Golden Days - Episode 6 - RAMBLE

Join The Simple Things’ Editor Lisa Sykes, Wellbeing Editor Rebecca Frank and regular contributor and author of The Slow Traveller, Jo Tinsley as they take an early evening walk together and ponder over the joy and comfort of a familiar ramble, consider why being outdoors helps us to talk more freely, and finish with a stroll in the footsteps of Jane Austen in Bath’s very own pleasure gardens. 

If you are in the UK, you can try an immediate start subscription to the The Simple Things get 30% off and receive the current issue straight away. Or buy current and back issues here

Editing and music by Arthur Cosslett. 

In The Simple Things

In the October HUG issue (160) on sale now

Magical creatures – an appreciation of the tawny owl

In the November SPICE issue (161)

An Autumnal roast – it’s the season for roast dinners and this one is a winner

Buy the November issue at picsandink.com from 16 October and on the newsstand from 22 October.

From Flourish, our wellbeing bookazine (Volume 3)

How to do autumn well – foraging, feasting and conker fighting

Outdoor therapy – how it works and techniques to try as your walk

Flourish Volume 4 is coming soon and is available to pre-order with 10% off until 29 October

IN PREVIOUS ISSUES

Which Jane Austen character are you? Fun quiz and events to suit your character. (Issue 154, April 2025)

Moodscapes and walking routes – how different landscapes make us feel. (Issue 154, April 2025). Read more on our blog. Taken from The Walking Cure by Annabel Streets (Bloomsbury Tonic) 

Buy current and back issues here

LEARN MORE

Jane Austen 250 year anniversary events in Bath https://visitbath.co.uk/inspire-me/literary-bath/jane-austen-bath and beyond www.janeausten.co.uk

The joy of a familiar walk by Alice Tatham (Issue 129) Follow Alice on Instagram @thewildwoodmoth

Transcript

Lisa Sykes (00:12):

Hi there. Thanks for joining us for the last of our Golden Days season of Small Ways To Live Well. I'm Lisa Sykes, editor of The Simple Things, and we're trying something new today I'm going on a walk with my co-host, wellbeing editor, Becs Frank and regular contributor and editor of the Slow Traveller Jo Tinsley. Despite looming clouds in a closing dusk, we've met up to seize the day before we lose the light both literally today and as Autumn moves on. So Becs is going to take us on one of our favourite walks today.

Becs Frank (00:38):

Hi. Yes, this is really fun. Is it? We're setting off, we're walking through the fields. We're going to get some lovely views of bath. We're going to have a little pause in one of my kind of quiet sit spots in the cemetery and then I'll going to take you down to the canal for a kind of different perspective.

Lisa Sykes (00:53):

Oh, walking and talking. Isn't that a nice way to spend an afternoon? We really do love walking Joe, don't we?

Jo Tinsley (00:59):

Yeah, I think a lot of it's about slowing down, isn't it? Walking is the most successful way of moving slowly through a landscape. There's this real simplicity of putting one foot in front of the other that gives us this sense of freedom, like no other form of movement. And it gives us that space to connect with ourselves with other people. I guess we live predominantly like indoor lives and we

Lisa Sykes (01:18):

Spend, oh we do. Don't we all spend far too much in time indoors now

Jo Tinsley (01:21):

And sitting still of course as well, don't we? Yeah, exactly. So having this time to just kind of put one foot in front of the other is such a freeing thing to do.

Becs Frank (01:28):

Yeah, I totally agree. The important thing is to remember to slow down, isn't it as well? And not just to race, race from A to B and just actually spend the time looking around you noticing things.

Jo Tinsley (01:39):

I think it freezes up from kind of being productive, doesn't it? And it sort of allows us our minds to drift. I like the sound

Lisa Sykes (01:46):

Of that. It's good for us in loads of ways. Bess, isn't it? Bit of wellbeing expertise called for here.

Becs Frank (01:51):

Yeah, it's good for mind and body, isn't it? And I think it's, you kind of find your sense of flow, don't you? For however you are feeling that day, this sort of natural kind of rhythm comes about you and it is also really different whether you're walking on your own or with someone, isn't it? You think?

