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Taking Time to Live Well
DJ: Clare Gogerty; Illustration: Shutterstock
Slow down, you move too fast…
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Esse is giving away three pairs of tickets to a cookery experience at Kate Humble’s working farm in Wales
Eating good food, learning from cookery experts and soaking up the Welsh countryside are all on offer with this brilliant prize. We’ve teamed up with master stove maker ESSE and TV presenter Kate Humble to give readers the chance to win an amazing cookery experience with celebrity chef Matt Tebbutt. We have three pairs of tickets (worth £165 each) for what promises to be an unforgettable day at Kate’s working farm. Humble by Nature is perched high upon a hilltop overlooking the beautiful Wye Valley near Monmouth in Wales.
After coffee and cakes baked in the ESSE ovens, you’ll watch cookery demonstrations by Saturday Kitchen star Matt before tucking into a hearty lunch in The Pig & Apple café and bistro at Kate’s rural retreat. Matt’s demonstrations will put the ESSE 990 EL electric range cooker through its paces, to show guests the control and flexibility this British-made range cooker provides.
It’s back to basics in the afternoon as chef Jake from The Pig & Apple kitchen demonstrates the elemental delight of baking rustic flatbreads and other tasty treats in the wood-fired ESSE Bakeheart cook stove (pictured). As all good cooks and bakers know, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so there will be plenty of delicious samples to try throughout the day. Come hungry!
To find out more about ESSE range cookers and cook stoves, visit esse.com.
NEED TO KNOW
Three prizes: 3 pairs of tickets up for grabs
When? Wednesday 11 September, from 10am to 4pm.
Where? Humble by Nature, Kate Humble’s farm near Penallt in Monmouthshire.
HOW TO ENTER
For your chance to win one of 3 pairs of tickets to attend, enter below by the closing date, 28 August 2019 and answer the following question:.
Which wood-fired Esse cook stove will we be using at Humble by Nature?
A. Warmheart
B. Bakeheart
C. Ironheart
Terms & conditions
Competition closes at 11.59pm on 28 August 2019. Three winners will be selected at random from all correct entries received and notified soon after. Each prize consists of two tickets to the ESSE Cookery Experience on 11 September 2019 at Humble by Nature. The prize is as stated, can’t be transferred or swapped for cash, and you eed to make your own way there and back. You can find Iceberg Press’s full terms and conditions on page 127 of the August issue and online at icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.
Photography: Cathy Pyle. Styling: Kay Prestney
Nothing quite says summer like the clink of pétanque balls. Lager and Gallic shrugs optional
Pétanque (or boules) is played in two teams with two sets of differently marked boules. You can play in teams of two (3 boules each); three (2 each) or one against one (3 each).
1 Draw a circle on the ground (or use a coiled rope), 50cm in diameter.
2 A player from team one stands in the circle and throws the jack (the wooden boule) to land 6-10m from the rope, a metre away from any other object. Team one throws a first boule as close as possible to the jack.
3 A player from team two tries to get a boule closer. If successful they ‘have the point’ and play returns to team one. If not, they continue to throw until they do and play passes back.
4 Play continues until one team has played all their boules. The other team then throws the rest of their boules.
5 The team with the closest boule to the jack wins and gets a point for each of their boules closer to the jack than the other team’s nearest boule.
6 The winning team draws a new circle round the jack and throws it to start the next round. Play ends when one team reaches 13 points.
You will find lots more fun for outdoor gatherings in our July ‘Embrace’ issue. It’s in shops now.
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Organic cereal expert Nature’s Path now has three children’s cereals available in its ever popular Envirokidz range.
Gorilla Munch, Leapin’ Lemurs and Choco Chimps use fun animal names, interesting facts and drawing activities on-pack to inspire children to care about the world they live in. 1% of sales are donated to support endangered species worldwide.
Each animal featured on an Envirokidz pack represents an endangered or vulnerable species that Nature’s Path helps through its donations. Choco Chimps, for instance, (pictured above) raises money for the Jane Goodall Institute, which creates educational resources for local countries in Africa and promotes the importance of environmental stewardship.
Gorilla Munch supports the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, saving gorillas through community patrols and educating and empowering children to be the stewards of the rainforest. And finally, Leapin’ Lemurs helps the Lemur Conversation Foundation and the creation of an Envirokidz Centre, which in turn provides a community and education space in Madagascar.
