Psst! Have a look at the cover of the June issue of The Simple Things.
Out on 30 May 2014, The Simple Things June issue is available from all good newsagents and supermarkets, or you can buy online or download an issue now.
Living walls: vertical gardening
Bring your walls alive with our vertical gardening ideas.
These days the sky really is the limit when it comes to growing indoor plants. Wall mounted containers that allow displays to reach up rather than out are transforming our interiors. Not only do they look gorgeous, they purify the air too. If your kitchen is small (but perfectly formed, of course) and lacking a bit of extra space for container-grown herbs, it’s a great idea to make use of your walls. Whether you go for a culinary treat of salad leaves and herbs or an art-installation packed with exotic blooms, you’ll need to do a bit of research to ensure you pick the right plant for the job. Once you’ve considered the three P’s - position, plants & planters, you’ll be all set to get started…
Position:
Think sunny and light, though you can choose plants that like shade if your desired location receives less that half a day of sun during the summer months. Position plants that need the most light nearer the light source (window or artificial lighting) and work inwards using specimens that can cope with a bit more shade.
Plants:
Not all plants are suited to growing vertically in small pockets - think about types that have a shallow root system and will be able to cope with less water. Ferns and tropical plants make great bedfellows because they thrive in similar growing conditions.
For colour: gerberas - think bold bright large daisies. They come in a variety of shades, from yellow to pink and will flower right throughout summer. For scent: jasmine. a lovely climber that will cover well and provide plenty of fragrant flowers too. For luxury: orchid (phalaenopsis). Delicate blooms that will give your display an exotic appearance. For foliage: sword fern (polystichum munitum) lovely feather luscious green fronds that cope in sun and partial shade. and of course, for supper: salad leaves and herbaceous herbs!
Planters:
Go for kits which have a water reservoir integrated into the container as well as a fixing system to attach to the wall. Woolly Pockets offers plenty of choice and lots of advice about maintaining your creation. Minigarden is a more substantial modular growing system.The key thing is to mix up the types of plants to create a carpet of colour and texture that covers the planters you choose.
For more on garden rooms, turn to page 81 of June's The Simple Things (out 30 May 2014).
A midsummer night's feast: wine matches
Enjoy a laid-back celebration in the lingering dusk with super-chilled drinks and plenty of nibbles with our midsummer night's feast. This isn't a time to think about your five-a-day. Instead, make it a solstice to remember with decadently moreish savouries and summery sweet treats.
String up lanterns in a sheltered corner and lay on drinks and nibbles for an informal party for friends; young children will be thrilled at being out in the garden after dusk. Even if you don't quite make it through to the dawning of Midsummer's Day (24 June), you'll need breakfast to set you up for the longest day of the year.
Turn to page 26 of June's The Simple Things for a midsummer menu to remember, which includes the following recipes:
Gougeres
Spicy nougatine
Orange & yoghurt cake
Chocolate mousse
Babas au gin & tonic
Sweet chilli bruffins
Croissant pain-perdu
Making the menu? You'll need a few wine suggestions to go with the food.
Gougères with a side of Red Wine - Naudin Tiercin Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2011
Made from the Pinot Noir grape, this wine has just a subtle hint of spice, which picks up on the gentle kick of the chilli and paprika, yet the juicy berry fruit flavours in the wine give it a light and fresh quality that won’t overpower the wonderful cheesy bites!
Roast Garlic Bread - Coulaudin Bussy Chablis Premier Cru 2010
This Premier Cru Chablis sublimely combines a fresh, lemony character, with a strong backbone of acidity which perfectly cuts through the intensity of the garlic and makes for a very moreish combination.
Orange and Yoghurt Cakes - Bach Extrisimo Semi Seco Cava NV
The slight sweetness to this Cava makes it the perfect partner for these little delights. The gentle effervescence reflects the light, crumbly texture of the crumb and the delicate almond and citrussy flavours of the wine highlight the wonderful zesty orange of the cakes.
