Table of contents for August 2018 in The Simple Things

Chickweed & aloe cooling cubes The soothing anti-inflammatory properties of chickweed and aloe mean these cubes are also good for easing the symptoms of rashes or bites, too. 100g fresh aloe vera gel (see method) or pre-mixed aloe vera gel 2 handfuls of fresh chickweed (see below) 1 If you’re making fresh, slice the gel from the inner aloe leaves, taking care to discard the inner green and yellow leaf lining. Measure the gel (you need 100g). 2 Put the gel into a blender with the chickweed and blitz until combined. 3 Spoon into ice cube trays and freeze until solid (the cubes will keep for up to a year in the freezer). 4 To use, apply a frozen cube to the affected area as and when required. Notes about…

1959 Rowena born in Duston, Northamptonshire 1966 Made her first perfume from bluebells from the woods near her house, with her lifelong friend Maureen. They stamped on the flowers in a wheelbarrow, then mixed with water. It smelt disgusting. 1967 Started buying and collecting makeup, including Miners, invented by cosmetic chemist Stanislaw Krysztal, who later mentored her. 1981 Finished beauty therapist college and worked with Mark and Liz Constantine, with whom she would later form Lush. 1985 Launched first make-up range in Seattle, USA. 1990 Mail order Cosmetics To Go launched: ahead of its time, it went bust within two years. 1994 Adopted Mary the parrot, the office bird, who she didn’t want to be sold as an ‘asset’. 1995 Married her husband Mike Bird and started Lush. 2003 B…

The oven links all that we do at Stark Farm It ties together the farm’s produce and the bakery business. When I decided to start a bakery at home, a wood oven was the obvious choice – the farm’s hedgerows need regular maintenance, and some trees are coppiced each winter, generating a lot of wood. Our long-term aim is to plant more trees and create habitat for wildlife. We’ve planted about 250 trees already over the past four years. I used to read cookbooks all the time, now I’m reading books about trees. Success can look like many different things I was working at a local deli when I began to think about starting my own business. Until the bakery became established, I worked there part-time. Now I’m full-time at the…

Accord This is where magic happens. A perfume’s accord is a blend of individual notes that lose their own identity to create an entirely new scent. Ambergris Made from a digestive secretion found in sperm whales (although much more likely to be synthetic today), ambergris, or amber as it is often called, is woody and sweet. Base note The deep, lasting scent of a perfume. It’s what you’re paying for, so make sure it lasts. Chypre In 1917, Coty launched their fragrance, Chypre, inspired by the island of Cyprus. It was so popular that it’s now the term used to describe woody and mossy scents. Drydown That lingering residue of scent that stays on your scarf for days. Fougère French for ‘fern’, this term refers to herbaceous plants – lavender,…

Best for food RETRÓ LÁNGOS BÜFÉ The best lángos (fried flatbreads) in the city - don’t be put off by its surroundings (AranyJános metro station); the food is exceptional. Favourite café DESSZERT NEKED Although it’s a pastry shop, the coffee is highly recommended here, especially if enjoyed with one of their super delicious desserts. Very friendly staff, too. desszertneked.hu/ Favourite restaurant BOCK BISZTRÓ Collaborating with a famous Hungarian winery of the same name, they focus on high-quality yet traditional Hungarian food. And, of course, great wines. bockbisztropest.hu/ Favourite market Hold Street Market (Belvárosi Piac). The highest quality market in the city with an epic food court offering all the tastes of Hungary. The Flea Markets at Gozsdu Udvar and Klauzál square on weekends are worth a visit, too. Favourite way…

M1: NORTHERN LIGHTS Bolsover Castle, S44 6PR; junction 29A Voted Britain’s ‘spookiest castle’ by staff at English Heritage in 2017, this Derbyshire fort is seemingly afflicted by an array of spectral apparitions. A ghostly small boy grabs visitors’ hands. Muffled voices are heard in the hallways and cold sensations experienced in certain state rooms. A spectacular Stuart-era mansion built beside, and inspired by, the ruins of an original Norman fortress, Bolsover Castle has history, along with spectres in spades. Its tearoom, too, offers cakes based on historical recipes, making a flight from the modern world and the nearby motorway feel almost complete. Elsewhere: Clifton Park and Museum, Rotherham, S65 2AA; J33 or J34. Home to » Yorkshire’s largest free playground, its adventure park, skatepark, crazy golf course, loos and…

