms You by Elaine N. Aron – practical solutions for a happy and fulfilling life, including useful material for those raising a sensitive child.
GO… Get away from the chatter with a silent retreat at Gaia House in the south Devon countryside. An opportunity to reflect through meditation and mindfulness practice.
THINK… Andrew Johnson’s downloadable recordings offer a wide range of meditations to help you cope with all life’s challenges.
By Catherine Smith
Retreat, reboot and rejuvenate with a yoga retreat on the tranquil island of St Martin’s, Isles of Scilly.
To be in with a chance of winning, enter below by 30 June 2015.
The prize consists of a three-night stay for one adult at Karma St. Martin’s, including all reboot weekend activities, breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Plus, a 50-stem bouquet from Scilly Flowers and Skybus return flights from Land’s End airport or the Scillonian III passenger ship round trip from Penzance to St. Mary's.
The prize is valued at up to £1,000; there is no cash alternative available. Entrants must be 18 or over. The break must be taken on 28-31 August, 25-28 September or 23-26 October 2015. Reboot breakfasts, lunches and dinners are included, but all other meals, drinks and sundries are not included in the prize.
The Karma reboot weekend break and travel are subject to availability.
There are Isles of Scilly Travel Skybus flights to St. Mary’s, Scilly’s main island, from Land’s End, Newquay and Exeter airports six days a week, Monday to Saturday. From Land’s End and Newquay airports these flights run all year round; from Exeter Airport, March to October. The Isles of Scilly Travel passenger ship, Scillonian III, sails from Penzance harbour to St. Mary’s six days a week from March to November, and there are Sunday sailings in high season.
By supplying personally identifiable information when entering this free prize draw, the Islands’ Partnership may use it to provide entrants with ongoing information about its products and services. Visit Isles of Scilly will not rent, sell or lease this information to other companies or individuals. Entrants will receive email newsletters from Visit Isles of Scilly but can unsubscribe at any time.
Names and email addresses will be entered into a free prize draw. There is only one entry per person – automated entries will not be accepted. The winner will be notified by email or phone straight away.
Delayed or cancelled travel:
Every effort is made by Isles of Scilly Travel to operate at the times specified on the ticket. However, Isles of Scilly Travel is not liable for additional costs, loss or damage incurred by passengers resulting from delayed or cancelled travel.
If it is not possible to operate flights, passengers may be offered alternative transport or the option to remain at the airport and wait for a flight to become available. These may not necessarily be on the same day. Winners must hold a valid passport.
By entering into the competition, all participants will be deemed to have agreed to the Isles of Scilly Travel terms and conditions as stated on the company’s website: www.islesofscilly-travel.co.uk and Iceberg Press' Competition Rules - see www.icebergpress.co.uk/comprules
Iceberg Press, home of The Simple Things, is a new independent publishing company that does things differently (read more here).
There’s an opportunity for someone to intern with us as a Publishing & Editorial Assistant. For now it is a jack-of-all-trades role with a huge learning curve. As we grow, we want to you to grow with us. We can promise you will learn a lot.
The internship is full-time for an initial six-month period and based in our office in central London. It includes handling reader enquiries, managing our subscription database, dealing with magazine orders and payments, organising renewal campaigns, general office admin, and helping to deliver our digital editions.
Interested? You’ll need to be organised and good at managing your time; a self-starter and problem-solver who is technically competent and meticulous; a friendly communicator who can help our readers with queries and information; a creative thinker and curious researcher who is active on social media and interested in digital marketing. And most of all you’ll need to have a real feel for The Simple Things and what it stands for.
We’ll pay you a salary (it’s not huge though) but we are a fun company and you’ll learn about the business of running a magazine, have the chance to widen and sharpen your editorial skillset and get the satisfaction of being a key part of a much loved, beautiful, useful, quirky and fun magazine. We’ll even give you your own desk and Mac!
If this sounds like a role you could enjoy, then drop us an email with your cv and tell us why. We want the right person to join us as soon as they can, so get in touch before the end of April.
We're looking forwards to hearing from you.
If you’re camping this summer and want to christen your brand-new Kotlich stove with a hearty stew, look no further than this delicious Campfire Beef and Beans recipe. You could easily use lamb or sausages instead, depending on your proximity to the shops.
