Home//Country Life/09-Jun-2021/In This Issue
Country Life|09-Jun-2021British is bestDURING the economic turmoil of the 1960s, a campaign was launched to Buy British. Ridiculed by the discovery that its own T-shirts were made in Portugal, it fizzled out and Britain’s subsequent membership of the European Union made it impossible to revive. Today, as free-trade agreements around the world are likely to expose home industries such as farming to fierce competition, the need to support our own producers is stronger than ever. We don’t, however, advocate a return to the old slogan because it shouldn’t be necessary.If consumers were aware of the outstanding quality and integrity of British goods, they’d favour them over imports. Hence this week’s Best of Britain feature (page 68). We’re proud to showcase the dazzling British talent to be found in shops or online. These manufacturers…2 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Good week forA day at the racesRoyal will be a Government pilot event to research can again, which means 12,000 people can attend each dayVictory at last!An 1815 figurehead from Nelson's Trafalgar flagship HMS Victory that was accidentally sawn to pieces in 2009 (mistaken for a modern replica) has been restored and is on display in PortsmouthBuzzy busesThe 479 bus stops of Leicester will soon be topped with ‘living roof' shelters covered in bee-friendly plants for biodiversity-a multimillion-pound project funded and managed by Clear Channel UKHitting the sauceHeinz Ketchup could be produced in the UK again for the first time since 1999, after Kraft Heinz revealed its plan to invest £140m into Wigan plant Kitt Green…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021A window into our pastTODAY, Hampshire’s Petersfield Museum re-opens after its £4 million, 2½-year redevelopment of a former Victorian courthouse, police station, stables and exercise yard, supported by a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant.Covering the past 10,000 years, the social history of the neighbouring South Downs villages is told as ‘a microcosm for the nation’, charting life from the Palaeolithic era to the modern day, featuring a Norman town charter, Bronze Age burial urns and 18th-century frock coats. The first of the museum’s three major legacies are some 1,000 paintings by 20th-century artist Flora Twort. She saw her works, which depict decades of colourful local life, as a record of some of the things we have lost’. Another local observer was Don Eades—the Petersfield Post photographer who captured everything from the final days of…2 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Town MouseLAST weekend, we decided to make the most of the sunshine and cross London by bicycle to visit friends for lunch. The decision was not popular with the children, but we eventually negotiated a route with the help of a travel app. Unfortunately, diversions onto quiet roads, and a few wrong turns, massively extended the anticipated journey to a round trip of more than 20 miles. It says a lot for the quality of our reception, which included a copious supply of lemonade, a delicious meal and excellent company, that the children grudgingly admitted—despite a steady flow of complaints and accusatory variations on the question ‘are we nearly there yet?’ —that the trip had been worthwhile.As the children grow up, the less inclined they are to show the slightest regard…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Town & Country NotebookQuiz of the week1) In which sport do matches typically consist of six chukkas?2) Which actor first played the BBC's Doctor Who?3) Extra Hot, Lemon & Herb, Garlic BBQ, Plain…ish and PERi-Tamer are spice options at which chain restaurant?4) On which mountain would you find the highest point above global mean sea level?5) How many keys are there on a piano?Word of the weekUstulate (adjective) Burnt or scorched1) Polo 2) William Hartnell 3) Nando’s 4) Everest 5) 88Time to buyPink Grapefruit & Cucumber Gin, £34, Masons of Yorkshire (01677 426467; www.masonsofyorkshire.com)Rainbow Lacquered Ice Bucket, £285, Matilda Goad (www.matildagoad.com)Set of 4 Pewter Tablecloth Weights, £18.95, Glyndebourne (01273 815033; www.glyndebourneshop.com)Let’s go outsideFindon Place, near Worthing, West Sussex. June 13, 1pm–6pm. Admission £5, pre-booking essential (www.ngs.org.uk)A country garden par excellence, which provides a…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Wines of the weekSpiced cinnamonChâteau Courac, Laudun Blanc, Côtes du Rhône Villages, France 2019. £12.95, Mr Wheeler, alc 14%A hidden white Rhône gem made from Viogner, Roussanne, Marsanne and Grenache Blanc. Layered and well made, with freshness and depth of flavour. Tropical aromas and baked apple, peach, white flowers and spiced cinnamon on the palate.Pair with lamb chopsChâteau Ksara, Old Vine Carignan, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon 2018. £12.95, The Wine Society, alc 13%New , modern red from Lebanon's oldest winery is Château Ksara's first vintage of single-varietal Carignan, a grape typically found in France and Spain. Aged in concrete, there's no oak influence, only focused, lively red fruit with an attractive herbal twist. Good purity, good acidity and great freshness. Would pair well with lamb chops.A touch of terracottaPietradolce, Rosato, Etna, Sicily, Italy 2019.