Last year Mark and Gin Wilson-North set up MarGins, with four clever Aussie tents that Gin fills with proper campbeds (with duvets, throws and even hot water bottles), comfy chairs and a well equipped camp kitchen. There’s also a whole host of little extras and creature comforts – fresh fruit, flowers on the bedside table, books and magazines to read, home-baked bread and local goodies in your breakfast hamper. But that’s not even the best part – they pack up the tent and reassemble it at another campsite further along the route and take your bags for you. You spend the day walking with nothing more than a daypack, a companion and your dog (bed, bowls, towels and treats all catered for). Where we stayed Burnham Deepdale campsite is a…

Post-retirement ventures are often decades in the making, the long-cherished hobby allowed to emerge from the nine-to-five o’clock shadow and flourish in sunlit, temporally unshackled uplands. The Old Telephone Company is not one of them. “I had no interest and absolutely no knowledge until I started the business,” says Gavin Payne. The challenge was the thing. Back in the mid-1980s, when privatisation appeared to herald early retirement from life as a process control engineer, his colleagues at the Central Electricity Generating Board kicked around ideas of what to do next: “Holiday of a lifetime, pay off the mortgage, the usual stuff,” recalls Gavin. “And I said ‘Yes, but I also want to start my own business in something I know nothing about’. I got hold of a General Post Office…

Originating in the US, the Tiny House Movement is about the freedom that comes from living with less. Once you understand what you really need and get rid of the rest, life simplifies and opens up. Resisting the urge to buy a bigger house, with all its attendant requirements – maintenance, heating, cleaning, furniture, bigger mortgage – and living in a modest home instead, benefits your budget, your soul and the environment. Architects and designers have responded to this new way of living by creating a variety of tiny houses that measure no more than 46 sq m. Coming in all shapes and sizes, some with wheels, the focus is on efficient and eco-friendly design. The downside is that you have to be supremely tidy to live in one and…

Marina Kesso established Iona Herbal before meeting Ross Hennessy. Realising that no one else in Ireland grew a similar range of medicinal plants, they launched a medicinal plant nursery ( barerootbotanicals.ie ) in Sligo. Their tincturing* company Irish Herb Dispensary ( ihd.ie ) followed. The story so far The land was very neglected when we arrived, so we began digging out the rushes by hand. Uniting our herbs and transforming our plot was a labour of love, but it was a massive turning point in our lives. It also meant that my clinical practice Iona herbal (ionaherbal.ie) could be based on the farm. One of the most important parts of our work as clinical herbalists and herb growers is connecting people with the plants, whether it’s…

CANDLES Buy cheap and your olfactory system will pay. Invest in a candle, made from premium wax and perfume-grade fragrance, though, and hours of transportative scent will be yours. Reine de la Nuit by Miller Harris is heady with the scent of tuberose; £45, millerharris.com. REED DIFFUSERS Best for continual fragrance, as long as you remember to invert the reeds every couple of weeks. If you don’t like the container the liquid came in, pour into one of your own, or learn how to make your own on our blog, thesimplethings.com/blog/reed-diffuser. Bergamot Reed Diffuser, 200ml, £35, geodesis.com/en ROOM SPRAYS Great for spritzing around the home prior to guests arriving (or post, come to think of it). Look for ones that disperse fine droplets: you want a mist not a downpour.…

COOK •  Banana splits 7 •  A picnic at the water’s edge 24 Elderflower fizz 26 Chilli-spiced apple sausage rolls 27 Roasted tomato & goats’ cheese tart 28 Pea & herb falafel with hummus & flatbreads 29 Layered salad jars 29 Hard-boiled eggs with celery salt 30 Strawberry cheesecakes 30 Today, tomorow, to keep: Sweetcorn 38 • Sweetcorn fritters 40 Sweetcorn chowder 41 Sweetcorn relish 43 •  Wild blackberry & rose petal cake 53 Tasty trend Custardo 124 Tipple of the month Pimm’s 125 THINK •  Seahorses 19 Wisdom Rowena Bird, co-founder of Lush 32 A job well done Stark Farm Bakery 46 My day in cups of tea Sarah and Fiona of the Mother’s Ruin Gin van 54 A poetic pause…