And as well as helping endangered species, Envirokidz cereals taste great too. Every product is dairy free, gluten free, vegan and organic. They’re made with simple ingredients, such as crunchy corn balls, peanut butter and fair trade cocoa, with no artificial ingredients or colourings added.
All three flavours can be bought at Morrisons, with selected products also available at Ocado and at Tesco and Asda stores nationwide, priced around £2.99.
For more information visit www.naturespath.com.
You can read more about St Swithin, the Michael Fish of the ninth century, in our July issue. But put briefly, if it’s damp on the day, invest in a good umbrella; you’re going to need it.
If you didn’t know that 15 July is St Swithin’s Day, you might know it as ‘Dex and Em’s Day’, the protagonists of the novel One Day by David Nicholl. The novel begins on 15 July as Dex and Em graduate and revisits them each St Swithin’s Day for the next 20 years.
But what was the significance of the day for the author? A mixture of very little and random interest, it turns out. Nicholl says that he had to pick a day that would work as a graduation date and British universities tend to hold these in mid July. He wanted a day that wasn’t a ‘big date’ such as Valentine’s Day or Christmas: “St Swithin’s Day felt suitably random,” he told the Oxonian Review. But he needed a date that would resonate with the characters and act as a plot hook, too. “I liked the mythology of St Swithin’s Day, which is about our desire and inability to predict the future. Thematically that seemed right. And there’s a song about lost love by Billy Bragg that is called 'St Swithin’s Day'. To me, that song was the unofficial soundtrack to the book.” What St Swithin would have made of Mr Bragg we’re not certain, but suitably random it certainly is. We’ll be picking up our copies of One Day again to mark the date.
Read more about St Swithin’s Day in our ‘Stories Behind Superstitions’ slot in the Miscellany pages of our July ‘Embrace’ issue.
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Illustration: Rachel Victoria Hillis
Spotted a bee that’s more bushed than busy? Here’s how to give him a boost
We’ve all heard the advice about reviving bees that are grounded in hot weather but there’s so much conflicting advice buzzing around, sometimes it’s hard to remember what the best thing to do is. Here’s The Simple Things’ truly simple guide to reviving a bee.
If you find a bee on the ground (not on a flower - those ones are just having a well-earned sit down), here’s what to do:
Mix two tablespoons of caster sugar (not demerera*) with one tablespoon of water.
Place the solution close to the bee so it can have a drink. A spoon will do but most bees find it easier to get the sugar solution off a flower head, such as a chive or dandelion flower, or from a flat surface, so if it’s on hard ground just put a blob of the sugar solution on the ground next to it.
Back away and give the bee some space but hover nearby to see off predators.
Eventually watch it fly away and feel the glow of having done a kindness for a small beast.
*And definitely never use honey. Honey can kill wild bees as you could be introducing a virus to the bee.
Damp bees
If you find a bee soaked after a heavy downpour and unable to get off the ground you can bring it inside overnight to dry off. A box with plenty of ventilation holes is a good spot for it. Don’t be tempted to keep it for any longer than necessary. Bees are not pets.
Damaged bees
Sometimes a bee that is old or has been attacked can look pretty scruffy. It’s worth trying the sugar solution trick. However, try not to get too attached. If the bee is missing wings, limbs or other bits of its body it’s probably not a good prognosis and it’s best to just let nature take its course.
Dead bees
Are you sure? People often assume a bee is dead when it’s simply exhausted. Give the sugar solution a go and see if you can breathe new life into it before writing it off.
If you’d like to learn even more about bees, buy our July ‘Embrace’ issue, on sale now, which includes a comprehensive primer on all things bee.
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Photography: Ian Forsyth
Come-bye, and we’ll tell you a little more...
We loved chatting to Amanda Owen (aka The Yorkshire Shepherdess) for our Wisdom piece in our July issue. (You can find it in the shops or buy it online using the link below if you’d like to know more). By the end, we were all imagining ourselves giving it all up and heading off to enjoy the peace and quiet of a hillside somewhere green and silent. (We’re sure it’s definitely all as simple as that sounds.)
So in case you fancy a career change, too, we’ve collated a short guide to sheep dog commands to get you started.
