Magical Midsummer - Epsiode 2 DISCOVER

Promise & Possibilities 

It's half term, another bank holiday weekend so in this episode The Simple Things’ Editor Lisa Sykes and Wellbeing Editor Rebecca Frank are setting out to DISCOVER things new to them (and hopefully you) plus learning why stepping outside of our comfort zone is good for us. And because it is midsummer we’ll be celebrating a magical creature and finding a moment of magic to note and notice.

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

 Editing and music by Arthur Cosslett. 

To discover

The Tweed Run 

Treasure Trails

Caring for God’s Acre – Love your Burial Ground Week 7-15 June

To read

Snorkelling Britain: 100 Marine Adventuresby Emma and Gordon Taylor (Wild Things Publishing)

On the blog

Maypole cake

How to maypole 

From the June issue (156)

Magical creature: Beavers

My Plot: Narrowboat nursery & tow-along greenhouse

Weekend away: staying in a lighthouse

Buy the June issue here and on newsstands from 28 May. 

From our new book: The Simple Things Anthology Volume 4: A Year of Celebrations
 
 

Whitsuntide recipes

Modern Eccentrics – Boss Morris, yarn bombers, mermaid, steam punks 

Treasure hunting

In previous The Simple Things

Whitsuntide gathering (May 2024 – 143)

Nature reserves (May 2023 – 131)

Churchyards for wildlife (July 2022 – 121)

Narrowboat home tour (August 2021 –110)
 Three campervans (July 2021 – 109)

Converted horsebox home (August 2024 – 146)

Transcript

Lisa Sykes (00:12):

Hi, I am Lisa, editor of The Simple Things, and this is episode two of Our Magical Midsummer Season of Our Small Ways To Live Well Podcast. And today I'm joined by my regular co-host, Becs Frank, who is our wellbeing editor at The Simple Things. And we're calling this episode Discover as we're going to be seeking out some things that are new to us and hopefully to you too. We're going to be learning why stepping outside of our comfort zone is good for us. And because it's midsummer, we'll be celebrating a magical creature and finding a moment of magic to note. And notice. If you're not familiar with the Simple Things magazine, we publish monthly and it's all about slowing down a little. It's about remembering what's really important. We stop for Tea and Cake a lot. We spend time outdoors and we make the most of what you have and where you live. So we're going to be mentioning several features from our magazine, and the details will all be in our show notes. And if you're tempted, you could try an immediate start subscription that we'll see you get the latest issue straight away. If you go to iceberg press.co uk slash subscribe, all the details are there, but as I say, it'll all be in the notes that come alongside your podcast, through your app. So before we set on our journey of discovery, we're going to have a little history lesson. Isn't that right? Becs?

Becs Frank (01:22):

Hi. Hello, Lisa. It's Bank Holiday weekend, isn't it again? Which is lovely and a great opportunity to do something new, to discover something on your extra day off. But once upon a time, this was actually called Witsontide, wasn't it? Do you remember that?

Lisa Sykes (01:36):

Oh, yeah, yeah. No, we used to call it that when I was a kid. They changed it, didn't they? Because Witsontide used to be always at the sort of end of May, beginning of June, didn't it?

Becs Frank (01:46):

Well, it was the seventh Sunday after Easter.

Lisa Sykes (01:49):

So this year that'll be later, because Easter was later, isn't it? Because it's 8th of June this year, isn't it?

Becs Frank (01:55):

It is the 8th of June. So I think basically Springbank Holiday replaced it because it didn't have to move around so much.

Lisa Sykes (02:02):

I think they changed it in the seventies, but actually that's right. I remember because growing up in the seventies that everyone's round us still called it Whitten because it was about all the factories closed and the mills, because I grew up in Yorkshire where there were lots of mills, they all closed and everybody got their whole week off.

Speaker 3 (02:19):

And

Lisa Sykes (02:20):

It was like fates and Maurice dancing and

Becs Frank (02:22):

Exactly. Well, it was a break in the farming year as well. There were parades and pageants and different kinds of faires. And I remember that I grew up near the Peak district, and I do definitely remember going to different kind of village fates around this time of year.

Lisa Sykes (02:36):

And apparently traditionally girls wore white dresses.

Becs Frank (02:39):

Yes.

Lisa Sykes (02:40):

And it's funny, we used to get, my Nana would always buy us a new outfit for Wi Week. Okay. Was it white? No. God, no. It would've lasted two minutes in our house. But actually thinking about it, she probably didn't buy it because my mom and my nan probably made them. They used to make all our clothes. I mean, I don't think really appreciated how good seamstresses they were until I started learning to sew myself a few years ago. And of course they'd tried to teach me as a teenager, but it just was not cool in the 1980s to learn to sew it.

Becs Frank (03:10):

Did you have much choice in the clothes that you were made? So

Lisa Sykes (03:13):

I remember specifically requesting a denim skirt when I was, I don't know, it must've been about nine or 10 or something. And it was like the coolest thing. And my mom said, I'll make you one. And she bought something that wasn't denim. It was like a kind of fakey denim. And I hated it. I hated it with a passion.

Becs Frank (03:33):

You wanted the one from Tammy Girl?

Lisa Sykes (03:35):

Of course I did Tammy Girl. But that's the thing, isn't it? You don't appreciate, I mean, they used to make us these dresses with so much detailing and little pin tucks and everything else.

Becs Frank (03:45):

My mum used to make mine too, and these lovely kind of cord, little Hena four dresses, which actually at the time I really didn't like. But now I think they're really cool.

Lisa Sykes (03:53):

I know, I know.

Becs Frank (03:55):

Yeah. And I didn't, but my brother used to sew as well, so he was a rocker in the eighties, I guess. Oh yeah, because he's a

Lisa Sykes (04:01):

Bit older than you, isn't he? Yeah. Yeah.

Becs Frank (04:03):

He's older than me. So he was this kind of cool teenage rocker, and he used to embroider all his denim jackets with all the different band names. And so he learned to sew.

Speaker 3 (04:14):

Yeah.

