Paws & whiskers

TRY THIS! Style up your patio with an outdoor chalkboard, £10.95, display-sign.co.uk

Become a coffee boffin

We’ve been drinking coffee for a long time now! It’s thought that coffee was discovered by a ninth-century Ethiopian abbot. One day a local goatherd mentioned to the abbot that his goats had become incredibly energetic f k b f m a small rious, the cided to berries. ted them, before pouring boiling water over them. The world’s first barista had arrived! It took several centuries for coffee to spread across Africa and the Middle East and finally – via the Ottoman Empire – into Europe. By the 16th century, it had infiltrated the Vatican, becoming popular with Pope Clement VIII. And in 1650 the first British coffee shop opened in Oxford. Today, coffee and tea share the title of the UK’s most consumed drink.

Compost your grounds

Add coffee grounds to your compost heap or scatter them around plants to improve your soil. In compost, coffee grounds count as green matter – wet, organic material that supplies nitrogen and nutrients to your compost mix. To create a compost heap that heats up sufficiently to break down the vegetable matter but doesn’t smell, you need to build a pile that’s four parts brown matter – dry, wood-based material like dry leaves, sawdust and newspaper – to one part green matter.

Before you sprinkle coffee grounds directly onto the soil, rinse them first, as this reduces their acidity. Use a fork to work them into the ground.

PATIO READING

Coffee morning for one? The Coffee Trader by David Liss (£10.99, waterstones. com) will keep you entertained as you sup in the sunshine, the novel telling of the arrival of coffee in 17th century Amsterdam. BEAN BEATS

It’s simple to create the perfect chillout garden playlist to sip your coffee to. Search online for ‘coffeehouse playlist’ or ask Alexa to ‘play coffee shop chillout music’. Ours starts with Finally M b P L h SIP AND SAVE

Support the RSPB with Bird & Wild Espresso Dar Roast Organic Coffee. Six percent of sales go ght to the RSPB to give nature a home, nd the beans are grown on forest farms certified as bird friend y he Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. 6 x 200g bags, birdandwild.co.uk.