Lisa Sykes (02:07):

Yeah, no, I agree. Because you really love walking alone, Joe,

Jo Tinsley (02:11):

Don't you? I really like walking alone, no offence because when you're walking with other people, you can kind of follow someone else's pace or get jostled into conversation when you're feeling like you just want to be of your own thoughts. But I think it's all about this sense of pace so you can kind of get into your own rhythm when you're walking, which helps those ideas to flow like you say. And you're never really truly alone. You can sort of open up that dialogue with yourself. I sometimes talk to myself when I'm walking by

Lisa Sykes (02:36):

Myself.

Becs Frank (02:36):

No, I do and I am aware that my mouth is moving a little bit. And then when you see someone you think, oh my God, what do they think of me? And

Lisa Sykes (02:43):

Even the dog sometimes looks at you as if to say you're talking to,

Becs Frank (02:46):

I read that being in nature is a way of actually feeling you're not alone because of course you're not. You're surrounded by all these living things. So if you're feeling a little bit lonely, then it's also a great thing to do even on own.

Lisa Sykes (02:59):

Yeah, no, I don't mind walking with other people. But there is something nice about climbing a summit by yourself or kind of

Becs Frank (03:07):

The

Jo Tinsley (03:07):

Sense of achievement.

Lisa Sykes (03:08):

And also I take time to stop and notice more I think when I'm by myself.

Becs Frank (03:12):

I actually tried walking in silence in a group as well. I was on a yoga retreat and we did a walk together where we were all chatting and that was really nice getting to know people. And then the next stage, the leader of the retreat said, we're going to try a silent walk. It was actually such a different experience with the same walk and amazing how much more we noticed everybody said that.

Lisa Sykes (03:30):

And the weather makes a big difference to a walk as well, doesn't they? At the moment we've got, I would say it's the milky sky, wouldn't you? Yeah. It's not doing one thing or another. So we'll see.

Becs Frank (03:41):

We'll, how we go? We could get caught out, but I actually don't mind. I quite like walking in the rain. Maybe I've got used to it living in the southwest. Well, you live in the southwest, but as long as I've got the right gear and I like coming home a bit wet and cold.

Lisa Sykes (03:54):

But anyway, I hope we're going on a circular walk. I don't really like an out and back. I like to do a circle. I don't really mind a bow and back as long as you're going to something. Well, we're in Beck's hands, so let's set off and see where we go. Okay. Oh, there's just a real pleasure and a familiar walk, isn't there? Yeah. This must feel you've come here every day. Yeah, I know. Tell everyone where we are.

Becs Frank (04:25):

So yeah, we're walking down. It's a national trust field and with incredible views over the city. So we're on the south side, so we're looking down. We can see Bath Abbey. I don't think we can quite see the Royal Crescent, but we can see other Crescent we,

Lisa Sykes (04:38):

They're just all these rows of sandstone buildings.

Becs Frank (04:40):

Yeah, surrounded by beautiful trees. This meadow is probably my favourite time of year is in the sort of early summer when it's full of wild flowers. Cow slips.

Lisa Sykes (04:50):

I can picture it, can't you, Joe? Yeah, no, I really can.

Becs Frank (04:53):

And then of course when we get snow, which sometimes we do, this is a great sledging field, went top of a hill, aren't we?

Lisa Sykes (04:59):

This has got to be one of the most scenic sledging fields in the country. Right. Sledging it into bath. That's very cool.

Becs Frank (05:07):

I've actually seen people skiing on this field.

Lisa Sykes (05:09):

Really? No, that's very B. But it is something about a familiar walk, isn't it? Do you remember that feature we did by Alice Ham?

Becs Frank (05:17):

Yes.

Lisa Sykes (05:18):

Wildwood Moth. She Instagrams as isn't she? We'll put a link in the show notes. But she did this thing about she took photos of the same place in every season and walks the same path every day. And even reading it made you feel kind of slower.

Becs Frank (05:33):

Yeah, it's comfort, isn't it?

Jo Tinsley (05:35):

Yeah. I've always found that as well, that rambling the same route can help you feel like you belong somewhere. So I really found that when I moved to Brighton a while ago now after a separation, I found myself walking the same routes over and over again. And I think partly that was because I was walking on my own. I didn't want to get lost. But also I started doing the same part of the South Downs way. Every single weekend I'd walk from my house on the outskirts of Brighton to Pals pool, which is a springed lidar in Lewis for a swim. And I'd stop at the same place every time overlooking Kingston and the windmills and the chalk cliffs. And I just look at the landscape and I think it's just the geology of Sussex felt completely new to me. You couldn't get any more different from where I grew up. So, well all of us here, I grew up in the Pennines, so I'm used to gritstone and limestone and molins and reservoirs and Sussex is all sort of chalky and with these dry valleys and flint everywhere and these ancient symbols and figures like etched into the slopes and it even sounds different. So you've got Skylarks rising on the downland and you've got the rasp of waves on the flint pebbles and the sound of lapwings, which sound really over worldly. Oh, there

Lisa Sykes (06:42):

You go. There's a bird in the woods just behind us now. That's a

Jo Tinsley (06:44):

Stone chat. That is a stone chat.

