Return of the Light - EASTER SPECIAL

Join us for our Easter Special episode of Small Ways to Live Well, the podcast from The Simple Things magazine 

Released on Good Friday, Team TST are recording live from a Blackdown Shepherd Hut in Somerset where they’ll enjoy cake and decorate an Ostereierbaum (Easter tree) before trying a sauna and cold plunge and warming up with rival hot chocolate recipes. Plus the signs that spring proper is here, stories of cute spring animals and making the most of April showers.  Oh and we’re learning how ducks quack in other languages. 

 Co-hosted by The Simple Things Editor, Lisa Sykes; wellbeing editor Rebecca Frank and author of The Slow Traveller,  Jo Tinsley

Our Easter Special and Season 5: Return of the light is supported by Blackdown Shepherd Huts. 

If you are in the UK, you can choose an immediate start subscription to the The Simple Things and receive the current issue straight away. Or buy current and back issues here. The May TEND issue  is on sale at picsandink.com from 17 April, on newsstands 24 April

 Editing and music by Arthur Cosslett. 

To read:

Play spring bingo – signs that spring is really here 

Speak like a duck abroad 

To bake:

Simnel cake recipe & history

Hot cross buns recipe

Gugelhupf  – Austrian Easter cakes

To make:

Ostereierbaum (Easter tree) 

Dyed eggs

Hot chocolate
Tangerine & nutmeg
Sea salt
Spiced
With pink peppercorns 
Orangey tipple 

To buy:

M&S Simnel cake

Blackdown sauna & cold plunge deck 

Beautiful mugs in the Blackdown hut for hot chocolate were by Florence Ceramics 

From The Simple Things:

 In the April JAUNT issue 

Rain gardens

Easter buns of Europe

Magical Creatures – mallards
 
 

In our new anthology&

Transcript

Lisa Sykes (00:11):

Happy Easter. Everyone. As many of you will know, it's our spring podcast season and it's been supported throughout by Blackdown Shepherd Huts who make truly magical spaces. And for this Easter special, we're actually coming live from one of the huts. And I can tell you it is very magical in here, but team TST podcast are together in person for probably the first time. So we intend to make the most of it. And we're going to be trying some Easter cakes. We're going to be talking about decorations we like to celebrate this time of year. And there's going to be a story to listen to while we go in one of Blackdown's new sauna huts, which we're all very excited about. And then we'll be rejoining you for our sampling of the cold plunge and warming up with some rival hot chocolate recipes. So I'm joined by co-host Becs and Joe, who I know are both keen outdoor swimmers and sauna enthusiast, and maybe slightly less enthusiastic cold plunges. But I don't know. And I think you're both quite excited to be here, aren't you?

Jo Tinsley (01:06):

Very excited to be here. It's just lovely to see everyone in person.

Lisa Sykes (01:09):

I know, isn't it? And we've got a sunny day though. Temperatures warm. So the sauna's going to be not redundant, but it'll certainly be toasty in there, won't it? How about you, Becs?

Becs Frank (01:18):

Yeah. Gosh. It's beautiful here, isn't it? I'm in my happy place. I've got cake and sauna and a plunge coming up. So I know. And let's just describe

Lisa Sykes (01:26):

This hook that we're in at the moment, because I mean, the first thing you said, Bex when you came in was I could live in here. Yes. I

Jo Tinsley (01:33):

Could just sell all my things and live simply.

Lisa Sykes (01:35):

It is more of a tiny house than a hut, isn't it? For sure. I mean, we've got a lovely little sort of seating area, and in this hut, the thing I love most is they've built in, it's like a table that unfolds, and when you unfold it, there's a chessboard and they've even built a little nook in the wall where you can see all the chess pieces and keep your pieces. Isn't that just so

Jo Tinsley (01:55):

Clever? It's behind Lisa. There's a bed that you can pull down as well, so you don't get that sort of camper van thing at the end of the day where you have to build a bed, you can literally just pull it down.

Becs Frank (02:04):

It looks like a proper comfy bed,

Lisa Sykes (02:07):

And it's already made. I mean, you could literally pull it down with a glass of wine in one hand and just do it one handed, couldn't you? Which is so nice. That's not what you do when you camping, is it? No,

Becs Frank (02:15):

This is not camping.

Lisa Sykes (02:16):

No. And there's a wood burner in the corner, which we don't actually need today. And then a little bathroom. But every single thing, the joinery is all made here. It's

Jo Tinsley (02:25):

Been so well thought out, hasn't it?

Lisa Sykes (02:27):

And all the interior furnishings and soft furnishings and the pottery, they source it all locally, and people have the option to buy that and furnish it themselves using the things they collect or they can do it yourself and it just, anyway, it's very nice to be in here today. So before we move to Sauna Hut, which is a separate hut, they've got a whole showcase of huts down at their workshop in Somerset that you can come and view by appointment, which is very nice. We're going to have some cake. Yes.

Becs Frank (02:56):

This looks absolutely delicious. So we've got seminal cake, is that right? That's right. I like this. This is because I'm a big front of, because

Lisa Sykes (03:02):

That's traditional for

Becs Frank (03:03):

Easter. It's traditional for Easter. And traditionally also it was baked for Mother's Day, which was the fourth Sunday of Lent. So it was kind of offering a little bit of a respite from all the fasting and it's filling cake. It's kind of morphed from, I think more like a bread, a loaf into the cake that we have today, which is, so

Lisa Sykes (03:20):

I'm looking at it and it does look a bit like a Christmas cake, but maybe a bit lighter.

Becs Frank (03:24):

Yeah, this is I think why I like it so much. I love Christmas cake, but it is lighter. There's lots of marsipan going on.

