Inhaltsverzeichnis für June 2023 in The Simple Things

Mark the longest day with an evening outing Go barefoot and enjoy the grass between your toes Start a summer journal Pick and eat strawberries straight from the plant Swap a walk or a run for jumping waves by the sea Try some of our ideas, make up a few of your own, or just read and enjoy Before the holidays begin, before embracing summer adventures, before hot and sticky afternoons, there is June. We sense that the season is still all there before us - and the possibilities that brings - but there’s no rush to do, well, much at all. To linger over an outdoor meal, to watch wildlife or lie among the daisies seem to need no justification in this stretchy time of midsummer. Even rising at…

Tell us about your mornings. It’s all about getting my children dressed, fed and at school on time, with as few moans as possible. Then it’s a pit stop at a local cafe for a croissant and coffee before I start work back at home. And how about your work? My mission with Biskut Bar is reimagining the average cookie stash, with boldly aromatic biscuits. The ‘aha!’ moment came after my second child. I was given a remedial postpartum mix, Panjiri, made by one of my community ‘Aunties’. The mix is rooted in Ayuyrveda - I wanted to share that healing mix and the communal sisterhood of child-rearing with others. Right, we’re calling it, it’s teatime… I’ll always opt for masala cha. This Indian spiced tea is a mix of…

Chances are you’ve walked a ley line without even realising it: finding some natural stopping point and pausing to take in the lay of the land, perhaps breaking out the Thermos and a fortifying sandwich or flapjack. Then, without a particular route in mind, picking a likely-looking point in the distance to walk towards. If so, you’re walking in the humble yet influential footsteps of Alfred Watkins, who - in 1921 - did just that. As he compared his map to the Herefordshire landscape around him, he had something of an epiphany, looking up to a vision of golden lines criss-crossing the valleys and hills. He later wrote in his 1925 book, The Old Straight Track, of seeing the ‘out-door footprints of a long-past people.’ He drew lines - literally,…

No other clothing creates such a whirlwind of feelings as swimwear. Like underwear but designed to be worn in public, it’s the closest you get to being naked in front of other people. Finding something supportive, comfortable and also possibly even stylish for your body comes with all sorts of issues and emotions. Before even considering how you might feel about your body in swimwear around others, there’s the impossible task of finding a suit that fits you. Maybe, I wondered, it would be easier to make my own? For context, I have never been gifted with a needle and thread; I can just about sew on abutton. At school, despite my teacher’s efforts, I never managed to complete textile work successfully. A combination of impatience and lack of natural…

WEEKEND PROJECT PROUDLY HOMEMADE SHORT BENCH Sit pretty with this simple bench, that can be used outside or indoors. You will need: 45 × 45mm square timber joists, which can be bought at your local DIY store, in the following sizes: 4 × 45cm long 4 × 31cm long 3 × 101cm long Sandpaper Screwdriver 14 × 60mm screws Glue gun (we used the Rapid PRO EG313, available from rapid.com) Glue sticks for wood Jute ribbon (around 9 metres) Staple Gun (we used the Rapid R53E, available as above) Staples (we used no.53 staples - 4-10mm, available as above) 1 Sand the edges of your timber with the sandpaper. 2 Place two of the 101cm joists parallel with each other and two of the 31cm joists at either end. The…

The meeting post In pre-mobile days, meeting with friends relied on the infinitely more-in-hope-than-expectation method of pinning hasty scrawls to boards already enshrouded in messages like ‘Jenny, see you to the left of the cider bus at 8.30’ or ‘Keith, I’ll be by the tree after the Ozrics with your cagoul.’ ATM queues Though for a while you could see them from space, the phenomenon was fleeting. In relatively short order, festival goers went from carrying around unsettlingly large wads of notes to “Money? You can get money on site?!” to “Sorry, cash..?” The stage Incredible though it may seem today, until the mid-90s festival goers felt able to convene in front of a stage without a single flag, banner, or inflatable alien on a stick between them, enabling the…

