Table of contents for June 2022 in The Simple Things

Put aside an afternoon for reading outside, in your garden or a park Get out the flour, bake scones and go for a cream tea picnic while they’re still warm Buy some flowers just for you and put them in your bedroom to see when you wake each morning Have cake for breakfast, because you’re a grown-up and you can These are a few ideas. Try some, make up some of your own, or just enjoy thinking about them. That’s the beauty of a ‘could-do’ list.…

Good morning! How are you? Time for a cuppa? Blinky-eyed! We both like strong tea with milk to wake us up. If time allows, we love masala chai infused with crushed cardamoms. Sometimes we add ginger or saffron, too – the smell captures our heritage; Indian tea spiked with East African spices. Delicious! Tell us what you do We run an ethical shop offering hand-crafted goods made in East Africa, designing and sourcing everything ourselves. We both work from home (Naeema’s in Singapore and Aniqah’s in the UK) managing different aspects of the business. When we catch up, and there’s always a kettle on in the background. How did you end up doing that? Both of us left our previous jobs to explore an idea that followed our heritage back…

Favourite shop KAWA Featuring Croatian products from fashion and accessories, to ceramics and food. kawa.life Favourite ice cream GIANNI As well as coffee and pastries, Gianni sells handmade ice cream with quirky flavours such as whiskey-brownie and lavender-honey.gianni-dubrovnik.com Favourite bookshop ALGEBRA With books stacked floor to ceiling, this is a bookworm’s dream. There’s a fancier sister store down the street with many English publications. knjizara-algebra.hr Favourite museum RED HISTORY MUSEUM Discover what life was like during the Yugoslav era.redhistorymuseum.com Favourite wine bar D’VINO Cosy and cool, with fun writings on the walls and more than 80 Croatian wines.dvino.net Favourite restaurant KAMENICE A long-standing restaurant on Gundulić Square that’s become something of an icon. Serves Dalmatian comfort food – oysters, black (squid) risotto, shrimp risotto, mussels or shrimp in a buzara…

What does summer mean to you? From barbeques and salty sea air to candy floss and freshly cut grass, many of our strongest associations with the season are smells that are stored in our memory. Smells can make us feel happy, hungry, or attracted to a person. We can smell an impending change in weather before we feel the first raindrops, and smell serves as a crucial warning to all kinds of dangers, from inedible foods to harmful chemicals. While you might think smell is your least important sense, it has a more significant role to play in your emotional and physical health than you probably appreciate. “Smell is our only sense that is directly hard wired to the emotional centre of the brain,” says Dr Rachel Herz, neuroscientist and…

MAKAŚA LOOKING HORSE grew up in the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, Canada – a country with more freshwater lakes than any other in the world. Yet many of its indigenous peoples living on reserves don’t have access to safe drinking water, a situation Makaśa found unacceptable. From a young age she’s worked to protect the water of her ancestral lands – however, this soon spilled over into water activism. In 2013, Nestlé built a water treatment plant on these lands. But instead of providing clean water to the people living there, nearly all of it was pumped away to be bottled and sold, robbing Makaśa’s community of their birthright and ability to live on the land. She led a community campaign asking Nestlé to stop taking…

Foxgloves Tall and stately with their bell-shaped blooms, foxgloves – also known as Goblin Gloves and Dead Man’s Bells – can be seen blossoming in hedgerows and gardens at this time of year. A few stems will look elegant in a tall vase – just don’t take too many as they provide nectar for bees. And though beautiful, they can also be deadly, so keep them out of reach of children and pets.…

When David Austin first began to breed roses, he took hybrid teas, popular at the time and noted for their good health, repeat-flowering and colour. He bred these with old roses, loved for their perfume and by those with a romantic nature; Vita Sackville-West planted around 200 varieties in her Sissinghurst garden. Austin’s aim was to create a type of rose that combined the best of both, reliability with romance, good health with good behaviour and colour with a heavenly scent. He named them English roses, with nostalgic names like A Shropshire Lad and Wollerton Old Hall, prized for generous repeat flowering, vase life, colour and good health. English roses, like old roses, come as shrub, climbing, rambling, or single stem.…

USEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL How We Might Live: At Home with Jane and William Morris by Suzanne Fagence Cooper William Morris was a towering figure in Victorian times, who transformed the way we thought about interiors, wallpaper and garden design. Just as important to the Morris aesthetic was Jane, his wife, who has been sidelined in the history of the Arts and Crafts movement. Here, happily, she has been restored to her rightful place as creative collaborator; funny, smart and boundlessly curious, she was a pioneer in the art of living differently. They entertained poets and politicians, created beautiful outdoor havens and believed that “The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.” (Quercus) Shopkeeper of the month Well-travelled local delicacies…

