The Simple Things

Taking time to live well
  • Home
  • Subscribe
  • SHOP
  • Newsletter
  • About
  • Work with us
  • Home
  • Subscribe
  • SHOP
  • Newsletter
  • About
  • Work with us

Blog

Taking Time to Live Well

  • All
  • Chalkboard
  • Christmas
  • Competition
  • could do
  • Eating
  • Escape
  • Escaping
  • Fresh
  • Fun
  • gardening
  • Gathered
  • Gathering
  • Growing
  • Haikus
  • Interview
  • Living
  • Looking back
  • Magazine
  • magical creatures
  • Making
  • Miscellany
  • My Neighbourhood
  • Nature
  • Nest
  • Nesting
  • outing
  • playlist
  • Reader event
  • Reader offer
  • Shop
  • Sponsored post
  • Sunday Best
  • Think
  • Uncategorized
  • Wellbeing
  • Wisdom

Recipe: Olive and rosemary sourdough

Lottie Storey July 18, 2015

Alex Gooch’s Olive and Rosemary Sourdough (From our February issue)

 

500g strong white bread flour
300ml water (room temperature)
200g starter
10g finely chopped lemon zest
11g salt
200g pitted olives
10g rosemary

1 Mix the first five ingredients in a bowl. When they start to come together, turn out onto your table and knead for 5 mins. Form into a ball and place in a lightly-oiled bowl. Cover tightly so that it is airtight. You can use cling film or place the bowl in a bin bag and create a greenhouse effect. Leave the dough to prove in a warm environment for 2.5 hours.

2 Turn your dough out onto a very lightly oiled surface and stretch it out so it is wide and flat. Place your olives and rosemary, ripped up in a rustic fashion, on top of the dough and fold all of the corners in. Gently knead together so that the olives are roughly distributed throughout the dough. Form into a ball, and place back in your bowl and leave well covered for 90 mins.

3 Turn the dough out and divide into two or leave as one to make a larger loaf. Shape them and then roll them in flour so they are lightly covered all over. Lightly flour your proving basket (see Gooch’s glossary, opposite) and place your dough in it seam up. Cover well to prevent a skin forming and leave for 2 hours for its final prove.

4 Preheat oven to 240C/Fan 220C/475F. Turn the dough out of the basket into your cloche (see Gooch’s glossary) or onto your tray. Slash the top well with a sharp knife and then bake for 30 mins for two small loaves or 35 mins for one large. If using a cloche, remove the lid for the last 10 mins in the oven. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a rack for at least 2 hours
before eating.

Originally published in February 2015's issue of The Simple Things - buy a back issue now.

More Gathering recipes in the August issue - out 29 July 2015.

 

In Gathering Tags bread, sourdough, recipe, issue 38, august, gathering
Comment

Sounds of our shores: World Listening Day

Lottie Storey July 17, 2015

To celebrate World Listening Day and the theme of water, join in with the Sounds of our Shores project and record sounds of waves at noon tomorrow.

From crashing waves to bustling piers, children’s laughter to chattering seabird colonies, what we hear at the coast connects us to it. The sounds of our shores project (National Trust/British Library/National Trust for Scotland) aims to get as many people as possible recording the sounds of waves along the whole UK coastline at 12 noon on Saturday 18 July. The aim is to build up a sonic snapshot of how waves sound and how this sound is affected by the beach, the topography of the land etc. The coastal sound map aims to reflect the beauty and diversity of the entire UK coast, 775 miles of which are cared for by the National Trust thanks to their Neptune Coastline Campaign.


Getting involved

To take part in the project, which runs for three months until 21 September, you can record a sound from anywhere on the UK’s 10,800 mile coastline from beaches to ports, cliffs to seaside towns. You can also share historic coastal sounds to illustrate how our coastline has changed.

Each sound should be an audio or video clip up to five minutes long and can be uploaded along with a location, images and a description to the map via the audioBoom website or app and there’s lots of great information to help you. You can also share your sounds on social media using #shoresounds.

Tips to get you started

The British Library website has useful tips for making the most of your coastal recordings including how to minimise unwanted wind noise and advice for recording near wildlife. There’s also practical information on using a smartphone, tablet or handheld recorder.