Lisa Sykes (03:30):

I'm in two minds about marsipan, but the fruit cake bit looks good. In fact, I'm going to dive in. Well Bec's

Becs Frank (03:34):

Talking about it

Lisa Sykes (03:35):

And try it out.

Becs Frank (03:37):

So you've got this one. It's quite traditional to have marsan in the middle and on the top, which this one does. And then also when you have a traditional round cake, you would get the marsipan balls on the top.

Lisa Sykes (03:48):

What's the deal with the balls?

Becs Frank (03:49):

Yeah, the balls represent Jesus's disciples. Oh, so there's 11 of them.

Lisa Sykes (03:54):

Yeah. But I thought there were 12 disciples.

Becs Frank (03:56):

Well, Judas didn't get one,

Lisa Sykes (03:58):

Obviously.

Becs Frank (03:59):

So yeah, this cake is made around Easter time. It is the usual kind of ingredients that you get from a Christmas cake. Less of the, I don't think any booze. So it is a bit lighter, but it completely delicious. I think

Lisa Sykes (04:11):

I'm really enjoying this actually because it's got mar, sorry, I can't talk now because I'm eating. It's got marsipan layered through it, hasn't it? Which I said I don't like it, but maybe I just don't like it in a solid lump on top. This is nice.

Becs Frank (04:24):

Yeah, yeah. And it's very moist, isn't it?

Lisa Sykes (04:26):

And not as sweet as you'd expect, actually. No, it's very, yeah. Now I would like to fess up because we are talking about this cake as though it's a homemade cake, but a bit like calendar girls. I did buy it at M&S. You were going to make one. I was going to make one, but we've had a very busy week, and I have to say, I will give M&S Simnal cake a plug. It's very nice.

Becs Frank (04:50):

It's very nice. But there's also a great recipe. And I think Easter weekend, we've been a bit rushed in the runup according to this podcast. But Easter weekend is you've got those four days you might fancy baking something, and there's a great recipe on the blog, which we'll put in the show notes.

Lisa Sykes (05:03):

We will.

Becs Frank (05:03):

And it's not a difficult cake to make. And I think, yeah, think it's popular.

Lisa Sykes (05:09):

But you are a hot cross bun girl Joe, aren't you?

Jo Tinsley (05:09):

 Yeah, I prefer a hot cross bun. And I think traditionally they were made beaten on Good Friday. I was actually born on Good Friday. Oh. So yeah, I think it's my duty. It's your cake. It's my bun. I got your name on it. Yeah. So the earliest mention of hot cross bun can beef, I mean dates back to like 1733 is the first time people mentioned it. They've been around for a long time. Wow,

Lisa Sykes (05:29):

That's a long time.

Jo Tinsley (05:30):

But did you know they weren't traditionally round, so some 19th century saucers described them as triangles, angular cakes. How can they be a bun if they're not round? I know. And many breads at the time were marked of a cross, so that wasn't even, what was special about them, what was special was that they were baked on Good Friday, which gave them magical properties. And so people believed that buns baked on Good Friday would never go mouldy.

Lisa Sykes (05:54):

Do you think they had so much preserves in there that they just lasted longer than other breads?

Jo Tinsley (06:00):

I don't know. I mean maybe, yeah, but they also thought they could treat like medical complaints.

Lisa Sykes (06:05):

Well, I've always thought ho cross buns are quite medicinal, I think so that's fun to

Becs Frank (06:08):

Make as well. Actually,

Jo Tinsley (06:09):

I've

Becs Frank (06:10):

Had to go.

Lisa Sykes (06:10):

You've made them before. I have, yeah. I'm going to give our little anthology a new plug now we've got a new anthology coming out that we've just finished that there's a bit of a pre-order offer on, it's all about celebrations. And so obviously we got an Easter tea in there. And one of the cakes in there is a hot cross bun loaf, which is very nice. Which is actually maybe even easier to make them the hot cross buns. So that's very nice. Oh, there's a mini egg tiffin, which is quite fun for the kids and mini victorious sponges with fresh cream.

Becs Frank (06:38):

And it's nice to have some things because a lot of the Easter to baking does involve dried fruits and similar kind of ingredients, citrus and dried fruits, I think. And it's good to have some other other options

Lisa Sykes (06:46):

As well. No, it is because cake, as we all know, is at the very heart of the sinful things. We have just published recently our hundred and 50th issue, and there has been a cake in the house in every single issue, sometimes more than one cake. And in fact, in our Easter edition, which is our April issue, which is still on sale, we've gone to Europe because you know how chocolate is obviously central to our Easter traditions, but in Europe it's nearly always baking

(07:13):

And they may be Easter breads or cakes. So we've done Easter buns of Europe and some Euro stars that we're celebrating. And so the Google Hof Austrian cake, such a good name, I'm sure that's really not how you've pronounce it. And that's served up like weddings and gatherings, and they decorate it with flowers and leaves some fruit. And again, it's a yeasty bread cake with also dried fruits and citrus. So it's all that lent tradition, isn't it, of using lots of, oh, sorry. This is the end of Lent, of course, isn't it? So it's like using the things you haven't been eating.

Becs Frank (07:42):

Yeah, there's some different ones in there as well. I really like the French one. I can't remember what it was called, but that's chocolate, isn't it? Yeah,

Lisa Sykes (07:49):

Very

Becs Frank (07:49):

Much. And that's got the beautiful dyed eggs on and the flowers and

Lisa Sykes (07:52):

Well, the Google Hof one is also going on the blog, but they're all in the magazine, so that's good. And I am never sure about decorations though for Easter. I mean, I don't really go for it like I do at Christmas. Do you J?

