Recipe by Sandy KennewayYou may have met Sandy, mixing up a dangerously good cocktail at The Good Life Experience or Camp Glen Dye. Sandy shares his secret of a delicious homemade cordial, using just two ingredients.
makes: 1 small bottle
DIFFICULTY: easyIngredients
Skin and juice of 4 lemons
1.5 cups of white sugar
Method
Using a sharp peeler, take the skin off 4 lemons and add to a bowl with 1&1/2 cups of white sugar.
Using a wooden spoon, or muddling tool if you have one, gently press the skins and the sugar in the bowl until they have all had contact together. The sugar should have a slight glisten to it.
Cover with wrap and leave overnight. A sunny window ledge can speed things along.
Next day you will find the sugar has all dissolved and you have a very fragrant goo in the bowl.
Juice the lemons and add to the bowl, without worrying about pips and bits. Mix with the sugary solution and transfer to a pot.
Gently heat on the stove (do not boil) until all the sugar is fully dissolved, allow to cool and strain into a sterilised bottle or container. Voila!
TIPS
This lemon cordial can be diluted to taste. It will taste like the best old-fashioned lemonade you have ever tasted. My preferred option is to combine with soda water and lots of ice.
image: department twoTreat yourself to something good.
Honestly, we think that this is a perfect piece of clothing. It’s the first item to be made under our new brand, SGI Threads.
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First a bit of history.
A lot of people associate our work with Pedlars and The Good Life Experience with the classic vintage workwear jackets that we used to sell. We sold thousands over the course of many years and about twenty years ago we even designed and sold our own British-made version. Either it wasn’t very good, or it was ahead of its time because it didn’t sell well.
Ever since then we have wanted to do another. Now every fashion company makes one and so in order to stand out we decided to try to make one that is truly exceptional. And we genuinely believe that we succeeded.
(Keep reading, plus size info, below.)
At Some Good Ideas part of our mission is to prove that amazing goods can be made in Great Britain and in so doing to show precisely what this costs. We are happy to share any other information so that you, too, can make things here.
At Some Good Ideas we make goods in Britain using the finest components. This is a way to guarantee the very best quality and to prove that it can be done in Britain; it may not be the easiest thing and it definitely isn’t the cheapest, but it is worth the effort. Part of our challenge is that we’re designing our own things and choosing the components, rather than going to a factory -which would be a lot easier- and just saying ’those things you make, please make some for us in a different colour’.
Anyway, here is our apron. It’s taken us five months to build this and it was worth the wait. The original idea was to see if we could make an apron for the staff in The Glynne Arms, one of our sponsors, that reflected their keen eye for the provenance of their food and drink. And, we succeeded. But we’ve made some for other people too -you!- and here they are.
Manufactured in Ipswich. Screen printed in Huddersfield. Tape made in Cheshire. Labels designed and printed in London. Buckles and fabric from Europe.
Everyone needs a To Do list. So, why not buy this one?
Its paper was milled in Scotland, the printing was done in England using Dutch manufactured mineral based inks and vegetable based inks, the glue is from the West Midlands, the manufacture took place in Lincolnshire, the photographs were taken in Sheffield and the design was created in London.
That’s a lot of information for a To Do list, but we’re proud of these facts.
We haven’t cut corners, we’ve kept production in Britain and we’ve paid the people involved a fair price at every step.
This is a To Do list that champions proper manufacture and design.
It’s also just really, really useful.
You should buy one.
100 sheets.
The notepaper in this book is made in Cumbria and the end leaves are made in Britain too, by GF Smith. The cover card is recycled board and is made in Scandinavia.
The book in entirely made in Stamford, GB on a machine built in 1948 and the thread is strong natural linen.
It’s a lovely thing with a mix of lined, checked and plain paper and there’s an elasticated closure.
To find out more about the manufacture and costs involved in making these notebooks, scroll to the bottom of this page where we’ve included lots of detail.
These mugs were hand made in Stoke-on-Trent by someone who is relatively new to the manufacture of tableware but who is employing time-proven, traditional methods of manufacture. The method employed here uses machinery that luxuriates in the unusual name of a Jigger Jolly; this sounds to us like something made up by Roald Dahl but is in fact a piece of machinery that enables the potter to make specific shapes.
This style of mug is a traditional one called a Telford and it uses locally sourced stoneware clay which is strong, vegan and natural. The stripes have been applied by hand using traditional lithographing techniques.
To find out more about the manufacture and costs involved in making these, scroll to the bottom of this page where we’ve included lots of detail.
Explore ideas on making.
Kathryn Cronin is a floral artisan, gardener and writer.
Her business, Fierceblooms, next to bridge 14 of the Shropshire Union canal, is rooted in florals that are as ethical as they are aesthetically beautiful.
What grows sustainably in the wild hedgerows and her Cheshire canalside cutting garden is her fierce inspiration.
She can be found often with her face close to the earth.
After a five year apprenticeship in antique restoration in The Lake District, Edward Carefoot embarked on his expedition as a Journeyman: to see if the Medieval tradition of practising your trade on the road -for food and lodgings- could still be done today.
Edward took two years to travel from Scotland to The Isles of Scilly, working for farmers and Royalty, fixing gates to restoring shipwrecked furniture.
After these two years away, Edward has now returned to Cumbria, with his dog Swift, and has opened a workshop where he designs and makes bespoke furniture.
Earl of East founders’ and candle-making experts, Niko Dafkos and Paul Firmin teach us how to make a scented candle at home.
How Monty & Co. founder, Leigh Montague, leapt out of the fast fashion lane towards ethical, British-made childrenswear.
Charlie Gladstone discusses the 50/50 Project, mutual support and the importance of creative freelancers.
We speak with Mark Garwood, the maker of our mugs, about his methods, materials and the ceramic heritage of Stoke-on-Trent.
This is a good tea pot.
It’s good because it is made in Britain, it looks amazing, it works well and it’s ethically sourced. Our tea pot was designed by 1882ltd in Stoke-on-Trent by 5th generation makers. No corners were cut in making this product.
We hope that you appreciate its deep integrity and that it offers you years of satisfying use.
To find out more about the manufacture and costs involved in making these tea pots, scroll to the bottom of this page where we’ve included lots of detail. We’re really trying to be transparent here, because our mission is not just to sell great things but to help people to understand that it’s possible to make good things in Great Britain and what, precisely, this costs.
We aim to pay everyone fairly, to make things as sustainably as possible and to support British manufacturers. Inevitably, this means that our goods will cost more than most others, but we think that that is a price worth paying and hope that you’ll agree.