What you record is completely up to you but Catherine Lee, community and volunteering officer on the Lizard in Cornwall and a former sound recordist, has a few suggestions to get you going:

Footsteps in the sand
People ordering and eating ice-creams
Waves crashing against the rocks
Seagulls calling

Sounds of the Shores is featured as part of July's Things to Plan and Do (page 16). Read more - July's issue is available from all good newsagents, supermarkets and our official online store. 

Sold out? Download it from Apple Newsstand or subscribe now.

In Escape Tags britain, sounds of the shores, national trust, coast, issue 37, july
Comment

Meet the bloggers: Lottie from Oyster & Pearl

Lottie Storey July 13, 2015

In the May issue we introduced you to four bloggers on The Simple Things team. In the second of a series of guest posts, Lottie Storey, Digital Editor and author of Oyster & Pearl, shares a blog post describing her first Airbnb experience.

Travelling may be one of life’s greatest pleasures, but feeling like a traveller? Not so much. Standing on an unfamiliar street, squinting at a map, the realisation it might be time to croak out a few words of GCSE-learned language to ask a passerby for help. These are the things that make me cringe a little. I’d much rather appear effortlessly native. Who wouldn’t?

Last month, when in the capital for Blogtacular, the Mollie Makes Handmade Awards, a Team Simple Things planning meeting, and a rather exciting craft workshop (more to come on those!), we chose not to stay in a hotel. Although there are many wonderful hotels in London - more than 700 at the last count - we were staying for a long weekend and it felt like the right time to pop our Airbnb cherry.

Airbnb is an absolutely brilliant idea. Seriously. Over a million properties all across the world are up on the site allowing you to stay in a real home rather than a hotel, wherever you may be visiting. The place we chose was a boho cottage in Bloomsbury owned by Ben (I’m a sucker for alliteration; it was fate). As you can see from these pictures, it’s about as far removed from a sterile hotel as you can get.

 

My parents are big fans of house swaps, meaning we travelled a lot as kids and stayed in countless real homes. The thought of sleeping in someone else’s bed is not so Goldilocks to me. Just to make us feel extra welcome, Ben was there to hand over the keys, show us round his abode, give directions and recommendations for local cafes and restaurants, and he’d even stocked up the kitchen for us with basics like bread and milk (and a bottle of wine - definitely a basic in my book). After he left, we got a bit giddy exploring this delightfully decorated little cottage.

The ground floor - an open-plan kitchen/diner and living room - was comfy and cosy, books covered most walls and a turntable and stack of vinyl was left out for us to peruse. The sofa and armchair were large and squidgy, various knick knacks adorned the mantelpiece. But the most fascinating thing for me was Ben’s collection of art. Classic oil paintings were hung alongside music memorabilia and pop art prints. I loved his style.

 

Upstairs, the bedroom felt grand, with its heavy mustard velvet curtains, antique furniture, and doors through to the adjoining dressing room (which also has a pull down bed to allow the cottage to sleep four). A stack of old suitcases were stuffed on top of the chinois wardrobe, a dressmaker’s dummy wore a bowler hat, and a beautifully painted screen made me want to have packed an impractical nightdress and fluffy mules. Elsewhere, two tiny bathrooms were cleverly fitted into otherwise unusable spaces - up in the eaves and under the stairs.

 

And the neighbourhood? Well, if I were to move to London, all things being equal I’d pick Bloomsbury. The cottage was a few minutes from Kings Cross and Russell Square stations, but an easy walk from Oxford Street, Soho, or Tottenham Court Road. On the night we arrived we headed round the corner to a pub that served amazing tapas, and further down the road was a Waitrose and many other lovely shops and caffs. After the tapas, we went for a stroll to see what we could see, and stumbled on the Foundling Museum. I’ve always wanted to visit this London institution. It tells the story of the parents who left children they weren’t able to take care of, along with a trinket by which they hoped to identify them when they returned. Sadly, we didn’t manage to visit this time but I hope to go back.

By the end of the weekend we were exhausted but didn’t want to leave. The little cottage had begun to feel like home. Without an inflexible checkout time, we were able to pack at our own pace, which removed some of the stress of travelling back to Bristol. But not the sadness. Airbnb is such a reassuringly easy way to travel. I can feel plans brewing already… Here’s to adventures ahead!