…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Bring back free thinkingNOW that we can again meet and talk freely in the countryside, we realise how much political correctness has blossomed during lockdown. It’s as if there’s been a putsch by a certain elite sector of society allowing only its members to define what may be said and what may not, which opinions may be held and which must be abjured.This bewildering new morality excludes from polite society all non-believers as certainly as the Victorians excluded those who challenged their moral code. Thus, today, we are not more liberated, but simply corralled and confined in a different manner. There has become a pre-package of acceptable views and, like package holidays, only prearranged and sanctioned choices are allowed.Yet real freedom demands that we challenge these restrictions. It isn’t anti-Semitic to question Israel’s…3 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021A legacy of Hope and GloryDESPITE my birthplace in the Mississippi Delta and my early years in schools whose teachers tried hard to educate the children in the poorest state in the Union, I reckon I had a head start when I arrived in Suffolk as the bride of a farmer. White children in the Deep South were taught that America owed everything to English literature, English history and English law.As soon as we could recite the Ten Commandments and Psalm 23 by heart, we latched on to Wordsworth, Shelley and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Our valiant teachers believed it was their bounden duty to civilise us and the most likely way to achieve that was to Anglicize us. The early emphasis on kings and queens and daffodils meant the native Choctaws and Chickasaws whose land…5 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkIN 1934, a spellbound young Alec Guinness stood in the wings as John Gielgud delivered what came to be regarded as one of the definitive 20th-century performances of Hamlet. Night after night, throughout a production running for 155 shows at the New Theatre (now the Nöel Coward) in London’s West End, Guinness, cast as Osric and as one of the Players, followed each nuance of Gielgud’s interpretation of a character the watcher called ‘the loveable, distressed and romantic prince of all time’.‘For centuries, “playing the Prince” has been the ultimate actor’s challenge’For centuries, ‘playing the Prince’ has been the ultimate challenge for classically inclined British actors, from Edmund Kean and David Garrick in the 18th century and Henry Irving in the 19th, to Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave and Guinness himself…3 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Our little Princess LilibetON the platform at Ballater station, on September 17, 1934, reporters seized gratefully on the unaffected liveliness of one of the royal party gathered to greet the newest recruit to George V’s family. Princess Marina of Greece, engaged to the King’s youngest son, George, Duke of Kent, was making her first visit to Balmoral; her welcoming party included her fiancé’s sister-in-law, the duch*ess of York, and the duch*ess’s eight-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth. ‘Obviously excited’, the little princess danced round and round on the red carpet until, noted the Gloucester Citizen: ‘Princess Marina… stooped down to kiss her future niece.’‘Lady Cynthia claimed she had “never met a child who seemed more in love with life”’Almost a century ago, excitement and liveliness lay at the heart of the public image of the…6 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The jeweller, the baker, the bicycle makerCRAFTSMANSHIP names an enduring, basic human impulse, the desire to do a job well for its own sake,’ wrote the American sociologist Prof Richard Sennett in his book The Craftsman. Artisan producers of quality British-made wares will no doubt agree and so, too, will countless consumers, many of whom are weary of the cheap, mass-produced, throwaway culture that began to ramp up several decades ago, when imports from far-flung lands started flooding Britain’s shores—and still do.Nowadays, British-made products are fighting back, with ever more purchasers willing to meet a higher price tag to buy into quality, character, craftsmanship and longevity, not to mention eco-friendliness and a lower carbon footprint.Pashley has made bicycles in Britain for almost a century and is only one of the 66 great British companies profiled here.…37 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The great British safari1 Manx shearwaters on SkomerA TINY island off the Pembrokeshire coast boasts the largest breeding colony of Manx shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus) in the world; they arrive in March from South America. When the bird was first scientifically recorded, in 1676 on the Calf of Man, it was known as the Manx puffin for its plump shape and, like puffins, which are also prolific on Skomer, they nest in burrows to avoid predation by gulls. The shearwater’s physiognomy (with its legs set far back on the body) is organised for graceful swimming and flying, not walking, and its slow waddle makes the bird vulnerable.A summer-evening boat cruise from Martin’s Haven is the prime viewing time although, ironically, it is rough weather that will bring the birds out. An overnight stay on…16 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021On the recordThe South of England Show, Ardingly, West Sussex, takes place on June 11–13 (www.seas.org.uk)Where is your favourite place in Britain? The hills and moors of the North of England, from North Yorkshire up through the Cheviots and into the Borders. They’re uniquely wonderful and wildWho is your hero? NFU president Minette Batters —she fought like a tigress to get the farmers the [Brexit] deal they didBook? Barchester Towers (Anthony Trollope) or Mr Facey Romford’s Hounds (R. S. Surtees)Music? Military music—the standard of music at the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral was quite extraordinary…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021I see the seaMANY are convinced that the moon’s cycle affects their mood, sleep patterns and dreams, and there are some claims it affects crime levels, too—although the jury’s out on that. One thing it certainly does affect is the tide, which can be more predictable than some people’s moods. Two high and two low tides occur daily around Britain, building up to a maximum and dropping to a minimum twice a month. The tides with the biggest difference between high and low water are called springs (just after every full and new moon, when the sun, moon and earth are in line) and those with the smallest are neaps (when the moon is in the first or third quarter, when the sun, earth and moon form a right angle).