Keeping it calm in the bathroom makes a soak in the tub all the more relaxing. Using naturally soothing greens and blues - either on the tiles or painted on upcycled furniture - helps create a serene mood, just right for much-needed time out. Bookshop browse JARVIS PLAYS POP Good Pop, Bad Pop: An Inventory by Jarvis Cocker Jaunty and profound Jarvis Cocker’s generous, funny memoir is as endearing as expected. Clearing out the loft in his London home, Jarvis rummages through a collection of punk badges, carrier bags, decades-old chewing gum and polyester shirts, musing on the things that made him who he is. A life-long fan of the everyday, he celebrates the thrill of jumble sales, listening to the radio and discovering punk. He turned the ephemera of…

“We call this our ‘sunset bench’ as it is the last spot in the garden to enjoy the evening sun. We like to be surrounded by nature, not just looking at it from a distance, and on this bench you truly are. A friend said to me, ‘You sit there, like you’re another flower,' which is exactly what it feels like. With all our herbaceous plants, it’s very much like a cottage garden. We open in the summer for visitors and they always want photos taken on the bench.” Nuala Doherty and Conall O’Caoimh Howth, Ireland @tardangarden “During the day the benches are a quiet spot to enjoy the views, but during the evening they become part of a much noisier and sociable area for friends and family.” Hilary Walton, Brackley,…

STRAWBERRY FIELDS Let us take you down… Rather than being a celebration of the delights of the British soft fruit season, the title is taken from Strawberry Field (John Lennon added the ‘s’ because he said it sounded better), a specific place near John’s Liverpool childhood home. A Salvation Army home for children, John snuck in to play there as a kid. Paul McCartney describes it as a ‘rather wild’, ‘secret garden’, and he was inspired to write his own tribute to his childhood neighbourhood - that became Penny Lane, released as a double A Side with Strawberry Fields in 1967. John wrote the song while away in Spain. It wasn’t only about the specific place, he said, rather “just anywhere you want to go.” That doesn’t stop the busloads…

Mood: energising, grounding. Aroma: a sweet, fresh and balsamic herbaceous aroma. Origins: its name comes from the Latin ‘basilikon’ (king). The most common varieties grown for essential oils are sweet basil, exotic basil and holy basil. Uses: In aromatherapy, used to treat colds and respiratory complaints or stomach issues. Use in a carrier oil to create a muscle massage oil. Its high linalool content makes it a great insect repellent. Blends well with: Bergamot, cedarwood, citronella. clary sage, clove, eucalyptus, geranium, grapefruit, lavender, lemon, lime, lemongrass, peppermint and rosemary. Adapted from The Little Book of Essential Oils by Marta Tarallo (Hardie Grant). Photography: © Lizzie Mayson…

PRACTICES AND KNOW-HOW CONCERNING THE ARGAN TREE, MOROCCO Within the last decade or so, British cosmetic aisles have filled with products proclaiming the wonder of Argan oil, like that it’s high in antioxidants and vitamin E, for example. But there’s a much longer history in Morocco, where the oil is used in recipes for food and medicine as well as beauty. The argan tree only grows in a band by the coast in southwest Morocco. Traditionally, the kernels of its fruit are ground using a hand-mill to produce the oil, a labourintensive process. Increased demand brings the threat of industralisation. But this UNESCO listing intends to preserve the know-how at every stage - from cultivation to hand-processing, to its use (recipes often passed between mothers and daughters), even the making…

GATHERING June in the Nordic lands sees long stretches of sun, woodlands ripe with sweet berries and a landscape framed by cool waters teeming with fish. So it’s no surprise that midsummer is one of the most important holidays in the Swedish calendar, second only to Christmas. Traditionally, midsummer celebrations in Sweden were held on 24 June, the feast day of St John the Baptist, but the holiday is now rooted in the summer solstice and held on the weekend nearest to 21 June. With the islands’ produce in its prime, celebrations are very much food focussed. Pickled herring with rye crackerbread, cold soups, new potatoes, aquavit or schnapps and cakes stuffed with strawberries are central to feasting. It’s a great excuse to put on the floatiest of dresses, make…

