By Kate Hodges
05th April 2023
EVENTS EGG BOUND
It’s a big celebratory Easter, and Passover weekend – the perfect opportunity for family time. We have some ideas for celebrations (none of which are linked to any particular religion) here, crafts here, and ideas for great natural egg-dyes here.
Even though the actual event fell a fortnight ago, these Ostara celebrations work well at this time of year too. In Trafalgar Square, London, the free full-scale re-enactment of the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus is a spectacle, no matter what your religious stripes. Friday, 1pm, free.
Or get cooking! These hot cross buns are warm and spicy and will fill your house with delicious smells. A traditional simnel cake represents the apostles – try this dairy, egg and gluten free version, or bake a traditional Polish lamb cake for Easter together. If you’re celebrating Passover, these dessert recipes are not only vegan, but delicious too, and what Easter weekend would be complete without some chocolate eggs? Jamie Oliver’s vegan versions are fun for everyone to help make.
EVENT IN BLOOM
Why not try some long-form projects in your garden or nearby woods over the holidays? We love the idea of creating a wild outdoor room to spend lazy days in this summer, or planting a vegetable garden in a wheelbarrow. Smaller kids will love creating their own herb garden and picking bits for their tea or perhaps you could get witchy together and start your own medicinal herb garden
If you have access to a larger or communal garden, try making a clay pizza oven, but you don’t have outside space, try making your own cactus garden or roll up some seed bombs and start brightening up your neighbourhood with some guerrilla gardening.
MAKE AND RECIPE LION HEART
Golden dandelions are starting to dot our lawns, parks and meadows. Why not pick some and use them to make a vitamin-packed spring tonic to shake off those sluggish winter blues? Find out more about the super-powers of the flower, leaves and roots here. Alternatively, use your foraged flowers to make fragrant dandelion honey earthy dandelion coffee or a very pretty dandelion crown!
EVENT MEDIEVAL EYE
Party like it’s 1216! Arundel Castle is going thirteenth century this weekend. King John has summoned his loyal followers to meet him at the spectacular building to put down both a rebellion among his own Barons and a potential invasion from France. Set within a large tented encampment on the lower lawns of the castle, the three-day event will have demonstrations of 12th century combat, archery and falconry, musicians, archery, and a craft tent. Ticketed.
EVENT AND DO HIGH ROLLERS
A pub in Sussex might seem an unlikely place for a world championship to take place, but marbles is, it seems, a funny old game. Reputedly dating back to Elizabethan times, the World Marbles Championships take place this Friday outside the pub on a purpose built platform. If you’d rather play than watch, pick up a few cheap glass balls (or make your own using dough), find the rules of the game here and hold your own tournament!
WHAT WE’RE EATING GARLICKY NETTLE PESTO David Hamilton offers his favourite recipes for gathering and eating wild plants. Here he shares his favourite nettle pesto recipe to make the most of the bountiful greens in the hedgerow right now (and to serve as a vitamin-packed antidote to all the chocolate!) Find the recipe here
WHAT WE’RE READING My parents’ divorce reshaped our family – but it wasn’t the end of their story: “My parents’ post-divorce friendship showed me that family doesn’t have to be a fixed and rigid composition. Our home wasn’t broken – it was malleable, expansive, capable of being remade. I know it hasn’t always been easy for everyone to find the grace that this requires. These transitions have caused periods of tension, as well as undeniable heartbreak, times when my mother swore she would never speak to my father again. But eventually one of them must have called and the other must have answered.” Read more here
