Table of contents for May 2016 - Issue 47 in The Simple Things

I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at maps recently. No bad thing because I like maps. But these were of the area around where I live, somewhere I thought I already knew well. It turns out I have barely scratched the surface and, by setting off on spontaneous outings, I’ve followed a stream from source to where it becomes a river, unearthed wartime history and hidden chapels, found out who lived in my house and which house he was born in. Wild doesn’t have to mean the middle of nowhere – you can find it in a pocket of bluebells surviving in a hedgerow, an open gate leading down a path you’ve never walked on before, at the edge of every town and city. Spring is a beautiful…

LOUISE GORROD Our Wishlist Editor, Louise, is also our Stuff of Life shopkeeper (shop.thesimplethings.com). Look out for this symbol for items in the shop. Louise also blogs, bakes and photographs at Buttercup Days: buttercupdays.com…

Our shopkeeper’s picks for May... ‘‘With the promise of two long weekends this month, it’s the ideal time to kick back and enjoy some quality time with friends and family. If the sun is out, a long lingering lunch in the garden would be just the thing. We might even be able to have our first barbecue of the year. Set the mood with this Tuscany blue linen tablecloth by LinenMe. Home Address has a great selection of serving bowls, such as its generous turquoise serving bowl – two or three filled with help-yourself salads will be a good accompaniment to a barbecue spread cooked on the Beach Kadai barbecue by The Glam Camping Company.” Louise Gorrod, Shopkeeper…

From homemade pickles to freshly-churned butter, Kate Walsh’s mission is to get us to make things from scratch, not just meals but also those staples that you drop into the trolley with nary a thought to how you could create them at home, or if indeed you could. So Kate Walsh has included 30 skills to learn, including a simple recipe for no-knead bread, which comes with the promise that “once you’ve mastered this, store-bought bread will be a thing of the past”; a step-by-step guide to making spicy and sour fermented kimchi; and a foolproof method for delicious, thick yoghurt. She follows this up with a selection of tasty dishes – barbecue your own sausages! – where you can put your freshly acquired or newly honed skills to good…

“It bestows upon the wearer connotations of sportiness, real or imagined” The sweatshirt, like no other garment, says ‘weekend’. It is official leisurewear. Pull one on, and your shoulders will drop as a state of relaxation descends. Ideal for this time of year when a jumper feels too heavy, its soft, fluffy underside makes it warm enough to keep chilly winds at bay, and it delivers instant comfyness. It also bestows upon the wearer connotations of sportiness, real or imagined – as if you have just come back from the track and have shrugged it on to warm your recently extended muscles. Which is unsurprising as it began life as a sporty offshoot of the Russell Corporation’s underwear empire. The founder’s son, Bennie Russell Jr, played football for the University…

Oliver’s Fine Dry Perry, £4.80 From award-winning Herefordshire cider maker Tom Oliver, this is a complex dry perry with a light natural fizz. On the palate, there’s a slight hint of sweetness, before a long, dry finish. It is bursting with delicate fresh pear flavours – full and fruity. Kentish Pip Forager Hedgerow Berry Cider, £3.80 Made by Kent-based cider makers Kentish Pip, Forager is a delightfully different take on cider, packed full of juicy hedgerow berries and bursting with seasonal promise. Fruity and full-flavoured – it is perfect on its own, or alongside a picnic lunch. L’Atypique Craft Cidre £8.50 This Normandy cider, made in the Champagne style, boasts delicate, fine bubbles and a complex flavour profile thanks to its traditional slow fermentation process. Fantastically fruity, this is full-flavoured…

RAW Completely untreated and unheated milk – ie straight from the udder! The distribution of raw milk is banned and restricted in some countries due to the potential health risks. HOMOGENISATION Where milk is forced at high pressure through small holes to break up its natural fat globules to ensure an even liquid and no separate cream layer. PASTEURISED Pasteurised is the most common treatment and sees the milk heated to a high temperature and then quickly cooled and bottled to kill potential bacteria and help extend shelf life. The flavour and nutrition of the milk aren’t greatly affected. UHT UHT stands for ultra-heat-treated milk, and is heated to around double the temperature of pasteurised milk for extra-long shelf life. Flavour and nutrition are affected. EVAPORATED Where milk is heated,…

