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Taking Time to Live Well
DJ: FRANCES AMBLER
IMAGE: VANESSA GRZYWACZ
Whether it’s your house or your neighbourhood, our latest playlist celebrates your patch. It’s taken from our September PATCH issue (see what we did there?) in shops from 28 August 24.
Take a listen on Spotify here
Have a browse of all our playlists here
Photography: Pumphrey and Weston
Cosy up with Salamander Stoves, specialists in manufacturing elegant stoves for small spaces
Sometimes, owning the smallest of abodes can lead to the biggest of dreams. Devon-based Salamander Stoves knew this only too well and were inspired to create the Hobbit, a small, cast iron, 4.1kw multi-fuel stove that is traditionally styled to fit with any interior.
Whether it’s a cosy cottage, a cabin, a shepherd hut, glamping tent, camper van or something more unique, Salamander Stoves specialises in compact stoves for when space is limited. They also produce the Little Range Cook stove, with the same great features as the Hobbit plus a stainless steel cooktop and oven, capable of producing enough off-grid heating and hot water for your small space.
Salamander’s wood-burning stoves are optimised for environmental sustainability and fully comply with the 2022 Ecodesign Regulations. They’re over 80% efficient, releasing far fewer particulate and gas emissions, plus 20% of every stove is made from recycled cast iron. To further support their eco credentials, Salamander Stoves has partnered with TreeSisters, a UK reforestation charity, and funds the planting of three trees for every stove bought.
With a wide range of flue kits available, alongside its bespoke flue consultancy service, Salamander Stoves guarantees helpful and personalised advice on your unique project.
Salamander Stoves is also offering all readers of The Simple Things 5% off all new online orders – simply add code SIMPLE5 at checkout. Valid until 31 December 2024.
For more information, visit salamanderstoves.com or follow on Instagram: @salamanderstoves.
Treat your toes to pure woollen footwear from Danish brand glerups, including the stylish Langdal design
Walking in through the front door and popping on your slippers is one of life’s simplest pleasures. Nanny Glerup certainly thought so, so when she handcrafted her first pair of slippers using natural wool from her own beloved Gotland sheep, friends and family were suitably impressed and wanted in on the action… and glerups was born.
Over three decades on, the Danish brand is fiercely committed to upholding strict environmental and ethical standards and is proud of its Project Zero Waste philosophy, upcycling leftover materials in the production of new glerups. For example, leather scraps are used to make the company logo that adorns every pair of slippers, shoes or boots, while its insoles are made from leftover wool. Other natural materials that have been carefully selected include coir, natural rubber and organic cotton.
“We work purposefully to use all bits and pieces from our carefully selected production materials,” says glerups co-owner, Allan Timm. “This has always been Nanny’s philosophy and is now deeply integrated into our DNA.”
The brand’s popularity continues to grow, especially with the recent launch of the Langdal, a stylish lace-up shoe. Made from 100% pure wool, soft, chrome-free leather and coconut fibres – a waste product from the food industry – the Langdal is designed to be worn all year round.
In celebration of the Langdal, we’re offering one lucky reader the chance to win glerups for all the family, worth up to £450. Whether you prefer cosy toes or out-and-about comfort, the whole family can enjoy beautiful woollen footwear, handcrafted with ethical and natural materials. So, best foot forward and enter our competition today…
For more information, visit glerups.co.uk or follow on Insta: @glerups_official and enter the competition below…
For your chance to win glerups for the whole family, enter our competition by clicking the button below and answering the following question by the closing date of 9 October 2024.
Q: What is the name of Glerups’ new lace-up shoe?
The comp closes at 11.59pm on 9 Oct 2024. One winner selected at random from all correct entries received and notified soon after. Prize is four pairs of glerups of choice, subject to availability, worth up to £450. The winner cannot transfer the prize or swap it for cash. Our full T&Cs are on p125 and online at icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.
Illustration by Christina Carpenter
This simple back garden project means you can offer a safe haven for beetles and other bugs
You’ll need: a plastic bucket, a drill, a spade, some logs or branches (shorter than the bucket), stones of varying sizes, bark chippings, leaves.
Drill holes of different sizes (for different beetles) in the sides and bottom of your bucket.
Dig a hole slightly bigger than your bucket and a couple of inches deeper.
Place the bucket in the hole and put some stones in the bottom, then carefully place the branches or logs in, in an upright position.
Use more stones, bark chippings and leaves to fill the rest of the space and cover with some of the soil you removed when digging the hole.
Wait for your six-legged guests to move in.
This project is taken from our August Almanac pages, by Iona Bower, where you’ll find seasonal things to note and notice, plan and do each month.
Want to look effortlessly sporty and stylishly carefree at the same time? Here’s how to do an underwater handstand.
