Sprouting pencils
An inspired invention – plantable sprouting pencils. Made by a Danish start-up, each pencil contains a seed capsule (herbs, flowers, veg, even trees) which, once the pencil has become too small to write with, can be planted. Latest sprouting pencils produce three varieties of chilli – hot, red cayenne, hotter purira pepper and hottest, orange habanero.
Sprout plantable pencils, £4.90 for a pack of three pencils, available from sproutworld.com or notonthehighstreet.com
Tate Modern Switch House
Tate Modern’s new gallery, The Switch House opened in June with, amongst other things, a new bar and restaurant. Food for both is sourced from small suppliers and independent businesses across the UK. Swaledale lamb, Suffolk cured ham, fish from Cornish day boats, Bermondsey brewed beer and coffee roasted at Tate Britain in a WWII nissen hut
The Switch House at Tate Modern, for details visit http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern
Historic newspaper recipes
The Historic Newspaper company has extended its range of notable newspaper editions and front pages (doubtless copies containing the Brexit result will feature for years to come) with a collection of recipes and cookery ideas from newspapers dating from the 30s to the 90s, all reprinted from the original articles
Vintage Recipe Books from £12.99, available historic-newspapers.co.uk