Beyond the feasting, there are many traditions that take place, from rolling in the dew to predicting who you will marry by eating salty porridge, so the person you’ll marry will appear in your dreams offering water. • The tradition of a midsummer pole decorated with greenery and flowers emerged in the late Middle Ages from Germany, where the pole was decorated with leaves and raised on 1 May As spring comes later in Sweden, the ritual was moved to Midsummer. Some sources also attribute the perpetuation of the term majstång, or maypole, to the archaic Swedish word maja, meaning “to decorate with green leaves.” • Plants are said to acquire healing powers during midsummer night. Young women pick seven types of flowers in silence (or the magic is broken)…

Ways to work with your circadian rhythm to feel alert in the morning and sleepy at night… Get outdoors as early in the day as possible Exposure to light has a primary influence on the body’s internal rhythms. Enjoy caffeine before noon It takes at least five hours to get out of your system. Take regular breaks from your screen with the 20-20-20 rule Every 20 minutes, take 20 seconds to stop and look 20 metres away. It’ll allow your eyes a rest from over-focusing. Exercise the day before Research shows that the more active you are today, the more alert you will feel tomorrow. Have a regular sleep routine Aim to be asleep 7-8 hours before you need to wake up, but remember that sleep quality is more important…

THINGS TO NOTE AND NOTICE nature spot STAG BEETLES The People’s Trust for Endangered Species’ annual Stag Beetle Count starts on 1 June. You can also report individual sightings to them any time via the website. Here’s how to spot one of these Jurassiclooking minibeasts. What? A black head and thorax and chestnut wing case. Males have larger antlers than females. Where? Largely in the south of England, especially chalky areas, though the Lesser Stags are found all over the UK. If you see one flying, it’s likely to be a male; females tend to be spotted on the ground more often. When? Late May to August. The hour or two just before dusk is good staggy spotting time. JUNE PODCAST As The Season Turns Lose yourself in the sights…

Favourite bookshop OCELOT Stylishly designed, it sells English and German books and has a great in-house coffee bar. genialokal.de Favourite gallery DAS KLEINE GROSZ MUSEUM A converted gas station houses the works of George Grosz the German artist famed for his caricatures and depictions of life during the 1920s. daskleinegroszmuseum.berlin Favourite bar ROSENGARTEN AM WEINBERGSWEG This open-air bar sits in a graffitied rose garden offering workshops, hoopla, open-air cinema and silent discos. rosengarten-berlin.de Favourite restaurant SPREEGOLD From breakfast to dinner, recharge at this central pitstop. Try the Paleo Power Omelette - more delicious than it sounds. spreegold.com Favourite hotel THE CIRCUS HOTEL A beautiful building, close to all the action. Its roof-top terrace has an honesty bar. circus-berlin.de Place to see by night WALK TO THE LUSTGARTEN Start at the…

Welcome to my veg patch Take a stroll with me in my garden and see it change through the seasons, I’ll share what I’m planting, harvesting and cooking, including my successes… and my failures. We’ll gather the goodies in a muddy bucket and head to the kitchen to make a joyful meal (we’ll even use the slug-nibbled ones). These are the simple, seasonal recipes I make after a day in the garden. I hope they inspire and give you some new ways to celebrate nature’s bounty. Time for tea dresses and garden picnics High summer and the patch is a jewel box of strawberries and sweat peas on a pillow of velvety green - beans, spinach, courgette leaves and more. It’s easy to get carried away with a ‘to do’…

99 RECYCLED TROLLS Trip, trap, trip trap… who’s that creating an international troll trail? Thomas Dambo is a self-described recycle art activist. He takes scrap wood, old pallets, twigs and debris and creates giant sculptures of trolls all over the world - some in more obvious places, some hidden in forests and on mountain tops. He recently revealed that on each of the 99 that he’s made so far, he’s placed a clue, creating a trail to a secret 100th troll. The search is on, and anyone can join in wherever they are, collaborating in a global celebration of the joy of salvage. Check out the troll map at thomasdambo.com.…

