Kate Hodges

By Kate Hodges

13th April 2018

Beautiful sea glass crafts, hear a nightingale, make your own pond, win a paper aeroplane contest, forage for Alexanders!

Kate Hodges

By Kate Hodges

13th April 2018

Kate Hodges

By Kate Hodges

13th April 2018

EVENT Game On
Pieces of sea glass are like precious jewels to beachcombers. The ocean grinds and polishes shards of sharp glass into frosted, smooth blobs that look like half-melted pick ’n’ mix sweets. Although, due to better recycling, these blobs are harder to find than in previous decades, you’ll still pick up the green, blue, white and brown treasures if you look hard enough along the shore – try searching at low tide. Alternatively, you can make your own using a rock tumbler or even a cement mixer. Once you have your glass, you could use it as the centrepiece of a pendant necklace, a mobile, or a cute beachy necklace.

EVENT Make It Happen
From the gigantic brains behind one of our favourite creative tech resources, MakeZine comes Edinburgh’s Mini Maker Faire. Gathering engineers, artists, scientists and crafters, learn tips, see creations, and be inspired by automata, home-made personal transport, electronic moving toys and maths-inspired tableware. Don’t miss the gigantic paper plane contest – all the flying creations will be hoisted into the air by a giant metal claw and then dropped! Sunday. £6

EVENT A Nightingale Sang
The sweet song of the nightingale has inspired poets, playwrights and composers, and now the little bird with the big voice has a festival all of its own. The first National Nightingale Festival takes place April 13–May 27, with a series of events across the country. Go on a listening walk, or enjoy a magical evening at Sam Lee’s Singing With Nightingales, eating and drinking around a fire immersed in the folklore of the native bird, and listening to guest musicians improvising along with its song. Alternatively, go on your own quest to hear the mellifluous-voiced bird; here are some places you might find one.

RECIPE Alexanders the Great
It’s the season for foraging for Alexanders, or horse parsley. This lime-green plant was introduced to the UK by the Romans, and, good news, every part of it is edible. Try peeling the stems and boiling them with the flower heads, candying them, or frying the flower heads in batter – there are some great recipes and tips for foraging the plant here, and this Alexanders and Tangerine Salad sounds delicious.

MAKE Pond Life
Frogspawn is hatching, tadpoles are sprouting legs, and we’ve even spotted some tiny frogs leaping around. Why not get even closer to water creatures and plants, and create your own mini pond this spring? You can create your own in something as basic as a washing-up bowl, old sink, barrel or large pot. There’s a great guide here. Watch out for pond skaters, water lice, freshwater shrimps or damselflies darting around the water. Who knows, you may even have your own frogs or newts spawning there next year.

loading