Becs Frank (04:15):

And these incredible kind of picture. And he learned this from my mum. Yeah, but you didn't wear school uniform,

Lisa Sykes (04:20):

You see? Did you either, so you'd pre presume you have to have lots of outfits.

Becs Frank (04:23):

I did, but by that time they weren't being made by my mum. No. And I actually really wanted a school uniform. I thought it was cool. Cause I used to, I liked Gran Grange Hill if

Lisa Sykes (04:32):

You didn't have a uniform. Yeah,

Becs Frank (04:33):

No. And I had to have practical school clothes as well, probably. So I didn't get much creative freedom. But did you learn to sew then? No, I didn't. No. I think my mom did try, but I did a lot of cooking with my mom. Cooking and baking.

Speaker 3 (04:48):

Yeah.

Becs Frank (04:49):

I wasn't really that into sewing my brother and sister a bit more. My brother more. But my daughter, it is going to skip to generation because she's really into sewing. She's about to go and study fashion and textiles. She

Lisa Sykes (04:59):

Is. Yeah. So maybe she'll be teaching you to sew. Well, yeah. Or I can just get her to do my sewing better. It's amazing how many classes there are now though. Personally, I have to make things a season before I can wear them because it takes me so long and I'm almost there with a folk dress that I began in early spring. But you're doing it, and hopefully I'll be able to wear it on a holiday. That sounds great.

Becs Frank (05:26):

And you're doing it. That's the important thing. It's like,

Lisa Sykes (05:28):

No, I think it's, well, we're talking about discovering, aren't we? And for me, discovering sewing was something new. But actually, let's just go back to wit, because there are certain foods associated with wit, apparently milk and cream and gooseberries. And cakes. And buns. Of course raisins are dried fruit. So there's like a Lincoln Sheiton cake that's a bit like an ec echos cake. We did some features on these didn't, we've done recipes. In fact, we've done a gathering on reclaiming witson basically, which is really nice, isn't it?

Becs Frank (05:56):

It's lovely because you can just go out and it's an excuse to just lay out a nice, make your table in the garden look nice.

Lisa Sykes (06:03):

Exactly.

Becs Frank (06:04):

Eat cake and gather your friends. I think there was a Waldorf salad, which was nod to the raisins.

Lisa Sykes (06:10):

Yeah, that's the thing. You don't have to stick to the tradition. Exactly. It's another excuse for a celebration. And because I've just been working on this anthology, haven't I, of celebrations. And you can pretty much find an excuse for any given week in the year for a celebrating. So we've got this anthology that's on sale now, and I'll just give it a little plug because it's sort of our greatest hits really. There's lots of features from older issues of the mag where it's not just the best occasions like Easter and Bonfire Night and Pancake day, but there's other excuses like the grape harvest or a summer birthday or 12th night that you can get together a table for.

Becs Frank (06:50):

You could find a reason, whatever we can.

Lisa Sykes (06:52):

Absolutely. And get the people you like and put some food on the table and have fun. You could even try dancing round a maple. Of course

Becs Frank (07:02):

You could. Or you could have a maple cake as well.

Lisa Sykes (07:04):

Oh yes. We've got that on the blog, haven't we? It's

Becs Frank (07:06):

On the blog and it's really pretty. And it's basically a Victoria sponge, isn't it? But it's, what I really love is it's got rhubarb and cream filling, so obviously you can put whatever cream filling you want in there, but I thought that was really nice. I haven't tried that.

Lisa Sykes (07:17):

No, it sounds good.

Becs Frank (07:19):

And then to make the maple, you just use a knitting needle with some ribbons attached and it just, it'd be great centrepiece, wouldn't it for your,

Lisa Sykes (07:27):

That sounds a lot easier because we've got another thing on our blog this month, which is about how to maple,

Becs Frank (07:33):

Oh, actually do the dance.

Lisa Sykes (07:35):

Yes.

Becs Frank (07:36):

But

Lisa Sykes (07:36):

First of all, you have to find your maple and there need to be four metres high, so you're going to struggle to get that home from being Q, aren't you? Yes. Because they used to take a tall tree trunk and hoist it onto a village green. And then once you've got your maple, have you done this? I seem to remember doing it in a dance class once or something where you go under and over and pla the ribbons. I imagine that you could get into all sorts of mess doing that, can't you? Great to

Becs Frank (08:03):

Watch people do it, and it looks really simple, doesn't it? But actually when you do it, there's a lot of,

Lisa Sykes (08:08):

I had a quick look, and there's still a lot of village greens that do a maple dance. I mean, I guess most of them are around mayday, and we've probably just missed that this year. But I think it's quite a good fun to do, isn't it?

Becs Frank (08:19):

And maybe May's all about folk and folk dancing different types of dancing, isn't it? We featured some really great kind of dancers in our modern eccentric series. We had

Lisa Sykes (08:28):

A, oh yeah. So this is our series that is, it's about celebrating people who have a passion and we're doing things a little bit differently. We've done so many haven't. We have to think quite hard about what makes a story for it. There are lots of eccentric customs and pastimes in Britain, bog snorkelling for example, and things like that. No, thank you. Whether they've been modernised or had a new lease of life. So we've got one coming up actually where someone's reinvented the punch and Judy show. Brilliant. And they now perform it in different places. And if you think about Gifford Circus, they reinvented the circus tradition, didn't they? And actually not reinvented it almost because they went back to a very early circus tradition, didn't they? Yeah. But anyway, do you remember Boss Maurice, the very cool, all female Maurice dance

Becs Frank (09:13):

Troupe. Oh, they're super cool. They actually performed alongside Wet Leg and the Brit they have and the

Lisa Sykes (09:19):

Royal Albert Hall and places. So they're also in a new anthology along with, there was a mermaid who she likes to wash up on a beach in Cornwall and entertain children.

Speaker 3 (09:29):

Yeah, I love that.

Lisa Sykes (09:30):

And amazingly realistic. Yeah, steam punks, yarn bombers. Oh, do you remember the synchro swimmers, the older ladies who were, well, they weren't all old, but the point is they weren't pro synchro swimmers were they? But they just had set up a troop

Becs Frank (09:45):

And then I really liked the classic car enthusiast was something completely different. Oh yeah. That's in our

Lisa Sykes (09:51):

May issue.