Come-bye Go to the left around the flock (clockwise)
Away (or away to me) Go to the right around the flock (anticlockwise). Remember A is for ‘away’ and ‘anticlockwise’ and C is for ‘come-bye’ and ‘clockwise’
Lie down Lie on the ground
Steady Slow down a bit
Walk on Approach the sheep (often used at the start of herding)
On your feet Stand up and be ready but don’t move yet
Look back Check your workings! Used if they’ve lost a sheep or if the dog is working part of the flock and he needs to go back for the other part
That’ll do It’s clocking off time
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Learn a niche skill that looks ever so impressive
It’s always a joy to be able to step up at moments of group panic and confidently and smugly say ‘I’ll take care of that’. Should you find yourself navigating a narrow boat unexpectedly (it could happen) you’ll need to be able to work the canal’s locks in order to pilot the boat up or down the water. While all about you spill their Pimms and flap their hands in despair at the paddles, here’s how to calmly and collectedly navigate a lock. Ahoy!
Put down your beer, like a hero.
For the purposes of these instructions we’re going to assume you are travelling upstream. You need one person at the tiller (the steering pole) and one person operating the lock (that’s you). Check the lock. It should be clear with no boat approaching the other way. The water in the lock has to be at the same level as you are before you can open the gates and enter it. As we’re assuming you’re travelling up the canal, if the lock is not empty when you arrive, empty it by opening the paddles on the bottom gate. Once the water is at the same level as you, you can open the gates.
Open the gate nearest the boat and ask the person at the tiller to take the boat (carefully) into the lock. It is traditional to shout ‘left a bit, left a bit, NO! YOU PUSH IT RIGHT TO GO TO THE LEFT!. That’s right… No TOO FAR NOW. Lawks! You nearly had the front off it then!’ as they steadily pilot the boat into the lock. Close the bottom gate behind the boat.
Open the paddles in the top gate and let the water into the lock. The paddles are the big Victorian iron cog shenanigans either side of the lock. Take your special key (called a windlass), place the hole in your windlass over the sticky-outy bit on the paddle and turn it to open. Stand to the side and keep your knees out of the way. If you accidentally let go of a windlass while the paddle is raised it can drop fast and the windlass can fly off and the paddles drop suddenly, causing horrible damage to the lock or you. It is permissible to swear colourfully if this happens. As the paddles open, the boat will rise slowly in the lock like well-proved loaf.
When the lock is full and the levels inside the lock and in front of you are level you will be able to open the top gate. Do so by putting your back against it and slowly leaning back to push it open, rather than bending over and pushing with your hands. This ‘pushing with your back’ manoeuvre prevents injury but more importantly will help mark you out as a canal know-it-all and impress any passers-by.
Let your tiller person know to bring the boat out of the gate. If you want to sound smug and irritate the person at the tiller, shout casual and unhelpful commands like ‘take it to starboard a little’. No-one mortal can remember which way starboard is when under stress and in charge of a 60ft boat. Call them over to the bank with a louche wave of the hand, then step casually back on board and resume your position at your beer.
Graciously bask in the admiration of your crew and never tell them that it’s actually much easier to work a lock than it is to pilot the boat through one. Ahem.
In our July ‘Embrace’ issue, which is out now, we tried out a canal boating weekend courtesy of ABC Boat Hire. They are currently offering discounts for 202 and have a few last minute deals on breaks this year, too. Pick up a copy of the July issue in shops now for more details.
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Photography: Cathy Pyle Recipe & styling: Kay Prestney
A simple idea for a pretty and cooling treat
Serves 6
½ small watermelon
6 wooden lolly sticks (recycled from ice lollies)
1 Cut the watermelon in half and cut into slices. Cut out 6 triangle shapes with the watermelon skin at the bottom.
2 Make a small inch-long incision into the middle of the skin and insert the wooden lolly stick.
3 Lay the lollies on a pretty plate and put in the fridge to keep cool. Serve as a refreshing bite any time of day or as a casual palate cleanser between a main course and dessert for a supper in the garden.
