The Simple Thingsの September 2023 の目次

Morning! We see you've a drink on the go already I'm quite spoiled – my boyfriend gets up early for work and brings me a coffee before he leaves. Nice. And can you tell us a bit about your home? We live in a detached house in the Lincolnshire countryside, which we're renovating. We converted the garage into a bright workshop, so I practically roll out of bed into my workshop. What magic happens in there? I create one-of-a-kind furniture, predominately using existing vintage pieces. When we bought our first home, we had a tight budget. I began experimenting with second-hand pieces and was hooked! Every spare moment was spent upcycling, and I began selling on Etsy. In 2020, I took the plunge and quit my eight-year career in the…

In this poem by Will Burns, we're on a familiar road trip with music on the stereo, weather out the window, accompanied by a day-dreamy hope for longer journeys and bigger horizons. Things to ponder: How does the poet make you feel about the relationship between the brothers? Does the poem have the melody and themes of a beloved country song? ‘Drive South Listening To Country Music' from Country Music by Will Burns (Offord Road Books, 2020), reprinted by permission of author and publisher. Drive South Listening to Country Music (for Greg Burns) Twenty miles from the trout farm there is just music and the green Volvo and the clouds breaking open now where it had been raining hard. I'm wishing it was a whole continent we had to travel into,…

Q1 you're off on a September day out, where are you rambling to? A A day trip to Oxford to see the dreaming spires, a cosy café for a cup of tea and then an hour or two wandering among all the dusty books in the Bodleian library would be just wonderful. B I have always fancied visiting Bournville village. I'd love to stroll around, breathing in the deliciously chocolatey smell! C I've travelled a lot so I might just like to stay close to home, somewhere you can get some really nice food. I've not always found the food in the lands I've travelled in to be as appetising as I'd hoped, to be honest, so I'll keep it simple this time. Maybe a cream tea in central London. D A day…

He may have a reputation for being particularly exacting with his critique, but Patrick Grant is always kind and generous with his knowledge as one of the hosts of the BBC's clothes-making show The Great British Sewing Bee. On the show, Patrick looks very dapper and every inch the city gent in his immaculately tailored suits. Find him at his factory in Blackburn and he'll be more dressed down (though somehow looking just as smart) in a jumper and joggers – made, of course, by his own company, Community Clothing. Despite an interest in fashion from a young age, Patrick was unaware that he might be able to turn it into his job. “I was obsessed with clothes as a kid, but I didn't think you could make a career…

A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH Villagers threatened by forest fires form female-led ranger crew In the Indonesian rainforests of West Borneo, local women have formed a female-led ranger force – the Power of Mama – to help prevent forest fires. Every year, thousands of acres are destroyed by fire, releasing millions of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere and threatening the habitats of wildlife, like orangutan. Riding out on their motorbikes, the Power of Mama are a striking picture of a revolutionary act of climate activism, wildlife conservation, and gender equality. POWERING ON In the race to increase the range of electric cars, the world's biggest EV battery maker in China has created a battery with a 1,000km range, promising an end to the need to stop on long…

I've never been keen on ‘coming of age' novels (after all, who wants to relive that awkward teenage phase again?), so when my mum gave my younger self a copy of I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith I discarded it as tedious nonsense some 30 pages in. It was a surprise then that when I next took the book from the shelf several years later, I devoured it in a matter of days. On turning the last page, I felt that sensation that only comes from finishing a good book, a sense of sadness, as if a friend has just left and you're not quite sure what to do next. Narrated by the intelligent and witty Cassandra, the story is set in a crumbling castle in 1930s Suffolk where…

PROUDLY HOMEMADE FLOWERPOT TANDOOR Surprisingly easy to assemble and use, this garden tandoor expands your outdoor cooking options* You will need: Work gloves Safety goggles Angle grinder 2 × terracotta pots (23cm diameter) 1 × large non-plastic flowerpot (minimum 45cm diameter) 3 × bricks or breeze blocks 1 × fire brick 2 × bags of building sand 5kg bag of decorative aggregate (optional) Charcoal Matches/lighter 1 Wearing gloves and goggles, use your angle grinder to take the base off a terracotta pot, creating a terracotta ‘tube'. Keep the ‘lid', you'll need it later. 2 Take the large flowerpot and place it on a base of 3 bricks – these can be normal bricks or breeze blocks, there's no need for fire-resistant ones. 3 You'll now need some ‘feet' inside the large flowerpot…

