Innholdsfortegnelse for 26-May-2020 i Woman's Weekly

This blessed plot You could list many reasons to love this country. The resilience, determination and kind-heartedness of its people (well demonstrated over the last few weeks), the breathtaking physical beauty to be found all across the nation from Muckle Flugga in the Shetland Islands to Bishops Rock, west of the Isles of Scilly, or the rich cultural heritage created from Great Britain and Ireland that has changed and enriched the world. But one of my personal favourite things about these islands is our adorably illogical love of old or quirky places and objects. Discover a few new oddities we’ve decided are worth preserving on page 10.…

BEV PATMAN, 47 Tell us about your look I’m trying to be a more conscientious buyer and making pieces in my wardrobe work harder with items I already have. I bought this floral dress from H&M last year. My sandals are Topshop and my bag is Mulberry – my forever handbag! And the best bit of your body? I’m totally happy in my own skin. AMANDA QUERIOZ, 31 Tell us about your look I bought this trouser suit at Zara in Brazil. I’ve had the white lace cami for a while – I figured a simple top would work best. I love the floral print – it does get you noticed! It feels quite relaxed with trainers – these were a present. My tan bag is from River Island. And…

1 WATCH YOUR DIET A mixed diet with fresh fruit, veg, protein and dairy for a balanced intake of vitamins and minerals gives the best chance of pregnancy. 2 WATCH YOUR WEIGHT If you’re overweight or underweight, achieving a more normal weight and a BMI from 20-25 will certainly increase your chance of a pregnancy. 3 STOP SMOKING… …and drinking too much. Alcohol and smoking (even passive) can reduce fertility and sperm counts, so reduce or ideally stop for the time being. 4 CONTROL CONDITIONS Diabetes, asthma or kidney problems can inhibit fertility. Take any medications as prescribed and see the nurse regularly to check bloods.…

GUILT-FREE SUMMER PUDDING POTS Perfect for summer, these little puds are low in calories but high in flavour! SERVES 2 ✣ 200g (7oz) frozen summer fruits ✣ 15g (½oz) white sugar with stevia ✣ 1½tsp vanilla bean paste (optional) ✣ 2 slices Kingsmill 50/50 No Crusts Bread ✣ 2tsp reduced-fat creme fraiche (optional) You will need: ✣ 2 small glass tumblers 1 Place the summer fruits in a saucepan with the sugar and vanilla bean paste, if using. Place over a low heat for 5-10 mins, or until the fruit has defrosted and is beginning to soften, and the sugar has dissolved. 2 Cut 2 discs from each slice of bread, about 5-6cm (2-2½in), according to the size of the tumblers being used. (The remaining bits of bread can be…

HELLO SUNSHINE Give your garden a contemporary look with this season’s trendy colour – yellow. The strawflower ‘Gravia Gold’ will add a sunshine glow to pots or borders and can be dried for lasting bouquets. For a softer tone, there’s a new dwarf cosmos, ‘Xanthos’, with creamy-lemon flowers, or the perennial foxglove (Digitalis lutea), with primrose spires (60cm tall), which are just the ticket to lift a shady spot. PERFECT PARTNERS The ‘three sisters’ garden is a traditional Native American way of growing sweetcorn, beans and squash together. It’s a great for a small space, as the plants help each other thrive. The sweetcorn supports the climbing bean, the beans fix beneficial nitrogen in the soil, and the large leaves of the squash (eg, courgette or pumpkin) cover the soil…

Knitted octopus MEASUREMENTS Approx 20cm/8in long (with tentacles laid out flat). MATERIALS 1 x 100g (295m) ball of Stylecraft Special DK in Green (Lincoln 1834) and a small amount of Black (1002)*. Pair of 3mm (No. 11) knitting needles; washable toy stuffing. Yarn is available from theknittingnetwork.co.uk. TENSION 26 stitches and 36 rows, to 10 x 10cm, over stocking stitch, using 3mm needles. ABBREVIATIONS St(s), stitch(es); k, knit; p, purl; ss, stocking stitch (k on right side and p on wrong side); inc, increase 1 st (by working into same st twice); k2tog, k 2 sts together (to decrease 1 st). NOTES Yarn amounts are based on average requirements and are therefore approximate. Instructions in square brackets are worked as stated after 2nd bracket. Difficulty level Crocheted octopus MEASUREMENTS Approx20cm/8in…