This idea is just one of the recipes in our July issue for a celebratory gathering for a special day. The menu includes chilled cucumber soup in tea cups, beetroot and horseradish bites, spanakopita, a delicious fig salad and a showstopper of a sponge cake decorated with berries and edible flowers. It’s a lovely menu for a birthday party, get-together of old friends or simply to celebrate summer having properly arrived this weekend. You can find all the recipes starting on p30 and you’ll find the July issue in any shop worth its salt now or online (see links below).
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Photography: Con Poulos
A look at the history of this wrong-way-up cake, which is a classic… whichever way you look at it
The history of cake is dotted liberally with fine examples of retro ideas that have wholly endured. In fact, why we think of them as retro is a mystery, since they never really went away. The upside-down cake is an excellent example, and none more than the classic - the Pineapple Upside-down Cake, which has been eliciting excited ‘oohs’ from children and overgrown children alike for over a century.
Upside-down cakes have, in truth, existed for hundreds of years. When cakes would have been cooked over a fire, a clever way to get a nice decorative top with caramelised fruit adorning it, was to put the fruit and sugar in the bottom of a skillet over the fire, so that when the skillet is turned out, the unattractive top becomes the bottom of the cake and the fruity goodness that was on the bottom becomes the top.
But it wasn’t until the advent of the Pineapple Upside-down cake that topsy-turvy patisserie really ‘had a moment’. And for that we have to thank one James Dole. That’s right. Him of the tinned pineapple.
In 1901 Dole invented a machine that could cut pineapples into perfectly sized rings, that he could put into tins. Quickly, one of the most popular uses for pineapple rings became to put their flavour and attractive shape into an upside-down cake. As an aside, we’d also like to award a retro medal to whomever was the first amateur baker to pop a few maraschino cherries in the holes of the pineapple rings. Genius!
In our July issue, we have a less retro but no less welcome topsy turvy cake from Annie Bell’s Baking Bible (Kyle Books). Photography by Con Poulos. Find it on page 7.
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Photography: Brent Darby
Because it’s about more than the soil and seedlings
There’s no denying it, a potting shed is endlessly useful. As well as being a spot for bringing on seedlings, it’s a place to work on your own soil, keep all your tools neat and tidy and have your seed packets and catalogues stacked away….
But that’s not really why any of us have a potting shed, as any fool knows. For the uninitiated, and those not yet fully throwing themselves into potting shed life, here’s what they’re really for:
Having a grown-up wendy house. No one truly gets too old to appreciate the joy of a tiny little house of one’s own to pass the time in, play in and arrange ‘just so’. A place no one else will try to invade (because it’s too darn small).
Keeping your most delicious comestibles. If you’ve any kind of sense you’ll kit out your potting shed with a few essentials. Nothing too fancy. You don’t want to arouse interest. Just an old Thermos you can take out full of boiling water, a nice enamel mug, a small box of a few interesting herbal teas, and most importantly, a thoroughly uninteresting looking old biscuit tin in which to secrete cakes, biscuits and other treats. A cup of tea and a slice of fruitcake never taste so good as when they’re secret.
Hiding from your nearest and dearest. Yes, we’re sure they’re lovely but sometimes we all just need to disappear for an hour. The potting shed offers that ideal combination of being outside the four walls of the house (thus putting off potential ‘company’ happening upon you) but not actually off the premises (so you don’t strictly speaking have to tell anyone you’ve gone there. If you slip up the garden like a ninja it could be a good half hour before anyone notices you’ve gone.)
Communing with spiders. Because somehow they count as welcome company rather than unwanted intruders. You might look askance at your other half trying to muscle their way into your potting shed but Gerald?! Well, he came with the bricks. And he’s always there to lend a hand (or eight) when needed. Gerald’s welcome to stay.
Enjoying without distraction. Do you find you only ever really do the whole crossword, get stuck into a book or sit and listen to the afternoon play on Radio 4 when you’re not in your own house? That’s likely because there’s always a job you ‘should’ be doing to take the place of what you want to be doing. Get a potting shed and suddenly all that laundry that needs folding, the drain that needs unblocking and the spuds that need peeling for dinner disappear! Out of sight out of mind, see? Who knows? Perhaps by the time you skulk back indoors someone else will have done the chores for you! We live in hope.
Doing some Proper Pottering. After all where can you truly potter if not in a potting shed, sniffing the unmistakable smell of compost, sweeping up, scrubbing the odd pot and arranging seed packets. There’s no place where it’s easier to be gently useful and relaxedly occupied.