“My studio is up at the top of my house. I like it here as it's quiet and my desk is sat right underneath a huge skylight. The desk is a massive old thing from the 60s. It isn't a beautiful object, but I love its size and the roomy drawers for all my tools, pens and papers. It faces into the room, so I can pretend I'm Don Draper from Mad Men when people come up to ask me things. I'm a real night owl and have often stayed up here beavering away until 4am. I love having my own space – it means I can make a whole load of mess and listen to what I like.” Helen Ward, Bristol @house.of.wards “Some might call me a hoarder but…

Continue the tradition of a new bag for September, wherever you may take it COOMBE CROSS-BODY Bring a little of the colour of Cornwall to daily life. Best for: the practical minded, made from canvas and room for all your ‘bits'. £16, seasaltcornwall.com CANFIELD CANVAS Recycled, weather resistant canvas in a cheering pattern. Best for: being a good all-weather all-rounder for work or play… or both. £84.95, rokalondon.com BRADY BAG Made from organic cotton off-cuts in a host of colours. Best for: simplicity. Fling in phone and purse; sling on the bag and you're ready to go. £24, lucyandyak.com QUICK-FIRE QUIZ 1 Which plant, harvested in September, has the Latin name Humulus lupulus, meaning ‘wolf of the woods'? 2 In which British county can you find the oldest YHA hostel that's…

Hercule Poirot That famously egg-shaped head spent 35 years cracking crimes. Got a front-page obituary in the New York Times for his Curtain call in 1975. Countess Vera Rossakoff The only woman to turn Poirot's head, this gem thief made her three outings count. He even braved a nightclub for her, fittingly named ‘Hell'. Jane Marple It takes a village (St Mary Mead) to raise such a spinster sleuth. Overlook at your peril: doesn't let wrong ‘uns off her hook/knitting needle. Inspector Japp Said to be ‘ferret-faced' but out-paced by Poirot in ferreting out of murders: his initial rudeness mellows to respect over seven novels together. Miss Lemon First name Felicity, more known by her honorific. Provided Lemon-aid as Poirot's ‘unbelievably ugly and incredibly efficient' secretary. Tommy and Tuppence Over…

“H ow many is it now?” asks Tom as they stride side by side through the grass. “Goodness,” says Margaret, slowing to hoist her rucksack to a more comfortable position. “I can hardly remember. Must be almost thirty.” “Thirty! Impossible!” Tom shakes his head. “I'd turned thirty-six when we did the Lakes, and next year I'll be… “Eligible for your bus pass!” smirks Margaret. He holds out his hand as Margaret passes him her sticks and clambers over a stile. The path veers uphill towards a copse. “That was our first time, remember the Lakes?” “Of course I remember!” A smile teases Margaret's lips. “All those breakfasts at Harness House!” He catches her eye. Smiles back. “Those endless rolling Wainwrights.” “The endless bloody rain!” adds Margaret. “Your boots leaked. I…

COMPETITION WIN A HOT DRINK HAMPER You know the moment: those precious few minutes when you take time out of your busy day to sit down and savour your favourite hot drink. Husband and wife team, George and Emma, knew it only too well, which is why they established Cupsmith back in 2013 with the shared goal of producing the best-tasting hot drinks possible so that everyone can enjoy that ‘First Sip Bliss' feeling every single day. Whether your tipple of choice is coffee, hot chocolate or tea, the dedicated team at Cupsmith work hard to make sure that only the finest speciality beans are roasted slowly, in small batches, to produce satisfying and flavoursome coffee blends. Or that their single-origin Colombian chocolate is hand flaked for the smoothest of…

IDEAS Sitting down at a bench outside the Skipness Seafood Cabin – a wooden shack serving creel-caught langoustines, hand-dived scallops from Loch Fyne and home-cured salmon, all with majestic views over the Isle of Arran – I had to take a moment to breathe it all in. Would I have made it to this remarkable spot – at the end of a single-track road half-way down the wonderfully empty Kintyre Peninsula – had I not decided to let my journey be shaped by a slow travel philosophy, honed over many years, that allowed for a meandering pace and spontaneous detours? Slow travel is an invitation to explore the world at our own pace; to journey lightly and adventurously, while allowing space for curiosity and connection to lead the way. Unhurried…