SPARKLING Maison 54 Pet Nat, £15 Pétillant Naturels (or Pet Nats for short) are bottled at a lower pressure than other sparkling wines, for a lovely light spritz. Fruity and refreshing, this has a tangle of gooseberry and lime notes. Comes with a picnic-friendly crown cap. WHITE Walt Riesling Pflaz, £12.50 Elegant and fruity with apple crispness and a hint of yellow peach. This dry riesling from Germany is clean tasting and refreshing. Brilliant with spicy dishes, such as this picnic’s sausage rolls. ROSÉ Famille Cros-Pujol Les Vignes Rosées Pays D’Oc, £10 This pale rosé from Languedoc is just right for a picnic. Expect fresh, summery notes of wild strawberry, watermelon and ripe white peach. Dry and very drinkable. Wines recommended by Borough Wines & Beers (boroughwines.co.uk), which works with…

Even if you don’t grow your own, you’re likely to come across a glut from time to time – from a friend’s allotment perhaps, in your weekly veg box, or at a stall at the farmers’ market. Finding varied ways to eat and to store this seasonal bounty is satisfying to mind, appetite and pantry. Spend a few hours with your glut and make a dish to eat right away, another for the next day, and a little something for the larder as a future treat. When the sweetcorn start to arrive, they come thick and fast. The gardener’s perk is to be able to pick and eat them quick: their sugars start to turn to starch the moment they’re gathered, so one that was harvested a few hours ago…

The feel of warm sunshine and the glow of its radiant light just seem to make everything better, whether you’re outdoors walking, reading a book on the beach, or enjoying pottering in the garden. There’s just something about it that makes you smile. Here in Dorset, we love the sunshine, and we are extra lucky to enjoy 364 more hours of sunshine throughout the year compared to the UK average. A CUP OF SUNSHINE At Dorset Tea, we decided there must be a way to savour that special feeling those welcome rays bring, so we developed our very own cup of sunshine – a unique blend of black tea that tastes as lovely at dawn as it does at dusk. In fact, we think our tea tastes as good as…

On the edge of Oare village, on a creek of the River Swale in Kent, what looks like a lighthouse emerges from behind tree tops. It’s a deep, mineral grey, and a small windmill, now lacking its sails, is perched on top. It had been operated by The Gun Powder Company, as part of the Faversham area’s thriving explosives industry. It is difficult to reconcile this pretty, preserved village with the manufacture of such destruction. I look inland over a wide marshy field where the beginnings of the creek should be. It features a curved wooden bridge but no water, as it is all dried up in the summer heat. Beyond the road, heading out towards The Swale, I follow its path, past moored sailing boats. The Swale is the…

The first ever motorway service station opened on the M1 near the village of Watford in Northamptonshire, roughly 8 miles south of Rugby, in November 1959. Operated by the firm Blue Boar, who ran a nearby petrol station, it was initially given the somewhat rustic-sounding title of the Watford Village Services. But officials from the Ministry of Transport, fearing motorists might confuse it with town of Watford in Hertfordshire, insisted it be renamed Watford Gap. The Watford Gap has long since come to define the dividing line between the north and the south of England in the popular imagination.…

SECRET OF THE WOODS Robins Nest, Witzenhausen, Hesse, Germany These five individually designed treehouses are concealed among the forest and built entirely from natural materials. Guests can choose from three dwellings high in the canopy, connected by bridges, a hanging ball for two or a stilt house that sleeps eight. There are serve-your-self veggie breakfasts in the communal Waldbar. robins-nest.de A POD TO DREAM ABOUT Airship 002, Drimnin, Highland, Scotland This architect-designed cabin overlooks the Atlantic Ocean through a convex glass and aluminium living area that is also surprisingly cosy. Curved windows to the east and west frame the Isle of Mull, dramatic mountains and the sea. It’s got more than a touch of James Bond about it, and is remote, too, built on a four-acre site, with the nearest…