If you’re already yearning for a potting shed of one’s own, pick up our July issue, which has instructions on how to make your own potting shed in a day (like the one pictured above). It’s small but very easy to put together and there’s enough room for you, a newspaper, a comfy stool… and Gerald, too.
The project is adapted from Upcycling Outdoors by Max McMurdo (Jacqui Small). Photography: Brent Darby.
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This marks the end of our June ‘shine’ issue. We hope it brought a little sunshine into your life.
As is tradition now, here’s a haiku we penned as an ode to June. Write your own in the comments below or leave it for us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Five, seven, five, remember. We’ll send a lovely book to the author of our favourite.
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Photography: Peter Wright
Like the look of these strawberries and cream muffins? Join us in delving into their history (before we delve into their paper cases and get our faces mucky)
Wimbledon begins again in just over a week. And out come the strawberries and cream. Of course, everyone associates the dish with the tennis tournament but we only recently learned why, and just how far back strawberries and cream goes…
It’s summer, 1509. Henry VII has recently shuffled off his mortal coil and his son, Henry (soon to be VIII) has set about spending his father’s carefully tended coffers. Henry has married Catherine of Aragon and is shortly to have a bun in the royal oven. As is custom, on ascending the throne, he has also released most of the country’s prisoners. A generous, if fairly rash idea. All in all, it’s early days, they know nothing of the difficulties to come. It’s a summer of love, of excess… and of feasting.
Royal banquets were expected to feed up to 600 at a time. Twice a day. A feat that would make a bottle of Fairy Liquid cower today. Thomas Wolsey was tasked with arranging all this and, with 600-odd guests chomping their way through up to 44 courses at any one meal, some of those courses would need to be very simple to prepare.
The combination of strawberries and cream is said to have first appeared at one of these feasts in 1509. Cream had previously been considered a peasant food - the Turkey Twizzler of its day - but the dish went down a storm. And of course, what was served for the King soon became fashionable in every well-to-do dining room across England. English ladies became so excited about the pud, they were charging their gardeners to cultivate strawberries to serve to their own dinner guests. The country went briefly strawberries and cream mad.
But whence came the tennis link? Thomas Wolsey’s palace had a tennis court, where he apparently also served strawberries and cream. Well don’t we all have that one signature pud we always fall back on when guests descend?
By the time the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament began in 1877, it was obviously peak strawberry season, but also Tudor history was ‘having a moment’. It seems to have a moment at least once a century - Hilary Mantel didn’t jump willy nilly on that particular bandwagon, of course. So all the planets were aligned for strawberries and cream to make a comeback. And come back they did. But they never left.
And why would they? Sweet, juicy strawberries and rich, cold cream are one of history’s most winning combinations, going together like love and marriage, fun and feasting… Henry VIII and gout…. Yes, maybe go easy on the cream with those strawberries this Wimbledon.
We’re celebrating Wimbledon with these strawberries and cream muffins (pictured) from our June issue, which is on sale now if you’d like the recipe. Just the thing to accompany your cuppa during the Women’s Final. The recipe from The Tin & Traybake Cookbook by Sam Gates (Robinson). Photography: Peter Wright
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Sunny days call for sundaes and you can win a sundae kit for summer here
What’s your favourite ice-cream sundae? Knickerbocker glory, chocolate fudge brownie, banana split, or perhaps peach melba? It’s a list of names to transport you back to childhood, when pushing a long-handled spoon through layers of ripe fruit, gloopy sauce and oozing ice-cream was the height of summery indulgence. It’s a tradition worth bringing back…
Mackie’s of Scotland knows all about good traditions. At their farm, making delicious ice-cream is a sky-to-scoop production – tending the grass-fed cows that produce Mackie’s thick and creamy milk and using renewable energy to magic it into frozen tubs of goodness in a range of flavours from raspberry ripple to salted caramel.
As well as offering fantastic flavours, Mackie’s has no shortage of inspiration on how to enjoy your ice-cream. Set out ice-creams, fresh fruit, sauces, nuts and sprinkles and let friends and family build their own sundaes. You can melt Mackie’s chocolate for an instant sauce, or dip wafers into it to make the best kind of glue for sugar sprinkles. You could even top a glass of prosecco with strawberry ice-cream for a grown-up take on an old-fashioned float. Mackie’s is giving away Summer Sundae Kits to get you started – for your chance to win, enter our competition (see below). Find out more at mackies.co.uk.