The Way Back by Jamie Fewery (£8.99, PB, Orion) On the back of Jamie Fewery’s first much-loved novel Our Life in a Day comes this hopeful family drama. Gerry’s dying wish is that his three estranged children reunite, so he sends them to Scotland in a camper van with three family photo albums and a bottle of single malt whisky to scatter his ashes. Can the Cadogan children find their way back to each other? A novel with real heart and a journey you won’t forget. The Glass House by Eve Chase (£14.99, HB, Penguin) We all need a book to get really lost in every now and again, and this captivating mystery will certainly whisk you away. When the Harrington family find a baby in the idyllic woods outside…

MEIKLEOUR BEECH HEDGE The tallest and longest hedge in the world (100ft high and a third of a mile long) is near Meikleour, Perth and Kinross. SILBURY HILL, WILTSHIRE About the same height and volume as contemporary Egyptian pyramids, it was made about 2400 BC. But no one knows why. THE CROOKED HOUSE, DUDLEY Originally an 18th-century farmhouse and now an inn, subsidence has left one side 4ft lower than the other!…

The kids we worked with were so funny “When I was filming The A Word, I had to go into this amazing school for children with special educational needs in Manchester. So we were working with the teachers and actual pupils from the school, who aren’t actors. I think it was my favourite job of all time because these kids were so free and so naturally funny. I said to them on the first day, ‘We can’t call you by your proper names, you’ve got to think of a character name because you’re all acting.’ Well, the names they came out with, we were absolutely crying with laughter – and of course nobody in production knew the names they’d chosen. So we would be doing the roll call on camera,…

Your immune system is built NOT BORN The immune system has been described as the most complicated system in the body. It’s everything, from your body’s barriers such as your skin and the mucous membranes of your lungs and gut, to your organs and a whole spectrum of different cells. It’s like a football team – you need them all working together in their different roles. Your immune system is thought of as an on/off switch, which gets turned on when you get an infection and off when it’s gone. But it’s more a balancing act. We don’t think about it until we get a seasonal lurgy or a global pandemic, such as that for the coronavirus. Your immune system is made – not born. You’re born with a…

His friends ignore me Q I have a new partner, and he was very keen for me to meet his friends. He hasn’t had a long-term partner before, and said he wanted me to be part of his group. I went out with them for a drink. No one included me, and my partner ignored me. I said something to him, and he apologised and said he was sorry. The same thing has happened every time since. Alison, Wirral A You say having a partner is a new experience for him, and I’m wondering if he doesn’t really understand how you’re meant to be when you’re with both your friends and your partner. When you discussed this, did you explain how you hoped he’d behave? It’s important to let him…

Difficulty level YOU WILL NEED ✣ Round pouffe (we found this one for £14, ebay.co.uk) ✣ Tape measure ✣ Newspaper ✣ Fabric scissors ✣ Matching sewing thread ✣ Hand sewing needle ✣ Washed denim, £9 per m, textileexpress fabrics.co.uk ✣ Sewing machine ✣ Covered piping cord ✣ 1m piping cord ✣ Safety pin or bodkin 1 Measure the top of the pouffe and add 3cm. Using these measurements, cut out a newspaper template and pin to the denim fabric. Cut out. Then, measure the circumference adding 3cm and the height adding 15cm, and cut this rectangle from the denim fabric. 2 For the handle, cut out two rectangles from the denim fabric measuring 9x20cm. 3 Pin and stitch the covered piping cord to the circular pouffe top, 1.5cm from the…

Dotted throughout our land are buildings and sites that tell the history of our country – of who we are and where we’ve come from as a nation. Visiting these sites, as well as working and living among them, can bring history to life. It’s important to preserve them. Historic England protects more than 400,000 sites. Last year, more than 500 places were added to the National Heritage List. Listing is where spots of historical or architectural significance are identified, highlighting what’s important, and making sure any changes don’t result in their loss. Battlefields, monuments, gardens, fountains, signposts and even shipwrecks are included too. ✣ Find out more at historicengland.org.uk Liverpool Piazza Fountain Known locally as the ‘Bucket Fountain’, it was made in the late 1960s and is the only…