…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021All things bright and beautifulTHE sun is shining, the grass is growing and, finally, photographers frustrated by a cold, grey April and a wet, windy May can take their ‘killer shots’ of pretty manors and farmhouses that will lure prospective buyers to quiet unspoilt corners of the English countryside.Widely recognised as England’s quietest county, Shropshire boasts some of the least-cluttered landscapes in the country. Here, Tony Morris-Eyton of Savills in Telford (07967 555652) is handling the sale—at a guide price of £1.85 million—of exquisite Grade II*-listed Marche Manor, near the village of Halfway House, two miles from Westbury and 10 miles from Shrewsbury, in picturesque south Shropshire. For locals, Halfway House is said to be midpoint between Shrewsbury and the Welsh border town of Welshpool; outliers see it as halfway between Birmingham and the…6 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021A vision in greenNO pink’ was the sole demand made by Nigel Wiggins of his new head gardener, Kathy Worner, when she joined him 20 years ago. This was soon after he had moved into Holcombe Court, the finest Tudor house in Devon, the subsequent extensive restoration of which was covered in COUNTRY LIFE last year (May 27 and June 3).Miss Worner had worked for the previous owners, but had left briefly because there had been only one herbaceous border then, offering little to exercise her imagination, nor, indeed, her many as-yet-untapped talents. When she realised that Mr Wiggins was as serious about developing the garden as he was about restoring the house, she soon agreed to return, at first part time and then, as the project developed, for more hours. Today, there…7 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Beacons of hope• Greek mythology describes beacons being used to tell of the fall of Troy: according to Agamemnon, news of the city's defeat was transmitted from there to Argos-320 miles-in a single night• Beacons were placed around England's coastline on December 31, 1981, to signal the start of the English Tourist Board's Maritime England project. The first was lit at Great Yarmouth by Lord Nelson, the direct descendant of Admiral Horatio Nelson. Beacons were used again in October 2005, in celebration of the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar• In 1995, beacons marked the 50th anniversary of VE Day, but any plans to commemorate the 75th anniversary, in May 2020, were thwarted• November 2018 saw 1,000 Beacons of Light lit throughout the UK and UK overseas territories in remembrance of the…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Diverse divas of the pastSINGING voices go in and out of fashion. Although they were both consummate artists, to today’s ears, the Scottish soprano Isobel Baillie (1895–1983) might sound sweet and clear, if small and narrow in focus, whereas Clara Butt (1892–1936), all 6ft 2in of her, had an enormous range, but made what now come over as very obvious gear changes between chest voice and upper register.In the world of classical singing, there are many different voice types, but, in general, they divide in the operatic context into sopranos and mezzo-sopranos, tenors and counter-tenors, baritones and basses. In choral repertoire, the division is simplified to SATB (sopranos, altos, tenors and basses). Beyond these are trebles—usually boy sopranos before puberty—and contraltos, the lowest range of female voice. Subtly different and specialist voices identified and…6 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021A life in the frame1904 Cecil Walter Hardy is born on January 14, to timber merchant and amateur actor Ernest Beaton and his wife, Etty1915 Given his first camera, a Box Brownie, having learnt photography from his nurse, Alice Collard (Ninnie)April 1924 First photograph in Vogue, of fellow Cambridge student George Rylands as the duch*ess of Malfi1927 First solo exhibition, at the Cooling Gallery, sponsored by Osbert Sitwell1928 First visit to America1930 Publishes The Book of Beauty1939 Summoned to Buckingham Palace to photograph Princess Elizabeth1942 Publishes Winged Squadrons, a book of photographs of wartime Britain1972 Knighted1980 Dies on January 18…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021With love from me to you• Lovespoon Workshop (01834 812152; www.thelovespoon workshop.com) The business is run by Dai ‘Lovespoons' Thomas and his father, Thomas ‘the Woodcarver' Thomas, who has been making bespoke lovespoons since 1969• Angel Woodcrafts (01443 480138; www.angelwoodcraft.co.uk) Founded in 1985 by Paul Curtis, who carved his first spoon after a visit to master craftsman Gwyndaf Breese, who taught him all about lovespoons• Adam King (07761 596616; www.adamking.co.uk) Hand-carved bespoke lovespoons, from dragons and hearts to cats chasing mice• Tim Bowen Antiques (01267 267122; www.timbowenantiques.co.uk) This furniture and folk-art specialist in Carmarthenshire has some exceptional antique examples…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Hibernation, not migrationLONG ago, we lived in Selborne, a Hampshire village famous for its massy graveyard yew, its beech hangers and the Revd Gilbert White, the first great English naturalist. One of the perks of life there was free access to his house, The Wakes, now a museum, with a large garden where our firstborn son could crawl on a nice clean lawn, free of the chicken droppings of home.White lived quietly here all his life and the museum, struggling to find enough paraphernalia to display, gives space to a small, unrelated exhibition dedicated to Capt Lawrence ‘Titus’ Oates, he of the polar expedition and the noble exit. Oates and White make a slightly odd couple, but, like many economical bachelor set ups, it has grown comfortable over time and lets visitors…3 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Bad week forPicking flowersGiant hogweed has been spotted in quite a few parks and gardens. Known as Britain's most dangerous plant, it looks a little like enormous cow parsley, grows near water and has a toxic sap that, when touched, causes blistering burnsArchitectural puristsExperts say the 316ft-tall tower of Big Ben is perfect for biomass energy and could be turned into a living building, harvesting crops such as corn and soyCity livingSome 44% of Britons find urban living less appealing since the pandemic, 10% have already moved out of cities and 24% will no longer commute into town for workBug splatsBuglife has launched an app-Bugs Matter-to track bug splats on car number plates, after a Kent study found a worrying decline of 50%…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021‘I was passing Dunchraigaig Cairn at dusk’THE earliest known animal carvings in Scotland have been discovered by an amateur archaeologist in Kilmartin Glen, Argyll. Estimated at between 4,000 and 5,000 years old, they depict two adult red deer with fully grown antlers, and three other quadrupeds.