Wellbeing: take a walking meeting
Arianna Huffington's secret to success is surprisingly simple. Sitting down less could make you healthier - and happier. In her new book, Thrive, Arianna Huffington attempts to redefine the very notion of success by adding to the conventional measures of power and money a 'third metric' that focuses on lives well-lived. One of her top tips is the standing desk: a work-station that allows the user to work while standing rather than sitting. Arianna also devotes an entire section of her book to the multiple benefits of walking. Turn to page 62 of June's The Simple Things (out 30 May 2014) for the full article.
Likewise, Nilofer Merchant suggests a small idea that just might have a big impact on your life and health: Next time you have a one-on-one meeting, make it into a "walking meeting" — and let ideas flow while you walk and talk. Watch the video now:
Win a KitchenAid or Aga mixer, plus sponge cake recipe (closed 8 July 2014)
If you share our love of simple cooking pleasures, like baking a sponge cake or whipping up super-thin crepes, you're in luck! We're giving away two Betty Twyford mixers. The first prize is a metal KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer worth £429. Easy to clean and use, it's robust and stable and comes in a choice of either Almond Cream or Pistachio Green. The second prize is a black aluminium Aga kMix Stand Mixer, worth £349, which comes with a 4.6-litre bowl and three different mixing heads and has a 500W motor.
To enter the competition for your chance to win a KitchenAid or Aga mixer, head to our competition entry page.
Classic Victoria Sponge Cake
Ingredients:
4 free-range eggs 225g caster sugar, plus a little extra for dusting the finished cake 225g self-raising flour 2 tsp baking powder (this will guarantee your sponge to rise) 225g soft butter at room temperature, plus a little extra to grease the tin
Method:
Place everything into the bowl of your mixer, and mix on a fairly low speed until everything is combined and produces a dropping consistency. Divide the mixture between two lined sandwich tins placed on the middle shelf of your oven and bake for about 25 minutes at 180C/350F/Gas 4. When cool, fill with homemade jam and whipped cream – perfect. You could also sprinkle the top with icing sugar or caster sugar.
Tools of the trade: 5 most useful potting shed tools
It's Chelsea Flower Show this week, and we can't wait to get out in the garden. Come shopping for potting shed tools with The Simple Things!
Is a spade more useful than a fork, or a hoe essential if you grow veg? We investigate the five most useful tools for the potting shed.
1. Soil sieve
This tool looks great hanging up in a shed, but it's also a very practical bit of kit that helps cover seeds in pots and trays if you're not using vermiculite chips. You can buy new sieves, but you can't beat the worn, wooden vintage models. If you're doing a bigger job and need to sieve wheelbarrows of soil, why not knock up your own? Make two timber frames, a little larger than the barrow, sandwich mesh in between and fix in place with screws.
2. Tubtrug
A plastic tubtrug is a great addition to a potting shed as you can use if for many jobs, such as carrying tools out to the garden, filling with green waste when you're tidying, or soaking bare-rooted plants prior to planting out. (Of course, our favourite use is as a large ice-bucket to chill beer and wine after a hard day's graft in the borders!
3. Potting bench tray
If you don't have the luxury of a potting bench, this is a useful alternative that can be placed on any flat, even surface. It's the best way to tackle a seed-sowing session and keep all your compost in one area. Potting bench trays are available in plastic, metal or wood, so you can choose one to suit your budget.
4. Garden knife
A small, foldaway knife is a lifesaver in the garden. Whether you're taking cuttings, nicking a rogue sucker off a raspberry cane, or opening a bag of compost, it's all you need. Garden knives come in a range of styles with plastic, metal or wooden handles. It's a good idea to try before you buy - hold one in your hand to ensure it feels comfortable. If you don't like the idea of having to maintain your tools, go for stainless steel rather than carbon steel, as it won't rust.