You can find details of the boho Bloomsbury cottage here. This property worked out at about £195 per night for two adults. If you are new to Airbnb then you can sign up here and you will get £16 off your first booking.

Read the rest of our Meet the bloggers series.

In Escape, Magazine Tags travel, london, blogger, meet the bloggers
Comment

Looking back: Explore Britain on Film

Lottie Storey July 10, 2015

We love this new way to explore the rich history of the UK, without having to leave the comfort of your own home. Britain on Film is an amazing archive, recently launched by the British Film Institute, which puts thousands of films online for the first time, available to watch for free through the BFI player.

The footage, taken from around the UK – including news reels, documentaries, as well as family films – dates from the 1980s all the way back to the 1890s.

The films bring the stuff of history books alive, whether they show Queen Victoria’s funeral or life on the home front in the World Wars and reveal the changing (and, sometimes, incredibly unchanging) landscape of Britain, from cities to village greens, all searchable on an interactive map.

Some of the most fascinating footage shows some of the country’s rich regional traditions. There’s Lady Godiva in Coventry, Well Dressing in Buxton and Up Helly Aa in the Shetlands in 1927 just for starters (keep a lookout for the ‘sheep’ and ‘walruses’ in the last one).

And, as revealed by the footage of 1920s pet shows at London’s Alexandra Palace and Crystal Palace, we’ve never been able to resist a cute cat or dog.

And, with summer holidays on the horizon, you can see how generations before us flocked to the seaside, whether Eastbourne, Skegness, or Aberystwyth. The coast is also the setting for one of the earliest family films, which dates to 1903 and shows the children of the Passmore family happily playing on the beach – a complete contrast to the stiff family portraits we’re so used to seeing from the era.

Take a look at the BFI Facebook page where there will be a new film posted each day. And, while the project isn’t available outside of the UK, there are still plenty of films to be explored on the BFI’s YouTube channel.

 

 

 

In Think Tags looking back, film, nostalgia, britain, history
Comment
Photography: Catherine Frawley

Photography: Catherine Frawley

Recipe: Fruity 'slaw

Lottie Storey July 9, 2015

There’s got to be ’slaw at a barbecue – and this one has extra fruit in the form of mango, raisins and sultanas. 

Fruity 'slaw

Serves 8

3⁄4 medium white cabbage, finely sliced
1⁄4 medium red cabbage, finely sliced
4 carrots, grated
1 red onion, finely sliced
2 mangos, sliced
Large handful mixed raisins and sultanas

For the dressing
3 tbsp sour cream
3 tbsp mayonnaise
21⁄2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 lime, juiced
salt and pepper, to taste

1 Mix all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl.
2 Combine the vegetables, mangos and dried fruit in a large bowl and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3 Pour over the dressing and mix well. 

Need some bits and bobs for your next barbecue or picnic? Head over to The Simple Things shop for plenty to buy, including our Here comes the sun collection, for picnic days and for beach days. A few ideas below...

Hand-stamped wooden cutlery, from £3.50


Whitstable BBQ, from £24.00


Acrylic tumblers, from £4.95

In Living Tags issue 37, july, barbecue, summer, recipes, salad, picnic, the simple things shop, shop, gathering
Comment

Moments that matter

Lottie Storey July 8, 2015

Watching locals take in the olive harvest under a clear blue Andalucian sky (Las Alpujarras, southern Spain).

Moments that matter… brought to you by Inntravel, the Slow Holiday people

In Sponsored post Tags moments that matter, sponsored, inntravel
Comment

Meet the bloggers: Louise from Buttercup Days

Lottie Storey July 6, 2015

In the May issue we introduced you to four bloggers on The Simple Things team. In the first of a series of guest posts, Louise Gorrod, Wishlist Editor and author of Buttercup Days, shares a blog post outlining her party planning for daughter Lily's tenth birthday party.

On Tuesday of this week Lily turned 10. A whole decade. To celebrate reaching double-figures I laid on an after-school afternoon tea for her and six close friends. It was relaxed, fun and I hope memorable. Celebrating such moments in life is time well spent in my book.

So I set to work making tiny cheese & cucumber rolls, filling pretty striped paper cups with chipsticks, baking sausage rolls and filling cocktail sized vol au vents. Then there were mini strawberry & cream meringues, individual coconut & cherry loaf cakes, mini chocolate cakes, mini orange & almond cakes and paper cups filled with lemon cupcake popcorn, berries and chocolate discs and to top it all off a 'fox' birthday cake.