Lisa Sykes (06:46):

Oh, well done Joe. I didn't know we had the birder. I am I not mentioned, I was about to talk about how these beautiful buildings are sort of alien to me because the stone where I grew up is millstone grit, really dark. And this is like this sandstone, isn't it? And it's just so distinctive around here, isn't

Becs Frank (07:04):

It? Yeah, very different for me too. I grew up in the outskirts of Sheffield, but also one thing that is familiar, it's the hills. It's like the hills of Sheffield, the hills of Sheffield, the hills of bath. I also somehow managed to live in South London on the steepest hill. I've always had a view, I've always really, really enjoyed a view.

Lisa Sykes (07:20):

I think it is those you work out what the distinctive landscape is to you, isn't it? And it could be a big river if you live near a river that you're always going to be drawn to those aren't you? Or a beach or, my partner grew up in the seaside at Morum and he took it for granted so much when he lived there, but he's still drawn to the sea now. And whereas the sea for me was always a holiday, a day trip. I was miles from me.

Becs Frank (07:44):

And then when you go there, I bet you like, let's quit, let's get to the beach. And he's just like, well again.

Jo Tinsley (07:49):

Yeah, I always find the same, that Molins feel like home. I haven't lived in the north since I was 18, but wherever they are, if it's Dartmore or north, they always feel like home, even though they're quite depressive landscapes. And if you take someone there who hasn't grown up in those places, they don't necessarily like it bleak. As you know, we

Lisa Sykes (08:06):

Spend loads of time in the Dales and people come there and go, this is the bleakest place I've ever been. Or they just overall I just relax.

Jo Tinsley (08:13):

I'm like, I'm home.

Becs Frank (08:14):

Sometimes places grow on you as well, don't they? So it something becomes familiar. This has become familiar to me, but it wasn't always I've adopted it.

Jo Tinsley (08:22):

Yeah. Do you find as well, being in the southwest chalk horses, for instance, a 10, a penny, but when you first moved here you were just like, wow, look at that.

Becs Frank (08:30):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You'd be stopping to take a photo and now you're like, oh, another horse. Yeah, that's true actually, Joe. Yeah. So now we're in this lovely little nut orchard that was planted quite recently. It's like secret basic. We've come around this corner, haven't we?

Lisa Sykes (08:54):

And it's just there.

Becs Frank (08:55):

I know. And you could easily walk past it actually, couldn't you? And not realise, but actually there's a style that we've just come over so people are encouraged to come as a community or so

Jo Tinsley (09:04):

You can pick anything that's here.

Becs Frank (09:05):

Yeah, come and help yourselves. Often. There's a bucket down here,

Lisa Sykes (09:08):

The size of the walnuts on the tree that's right in front of us.

Becs Frank (09:11):

I know. And

Lisa Sykes (09:12):

There's sweet chestnut. I've got sweet chestnuts in the woods near me that are coist and old, but they don't have as much crop on as this. This is laden. Absolutely laden aren't laden is the word of the water, I think, isn't it? Everything around

Becs Frank (09:24):

Us. And they're young trees, aren't they? You can see that we've got quince and And there's walnuts.

Lisa Sykes (09:31):

I think we should keep its location a secret.

Becs Frank (09:33):

Yeah. So far I've got some walnuts, but nothing else is quite ready yet. And then just as we walk past it and come down, we are going to now enter one of my favourite places actually, and I think I've probably talked about this before on the podcast because it's a lovely little cemetery. Small cemetery. It's like

Lisa Sykes (09:47):

A fairytale back.

Becs Frank (09:48):

Yeah,

Lisa Sykes (09:48):

It's like a sort of babes in the wood type story, isn't it? Well, apart from the graves, obviously, but the little buildings.