In all their orderly forms, pleats have always been my wardrobe staple. I was wearing a pleated tartan mini skirt when I first met my husband at a party one rainy evening; there was even a little pleating on the bodice of my wedding dress. It's easy to take pleats for granted but when I stop and think about it, what better shows the ingenuity that's possible with only a bit of fabric and some careful manipulation? There are knife pleats, creating dramatic sleeves and structure; accordion pleats, resembling that instrument – they're my favourite on skirts for swishing around in the last of any summer sunshine; the ever-reliable box pleat, as well as its mirror cousin, the inverted pleat. Pleating has been happening since at least Ancient Egyptian times,…

Steam billows across the warm water as the sun goes down on Bath's honeyed skyline. The rooftop pool of Thermae Bath Spa (opposite) may be modern but the experience of sinking into the soothing thermal waters is as old as time. At Bath, the legend goes that a swineherd (who, in best folklore tradition, also turned out to be a prince) noticed his pigs wallowing in a balmy though pungent hot spring. He jumped in after them and healed a nasty skin disease. News spread that the waters had healing assets and a shrine was built to the goddess Sul. When the Romans invaded, they constructed a spa complex around the springs in around 70CE – a centre for bathing and socialising, which they named Aquae Sulis (the waters of…

Patterned paper is a delicious thing. Ephemeral yet commonplace. Decorative yet utilitarian. One magical variation, marbled paper, is particularly tasty. At its most basic, marbled paper is made by floating colours on water and then placing paper on top to soak up the pattern. Each piece is unique – a fingerprint of pattern. And although it's a specialist book craft, marbling is also a hobby craft, as it's relatively easy to make some paper-based magic in your own kitchen. A SECRET HIS TORY Marbling has a long history, with variations dating back as early as 12th-century Japan and 15th-century Turkey, where it was called ebru or ‘clouded paper'. German marbled papers were some of the first to arrive in Britain in the 17th century, imported via Holland. To avoid taxes…

Repurpose that washing line and hang a sheet for a cinema screen in your back garden. You've easy access to the kitchen for popcorn and drinks – and have plenty of cushions and throws on hand for when the sun goes down. Cushions > from £11.29; Throws > from £18; Rugs > from £18.99, all waltonshop.co.uk Bookshop browse SEASONAL SHIFT Nature's Calendar: The British Year in 72 Seasons by Kiera Chapman, Lulah Ellender, Rowan Jaines, Rebecca Warren ➛ Inspired by a book which beautifully divided the Japanese natural world into 72 micro-seasons, this gorgeous guide heads out into the British countryside. In a series of essays, the book delineates the way the natural world changes as the year progresses. Drawing on science, art, literature and history, the contributors aim to…

A PLACE TO STAY It can be hard to take time away when you have a young family, whether that's time for yourself or with your partner. This whistlestop Cornish break – our first night away together in three years – was just the ticket. It was a chance to pause for 24 hours: to read a chapter of a book, have an uninterrupted conversation, to swim and laugh together and feel like we had returned to ourselves, if only for a brief interlude, before stepping back on the merry-go-round of work, life and raising a toddler. When time away is so precious, it's all about finding somewhere so peaceful you don't need to leave, and Pengelly Retreat – an immaculate yurt perched beside a secluded 100m freshwater bathing lake…

BIRD'S NEST FUNGUS If you go down to the woods today, you might encounter a weird and wonderful species Other common names: Elfin cups, fairy goblets, fluted bird's nest, pixie's purses, splash cups Found all over the world, this tiny charmer is actually quite complex. This delicate inedible mushroom looks exactly like a tiny bird's nest cradling precious eggs. The ‘eggs' are actually spore sacs, or periodoles, containing millions of spores, and a single nest can hold up to twenty of these. The spores are dispersed by raindrops, which splash them out of and away from – up to 1.8 metres – the ‘nest'. Colours range from bright orange to dull brown. Most common in autumn in clusters on dead and decaying wood and wood mulch, they can be found…