Becs Frank (09:51):

The issue that's on sale now, the May issue.

Lisa Sykes (09:53):

Yeah, yeah,

Becs Frank (09:54):

Isn't it?

Lisa Sykes (09:55):

Yeah. And the modern day, pearly king and queen, they were quite interesting. They're actually grandchildren of original pearly kings and queens. And I think, again, it skipped a generation and they've brought it back into their family. So that must be really nice.

Becs Frank (10:09):

I'd love how we just keep finding these people and

Lisa Sykes (10:11):

Once you start looking

Becs Frank (10:12):

Yeah, it's a great series.

Lisa Sykes (10:14):

Yeah, I always wanted to be an eccentric play dress up.

Becs Frank (10:18):

Yeah. But what would you do? I was just wondering that, what do you think you would do then if you,

Lisa Sykes (10:22):

Because I mean, I love fancy dress, but I've never, I dunno. I think Boss Maurice is a bit too cool for me though.

Becs Frank (10:29):

See you're doing a bit of Morris dancing actually. I can see that.

Lisa Sykes (10:32):

Yeah. But they're a bit too cool for me. I don't think I could be that cool.

Becs Frank (10:36):

Yeah, maybe not Boss Morris.

Lisa Sykes (10:38):

I'd love to be a steam punk though.

Becs Frank (10:40):

Yes,

Lisa Sykes (10:41):

That would be. The outfits are amazing. But one thing I've always wanted to do is, have you heard of the Tweed Run? No. The Tweed Run is like a classic bike ride where you dress in tweeds and ride old bikes, basically. Oh, I can

Becs Frank (10:57):

Completely see you, you and David doing that.

Lisa Sykes (10:59):

I really would like to do that.

Becs Frank (11:00):

Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (11:00):

And then there's always somebody with a penny faring or,

Becs Frank (11:04):

Oh God, I met somebody. I was just about to say, I met somebody who rides a penny farthing very well. In fact, does they do tours around bath. Wow. You can go on a penny fathering tour.

Lisa Sykes (11:14):

How do you even begin to learn that?

Becs Frank (11:16):

That's what I wondered actually. And I think we didn't quite get to discuss that is that how do you, I guess you just do it once. You can book a kind of little lesson and a tour here, quite like to try that.

Lisa Sykes (11:26):

I think it's about a misspent youth because do you remember that when you were a student or younger, you always knew somebody who could juggle or ride a unicycle and they must have spent hours just doing that to learn it. My girls tried to learn how to unicycle in lockdown, and they did alright actually, but they were just bored. So they basically spent ages trying to balance on these unicycle in the garden.

Becs Frank (11:50):

I think it probably helps to learn them when you're young, but it is never late. And I think just trying out getting a new hobby that is brilliant. And it's good to just get out there and meet different people and put yourself, just find your

Lisa Sykes (12:03):

Tribe, isn't it? Yeah,

Becs Frank (12:04):

Yeah, yeah. Exactly. And then if you try different things until you find, maybe one day you will find that thing that,

Lisa Sykes (12:10):

What would you do then?

Becs Frank (12:11):

Well, there's lots of things I kind like trying new, but if I could be brilliant at something or just, I'd love to be a great dancer. I did have ballroom dancing or something. Oh, you, I've got secret. Strictly fantasy.

Lisa Sykes (12:26):

They're often secret. These fantasies. Are they? I think people hide their talents under a bushel. They, because you were telling me yesterday about that school friend who was an amazing Irish dancer.

Becs Frank (12:37):

Oh yes. No, she was a friend of one of my daughters. They did a talent contest at school and all the kind of girls, my daughter included, came out and did a little pop song or something, a little dance routine, kind of modern dance. And then she came out and who knew was this incredible Irish dancer and everyone was just absolutely go mad because it was completely different and she was amazing at it. I just think it's great if you've got this sort of little quirky skill like that.

Lisa Sykes (13:03):

What do you think stops us learning these new skills when we're a bit older then? Is it that we're just not very good at being a beginner anymore?

Becs Frank (13:10):

Yeah, and I think, yeah, so there's a bit of a fear of failure. Fear of making yourself look stupid and also maybe just you become a bit less physically kind of confident.

Lisa Sykes (13:19):

Yeah, yeah.

Becs Frank (13:21):

Don't you? And

Lisa Sykes (13:22):

You do get more scared about things, don't you?

Becs Frank (13:24):

Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (13:24):

I think you also have to subdue your competitive element a bit, don't you?

Becs Frank (13:28):

Yes.

Lisa Sykes (13:29):

Because I always get slightly carried away from trying something new, a fantasy that this is going to be my thing and I'll be naturally talented at it

Becs Frank (13:37):

And then give up if you're not immediately brilliant at it. Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (13:40):

We had a phrase that we had, we used to do those back page chalkboards on the magazine and there was one that every expert was once a beginner. And it's so important to remember that, isn't it?

Becs Frank (13:50):

Yeah, I've had a few goes at surfing and it's just not something I'm going to get good enough, quickly enough to be, and I don't live near the sea, so it's not something I can practise a lot. So while I would that actually, that would be what I would be good at. I would like to be an really amazing, I mean, how incredible would it be to be able to be to surf in ginormous waves? Yeah, I'd love that. I'd love the sea. I'd love that adrenaline buzz. I think it'd be really good for me actually.

Lisa Sykes (14:12):

Yeah, no, my adrenaline buzz wouldn't be from the sea flying a plane.

Becs Frank (14:15):

Oh yes.

Lisa Sykes (14:16):

But in my head it's like I out of Africa.

Becs Frank (14:20):

Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (14:22):

It's not just over the south downs. There's elephant running beneath me and stuff, or a balloonist.

Becs Frank (14:29):

That would be very cool.

Lisa Sykes (14:30):

How cool would that be? Yeah, but you do, I dunno, I get scared more than I used to.