Becs Frank (09:55):

Oh yes, because there's a farm. Small, yeah, there's this lovely, lovely chapel there, isn't

Lisa Sykes (09:57):

It? Yeah. And a chapel,

Becs Frank (09:59):

Two beautiful chapels. One is octagonal. They're really interesting, aren't they? And it's actually quite nice being here at this time night, isn't it? It's a little bit spooky, isn't it?

Lisa Sykes (10:09):

The light's starting to go, isn't it?

Becs Frank (10:10):

Did you see that? Amazing. You when we walked

Lisa Sykes (10:12):

In, you've got to love a yew tree every week because even the younger ones look old, don't they? And isn't That's right, Joe, isn't it that they fought that people planted U trees in church yards, which they do, but they've actually been there

Jo Tinsley (10:25):

For a long, long time

Lisa Sykes (10:26):

Ago than the churches, aren't they? Yeah. So they don't really know why were the churches planted next to the yews then? Presumably they were.

Jo Tinsley (10:33):

I think it's because they were places of collective workshop. So people would come and gather for political reasons or for religious reasons around the yew. They're very special trees. And then they kind of built the churches near them where people are naturally gathering.

Lisa Sykes (10:48):

Yes. Interesting. You can kind of use on the word ramble a bit, can't you? Because I feel like we're rambling today. Yeah, we haven't got a total purpose, have we? Yeah. Other than to record the podcast. Podcast. We're

Becs Frank (10:58):

Rambling on as well.

Lisa Sykes (11:02):

The other definition, of course is to talk or write in an aimless, often long-winded fashion, ticking all the boxes. We really are, we're rambling every sense of the word, but that idea of wandering without a particular place to get to, not clock watching, no to-do list your thoughts. Can't do anything but meander when you do something like that. Can they?

Becs Frank (11:20):

No. And you can see because that ecotherapy, which is basically walking and talking or being outside, sometimes it's doing some kind of outdoor craft, but it's being used more and more in therapy. And I think you can understand why can't you? Because you feel a more relaxed, don't you? So I can imagine that you just, your mind is a bit clearer, you feel a bit more open to speak,

Lisa Sykes (11:41):

You can shed problems or work out solutions, can't you? It's easier to think

Becs Frank (11:46):

More clearly and you can respond to things as well. If we did a piece, it was in the third edition of Flourish, our Wellbeing magazine.

Lisa Sykes (11:52):

Yeah, sorry Beck. Small plug for the flourish. Fourth edition is coming soon. In fact, Beck's going to end this walk quite soon because she has to go home and work on it. Sorry

Becs Frank (12:01):

Beck. Exactly. But no, this was a very interesting article. Zoe McDonald wrote it for us and she actually went on a session with an eco therapist and she said he would ask her to kind of just wait actually for her to respond to things. And he said it's very interesting how different people respond to different things in their surroundings in the natural world very differently. So maybe a yew tree, one person's response to it would be maybe, oh God, it's quite big and scary. And another would find it very beautiful and comforting. So well we're

Lisa Sykes (12:27):

Stood under one now and I feel it's quite protective, don't you? Yeah, certainly protecting us from the light drizzle that's just started falling, but I dunno, I feel they're quite friendly

Becs Frank (12:37):

And it feels like full of folk law and I think

Jo Tinsley (12:40):

Yeah, they must have a lot of stories.

Becs Frank (12:42):

Yeah, mythical places they, they've

Jo Tinsley (12:44):

Seen a lot, haven't

Becs Frank (12:45):

They? Yes.

Jo Tinsley (12:45):

It's interesting what you're saying about, I always feel like it's much easier to open up to people when you're walking side by side rather than when you're set opposite. Not necessarily in a counselling setting, just with friends or, I dunno, if you were having an interview or a date, you were saying one of the best dates of your life is on a walk, doesn't it?

Becs Frank (13:01):

Or with a child. I mean that's a classic,

Lisa Sykes (13:04):

Isn't it? Yeah. Them to open up to you. It's a lot easier if they're just walking along next to you, isn't it? And as the walk goes on, you see them relax, don't you? If they've got something on their mind and you kind of wanting to get out them the walk the best way. Yeah.

Becs Frank (13:15):

You kind of just have to wait for it to come out, don't you?

Lisa Sykes (13:17):

Yeah.

Jo Tinsley (13:17):

I think it just allows for that sort of natural pauses, doesn't it? Or you can walk silently for a little bit of time. You can go from topic to topic and then come back to something and it doesn't feel forced and it just kind of flows a bit more freely.