WHERE I’VE BEEN Literally one trip to the supermarket, and I’ve done my allocated exercise once a day. Mine and my daughter’s PE lesson is doing Couch to 5k. We’re lucky we live in the countryside, so it is quite nice. WHAT I’VE SEEN Coronation Street, as always. And we’ve also watched Unorthodox on Netflix, which is amazing, and Race Across the World on BBC2. WHO I’VE MET We’ve got lovely neighbours and we’ve had two birthdays since lockdown. We’ve all come out into our little gardens at the back and sung Happy Birthday to them at the same time. WHAT I’VE BOUGHT Everything that we need for the week, which is very hard because my family are eating me out of house and home.…

SALMON PAPPARDELLE SERVES 2 ✣ A little rapeseed oil or olive oil, for frying ✣ 2 onions, sliced ✣ 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced ✣ 175ml (6fl oz) white wine ✣ 150ml (5fl oz) fish stock ✣ 100g (3½oz) asparagus, cut into bite-sized pieces ✣ 100g (3½oz) smoked salmon, sliced into ribbons ✣ 150g (5oz) dried pappardelle ✣ Parmesan, grated, to taste 1 In a frying pan, heat a little oil and fry the onions until translucent, then add the garlic and cook for 1 min. Add the wine and boil until it has nearly evaporated. 2 Add the stock and reduce the heat by half, then add the asparagus and salmon ribbons, and toss together. Set aside. 3 Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and…

Gallstones (cholelithiasis) are surprisingly common, affecting one in 10 people, and may not give any symptoms, remaining unknown throughout life. They are more common if overweight, female (especially those who have had children) and over 40. They are also more common in people with Crohn’s disease or anyone with a problem with bile flow. The gall bladder is a small sac hanging below the liver, where bile liquid, made by the liver to help to digest fats in the diet, is stored and concentrated. The gall bladder releases bile into the gut when it’s needed after a fatty meal. It’s not clear why stones develop, but it’s possibly an imbalance of the bile chemicals, usually where there’s too much cholesterol or bilirubin. The symptoms Complications can cause symptoms. The gall…

Before we moved into our 1970s house, it had only had one owner – the whole house was in desperate need of updating,’ says Heather. ‘So that’s what we focused on first, which meant that the garden was largely forgotten. It was depressing to look out of the patio doors onto the side area and see weeds and mess. ‘The main back garden was already full of large, mature shrubs when we bought the house, so it was low-maintenance and we didn’t want to make any big changes. But the side area was an awkward space – you walk through it to get to our side gate – and it was uninspiring, with discoloured old paving slabs and an ugly patterned concrete wall. ‘I’d seen some gorgeous fencing made from…

ARIES 21 Mar – 20 Apr You may feel as though things are moving slowly right now. Remember the saying: ‘Don’t push the river, it flows by itself.’ TAURUS 21 Apr – 21 May It’s a good time to beautify your space. It could be just having a vase of flowers to improve your mood. GEMINI 22 May – 21 Jun It’s important to take time out of the electronic world. Try to have a day off, it would help you to relax. CANCER 22 Jun – 23 Jul Financially you may be feeling concerned. Spend only on what you have to. It’s not a time to splash out. LEO 24 Jul – 23 Aug Keeping an optimistic outlook is your job this week. No matter what you see around…

“As you might have read in the papers or heard on the television every five minutes, these are unprecedented times. Our lives, we are told, will never be quite the same again. Certainly I’ll never forget the sight of Mr Dear yesterday, skipping in the garden with a piece of electric cable that he’d cut to length. ‘What on Earth are you doing with that piece of cable?’ ‘What does it look like? I’m skipping to stay fit. It’s important to stay fit – it’s good for the immune system.’ ‘Why the cable?’ ‘Because the hosepipe wasn’t really suitable.’ ‘Sorry I asked.’ Picture the scene (although only if you have no underlying health conditions). Mr D is wearing a pair of khaki shorts, elderly trainers, a pair of normal dark…