5. Hoe
For a speedy way to keep on top of the weeds, find a hoe that really works for you. They come in a range of designs, from a Dutch hoe with a forward-facing blade that cuts through established and seedling weeds, to a half moon shape that helps access awkward parts of a garden border. A short-handled hoe is useful for more focused work.
Five ways with mint: recipes
The only herb that's also an adjective, mint deserves more than a cursory dip in your Pimm's. So don't leave it to run rampage in the garden, or wilt in a glass on the kitchen worktop - show it a good time with our recipes.
Five mint recipes from The Simple Things:
Chicken, preserved lemon and herb salad
Prepare 250g couscous with 400ml chicken stock, cover and leave for 5 minutes before fluffing up with a fork. Mix 3 roasted, torn chicken breasts, 2 chopped preserved lemons, 50g toasted flaked almonds, 1 tsp crushed cumin seeds, a packet of lightly crushed fresh coriander and a packet of roughly chopped fresh mint. Whisk 2 tbsp juice from the lemons with 2 tbsp oil and season, toss into salad and serve with couscous.
Fish cakes
Cook 700g King Edward potatoes until tender. Meanwhile, poach 300g salmon and 2 eggs in boiling water for 10 minutes; leave to cool. Flake salmon; chop eggs. Mash potato and stir in salmon, eggs, a bunch of sliced spring onions, 10g dill, 1 tbsp chopped mint. Season. Mould into 8 cakes and chill for 30 minutes. Shallow-fry fish cakes until golden. Serve with a dip made from 200ml creme fraiche, 2 tbsp garlic mayonnaise and 10g dill.
Mint and cranberry smoothie
Place 600ml light cranberry juice, 100g fat-free Greek yoghurt, 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint and 1 tbsp clear honey in a large jug and blend with a hand blender. Pour into 2 tall glasses. Add a handful of fresh or frozen raspberries for even more zing.
Minty summer pudding
Cook 800g fresh berries, 25g caster sugar and 2 tbsp water for 5 minutes. Drain, reserving juice; cool. Stir in most of a packet of fresh mint. Dip 6 slices of white, crustless bread in juice (one side only), sprinkle with leftover mint and lay 5 in a bowl. Keep leftover juice. Fill bowl with fruit, top with final bread slice and fold edges over. Place a saucer on top then something heavy. Chill overnight. Turn out and serve with remaining juice and cream.
Thyme and mint pears with raspberry sauce
Combine 150g caster sugar and 500ml water and bring to the boil. Simmer until sugar dissolves. Trim bases of 4 ripe, peeled pears so they stand upright. Add them to syrup, along with 10g fresh thyme and 3 sprigs mint, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove pears, discard herbs and reduce syrup by half (about 8 minutes). Add 300g raspberries and juice of half a lemon. Cook 1-2 minutes, blend, add thyme and serve with pears.
Taken from May's issue of The Simple Things - buy or download now
More recipes from The Simple Things.
Image: Alice Hendy Photography
Simple style: The Plimsoll
Read our potted history of the classic plimsoll in May’s issue of The Simple Things? Have a little look at our top trainer outfits. Invented in 1830s, these trusty white trainers have been shoeing the style-conscious on the street almost a century before trainers were a twinkle in Adi 'Adidas' Dassler's eye.
Nearly two hundred years on, how do you wear yours? Here are our top plimsoll fashion picks.
Plimsoll style - clockwise from top left:
1. A linen blazer matches the laissez-faire attitude of the nonchalant plimsoll. Uniqlo, £14.90
2. Classic denim meets classic kicks - perfection in an outfit. Jigsaw, £75
3. Plimsolls love to be by the seaside, as does a striped sailor top. Boden, £25
4. Skimmer jeans are perfect for paddling. Gap, £44.95
5. An easy-breezy skirt will help you keep cool. Joules, £39.95
Turn to page 24 of The Simple Things May issue for more plimsoll style. Buy or download your copy now.
