Innholdsfortegnelse for August 26, 2015 i Country Life

WE expected better of George Osborne. Last week, in an article in the Daily Telegraph, written with Defra Secretary Liz Truss, he painted the Tories as the party of the countryside. As a point of geography, they are. Nearly all the rural landmass of England—from Land’s End to Hadrian’s Wall—and much of Wales is coloured blue, spattered with only a few mustard patches for the diminished Lib Dems. But to say that the governments of which he has been Chancellor are emotionally committed to the rural cause is practically the opposite of the truth. These have been governments in which the Treasury calls the shots. Mr Osborne’s metropolitan outlook does more than set the tone—it determines where the money goes and even policy on planning. The Treasury has done its…

THERE are three generations of Dandie Dinmonts frolicking under the kitchen table of Bunny Rolls’s (right) Hampshire home—Sybil, her daughter, Betty, and Betty’s new litter of five. ‘We have quite a houseful,’ confirms Bunny, who first became aware of the breed in her early twenties. ‘I can remember thinking they were just the most wonderful dogs and that, one day, I’d love to have one of my own.’ ‘I bought my first Dandy Dinmont—Monty—22 years ago. He was the most loyal, sweet-natured dog and he adored people. He used to come out riding with me—we’d be out for hours. He had selective terrier hearing—he’d dart into the woods after a rabbit or a squirrel and there was nothing I could do to stop him, but once he’d had his fun,…

THE farmer will say that the science of farming is not a woman’s job, but it is exactly what she ought to know about,’ Margaret (‘Madge’) Watt, a major force behind Canada’s Women’s Institute (WI) movement, told an impressed audience of trainee county volunteer officers in Britain in 1918. ‘So we want the farmer’s wife to attend the WI; we want her to get into the habit of seeing books and papers on the science of farming, and to link up her own home interests with her husband’s business interests.’ This was heady, inspiring talk: women barely had the vote and few were used to having anyone listen to them. Food, farming and social justice have been the bedrock of WI campaigning for a century. The popular image isunfairly—of heaving…

Beatriz Carnaval diamond earrings, £11,250, Cassandra Goad (020–7730 2202; www.cassandragoad.com) Colonia Club Eau de Cologne, £57, Acqua di Parma (www.acquadiparma.com) Makeup-removing cleansing oil, made with 100% natural ingredients, £18, available exclusively at the Caudalie Covent Garden store, to be launched elsewhere at the end of September (020–7836 8636; http://uk.caudalie.com) Classic Fusion Blue King Gold, with blue-rubber strap, £17,700, Hublot (020–3214 9970; www.hublot.com) Alexa heels, £595, Bionda Castana (020–7730 6207; www.biondacastana.com)…

HEMING'S distinguished history dates to 1745, when the first mark of its founder, Thomas Heming-who later became George III's principal goldsmith-was recorded at London's Goldsmith's Hall. Run by the Heming family for generations, the company is now owned by Damian Scott (younger brother of the Duke of Buccleuch), who began his career grading rough diamonds for De Beers, before assisting in Christie's jewellery department. For Damian, who's long been entranced by the mystique of diamonds and coloured gemstones, jewellery possesses an enigmatic beauty. And, in recent years, he has overseen the diversification and evolution of the brand's collections, which now combine traditional, classic designs with a new, more contemporary edge. Today, Heming occupies newly refurbished premises at 10, Piccadilly Arcade, SW1, in the heart of London's West End, a short…

IN 1937, Harold Nicolson wrote to Vita about the orchard: ‘I think your idea of following the path Hayter (a gardener) has made… round the edge is right, edged with musk roses and iris and winding paths in the middle with dells, boskies, tangles—in fact, scope for everything but not garden flowers—wild roses, white foxgloves in droves, narcissus in regiments.’ There followed a flurry of planting activity and, by 1942, the Orchard was well established. Seventy years later, maturity, storms, disease and a high water table have depleted the orchard of many of its plants. We are currently preparing a planting list containing in excess of 40 trees (a mixture of apples, pears and a sprinkling of cherries) and many roses including rugosa, sweet briar, R. pteracantha with its…