It's the decorations and tableware that also make a gathering an occasion and, in this case, turn one of the most special days of the year into one of the prettiest. All the decorations and tableware in this shoot are from My Little Day, a French online boutique that sell all the kit required to host the most beautiful children's birthday parties. From bunting, confetti-filled balloons and tassel garlands to paper plates, cups, straws and napkins in contemporary patterns. I even made party bags using the paper bags and mini paper rosettes  - they were the icing on the cake.

In Living, Magazine Tags meet the bloggers, the simple things, blogger, party, kids, birthday
Comment

Reader offer: Isle of Wight Campers

Lottie Storey July 4, 2015

Our friends at Isle of Wight campers were so delighted at how many of you entered their competition to win a camper holiday that they are offering readers of The Simple Things £50 off any 3,4 or 7 night booking made for the 2016 season. 

They are also halving the deposit required - so it is just £50 for 3 or 4 nights and £100 7 night hire if booked before the end of January. 

Isle of Wight Campers has six candy-coloured 1970s campers for hire. Sleeping up to four the vans come equipped for self-catering with everything you’ll need to potter round the lanes and head to the beaches before parking up at a campsite for the night.

To book phone 01983 642143 or email info@isleofwightcampers.co.uk and let them know you want to take up The Simple Things special offer.

Get more of a feel for their holidays on their Facebook page. 

For more info and offers sign up to their newsletter here. 

In Reader offer Tags reader offer, camping, isle of wight
Comment
Palma city guide

FREE! My City Guides

David Parker July 3, 2015

In each issue of The Simple Things we publish a local’s insider guide to some of the coolest, most interesting and simply favourite cities to visit. As the summer holiday begins, we’re releasing one online each week in association with our friends at Inntravel – The slow holiday people

Sadly, this is our last in the series but, hurrah, it's sunny, summery Palma! Download Dominique Afacan's guide for free here

This guide was first published in May 2014 - issue 23

Did you miss Berlin, Helsinki, Paris, Copenhagen, Florence, Amsterdam or Marrakech?  They’re still available to download.

We hope you enjoyed our series of free city guides - to read them and a whole host of other stuff every month in The Simple Things magazine click to buy the latest issue, or you can subscribe.


MY CITY is supported by INNTRAVEL, the Slow Holiday people, who have spent the last three decades exploring Europe’s most beautiful corners along the lesser-trodden path. When it comes to cities, their self-guided walking tours have been carefully researched using their own expert knowledge and insider tips from locals. These specially created routes take in the best-known sights, but also those hidden gems that others miss. Find out more by visiting http://www.inntravel.co.uk

In Escaping Tags city guide, Inntravel
1 Comment

Looking back: Salt-Water Sandals

Lottie Storey July 3, 2015

Beloved by bloggers across the globe, Salt-Water Sandals are the classic American summer shoe taking social media by storm. 

But what's so special about these old style sandals? And why are they on our July Wishlist?

As well as being extraordinarily comfortable, they do what the name suggests - you can wear them in the sea, making them perfect for The Simple Things style summer adventures. And they come in a rainbow of shades for instant Instagram potential.

American cult classics since the 1940s, Salt-Water Sandals began as a way to cope with leather shortages in World War II, when Walter Hoy used scrap leather left over from making military boots to shoe his children. Word soon spread and fellow St. Louis families began to ask Walter to make sandals for their kids. 

A summer staple in America for 70 years now, a new generation has discovered Hoy shoes' classic designs for themselves and their children. Grown up fans of the durable, comfortable leather shoes with a fashion savvy attitude include Sienna Miller, Alexa Chung, Paloma Faith, Fearne Cotton and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Plus, a few of The Simple Things’ team! 

Have a look at the Instagram hashtag #sunsansaltwatersandals to see them in all their glory this summer.

In Think, Living Tags looking back, summer, issue 37, july, style
Comment

Recipe: Easiest strawberry ice cream ever!

Lottie Storey July 2, 2015

No fancy ice cream machine? Fear not, for this frozen berry beauty from our friends at Abel and Cole you only need a freezer. And by using coconut milk instead of cream, is good for vegans too. Everyone's a winner!