World Baking Day: cake recipes
It's World Baking Day, and we're celebrating with our favourite cake recipes. Bake away the weekend with a homemade cake and a cuppa. Today happens to be World Baking Day and, although we need no excuse to get our pinnies on, we're taking full advantage with a range of cake recipes from The Simple Things.
Pictured above: Rhubarb cake
Sharp rhubarb, sweet orange and a hint of warming spice – this is a cake to curl up with on a rainy afternoon.
Or how about this Harvest cake, packed with courgettes, fig and pistachios?
We love raspberries, and this Pistachio raspberry loaf is delicious as well as beautiful.
Like unusual flavour combinations? Try this Rosemary olive oil cake.
It's nearly nectarine season, and this cake combines the fragrant fruit with honey.
Find more cake recipes from The Simple Things
Buy May's issue of The Simple Things, or download a free trial digital issue now.
Recipe: Piquant vegetable salad, and a vegetarian Mediterranean menu
Rustle up a weekend menu for family and friends - that just so happens to be vegetarian - then get the garden games out. Long, light days full of the promise of early summer and bank holiday weekends that top and tail the month - isn't May just the best? This is no time for slaving over the stove, though. What you need is food that's high in flavour and low on fuss to allow maximum time for chatting and quaffing. Fresh and colourful dishes with a Mediterranean influence will keep any post-lunch slump at bay, should the afternoon call for an impromptu game of ping-pong or boules.
Opt for an informal table with terracotta plant pots holding the cutlery and fresh herbs replacing flowers. Vintage crockery finishes the rustic, playful feel, while a freshly mixed mojito delivers a touch of holiday decadence. Double bank holidays - we'll drink to that.
Turn to page 26 of May's The Simple Things for recipes to recreate the full menu below (buy or download now):
Panzanella
Falafel with flatbreads
Hummus, Tahini sauce and Harissa
Piquant vegetable salad
French lemon tart with berry coulis
Mojitos
Piquant vegetable salad
A shredded veggie salad adds a pop of flavour and a burst of colour (serves 4 as a side salad)
Ingredients:
Half a cauliflower, finely sliced 2 carrots, peeled and grated 1 beetroot, peeled and grated
For the dressing:
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 2 tbsp olive oil Salt and black pepper, to taste 1 tsp agave syrup
Combine all salad ingredients in a bowl.
Combine all dressing ingredients, adding to the salad before serving.
For more information about National Vegetarian Week, including tips on how to go meat-free, visit the website.
Museums at Night
Today sees the launch of Museums at Night, Culture24's festival of inspiring after hours cultural events at museums, galleries and heritage sites (Thursday May 15 - Saturday May 17 2014)Don't miss this festival which takes place over 15-17 May when hundreds of galleries, museums and historical places open their doors late for special events.
For the grown ups:
Follow New York photographer Spencer Tunick's travels from New Jersey to Folkestone through his series of pictures of naked people taken in well-known locations, to be viewed as miniature key-chain viewfinders at Georges House Gallery, Folkstone.
Join in the celebrations of ten years of the cult comic artwork Modern Toss with lots of opportunities for gratuitous effing and blinding at The Herbert Museum and Gallery in Coventry and The Horniman Museum in London. Plus, look out for a great travelling exhibition of their work that is aptly displayed in the loos of three major galleries.
For the kids:
Meet ceramicist Grayson Perry for a teddy bear-themed event, including picnic and storytelling at York's Yorkshire Museum.
Enjoy an evening of magic and illusion at The Great North Museum in Newcastle as part of the V&A Museum of Childhood's touring exhibition Magic Worlds.
Sleep over at Kensington Palace and become a prince or princess for the night at this regal slumber party. Or spend the night at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard (16 May) and play giant battleships and laser quest, before watching a movie and bedding down in the Action Stations building.
For full listings and more details, visit www.museumsatnight.org.uk
Wordless Wednesday
Inntravel the Slow holiday people
Sponsored post: Creative cooking by the campfire
Warming, comforting and incredibly satisfying, sausages may be the ultimate campfire food. Read on for a simple recipe.