Practise the following steps in secret - perhaps on early mornings at the pool - until you can do an underwater handstand with ease (and without causing alarm… or a tidal wave). Don’t be tempted to try it on land though (unless you are a gymnast or under the age of 12).
1. Choose a depth of water you feel comfortable in. Deep water will support your body more, meaning you don’t have to use as many muscles or exercise so much balance. However, the deeper the water, the harder it is to keep your hands on the pool floor. Shallower water makes it a little easier to stay on the bottom but you won’t be buoyed up by the water so much. Experiment a bit and find what suits you best but maybe start with the water about waist height.
2. Plant your feet firmly together on the floor of the pool and take a deep breath into your lungs. Hold your breath and in one, hopefully swift, movement lift your feet, bring your knees into your chest and plant your hands, palm down, where your feet were.
3. Once your palms are firmly on the floor of the pool, steadily push your legs up into a handstand position. Once they’re there, point your toes and press your legs together (this will help you stay in position). While you’re practising, you can always ask a trusted friend to catch your legs for you.
4. When you can’t hold your breath any longer let your legs fall forward over your body and return to a standing position. Once you’ve taken a breath of air, you may shout “TA-DAAAAH!” if you wish.
Once you’ve mastered a handstand, if you want to be REALLY fancy you might like to take inspiration from the synchronised swimmers (pictured here) that Ella Foote met for our August issue’s Modern Eccentrics page. Photography by Jonathan Cherry.
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Photography by Anneliese Klos and Liz Boyd
Any job, even a simple one, is always worth doing properly. Particularly if it makes the end result even more pleasurable. There’s definitely a simple pleasure in a properly done tomato sandwich… a world away from soggy bread and seeds everywhere. Here are our rules for making the very best tomato sarnie.
1. Let’s begin with the bread. The scaffolding that will hold your tomatoes together. Put down the flimsy pre-sliced plastic bread. That will not do at all. What you need here is something with substance - sourdough is a good choice as it’s dense, so it holds things together well, but anything nice and crusty will do. Wholegrain or very seedy breads are good for texture, too. If you’re worried your bread is too soft in the middle, try toasting it lightly first.* Once you have made your bread selection, cut two nice, thick slices.
2. What to spread on your bread? The juiciness of a tomato is both its best aspect and its achilles heel, because a sliced tomato will immediately make the bread soggier than a November afternoon on Skegness seafront. To counteract this, you need to create a ‘barrier’ between bread and tomato. The best way to do this is with a reasonably thick layer of salted French butter. Specific? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely. Vegans should replace this with the best quality olive oil or plant-based spread they can muster. Hipsters may use a little mashed avocado as a barrier. If you feel like something a little richer, cream cheese also makes for a good bread/tomato barrier and adds a cool, creamy foil to the sharpness of the tomatoes. A smothering of Pesto will give it some Italian attitude.
3. Onto the main event. Ideally, your tomatoes will be picked from the garden that morning, leaving the grassy scent of the vines all over your hands and clothes as you bring them in. If you aren’t a grow-your-own type, just look for the freshest tomatoes you can find, preferably on the vine. The variety is entirely up to you - pick your favourite! But we love a large, knobbly beefsteak type as it has lots of pink flesh in the middle for plenty of bite and fewer seeds. Whichever you choose, slice the fruits about half the width of your bread and then place them in two layers across one slice of the buttered bread.
4. What about condiments? Well, the most important question is: salt and pepper? Or… and bear with us here… sugar? If you’ve never given it a go, it’s worth trying at least once. Just sprinkle a little crunchy sugar over your sliced tomatoes. The acidic nature of the tomatoes will soften the sugar slightly and bring out the sweetness of them a little more. If salt is your preferred condiment, a rough, flaky salt with big crystals is best for added crunch. If you want to be very fancy, a smoked salt such as Viking Salt, available from specialist food stores, adds a depth of flavour to the sandwich. A generous grinding of black pepper is optional but always welcome.
5. And herbs? Basil is classic, of course. Snipped chives also add oniony savouriness to tomatoes. Any fresh herbs will bring new flavour to your tomato sandwich. Dried herbs need not apply.
6. Let’s close this lunch deal. Pop your top slice on the tomato layer, press down firmly and slice your sandwich in half. We think triangles taste better than rectangles but you do you.
*A word about toasting your bread. If crunch is the way you choose to go, we highly recommend trying our three-ingredient recipe for Grated Tomato on Fried Bread, from our new series ‘Please Yourself’ in our August issue. It might just be the simplest and most delicious thing you’ll try this month.