You may be surprised to hear that while I haven't lived in places because of the front or back doorstep alone, it has often been a consideration. Just as some want to know if the garden is south facing, whether a supporting wall can be knocked down or if the unusual smell in the kitchen is wet rot, I like to check that there is a good step to sit on. Ideally, it needs to be generously wide, stone or brick, and lovingly warmed by the sun. A joyful spot to perch with an early morning brew or a glass of wine at the end of the day. Growing up, our house was small but the doorstep became a look-out for me and my brother, a meeting point for our…

Spiced lamb flatbreads Turkish and Cypriot-inspired flatbreads, layered with big punchy flavours » Serves 8 (as a snack) FOR THE FLATBREADS: 240g strong white flour (bread flour), plus extra for dusting 7g sachet fast-action yeast 1 tsp fine salt 2 tbsp olive oil FOR THE LAMB TOPPING: 500g lamb mince 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground coriander 1 tbsp dried thyme 1 tbsp dried oregano 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 2 large tomatoes, skin removed and finely grated FOR THE HERBED YOGURT: 150g full-fat Greek yogurt 1 garlic clove, finely chopped ½ green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint TO SERVE: 100g feta cheese, crumbled 25g flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked 100g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped 1 red…

its about timeit came back againif it was going to.yes something’s nestingin the tentative creeper scribblingKellygreen felt tipacross our bedroom window.hello.its a lovely morning. we’ve gotfull french roast for the enamelled yellow coffee pot.there’ll be transistors in the botanics.and blaring notes of blossom.let’s walk. let’s talk.let the weekend watch wind down.let there be sunlet first you and meand then breakfast and lunch berolled into one. About the author: Liz Lochhead’s poems are vivid, vital and conversational. Beguiled by the musicality of everyday speech, this wonderfully quiet poem celebrates the shine of small moments and the tenderness of the ordinary transformed into something precious. Sundaysong is from Dreaming Frankenstein & Collected Poems 1967–1984 by Liz Lochhead, which is published by Polygon, an imprint of Birlinn Ltd.…

1949 Born in Bedford 1969 Moves to London to study graphics and Illustration at the renowned Saint Martins College 1972 Starts Swanky Modes with Judy Dewsbury, Melanie Herberfield and Willie Walters, taking on a shop the following year 1978 Appears in Derek Jarman’s Alternative Miss World film, alongside the rest of Swanky Modes 1992 The collective release their final collection, featuring men and women’s swimwear as well as Lycra dresses and see-through chaps 1993 Freelances as a fashion and costume designer 2000 Begins lecturing at Central Saint Martins, including collaborating with designer Ashish Gupta on his twice-yearly collections 2016 Makes her Great British Sewing Bee debut 2022 Publishes her biography…

RECYCLED FIELD NOTES JOURNAL An easy-to-make, easy-to-carry notebook for spotting and jotting. You will need: 10 sheets of A5 recycled paper 1 A4 sheet of 150gsm kraft card Embroidery thread Large embroidery needle Posca pen (or similar) Hole punch Ribbon 1 Begin by folding your recycled paper in half, then fold your kraft card (which will act as a cover) in half to make it A5 size, and cut it along the fold. 2 Place your paper together folding one piece over another and add your kraft card cover to the outside on your folded sheets. 3 Thread your needle with your chosen coloured thread (keep in mind your thread will be visible). Tie a knot in the end of your thread length and begin stitching the pages together. 4…

Fat lot of good The largest passenger jet in the world – the Airbus A380 – flew for three hours earlier this year with one engine powered only by used cooking oil. Known as Sustainable Aviation Fuel, it could reduce the carbon impact of flying by up to 71% and is being trialled in France as a low-carbon alternative that could power flights of the future. A golden idea Circuit boards aren’t the obvious place to hunt for gold, but the Royal Mint is investing in technology at its new facilities in South Wales to salvage the precious metal from discarded electrics to use in commemorative coins. They hope to extract hundreds of kilos, turning waste circuitry into a valuable commodity. Cell rejuvenation Supercharged healing could soon be possible, thanks…

My grandma’s chair The restoration of a familiar armchair to its former glory reminds Katy Collier of the security of her grandmother’s love “One of my earliest memories is of the chair. Now I’m older, it doesn’t seem that big but I remember sitting in it with my grandmother and she was teaching me how to knit and to tie laces. I call it Grandma’s Chair. I was close to my grandparents – they only lived down the road from where I lived with my mum in Worsley in Greater Manchester – and they were like parents. My mum is a bit like Eddie out of Absolutely Fabulous. My grandma was the most loving person I’ve ever known. It was really sad when she developed Alzheimer’s; you don’t lose the…