‘I was passing Dunchraigaig Cairn at dusk when I noticed the burial chamber... As I shone the torch around, I noticed a pattern on the underside of the roof slab that didn’t appear to be natural markings,’ says archaeology graduate Hamish Fenton. ‘I could see I was looking at a stag upside down, and as I continued observing, more animals appeared on the rock. This was a completely amazing and unexpected find. To me, discoveries such as this are the real treasure of archaeology.’Historic Environment Scotland (HES), which owns the 98ft-wide…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Oh, the agony!Bad kittyQ During lockdown, I bought a kitten for company. It was quite sweet when small, if always slightly feral, but it’s getting meaner with age. It recently launched itself at my boyfriend’s face for no apparent reason—he was lucky to keep his eyes. I’m convinced my cat hates me and am feeling trapped. How might we make friends?R. M., East SussexA Had you never come across a cat before? Cats are meant to hate you—that is the whole point. I maintain that the Ancient Egyptians only worshipped them because they were too afraid not to. This is why I’m more of a dog person: your forearms remain unscathed, you aren’t woken in the night by a feline attempting to asphyxiate you by sitting on your face and you look…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Simple suppers• Make slits in the flesh of two medium-sized aubergines and drizzle with olive oil before roasting in a moderately hot oven for 30 minutes or until cooked.• Cut the aubergines in half lengthways, scoop out the flesh and cut it into cubes. In a bowl, mix the flesh with quartered figs, halved cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and a handful of fresh rocket leaves.• In a separate bowl, mix together 3tbspn of tahini, 2tbspn of soy sauce, 2tbspn of mirin, 1tspn of sugar and a splash of white wine.• Pour the dressing over the salad mixture, then pile it onto the aubergine skins to serve.…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Challenge violence of every kindYOUR editorial ‘Politics of outrage’ (May 26), on the threat to monuments from within the Anglican Church, admirably hits the spot. With the possible exception of one or two isolated examples, such as Sir Thomas Picton, precisely what evidence is there that people, especially communicants, find them troubling or oppressive? Any removal of monuments is an assault on the fabric of the church and Britain’s built heritage—thus, highly ironically, it would be in flagrant breach of the Anglican communion, ‘to challenge violence of every kind’.Dr Mark Stocker, Christchurch, New ZealandThe writer of the letter of the week will win a bottle of Pol Roger Brut Réserve Champagne…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Beware of tugging a loose threadLAST month Jesus College, Cambridge, submitted an application to remove the funerary monument of Tobias Rustat (d. 1693), a fine portrait roundel attributed to Grin-ling Gibbons (page 166), from its chapel. Rustat gave the college one of its largest ever benefactions in 1671 and his monument is a presiding artistic treasure of this outstanding interior. The inscription notes Rustat’s faithful service to Charles II and his many charitable benefactions. It makes no reference, however, to his association with the Royal African Company, which was involved in slavery on a large scale.The submission cites the Church of England’s advice on monuments—the subject of our May 26 Leader—arguing that the chapel needs to be a welcoming space and that the monument prevents that. It also makes it clear that there is real…2 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021My favourite painting Tatiana Fokina‘As sad as the subject of this painting is, for me, it is one of the most striking and aesthetically pleasing works. The painting has also influenced so many other artists and inspired a cornucopia of beautiful art, from fashion to music. I’m always struck by the drama of death juxtaposed by the calm, diverse wildlife, which seems to all blend into one. The intricate detail in the painting, for which the Pre-Raphaelites were so celebrated–from the realism of Ophelia to the dress becoming part of the foliage–is absolutely mesmerising. Nature is as much of a protagonist as the main subject’John McEwen comments on OpheliaMILLAIS (aged 11) remains the youngest-ever pupil of the Royal Academy Schools. His family, one of the longest established on Jersey, came to London to further…2 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Life and times: William ShakespeareConsidered the first English writer to become wealthy from his published output, Shakespeare was born in 1564 in the market town of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, the son of a trader. Attendance at the local grammar gave him an ample grounding in the Classics, mythology and Roman history. Although he had to move to London to make his name, his rural origins are reflected in texts rich in their references to native flora.An actor before he was a writer, there is a tradition that he played the Ghost in an early production of Hamlet. Many of his plays, almost certainly including Hamlet, were reworkings of older material by other writers, but alongside the achievement of his great comedies and tragedies, Shakespeare was one of the first to understand that theatre could bring…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The Queen's childhoodApril 21, 1926 Born1927 Moves to 145, Piccadilly, her parents' London home until their accession to the throneAugust 1930 Her only sibling, Margaret Rose, is bornSpring 1931 Begins schoolroom lessons with her nanny, Allah, including French lessons using gramophone recordsAutumn 1931 First mention of Princess Elizabeth, independent of her parents, in the Court