Photography by Kirstie Young
Our Tomato Sandwich Rules were inspired by our colourful back cover image from our August issue. The issue is in shops now and can also be purchased from our online store. Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe
Necklace shell, by Ella Sienna
We’ve all picked up a spiralled shell on the beach and marvelled at how nature can produce something so intricate and mathematically beautiful, but how are they actually formed?
The shape of spiral shells, such as nautilus shells, are known by mathematicians as ‘logarithmic spirals’. These are shapes that follow the Fibonacci sequence and there are many examples in nature, from sunflower hearts to entire galaxies: for any rotation angle in these shapes, the distance from the origin of the spiral increases by a fixed amount.
In nautilus shells like the Necklace Shell, above, there are many chambers, which the mollusc inside inhabits. As the creature grows, it needs bigger and bigger chambers to live in, so it creates these via a process called biomineralisation.
During biomineralisation, the mollusc’s mantle (a soft organ that secretes a substance high in calcium carbonate) gets to work, making a deposit at the opening of the shell, following the ‘expand, rotate, twist’ rule to create the spiral. Here’s how that works:
Expand: it must deposit more material than it did when creating the previous part of the spiral.
Rotate: by depositing more material on one side of the opening, it creates a full rotation of the aperture, making a doughnut shape.
Twist: It rotates the point of deposition each time. The twist part is what gives a helicospiral shell, rather than a planospiral shell like that of the nautilus. So it’s not always necessary but it’s rather cool and clever, so we’ve included it here.
Nearly all shells rotate to the right and are known as dextral shells. It’s very rare to see a sinistral shell, where the spirals rotate to the left. But what’s fascinating is that the fossil record shows this was not always the case and the direction of spiral shells changes over the centuries. Why? Nobody really knows. Perhaps, as a species, they got giddy…
The shell images used here are taken from The Shell Spotter’s Guide by Helen Scales with illustrations by Ella Sienna (National Trust Books). We have an extract and a short guide to shell spotting in our August issue, which is on sale now.
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Augur shell by Ella Sienna
Sunflowers, when prepared properly, have a texture like aubergine and taste like a perfumed artichoke heart, making for a tasty seasonal tart.
Serves 4
10g butter
6 shallots, finely sliced
4 small or 2 large sunflower heads, with petals
1 glass of white wine
2 tsp oregano leaves
2 tsp thyme leaves
320g puff pastry
25g mature cheddar, grated
1 Heat a splash of olive oil and the butter in a pan over a medium low heat. Add the shallots and a pinch of salt and sweat for about 10 mins, or until golden. Set aside.
2 To prepare your sunflower hearts, remove any petals (set aside) and pull off the seeds (if they don’t push out easily, lever out with a spoon). Next, use a knife to scrape the paper cases from the spongy base, discard, and trim away the green parts of the flower head, including the leaves and where the stem joins underneath. You should be left with a round, white, slightly spongy base of the flower head.
3 Slice the spongy bases into long strips and place in a bowl along with the wine and half of the oregano and thyme. Submerge the strips under the wine, ensuring 128 that they’re covered, otherwise they’ll oxidise and will go brown.
4 Return the pan of shallots to the hob, adding the sunflower strips, the wine and the remaining oregano and thyme leaves. Heat until the wine evaporates and the sunflower strips start to soften.
5 Line a round 32cm dish with baking paper. Spoon the sunflower and shallot mixture into the middle of the dish and leave to cool.
6 Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4. When the filling is cool, roll out the puff pastry to the same size as the dish. Sprinkle the cheese over the filling and carefully place the pastry disc on top, ensuring all the ingredients are tucked inside. Press down the pastry and tuck in the edges. Prick a couple of holes in the centre to allow steam to escape. Bake for 35–40 mins, or until golden.
7 Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before turning out onto a serving platter. Discard the baking paper and scatter over the reserved sunflower petals to serve.
Taken from Buds & Blossoms by Liz Knight (Hardie Grant). Photography: Kim Lightbody
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Photography by Anneliese Klos
With a book in your hand you can travel the world from the comfort of your deckchair. Here’s a read that will transport you to a sunny island…
The Orange House by Isabelle Broom (Hodder & Stoughton)
Somewhere warm and beautiful, with waves lapping the shore is surely the stuff of many summer fantasies. In (TST short story contributor) Isabelle Broom’s dreamy novel of second chances, and of love lost and regained, she adds in a rambling house, with apricot-coloured walls and surrounded by citrus trees in Mallorca. Violet and Henry bought the dilapidated La Casa Naranja when they were young and hopeful; 20 years on, their marriage is faltering, the house is up for sale, and both are nursing grievances and keeping secrets as their marriage tethers on the edge. Add to the mix their troubled son Luke and his protective girlfriend Eliza, and their summer has taken a turn for the fractious. But with the scent of the lemons, the sound of the sea and the shimmer of the sun, Broom sets the course for emotional reckonings and romantic realisations. Bliss.