Stuck for words Brian Bilston The problem of writingpoems inhot weather isthatthe words getsweaty and sticktogether. About the author The ‘poet laureate of Twitter’ (@brian_bilston), Brian Bilston likes to remain enigmatic, purporting on his website that little is known about him except “his penchant for tank tops, his enjoyment of Vimto, his dislike of Jeremy Clarkson.” He is the author of You Took the Last Bus Home (Unbound) and Diary of a Somebody, which will be published by Picador next year.…

You don’t have to surf or even swim to experience the soothing effects of the sea. The noises of the ocean can provide a powerful tool for sound therapy. Next time you’re by the sea, find a spot where you can see the ocean and feel the wind. Close your eyes and breathe slowly, with a steady cycle, in through your nose so you can hear the air in the back of your throat. Visualise a horizon across your eyes. Tune in to the sound of the sea. Let the waves, tide and wind merge as one and allow your breathing to mirror the rhythm of this sound. Resist going into your mind. Fill every breath with the sound scale of waves. Let it wash over your every sense and…

Cornflowers With pretty ruffs of cobalt blue* petals, cornflowers bring a little wildflower-meadow magic into the home. “They work brilliantly as a cut flower, either alone or mixed with other British garden flowers like dahlias,” says Ellie Marlow, florist at Catkin and Pussywillow. “For anyone planning a late summer wedding, they also make beautiful buttonholes and flower crowns.” *Although don’t be limited to just blue: there are also white, pink, red and purple varieties.…

EMBROIDERY Sarah K Benning Sarah K Benning is inspired by mid-century design and antique textiles, as well as her own potted-plant collection. Each piece begins as a drawing, which then is painstakingly stitched by hand onto a variety of fabrics. Inspired to have a go yourself? Visit her Etsy shop, etsy.com/shop/sarahkbenning, where Sarah releases a new, original pattern design on the 1st of each month, designed for all skill levels, from embroidery beginners to seasoned stitchers. PAPER FLOWERS The Cobra Lily Showing exactly just what you can do with crepe paper – if you couple it with skill and patience, that is – is The Cobra Lily, aka Kate Alarcón. Her Instagram feed is a source of botantical beauty: @cobralilyshop JEWELLERY Colourful Cactus Flowers Colourful Cactus Flowers is the work…

Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris) Traditionally used: for menstrual disorders and diarrhoea. Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) Traditionally used: to relieve stress and anxiety, insomnia, digestive complaints and flu. Catnip (Nepeta cataria) Traditionally used: to relieve stress and anxiety, colic, IBS and insomnia. Evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) Traditionally used: as a sedative; to ease whooping cough and to relieve eczema. Cowslip (Primula veris) Traditionally used: to relieve coughs, rheumatism, asthma; or as a sedative. Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) Traditionally used: to relieve sore throats and respiratory tract infections. All plants available from barerootbotanicals.ie…

1 MAKE To make a heart-shaped lavender bag, fold a piece of paper in half and draw one half of a heart on it. Make this large enough to allow for a seam. Cut around the outline and open. Pin the template to a piece of fabric, cut out, then repeat with another piece. Pin the wrong sides together, then sew leaving a gap. Turn inside out. Fill with dried lavender, then sew up the gap. Stitch a ribbon loop to the top of the heart to hang it up. Decorate as you wish with buttons, embroidery, etc. 2 BUY Many a craftsperson has started their foray into making things with lavender bags. The fetching and decorative results of their endeavours (including heart-shaped versions) in a variety of fabric and…

HOT WEATHER COFFEE Cold brew coffee is the way to drink your beans this summer. Try Sandow’s Cold Brew Soda in new flavours, Spice and Citrus.sandows.com 25/26 August Fun foodie festival for all ages including new firepit cooking lessons at River Cottage Festival, Dorset. rivercottage.net/festival FIELD DAY Find a lush green field and lie down in the grass, make a daisy chain crown, whistle through a blade of grass, roll down a hill… Feel grateful for lazy summer days. “Nature is not a place to visit. It is home” Gary Snyder, poet IBIZA FOR GROWN-UPS Dance your socks off in the gardens of a stately home to Ibiza anthems played by the amazing Urban Soul Orchestra. Touring this month; classicibiza.co.uk. It’s the last bank holiday before Christmas (sorry!). Make the…