For summer road trips, family barbecues or camping in the garden with your little ones this is a particularly sumptuous way to cook them, and it looks fantastic. If you’re making this at home, try serving it with a pile of creamy mash.
Ingredients
600g cumberland sausage ring 1 tsp oil 1 onion, finely sliced 2 tsp wholegrain mustard 1 tbsp honey 150ml cider 100ml Yeo Valley Single Cream
Method
1. Insert 2 wooden skewers in a cross shape into the sausage to pin it into a spiral. Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan, large enough to take the sausage wheel. 2. Cook the sausage on a medium-low heat for 10 mins until browned, then turn it over and cook for a further 5 mins. 3. Lift the sausage out, spread the onions into the pan, stir into the pan juices then replace the sausage on top. Continue to cook gently for a further 5-10 mins until the onions are soft and the sausage is cooked through. 4. Remove the sausage from the pan and set aside. Spoon off any excess fat then stir the mustard and honey into the pan. Pour in the cider and bubble for 2 mins before stirring in the cream and seasoning to taste. 5. Divide the sausage into 4 and pour over the cider sauce.
Sponsored post: May’s cut flower patch planting diary
Louise Curley, author of The Cut Flower Patch, shares this month’s planting diary. 'For most places in the UK May is the month when the danger of frost eases and planting out on to the cut flower patch can begin in earnest. The transition from sunny, protected windowsill or greenhouse to the great outdoors can be quite a shock to young plants. The best way to ease this impact is to harden off any plants for a few weeks by gradually acclimatising them to cooler temperatures, wind and rain. Cold frames are perfect for this job but grouping pots together in a sheltered spot near your house and covering them with a layer of horticultural fleece at night will work just as well.
'Hardy annuals are the first plants to be planted out on to the cut flower patch this month and they will keep me supplied in flowers right through until the first frosts in October or November. There are sunflowers such as ‘Vanilla Ice’, the pincushion-like flowers of Scabiosa atropurpurea, ammi, cornflowers and, for climbing up hazel wigwams, I couldn’t be without fragrant sweet peas. And if spring has caught up with you a little this year and you feel like you’ve missed the boat when it comes to seed sowing don’t despair. Garden centres and some mail order plant nurseries have small cut flower plants which are perfect for planting in May.
'Spring bulbs may be fading but summer flowering varieties are perfect for planting this month. Bulbs take up very little room so are fantastic for maximising your cut flower growing potential – plant in blocks or in between low growing flowers such as statice and Anemone coronaria. Plant acidantheras and freesias for scented flowers in August and September, and forget the old fashioned, frumpy reputation of gladioli; there are some fabulous varieties to choose from. Grow the sumptuous crimson coloured ‘Espresso’, the rich velvety ‘Purple Flora’ or the zingy ‘Green Star’. Sometimes arranging a traditional cut flower in a more contemporary way is all it takes to update an image. Try putting single stems of gladioli in a massed collection of simple milk bottle vases for a modern take on these exotic blooms.'
Louise Curley is the author of The Cut Flower Patch, published by Frances Lincoln.
Yoghurt for breakfast
Love yoghurt? You can't beat it for a breakfast treat
Turn to page 110 of May's The Simple Things for a recipe to make your own thick and creamy yoghurt. But how do you eat yours?
Classic Greek
Top with dark forest honey for a true taste of Greece. Add a handful of almonds for added crunch.
Bircher
Use your homemade yoghurt as a base for a Bircher breakfast - oats soaked overnight with yoghurt, juice, and grated apple.
Berries and granola
A bowlful of yoghurt topped with a handful of granola and fresh berries is a great way to start the day, and keeps you full 'til lunchtime.
Winter fruit
Yoghurt is a good option, even in winter. No berries? No worries - try tinned prunes or preserved apricots instead.