Ingredients

1 punnet strawberries
2 tablespoons icing sugar
A splash of cream, coconut milk or orange juice

1. Trim the tops off the berries and roughly chop. Freeze until frozen solid, at least 2 hours but preferably overnight.

2. Break the frozen berries up and place in a food processor with the sugar and 50ml cream. Start the motor going on your food processor and trickle in more cream until the mix comes together.

3. Take it slowly, though, and don't go mad with the cream as the berries will warm up as they churn, gently softening the mix to the most stunningly fresh homemade ice cream you'll ever dip your spoon into. 

 

Abel and Cole have even made a video showing just how simple this is.

July is National Ice Cream month so give our Peppermint Chocolate Chip recipe a try as well!

In Eating Tags ice cream, strawberry, summer, issue 37, july, abel and cole
Comment

Moments that matter

Lottie Storey July 1, 2015

Pausing mid-walk for a paddle in a crystal-clear pool (Vintgar Gorge near Lake Bled, Slovenia).

Moments that matter… brought to you by Inntravel, the Slow Holiday people

In Sponsored post Tags moments that matter, sponsored, Inntravel
Comment
Photograph: Kristin Perers

Photograph: Kristin Perers

Recipe: Summer spelt almond cake

Lottie Storey June 30, 2015

This nutty, light cake is perfect for scattering with summer fruits. Some will sink in and some will rest on top. If you want a less sweet cake, leave out the rose water icing.

SUMMER SPELT ALMOND CAKE

Makes one 23cm cake (8–10 slices)

FOR THE SPONGE
175g butter, softened, plus more for greasing the tin
175g light brown sugar
2 eggs
1⁄4 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out 125g ground almonds
175g wholemeal spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
1⁄4 tsp salt
200g halved cherries, or whole raspberries or blueberries
200g peaches or nectarines, sliced 2 tbsp caster sugar, for sprinkling 
rose petals, for scattering (optional)

FOR THE ICING (OPTIONAL)
200g icing sugar 1-2 tbsp rose water

1 Preheat the oven to 160/Fan 140/320F. Butter a 23cm cake tin and line with parchment paper.
2 In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add the vanilla seeds. Add the almonds and mix to combine.
3 In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, then gently beat these into the creamed butter mixture. The mixture will be rather stiff but that’s OK.
4 Spread the batter into your prepared cake tin and smooth top with a palette knife. Scatter the cherries (or raspberries or blueberries) over the batter, then press the slices of peach (or nectarine) on top to get the fruit inside the cake batter a bit.
5 Sprinkle with the caster sugar and bake for 60–70 mins, until a skewer comes out clean and the top is springy. Let the cake cool for 15 mins before turning it out.
6 If using the icing, whisk the rose water into the icing sugar until smooth and runny. Drizzle over the cooled cake. Scatter with garden rose petals if you have them. This is best eaten on the same day you bake it.

Recipe from The Violet Bakery Cookbook by Claire Ptak, photography by Kristin Perers (Square Peg, £20)

In Living Tags issue 37, july, summer, cake, cake recipe, cake in the house, spelt, recipe
1 Comment
Berlin guide

FREE! My City Guides

David Parker June 27, 2015

 

In each issue of The Simple Things we publish a local’s insider guide to some of the coolest, most interesting and simply favourite cities to visit. As the summer holiday begins, we’re releasing one online each week in association with our friends at Inntravel – The slow holiday people

This week it’s Berlin. Download Sandra Juto’s guide for free here

This guide was first published in October 2012 - issue 1*

Did you miss Helsinki, Paris, Copenhagen, Florence, Amsterdam or Marrakech?  They’re still available to download.

Coming soon!

2 July – Palma

We'll post on our Twitter and Facebook when they are published.

*Since this guide was published, Café Slörm has now closed. The statue of Karl Marx is not in Karl-Marx-Allee but in the public park , Marx-Engels Forum in Mitte.