Jo Tinsley (08:04):

No, not really. But I have done it with my daughter before, just kind of decorating trees in the garden with little eggs and things like that. But more like on the cuff kind of

Lisa Sykes (08:12):

Thing. Don't

Jo Tinsley (08:12):

Plan to do it.

Lisa Sykes (08:14):

Well, because the German tradition is, I'm going to say this badly, it's Anaya bar, which is an Easter egg tree, and they basically decorate eggs or bushes with Easter eggs. And apparently there was this famous tree in Feld in Germany that had over 10,000 eggs hung on it, and they used to start hanging them in February, but that's not even the record. Apparently. There's an oak tree in OC Zoo, which is in the Guineas book of record. It's got 79,000 eggs hung on there. You're kidding. Wow. And traditionally they should be blown or painted, but what I like to do is bring in, I have a branch of pussy willow or something, or you can use magnolia blossom or cherry blossom, something that say spring and I just hang little chicks on it or bunnies or I did when the kids were small and now I just tie ribbons on it.

Becs Frank (09:03):

I do find you see more Easter trees about don't you? And it's simple, isn't it? And it looks pretty.

Lisa Sykes (09:09):

Yeah, we've got those dyed eggs that we did in the egg

Becs Frank (09:12):

Picture as well. Yeah, I would really like those. Are they easy? Yeah. And what's nice about 'em is you're using natural foods as the dye as well. So you hard boil your eggs and then you place whatever your say if you want some to be a bit sort of purple, you could put some blueberry in, you could put some beet root in for sort of pinker colour red onion,

Lisa Sykes (09:31):

But you don't really know how it's going to turn

Becs Frank (09:33):

Out, do you? No. And then you just put the eggs in and I think you leave it overnight. You dunno what you're going to get, and you can get this kind of really pretty marble effect. And they look beautiful just in a bowl,

Lisa Sykes (09:42):

But eggs just feel like spring, don't they? Maybe it's that daffodil yellow yoke colour. But we've got, do you remember that thing we did on the blog about spring bingo? The signs Springers arrived because Right. Go on then. Let's do this. So what were your three things that you think right spring's here when this has happened?

Jo Tinsley (10:02):

Yeah, I like this because it was so specific, wasn't it? So when you are no longer annoyed to see Easter eggs stacking up in the supermarket,

Lisa Sykes (10:11):

George,

Jo Tinsley (10:11):

Because I think that starts around the 2nd of January and when all your friends are posting pictures of the homemade wild garlic pesto on social media.

Lisa Sykes (10:19):

And we do have a wild garlic feature in the latest to shoot as well, which also makes more than pesto actually. There's some baked eggs in that with wild garlic there anyways.

Jo Tinsley (10:29):

And finally when you don't close the back door, the absolute second, you come in from the garden.

Becs Frank (10:34):

Oh, that's so true. I love having the back door, but even when it's just quite chilly, just because I can,

Lisa Sykes (10:39):

I know. And then sometimes you've left it open all day at the weekend, but you've still got your heating coming on in the evening

Becs Frank (10:45):

And then you

Lisa Sykes (10:45):

Realise you've got the back door open and you feel really guilty. That

Becs Frank (10:48):

Completely happened to me because obviously it's cooling down that house, isn't it? Yeah, they're good, Joe. I can relate to all of those.

Lisa Sykes (10:55):

One of mine is that constant backdrop of bird song that you get

Becs Frank (10:58):

Put here.

Lisa Sykes (10:59):

Yeah, you can hear it out the windows of our lovely hut. And because they're all busy nest building out there and they're just tweeting all day long, I find I've got jugs of daffodils all around the house because first of all, you buy them and then you've got them in the garden and it's like, that's just lovely. But the thing that I really like about this time of year is when you get home from work and it's still daylight, and then you can have sundown, they're in the garden, but it does also mean it's time to clean the barbecue, which is everyone's least favourite job of spring, isn't it? How about you B?

Becs Frank (11:29):

Well, the first one I chose is because this is what I've been doing this weekend was you can't put off mowing the lawn for any longer.

Lisa Sykes (11:37):

It's not going to happen.

Becs Frank (11:38):

It's just going to, and at first, mows always render, isn't it? Because you have left it too

Lisa Sykes (11:42):

Long and you think, shall I put it on four or three? And then it just always looks awful afterwards. Isn't it really patchy.

Becs Frank (11:49):

Yeah, you are contemplating a salad for dinner. I've been doing a lot more of that, assembling the food and looking

Lisa Sykes (11:56):

Forward to that salad.

Becs Frank (11:58):

Yes, exactly. Yeah, I know exactly. And then the last one, you've put your big coat away, and I actually wrote about this in our April issue because it's a good moment for me when I can put away my puffer jackets and I get out the trench, the trench got

Lisa Sykes (12:12):

The Mac. Yes,

Becs Frank (12:14):

No,

Lisa Sykes (12:14):

Definitely. But the flip side of that, and I wrote about this in March, do you remember? Because it is about wearing wellies because it is April showers season, isn't it? I have to say I love my wellies. I wear them most days at some point.

Jo Tinsley (12:25):

Yeah, likewise, the dog walks. Your dog walks.

Lisa Sykes (12:27):

And even in the summer when the meadow's long and wet, if you go out in the morning, the Jew, you need them on. So I do love a pair of wellies, but I think we don't want to think about wellies and rain too much on Easter.

Becs Frank (12:40):

No, let's hope we're not having rain on Easter. But you never do know, do you?

Lisa Sykes (12:44):

But of course rain's good for the garden, Joe, isn't it?