As a girl in British Columbia in Canada, Professor Suzanne Simard used to lie on the forest floor and stare up at the trees - it was the start of a lifelong fascination with forests. She went on to study forestry and researched the idea that forests are interconnected communities, rather than individual trees. She found that trees ‘talk’ to one another via complex underground networks, sharing defence strategies and carbon for energy, amongst other things. “Forests are made of relationships that create community and their connectedness keeps them healthy and resilient,” she explains. Every forest has ‘mother trees’ that support the survival of younger trees and seedlings in its network. Preserving them makes forests more resilient. These ‘mother trees’ inspired James Cameron’s Tree of Souls in Avatar. In honour…

BELONGINGS At first I was somewhat sceptical. Why on earth did we need a van? We had a perfectly lovely and appropriate car. What were we not doing currently that we needed a van for? Surely life is about simplicity not complication, after all - less not more. And so, the van charm offensive began. My ‘toe in the water’ was a one-night hire. We picked her up and made for the beach, where we met my parents and proudly set about making refreshments. The novelty was more on us than them, with over 20 years of European caravanning under their belt. They humoured us none the less. After that first successful pit-stop, we were off to get closer to nature and to our choice location for the night. Living…

• Put up a tent in the back garden. Add authenticity points for saggy erection and/or coating it in dust/mud. • Stick on our playlist to capture something of the festival spirit. (See next page). • Pop a pitta on a paper plate, add houmous and three lightly heated falafel balls, and cast a tenner to the wind. Alternatively, consume your bodyweight in doughnuts instead of lunch. • Dig out some classic festival documentaries. Try Monterey Pop, D. A. Pennebaker’s magisterial overview of the pioneering Californian gathering. Or try modern horror stories Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 or FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened and be thankful you’ve the good sense not to leave your house. • If garden camping is not possible, recreate authentic campground-at-night sounds by putting your bassiest…

GARDENS To garden is to embrace the notion of constant change. Every day there’s something new to see in a garden, but lately the view might not have been quite to your liking. Extreme weather events are becoming more commonplace and the predictable seasons as we knew them are starting to erode. Late spring and summer see heatwaves and prolonged dry spells and then short, heavy downpours that provoke flash flooding. Warmer, wetter winters are also more common, with more flooding, strong winds and storms. In short, our gardens are now having to cope with a lot more weather than they used to because of climate change. Mother Nature will always win. There’s little point ever trying to control or fight her, so as we garden, making our patch more…

SAFFRON G&T Adding a dash of saffron and plenty of juicy mango slices gives the G&T a golden hue, and a fruity spin. Fill a jug and invite friends over to enjoy it with you. Serves 4-6 Pinch of saffron Pinch of sugar 250ml gin 500ml tonic or sparkling water Crushed ice Fresh mango slices Handful of fresh mint 1 Crush the saffron with the sugar in a pestle and mortar (or you can use the back of a spoon and a small bowl). 2 Shake the saffron with the gin and leave to infuse for as long as possible. 3 Pour the gin into an ice-filled jug or tumblers packed with fresh mango slices and mint. Top up wit or sparkling water and enjoy.…

A PLACE TO STAY have always maintained that there is no better way to spend a weekend than pottering around bookshops, stopping occasionally for coffee and tasty morsels, and that is exactly how I was intending to spend a weekend in Hay-on-Wye. It turned out I was wrong. The very best way to spend a weekend is pottering around bookshops, stopping occasionally for coffee and tasty snickets and then taking your books haul back to a beautiful retreat to spend a few hours walking, eating and then finishing with a soak in a hot tub and an evening reading in a cosy armchair. Cynefin Retreats is a small collection of lodges, set in the Welsh borders, just outside the bookish town of Hay-on -Wye and bordering the Brecon Beacons National…

Freediving, or ‘Apnea’, may seem intimidating. Remind yourself that freediving happened for centuries, before it became a sport, and that we have a ‘dive reflex’: your body naturally adapts to less oxygen. Don’t try it without doing a training course first, but then you can practise and improve. It’s not about strength, “more about relaxation, mind set and technique,” says World Champion Mandy Sumner. Breathe easy: Rethink your breath - but then do it enough so it feels natural. Try a ‘breathe up’, a part inhale/exhale before a full inhale. Hold on: Static Apnea (STA) is floating, face down, on a pool’s surface, while holding your breath for as long as you can. Or try without water, by holding it while walking. Then you’ll need ‘recovery breath’ for coming back…