Chris the cuckoo The BTO is fearing the worst after a normally reliable satellite-tagged cuckoo named after wildlife presenter Chris Packham vanished in the Sahara Fracking in the countryside The 27 blocks of land offered by Government to companies for shale-gas exploration include 53 SSSIs and three RSPB nature reserves; is this the thin end of the wedge for national parks, too? Agri-environment schemes Payments totalling some £200 million will be delayed until at least November, partly due to an IT glitch…

AS councils square up to planning applications from fracking companies, an updated satellite map produced by the University of Leicester proves—if proof were really needed—that urbanisation and industrial development are steadily spreading their tentacles across the land. The CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) map is a Europe-wide project. Between 2006 and 2012, 225,200 hectares (556,000 acres) of UK land have seen a change of use. More than 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) of forest and some 14,000 hectares (34,595 acres) of agricultural land were converted to ‘artificial surfaces’ (which means urbanisation); the 100,000-plus hectares (247,105 acres) of coniferous forest that had been clear-cut was twice that being replanted and nearly 3,000 hectares (7,410 acres) were cleared for industrial development, much of it for wind turbines in Scotland. About 1,000…

WHEN an inch of rain falls, it amounts to more than 14 million gallons per square mile. The total area of the UK is approximately 94,000 square miles, which, when added together, means that we’ve had a lot of water fall on our country during the past few days. Scotland has had such a poor summer that, in places, the daffodils’ leaves are still dominating the garden, the rain north of the border has never stopped and the dank weather has coincided with the issue of the first waterproof Scottish £5 note. It’s been that sort of year. The British have definite views when it comes to insects—many, such as ladybirds, are loved, but others, such as wasps, are loathed. Daddy-long-legs or crane flies, which start to appear at this…

SIR—On Wednesday, August 11, my son was riding his bicycle to Exeter, when he observed an adder on the road. He was riding slowly past it when it made a spring at him and fastened on his leg as he sat on his bicycle. It struck at his boot and leg, but, as he was wearing his military puttees, he suffered no injury, and killed the adder, having hit it with his bicycle pump. The adder was not a large one, being only nineteen inches long. I have lived a great portion of my life in districts where adders are common, but I have never known an adder to make an attack in such circumstances.…

Harry Eyres I am particularly fond of this refreshing white wine from the Galician sea-lochs or rías. I associate it with happy times-especially the years when three friends and I used to congregate on Thursdays to play tennis, then repair for tapas and, of course, copious quantities of Albariño at Galicia restaurant in Portobello Road. Why you should be drinking it Albariño, the grape variety, has sometimes been compared with Riesling and it certainly makes wines that are fruitier and more floral in aroma than most Spanish whites. It's more full-bodied and less fine than Riesling and an excellent accompaniment to Galicia's superb seafood. Perhaps I'm imagining it, but I detect the influence of the Atlantic in Albariño's salty tanginess. Some vineyards in the denominación de origen Rías…

MARK COCKER’S magisterial book Birds and People was richly praised and thrillingly ambitious—and it knocked the stuffing out of him. When he got up from his desk after five years and 440,000 words, he had crippling back pain, a collapsed lung and was so stony broke he had to apply to the Royal Literary Fund for help. ‘I’d jettisoned all other work,’ explains the 56-year-old author. ‘I thought it would be the career-making book.’ But, despite rave reviews, the sumptuous 3kg (6lb 9oz) tome was not the runaway success that Mr Cocker and his long-time editor, the legendary Dan Franklin, had anticipated. ‘It cost £40 and there was a recession,’ he shrugs. We are talking and walking in Mr Cocker’s five-acre patch of fen on the banks of the River…

Dame Jacqueline Wilson is a children’s author. The acclaimed stage adaption of her book Hetty Feather is running at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London WC2, until September 6 ‘ Long ago, I endured a disastrous book tour of America (just two children and a shopper taking the weight off her feet at one venue). I had less than an hour to myself in Chicago, but I ran to the Art Institute, determined to see its famous Seurat. I only managed a few minutes in front of it because I was waylaid by Renoir’s painting of two circus girls. I’ve never admired Renoir’s salmon-pink fleshy ladies, but I loved these girls in their white-and-gold costumes, collecting oranges as a tribute to their performance. There’s such an immediacy about the…