Jo Tinsley (12:46):

Yeah, it's true. It's really good for Scotland and there's things you can do to kind of manage the rain that you get to make it really good for wildlife and look attractive and stuff. So have you ever heard of rain gardens? No.

Lisa Sykes (12:57):

They say in unison.

Jo Tinsley (12:59):

These are becoming increasingly popular in cities as a way of managing water runoff and preventing flooding, encouraging wildlife and reducing urban temperatures during heat waves. So you can create a rain garden by removing some of the sort of hard landscaping in your garden, and then just have this sort of shallow dip where the rain kind of feeds into it or with a pipe or just to get the water from there. So

Lisa Sykes (13:21):

It's only a pond, it's just a sort of area that

Jo Tinsley (13:23):

Yeah, that the rain, yeah, exactly. Comes and goes. And then you can plant elder hedgehog roses, dogwood, sta, lilies, anything that will happily tolerate being waterlogged. But then you can get all the colours in there like dogwood, really colourful stems and hips and berries, and the birds will love it. The bees will love

Lisa Sykes (13:40):

It. Everyone's got a bit of their garden that gets boggy, isn't it? I love watching all the new life in my garden this time of year that

Jo Tinsley (13:47):

Have you got TAs?

Lisa Sykes (13:47):

Yeah, we've got TAs waiting as a lader for the newts to be scoffed.

Jo Tinsley (13:54):

I really like at this time of year when you see the blackbird flying over with these mouthfuls of nesting materials or Yeah, you were saying noticing the bird calls in the morning, but for me, I live near wells in Somerset. It's the swan signets, which you'll know from the hot fuzz if you've watched that. It's those swans. But yeah, there's actually a swan cam that you can check out online at the Bishop's palace. Yeah, they're just nesting at the, and then they name them all. There's updates on all the signets. So yeah, that's one of my favourites. Wildlife thing

Becs Frank (14:27):

That we have swans as well on the canal and signets every year where I walk, the things that always get me and it's bit predictable are the lambs.

Lisa Sykes (14:34):

I saw my first ones the other day and they just put a smile on your face, don't they? Goodness. And

Becs Frank (14:41):

My camera is so full of them every year. I literally can't walk past them. But you've never seen a leg before. Exactly. And also all the rabbits,

Lisa Sykes (14:49):

I'm going to up your rabbits to hairs, in fact, because we go up north a lot, as you know, and we spend a lot of time in the Dales and you see them all the time up there and it makes you realise how few times you see them elsewhere. They're huge, aren't they? And they are so huge and so built to run. They feel like because when you see a bunny rabbit, because you might have kept a rabbit as a kid, they look tame even when they're wild, don't they? Whereas hairs never look like that. They look truly wild.

Becs Frank (15:16):

They stand and stare at you, don't they? Yes.

Lisa Sykes (15:18):

They're so wary, and I just think they, and of course they're more active in spring because they're fighting for the right to make CC them, so I love that. But we got magical mallards in our A for the shoe and some very cute ducklings on the front, having a little stroll to the pond.

Jo Tinsley (15:33):

I always get nervous when you see all these ducklings and she's got to sort of keep them.

Lisa Sykes (15:37):

My mom's do all the work of course.

Jo Tinsley (15:39):

And yeah, it just makes me nervous when they're like, there's

Lisa Sykes (15:41):

One lagging behind. You really want to help. I know. I keep getting those things on my feed where one's got stuck down a drain and someone rescues it. It's

Jo Tinsley (15:49):

The heartwarming moments, aren't they? But yeah, you can help them avoid feeding them bread and try sweet corn kernels or lettuce or oats or peas and things like that instead.

Lisa Sykes (15:59):

Now, I don't think you two have seen this, but Iona blog editor has done a blog about what ducks say, different languages, right? And I'm going to attempt to quack some out for you here. So basically, because obviously if it walks and talks like a duck, it's probably a duck, but except it's probably not because in other languages, the sound that we say for quack, quack of course, in another language is a different word, different sound. So I haven't rehearsed this, so it could go badly wrong. Okay, so Welsh, this is an easy one. Go quack. Quack. But it's obviously not S spelled the same, so that's pretty easy. But French, and I believe you pronounce this better than me, but Quang quang quang is the French, the Danish is wrap rap, but I don't know whether you say it, rap, rap, maybe that's pronounced differently in Danish. I'm sorry, but I'm showing my lack of language skills here. Don't

Becs Frank (16:53):

Happy Danish.

Lisa Sykes (16:54):

I like the Finnish one though. Vac vac. Oh, you're good at this. Okay, try Icelandic bra. Bra. No idea how you say that. That doesn't sound very realistic, does it? That sounds a bit more like a sheep. And Romanian is Mack Mac. I said that with Australian accent for some reason. I don't know why. Okay. But Mandarin, which as I own cleverly pointed out, is presumably a Mandarin duck is gaga, but I have no knowledge of Mandarin. So yeah, anyway, that was a highly successful feature on our podcast. Oh dear. Right. But let's move on to stories because we got talking, didn't we? Were all planning this about our favourite sort of rabbit spring animal stories, and I know you've got one you love Joe.

Jo Tinsley (17:44):

I haven't actually read this as an adult, I need to buy it. But yeah, I love the velvet teen rabbit when I was younger, and it's one of those stories that just sort of stayed with me, and it's a story of a stuffed rabbit, like a softy rabbit and his desire to become real through the love of his owner. It was first published in 1921, and so the rabbit is given to this boy and one of the other toys there says, real isn't how you are made. It's a thing that happened to you when a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but to really love you, then you become real and the rabbit really gets stuck on this idea and then it's a lovely story. It's very

Becs Frank (18:21):

Sad, I believe I've never read that.