Serves 8–10
1 tsp ghee or butter
1kg good-quality minced beef
8 bacon rashers, diced
2 large onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced
2 tsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp hot smoked paprika (optional)
4 tbsp black treacle or brown sugar
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp tomato puree
Salt and black pepper
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
8 large tomatoes, roughly diced
4 medium carrots, diced
400ml water
A large handful of fresh parsley
1 tin Haricot beans or two handfuls of dried Haricot beans that you have soaked and cooked yourself
1 Brown the beef in ghee or butter, then set aside. Put the bacon into the kotlich and cook until crispy.
2 Add the onions and stir for 8–10 mins until softened. Add the garlic and thyme and stir for a minute, adding the hot smoked paprika if you choose.
3 Add the treacle, vinegar, tomato puree, two pinches of salt, some black pepper and the mustard and fry for a minute, stirring well.
4 Finally add the fresh tomatoes, carrots, the browned beef, parsley, cooked beans and water. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Do keep an eye on it and add water as needed.
5 Serve piping hot with a hunk of crusty bread to mop up the plate.
Recipe taken from The Kotlich Cook.
Making it back before sundown: “An invigorating day’s yomp in the summer sunshine led to a final, undulating stretch that was mainly downhill. Just out of sight lay our welcoming guesthouse, a glass or two of something chilled, and another tasty, home-cooked meal.”
Moments that matter… brought to you by Inntravel, the Slow Holiday people
Take out a subscription to The Simple Things and pay just £11 every three issues. Save £26 and get these Seasalt Floral Feet socks (worth £23), inspired by Cornish gardens, free when you take out a subscription to The Simple Things.
Very limited stocks, so don’t hang around!
Seasalt’s Floral Feet socks are made with bamboo, are beautifully soft and breathable and will keep your feet warm in winter and cool in summer. In two colourful floral styles, these Floral Feet socks come as a set of three in their own pretty gift box, which can also be kept to look after all your keepsakes and jewellery.
Seasalt is a family business based in Cornwall with studios looking across Falmouth Bay to St Anthony’s lighthouse, a daily inspiration to the team to design garments that represent the locality. With ranges of homeware, womenswear, accessories and Seasalt Rain® outerwear, Seasalt is famous for its quality, unique textile prints and nautical stripes.
Please quote SEAOFFERBL15 or enter code online to receive your gift*.
To see all our offers for UK and overseas subscribers visit:
www.icebergpress.co.uk/subscribe (or call 01342 859002 – we are a small team so at busy times we may be an answerphone – leave us a message and we’ll call you back)
*Terms and conditions: Offer open until 4 May 2015. Saving compared with buying 12 full-priced issues from the UK newsstand. This offer is for new UK print subscribers only, check online for overseas prices. Socks will be sent by Royal Mail. Seasalt Floral Feet Socks are available in the following colours: Assorted Boom and Assorted Ditsy. Colour selection will be made at random. Stocks are limited and will be distributed on a first come first served basis. No alternatives, cash or otherwise, are available. You will receive 12 issues in a year. Prices correct at point of print and are subject to change. For full terms and conditions, please visit www.icebergpress.co.uk/tandc.
Alison Macleod is a jeweller based in Glasgow, who makes delicate jewellery based on the treasures she finds in junk shops and flea markets.
Watch a day in Alison’s life as she works on a jewelled ring.
A Day in the Life from Eileen Dunn on Vimeo.
Tomorrow is Record Store Day, celebrating the UK's independent record shops. With much of today's music arriving at our ears digitally, it's a day to go tactile. Queue up with the rest of the record nerds for limited edition vinyl and CDs on sale for one day only, live performances entertaining the dedicated throng.
In April's The Simple Things, Clare Gogerty pens a love letter to mechanically played music - turn to page 97 to read her nostalgic notes.
And on our Pinterest Style board, we've been collecting images of analogue players in contemporary settings, such as the image above. A calm and feminine take on a stereo system, it's a good example of how to integrate technology into your home in a fresh and attractive way.
Do you love a good cup of coffee? If you haven’t tried Pact Coffee yet we think you might like it… With this great offer for readers of The Simple Things you can get a 250g bag of delicious fresh roasted coffee for just £1 (including free P&P).