There are five Mackie’s Summer Sundae Kits up for grabs. Each includes:
12 Mackie’s vouchers for a 1 litre-tub of ice-cream
12 bars of Mackie’s chocolate
A selection of toppings
2 sundae glasses
A professional ice-cream scoop and 4 long spoons
A Mackie’s recipe book, tea towel and apron.
How to enter
For your chance to win, press the button below and tell us how many sundae glasses are included in the prize.
Terms & conditions: Competition closes at 11.59pm on 7 August 2019. Winners will be selected at random from all correct entries after this date, and notified soon after. You can’t swap your Sundae Kit for cash, and the prize is non-transferable. Vouchers can be redeemed at any Mackie’s stockist – find your nearest via mackies.co.uk. You’ll find our full terms and conditions on page 127 and online at icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.
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The two-bed Dittisham in Dartmoor National Park
Feeling inspired to book your next holiday? Classic Cottages is giving away a £500 voucher
Picture an idyllic British summer getaway and a holiday cottage probably features somewhere in your imaginings. Classic Cottages has been curating property treasures in the UK since 1977. Its high-quality collection features homes across the south and west, from Cornwall to the Isle of Wight. You can browse them all at classic.co.uk. And now the company is giving away a £500 voucher to one The Simple Things reader with this brilliant competition.
To be in with a chance of winning simply enter below and answer the question.
Terms & conditions: Competition closes at 11.59pm on 7 August 2019. A winner will be selected at random from all correct entries received and notified soon after. The voucher is valid for 12 months, until 7 August 2020. You can use it on any Classic Cottages property, subject to availability, and you can’t swap it for cash or transfer it. You’ll find our full terms and conditions on page 127 of the magazine and online at icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.
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Image: Shutterstock
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DJs: Clare Gogerty, with the help of readers Wendy Browning, Louise Collyer, Carole Hirst and Michelle Monteleagre.
A summer foodie bundle to make picnics even lovelier could be yours
Summer starts in earnest, it’s said, when elder trees burst into flower, and it ends in late August when elderberries are ripe. Delicate elderflowers explode in hedgerows across the Quicke’s estate and beyond. Only the best ingredients are good enough for Quicke’s clothbound cheese, from grass-fed cows’ milk made by the Quicke’s herd, to Cornish Sea Salt to mix into the curds. So, when it came to developing the Elderflower Clothbound Cheese – a creamy hard cheese with a flicker of real elderflower – only the best hand-picked wild elderflower would do.
To celebrate the latest batch of Quicke’s Elderflower Clothbound Cheese (above), they’re giving away a summer foodie bundle from a few of our favourite South West businesses who are also making the most of this wonderful summer blossom. The prize includes:
• Nancarrow Farm Feast tickets for two, worth £40 each, valid for summer feast nights down on the farm in Truro, Cornwall. • Easygoing English aperitif, Sharpham Sparkling Elderflower. • Lyme Bay Gin, bursting with traditional botanic flavours and citrus and elderflower notes. • Luscombe Wild Elderflower Bubbly, a soft drink infused with blossom foraged in the June sunshine. • And of course – Quicke’s Elderflower Clothbound Cheese.
For your chance to win, enter below.
We’re going to be frank: if you don’t love a good bookshop there’s something wrong with you
Let’s face it: all bookshops are magical places, but an independent bookshop is always a particularly welcome find. Unbound by the policy of huge companies, an indie can do pretty much what it likes, catering to the needs of its local community and selling bestsellers alongside books that might otherwise not see the light of day.
Today marks the start of Independent Bookshops Week (15-22 June. Follow @booksaremybag for more information). The week is run by The Booksellers’ Association and aims to celebrate one-off bookshops with events, readings, signings, literary lunches and much more.
Pictured is one of our favourite bookshops, in Lewes, East Sussex. Bag of Books is actually a children’s bookshop but is irresistible, not just for browsing new children’s titles for gifts, but also for unearthing old childhood favourites. Like many towns in the UK, Lewes is home to several indie bookshops so is well worth a weekend trip if you aren’t local. But we’d love to hear about your independent bookshops, wherever you are in the UK this week.