“Woods have sheltered us, fed us, warmed us and healed us for most of our existence” Who doesn’t love a wood in May? After delicate displays of early spring primroses and violets, the ground erupts into blankets of bluebells, which overwhelm the air with their blousy scent. Fresh leaves thicken the tree canopy, scattering sunlight over the forest floor like fairy dust. From among them comes a chorus of chirps, chirrups and caws, growing louder the longer you listen. This exuberant, fertile landscape awakens every one of the senses. Spring certainly puts a spring in the step. Whatever the time of year, the company of trees invigorates and uplifts us. It’s not just because of their beguiling scents and sounds: earthy wafts of leaf litter beneath the crunch of autumn…

Hippocrates (460-370BC) knew that willow bark could cure pain and fevers. But it wasn’t until the 18th century that scientists ‘discovered’ salicylic acid, which occurs naturally in willow bark, and turned it into aspirin. Other tree barks with healing powers include the following: Pacific yew, which gave us the widely used chemotherapy drug Paclitaxel. Maritime pine, source of pine bark extract (Pycnogenol), which contains compounds that may improve the symptoms of osteoarthritis. Cinchona, the tropical provider of Quinine, a malaria drug used for nearly 400 years. African cherry, which yields a herbal remedy for prostate enlargement. African bush willow, traditionally used for poisoning spears, now undergoing trials for anticancer properties.…

Today, knowledge is at our fingertips and it can sometimes feel as if there is nothing new to discover, as objects and experiences have become ordinary to us. But go back just a few centuries and adventurers were exploring the world at a time when most people rarely went further than their nearest market town. One of the delights of modern travel is sampling the local food. This was no different for early European explorers, except where they were coming from, plain food was the norm and diet was limited to seasonal and local produce. Experiencing the new textures and flavours of strange plants and tastes, they attempted to capture their wonderment. From pineapples to coffee, take a closer look at what it was like to experience five different foods…

“Tempers have frayed as we tried to straighten unruly mops” There have been times when we have been slaves to our hairdryers. Hours have been spent twiddling a round brush to achieve the curled-under mushroom of a ‘pageboy’ (right). Cans of Elnett have been exhausted as we back-combed and blow-dried to achieve hair of New Romantic enormousness or the flicked-out fringe of Krystle Carrington. Tempers have frayed as we have tried to straighten unruly mops into a ‘Jennifer Aniston’. But when these looks are achieved, what a blessing the hairdryer becomes. So much so that it’s hard to imagine a time when the familiar, monotonous thrum close to our ears wasn’t part of our early-morning routine or going-out ritual. We can thank a vacuum cleaner for the origins of this…

A hoe is one of the most useful tools a gardener can possess, yet its simplicity – a long-stick handle and flat blade at one end – means it’s often passed over for more elaborate equipment. However, a hoe can be used for some of the most backbreaking work in the garden, like weeding and making drills in the soil, thus reducing hours of bending over and maintaining an uncomfortable position. Charmingly, there are several different designs, each of which tackle a slightly different job and making them all worthy additions to your garden shed. Ready for the hoe-down? Korean hoe or Warren hoe: their plough-shapes are good if you are planning to grow a lot of plants from seed. Their pointed tip blades are great for making shallow drills.…

BEN LOVE studied languages at university and spent his summers working as an itinerant river guide in Sweden and Iceland. This issue, he whets our appetite for a Scandinavian escape, page 64. Where is your wild place? Kolkuós in northern Iceland. I drift down the Hjaltdalsá river under the midnight sun to the sea. NATASHA GOODFELLOW is a journalist who edited some of this month’s features. Half-German, she particularly enjoyed working on our My City guide to Munich, page 58, dreaming of idle days in a biergarten. Where is your wild place? My garden at night. Dark and daunting at first, then strangely familiar, as my eyes and ears acclimatise. VICKI TURNER is the designer and illustrator behind the lovely infographics on page 34. She recently returned from a few…