How do you eat yours? Let us know on Twitter and Facebook.
The Simple Things arrives in France!
The Simple Things is finally in France! Close your eyes and think about what really matters: sharing, bonding, smiling.
Take a deep breath and smell the sweetly scented air of blooming flowers.
Let the sunlight stroke your eyelids. Take your time. Enjoy every moment.
Dive into a river and let yourself drift away like a child.
Let go and marvel at little things, at nature that gives so much.
Let your meals simmer, savor them with those you love, and talk until the crack of dawn.
Breathe.
Simple Things is finally in France...
Food from afar: Guatemalan Tortillas (and where to eat them)
Enjoy fluffy, smoky, delicious Guatemalan tortillas, a favourite of the Mayans - and us. In the land of the Mayans, where the slap-slap of wet dough between palms is as familiar a sound as honking horns and howler monkeys, tortillas have been a cornerstone of the country's cuisine for 3500 years, accompanying almost every meal, often in lieu of cutlery.
Dry, mature maize kernels are boiled over a fire in a bowl of alkaline water. This produces a soupy substance known as nixtamal - pronounced neesh-tamal - which is drained, then ground into dough at the communal mill.
Women and children then wet their hands, grab a handful of dough and clap their hands together to shape a perfectly round, even tortilla. After cooking them on the comal - a traditional, wood-fired Mayan-style stove - the tortillas recline in a blanket-lined basket ready to be devoured.
Want to try them for yourself? We can't find a Guatemalan restaurant in the UK (let us know if we're wrong!), but try these top Latin American options instead:
Devised by Thomasina Miers, Masterchef winner, Wahaca serves authentic Mexican street food. Try the 'Little Softies' tacos to satisfy your bread urges.
As well as being a staple fish dish in South America, Ceviche is a Peruvian kitchen in London's Soho. Winner of the Sunday Times Cookbook of the Year in 2013, Ceviche offers its namesake dish in half a dozen forms.
Head to Hackney's Broadway market for a taste of Argentina in the form of Buen Ayre. Expect warm service, fine wines, and some of the best steak you'll find in the capital.
Bodega in Birmingham offers dishes from Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Cuba and Argentina, as well as vegan and gluten-free options. Try the Cordero Seco - a Peruvian lamb stew braised in Negra Modelo beer.
With branches in both Liverpool and Manchester, this Mexican street food restaurant is a firm favourite in the North West. Classic light options and more substantial dishes sit alongside an impressive tequila menu.
Know of any we've missed? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook.
Image by Rudy Giron, available to purchase here.
Escaping: British cows
Off to the countryside? Find out who's who in the nation's fields this spring If you're out and about this bank holiday weekend, take our handy British cows identifier with you and spot our native herds - turn to page 109 of May's The Simple Things for the full illustrated guide.
Aberdeen Angus
Said to descend from early 19th-century bovine A-listers Old Jock and Old Granny. Tough, good-natured, with legendary calf-bearing abilities.
Belted Galloway
Look for the distinctive white belt around the middle. Shaggy of coat and calm of temperament - though don't nark a mother with her little 'uns.
Chillingham
If you see one of these little white ladies you can only be in Northumberland, home of the only known herd. Like many rare in-bred things, they live in a castle...
Dairy Shorthorn
A breed founded more than 230 years ago from a bull named Hubback. Produces quality milk in an economical manner. Pretty, too.
Hereford
One of the oldest breeds of beef cattle; can be traced back to Roman times. Characteristic white face and underbelly. Happiest when foraging.
Highland
The horns point up if it's a she, and forwards if it's a he. Straggly-coated, waterproof and nowhere near as scary as it looks.
Jersey
Channel Islands resident (well, that's what he tells HMRC). Available in various shades from fawn to nearly-black, but always has big doe eyes.
Longhorn
No relation to the famous Texas Longhorn. Horns once used to make buttons, cutlery handles and spoons; milk now used to make Stilton.