Becs Frank (14:34):

I was just about to say, I used to be very, very kind of brave and carefree and I'd be the first one jumping off anything. And now I am more scared. I also used to used to love really scary rides and rollercoasters and things. I was looking into this because I was thinking why does that change as you older? And apparently it's about dopamine levels that decline with age, and so we don't get as much of a buzz from those things as we used to. Oh, interesting. And also, as I was saying before, you feel a bit more fear. So the combination of those things, but actually if you think about the decline in dopamine, it's good to increase that by doing things that raise those levels. So things that give you a little bit of a thrill or a reward. It doesn't even have to be

Lisa Sykes (15:17):

Done coast steering, haven't you? And that must be a buzz.

Becs Frank (15:20):

Yeah, that was such a buzz. And I did have that moment, and I wrote about this, that moment. I was standing on the rock edge and everybody else was in the water and I'm thinking, I just don't know if I can do this. And I was the instructor who was kind about the same age as my daughter standing next to me who said, come on mum. And I was red rag. That kind of gave me that. That's all I needed to jump off.

Lisa Sykes (15:44):

Yeah. Somebody to do it.

Becs Frank (15:46):

And I felt fantastic. And that would've been the adrenaline and the dopamine afterwards,

Lisa Sykes (15:53):

But it's not just about doing something brand new either, is it? If you do something you already enjoy, presumably you can just push yourself a bit further.

Becs Frank (16:00):

Exactly.

Lisa Sykes (16:00):

Doing something that you might not have done before. I used to be mountain biking a lot and you could easily ride down something you've never ridden down before and that would just take you a bit further down that path, wouldn't it?

Becs Frank (16:13):

Or if you don't want to do something so physically kind of challenging, it could be just increasing your skill at something or knowledge of something. So it's just about

Lisa Sykes (16:22):

Yes. Well, because it's about

Becs Frank (16:24):

Your brain as

Lisa Sykes (16:25):

Well, isn't it? Yeah.

Becs Frank (16:25):

It's about challenging your brain,

Lisa Sykes (16:27):

Which is why we love puzzles, isn't it so much? I mean, middle age and puzzles just seem to come together. They I do quite a few. I feel like it must be doing my good.

Becs Frank (16:37):

Do you do a daily puzzle of some sort?

Lisa Sykes (16:39):

Well, I try to do it most days. So I like Wordle or the connections one, and I quite like that one actually.

Becs Frank (16:44):

Yeah, it's really good for the brain.

Lisa Sykes (16:46):

I like to play to my strengths and I'm a bit of a geography nerd, so I do one called Worldl, which is a silhouette of a country and you have to guess where it's from.

Becs Frank (16:55):

Yeah, we got really into that at one point as a family, but you should mix it up a bit and it's great to do it, but it's also great to challenge yourself by mixing it up. But doing these puzzles actually strengthens the neural connections between the brain cell and activates the area of the brain that's involved in critical and analytical thinking. So it's really good practise to keep doing those things. It can even, I think my

Lisa Sykes (17:19):

Secret ambition this year is to sort of start doing cryptic crosswords because I've never found them easy at all. And I'd like to kind get to know a crossword well, because then you kind of can get better at it, can't you? Because she,

Becs Frank (17:32):

So my mum does a cryptic crossword every day. Does she really? Wow. Yeah. And she's 83 and she does the times cryptic crossword every day. Good for her. Yeah. I mean, she's probably you to that. She should probably challenge herself by doing something different, but actually I think it's brilliant that she does that. No, very good. Different kind of problem solving things like geocaching, orienteering.

Lisa Sykes (17:53):

Oh yeah.

Becs Frank (17:54):

Gate rooms. Even just working things out and find a way that appeals to you.

Lisa Sykes (18:01):

I always used to love those kind of village treasure hunts you'd go on where somebody had written the clues locally.

Speaker 3 (18:05):

Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (18:06):

Brilliant. Yeah. But you can go, do you know treasure trails.co uk? They kind do that, but do it nationally. So there are ones for all around the country, so if you're on holiday or somewhere, you can just pick one up.

Becs Frank (18:17):

Yeah, I love that. What great way to kind of explore a village or a new place.

Lisa Sykes (18:22):

And what's interesting about treasure is that you feel like the treasure is the reward finding out, but actually it's the puzzle solving that releases the chemicals, isn't it? Yeah, no, and it's the finding. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, exactly. And that's what we're hardwired to do. So I think that's really interesting. I like a bit of geocaching. I've done that a few times.

Becs Frank (18:40):

Yeah, me too. And it's a great thing to get all the family involved in, isn't it?

Lisa Sykes (18:44):

I think that the lesson we're learning here, Bex, is that firsts come in all sorts of ways, don't they?

Becs Frank (18:49):

Yes.

Lisa Sykes (18:49):

And it is about getting out your comfort zone, which is a nice segue into our read-aloud story this episode, because that is about first and in not the way that we've been talking about Derby Day. A short story by Lily Wright. I was never one of those horsey girls, and I've never lived to gamble, but when my husband's uncle Stormy Centres eight bright red tickets to the Kentucky Derby, I was thrilled for the simple reason that I'd never been. At first. I told my husband, Peter, how often do you get one of those when you're younger first happen all the time. First movie, first dog, first kiss, first drunk, first sushi roll, first job, first marriage, first house, first child. And then life settles into a routine of piano lessons and trips to the supermarket. And a good first is hard to find, but now we were heading to the Kentucky Derby, the greatest two minutes in sports.

(19:52):

A first that required buying an inky blue dress with ruffles and a straw hat with a beaded bow. We invited six friends and at nine o'clock on an overcast morning, we packed into a rented black Chevy Suburban and drove out of the Indiana College town where our students lay sleeping. It felt like we were getting away with something and we were eight professors in Southern wear off to play the horses. Despite the sudden skies, women were dressed as bright as jelly beans, their heels as tall as chopsticks, hats like bird cages, hats like fruit bowls, hats like UFOs. The men looked like film noir gangsters with their stogie and fedoras and rolled up newspapers. When it started to rain, we rushed inside where there were two choices, drinking or gambling. We sampled both sins, sipping mint tulips, plunking down our modest bets, $10 here, $30 there every hour.