Katie Roiphe’s latest book takes on that most sombre of subjects – death – and makes luminous work of it. She looks at the last days of Sigmund Freud, Susan Sontag, Dylan Thomas, John Updike, James Salter and Maurice Sendak: “people who are madly articulate, who have abundant and extraordinary imaginations, or intellectual fierceness”, and shows how their lives – from strict rationality to self delusion to wild excess – affected their attitudes to death. Drawing on their own writing, the memories of their families and the recollections of their friends and caretakers, these elegant, moving elegies are full of riveting insight and poignant detail. (Virago)…

Farmer and nature writer John Lewis-Stempel had a vision of the fields of England before agribusiness changed its face. Renting a parcel of land, he sowed wheat, scattered marigold, cornflower and poppy seeds, eschewed artificial fertiliser and waited to see what effect it would have on wildlife. In lyrical prose, he describes how the wild flowers burst through the earth, “in green buttons and brooches and geometric stars”, hares danced, birds flocked and bees buzzed, while on the chemically sprayed, ruthlessly weeded acreage next door “there are no butterflies fluttering, no song birds singing, only stillness and silence”. Thought provoking. (Doubleday)…

Lakeside life Take a trip back in time with a visit to Rudyard Lake, Staffordshire, where for one weekend it will be transformed to how it was in the late 1800s. Some seriously fun sounding events from tightrope walking to mermaids and dry land synchronised swimming. dayatthelake.org.uk Be as Scilly as you like Running throughout the month, the inaugural Isles of Scilly Festival is a feast of arts, music and literature, celebrating the creativity of these beautiful islands. visitislesofscilly.com/islesofscillyfestival Highland fling It’s all about the kids at the Imaginate Festival in Edinburgh with dance and theatre companies from around the world performing between 28 May and 5 June. edinburghfestivalcity.com Fun for foodies The Malton Food Lovers Festival does what it says on the tin, bringing the finest local produce and…

THE CLASSIC Bounder sweatshirt | £49.95 Made from loopback jersey with a triangular patch at the ncekline. Ticks all the boxes. joules.com TWO WITH A TWIST Grey sweatshirt | £98 Zips up the side for extra roominess and slouching potential.plumo.com Wheelhouse sweatshirt | £49.95 Stripes and a boatneck give this organic cotton sweatshirt a nautical vibe. seasaltcornwall.co.uk * Entrepreneur Tom Cridland has created a loopback sweatshirt, £55, that is so well made that it will last 30 years. Ten per cent of the profits go to support Deki, a charity helping entrepreneurs living in poverty. For more information, see tomcridland.com…

“‘We realised that no one is going to buy wedding flowers from a company called Wiggly Wigglers” Heather Gorringe would like to be a motivational speaker. But not just any speaker. When this warm, witty businesswoman gets up on the stage to inspire would-be entrepreneurs, she intends to be fabulous. “People say to me, you’re a very good public speaker,” she says. “But I don’t care about being good. I want to do it brilliantly. I want people to get what they came for. Like all entrepreneurs, I want to change people’s lives.” Anyone who’s ever spent a few hours in Heather’s company – it’s like having your own personal self-improvement seminar – can be in no doubt that the founder of Wiggly Wigglers will deliver. This is the farmer’s…

GOOSEBERRY & ELDERFLOWER CAKE For the gooseberry compote 500g gooseberries 100–150g caster sugar For the elderflower syrup 75g caster sugar 75ml water 6–7 elderflowers For the cake 6 eggs 180g caster sugar 180g plain flour 90g unsalted butter, melted 8 tbsp elderflower syrup icing sugar, to dust (for decoration) For the cream 100ml double cream 4 tbsp elderflower syrup (above) You will need 2 × deep, round cake tins, 20cm diameter, greased and base-lined 1 For the compote, put the gooseberries and 100g of the sugar in a saucepan with a splash of water and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Cook over a medium–low heat until the fruit is soft, then push through a sieve into a bowl. Add more sugar to taste and leave to…