Preserving summer Raspberry rose jam Over a medium-low heat, combine 340g raspberries (fresh or frozen) with 65g cane sugar in a pan. Stir frequently until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off heat and stir in 80g rosewater. Remove ¼ cup to a bowl. Cool to room temperature, then whisk in 15g arrowroot powder. Slowly pour into raspberries over a medium heat, whisking until thickened. Remove from heat and cool (a layer of wrap pressed onto the jam will stop a film forming). Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four weeks. From Eat Your Flowers: A Cookbook by Loria Stern (HarperCollins)…

Turtle dove Arrives not on the second day of Christmas, but about the second month of spring. And, it’s ‘turr, turr’ love, accordingto its call. Swift As speedy as the name suggests, reaching nearly 70mph. The swift’s retreat at the end of July covers some 3,000-plus miles. Whinchat Looking for a chat? Head to north and west Britain to find these small birds on fences and bushes in the whin-dow of April to September. Wheatear Winters in central Africa but has a thoroughly Old English name, meaning ‘white arse’. The bottom line? Most seen in the North and West. Yellow wagtail Likes to summer on the hoof: found in damper pastures, hanging around the feet of cattle in search of insects for their food. Willow warbler Though melancholic in song,…

THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO “It is a wonderful thing to travel and see the world, and an even better thing to come home. To unlock the door and drop your bags and do your laundry and open your mail and put on the kettle and make - or not make - tea. To kick off your shoes and take a hot shower and climb into bed and rest your head and pick up your book and read half a page and fall fast asleep and dream and dream.” By Sophie Blackall, from Things To Look Forward To (Chronicle Books). Illustration by Sophie Blackall…

LOVE CUT OUT AND KEEP Serrano ham and artichoke mellow rice Add a drop of Spanish sunshine to your dinner with this paella that celebrates the big flavours of artichoke and serrano ham. Serrano ham and artichoke mellow rice Serves 3 2 Itr vegetable stock 3 pinches (0.4g) saffron 160ml extra virgin olive oil 4 artichokes, quartered 120g serrano ham 6 garlic cloves, sliced 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika 1 tomato, grated 360g Spanish paella rice 100ml white wine 1 sprig of rosemary, leaves picked 1 Heat the vegetable stock in a pan over a low heat and crumble in the saffron. Keep the stock warm over the lowest setting. 2 Meanwhile, heat the oil in a paella pan over a high heat, add the artichokes and fry for 5…

Nina should be leaving the island on Thursday. She even goes so far as almost booking a flight. She hovers over the options, wondering if it’s worth getting up at five in the morning to save fifty quid, before exiting the page. Instead, she goes outside to the rickety wooden terrace that encircles the cabin where she has lived for the past few months. The sun is low, the air still dense and warm, even though it’s almost the end of summer. The sea is the colour of honey, reflecting back the golden sky. She arrived on the island three months ago. The entire thing had been so unlike Nina. Nina, who has a seven-step skincare routine, and is always in bed by 10pm. Nina, who always said that she…

To celebrate like a true Swede, precede your schnapps with a ‘snapsvisa’, a Scandinavian drinking song. Små Grodarn (The Little Frogs’) is popular at midsummer when Swedish children run round a maypole pretending to be frogs. Små grodorna, små grodorna är lustiga att se. Små grodorna, små grodorna är lustiga att se. Ej öron, ej öron, ej svansar hava de. Ej ör an, ej öron, ej svansar hava de. Kou ack ack ack, kou ack ack ack, kou ack ack ack ack kaa. Kou ack ack ack, kou ack ack ack, kou ack ack ack ack kaa. This roughly translates as: The small frogs, the small frogs are funny to see. The small frogs, the small frogs are funny to see. No ears, no ears, no tails have they. No…

CHERRY AND BASIL SOUR CREAM CAKE Serves 6-8 3 tbsp sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing 3 large eggs, separated 150g golden caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp for the cherries 100g sour cream Zest and juice of 1 medium lemon 1 tbsp almond extract 150g plain flour ½ tsp baking powder 180g cherries, pitted 1 tbsp chopped basil Icing sugar, for dusting 1 tsp chopped basil 1 Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/ Gas 4. Grease and line a 18 × 24 × 6cm baking tin. 2 In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, then add the sugar little by little until the peaks are firm and hold their shape. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. 3 In a separate bowl, stir together…