Serves 1
25ml citrus gin, such as Gordon’s Sicilian Lemon Gin
25ml Aperol
25ml Dolin Blanc vermouth
10ml orange juice
35ml grapefruit soda
5ml grenadine
Slices of orange, to garnish
1 Add the gin, Aperol, vermouth and orange juice to an ice-filled highball glass and gently stir.
2 Top up with chilled grapefruit soda and slowly pour the grenadine down the inside of the glass. Garnish with orange slices to serve.
Bartender’s Note: Any grapefruit soda can be used, even Lilt, but for the best visual effect, choose white grapefruit soda over the red variety, such as Sanpellegrino.
The Sunshine Negroni recipe is taken from Spritz Cocktails: 35 Thirst-Quenching Sodas, Highballs & Sparklers (Ryland Peters & Small) Photography: Alex Luck
To find more reads to transport you to other locations, turn to page 67 of our August issue, where Eithne Farry introduces us to some books for summer armchair tourism.
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Photography © Charlie Wild and Jessica Last 2024
Feel like you spend too much time watching others being brave and not enough throwing yourself into life yourself? Here are a few ways to find your inner adventurer
Do what you love but be a little more adventurous
Think going from walking to climbing a mountain, swimming to wild swimming, camping to wild camping.
Have more fun
Enjoyment is not the same as fun. Do something a bit silly that makes you laugh. Jump off a rope swing into a lake. Ride a roller coaster. Make up a bed and sleep in your garden under the stars.
Feel the fear but don’t let it control you
Listen to it, thank it for alerting you to possible dangers and then tell it to move away so you can be in control of your life.
Enjoy the journey
Think about where you enjoy the process not just the outcome. Go for a hike in the woods or a bike ride, not for exercise but to bask in nature.
Find pockets of adventure
Rather than waiting until you have time for a weekend away, find something that fits into your evening or lunch break.
Watch and read about adventure
When we hear of others that inspire us, we start to expand on what we believe is possible.
Listen to what’s whispering to you
Do you drool over travel or adventure programmes, lust after campervans or think fondly of horse riding or sailing boat memories? Act on these desires and impulses rather than finding reasons not to do things.
The ideas above are from our feature ‘Brave New World’ by Rebecca Frank from our August issue. Read more about how to be brave starting from page 20 and be inspired by reading Achievable Adventures by Charlie Wild and Jessica Last (Quadrille, £18)
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Photography by Rebecca Lewis @poshyarns.photography
Edible flowers add colour and fun to these crunchy beetroot, tomato and houmous crostini
Serves 6
Ingredients
One small baguette
250g houmous
1 raw beetroot, peeled and thinly sliced
250g mixed coloured cherry tomatoes, halved
Edible flowers (try nigella, marigold, nasturtium, pansies and violets)
Olive oil, to drizzle
To make
1 Cut the baguette into thin slices and lightly toast to make crostini.
2 Spread each crostini generously with the houmous.
3 Layer the beetroot and tomato on top of the houmous, then decorate each bite with an edible flower and season with salt and pepper.
4 Drizzle with a little olive oil and serve immediately on a nice platter.
This recipe is taken from our August ‘Gathering’ feature, which we’ve called ‘Circle of Friends’ and includes a menu for a lunch with mates: Grapefruit & Kombucha Refreshers, Coconut & Yogurt Herb Dip, Salmon, Saffron & Lime Kebabs, Cucumber, Lemon & Goat’s Cheese Salad and Honey Mascarpone Tart with Fig. The recipes are by Kay Prestney and photography by Rebecca Lewis.
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Embrace the change of season with an autumnal escape from the ordinary
Find a unique hideaway, and holiday a little differently
Autumn days are the best time of year for a UK escape. Still warm enough to make the most of some of the country’s most beautiful locations, but with plenty of good reasons to cosy up in front of a fire with a book, or wrap up in a blanket for stargazing as the evenings draw in.
Unique Hideaways has a wonderful range of one-of-a-kind breaks to suit everyone, whether you want pubs and walks on your doorstep or somewhere totally remote and quiet. Each property is just a little bit different. You might choose a stunning yurt, a renovated train carriage, a peaceful treehouse or something else entirely... Browse the collection and discover your ideal unique hideaway.
Sleeps 2
Set among ancient oak trees and rolling hills, this magical Welsh retreat transports you to somewhere a bit otherworldly. Wooden walkways, lit by twinkling fairy lights, an outdoor bath to soak in under the tree canopy and a firepit barbecue on the ground below for toasting marshmallows combine to make the Ty Coedwig Treehouse a really special place to stay.
A luxury bathroom, well equipped kitchen and stunning living spaces give the interiors the feel of a rustic boutique hotel, but you also have the chance to live up close to nature, surrounded by lush greenery and with cows for your closest neighbours.