BEST ONLINE RESOURCE Arts in Munich A little like a Time Out guide, written by a local with an oracle-like mind.artsinmunich.com FAVOURITE GALLERIES Pinakothek der Moderne Kunstareal, Theresienstrasse Pinakothek der Moderne is well worth a visit for modern art, as is the colourful Museum Brandhorst next door. pinakothek.de; museum-brandhorst.de FAVOURITE BAR Schuemann's Odeonsplatz 6 Schuemann’s is a bit of a Munich institution and the cocktails are great. schumanns.de FAVOURITE RESTAURANTS Broeding Schulstrasse 9 Delicious food and Austrian wine. broeding.de Shane's Restaurant Geyerstrasse 52 There's no menu here but the dishes keep on coming (you tell them in advance what you don't like/can't eat). shanesrestaurant.de FAVOURITE MARKET The Viktualienmarkt Munich’s outdoor food market is a must-see. Browse the seasonal produce and then enjoy a pit stop in Café Nymphenburg Sekt. FAVOURITE…

Guilden Gate Campsite, Cambridgeshire Sleep in a 1973 renovated VW camper, cook over a fire pit, dine alfresco on a cedar slab table, bathe open air in a wood-fired hot tub and lounge on the double futon in your own bell tent. You’ll also have two acres of woodland all to yourself and the option of learning about woodland management, vegetable growing, meadow upkeep and bee keeping. guildengate.co.uk A Place in The Pines, North Yorkshire Four safari tents for five people on the edge of the North York Moors. Help yourself to hen and duck eggs, build dens, play hide and seek in the woods and feed the resident ponies and pigs. Each tent has its own bathroom, kitchen and stove that will keep you toasty in all weathers, as…

What links Napoleon III to Freddie Mercury? Where (other than in your record collection) will you see Handel next to Hendrix? Or have an encounter with van Gogh on a backstreet in Brixton? These are just a few of the pleasures and quirks thrown up by blue plaques. These official markers of the former homes of Britain’s most illustrious residents and visitors are celebrating their 150th anniversary this month, with English Heritage running a series of events in their honour over the weekend of 7 and 8 May. Napoleon III has the distinction of having the earliest, still existing plaque, erected in 1867, while Freddie Mercury is one of the most recent – he’ll be honoured in Feltham this year. Handel and Hendrix lived in next-door flats – albeit more…

Bluebells This is the time of year when bluebells magically transform woodland floors from a dormant place of fallen leaves to an intense-blue carpet of bell-shaped flowers. If you can’t get to a wood*, bring a couple of blooms in from the garden and put in a simple vase or jar of water to bring the wood to you. Florists recommend keeping part of the bulb attached to keep flowers perky. They will last nicely for a few days and remind you that spring really is here. * The Woodland Trust will point you in the direction of your nearest bluebell wood. woodlandtrust.org.uk…

Stylist and blogger Emily Quinton (makelight.io) is a whizz on Instagram and posts flower pictures daily. This is how she does it: 1. Choose flowers carefully – not all photograph well. The more you photograph, the more you get to know them. My favourites are stocks, ranunculus, peonies, anemones, tulips and roses. 2. Photograph in natural light. Flowers do not look good under artificial lights. If shooting outside, early morning and late afternoon/ early evening are best. If shooting indoors, move near a window to get the best light. 3. Use different vessels and backgrounds to make the most of one bunch of flowers. 4. Choose lighter coloured flowers. They are easier to capture than dark ones. Dark red roses are my nemesis! 5. When flowers are nearly over, cut…

AUBURN WAXED CANVAS Handmade with attention to details, including waxed canvas and heavy-duty stitching. BEST FOR: lifelong adventurers. £149, thefuturekept.com STORY HORSE BIRD QUILTING BACKPACK Embroidered seagulls prettify this practical bag. BEST FOR: seaside trips, and stowing away sarnies from those cunning gulls. £45, shop.thesimplethings.com TEAL UTILITY TREKKER BACKPACK Encourages blue-sky thinking (lined for grey-sky emergencies). BEST FOR: urban explorers: it’ll carry your laptop as well as a map. £59.99, toms.co.uk…