The thing is, coffee tastes best just a few days after the beans have been roasted making much of the coffee you buy in the supermarket that has been sitting on the shelves for months past its prime. Pact is on a mission to get the UK drinking better, fresher coffee. Some of the best coffee in the world can be on its way to your home or office in letterbox-friendly packages, just days after it has been hand-roasted at the Pact London HQ.
Single origin Arabica beans are sourced directly from dedicated coffee farmers who are paid a rate even better than Fairtrade. Fancy something nutty from Brazil? A fruity blend from Colombia? Pick your favourite, or ask Pact Coffee for their recommendation – they’re happy to help. Pact will send you the coffee wholebean or freshly ground, making sure the grind is suited to your regular brew method, be it espresso machine, stovetop percolator, filter or the classic cafetiere.
Pact is set up as a subscription service but is completely flexible, so you can set your delivery preferences to suit the amount you drink (the usual cost for a bag is £6.95 including P&P). Request a spur-of-the-moment, next-day delivery when you’re running low, or pause deliveries if you’ve got all you need. Find out more about them on Twitter or Facebook.
Simply visit www.pactcoffee.com and enter the code SIMPLETHINGS15 to claim your first bag for £1 . Full terms and conditions at www.pactcoffee.com/terms
The colourful Hamburg home of Sandra Lorch and Tom Oehne, both jewellery designers, manages to pull off modern-meets-vintage without a hint of fustiness. Turn to page 94 of April's The Simple Things for a tour of their beautiful home, or read on for Sandra's top style tips.
1. Group your collections. I love Danish teak candlesticks, and grouped them together with other things in the same material, like my bird by Danish architect Kristian Vedel. I put my collection of single bud vases together on a table, too.
2. Be selective. Once we came up with the look of our apartment, we were rigorous about what to include and what to leave out.
3. Don't be afraid of contrasting colours. I love to combine yellow with the colours of the sea, and red with green. It brings out the luminosity of each colour.
4. Resist perfection. I hate it when an old building is totally sanitised and its original features removed. We sanded the floors in our flat to reveal the beautiful old planks, for example.
More style tips from back issues of The Simple Things are appearing on our newest Pinterest board, Nest: Interiors tips. Head over and take a look, or read more interiors posts now.
See the spring snow! Dutch elm trees create a blanket of petals in April, drawing visitors to Amsterdam
From clever ideas and amazing architecture to nature at its most beautiful, we’re loving all things Dutch right now (see My City on page 74 and our garden feature on page 110 of April's The Simple Things). Along with the famous tulip fields that are in full bloom this month, another wonderful spring display is the ‘spring snow’ in Amsterdam. From around 21 April the city’s 75,000 elm trees scatter their seeds, creating a shower of fragrant elm confetti.
There’s an 8km walking and cycling ‘Elm route’ through the city, from the elm arboretum to the city’s botanical garden and special art installations around the city inspired by the spring snow.
Want more seasonal blooms? Try the violet festival, taking place every March since 1952 in Tourettes-sur-loup in the south of France. After a violet procession, take part in the town's annual petal battle. The month before, mimosa is celebrated in Mandelieu-La Napoule, where 12 tonnes of flowers are used to decorate the town over eight days of festivities.
Japan celebrates its 'sakura' (blossom) season with picnics, parties, and a national blossom forecast. In this country, head to Batsford Arboretum, Gloucestershire, for a shower of cherry blossoms. From 11 April 2015.
And May sees the annual Rochester lilac festival, New York. Taking place in the Highland Park, over 1200 lilac bushes bloom alongside a festival of art, music and food.
Words: Lottie Storey
April's The Simple Things is out now - buy, download or subscribe today.
Ever wonder what would happen if you lobbed a seed bomb into a shabby urban wasteland? Or, instead of galloping along the usual route to work, you took time to really see what you pass by every day?
Leaping Hare Press (an imprint of Ivy Press) is about encouraging moments like this – a mood of mindfulness – whether it’s during the working day, strolling through the natural world, baking bread or heading out for a spin on a bike. The books present “edgy, exciting subjects from passionate, expert authors,” says Nikki Tilbury. They’re all about “helping us to embrace those little creative steps that engage us as individuals and communities with each other, and the natural world.”
With the mystical hare as their emblem – “fast and free, rare” – and their eye-catching jackets, the books are original, fun, accessible and share practical know-how. They are also a great way to kickstart a habit of curiosity about the world around us.
Words: Eithne Farry
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.