“To avoid looking like a Stepford Wife, go for a maxi that reveals some flesh” For such a floaty, romantic garment, the maxi dress is remarkably practical. It covers your feet for one thing, so you can ditch the heels and comfortably scuff about in flats instead. It will also keep your legs warm on those summer evenings when the temperature turns unexpectedly chilly. And, unlike other skirt lengths, it does all this while maintaining a veneer of feminine elegance. If there is a downside to the maxi dress, it’s that there is more material to grapple with than with other hemlines. This can lead to undignified tumbles – another reason to avoid wearing heels with one is that they’ll inevitably catch in the hem – or the dress will…

Brands stand out for many reasons, but for Lush, it’s that smell that wafts down the high street, and soaps that look like slices of cheese. But there is more to Lush than meets the eye – or the nose. Lush has been a rare ethical presence on the high street since it launched in 1995 with a store in Poole (there are now 105 in the UK alone). And the smell is because lots of their products have no packaging. “The dream is that, in years to come, none of our products will have packaging,” says Rowena Bird, one of the six co-founders. It’s probably the bath bombs that have reached iconic status, despite the fact – or possibly because – they leave a layer of gunk in your…

Most people’s first experience with perfume was the bottle on their mum’s dressing table. Maybe it was Chanel No5, YSL’s Rive Gauche or Shalimar by Guerlain. Perhaps it was Lou Lou, with its instantly recognisable blue bottle. You always wanted to spray a little, but knew that you’d be rumbled instantly. Part of the appeal was that perfume was strictly for grown-ups. I used to play perfumer with a Tupperware of rain water and smooshed up rose petals. It wasn’t a particularly successful venture. The world of perfume is now more accessible than ever before, and for me that means experimenting. Just as I drink beers from a variety of craft breweries, or enjoy trying different new gins, I am fickle with fragrance. I like to have options, depending on…

WILD BLACKBERRY & ROSE PETAL SPONGE Serves 6–8 Melted butter, for greasing 140g plain flour, plus extra for dusting 3 organic eggs 225g granulated sugar 1 tsp baking powder Pale pink rose petals, fresh or crystallised FOR THE FILLING 110ml whipping cream 2 tsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting ½ tsp rosewater (optional) 225–350g wild blackberries 1 Preheat oven to 190C/Fan 170C/Gas 5. Brush two 20.5cm cake tins evenly with melted butter and dust with flour (lining the base with a circle of greaseproof paper will make removal easier, too). 2 Separate the eggs. In a food mixer, whisk the yolks with the sugar for 2 mins, then add 75ml water. Whisk for 10 mins until light and fluffy. 3 Sift the flour and baking powder into the mousse…

* There’s no better way to get to the heart of a city than through the people who live there. Every issue, we ask someone, clearly in love with their city, to take us on a personal tour and tell us what makes it so special. You may feel inspired to visit one day or to rediscover the charms of a city closer to you, but for now just sit back, relax and enjoy some vicarious travel. How long have you lived in the city? I was born here and lived right at the busiest intersection of the Buda side for 20 years. I currently live in a small town nearby, but I go back to work in Budapest almost every day. Tell us what makes your city unique. Budapest…

“Over coffee we mused on all the times we’d settled for a flaccid chill-cabinet sandwich by a lay-by” There is no getting away from it, motorways are mostly ‘dull, grey, and long’, as the great 90s electro pop band Saint Etienne once put it. There could almost be a natural law of motorway travel that states that whatever we gain in terms of speed and efficiency seems to be offset by a corresponding increase in mind-numbing monotony. As for taking a break from the road, most service stations are scarcely much more exciting (or even inviting) than the hard shoulder. Like the motorways network itself (with its uniform signage, concrete flyovers and slip roads), the predominance of big chain eateries and familiar coffee shops only further serve to iron out…

Anyone who despairs of shoddy motorway service station food and the appalling provisions available in petrol stations throughout the land should know there are alternatives. And they are handily listed in the glove-box sized The Extra Mile: Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services, which proffers motorway by motorway suggestions of off-piste cafés, tearooms, pubs, farm shops and delis around the country. Try these for starters: M4: The Bell at Ramsbury, Wiltshire, SN8 2PE A Georgian era coaching inn off junction 14 of the M4, on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, The Bell offers seasonal food and drink drawn from the local Ramsbury’s estate’s own brewery, distillery and smokehouse. M5: Court Farm Shop, Cheltenham, GL52 7RY With a ridge of the Cotswoldian Cleeve Hills as a backdrop, Court Farm Shop started…