WHY GROW THEM? A good choice for first-time growers, courgettes will do brilliantly in a container or a veg patch. The flowers, which are expensive in the shops and quite hard to find, are delicious covered in batter and served as a tempura. WHEN TO SOW? Start off under cover – a plastic bag over the pot is fine, you don’t need to have a greenhouse. By the end of May, put them in a sheltered part of the garden during the day and bring them indoors overnight to ‘harden them off’. This will help them get used to life outside. Before planting out in their final position in June, make a deep hole and half fill with well-rotted organic matter, to ensure they have plenty of nutrients. WHEN TO…

N: November November means no! Unless it’s used with Charlie, when it’s an urgent signal for help, used for the biggest emergencies. For smaller panics, see Victor. D: Delta Like seafarers after one too many bottles of rum, Delta means the ship is manoeuvring with difficulty. Passers-by are advised to stay clear. L:Lima Stop! In the name of Lima (or Love, or London, as it’s sometimes known) – it’s a warning your vessel’s heading towards somethingdangerous. K:Kilo Flying Kilo is like waving hello – it means someone wants to communicate with you. A second flag indicates the method of choice. R: Romeo Used to mean “R” and nothing else. Read into it what you will that only the most romantically named flag has no separate meaning. V: Victor Fly Victor…

Serves 4 300g buckwheat (soba) noodles 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 300g broccoli florets or purple-sprouting broccoli, asparagus or green beans 1 medium green cabbage or pak choi, leaves finely shredded 1 medium fennel bulb, finely sliced 1 cucumber, halved lengthways, seeds scooped out with a spoon and flesh chopped 4 spring onions, finely sliced 1 large, ripe avocado, sliced 2 handfuls of fresh greens (such as watercress, baby spinach, sliced lettuce or cooked kale) 1 small handful of nuts or seeds 4 large handfuls of fresh herbs roughly chopped FOR THE DRESSING Grated zest and juice of two limes or lemons 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 garlic clove grated 4cm piece of fresh ginger, finely grated 2 tsp tamari Pinch of…

This salad from the Hemsley sisters is a great way to pack lots of vibrant greens into one dish. Make it on a Sunday night for supper and you’ll have leftovers to use for a packed lunch the following day. Just pile everything into a glass jar – the dressing at the bottom and the avocado slices and leaves on top so they’re not crushed, then add the lid and go! For the recipe, turn to page 128.…

As the spring sunshine starts to stream in through the windows, who hasn’t dreamt of giving their home a bit of an update? Finally painting that dresser you’ve never got around to, or experimenting with a bit of colour on the walls and recovering your sofa or a favourite armchair to match? We’ve teamed up with Annie Sloan, one of the most respected independent names in the decorating business, to give one lucky reader everything they need to get creative with their interiors, from the paints and brushes right down to the fabrics and finishing touches. The winner can choose from the Annie Sloan range of Wall Paints, which leave walls with a luxurious, semi-matt finish that belies their hardwearing, scrubbable qualities. For furniture, Chalk Paint™, available in 33 chic…

MORE THAN SIX BILLION of us around the world enjoy milk, whether in its purest form – drunk by the glass or softening our cereal – or transformed into cream, butter, cheese or yoghurt. Dairy is big business. The majority of the milk we drink is derived from cattle but other animals can be successfully milked, too – from the more…

1990 Designs prototype wormery. 1991 Launches Wiggly Wigglers from a shed in her father’s garden. 1992 Marries Philip Gorringe, aka Farmer Phil. 1993 Moves to Lower Blakemere Farm. 1996 Wiggly Wigglers goes online. 2001 Countryside crisis caused by foot and mouth disease inspires Wiggly Wigglers’ mission to connect farmers with consumers. 2005 Scoops top award in Federation of Small Businesses’ British Small Business Champions. 2006 Wiggly podcast is profiled in San Francisco Chronicle. 2012 Recession-hit Wigglers closes warehouse and halves product range. 2013 Heather and her niece, San Montague, launch The Great British Florist. GBF wins National Blossom d’Amour Award at the Good Funeral Awards. 2016 GBF opens shop in Hereford.…