Koes Cabin
Sleeps 6
This bespoke cabin in a slate mine near Tintagel, modelled on the historic mining engine house on site, is a one-of-a-kind stay. Whether you’re cooling off in the spring-fresh waters of the nearby waterfall, or soaking in the wood-fired hot tub, a holiday at Koes Cabin will leave you refreshed and restored.
The walls magically fold back to allow the forest into the cabin, but close the doors on a chilly evening and it becomes a warm and cosy retreat, with sociable living space incorporating an island and swinging egg chair, and a bunk room hidden up on the mezzanine floor.
Mrs Higgs
Sleeps 4
Enjoy an off-grid adventure at Mrs Higgs, a cosy cottage in Herefordshire, surrounded by woodland. There’s no mains water or electricity, so you have the chance to slow down, step back in time and live in harmony with your habitat, pumping water from the original well spring, and using solar energy and a vintage gas cooker.
Pack for adventures - whether that’s hiking in the forests, taking Celtic canoes down the River Wye, or exploring local towns and villages (book-lovers’ paradise Hay-on-Wye is not far)... and then return to Mrs Higgs to cook with local ingredients you’ve picked up, and put your feet up in front of a fire or enjoy soak in the hot tub.
Sleeps 2
Hide away in your very own shepherd’s hut for a few days. Wootton Secret Hut is a beautiful bolthole for two (and a dog) with plenty of rest and relaxation on the menu. Wander among the meadows and streams that surround the hut, soak in the wood-fired hot tub and toast marshmallows under the stars. The outdoor area has a barbecue and fabulous views across to Exmoor. You’ll live a true outdoor lifestyle in this quiet corner of Devon.
Should you get a shower of rain, escape into the hut for cosy board games and long afternoons, reading and drinking tea sprawled on the king-size bed with the woodburning stove roaring.
Sammi’s Freight Train
Sleeps 2
A railway carriage in the middle of the Dales makes for an escape with a bit of a difference. Sammi’s Freight Train stands in the middle of pastures in the Yorkshire countryside, offering peace, fresh air and outstanding views.
The rustic interiors are filled with retro furniture and carefully thought-through details that make you feel instantly at home. Everything you need is here, including a lovely shower room, double bed dressed with pretty linens and a well-equipped kitchen. Outside are a plethora of places to sit with a cuppa and a book and take in your surroundings, as well as a hot tub where you can relax under the stars on warmer evenings.
Pippin
Sleeps 2
What could be lovelier than a shepherd’s hut with sea views? Perhaps a shepherd’s hut with sea views AND a stunning interior that’s ideal for an autumnal long weekend, which is precisely what Pippin offers.
You can see the water from the door of this cosy bolthole in a beautiful corner of Cornwall. With walks from your doorstep and one of Cornwall’s best pubs, The Pandora Inn, just ten minutes away, you’ll be able to make the most of the last sunny days of the year. You can even take a boat down the river to the pub and moor up outside, before heading back to Pippin to toast marshmallows over the firepit before bed.
Stargazers’ Retreat
Sleeps 5
Cosy and colourful, Stargazers’ Retreat is a beautiful yurt perched on the southern tip of the Isle of Wight. The domed roof lets you gaze at the stars after sundown, or lay on your back for some cloud-watching during the day. Either way, it’s a place to pause, breathe and dream.
With both central heating and a woodburner, the yurt is incredibly cosy on chilly autumn days - a wonderful place to come home to after a day cycling, walking and exploring the beaches nearby. On sunny mornings, hop into one of the two outdoor bathtubs on the outside deck for a refreshing start to the day, followed by a big cup of coffee under a blanket as you dry off.
Matilda
Sleeps 2
Matilda is a bespoke cabin in the Sussex countryside, which once belonged to the Battle Abbey Estate. There are nods to the location’s history throughout the cabin, with a mediaeval-style arched doorway, historic colour palettes and hints of folklore everywhere you look. An outdoor deck allows you to spend time watching the local wildlife, including badgers, deer and owls, or lie on the comfy bed indoors and stare up at the ‘stargazing window’ on clear nights.
Nearby are many historic towns to explore including Battle and Rye, as well as stunning countryside and lots of excellent pubs where you can rest and refuel with comfort food and a well-deserved local ale or glass of Sussex wine.
The Lean To
Sleeps 2
Once a threshing barn, this stunning cabin in Powys is a wonderful retreat for a couple. The Lean To has been decorated in stunning dark shades and rich woods, making it a very romantic autumnal escape and somewhere you feel a true sense of rest and relaxation. A cosy sofa and piles of books encourage serious lounging, too.