Inntravel logo

MY CITY is supported by INNTRAVEL, the Slow Holiday people, who have spent the last three decades exploring Europe’s most beautiful corners along the lesser-trodden path. When it comes to cities, their self-guided walking tours have been carefully researched using their own expert knowledge and insider tips from locals. These specially created routes take in the best-known sights, but also those hidden gems that others miss. Find out more by visiting http://www.inntravel.co.uk

 

In Escape Tags Inntravel, Berlin, City guide
Comment

If we don't get lost we'll never find a new route

Lottie Storey June 26, 2015
In Magazine Tags back cover, issue 37, july, journey
Comment

Journey: July cover reveal

Lottie Storey June 24, 2015

Let’s take a journey together. Where the lavender hums with bees and we can gather seashells. Where there is street food for the soul; empanadas, sweet drinks from Persia and fruity Caribbean barbecue. We’ll learn to dive and play croquet properly. We’ll jump on a bike or take a bus, packing a good read for the open road. Then we’ll head home to eat cake and pod peas. Because journeys can be big or small, real or of the mind. They are about the moment, about The Simple Things.

July's The Simple Things is on sale today - buy, download or subscribe now.

In Magazine Tags cover reveal, july, issue 37, journey
Comment
Image: Plain Picture

Image: Plain Picture

Wellbeing: Fatherhood

Lottie Storey June 21, 2015

In June's The Simple Things, Sally Brown's piece on fatherhood explores just how important dads can be in the life of a child.

As it's Father's Day in the UK, we've put together a selection of our favourite books, films and songs featuring fathers. 

 

Mrs Doubtfire (1993)

How far would an ordinary father go to spend more time with his children? Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) is no ordinary father, so when he learns his ex-wife needs a housekeeper, he applies for the job. With the perfect wig, a little makeup and a dress for all occasions, he becomes Mrs. Doubtfire, a devoted British nanny who is hired on the spot. Free to be the "woman" he never knew he could be, the disguised Daniel creates a whole new life with his entire family.

My Dad by Anthony Browne

He's all right, my dad. He's as strong as a gorilla and as happy as a hippopotamus. He's a great dancer, a brilliant singer,he's fantastic at football and he makes me laugh. A lot. But that's not all that's great about my dad . . . A warm, hilarious, witty and very personal tribute to Dad (and to dads everywhere) by the ever-brilliant and inventive Anthony Browne.

Life is Beautiful (1997)

Life Is Beautiful is a 1997 Italian tragicomedy comedy-drama film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni. Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian book shop owner, who must employ his fertile imagination to shield his son from the horrors of internment in a Nazi concentration camp. 

Big Fish (2003)

The story of Big Fish revolves around a dying father and his son, who is trying to learn more about his dad by piecing together the stories he has gathered over the years. The son winds up re-creating his father's elusive life in a series of legends and myths inspired by the few facts he knows. Through these tales, the son begins to understand his father's great feats and his great failings.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Atticus Finch, small town lawyer and widower, is arguably fiction’s greatest father. Atticus parents his ten-year-old son Jem and his younger sister, Scout, six, with a calm and approachable demeanour. For a man in the 1930s American South, he is a progressive. He’s against spanking, never yells, and gives his children truthful answers to difficult questions. Most importantly, for his parenting philosophy and the plot of the novel, Atticus models the behaviour he wants to see in his children.

Kramer vs Kramer (1979)

Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) is a workaholic advertising executive who has just been assigned a new and very important account. Ted arrives home and shares the good news with his wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) only to find that she is leaving him. Saying that she needs to find herself, she leaves Ted to raise their son Billy (Justin Henry) by himself. Ted and Billy initially resent one another as Ted no longer has time to carry his increased workload and Billy misses his mother's love and attention. After months of unrest, Ted and Billy learn to cope and gradually bond as father and son.

Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl

Danny is only four months old when his mother dies; and at the beginning of the story, he lives with his widowed father, William, in a Gypsy caravan, where William operates a filling station and garage, and partakes in poaching pheasants. Danny thinks his dad is the most marvellous and exciting father a boy could wish for. 


Compiled by Lottie Storey

In Wellbeing Tags father's day, fatherhood, films, books, june, issue 36
Comment
Image: Alamy

Image: Alamy

Outing: Making a bus journey into an adventure PLUS a playlist

Lottie Storey June 20, 2015

WHETHER YOU PLAY ‘CHARABANC ROULETTE’ AND GO WHERE FATE TAKES YOU, OR TAKE A SLOW CHUG IN A VINTAGE VEHICLE, LIFE LOOKS DIFFERENT FROM THE DECK OF A BUS. 

