Cosy Up This Winter: 13 favourite recipes, books and places to visit during the cooler months
Our collaboration with interior brand Neptune delves into the seasonal shifts in the UK, looking for inspiration in the changing colours and textures of the seasons. To celebrate the launch of The Flags Collection, we’ve been rounding up our favourite recipes, adventures and crafts to celebrate each season.
In this journal post, you’ll find recipes from home inspired by cosy evenings and candle-lit dinner parties. We’ve also made a list of our favourite things to do, read and listen to during the colder months.
The Winter quilt was the last of the four to be made. It was quieter than the others, but richly textured velvets and wools brought it to life. Inspired by winter woodlands and the glow of candlelight on a dark evening, the Winter quilt in soft creams, browns, and a deliciously dark navy will keep you cosy on the chilliest of evenings.
Cook
An absolute staple in our house during the winter, this recipe of chicken and porcini mushrooms from The Ginger Pig is delicious and comforting. The serving suggestion is with pasta. However, we prefer it with basmati rice and puy lentils to add earthiness and soak up the delicious sauce.
Warm Udon noodles with black sesame and spring greens are a twice-weekly occurrence in our house in the winter. Warming, light and full of all the good stuff to get you through to spring, it is also the perfect thing to cook in those long January days when you’re trying to be ‘good’.
Embrace seasonal eating with this rabbit ragu; at this time of year, the farmer’s markets are filled with game, and this simple recipe will liven up your standard bolognese dinner no end.
We all need a sweet treat now and again to see us through the longer evenings, and this recipe from Nigella delivers the perfect sweet treat for one in less than 30 minutes - the woman is a genius!
Finish off with a controversial fact: No one in my family particularly likes Christmas dinner, and they don’t like turkey. So, on a mission to save us from another year of food we don’t like, I introduced a new tradition - the Christmas Porchetta. I make one based on this recipe from Jamie Oliver. However, the options are vast, so why not mix up your festive eating and try something new this year?
Do | Make | See
This time of year brings with it the most breathtaking starling murmurations. Our favourite spot is in Minsmere in Suffolk (we once designed a custom print inspired by the murmurations in Suffolk). However, equally startling displays can be found around the country.
Head to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on a snowy day and see the sculptures transformed by their landscape. If you’re lucky, you might see something as surreal as a giant Kaws sculpture blanketed in snow.
While in the area, head to the Hepworth Wakefield for their festive market, one of our favourites, which is always guaranteed to be filled with exceptional quality work.
Read Winter by Ali Smith, a captivating portrait of the season set in a vividly imagined winter landscape, punctuated with the juxtaposition of a cosy house and the oppressiveness of a family gathering.
Make a quilted jacket, and embrace those longer evenings with a long-term craft project. My quilted jacket filled winter with colour and creativity. Make your own with this pattern; try hunting at home for suitable fabrics, from old pillowcases to past-their-best t-shirts; you’ll be amazed at how much cloth you have which can be reused.
Listen to Max Richter's Sleep (on Vinyl) and drift through the season on a mellow cloud.
You can’t beat a good book, and Patchwork by Claire Wilcox, curator of the V&A Alexander McQueen exhibition, is an excellent book. This quiet book tells the story of Claire’s personal and professional life through the clothes and textiles that have punctuated her everyday life. A book complete of beautifully written love letters to textiles, perfect for fireside reading under a quilt.
Delve into the true-crime podcast West Cork and lose yourself amongst the misty scenery of this true Irish mystery.
Painting of the Neptune winter quilt surrounded by fabric swatches, sashiko thread and paint pots
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