REFLECTION As soon as Mum got her metal egg slicer out, I knew: it was going to be a Picky Tea. My homework was immediately forgotten. I could even be dragged away from the latest goings on down Ramsay Street. Picky Teas were the ultimate dinner treat, a night where rhyme and reason (and quite often nutrition) were replaced with whatever delights my mum laid out on the table. Alongside the identically-proportioned slices of hard boiled egg, a pork pie appeared out of nowhere, cheese was arranged on a plate (stilton for my dad, an industrial-sized block of cheddar for the rest of us), with some crackers that had been forgotten about after Christmas. We were allowed to eat crisps! Some iceberg lettuce was probably torn up in a vague…

FIGGY BANANA BREAD Serves 6 125g salted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing 4 large ripe bananas 250g self-raising flour 200g caster sugar 3 medium free-range eggs 4 tbsp golden syrup 3 fresh figs (2 chopped into small pieces, 1 sliced) 1 Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/ Gas 6. Meanwhile, butter a 450g loaf tin and line with baking paper. 2 In a food processor, blend the bananas, then add all the other ingredients, except the figs. Blend again, then scrape down the sides and mix thoroughly. 3 Pour the batter into a bowl and gently fold in the chopped figs. Spoon the mixture into the buttered tin and place the slices of fig along the top of the mixture. 4 Bake for 1½ hrs, covering the top with…

THINGS TO NOTE AND NOTICE Nature spot HOBBIES We think everyone needs a hobby, but you'll need to be quick if you want to spot one of these falcons (for that's what hobbies are). They'll have migrated by October. What? A large grey-brown bird of prey with white cheeks and chin, white and brown-flecked breast, and rusty red ‘trousers'. Where? Across England and Wales, with increasing numbers now in Scotland, too. Hunting in open fields, often near wetlands. When? April to October. They breed here, but in September they begin to depart for Africa, so keep your eyes peeled this month. Field work Oxbow lakes An oxbow lake is always a pleasing sight, taking us back to geography lessons. They're horseshoe-shaped lakes, found near rivers, created from the river's original…

FAVOURITE SHOPS Bluebellgray If I've had enough of Glasgow's grey weather, I visit Bluebellgray. More than a homeware shop; just like its name, it's an explosion of colour. bluebellgray.com Hoos This shop is quite simply the physical embodiment of Scandi chic. Plus their flowers – both potted and cut – are gorgeous. hoosglasgow.co.uk FAVOURITE CAFÉ Morning Glory One of my favourite spots for brunch. Their dishes are works of art – I'll never understand how they can make porridge look so beautiful! fivemarch.co.uk/morningglory FAVOURITE RESTAURANT The Ox and Finch Located in foodie hotspot Finnieston, this restaurant serves delicious tapas-style food. oxandfinch.com FAVOURITE MARKET The Dockyard Social A large venue with a huge selection of street food traders. There's place for everyone, young or old, four legs or two. dockyardsocial.com BEST…

GOOD THINGS TO EAT Late summer harvest The evenings are getting shorter. You might find yourself grabbing a jumper halfway through an al fresco supper. Maybe the same jumper you've started taking on the morning dog walk. The garden is green and the hedgerows are groaning with goodies. These are the last halcyon days of warmth and light before autumn proper. But as far as the plot is concerned, it's still in Tuscany. Our slow summers mean that many veg take all season and are only just ready by mid-September, having soaked up every inch of the unreliable British sunshine. This means that crops we associate with heat – peppers, aubergines, tomatoes, green beans – aren't really ready until now. And the courgettes? Well, they're giving me one final flurry…

MARIA'S MOJITO Packed with seasonal blackberries and a mixer inspired by flavours of Sierra Leone, this cocktail is a fine twist on a mojito. Serves 1 5 lime wedges 5 blackberries 8 mint leaves, plus a sprig to garnish 40ml Shwen Purple Haze (if you can't find this you can use coconut water) 35ml white rum 15ml sugar syrup Soda water 1 Muddle the lime wedges, blackberries and mint leaves in a small jug, crushing the mint leaves and berries as you go. 2 Pour into an ice-filled Collins or highball glass and pour over the Purple Haze (or coconut water), sugar syrup and rum, stirring with a long-handled spoon. 3 Top up with soda water and garnish with the mint sprig to serve. Adapted from Sweet Salone by Maria Bradford (Quadrille). Photography: Yuki Sugiura…