Jo Tinsley (18:23):

So the boy gets Scarlet Fever and the doctor says you're going to have to burn everything. And this is his favourite toy, the rabbit. So he has to get rid of all of his toys, but the rabbit kind of escapes. Yeah, the rabbit becomes a real bunny and sees the boy later on. I'm sorry about the spoilers, but you'll have to

Becs Frank (18:41):

Yeah, I know. Well, I hadn't read it as a child, but somebody gave it to us for my daughter, our eldest daughter when she was born as a present. Yeah, I remember the first time reading it to her not knowing the story and then just,

Jo Tinsley (18:55):

I have a real problem crying when I'm reading kids' stories anyway, so this is going to be, and the

Lisa Sykes (18:59):

Child's looking at you go, what's wrong mom? Because they're like totally not emotionally involved at all. But

Becs Frank (19:04):

It is a lovely story. It kind of reminds you of the joys of those toys rather than all the kind of plastic and mechanical. I mean for me it was all about Peter Rabbit and beat Paul.

Lisa Sykes (19:16):

I know we had a record, like a vinyl record of four of Beat Potter stories and I think it was the most played thing in the house and the Flopsy bunnies, Peter Rabbit, Mrs. Tiggy, Winkle probably my favourite with her ironing. We used to reenact that in our gardens. And of course, Watership down. That's that's the ultimate tier jerk, isn't it? I am going to reread that. That's going to be an intention this spring because I haven't read it for a long time. And I noticed we still had it on our bookshelf. And I'm going to read,

Jo Tinsley (19:47):

I think I was read it when I was a bit too young. My brother was older than me and my dad used to read this all. Oh, it

Lisa Sykes (19:50):

Scarred me for sure.

Jo Tinsley (19:52):

Really did. And then the film

Becs Frank (19:53):

Films, I'll never sitting down to watch that with again, eyes.

Lisa Sykes (19:57):

Anyway. On the subjects of stories, we're not going to make you cry with our read aloud story. This episode, it's going to be about a sauna, which is appropriate because we are now going to go and have a sauna while you listen to your story. Don't forget to enjoy your cake. Similar Laura, the wise, and we'll be back and we'll let you know how our blackdown shepherd hood story goes. Enjoy the return. A short story by Hester Mussen, the sight of her own shins surprised her cent almost in their whiteness goose bumping in the biting air with the rest of her. They looked vulnerable like pale grubs dug up from the earth. She wondered when she had last. Truly noticed her legs really studied them in her forties perhaps when she had met the love of her life and felt reborn or no, it must have been much later when grief for a spell had rendered her a stranger in her own body.

(21:00):

She deposited clothes and bag in the plastic bin that the girl who was wrapped head to foot in down jacket and Woollens pointed out and felt the shoulder straps of a borrowed bikini slinking, south clamping towel to chest. She clammed into the horsebox before nakedness claimed her completely heat and silence scent of cedar. She lowered herself, stiffly onto the bench, near the stove and face the wall of glass outside tufted dune, damp sand, grey flat sea. A single coran floated on the water idle as if at a loss. She wondered why she had come. The others had cancelled Covid stricken, but it was all their idea. Sweat out the toxins. Experience real Scotland, the benefits of winter swimming. Not a chance she was going in. She had allowed herself to be manoeuvred through this first Christmas and winter without family hauled up north by well-meaning friends and shoehorned into their traditions.

(21:59):

But there were limits. East nuke could sound nice, nuke meaning corner or nook, but it had struck her now that she had indeed turned a corner. And the vista was this grey, flat cold, a future borrowed an ill fitting. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine Australia. It might be as hot as this right now. Her daughter and the boys in shorts and flip flops. Before they had flown away in autumn, like the swallows, she had smiled gamely as if grateful for the promises of long zoom calls and annual visits, wicked secret rage. Her hands gripped the bench nails digging into cedar, she caught herself, breathed out, opened her eyes, the corum without warning, dived the sauna was doing its job. Moisture seeped from her skin, filling folds and crannies. She considered her legs again, the standout veins, scarred knee, crepey, flesh and higher up her belly flushed pink and wrinkling over the ridiculous bikini.

(23:02):

Gratitude filled her the real kind. This stubbornly enduring form had seen her around other corners, big ones from singledom to motherhood, old fashioned marriage to the love of another woman, wife to widow. Twice. It was at the turning point. She realised that she returned to herself like this as if her body were a tool for calibrating change. To return return. She scanned the water for the coran, but she must have missed it. The grey expanse was like slate, a clean slate. Funny how a word can change the view, the increasing heat was making a heartbeat faster and the chill beginnings of the year outside seemed less hostile, inviting. Even the girl had disappeared to the warmth of her car. It was midweek and the coffee van had broken down so no one else was around. She could try it, test the water, at least up to her pearly shins. There was always this warm and woody womb to return to. And afterwards, the texture of her own skin, the thud of her pulse, the body that had still served as a homing beacon for her family wherever they might be, the cort bobbed to the surface, shook its feathers, settled again. Where have you been? She said out loud, meaning it forgetting a towel. She went to find out.

(24:30):

Well, I think that was pretty appropriate that we had a sauna story. We've just come out of our Blackdown Shepherd Hut sauna. How good was that girls?

Jo Tinsley (24:38):

Really lovely. So good.

Lisa Sykes (24:40):

I know. And imagine having this in your own garden. It's just heaven, isn't it? I'm sorry if we sound a bit over the top here, but I think we're all quite blown away by the beautiful.