SHELTERING the graveyard immediately to the west of Heysham parish church is a high outcrop of rock crowned by a ruined chapel. Together, the church and chapel possibly formed part an Anglo-Saxon monastic settlement. Archaeological excavation of the latter in the 1970s suggests that the building was in use between the 8th and 11th centuries. Shown here is a series of graves cut into the living rock immediately beside the chapel. These are all carved in roughly the shape of a body, although they are, in fact, just too small to receive one comfortably. This has led to the suggestion that they held disarticulated skeletons. At the head of each grave is a socket for a headstone. The extraordinary view they enjoy over Morecambe Bay must explain the position of…

Scott's character of Dandie Dinmont, who won a litter of puppies in a drinking game, was a jolly farmer whose six terriers were all called Mustard or Pepper, depending on their colour, preceded by Auld, Young or Little. Thus, the Dandie Dinmont became the only breed in Britain to take its name from a fictional character and mustard and pepper remain the terms for the breed's two colours. There are various theories about the origination of the little dog, with its strong forelegs, spade-like paws and waterproof coat. Today's Dandies are thought to be descended from a poacher's dog found on the Duke of Buccleuch's estate in 1839, but there is also a story about a gypsy called Piper Allen whose dogs so impressed the Duke of Northumberland that he…

1915 First UK WI meeting held at Llanfairpwll, Anglesey, on September 16; first meeting in England held at The Fox in Singleton, West Sussex 1917 National Federation of Women's Institutes formed on October 16 1919 First WI market, at Lewes, East Sussex; Sandringham branch formed with Queen Mary as the president 1921 WI urges Government to open up jury service for all, leading, eventually, to the Juries Act in 1974; WI member Margaret Winteringham becomes second female MP 1922 Campaigns for more policewomen (women now comprise 25% of the force) 1924 Sings Jerusalem at AGM for the first time 1930 Passes resolutions calling for protection of ancient buildings and improvements to village water supplies 1938 WI War Week held to discuss potential evacuation at time of Munich crisis; WI chairman…

Even though I have to be strict with my diet, I do have a sweet tooth. The only chocolates I am interested in are Leonidas Belgian chocolates. The pralines are exceptional and the shop is a short walk from my hotel in London, so I can pick up a box every time I'm in town. No matter where I am in the world, I tend to have a box with me. Boxes from £12 (020–7222 7337; www.leonidasbelgianchocolates.co.uk) I was advised on wearing a hat during the England versus West Indies series in 1990 by my fellow commentator and friend Tony Greig. I am now renowned for my Panama hats, which I have made bespoke by Bedi & Bedi in Bangalore, India, in a variety of colours. They now even…

Cyril Kenneth Bird, better known as Fougasse (1887–1965), was one of the the 20th century's finest draughtsmen, certainly equal to Matisse, but, because he was a cartoonist, his exceptional skill is not always recognised. He took to art after being wounded at Gallipoli-not, in fact, by a fougasse, but a shell blast that shattered his back-and is best remembered for his ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives' Second World War posters. His genius was such that he could draw a man about to score a grand slam at bridge in just eight lines. The jokes, if not the clothes, of two of his drawings offered at Christie's South Kensington had not dated (above). The two-tier At the Opera, in pencil and ink, was captioned ‘It's only fair that occupants of boxes should…

BETWEEN 1880 and 1933, more than a quarter of a million Jews came to Britain, fleeing from horrors in Russia, Germany, Poland, Italy and other parts of Europe. Many of them settled in the East End of London and, in 1915, above Gradel’s restaurant in Whitechapel, a Russian émigré and artist, Lazar Berson, clubbed together with his friends to set up Ben Uri, originally called The Jewish National Decorative Art Association (London), ‘Ben Ouri’, to nurture Jewish creativity. Named after Bezalel Ben Uri, the biblical creator of the tabernacle in the Temple of Jerusalem, the society became a cultural home for émigrés, most of whom spoke Yiddish and were unable to penetrate the bastion of the British art world. They attended literary evenings, played music and, through paying a subscription,…