The story so far Ryan Bharaj and his brother Jay were working in hospitality when they were offered the chance to buy a Piaggio Ape pizza van. Although it fell through, it inspired them to invest in a converted horsebox from which to sell handmade, wood-fired pizzas – and Dough Man's Land was born. They began largely catering to weddings, but three years ago they got a permanent pitch in Finnieston in Glasgow's West End where they now sell Thursdays to Sundays. They've also invested in a larger oven to cater for larger festivals. doughmansland.com or at: @doughmansland. We wouldn't have said yes with any food other than pizza. Running this wasn't something we'd discussed until the opportunity came up. Although my brother and I worked alongside chefs in kitchen, we're…

WATER MARBLING About as much fun as you can have with a cocktail stick. PROUDLY HOMEMADE You will need: A shallow tray that your paper comfortably fits in to Distilled water (at room temperature) Scrap paper or newspaper Protective gloves 3–5 colours of pre-mixed marbling inks (we used Marabu Easy Marble Marbling Paints, available from greatart.co.uk) Cocktail sticks Paper (something slightly heavier than printer paper works best) 1 Make a water bath using your tray: the water doesn't need to be that deep, around 5–7cm, and roomtemperature distilled water gives the best results. Skim the water's surface with scrap paper or newspaper to remove any lint or dust. 2 Wearing gloves, cover the bath evenly with your first ink colour, then work in the other colours. The closer you drop the ink to the water, the…

HOME TOUR A move to the seaside opened up a whole new chapter in the lives of Mel Molesworth and her husband Martin. After years spent snooping through property websites for weird and wonderful houses from their Victorian semi in London, they finally found the quirky home they had been searching for and made the move to the Dorset coast. “We'd never been to Lyme Regis before moving and knew very little about this gem of a town,” explains Mel, who moved into The Arched House in 2011. “We came across the house around the time that our two sons were leaving home and it just felt like a good opportunity to try something new. Our idea was to renovate, and then live in one half and rent out the…

Join us for a ramble DOWN TO A TEA TOWEL Never be cheese bored when you can have this tea towel-cumreference guide to hand. With info on 49 varieties – including pairing suggestions – you can always feel like the big cheese. £12.50, redcandy.co.uk 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) “To saunter is a science… To saunter is to live” Honoré Balzac A big tick if you've guessed that the origins of this symbol are hazy. Perhaps derived from the ‘v' for ‘veritas', Latin for truth. By no means universal: in Finland and Sweden and other places…

As bored kids everywhere know, making a paper plane is easy. But making a really good one requires both patience and some precise engineering. Get into the fold. The plane that made the longest flight record (from an A4 sheet of paper) took more than 20 minutes to fold. See the designs at foldnfly.com for inspiration, tagged with attributes and difficulty levels. Don't be a drag: you want your paper to be as smooth and the folds as crisp as possible. Hold up your plane. Is it in line? Is it symmetrical? Wonky folding will throw it off course. Go with the micro: if you tweak nose or wings, make the changes very small. And carefully note the effects. The current distance record holders spent over 400 hours on adjustments…

Bloody Mary rigatoni You don't need a hangover to enjoy this classic pasta with a kick. Bloody Mary rigatoni Serves 2 2 tbsp butter 4 tsp olive oil 2 red onions, finely sliced 2 celery sticks, very finely chopped 200g rigatoni 2 large garlic cloves, grated 1 tsp celery seeds 6 tbsp tomato purée 4 tsp hot sauce 6 good dashes of Worcestershire sauce 2 tbsp vodka or gin Juice of 1 lemon 100ml double cream Grated parmesan and ground black pepper, to serve 1 Put the butter and olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan over a low–medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the onion, celery and a good pinch of salt. Cover the pan and cook gently for 15 mins, or until soft. 2 Meanwhile, cook the rigatoni in plenty of well-salted boiling water, until al dente. Reserve a couple of tablespoons of the…