Jo Tinsley (24:50):

It's got this really huge window. I think that's one really nice thing about it. So you're just looking out over the countryside

Lisa Sykes (24:57):

And you can probably hear the crows above and there's trees all around. We've got daffodils. I mean it's just peaceful,

Becs Frank (25:04):

Isn't it? Yeah. And it's really spacious. There is plenty of room. I mean I was having a lie down. I think you were Lisa,

Lisa Sykes (25:09):

Weren't you? Yeah, definitely. I think it's very comfortable and it's amazing what they cramming, but also apparently they've made it really practical. So all the duck boards at the bottom come out so you can clean it and all that stuff. And then there's this little deck that we're sat on now talking and there's this tempting cold plunge, which we're going to be sending Joe into shortly. And it is a sociable thing. A sauna, isn't it? I mean I know we're a little bit kind of British about it here, aren't we? But obviously it's Scandii land where it came from.

Speaker 4 (25:39):

Yeah,

Becs Frank (25:39):

They call it the English pub because it's like the equivalent. The equivalent of yeah, because basically people will go there after work in a group and how much healthier and better are you going to feel?

Jo Tinsley (25:50):

And there's so much of it. There's so many of them around at the moment, but I just wonder how far it'll go. Even at my local leisure centre, people have started wearing sauna hats. Have you what? SA hat? Several of them. What's the sauna hats? So they're like felt wool hats with this large loop on the top. They're kind of like a telly tubby crossed with a candle.

Lisa Sykes (26:09):

That's a good thing to wear, right?

Jo Tinsley (26:11):

It is, yeah. It looked really warm. But they actually, they regulate your head temperatures because you get such intense heat and it protects your hair, but it also means that you can stay in more comfortably for longer.

Lisa Sykes (26:21):

Wow. So people are taking it really serious. I think doing the birch whisk thing. Is it a whisk or a whi frons of birch twigs, aren't they? Yeah. Yeah. I have done that in a Scandinavian country, but I didn't realise people were doing that here now.

Jo Tinsley (26:33):

No, I haven't seen that. But I mean it will be happening in some places. It simulate your blood flow and improve circulation. It's detoxifying helps your body eliminate toxins. It's very good for you.

Lisa Sykes (26:41):

So how far down this sauna road do you think we'll go in Britain? I mean, will there be naked saunas, mixed saunas? Oh, I don't know. I don't think we're ready. It's moving a long way from the English pub then. I've

Becs Frank (26:51):

Done saing with friends though. Have you? Yeah, mixed couple. A couple came down to stay with us and we were like, oh, what should we do? It's a lovely day and there's a beautiful sauna with cold plunge near me. Did

Lisa Sykes (27:01):

You know them quite well?

Becs Frank (27:02):

Oh yeah, yeah. Really old friends and we've been on holiday together and things like that. And when I sort of said I'd done this the week before, they were like, well, could we do it today? Well yeah, maybe I could see if they've got space. And we did it. It was absolutely lovely popping up all over. I know you've been to quite a few Joe, aren't you?

Jo Tinsley (27:16):

I've been to quite a few years. There's one near me called Oakhill Ponds, which is really lovely. Got fired sauna. And then you've got a cold bath and then a springed pond that you can go in. But I went to one in Cleveland the other day and there are two in Cleveland on a Monday and they were full. Wow. Yeah, I mean they were great. But one of the interesting things was it's quite a walk from the sauna down to the lake. Oh right. Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (27:35):

So you have a public display sauna.

Jo Tinsley (27:37):

People were wearing all their hiking gear and things. I always feels a little bit strange.

Becs Frank (27:42):

I had that in Hastings. There's one right on the sea front, which is beautiful and you're just looking out over the sea, but to actually get to the beach, you have to go back out and walk along the problem and then down that, the

Lisa Sykes (27:52):

Nice thing about this that you've got your hooked, you've got your sauna and then you plunge right there

Becs Frank (27:58):

And no one can see the face as you pull when you

Lisa Sykes (27:59):

Get in it. I've only ever done a cold plunge in a lake or the sea after a sort You jumped in. Yes.

Speaker 4 (28:05):

So

Lisa Sykes (28:06):

It's like immersion, but then you can swim around and warm up. So just sitting there is going to be my first time I find

Jo Tinsley (28:13):

Is much more relaxing. You if you can control your breathing when you can do that in the lake, but you can control it a lot more and you don't have to move.

Becs Frank (28:20):

And when you're getting in the sea, you get those waves that kind of just randomly come up and splash your body and you weren't quite ready for it. You always get a cold wind even if when

Jo Tinsley (28:26):

You are sat there, it's warm. As soon as you get to the edge you get the cold wind and

Lisa Sykes (28:30):

Cold spots. But just back to the sauna though, because the fact that everyone quotes often when you're in a sauna, it's as good as a workout. I

Jo Tinsley (28:37):

Think I hear that every time I go in a sauna. And this is 20 minutes, this is 30 minutes, this is 40 minutes.

Becs Frank (28:42):

Well they do say that your heart rate can rise by up to a hundred beats per minute, which is comparable to being on the treadmill. And I think they say 30 to 40 minutes you'd have to spend in a sauna to be the equivalent. I mean not continuously probably you can come in and out. I can last

Lisa Sykes (28:56):

About three.

Becs Frank (28:58):

So it is having cardiovascular benefits

Lisa Sykes (29:01):

And also detoxing through sweat.

Becs Frank (29:03):

Yeah, so your body detoxes anyway, but obviously you are accelerating this but you are in when you get very hot. But I think you do have to get properly hot, maybe uncomfortably hot to really get the benefits that makes, when I say uncomfortably hot, obviously without, you don't want to be passing out and things, but you want to get to the point where you are really keen to get out and

Lisa Sykes (29:21):

Get into the water because that releases the hormones that make you get the high from it as well, don't they? Yeah. And

Becs Frank (29:26):

You build up to that with time. It's not something you should do in the first time you go,

Lisa Sykes (29:29):

But

Becs Frank (29:30):

Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (29:30):

Well I think the thing I like most about it is tech free, isn't it? You can't take your phone in the sauna.