Festival season sees Lex Tucker and her family take to the roads in their truck, to bring their unique style of fun and freedom to folk across the country Summer means festivals for Lex Tucker and her family: her partner, Willo, plus their three small boys. They’re the founders of Village Circus, a pop-up venue which defies simple description. “No one ever really gets it until they come along.” Anything can unfold in its small grass arena or below its stripy awnings, from sporting feats (the Shambolympics, complete with diving and drag relay races) to riotous variety shows. Resplendent in gold sequins, Willo’s often the ringmaster - sometimes with the baby balanced upright on one hand, gleefully stealing the show. They go on the road in May, in their converted…

Caveat But consider the cactus:its thick hideand parched aspect still harbour a moist heart;nick its rind, and sapwells up like sugared milk from the store of waterheld beneath its spines,its armoury of barbs. And, once a lifetime,when the slant rains fallthere is this halo of flowers. There’s a hidden tenderness and generosity to the sharp, spiky surface of the cactus in Fiona Benson’s beguilingly beautiful poem. It’s a poem of sensual contrasts, the parched outside, giving way to a moist heart secreted behind warning barbs - appearances can be deceptive and even the most defensive stance can hide vulnerability and grace. Things to ponder: Why do you think the poem is entitled Caveat? How does the last line change the way the rest of the poem feels? Extracted from Bright…

REFLECTION In India, there is not one mango season but many, each one crashing into the next as they avalanche from south to north. The name of each variety sings like a one-word hymn - Neelam! Alphonso! Benishan! Rajapuri! Kesar! Gulab Khas! Amrapali! Chaunsa! - each ripening in its own time and seldom blossoming with another. By April, as the hard green spheres begin to swell, a collective frenzy gathers pace, the nation united in co-dependent monitoring. Then, as if unexpectedly, those green skins sear into blisters of yellows, pinks and reds: the first mangoes drop, idolised like little plump gods. At the season’s peak in June, ripe mangoes tumble like a monsoon that spreads the frenzy across the globe, eventually falling over the streets of Southall, Tooting and Leicester,…

The population of the greater one-horned rhino - also known as the Indian rhino - has passed 4,000. When records began there were fewer than 100, but poaching bans, protected areas, breeding programmes, plus a pandemic ‘baby boom’ have all helped the species recover. 199 photovoltaic tiles will be fitted to the roof of York Minster. Bringing the 1,386 year old cathedral into the 21st century, the solar panels will provide energy for both day and evening services. A DIVERSE SPACE When the first lunar mission for half a century takes off, it’ll have the most diverse crew in history. Christina Koch and Victor Glover - a woman and a Black man - will break the white, male astronaut stereotype when they set out in Artemis II in 2024.…

Summer solstice and the wheel of the year pauses as the Earth’s axis tilts at its closest point from the sun around 21 June in the Northern Hemisphere. The word ‘solstice’ comes from Latin - an elision of sol (sun) and sistere (to stand). It’s the longest day, the shortest night, a moment of wonder for our Neolithic ancestors - and for us. Solstice is a liminal time, shimmering with magic - witness Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream - and pulsing with large gatherings to honour and propitiate the sun. This is no time for solo introspection - it’s all about community, friendship, and celebration. The sun is a big character, hogging the centre-stage of our universe. This 4.5 billion-year-old star is orbited by eight planets; a clutch of dwarf…

Roses The stars of the summer garden, throughout history roses have been adored by everyone from kings to saints and enjoy the myths to match. In India, Vishnu is said to have formed his bride Lakshmi from rose petals, while in Greece, they were seen as the creation of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love. With their delicate petals and glorious scents, roses are symbols of love, beauty, vitality and nature’s fruitfulness. What’s not to like about a vase of roses?…

Available on Apple, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Zinio, PressReader Save money with a year’s subscription (12 issues). The choice is simple.…