(20:45):

There was a new race runner up contest before the main event knowing nothing about horses. I bet based on Karma, country Day was the name of my mother's elementary school. It lost Ventana means window in Spanish. And this trip was a window, an opening, an escape. It lost when the horses rushed by. We gasped despite the animal's speed. You could appreciate their beauty or maybe their speed was their beauty. The gleam of brown rumps, the jockey's, vibrant jackets. It was like watching an impressionist painting in motion. Peter and I lost every race, tossing our paper bets in the air like confetti who cared for this one day we had no cares. When it was finally Darby time, we bet super saver to win an icebox to place. And when the horses streaked past us in the final seconds, super saver was ahead. An icebox surged.

(21:37):

Peter howled his face red, his blazed arm punching the air. Oh my God, did you see that? We had won a perfecter pick the first and second horses in the right order. There was just one problem on that particular bet. We'd only waged $2. Still we recouped our losses and made enough cash to pay the old day. Babysitter, Wayne, who teaches a course on the literature of Las Vegas. Yes, there is such a thing. One enough to buy everyone dinner. And then we piled into the suburban and drove back to our lives. It was a grand day. The kind of day that doesn't come around often for a college English teacher dedicated to ridding the world of the passive voice, the kind of day that convinces me the key to being happy in these middle years is to keep having firsts even if your horse comes in last.

Becs Frank (22:38):

Oh, that's a great story. I love how everyone's new experience is different, don't you? And you don't actually need to go far from your doorstep to find that different thing.

Lisa Sykes (22:48):

No, you don't always at all, do you? I mean, obviously she makes the point, doesn't she? About thirsts keep you young.

Becs Frank (22:55):

Yeah, that's exactly what we were just saying.

Lisa Sykes (22:57):

Exactly. And one of the things of course we value at the simple things is making the most of what you have and where you live. And there are so many, aren't there different and unexpected, lovely places out there like edges. And

Becs Frank (23:10):

We've been discovering them,

Lisa Sykes (23:11):

Haven't we? Yeah, and back in lockdown, people started finding the edge lands on the edge of their towns that were maybe scruffy bits, but had space and wildlife and then there's nature reserves, local nature reserves. I mean, they are all over the place. We've done a few articles on this and they're quiet. They offer somewhere to reflect and to learn. It could be a cemetery or a churchyard.

Becs Frank (23:35):

The great thing about nature reserves, particularly if you go to the smaller ones where, I mean they're great, obviously the ones with the visitor centres and the tour and things like that.

Lisa Sykes (23:44):

Yeah,

Becs Frank (23:44):

The cafe. And there were lots of these littler ones where, and each one will have its own sort of special unique thing about it, whether it's a species of flour or there's orchids, there's butterflies. I used to go to one in South London and the Devonshire Road Nature Reserve, which we used to go. We started going as a little trip with when my daughter had nursery there and it had all these beautiful ponds and it was on an old railway.

Lisa Sykes (24:10):

Yeah, there's a lot on old railway lines. We've got one in our village and they're called Linear Nature reserves.

Becs Frank (24:16):

Yeah, you get a lot of great wildlife there, don't you?

Lisa Sykes (24:18):

Yeah, totally. Because obviously a lot of these places have been there since the sixties because that's when the railway lines got axed. And so they've had a long time to develop as a habitat, but they are everywhere. I mean, it could be like a woodland remnant or a stream and a mini wetland. And this time of year, of course you can go in the evening, can't you? So you can see bats or foxes or go in the early morning for the bird life. And because they're local, visiting at different times of day is possible, isn't it? It's not like you're setting off from home and doing a two hour trip and then getting there. You can see the wildlife when the wildlife is there. And

Becs Frank (24:55):

As you say, you can often have these places to yourself. And I find them incredibly peaceful and really nice places just to, there'll usually be a couple of benches or something right there and just to sit. They would love a wander bowl. So just to sit.

Lisa Sykes (25:09):

And I think there's no worry that you kind of, is it private land? Am I trespassing? Because the whole purpose of local nature reserves, they're set up to protect biodiversity, but also to give people access to green spaces, so they actively want you to come in there. So yeah, I mean obviously it's a bit more tricky if you've got a dog. Sometimes you have to keep 'em on the lead or they're not in allowed at all. But if they're local, you can go in without your dog, can't you? It's even better, I say. Yeah. And often they have a downloadable guide as well, so you can find out what to expect before you go pack a picnic. And

Becs Frank (25:43):

Yes, at different times of year they'll be completely different as well.

Lisa Sykes (25:46):

Yeah.

Becs Frank (25:47):

The interesting thing, what you were saying before about Lins as well, which is this sort of, these kind of less pretty, the kind more an appealing edges of where it's two different landscapes overlap, isn't it? So like an

Lisa Sykes (26:01):

Yes. And I've talked about this before because I live just south of Gatwick and we don't live under the flight path, but just north of us is under the flight path, and it's obviously quite noisy,

(26:14):

But as a result, it hasn't been built on very much so the wildlife there is amazing, really because the walks are, it's a little chunk of the southeast that feels very forgotten about and very old because it hasn't been sort of had housing estates built on it and other things that have happened in a very busy area. So I just think it's quite interesting these places. Most of us don't live in a beauty spot. So actually appreciating somewhere that is a local beauty spot because only you know about it or you and your neighbours, it's just really special, isn't it? Churchyards are a brilliant spot.

Becs Frank (26:51):

Oh yeah. I love church yards.

Lisa Sykes (26:53):

They tend to have cool and shady areas, which is nice in summer. And there's a charity, I think this is possibly the best name for a charity Caring for God's Acre is the name of the charity. Oh,

Speaker 3 (27:03):

Really?