Circular published in The TimesMay 1932 Receives from the people of Wales Y Bwthyn Bach, the miniature house that became a symbol of Elizabeth's happy childhoodAutumn 1933 Arrival of Marion Crawford, ‘Crawfie', as Elizabeth's governessJanuary 1936 Death of George V, accession of Edward VIIIDecember 1936 Abdication of Edward VIII, accession of George VI; the new king's daughter Elizabeth becomes the heiress presumptiveJuly 1939 First meeting with Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, at Britannia Royal Naval College,…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Is it made in Britain?How do you know if a product has been made in Britain? Actually, it can be hard to tell, because Britain doesn't have exclusivity when it comes to quality artisan goods and it is easy enough to set up a website that gives a deceptive feel of ‘homemade'. If you're passionate about buying British, try the following:• Look for the Made In Britain collective mark (www.madeinbritain.org)-morethan 1,000 businesses use it and each one needs to pass a stringent accreditation process to do so• Products being exported from Britain can use the free ‘Made in Britain' logo (www.madeinbritain.co)• Various websites help to promote British-made goods, including www.makeitbritish.co.uk and www.madeingreatbritain.uk• Scour a company's own website. If it makes products in Britain, it should proclaim that fact prominently and in detail. If a…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Watch the birdieHandy referenceThe Collins BTO Guide to British Birds by Paul Sterry and Paul Stancliffe (Collins, £19.99) is portable and informative. Even birders who prefer illustrations to photographs admit that it's high quality. The companion book about rare birds is also recommended (www.nhbs.com)A helping handFor parting brambles or balance on a rocky path: chest-high Staghorn Hiking Stick made from shed antlers with walnut indented thumb rest from The Stick & Cane Shop, £69.95 (0345 602 3712; www.stickandcaneshop.co.uk)Draught excluderThe RSPB's neckwarmers, with either marshland or marine-bird designs, double up as scarves, masks, headband or beanies, £16 (https://shopping.rspb.org.uk)Get aheadBarbour's stylish brown Flowerdale Trilby (for women) is discreet and lightweight. Its crochet-type design means you won't get too hot and it'll shade your eyes, £37.95; for men, there's the Rothbury in light tan, £39.95…2 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021A royal quarter for us allAT last, a new London park. James I gave us Hyde Park. Charles II gave St James’s. George III opened Kensington Gardens. Queen Mary left a Rose Garden in Regent’s Park. England’s monarchs have taken their time handing over London’s medieval hunting grounds to its citizens. Now the last of these is on offer.The Prince of Wales has let it be known that he would agree to open the 40 acres of Buckingham Palace gardens—which, technically, belong to the state—to the public on becoming King. It remains to be seen what this means. The gardens are already open with the palace during summer months. But to allow a ‘right to roam’ over these glorious acres would be as fine a crowning gift as could be imagined.The gardens themselves date from…4 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The philosophical boarIN April 1785, an unusual guest was ushered into Brooks’s in St James’s Street, London. The illustrious club’s members included Prime Minister William Pitt and the Prince of Wales, yet the entry of these august personages caused nothing like the stir this visitor did. He was portly, with heavy jowls, large ears and a long nose. Apart from a waistcoat and collar, he was naked. This was unsurprising, as the guest was a pig. Not any old pig, mind you—this was Toby the Learned Pig, one of Georgian England’s greatest celebrities.Toby had arrived in London a year earlier, after a sensational tour of the provinces. He astounded audiences by doing arithmetic and spelling names using typographical cards, which he picked up in his mouth and arranged on the floor. More…4 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Those gorgeous GeorgiansSomerset £2.95 millionThe owners of classically Georgian, Grade II-listed Haygrass House, in the village of Shoreditch, near Taunton, must have been thrilled to hunker down last year. Beyond the grand, but not too grand, portico's double doors lie a wine cellar, study, two kitchens, a library, ballroom, cinema room and six reception rooms, some with floor-to-ceiling sash windows and open fires. The south-facing drawing room's bay window looks out over extensive formal gardens in grounds that extend to almost 30 acres and contain a tennis court, swimming pool, American-style barn, stables and paddock. The main house has nine bedrooms and there's a lodge and stable flat with two bedrooms apiece. Jackson-Stops (01823 325144)Lincolnshire £1.65 millionCommanding a gentle hillside with far-reaching views in the hamlet of Creeton, 10 miles north of…5 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021We need a national rose gardenGRAHAM STUART THO-MAS was once called ‘the greatest gardener ever’. That may be debatable (nominations, please), but no one doubts his enormous influence on how we garden today. During his years as gardens adviser to the National Trust, Thomas made attractive, but cheap-to-maintain gardens for more than 100 newly acquired and run-down properties. After he retired (he was still bright and active in his nineties), he wrote a series of books about perennials, alpines, bamboos, trees and climbers. They taught us how to use plants to make our gardens beautiful.Thomas’s most influential publication, however, came out long before he started writing books. It was the catalogue of old roses he produced after the end of the Second World War, when he was working as managing director of a wholesale nursery…4 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The Archers Quiz1950s1 What is the Archer family celebrating in the very first episode, aired on January 1, 1951?2 In which county is their village, Ambridge?3 Who is the only surviving character from 1951?4 In 1951, patriarch Dan Archer retired his working horses. What were their names?5 In 1955, listeners