DOWN TO A TEA TOWEL Talk about clever multi-tasking: this embroidered linen tea towel doubles as a snakes & ladders grid. Handmade in India for Amuse la Bouche, game’s on for who’ll do the washing up. £30,glassette.com BRICK IN THE WALL How many five letter words can you find reading down the face of our wall? The letters of each word can only read downwards on touching bricks, taking one only from each line (answers on page 124) “My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece” Claude Monet The roses of York (white) and Lancaster (red) unite in the Tudor rose. It marked the end of the War of the Roses, and the 1486 wedding of Henry VII (son of the House of Lancaster’s Margaret Beaufort) to Elizabeth of York. WHAT…

ORVUE VISOR A wide, straw brim, with a cheery, colourful trim (which also comes in baby blue). Best for: Any fit issues, thanks to its elasticated back. £45, thehambledon.co.uk CLARA STRAW HAT A classic design to see you through summers to come. Best for: Craftsmanship, it’s hand-woven from palm leaf in Mexico. £69, toa.st CANVAS BUCKET HAT The hat style of the moment, in a pleasing combination of blue and white. Best for: An alternative to the straw look, made from 100% cotton. £35, boden.co.uk QUICK-FIRE QUIZ 1 Which band sang “You got me wrapped around your finger / Do you have to let it linger?” 2 In fermentation, what does the acronym SCOBY stand for? 3 Margaret Bondfield became the first female to join what in June 1929? 4…

Scan to hear me sing EURASIAN NIGHTJAR Every summer, British birdwatchers perform a ritual. It involves going to heathland to listen to what’s possibly one of the strangest of all bird sounds anywhere. Undertaken on some of the year’s shortest nights, the watchers arrive at dusk and then wait in the gathering darkness. The nightjar never starts loudly; its advertising call just tickles the ears softly, like a nighttime breeze. Its ‘churr’, as it’s called, doesn’t resemble any true bird song. There are two hollow reverberating tones, which alternate. The tones come from notes uttered at 25-42 to the second. And when the nightjar wishes to stop ‘churring’, it doesn’t suddenly stop but just winds down, like a faltering mechanical device. The nightjar’s call might be a mechanical sound, but…

SIMPLE YOGA Boat Pose (Paripurna Navasana) Strengthens abdominal muscles, improves balance and digestion, stretches hamstrings, spine and hip flexors. 1 Sit with your knees bent, feet on the floor. Place your hands behind your knees, lift the chest and engage the back muscles as you inhale. 2 Engage your inner thighs and draw your lower belly in and up. 3 Tip to the back of your sitting bones and lift your feet to about knee height, toes spread. 4 Bring your arms parallel to the floor. 5 To go further, straighten your legs.6 Stay for 2-5 breaths, consider working up to 10. 7 To come out of the pose - on an exhalation bring your feet down, and sit with a straight spine, holding on to your legs for a…

Go for the bum to help beat the bites You will need: Essential oils (citronella is the classic, but thyme, sage, lavender and mint all help) Wax (soy or beeswax, whichever you prefer, or you could melt together old candles). Candle wicks with bases Glue gun Containers (think old glass jars, glasses or even teacups) Pencils Bain-marie Old spoon Thermometer 1 Attach your candle wick to the base of your container with a glue gun. The wick needs to be taller than your container. Lay a pencil across the top of the container and wind the end of the wick around it to keep it upright. 2 Melt your wax in a bain-marie. Once it reaches 65C for soy wax (70C for beeswax), take off heat to add essential oil(s).…

Quick-fire quiz 1. The Cranberries; 2. Symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast; 3. The UK Cabinet (she was Minister of Labour); 4. Privet; 5. William Morris Brick in the wall Chafe, chore, craft, crave, craze, glaze, graft, grave, graze, shaft, shave, shore, shove, store, stove. Seeing Double 1. Ribald 2. Urbane 3. Packet 4. Fickle 5. Degree 6. Regret 7. Trough 8. Amount 9. Pundit 10. Random Mystery keyword: Background Sudoku solution Puzzles provided by Lovatts Crosswords & Puzzles (lovattspuzzles.com)…