Becs Frank (13:31):

Yeah. And something just landed on your head then Joe, I think. Was it a course? I think maybe a squirrel's just kind of tucking into something above you.

Lisa Sykes (13:39):

I think there's something in, because we were just talking about the meanings of ramble, of course the other meaning of ramble is that plants ramble for space and light ramble is that's what they do. They can take over to try and get space and light. And I think we do that we you were looking for head space, clearer thinking and there's definitely a likeness that comes from it.

Becs Frank (13:59):

Do you know, I sometimes think about one of the examples that was in that piece about and something that you can do, an exercise that you can do when you're out that brings you to the moment and helps you to calm down. You have to find something engaging. All the sensors you have to find something to look at, something to smell, something to taste, something to listen to that you go through each of the sensors and something to touch. Obviously there are different things and well

Lisa Sykes (14:20):

Right now I'm touching the marble of a grave and it is really cold and it's not even that cold. There's something about marble that's always cold, isn't it? Which is why they use on kitchen and things. They're for peachry, don't

Becs Frank (14:34):

They? Yeah. What could you taste?

Lisa Sykes (14:37):

Nervous saliva,

Becs Frank (14:38):

Because we're not recording the podcast. You could go and pick a berry, you could have a slightly bitter slow probably.

Lisa Sykes (14:43):

Can you smell the sort of slightly

Jo Tinsley (14:45):

Damp earth Joe and I can definitely hear all the birds as well.

Lisa Sykes (14:49):

Yeah, it's a very good little round check of all your sensors, isn't it?

Becs Frank (14:53):

Feel yourself just calming down,

Lisa Sykes (14:55):

Can't you? That might be my intention from this episode, I think

Becs Frank (14:58):

To

Lisa Sykes (14:58):

Do that. I think that's a very good way of grounding yourself, isn't it? And you can do it anywhere, can't you? Yeah, no, of course. Do it in the city. You could.

Becs Frank (15:06):

Yeah, exactly. In a park, in your back

Lisa Sykes (15:08):

Garden. But autumn is the best time to go rambling, don't you think, Joe?

Becs Frank (15:12):

Yeah,

Lisa Sykes (15:12):

I think spring's nice, but obviously there's something so beautiful about autumn.

Jo Tinsley (15:17):

Yeah, we were talking before this about whether autumn comes first in the north or the south of England. It's not official, but there's a slight lag. So leaves generally turn later in the south of England and the north because the temperatures typically drop first in the north, which means that it's the start of autumn. So the autumn colour spreads from the north to the south through the country, which I think is

Lisa Sykes (15:38):

Quite nice. And because you guys are in the southwest, you just don't get as much frost do you? So it's milder and you must have the longest autumn, surely. Probably. I dunno, someone's probably going to contradict that. But anyway, here's to autumn. So you can probably hear we're hereby the Kenneth and AV canal now, and this is the water rushing through with locks. It's like we've done a whole tour of England in one little walk, isn't it? It's actually, isn't it? We've seen so much going on. We're going to walk a bit to get away from the noise of the locks, but the water's rushing in there and there's quite a few locks. We've walked past what, two or three already, aren't we? Yeah, yeah. You've

Becs Frank (16:24):

Got and very deep. They

Jo Tinsley (16:26):

Really deep. I think there's something really nice about walking beside a canal or on the towpath. I think there's no need to navigate it is like you're not going to get lost and then it lets your mind wander a bit. So you are not having to look at your phone or look at a map or something like that.

Lisa Sykes (16:42):

No. And it's not strenuous. So you're not having to think about climbing a cliff or something. Are you? I've always cracked on.

Becs Frank (16:48):

You do go slowly. The boats go slowly. It makes you kind of walk slowly as well, don't you think? Unless I was jogging or on a bike, I can't imagine briskly walking down, down. I definitely place

Lisa Sykes (16:59):

Down ball.

Becs Frank (17:00):

It is

Lisa Sykes (17:01):

The word that

Becs Frank (17:01):

Comes to mind. And what about these canal houseboats? Would you like to

Lisa Sykes (17:06):

Everybody thinks they could in the summer. Yeah. What about you Joe? I could see

Jo Tinsley (17:12):

You on a boat. Yeah, no, I would like that sort of having much less stuff and just having what you need on a boat. But I mean, I think once you've known people who've lived on boats, I think the winters are hard. It is a nice place for summer. Although this boat here has got quite a

Lisa Sykes (17:26):

Lot of stuff on it. They use their top as a storage. Must be nice to open your windows and kind of see ducks going past.