were so gripped by the drama of Phil Archer’s first wife, Grace, being killed in a stable fire, that they largely ignored the launch of which television channel?6 Which character first appeared as a gadget demonstrator working in a Borchester department store?7 Which actress is still playing Jill Archer?8 In 1956, what disease devastated the livestock at Brookfield Farm?9 In 1959, Jack and Peggy Archer bought the village pub. What is its name?10 Who hijacked Walter Gabriel’s minibus?1960s1 Which character was born…5 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The richest of them allA voice type that was used by Handel to great effect and which is rare, but extremely beautiful is the contralto, a properly velvet, ‘dark-chocolate' sound, of which Kathleen Ferrier was one of the most well-loved exponents until her untimely death from cancer in 1953-fortunately, her uniquely rich sound has been preserved on numerous recordings.A favourite of Handel's in the 18th century was Anastasia Robinson, who sang Cornelia in Giulio Cesare and who started her career as a soprano, but whose voice dropped in pitch after an illness. Another was Susannah Cibber, sister of the composer Thomas Arne, who became unfairly notorious when her abusive husband involved her in a public lawsuit. Handel wrote the contralto arias in Messiah for her; at its first performance, in Dublin in 1742, the…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Beaton at homeBEATON loved architectural beauty as much as he did human grace. In 1930, he discovered Ashcombe House in a difficult-to-find valley near Tollard Royal, Wiltshire, and ‘stood spellbound… it looms rather like a dwelling to which some royalty has been banished in a fairy story’. Beaton took a 15-year lease and joined the ‘weekend-cottage game’, as Christopher Hussey called it, which saw dilapidated country houses restored and filled with revellers. Not far from Stephen Tennant’s home, Wilsford, the house confirmed Beaton’s place in Society and was the idyllic setting for his Fête Champêtre.When the lease expired, Beaton transferred his affections to Reddish House, a Queen Anne building of rose-coloured brick with a touch of Rococo Wren. He bought it for £10,000 in 1947 and lived there until his death in…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Pick of the weekI am telling me about his recent purchase of a silver teapot in a sale held by Trevanion of Whitchurch, Shropshire. It came with a page from COUNTRY LIFE, February 20, 1958, five months after my revered predecessor Frank Davis launched his ‘Talking about Salerooms' column. He wrote: ‘There are silver tea-pots and silver tea-pots, and when one of them changes hands for several thousand pounds-as happens not infrequently… half the population is convinced that its own grandmother's tea-pot is worth four figures, and the other half is liable to believe that nothing desirable can be obtained for less than three.' He went on to record that he had recently bought for a friend ‘a wholly charming tea-pot with a no less charming stand' marked 1787, for £36-perhaps equivalent to…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021A tree is known by its fruitNEXT year, Country Life will reach its 125th birthday. To celebrate, we’re teaming up with wealth-management firm Charles Stanley and Forestry England to plant as many trees as possible. The COUNTRY LIFE Forest is already under way with enough funding to plant the first 1,000 saplings—but we’d like your help. For every £5 pledged, we are able to plant yet another tree and help support the planet’s delicate ecosystem.The COUNTRY LIFE Forest—the location of which will be confirmed once the campaign has closed—will include native and non-native trees, grown from seed in the UK in Forestry England’s purpose-built nursery. Using a mixture of species is fundamental to any wood’s survival and ours will include species carefully selected to withstand a hotter and drier climate.Visit www.countrylife.co.uk/trees or turn to page 120…2 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021When the bark isn’t worse than the bitePOLICE will be given greater power to act swiftly over livestock worrying in proposed edits to the Kept Animals Bill, announced yesterday. Last year, dogs chasing or attacking livestock on agricultural land were estimated to have cost the industry £1.3 million.The list of animals protected by the Bill will now include llamas, emus, enclosed deer and donkeys, with new locations including roadsides and paths. Currently, most livestock-worrying cases peter out due to lack of evidence, but now, police will be able to take samples and enter property to identify and seize dogs they believe pose an ongoing risk.‘Growing up on a farm, I know first-hand the devastating effect of livestock worrying and the distress it causes to animals and farmers, as well as the financial implications,’ says Farming Minister Victoria…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Country MouseIN just under a year’s time, as a nation, we will be celebrating The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. There will be a four-day Bank Holiday weekend, from Thursday, June 2, to Sunday, June 5. These things take a lot of organising and, already, the major plans for a concert at Buckingham Palace, Trooping the Colour, a service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral and a trip to the Derby for The Queen are in place.I have enjoyed all the Jubilees, starting with the Silver in 1977, when I was 13. The 1970s were a pretty grim decade, with three-day weeks, a winter of discontent and social uncertainty. The Jubilee seemed like a miracle. Everyone came together, half a billion people around the world watched on television, the Sex Pistols hit the…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Book of the weekPalace of the Drowned, Christine Mangan (Little Brown, £14.99)Frances, a writer suffering a major comedown after the success of her first novel-something unlikely to happen to Christine Mangan, previously author of the enthralling Tangerine-is staying in Venice, at the time of the 1966 flooding, to recover from a devastating review and a humiliation at The Savoy. She is befriended by Gilly, apparently a deranged fan, but, as the murky waters swirl, it's hard to tell who in this dark psychological thriller, which has echoes of du Maurier, is the maddest.