Lisa Sykes (27:04):

Yeah. And they run this annual Love Your Burial ground week, which is actually coming up, it's the seventh to the 15th of June. And what happens then? There are events all over England and Wales, and it's encouraging. You can get involved basically. So you can record wildlife there. There's history talks. We'll put the details in the show notes. One thing I have actually done in a churchyard is I did some volunteering where you get clear stuff. And

Becs Frank (27:30):

I was just about to say they do that in our local church yard, but I haven't actually got involved yet. But it needs to do as it's coming up at the moment, because I go into our local church out a lot and it's very overgrown at the moment. So I imagine there's going to be, I was thinking they'll be asking for volunteers soon, and I'd love to get involved because as they've been doing work on the trees and things, and it's interesting how they've been cutting it back. So this is a church yard that was built, I think it was in 1850s or something, and it's got two sections to, it's got an Anglican section and a non-conformist section.

Lisa Sykes (28:03):

Oh, really? In the same,

Becs Frank (28:05):

In the same church yard, the two distinctly distinct chapels in each one. And there's some really notable people. I mean, there's people from all walks of life kind of buried there.

Lisa Sykes (28:15):

You sound like you've sat and looked at these graves.

Becs Frank (28:17):

Yeah. Well, do you know what they've got? Yeah. Because now there's probably about 20 where they have a QR code and you can read about

Lisa Sykes (28:24):

No, yeah, that's fantastic. So they want you to read about the history of it and the people. And so

Becs Frank (28:31):

There's Charles Milsome. So you must have heard of Milsome Street in Bath. Oh yeah, yeah. So yeah, one of the Milsome family is buried there. There's a beautiful kind of grave with a statue of a child on it. It's a very sad story of little twins that lost, but around the other side, it also buried there as the youngest ever army left tenant from the First World War. Oh really? Yeah, a 23-year-old who died and is buried there along with his two little baby siblings, which is very sad. But I've often looked at that grave and sort of read, there's a little inscription on it, but wondered about it. And now this QR code, I can read more about the family. That's

Lisa Sykes (29:06):

Such a great idea. And I love graveyard. That's not too manicured. There's little wild bits.

Becs Frank (29:13):

Well, this is very

Lisa Sykes (29:14):

Manicured. Yeah. But I discovered a slight, I've said before, I like to do a bit of my family history research, and I recently was going to ish to see a contributor for an exciting new series we're doing next year. Sounds great. Yeah. Yes. But I'm going to keep that under wraps for there though. But I realised that some of my ancestors, my female ancestors were born, lived, married, and buried in the neighbouring parishes to where I was going. So I went a few hours early and I found myself in this part of the country that I barely know sitting in a churchyard by this literally babbling brook on a hot day. And I was just sitting there imagining what it must've been like when my ancestors lived there, and I was looking for people in the 17 hundreds. So the graves are quite hard to find because they're a bit sort of, you can't read them very well or they're a bit buried. But the thing about churchyards is they just don't change that much. So it's easy to imagine what they saw is what you see. And of course, you tend to end up with the oldest houses and cottages quite near the church. So actually the view from the churchyard often doesn't change very much. So I just, it's just fascinating, isn't it? What a lovely thing to do.

(30:21):

Yeah, yeah. No, it really is a very contemplative place. Even if you are not religious is a churchyard.

Becs Frank (30:28):

Definitely.

Lisa Sykes (30:29):

There's one I go to sometimes, which is halfway between home and the office, and it has one of the oldest yute trees in the country.

Becs Frank (30:37):

Right. I love the U trees in church yards. It's

Lisa Sykes (30:39):

At least 2000 years old, but really probably much older. And it's interesting about uses, isn't it? Because they thought they planted use in churchyards, but actually most of the trees predate the churches by a long way

Becs Frank (30:53):

Predate. They thought it was kind of ward off the spirits or something, wasn't it? I think so. But then maybe it could have been about they poisonous, aren't they? Needles poisonous.

Lisa Sykes (31:04):

Yeah. So the interesting thing about S is that everything but the berries, which look like they'd be poisonous is poisonous. But the berries themselves, so the needles, the seeds and the bark are all poisonous.

Becs Frank (31:15):

So one theory is that will keep the cattle and

Lisa Sykes (31:17):

Livestock away from Yes. Because they weren't grazed. So they were probably a nice area where somebody could build a church,

Becs Frank (31:24):

But two magnificent views in my cemetery as well. But they will definitely predate the chapels, I'm sure. Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (31:30):

Now once you start looking at them, you can just sort of think. And I sit by the shoe and it's at least 2000 years old and you think, what has it seen this tree in its lifetime anyway, although we are discovering the past, which is another way to discover things. But new worlds are cool though, aren't they? And I know we are going to talk about snorkelling, we, because you're quite a fan of snorkelling, aren't you? Yes,

Becs Frank (31:53):

I am. And we've got this great piece coming up, we And is it a July issue? June issue? Yeah, June issue, which is the one just gone on sale. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Sorry. Working on two issues at the same

Lisa Sykes (32:05):

Time. It's an extract from a new book by our friends, wild Things Publishing who do all sorts of outdoor swimming and wild exploration books. And this one's called Snorkelling Britain, a hundred Marine Adventures. And it's by Emma and Gordon Taylor will put the details in the show notes.

Becs Frank (32:21):

Yeah. So when we said we were going to be doing a feature on snorkelling, I thought, oh, brilliant. I was thinking, I was imagining what abroad Egypt. Yes. And then I was absolutely amazed to find all these incredible places that you can, I mean, I have had to go at snorkelling in the UK as a child, probably on holidays and things, but not for a long time. And I just didn't really think that the visibility would be good enough that there would be enough to see that there would be enough marine life. But oh my goodness, there really is, isn't it?

Lisa Sykes (32:52):

Yeah. I mean it's really varied, isn't it? Because locks and shipwrecks and tidal pools and even reefs, I mean, not coral reefs, but there are reefs out there, aren't they? And the thing I'd love to see is Seagrass Meadows, and I can't believe it because I was reading the feature and I've holidayed on the Isle of Purbeck so many times and I did not know there are Seagrass meadows just off. I know. Amazing. So

Becs Frank (33:23):

I could go there so easily. You must. So I think the key is when you're snorkelling in Britain, and this is probably what puts people off as well, is it's cold, obviously the water is cold, so you need a wetsuit, so you need a wetsuit, you need the kit, don't you? I mean, simple kit wetsuit and some fins, and you're good to go. And I think the Fins are just a game changer, aren't

Lisa Sykes (33:43):

They? Because I've mentioned before, I'm not a confident swimmer and I get quite nervous about open ocean things, but this is why I like snorkelling. You don't have to be a great swimmer. Most of it's actually about keeping still, and you can hug the coast land is always right there, isn't it? That's the whole point. But when I wore fins for the first time, we had a friend who lived in Cornwall and we went down to see him and he taught free diving down there.