The answer can lie in your own back yard. We’d been working for Giffords Circus, a family-run band of trapeze artists, tightrope-walkers, horses and musicians who tour the village greens of England every summer performing creative, otherworldly shows. After several seasons front of house – welcoming everyone from local farmers to rock stars into the bright lights of the show tent – we were looking for a meaningful next step. An old, disused barn in the grounds of Whichford Pottery (a traditional pottery founded by Maia’s parents 35 years ago) became the site for our new enterprise – an eco-café made from straw. Nothing beats being your own boss, but it’s a lot harder than just sitting back and following orders. We shared a background in community vegetable growing, hospitality…

‘Urge for Going’ Tom Rush‘Get out the map’ The Indigo Girls‘Thunder Road’ Bruce Springsteen‘Keep the Car Running’ Arcade Fire‘On the Road Again’ Willie Nelson‘Freeway of Love’ Aretha Franklin‘The Passenger’ Iggy Pop‘Ventura Highway’ America‘Running on Empty’ Jackson Browne‘Roadrunner’ Jonathan Richmanand the Modern Lovers‘Shut up and Drive’ Rihanna‘Radar Love’ Golden Earring‘Road to Nowhere’ Talking Heads‘Homeward Bound’ Simon & Garfunkel Listen at thesimplethings.com/blog/roadtripplaylist stop look listen Roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair. This month, we’re hitting the road looking for adventure with a head full of songs…

The trees are coming into leaf Like something almost being said; The recent buds relax and spread, Their greenness is a kind of grief. Is it that they are born again And we grow old? No, they die too. Their yearly trick of looking new Is written down in rings of grain. Yet still the unresting castles thresh In fullgrown thickness every May. Last year is dead, they seem to say, Begin afresh, afresh, afresh. The human condition Philip Larkin was an English poet and novelist whose work has been described as a “piquant mixture of lyricism and discontent”, who deals in “lowered sights and diminished expectation”. Here he celebrates the long life cycle of the trees while lamenting the short time span given to us humans.…

Gossip from the Forest: the tangled roots of our forests and fairytales by Sara Maitland (Canongate) A stroll through the year and 12 British forests, from an ancient oak wood in Scotland to Epping Forest, tucked inside the M25. Each walk prompts a retelling of a fairytale – Rapunzel is narrated by the witch, we read about Hansel and Gretel’s post-traumatic stress disorder, and Red Riding Hood takes place in a Forestry Commission wood. Descriptive and historical passages are interwoven with the author’s musings on children’s estrangement from the wild and from the forest in particular. Wildwood, a Journey through Trees by Roger Deakin (Penguin) The last book of the late pioneering nature writer is a combination of autobiography, traveller’s tale and arboreal love story. Deakin sets out to discover…

1 29 Fitzroy Square, W1 This has the honour of being one of the 16 buildings with double plaques. This was home to George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf (but not at the same time!). 2 3 Hammersmith Terrace, W6 Once home to Edward Johnston. In the 1930s, he devised and gave his name to the typeface used for London Transport – and his plaque, left, uses that very same typeface. Three others associated with London Transport – Harry Beck, Frank Pick and Lord Ashfield – get the same treatment. 3 7 Bruce Grove, Tottenham One of the most poetic plaques, this remembers Luke Howard, “namer of clouds”. Howard devised the system of classification of clouds – cirrus, stratus, cumulus and nimbus – still used today. 4 17 Gough Square,…

“Arlington House was built in 1964 with holiday-makers in mind, and still has its original fixtures. And look at the views!” “Margate feels like the Brighton I knew as a teenager,” says Dan Thompson of the town he has called home for the past couple of years. “The Old Town, with its independent shops, cafés and artist studios, is like North Laine was then.” Dan fell in love with Margate during regular visits when he lived in another seaside town – Worthing. Both are coastal resorts that suffered when British holiday-makers switched allegiances to foreign package holidays in the 1970s. Neglected towns are something of a speciality for Dan – he is founder of the Empty Shops Network and wrote Pop Up Business For Dummies to encourage people to use…