Becs Frank (17:34):

Yeah,

Lisa Sykes (17:34):

It's true.

Becs Frank (17:35):

And then people peering in like us. Yeah. Do

Jo Tinsley (17:37):

You know there's actually a word for that. It's called go.

Becs Frank (17:40):

Oh, what's that? Looking inside people's boats. Well not

Jo Tinsley (17:42):

Looking inside them, but watching boats like sitting by a lock. So in a pub by the lock or what we're doing right now. Really. And watching the world go by with their boats, it's called Go Goose. Goose.

Lisa Sykes (17:51):

Yep. Nice.

Becs Frank (17:53):

I'll never do this again without thinking about that, Jess.

Lisa Sykes (17:55):

It's a good word. So all I want now is to see a magical creature like an otter. That would be great. I saw you could. Oh really?

Becs Frank (18:04):

Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (18:04):

Yeah. Now I saw one recently near me and it was when you go somewhere, like we were talking about earlier, familiar walk. And then one day there's something incredibly magical, not familiar about it.

Speaker 4 (18:17):

And

Lisa Sykes (18:18):

This was the day, it was this mill pond and there's like a chain of mill ponds and I was just there looking over there where the water rushes in and there was this otter just there fishing. Amazing, amazing. And I've never seen it since, but it was

Becs Frank (18:31):

Incredible. What would be your magical creature, Joe? I mean there's anything that stands out. I

Jo Tinsley (18:36):

Mean I think a red kite would be quite nice. I think red kites a sort of bird that makes you think of a place.

Lisa Sykes (18:42):

Do you

Jo Tinsley (18:42):

Know what I mean? Whether it's Midway or Oxford, there's certain places where you see them,

Lisa Sykes (18:47):

Where you expect to see them, don't

Jo Tinsley (18:48):

You? Yeah. But they're actually everywhere now. So they were almost wiped out between, I think it was the 18th century. They were almost wiped out. And then between 19 89, 19 94, they released 93 of them into different areas in England and Scotland. Yeah, that's incredible. Isn't it a comeback? They're everywhere now. We've just seen our first pair in Chap, so just down well in Crocu.

Becs Frank (19:09):

Oh really?

Jo Tinsley (19:10):

Yeah. Yeah. So I dunno what the local buzzard think about it. But how about you Beck? What would be your magical creature?

Becs Frank (19:15):

Wild ponies, because I'm down in the new Forest lot, obviously I'm not going to see any wild ponies today, but I do spend quite a lot of time down near the New Forest. And that just never fails to kind of amaze me and fill me with awe when I'm driving along my car or riding along my bike. And then suddenly there's this whole, it's

Lisa Sykes (19:32):

A special site, isn't

Becs Frank (19:33):

It? Family of horses, young fos and yeah,

Lisa Sykes (19:36):

It's incredible. There's a group of people walking past, but it's probably because it's the Jane Austen Festival, which we're going to go down there to the Pleasure Garden soon, aren't we? Yeah, definitely. That will be the final part of our walk. But yeah, no, it is nice that canal's paths get used by people, isn't it?

Becs Frank (19:53):

Yeah. We'll, going dark soon and then, yeah, we'll have to pick a different way home, I think.

Lisa Sykes (20:09):

Well, I don't think we could come to Bath, could we? And not talk about Jane Austen

Becs Frank (20:13):

Especially not this year.

Lisa Sykes (20:15):

No, because it's what, 250 years since she was born And there have been events happening all over the country, aren't they?

Becs Frank (20:20):

And we just had the festival here in Bath. We have it every year, but it's been an extra long one this year. So much going on, so many bonnets. It's been actually wonderful. It's been so great to just see all these people, so many people who have obviously come to the city and fans of generosity are just wanting to come and join in. I said to you earlier, I, so on my way here, I said, talk about magical creature. I dunno, I've just seen a pride of Austins. Yeah. Well

Lisa Sykes (20:44):

Sadly I feel that we haven't dressed for the occasion. No, but we are here, aren't we? In the Sydney Gardens, which any Austin fan will remember from some of her books. She wasn't actually a big fan of Bath, was she? Well, she portrayed it quite negatively in the books. It wasn't her cup of tea, but she certainly set a lot of scenes here

Becs Frank (21:04):

And she lived over the road there.