Ask people why they travel and not many would say their goal is to skim the surface of a foreign culture and take photos to share online while answering office emails. Yet, too often that’s the reality. Before you go away next, consider whether you could travel more slowly and mindfully and with a little more integrity. So you can connect with your surroundings rather than your device and social media feeds and enjoy the moment rather than racing through a checklist of sites. The following ideas from Sara Clemence, author of Away and Aware (Piatkus), apply to any destination and budget. They will help you become a more considerate and respectful visitor, attentive to the people you meet and the places you see, travelling in a way that leaves…

Working for South African design company Dokter and Misses had an unexpected benefit for Khanyi Bukubukwana and Dawn Dludlu. When the company was approached by architect Clara da Cruz Almeida to design the interior of her new modular home, the Pod-Idladla, they got to go and stay in the finished thing. “We love being in nature, hiking and running, so it’s an ideal getaway,” says Khanyi. “And you can open the front door and sit on the verandah with a cup of tea. The design maximises space and light, so although it’s cosy, it doesn’t feel confined.” With its modest footprint (17 sq m), the Pod-Idldala is a good example of a home built according to the principles of the Tiny House Movement, with its emphasis on living modestly and…

• The tallest cactus is Pachycereus pringlei, which can reach heights just shy of 20 metres; the smallest, Blossfeldia liliputana, is an easy-to-overlook 2cm diameter. • Think you’re thirsty? A fully grown saguaro can take up to 2,500 litres of water in 10 days. • Legend says that the Aztecs were told to settle where they spotted an eagle, carrying a snake, perched on a cactus. This spot became Tenochtitlán, now part of modern day Mexico City – and is visible on the coat of arms of the Mexican flag. • In the wild, cactus plant can live from between 25 to 300 years. Less in the home, especially if you overwater – which is the biggest killer of domestic cacti. • ‘Cacti’ is the Latin plural; ‘cactuses’ is the…

”In an ideal home, floral scents waft in on a summer’s breeze” In an ideal home, a window to the garden would always be open, allowing floral scents – honeysuckle or jasmine, perhaps – to drift in on a summer’s breeze. The kitchen would be filled with the aromas of bread baking and coffee brewing, and upstairs, bedlinen, freshly unpegged from the washing line, would be piled in airing cupboards waiting for you to bury your nose in it. Back in the real world, homes are more likely to whiff of wet dogs, unemptied bins and something indeterminate lurking beneath the floorboards. Any naturally occurring pleasant smells are often masked by fragrances more foul. The solution for a sweet-smelling home is, foremost, cleanliness. Get that tackled and you have carte…

Podweed The Mean Girls of the rockpools. Regularly shed their skins to get rid of any plant hangers-on. Irish moss Nutritional powerhouse that doubles as a cold remedy and food thickener. Sometimes used as an aphrodisiac, too. Gutweed Long and filled with gas, wonder how this got its name? Given that it’s bright green, let’s hope the similarity ends there. Dulse Forget spinach, Popeye: there’s more iron in 8g of dried dulse than a 100g steak. Also a traditional Irish hangover cure. Oarweed Its finger-like fronds resemble a hand, but take care: its sturdy holdfast is home to everything from worms to sea spiders. Grape pip weed Also known as false Irish moss, what is true is that it’s commonly used in cooking. Flu prevention though? Fake news! Serrated wrack…

The curtains were useless. Thin fabric, as transparent as the window itself: 5am and already the sun was hot on my eyes, even though they were closed. Down the hall I could hear noises, someone awake. Already. I looked over at my bed-mate, my sister. Younger, still asleep. I blew on her face. She woke, opened her eyes, then squished them closed again. “Ow. Bright.” she said. And then, “What time is it?” “Grandma is crazy,” I said. “She’s already up. It’s 5am.” “It’s too hot,” she said, and tried to roll away from the light. I held her hair, gently, so she couldn’t. “You can’t go back to sleep,” I said. “Why?” “Because I can’t.” I said. “Grandma’s taking us somewhere.” “I don’t want to go,” she said. “I’m…