Situated on the Anglo-Welsh borders, with views of the Brecon Beacons, there are plenty of outdoor adventures to be had at this time of year, whether you want to go canoeing and hill walking or have a more gentle meander through meadows and local craft shops and cafes.
Sleeps 2
Nature lovers will find so much to fascinate in this eco home built from reclaimed wood, in a quiet corner of Cumbria. Located about 10 miles north of Penrith, Tawny Owl Treehouse is a wonderful base from which to explore all the Lake District has to offer, but there’s so much to see without even leaving your house in the trees…
The area is home to many wild animals, including otters, badgers and foxes, and twitchers should definitely not forget their binoculars, with kestrels, buzzards and kingfishers all regularly visiting. It’s a real chance to completely immerse yourself in nature. As well as an outdoor bath tub and shower, the deck also has a wonderful swing seat where you can sit and just take in everything around you.
Make a cup of tea, get out the biscuit tin, then click on the link below to visit our jigsaws album and put together an online jigsaw of the beautiful image above by Ali Allen above.
The wildflowers pictured are from our feature ‘Foraged Floristry’ by Rachel de Thample from our July issue. Rachel says:
“You don’t need to spend a fortune at the florists when you can forage for local blooms in a sensitive and non-intrusive way. The art of gathering a wild bouquet grounds you in nature, finely attunes you to the unfolding seasons, all while saving money. It also means you’re not buying intensively grown flowers, which often come with pesticide and chemical residues. Summer, when the heat encourages a richer palette, more diversity and abundance, is the best time to make foraging flowers for the table a weekly ritual.
“The golden rule when foraging is to never take more than a quarter of what’s available, but with wildflowers it’s best to only pick one in twenty to ensure you leave enough to provide food and shelter for the wildlife. The Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (bsbi.org) publishes a code of conduct for picking, collecting and photographing wild plants.”
Click the button below to do the Simple Things Wildflowers jigsaw, popping back here when you need to to view the whole image, then you can pick up the July issue to find out how to turn wildflowers from hedgerows, coastal paths and roadsides into beautiful bouquets.
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DJ: Frances Ambler
Image: Anneliese Klos
Summer songs to lift the spirits – and a touch of summertime nostalgia – whether the sun is out or not. Take a listen on Spotify here. You’ll find this playlist in our August HAVEN issue, on sale from 24 July.
For more summer playlists, take a look at our Spotify profile, where we’ve got playlists for a barbecue, summer memories, midsummer magic and also for lazing on a sunny afternoon.
We all love a celebration and there are many special days throughout the year that warrant a spot of gifting. Whether it’s a birthday, Christmas, a new baby, home or job, or perhaps just to say congratulations, buying a little something lets someone know they’re special. However, Rex London believes that sometimes the simple act of gifting when it’s out of the blue can really make someone’s day – better still, it’ll make your day, too.
In a survey conducted by the online retailer, Rex London found that 92% of people think that gift giving is more fun when the recipient doesn’t expect it. A figure echoed by the 91% who said that they themselves found receiving an unexpected present was more fun than the standard offerings, such as on birthdays and at Christmas.
But when it comes to choosing the ideal token of your affection, Rex London says that no one should be impossible to buy for. With a huge range of bright and cheery toys, games, accessories and homewares (including the prettiest storage you ever did see!), there’s something to delight everyone, and every budget – including pocket money gifts for under £1. And if you’re still stuck, there’s even a Gift Inspiration section with ideas to fire up the imagination.
Perhaps the next time a loved one springs to mind, consider a little gift… just because. Be it to cement your status as a cool auntie, to let a friend know that they’re truly amazing, to remind someone of fond memories or simply because it’s a Thursday and you were thinking of them. After all, the real gift of giving is not the act of handing over the pressie, but the smile and the extra big hug you’re sure to get back in return.
For more information, visit rexlondon.com or follow at: @rexlondonuk.
Here’s your chance to win a Le Boat self-drive boating holiday on the Thames or Caledonian Canal – worth over £1,700
Who doesn’t love messing about on the river? Balmy summer days, the gentle ebb and flow of the water and an ever-changing backdrop to inspire a lifetime of memories. If this sounds idyllic, our competition may be right up your waterway.
The Simple Things has teamed up with Le Boat to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a week’s self-catering boating holiday for up to six, plus a four-legged friend, along the serene waters of the River Thames or the Caledonian Canal, worth over £1,700.
Le Boat – the number one provider of boating holidays on Europe and Canada’s inland waterways – has everything you could need for a magical break, including fully-equipped kitchens, hot showers and cosy cabins, with bedding and towels supplied. You don’t need a licence or any prior experience, as Le Boat’s experts will be on hand to assist you, giving navigation initiation and technical assistance, ensuring your week on the water is just as it should be, thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable.