Comment below to tell us about your favourite independent bookshop and what makes it so brilliant. We’ll pick the author our favourite recommendation and send a lovely book from our shelves as a thank you.
Off you go… And SSSSSHHHHHH! We’re trying to read!
Photography: The Beeswax Wrap Company
Little changes you can make to create a big difference for the planet
Here at The Simple Things we’ve been trying to make one small change to our lifestyles each month - things we know we should be doing, like switching to refillable soap and cleaning products, using cloths instead of throwaway wipes. This month, inspired by our Cups of Tea feature with the co-owner of The Beeswax Wrap Company, Fran Beer, we’re hoping to try getting shot of cling film.
Let’s be honest, cling film is super-convenient. But it’s plastic, it’s not (very) reusable and there are much more attractive options. Here are a few swaps you could make to bring a little more joy and a little less wrappy plastic to your life…
Leftover cake
Use a pretty tin instead. If you don’t already have a dedicated cake tin, you need to practise a little more self-care anyway.
Cheese
Beeswax wraps (above) are ideal for odd bits of cheese. Get a pack of different sized wraps and you’ll have enough for your large wedge of brie or your knob-end of parmesan.
Lunchtime sandwiches
Wax or cloth wraps work well for sarnies, too, but a reusable sandwich box will save it from getting squished in your bag.
Half a tin of soup, beans (or anything)
Reusable can lids (like the ones they sell for pet food) work a treat and just pop in the dishwasher after use ready for next time.
Half used veg
If pre-chopped most veg can be kept from spoiling by putting it in a bowl of water in the fridge (good for carrot sticks, scrubbed potatoes etc). Otherwise, store cut veg like peppers and cucumber in the salad drawer. In all honesty, the cut side gets a little dry whether wrapped in cling film or not so you’re best not bothering and just slicing off a thin bit of the exposed edge before you next chop some off.
Bread
Get a bread bin. See our self-care note above re cake tins. It’s just wrong not to have one.
Homemade biscuits
Don’t be silly. Just finish them off, for goodness’ sake!
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Shelley Verdon tells us why this small patch of land is what she holds most dear
Quite what possessed me to get an allotment with no experience in growing anything, I’m not sure, but I’d recently moved back home to my mother’s flat in 2015 after a stint working away. The allotment is on the River Mole in Surrey, nestled between farmland and a wholesale nursery. The first thing I planted was a wildflower meadow. That may seem unusual, but my decision-making about the allotment hasn’t been particularly rational. I wanted plants that would bring me joy.
So I toiled one early-autumn day, clearing the weeds, preparing the ground and then scattering the seeds. And then I waited. Not much happened and eventually, by late winter/ early spring, I gave up and threw some black plastic sheeting over the patch, thinking the area must have gone to weeds.
A couple of weeks later the plants were pushing up against the black plastic, trying to get to the light. I realised with delight that I had a growing wildflower meadow. The meadow is a mixture of cowslips, oxeye daisies, thistles, lady’s bedstraw, sorrel, ragged robin, buttercups and vetch. And the insects came. It started out with mayflies bobbing diligently above my meadow, followed by small beetles, hoverflies, bees, bumblebees, crickets, blackfly and ladybirds. I’ve been amazed at how much pleasure watching the insects gives me. Sometimes I lie down between my rose bed and the wildflower meadow to watch the bees and butterflies moving from thistle to thistle and listen to bumblebees vibrating in my apothecary roses.
My grandmother died a couple of years ago, then my mother was diagnosed with an illness and made redundant. I would bring her to the allotment on Sunday evenings, the evening our family used to get together before my brother and his family moved to Australia. She’s a barefoot and haphazard gardener, which is fascinating, amusing and infuriating to watch. She throws seeds without care, then proceeds to grow things that no one else on the allotments can.
I’m not sure how I’d have got through the last couple of years without the allotment. It has been a godsend. “Better than winning the lottery,” said my mother. I should point out, however, that neither of us has won the lottery yet.
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The above piece was featured in the June issue of The Simple Things. Get hold of your copy of this month's issue - buy, download or subscribe
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.