Becs Frank (29:35):

That's why it's so sociable, right? Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (29:37):

The only thing to do is talk, although I remember last we met, we did go for a sauna. We, because we went to a tham and the other guy in the sauna obviously got slightly bored with our talking, didn't they?

Becs Frank (29:49):

You get silent sessions now I found in quite a few of the ones that are bookable. So you can book ones that if you want know that you want to go and not talk, you can do that.

Lisa Sykes (29:57):

So right. Well with all this talk about solar, I'm ready for another hot bid and then we're going to watch Joe Shiver in the cold bunch. Wait,

Jo Tinsley (30:18):

See, I think this is the best part of the whole experience. I get a bit too hot in there.

Lisa Sykes (30:22):

Yeah, I know what you mean, right. Joe is just lowering herself. I'm just standing up to my knees. So this is by a company called Dip Tanks that are a local supplier of these rather cool little baths, aren't they? Yeah, they're They're quite

Jo Tinsley (30:34):

Deep. Yeah, really deep metal baths. They quite is

Lisa Sykes (30:36):

None of your homemade garden barrel is it? This is proper sauce. Oh, she's going in. Oh she, there's definitely a

Jo Tinsley (30:43):

Wince. It was definitely a wince. It's nice if you are feeling a bit too cold or nervous, whatever. You can do whiskey breathing. So you sort of breathe in for four and breathe out for eight or whatever feels comfortable. As long as your exhale is longer, then your inhale and that helps you feel really calm and a little bit sleepy. I can see a few goosebumps, Jo. Yeah, I'm going to get in. I'm to my waist. Do you want to stop talking for a minute, Joan?

Lisa Sykes (31:05):

Yeah, you don't just jump in like you would in the sea then

Jo Tinsley (31:09):

You can do quite a smooth

Lisa Sykes (31:12):

Oh.

Becs Frank (31:12):

Oh, that was in she, she's smiling. I can confirm she's smiling. Do you know what I always find? It's like there's the shock and then there's this kind of incredible feeling of peace and relaxation comes over you.

Lisa Sykes (31:24):

Could you do that then? Could you sort of lie back and just put your head back and relax Or is it not like that?

Jo Tinsley (31:30):

I think as long as you're staying pretty still, it's quite comfortable. I think as soon as you move your body through the water then it feels colder.

Lisa Sykes (31:37):

Yeah, she looks quite

Jo Tinsley (31:37):

Comfortable. She

Lisa Sykes (31:38):

Does.

Jo Tinsley (31:38):

I've been doing this quite a lot recently.

Lisa Sykes (31:40):

Yeah. You see, I thought the swimming moving around in the water would make you more comfortable.

Jo Tinsley (31:45):

Yeah, I guess it would speed up your heart a little bit, wouldn't it? Yeah. On your skin. It feels better when you're still

Lisa Sykes (31:50):

Well about doing this with ice in though, like they do in the winter. That's pretty extreme.

Jo Tinsley (31:54):

I haven't dunked my head everyone. I'm still just up to my neck. Are you numb? No. Invigorated. She feels alive. I feel alive. You

Becs Frank (32:04):

Do feel amazing afterwards, don't you

Jo Tinsley (32:05):

Josh? Absolutely. And it's really nice to finish on cold as well. Then your body kicks in to heat you up and then that's when you get that kind of rejuvenating kind

Becs Frank (32:13):

Thing. Yes. So you wouldn't have a hot shower after

Lisa Sykes (32:15):

This?

Jo Tinsley (32:15):

I wouldn't. I mean it's up to what? Yeah, because you're

Lisa Sykes (32:18):

Supposed to do it a few times, aren't you? The hot and cold

Jo Tinsley (32:20):

Circulation. Yeah, I do three of each finishing on

Lisa Sykes (32:23):

The cold.

Jo Tinsley (32:24):

Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (32:24):

And then of course another good way to warm up is to go and have a hot chocolate. Yes, exactly. Which is what we're going to go and do next, right? We are making sure Joe gets out safely from the, so we are back in our hook now and we're all feeling, oh, we all look quite rosy cheek to the live after our sauna cold plunge experience. But it's time for hot chocolate. It might be Easter, but it's still hot chocolate time, isn't it?

Jo Tinsley (32:59):

Absolutely

Lisa Sykes (33:00):

Right. So Joe is pouring out as we speak, something that smells gorgeous and looks very nice.

Jo Tinsley (33:07):

No one else knows what's in these.

Lisa Sykes (33:09):

Yes, I should explain, shouldn't I? So Becks and Joe have both made rival hot chocolate recipes and they're going to guess the ingredients. Is that the deal? Okay. And I am only having a small sip because hot chocolate's not my thing, but I'm going to definitely try because they smell really good and they are based on recipes in the mag. But for anyone who listen to our stir sundae, they will know that Becks and Joe like to go off piece with the recipes, which horrifies me. But there will be some recipes on the blog, but they won't be exactly the recipes they've made. I

Jo Tinsley (33:41):

Tried to follow, I hope this, I tried to follow the pink peppercorn recipe, but then my partner bought actual peppercorns. It all went wrong. I had a last minute switch through.

Becs Frank (33:50):

I looked at the pink peppercorn one as well. It does sound great, but likewise.

Lisa Sykes (33:55):

But these mugs are so beautiful, aren't they? And I'm going to find out which Potter, because I know Blackdown will have commissioned these from a local potter. But aren't they lovely?