So, slow down a little and let a Le Boat boating break take you on your next adventure, all while you relax from the comfort of your very own floating home.
For more information, visit leboat.co.uk or follow on Instagram: @leboat_uk.
your chance to win a week’s boating holiday* with Le Boat, enter our competition by clicking the button below and answering the following question by the closing date of 11 September 2024:
Q: What country outside of Europe are Le Boat the No1 inland waterway boating provider for?
The competition closes at 11.59pm on 11 September 2024. One winner will be selected at random from all correct entries received and notified soon after. Subject to availability. The winner cannot transfer the prize or swap it for cash. Details of our full terms and conditions are on p125 and online at icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.
Photograph by @docleaves
Ever felt you’d been led up the garden path (and not in a ‘come and see my greenhouse tomatoes’ kind of way?) Join us on a journey through the veg beds to find out the origins of the phrase…
Being led up the garden path, meaning to be misled or caused to proceed wrongly, is a phrase dating from the early 1900s when many homes had a garden of various beds and veg plots, which pathways wound through.
The phrase is uncertain in origin but may come from the practice of village elders tricking a young man into marrying a, shall we say ‘less than attractive’ veiled bride in order to get her off the shelf.
Weddings often took place in gardens so the unsuspecting groom would be led up the garden path, to find his bride, hidden behind a veil, at the end of the garden. Once married, he would lift the veil and, if disappointed by what lay beneath, it would be too late! He had been literally led up the garden path already.
So, a rather uncharming fable about young men, but an interesting piece of etymology. We’re not so sure those veiled young women necessarily felt they’d found a real catch either. Let’s hope, despite the shallow husbands, they at least had a beautiful garden to console themselves with.
Fascinatingly, in Australia one is lead down the garden path, which we suppose makes sense, geographically speaking.
In our July issue, our My Place pages feature lots more beautiful garden paths to be led up such as the one by Libby Webb @docleaves above. The issue is on sale now or you can buy it from our online store.
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Photography: Plain Picture
Blurring the lines between home time and holiday time is a wonderful way to feel more relaxed every day and to make the very most of your summer
Taking a little of your ‘normal life’ with you on holiday is a simple way to get more from a new destination and see life there as the locals do rather than as a tourist would. Spending your time on holiday more as you might spend a day off at home is a great way to do this, shopping, exercising and generally living as a local. And there are equal benefits to bringing some of your holiday habits back to your ‘normal’ life… helping you to see things with fresh eyes and make the most of the everyday. Here’s how to do both, and maximise that holiday feeling whether you’re home or away.
Using your everyday hobbies can be a great way to discover another side to a new location, whether you’re in another part of the UK or a more far-flung location.
1. Go for a run
It’s the easiest way to get to know a new area. Many cities both here in the UK and abroad now have park runs, which are fun to join in with and then meet some locals afterwards with a coffee. But all you have to do is pack your trainers and you’re off exploring.
2. Visit the cinema
See if there’s a nice picture house within striking distance of your holiday destination. You might just find you can catch a film in a lovely 1930s cinema, or an outdoor cinema, even, bringing a whole new perspective to your movie-watching. If you’re abroad, watching a film in another language is a great way to immerse yourself a bit more in the culture.
3. Mooch around a book shop
A new book shop is always a delight, and going to one you don’t know throws up all sorts of treasures. You might find local interest books that will give you some new ideas for things to do while there, or perhaps will find a book by a local author to take home as a souvenir. A foreign language novel may get you fluent by the time you leave (or will at least make you look cool while sitting and reading in a cafe back home).
4. Have a swim
Take the chance to explore the scenery on a wild swim somewhere beautiful or simply find a nice pool and enjoy a few lengths with no job or chores to rush home to afterwards.
Make yourself a promise to keep doing some of things that make you happy on holiday when you get home.
1. Have evening drinks
It doesn’t have to be Negronis on the terrace every evening. Just sitting down with a glass of wine, or juice to enjoy the last of the daylight as you prep the veg for dinner is a lovely way to say ‘that’s the day done, now let’s relax’.
2. Breakfast well, too
When you’re away, breakfasts are somehow more of an event. Eggs Benedict and fresh fruit salad every morning is lovely, but you can get that holiday feeling (and set yourself up well for the day) just with some decent coffee and a nice granola or sourdough toast, all enjoyed in a bit less of a hurry. Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier to do breakfast properly and you won’t regret it.
3. A daily walk
On holiday, it feels so easy to fall in love with the local area. How often have you had a favourite promenade by the end of the week that you know you’ll miss when you leave? Why not find a ‘favourite walk’ at home, too, and make a few daily steps into a simple pleasure and a moment to reset?