White Park
The Audrey Hepburn of cows, with its beautiful face. So ancient and protected, we shipped some to the US for safekeeping during World War Two.
Gardening: Where the Wild Things Grow
Don’t miss a new exhibition, Where the Wild Things Grow at Oxford House in London’s Bethnal Green. It’s part of the Chelsea Fringe Festival - the boho, earthy cousin of the more high-brow RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and promises to be a fascinating take on the natural world we often overlook - if we see it all.
Where the Wild Things Grow
Photographer, Paul Debois; gardener, TV presenter and author, Alys Fowler; and photographer and artist, Lynn Keddie, were collectively inspired to document nature’s canny persistence to send out green shoots in the most unlikely places. Their exhibition aims to record ‘the ordinary everyday weed, or wildling, and asks us to take notice of the botany, history and geography of our pavements, building edges, bridges and step cracks.
Our garden editor Cinead McTernan had 5 minutes to talk with Paul Debois about the show.
What made you first notice the wild things in our cities?
I frequently walk around towns and cities photographing urban landscapes. As a garden photographer, I often saw escapees - cultivated plants that were making a bid for freedom! I started recording them at first, just as notes. But it soon started to evolve into the project you see today. The first shots I actually took were in towns in Spain, but I soon started to find wildlings in London too.
What's the most unusual wildling you discovered growing?
I found a fig growing in one of the crane buckets outside Battersea Power Station. It's difficult to see at first. I thought it was a bizarre contrast.
When does a wildling become a thing of beauty and a subject for an image as opposed to being 'just a weed growing in the wrong place'
It's possible a wildling is never a thing of beauty in a traditional sense. It's the location and tenacity of a plant combined becoming a point of fascination. It could be a nuisance weed, it could be a classic garden flower. No garden manual would recommend planting in such locations. They would class you as mad for even thinking about it. The appearance of a 'wildling' is nature saying it's quite happy without us interfering. It's the event.
How did you, Alys and Lynne come together to create this Chelsea Fringe exhibition?
I was talking to Lynn about developing a joint exhibition of paintings and photographs. Soon after, I made a short video with Alys, called 'Commuterland', which was accompanied by an essay. Alys made references to Wildlings. The collaboration developed and grew from this.
Will you be touring the exhibition for non-Londoners?
We haven't considered touring yet, as we're so busy preparing for the Chelsea Fringe event. But we would definitely consider a new location if you have ideas in Bristol.
...........
It sounds an excitingly interactive show too - you can listen to Aly’s commentary about the exhibition as well as book on a walk around the neighbourhood with either Paul, Alys or Lynn, to learn about the journey any wildlings took to get to their final destination.
The trio will also be talking to guests and answering questions in the gallery from 6.30pm on 24th May.
Don’t miss the chance to enjoy delicious food in the pop-up restaurant hosted by Clarke and Lee - you’ll need to book ahead.
Finally, if you have little ones, why not get them to take part in the photo competition to snap a wild thing in a surprising place. Prizes will be presented on Thursday 22nd May at 4pm.
Images: Paul Debois (bicycle); Alys Fowler (mushrooms)
National Flower Arranging Day
Today is National Flower Arranging Day, not that we need an excuse to make up a beautiful bouquet of our favourite spring flowers
National Flower Arranging Day
If you fancy arranging a posy of blooms, why not make a second and join in with the Lonely Bouquet? Today, the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies will distribute 60,000 lonely bouquets - beautiful little bunches of flowers left in surprise locations for strangers to find and take home on National Flower Arranging Day.
What is the Lonely Bouquet?
The random act of kindness initiative dubbed the Lonely Bouquet was the brainchild of a young florist in Belgium named Emily Avenso, who blogged about the idea after leaving flowers for strangers two years ago. The idea went viral and Lonely Bouquets have been distributed across the globe ever since.
If you make or spot a Lonely Bouquet, take a picture and share with us on Facebook or Twitter.