Sat in a quiet corner of my house on a Sunday evening, the children sleeping peacefully upstairs, my laptop is open and I’m taking part in an online women’s circle. With me are around 30 women, mostly from the UK but some from far away. Together we light candles – a virtual fire circle – and spend the next couple of hours journalling, meditating, and listening to one another. Despite the distance between us and the fact that all of them are strangers, there is a sense of connection and my rural home feels a little less isolated. Women’s circles like this, both in person and virtual, are on the rise, popping up in cities and towns, living rooms, yoga studios, parks and forests near you. And whilst this sort…

When life throws you more than your fair share of curveballs, sometimes the only thing to do is to retreat to a place that feels like home. In 2015, after a tough couple of years of unsuccessful IVF treatment and losing her mum to cancer – and inspired by happy childhood memories of sailing on the River Deben and strawberry picking in the Suffolk countryside – Jemma took the plunge to begin a new chapter of her life in Woodbridge. “I LOVE TO THINK OF MY GRANNY ENJOYING THE FLOWERS BEFORE ME” “My grandparents had downsized to this Victorian coach house in 2000. When my mum’s illness brought my parents back from Greece, they took over the property, so it already felt like home,” explains Jemma. After her mother passed…

Climbing roses Grow long, stiff stems and can be trained over arches, fences or trellis. They usually flower more than once in a summer (repeat flowering) and have single or clustered blooms. Rambling roses Generally only flower once a year, and have long flexible stems which can be trained, or can grow through bushes or into trees. They tend to grow larger than climbing roses, and have small flowers in large sprays. Tea roses So called because they smell like tea. These large-flowered shrubs with pastel-shaded blooms of yellow and pink originated in China and were very popular, but easily damaged by bad weather so… … Hybrid teas were first created in France in the late 19th century to be hardier than tea roses. Their large blooms and long stems…

Timber Festival Timber Festival, set in the lush surroundings of Feanedock, in the National Forest, is all about music, art, ideas, talks and lots and lots of trees. The three-day event will inspire wellbeing while you recharge under the canopy. Oh, and The Simple Things will be there, too. Taking place 1–3 July, tickets start from £48.15.timberfestival.org.uk The Paperdolls Market Held in Birmingham’s Custard Factory, The Paperdolls market returns for a summer gathering on 11 June selling locally handcrafted wares from jewellery to plant pots.paperdollshandmade.com Rock Oyster Festival Chef Jack Stein is bringing some of the best UK chefs to Dinham House, near Rock, Cornwall, for a weekend of cookery demos, food and music. Taking place 29–31 July, tickets start at £53.50.rockoysterfestival.co.uk…

This is one of my favourite recipes to rustle up throughout the year. It makes the most out of the abundant chickweed that thrives in our polytunnels and garden beds and gives the body a boost thanks to the nutrient- and mineral-rich chickweed. The key to making this pesto super delicious is by using a basil-infused olive oil. This is easy to make at home – just fill a third of a bottle with dried basil and top with olive oil. Strain after 4 weeks and you have the best oil for making any pesto. You will need: 100g chickweed 50g walnuts 200ml basil-infused extra virgin olive oil 40g finely grated parmesan 1-2 garlic cloves, chopped Method 1 Add the chickweed to a food processor along with the walnuts, the…

Sitting around a fire, beer in hand, playing games, grilling meat and watching the children turn feral for a few days are just some of the reasons I love camping. However, with a dodgy hip that doesn’t take kindly to camp beds (daughter) and a growing dislike of trudging across a field in the dark to the toilets at 2am (me), I was more than ready to give glamping a go this summer. A few little luxuries, proper comfortable beds and a solid tent warmed by a wood burner on nippy evenings would be welcomed, and we’d still be able to enjoy those memorable moments round the campfire toasting marshmallows, sharing stories and looking at the stars. Where we stayed Penhein Glamping – close to the Welsh border – which…

She slept in my bed until she was nine. “Far too old,” people said. “You’re ruining her,” they said. “It’s a disgrace,” they said. And yet she was brave. Fearless. Always choosing the highest climbing frame, diving board, rollercoaster, zip line. During the night, she would nestle close, her little hand seeking out mine. Come morning, she was up and running at full speed. Squeezing every drop from the day. She chose new wallpaper for her room, holding the sample square high above her head with absolute confidence in her decision. Wild cats, but not babyish – tigers, lions and leopards observing us with wise eyes between tropical leaves depicted in mint green, lilac and soft grey. It took two days to decorate, rearrange the furniture, add a matching lampshade…