Tender Belinda McKeon (Picador, £14.99 *£13.49) A searing tale of the anguish of coming-of-age love and the complexities of sex. Catherine, destined for journalism, is at university in Dublin, fatally attracted to James, a photographer. Through her tortured mind, we watch their tangled relationship develop through agonised storms into possibly calmer waters. The Art of Waiting Christopher Jory (Polygon, £12.99 *£11.69) A poignant story of youth, love, hate, retribution—and hope. Aldo, an Italian, is called up in 1941 to fight against Russia. He is captured, imprisoned, moved to a gulag and returns to Venice in 1950. He tries to heal his shattered life, find lost love and seek revenge against the man who ruined his family. The All Saints’ Day Lovers Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Bloomsbury, £16.99 *£13.99) Seven stories linked…

YORK MINSTER had a curious request for a friend of mine. Would he witness the disinterment of an ancestor? Not any old ancestor, but Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York, beheaded by Henry IV in 1405 for having taken part in the Rising of the North. Geoffrey Scrope went to the ceremony and, as he said, there was his best-known ancestor inside a tomb chest in the presbytery, his head tucked neatly under his arm. Although not remotely as ancient or dramatic, my links with York Minster go back a fair way. My mother was a voluntary guide when the building was rescued from the brink of collapse. Death-watch beetles had been munching at its roof beams for centuries and only last-minute crisis restoration apparently kept the entire structure from…

Up to speed? 0–500 kb 501kb–1MB 1–2MB 2–3MB 3–4MB 4–5MB 5–10MB 10–20MB 20MB+ ALTHOUGH large swathes of rural Britain enjoy superfast broadband, there are still many areas where superslow is a more apt description. Recently, Culture Secretary John Whittingdale announced that the Government’s rollout, delivering speeds in excess of 24Mbps, had reached more than three million homes and businesses and ‘is on track to take superfast access to 95% of the UK by 2017’. However, the CLA’s Christopher Price hit back on Today, saying: ‘Government should not be congratulating itself until we have universal broadband provision. Too many targets have been missed and promises not fulfilled. It is not acceptable that there is still no plan for reaching 5% of the homes and businesses in the country.’ A Federation of…

The Royal Mail's latest issue of stamps (above) draws attention to the perilous state of Britain's bees. ‘Without bees, we would have no tomatoes, no apples, no strawberries, courgettes, sweet peppers or blueberries and many more,' says director of stamps Andrew Hammond. ‘We are pleased to be issuing stamps that highlight the contribution these tiny, but hugely important creatures make.' A Royal Mail poll of 2,000 people showed that 53% couldn't name a single bee species and only 3% realised we have more than 250 species ( Country Life, August 5). The six featured are the great yellow bumblebee, which forages in Scottish grassland; the bilberry bumblebee, found in the North-East, South-West and in Wales; the Potter flower bee, only present on a few sites in the…

CHOICE: in the modern world, it’s regarded as a universal good. There’s one area, however, where I’ve begun to doubt its desirability and that’s in getting a family to Ramsgate. I’m still rejoicing in our carless state: how nice to scythe through rural Kent, on a high-speed Javelin train, which actually runs parallel to the motorway in several places, to point the contrast between rail and road. However, the car did mean we all left together. Now, we can go independently by train—or not go at all. Our teenagers aren’t quite so London-centric that they refuse to leave, but they’ve started to moan about it. And yet William, no longer a teenager, being 20, is the most Ramsgate-minded of us all. This year, our annual transhumance to the coast has…

Close to the M60's exit 13, this is a relaxing journey break. Formerly owned by 18th-century mining and canal magnate the Duke of Bridgewater, it's an imposing timbered country mansion, as handsome inside as out. Careful recent restoration has given it a light and airy central bar with rugs on its intricately patterned oak parquet. All sorts of attractive areas lead off it-snug fireside armchairs and other intimate corners with more spacious dining rooms, all featuring gleaming mahogany panelling and an abundance of mainly antique prints. Enjoyable and interesting food is served all day, including brunch from 9am, good coffee and a splendid range of wines, beers and spirits; dogs are allowed. There are tables out on a flagstoned terrace and lawn beyond. (0161-703 8706; www.worsleyoldhall.co.uk) Alisdair Aird is co-editor…