Speaker 3 (34:08):

And

Lisa Sykes (34:08):

I said, there's no way I'm doing that. But he took us snorkelling and gave us all the gear, and my girls tried mermaid tails really heavy, really tricky, unless you're really confident swimmer. But the fins, it's so much more flexible. You can move around and just speed along and control yourself more,

Becs Frank (34:28):

And you can just float better as well. And you make less disturbance in the water, so that enables you to see more. I just love that kind of gentle floating.

Lisa Sykes (34:41):

But see you being in the water, having your head into the water and everything, don't you? Yeah,

Becs Frank (34:46):

I do. I do.

Lisa Sykes (34:48):

But also I think a tidal pool is probably very good if you're not a confident

Becs Frank (34:53):

C

Lisa Sykes (34:53):

Person, isn't it? Because

Becs Frank (34:55):

Definitely. And the tidal pool is recommended in the piece as well, aren't there? So I think this is something I'm going to try this summer.

Lisa Sykes (35:02):

Definitely. There's a lot more out there than we both thought, isn't there? But anyway, it's time for our magical creature because this is our Magical Midsummer season. We are celebrating a magical creature in each episode as we do in the issue. We featured one, oh, it must be, it's got to be like five, seven years of issues. We've featured a magical creature each time anyway. The one in our June issue, the Beaver, which is the beaver is back, isn't it? It's been reintroduced all over the place, up and down the country,

Becs Frank (35:33):

And apparently quite a lot near where I live here. There's a lot in some, and Devon, I haven't seen one here, but I am going to really be keeping my eyes open this year. Well,

Lisa Sykes (35:43):

You can get the list of places on the Beaver Trust website. Again, we'll put that in the show notes. So interesting. And they're doing good. This is the thing, I think for a long time people were worried that they'd lose loot re because obviously that's what they do. They knw trees, but because they cop and dam and dig, they create wetland habitats for other animals like otters and dragonflies and fish. So clever, isn't it? But they also help to reduce flooding because it slows down when you've got a storm, the water down the river. But they're big, they beavers. Have you seen one?

Becs Frank (36:19):

They're almost a metre long, which is really big, isn't it? Yeah. And that huge paddle

Lisa Sykes (36:24):

Of a tail of course as

Becs Frank (36:26):

Well. Yeah, you could often mistake them for a log. I think if you saw a beaver in the water.

Lisa Sykes (36:31):

See, I've still not seen one.

Becs Frank (36:34):

Yeah. So I have seen one, but not in this country. Actually, it was in France near to Kason in the river there last year. It was incredible. And we watched it for a while doing its thing.

Lisa Sykes (36:46):

Well, I live really quite close to nep, a wildlife reserve, which is leading the way in lots of rewilding, but they've got beavers there now.

Becs Frank (36:54):

Yeah, incredible.

Lisa Sykes (36:56):

So I am going down there this summer because apparently midsummer evenings are a really good time to try and see one, because you get the kits, the Yum coming out with their parents to feed at dusk. They're vegetarian. They don't eat fish at all.

Becs Frank (37:08):

No. And they're not they, but they do come out in the evenings. So that's the time to go.

Lisa Sykes (37:14):

So I'm definitely going to go down there. So that will be my discovery. I think this year

Becs Frank (37:20):

Probably not going to be where lots of people are they, so it would be nice, maybe you could take out a kayak or a paddleboard or something and then, oh yeah, because a good way to see wildlife anyway, isn't it? Cruise along the river and see if you can spot them.

Lisa Sykes (37:35):

Now, it's interesting how wildlife doesn't react to you when you're in a boat or a car so much. It is only once you're a person walking along that they get frightened. Very interesting. Yeah. So anyway. Oh, I'm just thinking about my beaver exploration now. I've got quite carried away.

Becs Frank (37:51):

Speaking of boats, Lisa, what about the narrow boat?

Lisa Sykes (37:56):

It's annual fantasy time, isn't it? Yeah, every summer we basically all start fantasising about a different way of life, don't we? And without any shame whatsoever, we nearly always put a feature in one of our summer issues that might be a converted bus or a camper van or a truck or a railway carriage or a narrow boat. So

Becs Frank (38:16):

For me, it's always a narrow boat because I walk along a canal a lot and I look at these people, all I can see is wood smoke coming out of the plants, growing on their ears, then sitting having a glass of wine. And I think, well, that's life. I don't obviously see any of the hard work.

Lisa Sykes (38:31):

And especially on the summer's evening when it's sunny and nice warm. And you're not pumping out the bilges in winter or whatever.

Becs Frank (38:39):

No, exactly. No.

Lisa Sykes (38:40):

In fact, the one in our, it's June issue, isn't it? Yeah, we've got one in June, and this June issue is sounding good. I keep mentioning it a lot. We've got loads of good things in there. We

Becs Frank (38:48):

Have,

Lisa Sykes (38:49):

They've got a to a long greenhouse, it's like a dinghy that they've put a greenhouse on that tows along behind the narrow boat. How cool is that?

Becs Frank (38:58):

Yeah, it's incredible. And she's a florist. So she was a florist in London, and then this lady called Rocker, and she's so cool. And now she was made redundant, I think. And then she decided to live on a boat, but how is she going to grow her flowers? And so she just built some beds on the roof of her boat. She said she was a bit worried that it might be too heavy, but it's all been fine so far. People are

Lisa Sykes (39:17):

So inventive, aren't they?

Becs Frank (39:19):

And she grows these beautiful tulips there. And then she wanted to kind of grow her own veg and fruit. So she has this terra long greenhouse, brilliant. You're out and spot her again. She moves. She moves every two weeks. So that constant changing environment is what really?