4. Immerse yourself in the local culture
If you were on holiday in your hometown, what would you do? Well, do it at home, too! Visit your local museum, buy that local wine and read up on the history of the streets where you live and you’ll suddenly see it all in a new light.
Our hobbies to take on holiday and habits to bring home were inspired by our feature Slow Summer in our July issue, which includes advice from Jo Mattock on blurring the boundaries between home and holiday, as well as other ideas from Rebecca Frank on taking your summer a little slower.
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Photography by Getty Images
The world of crossword puzzles is a fascinating one, but if you’re coming to it as a new puzzler, it can feel like a bit of a closed shop, full of tricks and turns to catch out - or leave you defeated. Here are a few types of clues to look out for and hopefully help you on your way to some completed grids.
Anagrams
Will include a definition of the word, the letters that form the new word, and an indicator that you’re looking for an anagram (it might say ‘out of sorts’ or ‘muddled’ or something else that suggests a rearrangement.
Reversals
Similar to an anagram but here you’re looking for a word you simply turn backwards. So ‘Desserts turned hard’ would be ‘stressed’. Desserts is ‘stressed’ backwards and ‘hard’ indicates stress. The word ‘turned’ is a clue that you’re looking for a reversal.
Containers
This is where the answer is hidden inside one or more word in a clue. So the answer to the clue ‘A trAGEDy to have become old’ might be ‘aged’.
Double definitions
These clues use words that have more than one meaning and the clue references both. For example: ‘Carry a large grizzly mammal’ could be ‘bear’.
Homophones
A clue that involves words that sound like each other but have different meanings. So a clue that reads: ‘Sounds like you’re at the tail end of the story’ might have the answer ‘tale’, meaning story but it sounds the same as ‘tail’. Indicators that you're dealing with a homophone clue are phrases such as ‘sounds like’ ‘one hears’, ‘it’s said’ and the like.
Alternating letters
The answer is found taking alternate letters from words in the clue. The Guardian gives this as an example: ‘Young person regularly reading The Beano’. The answer is ‘teen’, a young person, taking alternate letters from The Beano. Look for words that hint at ‘alternating’ such as ‘regular’, ‘periodically’, ‘odd’ or ‘even’.
Spoonerisms
You may have heard Spoonerisms before, where the first letters of two words are switched. The Financial Times offers this example: ‘There’s a hole in the front door; Spooner wants improved Security’. The answer would be ‘letterbox’ (a hole in the front door) and a Spoonerism of ‘better locks’. These sorts of clues are easy to spot as they will almost always reference The Rev WA Spooner, after whom they are named.
Initial letters
As you might expect, you’re looking for an acronym here. ‘Initially, furniture can’t have all its refurbishments’ would be ‘chair’. The word ‘furniture’ gives you a clue to the word and the initial letters of the rest of the clue spell out ‘chair’. Often you’ll get a hint that it’s an acronym with the word ‘initially’ or ‘firstly’.
Deletions
Here, a letter is removed to give the answer so ‘Chicken liver starter, dish left out’ would be ‘paté’. A plate is a dish, and left out indicates a letter has been removed. Chicken liver gives a clue as to the answer.
&Lit
An &Lit clue is shorthand for ‘& literally so’. It’s a very crosswordy thing where different types of clue are employed but also the answer is the whole clue. Here’s an example from The Times: ‘This means getting excited about start of undertaking’. The answer is ‘enthusiasm’, as described by the whole clue, but you get there by putting the words ‘this means’ around the letter ‘u’, the start of undertaking.
In our July issue, we took a look at some of the women who made crosswords a phenomenon. You can read more about it (and try your hand at a few puzzles, too) from page 52.
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This celebratory rose-flavoured milkshake from Zanzibar is just the thing for balmy
summer days
Serves 5–6
Ingredients
1ltr almond milk
75g caster sugar
150ml rose syrup
Seeds scraped from ½ vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
Ice cubes
2 tsp chia seeds (or basil seeds)
75g pistachios, finely chopped
To make
1 Combine the almond milk, sugar, rose syrup and vanilla in a blender.
2 Add 4 or 5 ice cubes and blend until smooth. Pour in the chia seeds and leave to bloom for at least 5 mins, or until they’ve become jelly-like.
3 Pour over ice, then garnish with a sprinkling of pistachios in each glass.
Server’s note: Sherbati is made during Muharram – the first month of the Islamic new year, which this year begins on 7 July. Traditionally, a big batch is made, bottled up, and donated to children in Zanzibar. It’s a sweeter version as it’s made with condensed milk and basil seeds, which bloom and become gelatinous, like chia seeds. Best enjoyed ice cold.
Taken from Bahari: Recipes From An Omani Kitchen And Beyond by Dina Macki (DK Books). Photography by Patricia Niven
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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.