A striking mix of traditional ornamental plants and vegetables laid out in this Tudor-walled kitchen garden. Jersey Road, Isleworth, Middlesex (020 8232 5050; nationaltrust.org.uk ) Arundel Castle Organic Kitchen Garden Flowers are grown alongside vegetables and fruit to attract beneficial insects, as well as deter unwelcome ones. A fine selection of fruit have been fan-trained up the walls. Arundel, West Sussex (01903 882173; arundelcastle.org ) West Dean Kitchen Garden A Victorian walled garden that heaves with the healthiest looking veg and cutting flowers you are likely to see anywhere. West Dean, near Chichester, West Sussex (01243 811301; westdean.org.uk ) Chatsworth House This kitchen garden’s wide variety of fruit, salad, cut flowers and vegetables are grown together in raised beds in the…

YOU MAY NEED... Twine to create hand-tied bouquets Florist’s scissors: good for cutting woody stalks Florist’s apron: to feel professional Jugs, pots, cans or other containers Vases of different sizes and dimensions Floristry buckets: to hold flowers in until displayed Flower press if you can’t bear to throw any away…

UMEBOSHI Although relatively unheard of in the UK, these pickled ume fruit are common in Japan where their sour taste is used to kick start the day, or as a digestif. They’re also thought to be hangover-busting. Test that claim by sampling umeshu – a liquor made by soaking the fruit in alcohol. TRY IT: the savoury scones in the afternoon tea served at London’s The Modern Pantry come with umeboshi mayonnaise. BUY IT: from souschef.co.uk SEE IT: on our Tasty Trend Pinterest board.…

EARL GREY Traditionally, black tea flavoured with bergamot. Stories link it to Charles Grey, PM in the early 1830s, but it didn’t acquire its noble moniker until the 1880s and – given that bergamot had previously been used to disguise poorer tea – its classy reputation. Classier still, in the 19th century, it was used as a gin mixer. SERVING NOTES: Brew for three to five minutes. Serve black, with a slice of orange or lemon, or milk, if you must.…

When harking back to the golden age of entertainment, look at this book and be thankful for Netflix. In the 1950s, fun was not only watching ventriloquists, but also doing it yourself. All the necessary steps, from making your dummy to how to do the voice, are herein. Given the author voiced Tigger in Disney’s version of Winnie the Pooh, it seems likely he ultimately concluded that the days of ventriloquism for both fun and profit were fading quickly. Found at awfullibrarybooks.net…

MAKES: 125ml KEEPS: At least three months INGREDIENTS: 2 tsp avocado oil Essential oils: 10 drops chamomile, 10 drops lavender, 10 drops neroli 1 tsp glycerine 2 tbsp liquid soap 2 tbsp + 2 tsp boiled or distilled water 2 tbsp + 2 tsp rosewater METHOD 1 Whisk the avocado oil and essential oils into the glycerine. 2 Slowly mix in the rest of the ingredients. 3 Pour into a hand-soap dispenser. Shake from time to time. Found in The Domestic Alchemist: 501 Herbal Recipes for Home, Health and Happiness by Pip Waller (Leaping Hare Press)…

ECOSYSTEMS AND BIOMES An ecosystem is a community of living things. It can be small or large – pond or rainforest, for example – but each organism within it has its own niche, and an ecosystemis based on interrelationships between them. The world has 10 major ecosystems, called biomes: desert and desert scrub, tundra, tropical forests, savannah, mountain, Mediterranean, temperate grasslands, coniferous forests and temperate deciduous forests. Biomes are defined by abiotic (non-living) components, such as climate, the relief and geology. The plants and animals within a biome will have adapted to these factors. Think of how cacti survives a desert with a waxy coating to reduce water loss, compared to a rose, which would shrivel in the heat – much like an inadequately-prepared Brit on their holiday abroad.…