Lisa Sykes (39:37):

But you're taking your home with you, aren't you? So it's not entirely unfamiliar when you move along with your

Becs Frank (39:45):

Home. No, exactly. So different environments and surroundings, but you're then your same sort of familiar base, which

Lisa Sykes (39:51):

Yeah, I mean, do you remember that Dutch family we featured?

Becs Frank (39:54):

Oh, with the Horsebox?

Lisa Sykes (39:55):

Yeah. And this was a ginormous, it was a truck and they had basically been travelling for seven years round Europe, but with three small children and a dog as well. But it was a beautiful

Becs Frank (40:07):

Home.

Lisa Sykes (40:08):

It was amazing how they'd done it. And they had electric bikes that they put on the roof so they could go off and see things. I mean, clearly they were very handy.

Becs Frank (40:18):

That's the dream, isn't it? Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (40:21):

But that was their whole life for years and years, wasn't it

Becs Frank (40:26):

Amazing? And I liked that piece about different, because I have a little van fantasy as well, and I know you've owned a camper van, but I never have. And I think we're at the point now where we are going to get one

Lisa Sykes (40:36):

Nice.

Becs Frank (40:37):

But I like the fact that you can use them for different things as well. And we did a piece on that, didn't we?

Lisa Sykes (40:42):

Yeah. So one woman had a very clever idea. I think she'd really struggled with lockdown and wasn't getting much work done and was finding it difficult to concentrate. And so she basically hired a camper van and sometimes she would just park it in her drive, but it was like her space. And sometimes she would go off and work somewhere else. So it became her sort of mobile office, which was very clever. I'd like to do that. Yeah, I know. I could definitely, maybe we should share one back and we could drive it between Sussex and bath and swap days with it. That would be nice, wouldn't it? That would be really nice. And then another one, they basically was set up an off-grid glamping business where they had to move this kind of bus from one place to another. You're only allowed to put it into a farmer's field for a month or whatever. Yeah,

Becs Frank (41:28):

That's right.

Lisa Sykes (41:29):

And then somebody else, and this was really nice actually. These people were really struggling to make their rent. They had a fairly rundown bungalow and they just weren't able to afford their life, and they decided to just hand the keys back. And they had a camper van already, and they basically moved into their van and she talks about how life suddenly became less rushed,

Becs Frank (41:50):

Simpler,

Lisa Sykes (41:51):

Less stressful. And she quotes Cheryl Stray in her book Wild. And she's talking about remembering her mother's advice. And I love this. There's a sunrise and a sunset every day, and you can choose to be there for it. You can choose to put yourself in the way of that beauty. Isn't that

Becs Frank (42:09):

Lovely? Yeah, that's great.

Lisa Sykes (42:11):

But it's your choice, isn't it? It's all taking time to live. Well, our slogan on the mag and Absolutely right.

Becs Frank (42:18):

Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (42:18):

I just love that idea. But yes, we will be doing indulging our annual fantasy of unusual places and unusual lifestyles.

Becs Frank (42:27):

And we've got a lighthouse as well in our June

Lisa Sykes (42:30):

Stay in Lighthouse. And I know you stayed in quite a few railway carriages, and obviously we stayed in shepherd's huts, didn't we?

Becs Frank (42:36):

Yeah. And there's a real trend for little different forms of tiny houses I've noticed on Airbnb. And we do quite often feature these quirky little places we weekend away.

Lisa Sykes (42:46):

Yeah. And I think as people's working lives have become more flexible, it is a bit easier to indulge our sort of Wendy house fantasies, isn't it really?

Becs Frank (42:55):

Or put one in your garden and rent it out.

Lisa Sykes (42:57):

Indeed. So here we go. We found ourselves at our end of our episode with our moments of magic. It sounds a bit naft, doesn't it? But we're looking for things this time, aren't we? Somewhere to lose ourself or make us think we both had a good think about this, didn't we? But you go first, you tell me what you've put down.

Becs Frank (43:15):

Well, this is just something I discovered in my local woods last week, and I think I would only even notice it because I decided to have a sit down and it was quite hot. And I just thought, oh, it's really pretty here. I noticed these, a fairy door. I've seen them before in another ward that's very visited near me, but this one isn't less. And I was like, that's definitely new. And then I kind of had a little rummage around, continued walking off in a different direction, and I found about three more. And so I picked some flowers and put them into the fairy doors along with the glitter, the next peak person that found them.

Lisa Sykes (43:47):

Oh, that's really lovely.

Becs Frank (43:48):

I'm looking forward to going back and seeing what's in there.

Lisa Sykes (43:50):

That is a proper midsummer's dream magical fairy moment, isn't it? Mine's perhaps less whimsical. I love a quiet country lane where this time of year the cow parsley is so high and the hedge rows are buzzing with bees. There's birds tweeting, and it feels so English unchanged. It's been like that forever. And I find you can just leave the world behind in places like that. And I like to, whether it's walking them or cycling along one, and I like to find a new one because actually they're still really familiar wherever you go, I find in May particularly. Yeah, I

Becs Frank (44:28):

Not that

Lisa Sykes (44:28):

Bad. There's nowhere finer than the quiet country lane. Yeah, I completely

Becs Frank (44:32):

Agree.

Lisa Sykes (44:32):

That's lovely. So I feel like we've both discovered new things new to us today,

Becs Frank (44:37):

And I'm inspired to go out and discover some more actually.

Lisa Sykes (44:40):

Yeah, and hopefully anyone who's listening has too. I think we've mentioned quite a few articles from the magazine and on our blog as well as our new June issue, which is on sale now. And of course, our celebrations, ontology, were full of ideas basically. And the details are all on our show notes. But don't forget to join us again next week when Becks and Joe will be back on what is officially the first day of some other, 1st of June, to find small ways to shine, as well as a few suggestions on enjoying the first of the summer harvest. I think they'll be wearing shorts and sandals. Is that right? Bex? Definitely.

Becs Frank (45:13):

Summer is here. Whatever the

Lisa Sykes (45:14):

Weather. So thanks very much for listening and see you next time. Bye.