Lisa Sykes (21:05):

Really?

Becs Frank (21:06):

Yeah, just at the bottom of the park on the, it is quite a busy road now, but she had an apartment there so we can walk past there and show the plaque.

Lisa Sykes (21:14):

Yeah. But the Sydney Gardens, they were a pleasure garden. They built in region town muddled on Vox Hall, which is probably the most famous one.

Becs Frank (21:20):

Yeah, you came to be seen,

Lisa Sykes (21:22):

Didn't you? Yeah. You just pointed out the Bandstand tours, which looks like some stately home, doesn't it? It's very on it. We were just in the Minerva temple,

Becs Frank (21:31):

Which

Lisa Sykes (21:32):

Looks like it's out of a period drama. It's where a romantic tris would be set with a downpour, wouldn't it? Somebody sheltering in there and inappropriate words were exchanged. You can't help your imagination

Becs Frank (21:43):

Going like that.

Lisa Sykes (21:44):

There's something about I can understand why people come to bath and wear bonnets because there's something that makes you feel like you're in a period drama when you're here, doesn't it? Don't you think Joe?

Jo Tinsley (21:54):

Well, yeah, I mean there's angles that you can look at this park where it would seem like it was identical to those times.

Lisa Sykes (22:01):

Yes.

Jo Tinsley (22:01):

And I was just reading as well inside the temple that there used to be really interesting characters here. Like people showing off homemade fireworks or tight rope walking or balancing ladders on their chest.

Lisa Sykes (22:10):

They launched hydrogen balloons

Jo Tinsley (22:13):

Because they were such a spec. There was always a spec

Lisa Sykes (22:14):

Of some sort.

Jo Tinsley (22:15):

So just to kind of be here now and sort of imagine how people were using this space before,

Lisa Sykes (22:19):

I think it's really interesting they're spending money to recreate that, aren't they? I mean, parts of it look like any old park, but you've got to kind of sit there and that's what a good ramble is all about, isn't it? Sitting and thinking what makes things special around you. And

Becs Frank (22:33):

Also, we are pretty much in the city here, aren't we? And all of our cities and towns have green spaces and places where you can go and have a ramble. You don't have to be out in the countryside.

Lisa Sykes (22:43):

I think that's a very good point. Of course the difference with Bath is you can take the waters.

Becs Frank (22:48):

Yes.

Lisa Sykes (22:48):

Have you done that vape?

Becs Frank (22:49):

I've bathed them. I haven't drank from, have you? I

Lisa Sykes (22:51):

Have actually drunk them. They don't taste that nice. But very good for you apparently. So I think we've kind of come to the end of our walk. We,

Becs Frank (23:01):

I've really enjoyed our ramble and it

Lisa Sykes (23:03):

Really has felt like a ramble. We've seen a lot. We've discussed a lot. And the bits where we just haven't had the microphone on the whole time. We've done what we said. We've talked about all sorts, haven't we? Along our route today?

Becs Frank (23:15):

We have. That's very true.

Lisa Sykes (23:16):

So yes. Thanks Beck to guiding us and

Becs Frank (23:18):

For, it's been so lovely. Thank you for coming and seeing

Lisa Sykes (23:21):

Me. And Joe, your wise words on slow walking, always interesting. Thanks. And I hope our listeners felt like they were part of the walk as well today, and that they feel part of our conversation every episode of Small Waste to Live Well, I mean this is the last, in our golden days. Our golden days are over girls for this year.

Becs Frank (23:37):

We're launching into Autumn.

Lisa Sykes (23:39):

We are. But actually you can still download our fruitfulness season three, which celebrates Autumn proper that we recorded last year. And you'll find that, in fact, all of our episodes on your podcast app. So don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already, because then you won't miss our next season. And we're going to be kicking off with, you'll remember this, a repeat of our stirrup Sunday cook along at the end of November. So people will be able to re-listen to that as they make their pods and cakes. And then we're going to be taking people through from the beginning of Advent, right through New Year to 12th Night with our Merry midwinter season. I'm really looking forward to this one. We haven't really talked about Christmas much yet on the podcast, have we?

Becs Frank (24:16):

We're going to go all out on Christmas.

Lisa Sykes (24:18):

We are. So you can also subscribe to the simple things through the links in our show notes and we'll see you then for Christmas. Thanks for listening.