…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021In the spotlightGenerally speaking, insects that are slow on their feet tend to be plant feeders and those that scuttle here and there are predators. The green tiger beetle is a fearsome hunter with large, attentive eyes and a mean set of mandibles at the business end-all the better for locking onto and demolishing its prey. With a preference for dry, sandy soils such as heaths, brownfield sites and waysides in open country, it is energised by summer's warmth, venturing out in search of spiders, caterpillars and other small invertebrates. Often, you will only spot it when it springs up and flies off in front of you, landing a few yards on, until disturbed again.Although only half an inch or so long, Cicindela campestris is worth closer inspection: it's a splendid sight…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The way we were1898 UnpublishedThe driver of a pony and trap pauses to talk to a young man at the edge of a Warwickshire ford. The Water Tower of Kenilworth Castle, visible through the trees to the left and already a celebrated beauty spot, identifies the precise location. The tracks in the road and the distant lamp show that this is not an entirely rural scene.The COUNTRY LIFE Picture Library contains 120 years' worth of photography and articles from the world's leading architectural and gardens experts. We are delighted to note that works are again available to license or purchase in print form, from £35 plus VAT.Please email enquiries to licensing@futurenet.com…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The legacy of PoloniusConsidering that Polonius, counsellor to Hamlet's father, was a conniving busybody whose spying tendencies got him killed, leading to the wonderfully ham ‘Oh! I am slain!', he was given some of the wisest, most enduring lines‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry’‘The apparel oft proclaims the man'‘To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou cans’t not then be false to any man’‘Brevity is the soul of wit'‘Though this be madness, yet there is method in it’…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021What they said‘Its true hero is man –haunted man… Man unable to either quite reject or quite to admit the supernatural, man struggling to get something done as man has struggled from the beginning…’C. S. Lewis (1942)‘[Shakespeare] did not see his way clearly enough to save the tons of ink and paper and “years of man’s time” that have been wasted, and are still being wasted, on innumerable volumes of nonsense about the meaning of Hamlet’George Bernard Shaw (1945)‘Hamlet is brave and careless of death; but he vacillates from sensibility, and procrastinates from thought, and loses the power of action in the energy of resolve’Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1808)…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Princess Elizabeth and her animals: a lifelong loveBaby Elizabeth was weeks short of her first birthday when Queen Mary described to Elizabeth’s father, the Duke of York, a car journey they had shared: ‘Your adorable child… was awfully good, giving shrieks of delight at each dog she saw.’On the same visit to her grandparents, Elizabeth had encountered the King’s Cairn terrier, Snip, and his African grey parrot, Charlotte. Queen Mary noted her excitement at breakfast, ‘watch[ing] the bird eating pips with an air of absorption’. Later, Elizabeth’s parents acquired a parrot called Jimmie. It was George V who gave the little princess her first pony, a Shetland called Peggy, described as ‘full of latent mischief’ and her favourite of her fourth-birthday presents.After a summer of riding lessons on Peggy, Elizabeth knew exactly what she wanted when she…2 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The art of revivalELTON HALL, near Peterborough, is a house of many faces. It is formal and Classical on the approach, yet reveals on inspection a complex architectural history stretching back to the Middle Ages. All this with gardens that extend and frame it with a kind of painterly stillness. Inside, the house has one of the best private art collections in the East of England.COUNTRY LIFE last visited Elton in 1988, when an article by Gervase Jackson-Stops campaigned against a proposed new road. Before that, in 1957, were three fulsome pieces by Arthur Oswald, which ignored the division of half the house into flats. Since 1980, Sir William and Lady Proby have not only reversed that subdivision and restored the complex roof and stonework, but also laid out new gardens, rehung pictures…10 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The folly of historySIR NICHOLAS SOAMES is the sort of character of whom it’s said that ‘they don’t make them like that any more’. Even with his now slimmer frame, he cuts a formidable figure, conversing in a splendid basso profundo. ‘God almighty, what a question!’, he booms. ‘I thought this was COUNTRY LIFE, not Politico!’ We’re here to talk about his presidency of the South of England Show, which runs in pared-down form this weekend, but there’s no extricating the former Member for Mid Sussex from politics.He stepped down at the 2019 election after 35 years, but says: ‘I really don’t miss it all. I’m not a great looker-backer. But I regret, in a way, that I didn’t stand down at the election before, because the last five years were absolutely vile.’