Becs Frank (34:04):

They're good size for hot chocolate as well because you don't want loa. It smells great Joe. So we're looking for three different flavours here. I'm getting some cinnamon. Cinnamon as well. Yeah, CINON

Lisa Sykes (34:14):

Delicious. I think I've learned to hot chocolate. This is nice. It's not a really sweet one because it's what I don't usually like about it, but it's not a sweet one. So go then any more ingredients?

Becs Frank (34:27):

So something a little bit more spiced.

Jo Tinsley (34:29):

Is it like something spice and something mellow?

Becs Frank (34:31):

So what would give you heat if you put some chilli in it or cayenne or,

Jo Tinsley (34:35):

Well, I wanted to do those things, but I had neither of those ingredients at nine o'clock this morning. So what, something similar to that.

Becs Frank (34:42):

Not pepper,

Jo Tinsley (34:43):

It's paprika.

Lisa Sykes (34:44):

Paprika.

Becs Frank (34:44):

You know

Lisa Sykes (34:45):

What I was actually going to say that? Yes. Just because we were talking about what could make its spicy. That's very nice. And

Jo Tinsley (34:50):

Then the last one, the mellow one. So we've got cinnamon paprika.

Lisa Sykes (34:54):

Isn't that Meg?

Becs Frank (34:56):

Oh, you're going to have to help her out here.

Jo Tinsley (34:58):

Vanilla essence.

Becs Frank (34:59):

Oh nice. Now see I was looking for that for mine as well, but also didn't have any that does. Yes, it's kind of sweet but mellow.

Lisa Sykes (35:08):

Sweet.

Becs Frank (35:08):

Can you

Lisa Sykes (35:09):

Put this little recipe on the show notes?

Becs Frank (35:11):

Sure.

Lisa Sykes (35:12):

Right. Go on then let's move on to Beck's one. I can see we've got a bit of signal cake left here, which I might partake in while we're doing this.

Becs Frank (35:20):

Okay,

Lisa Sykes (35:20):

So Be's got, oh, she's using one of these great wire mouth firm. I love these for soups and stews. When the weather's cold it's just not as hot. Oh,

Jo Tinsley (35:30):

Is it not kept as hot? I've got a classic Stanley.

Lisa Sykes (35:32):

Ah yeah, both good flass. I'm just kind of a slurp beck. And then you can have some of this. Oh, this has got things in it. This

Jo Tinsley (35:39):

Is very different. Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (35:40):

Oh it really is. Yeah. Already very different.

Jo Tinsley (35:43):

It is yours. Milk chocolate. Mine was dark chocolate.

Becs Frank (35:45):

It's a mixture.

Jo Tinsley (35:46):

It's a mixture. Okay.

Becs Frank (35:47):

Yeah. So there's two.

Jo Tinsley (35:48):

This is sweeter.

Becs Frank (35:49):

Yeah. Is it tangerine? Yes. Is it tangerine? So there's some tangerine peel in it. So as well as the dark chocolate, I used a mixture of dark chocolate and chocolate orange and some tangerine peel.

Lisa Sykes (36:01):

That's fantastic.

Becs Frank (36:02):

And there's one more ingredient. There's one more ingredient and

Lisa Sykes (36:04):

It gives us a clue. Is it sweet, spicy.

Becs Frank (36:07):

It's more of a spice.

Lisa Sykes (36:08):

Okay.

Jo Tinsley (36:08):

But not one with really made. Is it not make? Is it? I'm good.

Becs Frank (36:12):

Well done. You two are on it. The noses

Lisa Sykes (36:16):

As I'm not going to call you.

Becs Frank (36:17):

I had a lot of fun doing this. I do too. And there was a page I found on the blog with so many different, I mean there were other recipes, but there's also one that said lists of 10 also. And one was like add a flavour of peppermint with a candy cane stick by stir with a candy caner. Or I tried one that was a shot of espresso with maple syrup.

Lisa Sykes (36:36):

You could definitely go to town on this. It's like cocktails for cold weather,

Becs Frank (36:40):

Isn't it? Also, it's a great way to use up any Easter. Easter eggs. Well

Lisa Sykes (36:43):

Anyway, if anyone is doing this weekend and has left over Easter eggs, this could be a recipe for you. I'm going to leave these two drinking their hot chocolate. Well, I just want to say thank you to Blackdown as we sat here in that lovely hut for all their support this season. Not only on the podcast, but they do support us in the magazine as well. And as a small business, we really appreciate that you can find out more and customise your dream hut on their website, which is blackdown shepherd huts.at uk. And there's more details in our show notes. But thanks very much to Joe and Becks for being my sauna buddies today. It is always nice to have you both here.

Jo Tinsley (37:18):

It's been lovely. It's been so nice. It a nice day. It a treat at the end of this season, hasn't it?

Lisa Sykes (37:22):

But we're back. We're back in mid-May for our Magical Midsummer season. And arguably I think that is the loveliest time of the year and we're going to be with you right through to Midsummer's Day when we'll be unbelievably halfway through the year already. I know that's a terrifying thought,

Becs Frank (37:38):

Isn't it? But it's also one of my favourite times of the year.

Lisa Sykes (37:42):

It's hard not to like that time of the year, isn't it? And in the meantime, actually, if you still want to listen to some more podcast, our spring tonic season, which was season two that we recorded this time last year, is now available still to download if you missed it or maybe you want to re-listen to it because it's all about this particular next few weeks. Thanks very much to listeners and just a reminder to subscribe to the simple things, our April issues on sale now and our may issues available to pre-order. And have a very happy Easter. Bye everyone. Bye.