Letter of the week All is not lost for wildlife BLIGHTED by bad—or some might say good—luck in the form of a divorce, I was able to acquire a small farm in Suffolk and I think, as a daughter of the soil, one can come to a sort of compromise with the taming of the countryside and the preservation of wildlife. I have hay meadows, which are cut for horses—the dreaded ragwort is, therefore, curtailed by need. However, I have some young and established woodland and wild areas where everything is allowed to grow, including ragwort, and I am inundated with all manner of bees, orchids, birds and mammals—and thus it was ever so. My late farming father pulled ragwort back in the meadows where Suffolk Punch grazed,…

Mark Cocker’s latest book, Claxton: field notes from a small planet (Jonathan Cape, £14.99), was shortlisted for the 2015 Thwaites Wainwright Prize Where is your favourite place in Britain? Upper Teesdale and any other place where nature is still abundant What is your favourite building? The portal that leads outdoors Book? L’Eau des Collines (Marcel Pagnol) Music? Hejira (Joni Mitchell) Food? Greek salad in Greece Alternative career? Landowner with a 10,000-acre estate to rewild Ideal dinner guest? The Canadian novelists Margaret Atwood and (her partner) Graeme Gibson Who is your hero? The philosopher and activist Henry Thoreau…

A SERENDIPITOUS encounter in a London fishmonger’s led to the arrival of Shaggy in the lives of David and Serena Linley and their children, Charles and Margarita. On the end of a lead held by a neighbour, Lord Linley spotted what he recognised as one of Britain’s rarest dog breeds, a Dandie Dinmont terrier. A brief conversation elicited the whereabouts of a new litter of these panda-eyed Scottish terriers and, within weeks, Lady Linley realised a long-held desire to become the owner of a handsome mustard-coloured bitch, of a sort she had previously admired in paintings but never met. That was seven years ago. ‘I walked through the door, carrying this little ball of fluff, and my daughter, who is never stumped for something to say, couldn’t believe her eyes,’…

The sapphire-and-diamond earrings that my husband gave me on our last wedding anniversary bring me an intimate joy each and every time I put them on. I have a few lovely pieces from Glenn Spiro, the London-based jeweller, and they are all very special to me, as they're individually designed and subtly exquisite. Price on application (020–7135 3535; www.glennspiro.com) Pootling around Oxfordshire in our vintage Morris Minor makes us feel as if we're in an episode of Miss Marple. She isn't technically mine, she's my husband's, and we call her the Old Girl. She's green with a soft top in light-brown leather and is quite temperamental (01173 003754; www.morrisminor.org.uk) Scottish langoustines, rough bannocks (oatcakes) and Mull cheese would all be on my Desert Island dish menu, but, if I…

Testwood Lakes Bridge, Hampshire, about 1,500 bc In 1998, archaeologists uncovered two parallel rows of timbers, the remains of the oldest known bridge in Britain, at Testwood Lakes in Hampshire. The bridge extended to 72ft and has been carbon dated to 1,500 bc . Tarr Steps, Exmoor, about 1,000 bc At 60 yards, the longest clapper (from the medieval Latin claperius, or pile of stones) bridge in the British Isles, it consists of giant slabs and is believed to be 3,000 years old. Willowford Bridge, Hadrian’s Wall, about 122 Those Romans knew a thing or two about bridge building, being the first to understand the potential of arches, deploy concrete and work out how to use cofferdams to build foundations under water. No intact Roman bridges survive in the UK-probably…

ONE of the innumerable delights when wandering through Venice is to come upon some fragment of sculpture embedded in a wall. As well as coats-of-arms, emblems of saints and biblical subjects, there are many animals and birds. In 1987, Alberto Rizzi devoted a whole book to such Scultura esterna a Venezia. Among them, he records many versions of the Fountain of Life, which is mentioned, but not described in the Book of Revelation. Later, it shared some of its iconography with the baptismal font, often with birds, usually peacocks, and beasts drinking from it. Three of Rizzi’s Fountains of Life have a pair of billing doves above the drinking peacocks as, below, a lion leaps on a deer—in the midst of life, I suppose. All these are motifs common…