…5 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The right tree in the right placeMY love of trees began when I was a boy. Picnics in the woods with my father and grandfather are strong childhood memories, being awestruck by the mystery and majesty of the landscape and the environment. My father was an accomplished forester, so, as I grew up around Nature, I also learned about woodland management and good silviculture. These experiences had a profound effect on me, and I discovered my life’s passion.My work has shown me the myriad benefits well-planned and well-managed woodlands bring to communities, businesses and the environment. As chair of the National Forest, I was involved in an ambitious and successful project that increased tree cover for more than 200 square miles of the Midlands from 6% to more than 21% in 30 years, and recently celebrated…4 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Come out of your shellI’VE yet to meet a crab I didn’t like. On the plate that is, rather than hanging tenaciously from my little toe, in the style of some bawdy Donald McGill seaside postcard. Because this fearsomely clawed crustacean is one of the steadfast stars of the culinary firmament, an endlessly versatile hard-shelled hero that never fails to delight.In fact, given the choice between thuggish lobster and nimble crab, I’d always plump for the latter. The flesh is more subtle, albeit rather trickier to extract. However, that’s all part of the charm, off-road eating of the most visceral kind; cracking and crunching and picking and sucking. Of course, you can buy your meat ready prepared, but that means you miss out on all that messy, mucky fun.As to my favourite, I couldn’t…4 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021One of a kindA step aheadBisca is known for the design and manufacture of bespoke staircases, built entirely in the company's own workshop in Helmsley on the edge of the North York Moors. The sweeping Art Nouveau-inspired design shown here started life as a sketch, before its completion in pale oak with a hand-forged, tapered and scrolled steel balustrade (01439 771702; www.bisca.co.uk)Follow the rulesFounded by siblings Rupert and Leo Vaughan Williams, Rule Brothers creates luxury furniture, all made by hand in the west of England, within 50 miles of where it is designed, with an emphasis on indigenous woods such as oak, walnut, plane, sycamore and English hornbeam. One-off pieces are a speciality-from a humidor to a sumptuous sofa, such as this one, which is designed to fit around a pillar (07770 650066;…3 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The mature dressage riderMelissa was promised a horse for her 57th birthday, but her husband didn't realise she was going to go to Holland with Carl Hester to buy one. Nor did he foresee the tennis court turning into an all-weather arena. A new lorry is the size of a cottage: when he pointed out that Melissa is quite a way off the World Cup circuit, she sharply retorted that all ‘athletes' need somewhere peaceful to ‘visualise' their test. The paraphernalia-everything's either spangly or Persilwhite-is endless. So are the training videos Melissa watches in bed. The golfing fortnight in Marbella has become five days at Aachen show in Germany. Melissa now doesn't seem to be able to listen to music without prancing around weirdly; she calls it ‘piaffe-passage'.…1 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021The spark in our bonfire heartsLONG before telephones and texts, beacons played a key role in the networks of local, regional and national communications. Before that, Celtic bonfires sent messages to the gods requesting fruitful crops and the sun’s return after winter. Being nearer to the heavens and, therefore, closer to the deities in whom the worshippers believed, hilltops were frequently the favoured places for positioning any such beacons of hope. High ground was considered to be one of the most sacred parts of the earth—a consideration that continued into Christianity. In the book of Isaiah, ‘a beacon upon the top of a mountain’ is mentioned and Jeremiah tells of ‘a sign of fire’ warning of forthcoming evil.For navigation more practical than spiritual, beacons situated along the coastline guided sailors and their ships into safe…5 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Sculpting realityON May 11, 1769, Horace Walpole wrote to his friend George Montagu to report on the reception of a glittering array of English, French, Spanish and Portuguese guests at Strawberry Hill: ‘At the gates of the castle I received them dressed in the cravat of Gibbons’s carving, and a pair of gloves embroidered up to the elbows that had belonged to James I. The French servants stared and firmly believed this was the dress of English country gentlemen.’The cravat that Walpole wore survives. Carved of close-grained limewood in about 1690, it resembles with almost disconcerting exactitude a piece of knotted and starched lace. The natural effects are yielded so exactly in three dimensions that the eye can suspend its disbelief and mistake the artificial work of sculpture for the real…5 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021On the Beaton trackTODAY, it is Instagram that offers curated snapshots of idealised lives, but, in the 1920s and 1930s, Cecil Beaton caught the gilded denizens of Society with a silvery magic equal to any filter. His photographs, confections of costume and chiaroscuro, capture the very characteristics that made each person worth immortalising, from Lady Edwina Mountbatten’s skin, ‘one of the most perfect complexions in London’, to the ‘fearless profile’ of aircraft designer Maxine Freeman-Thomas and Lady Diana Cooper’s ‘perfect oval’ face with lips of ‘japonica red’.His depiction of the ‘tall, graceful scarecrow’ Edith Sitwell, who was conscious of her size, in various Gothic roles won her admiration—‘how well worth it was to turn green with terror at the top of that chest, to have such photographs as these’—and the patronage of her…5 min
Country Life|09-Jun-2021Be my little spoonFOR as long as anyone knows, people have found ways to express their love for others. The most obvious objects are engagement and wedding rings, symbols of a couple’s love, union and marriage in ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt—and ever since. Sometimes, however, a ring isn’t appropriate; there are circ*mstances when only a spoon will do.The Welsh lovespoon doesn’t sound that romantic. It is a wooden spoon—but one adorned with hand-carved decoration, traditionally given to represent one person’s love for another.‘The tradition of lovespoon carving has survived intact and continues’‘Each spoon is unique and often features initials or dates personal to the recipient, but, over time, a series of symbols was employed to depict romantic thoughts and feelings, such as hearts, diamonds and wheels,’ says Fflur Morse, senior curator of…3 min