On page 68 of July's The Simple Things, Julian Owen takes us on a trip down memory lane.

Need a soundtrack? Have a listen to our bus journey playlist for 41 minutes of songs to listen to while those wheels go round. Cheers drive, as they say in the west country.

In Escape Tags issue 37, july, outing, bus journey, playlist, spotify
Comment

FREE! My City Guides

Lottie Storey June 19, 2015

In each issue of The Simple Things we publish a local’s insider guide to some of the coolest, most interesting and simply favourite cities to visit. As the summer holiday begins, we’re releasing one online each week in association with our friends at Inntravel – The slow holiday people

This week it’s Helsinki. Download Lauren Memarian’s guide for free

This guide was first published in June 2013 - issue 10.

Did you miss Paris, Copenhagen, Florence, Amsterdam or Marrakech?  They’re still available to download.

 

Coming soon!

25 June – Berlin

2 July – Palma

We'll post on our Twitter and Facebook when they are published.

MY CITY is supported by INNTRAVEL, the Slow Holiday people, who have spent the last three decades exploring Europe’s most beautiful corners along the lesser-trodden path. When it comes to cities, their self-guided walking tours have been carefully researched using their own expert knowledge and insider tips from locals. These specially created routes take in the best-known sights, but also those hidden gems that others miss. Find out more by visiting http://www.inntravel.co.uk

 

 

 

In Sponsored post, Escape Tags my city, inntravel, helsinki, travel, city guide
1 Comment

Win! A three-night luxury glamping retreat (closed 31 July 2015)

Lottie Storey June 18, 2015

Lantern & Larks are offering the chance to win a three-night break under the stars in the great British countryside 

Imagine all the peace of an outdoor retreat in luxury canvas accommodation – with none of the faff that comes with camping. An ideal compromise! Lantern & Larks has a hand-picked collection of three beautiful sites tucked into hidden corners of the English countryside.             

Sweffling Hall Farm is close to the sandy beaches of the Suffolk coast, Bleasdale in Lancashire is surrounded by the Forest of Bowland, and Exton Park in Rutland is just a few miles from the diverse wetland habitat of Rutland Water Nature Reserve, home to birds, butterflies, badgers and much more. At all the sites, you’ll enjoy a back-to-nature theme with all the essential conveniences: fully furnished rooms, hot running water, a shower, toilet, bedrooms with real beds and a kitchen. They’re all close to nearby attractions and towns, so you can spend the day exploring and come home to a barbecue over your fire pit and a chilled-out supper on your private terrace.

Whether you’re looking for a family holiday or  a romantic get-away, the colonial-style luxury tents in fantastic British beauty spots provide a sense of comfort under canvas. Find out more at www.lanternandlarks.co.uk. 


You could win:

A three-night Lantern & Larks stay for up to six people, including a breakfast pack, barbecue pack, campfire pack and fire pit, together worth more than £700. 

Enter below before 23.59 on Friday 31 July 2015.

Read more camping posts from The Simple Things...

 

  • Recipes: The Picnic Loaf, Sunshine Hash, Campfire Beef & Beans
  • How to pitch a tent like a pro
  • Britain's best wild camping spots


You can see Iceberg Press’ full terms and conditions on page 129 and at www.icebergpress.co.uk/comprules/

In Competition Tags competition, glamping, issue 37, june, camping
3 Comments
  • Blog
  • Older
  • Newer
Featured
  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Order  our new Celebrations Anthology   Buy a copy of  Flourish 3 , our wellbeing bookazine   Listen to  our podcast  – Small Ways to Live Well
Aug 29, 2025
Aug 29, 2025

Buy, download or subscribe

See the sample of our latest issue here

Order our new Celebrations Anthology

Buy a copy of Flourish 3, our wellbeing bookazine 

Listen to our podcast – Small Ways to Live Well

Aug 29, 2025
Join our Newsletter
Name
Email *

We respect your privacy and won't share your data.

email marketing by activecampaign
facebook-unauth twitter pinterest spotify instagram
  • Subscriber Login
  • Stockists
  • Advertise
  • Contact

The Simple Things is published by Iceberg Press

The Simple Things

Taking time to live well

We celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and feeding them well. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with a job well done.

facebook-unauth twitter pinterest spotify instagram