RHUBARB & CUSTARD VICTORIA SPONGE Serves 8-10 4 eggs 225g sugar 225g self-raising flour 2 tsp baking powder 225g butter FOR THE CUSTARD BUTTERCREAM: 75g butter, softened 150g icing sugar ½ tsp vanilla extract 2 tbsp custard powder 2 tbsp milk TO SERVE: 200g rhubarb jam Icing sugar, to dust 1 Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/ Gas 4. Meanwhile, grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins. 2 In a bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and butter. If using a hand mixer, take care not to over mix. Divide the batter evenly between the two tins. 3 Bake for 20-25 mins, or until golden-brown and a skewer comes out clean. Set aside to cool in their tins for 5 mins before turning out onto a wire rack.…

Hello, petal It’s summer and gardens are blooming. Many of the pretty plants we admire are purely decorative but – whisper it – some are edible, too. Re-imagine your garden’s flora and foliage as ingredients (with a sprinkle of folklore). These flowers and herbs earn their place in the flowerbed and on the kitchen table alike. PANSIES The language of flowers uses pansies to say ‘think of me’, derived from the French name for pansy: pensée. Meadow Croft in Essex has held Viola and Pansy festivals every March since 2004, where visitors admire these cheerful flowers. Related to sweet violets, pansies also have a pastel softness about them and are often used in cooking as a colourful garnish. Tastewise, they have a mild minty or grassy flavour. All varieties are…

• Decide on a purpose for the circle It might be a general one of connection or manifestation. A circle can also honour a particular passage of life. A mother blessing, for example, is a beautiful alternative to a commercial baby shower. In circle, women could share words of encouragement or remind the mother-to-be of her gifts and strengths. • Create a comfortable space You can make the circle as beautiful as you like, using natural materials, rugs and flowers. But the most important thing is to create a space where women feel safe, warm and relaxed. • Try journalling prompts It can help to have a specific question to focus on, such as ‘How am I feeling in this moment?’ or ‘What has triggered me this week?’ These could…

June means roses, and roses mean scent carried over warm air, and clusters of muddled blooms spreading over walls. Roses mean parties, conversation and laughter, and the rituals of midsummer. Satiny pink, they glow in the evenings. In richer colours, roses are all velvety opulence. Roses are quiet afternoons in an enclosed garden, wrapped in the kind of luxury that is unique to June. When the season is young, with crowds of other flowers at their best, roses remain unrivalled; the floral distillation of the longest days of the year. In later months, many roses are able to regroup and make a return. And they don’t require lifting, or planting out by the hundreds. Instead, they are the best sort of shrub – or climber – that anyone could have.…

* A comport dish is a wide, shallow bon bon dish on a pedestal base, intended to hold food. They are having a bit of a moment.…

Modern carpentry Timeless furniture, hand-crafted in Devon Jake Hobson runs his bespoke furniture company – House of Hobson – from his workshop in south Devon. Taking inspiration from Scandinavian and Mid-Century design, the clean lines of Japanese aesthetics and the rolling hills of his South Hams home, Jake hand-crafts hard-working everyday furniture made to last a lifetime. “Making, to me, is about designing and realising pieces of furniture that I’d like in my house and hope others will, too,” explains Jake. “It’s the satisfaction of picking out beautiful lumps of rough-sawn timber and turning them into refined, elegant pieces, that will last for many years to come.” Much of Jake’s work comes as commissions – from work for Historic Royal Palaces to creating bespoke pieces for homeowners – but in…

“My partner and I never miss a chance to eat on the patio whenever we can. Although it’s small in country garden standards, I find that a small garden allows you to spend more time curating how it looks, rather than spend time weeding, cutting lawns or hedges, as you would in a bigger garden. I love getting my hands in soil, taking my mind off any of the day’s worries. I take a minute to appreciate the nature around us, the scent of flowers and the sound of bees and birds. My favourite moments are during the golden hours, when the sun rises or sets: the light is beautiful and everything seems to glow.” Alex Lyneel, Richmond, Surrey @theenglishgardener “I love putting out my china on a tablecloth under…

DOWN TO A TEA TOWEL Big skies and windmills always make for a pleasing sight, whether it's the view from a window, or simply on this cheeringly colourful cotton tea towel. £12, thevillagegreen. online MATCHBOXES PUZZLE “A flower blossoms for its own joy”Oscar Wilde The history of the Ordnance Survey may date back to the 18th century, but this symbol shows it’s keeping up with the times. This electric car charging point was designed in a 2015 competition – introduced at the same time as symbols for skateparks, solar farms and more… The PRACTICAL, the PLAYFUL and the SILLY Reason to pick up sticks. PRACTICAL: Create an insect hotel. You can go large (see rspb.org.uk for a how-to), or small,…