Innholdsfortegnelse for November 11, 2015 i Country Life

‘Farming and rural communities are under immense pressure, to an extent perhaps unprecedented in my lifetime’ READERS of COUNTRY LIFE are unlikely to need much convincing that this has been an exceptionally difficult year for family farmers, in every sector, or indeed that the future looks every bit as difficult. On more than 50 of my rural visits this year, ranging from the Isles of Scilly to the Isle of Islay, via Wales, Cumbria, Thurso and the Cotswolds, and many points in between, the issues arising from falling commodity prices, rising input costs and a strong pound have been a constant refrain, as have worries over the possibility of delays to farm payments. There is no question in my mind that farming and rural communities are under immense pressure, to…

What do Peter Pan ( left ), Sherlock Holmes, Prospero and Paddington Bear have in common? They are all fictional characters celebrated in works of public sculpture in London's City of Westminster that feature in a new app, StatueFindr (£2.29). It surveys more than 350 sculptures in the buildings, streets and parks of Westminster and comprises an interactive map and more than 1,200 photographs, allowing the user to locate and identify the subject and artist of the sculptures they pass. It's also possible to use StatueFindr to explore public sculpture by particular artists or by theme, such as Prime Ministers, royalty, explorers or modern sculpture.…

AN investigation by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has confirmed that St Mary ADS Cemetery near Haisnes in France is the final resting place of Rudyard Kipling’s only son, John. Biographers Tonie and Valmai Holt had disputed that the grave contained the body of the teenager immortalised in the heartrending poem My Boy Jack. The 2nd Irish Guards’ lieutenant was reported missing, only weeks after joining up, in September 1915, after fighting in the Battle of Loos. The CWGC’s investigation, undertaken by its archivist earlier this year, concentrated on analysing original documents and maps and concluded ‘that there was clear and compelling evidence that the body recovered and buried in Plot VII, Row D, Grave 2, was indeed that of Lt John Kipling’ Bateman’s, the Kiplings’ family home, which…

STRANGE as it might seem to those who do not take part in fieldsports, the one type of weather you don’t want is bright sunshine. The scent evaporates in the hunting field, trout and salmon sulk at the bottom of pools to escape the glare and pheasant and partridge hate flying into bright light. Fortunately, this wasn’t a problem last Saturday. The outside temperature was touching 17°C (in November!), but it was blowing a gale, with rain lashing the windscreen as I drove towards the shoot. I’ve been going since the shoot was formed a few years ago and, each year, everything improves—the trees especially have grown, producing wonderful cover for all sorts of nature, and Colin, the gamekeeper, has perfected the beating. No coat was able to fully withstand…

EVERYONE who has been on a walking or boating tour along the upper reaches of the Thames—say, for instance from Wallingford to Lechlade—knows the great beauty of our native waterside flowers. It may be we have passed a spot by the riverside a thousand times without paying any special attention to it, when one day a picture perfect in harmony comes into view… We see these wild flowers ‘with a child’s first pleasure,’ as Wordsworth saw the daffodils by the lakeside.…

Piedmontese Barolo-the king of wines-is generally considered to be the greatest Italian red, but the leading Tuscan contenders, top Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and so on, can be easier to understand and appreciate. Still, I am a late convert to these hauntingly scented, complex wines; I think I may be going bananas about Barolo. Why you should be drinking it Barolo is certainly different. If you think great reds should be deep in colour, you'll be in for a shock. Barolos are garnet, sometimes ruby-hued. But what they lack in colour, they make up for in perfumed intensity. Once again, however, the perfume is different: nothing like the cassis of Cabernet Sauvignon, in fact, not so much about berry fruit at all, more about…

Emily Young is a stone-carver and writer. Some of her recent sculptures are on show at the Chiesa della Madonna dell’Orto in Venice until November 22 ‘I came across Ken Kiff’s paintings when I was an art student at Chelsea and he was a teacher there. It was a tough time to be a figurative painter, which we both were, and Ken was the only person who liked my work. I loved his, and still do: the brilliant colours, the cadmium yellows and the way his pictures told stories of that basic thing, which I still work with—the figure in a landscape, human consciousness in the physical world, which, in his case, was told with intense joy, delicacy and power. This painting has hung on my wall for years…

• Kipling's poem If was inspired by the failed 1895 Jameson Raid on the Transvaal Republic in South Africa, led by his friend Sir Leander Starr Jameson; it was voted the nation's favourite poem in 1995 •The lines ‘If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same’ are printed above the players’ entrance to the Centre Court at Wimbledon • Excerpts from Kipling's poetry-such as ‘That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male'-have become common parlance •Akela—the wolf in The Jungle Book—has become a symbol of wisdom and the name is traditionally adopted by Cub Scout leaders; the book was adapted for a much-loved Disney film with songs such as the Oscar-nominated The Bare Necessities • Kipling once said…

•1704 Brook Bridges buys the Goodnestone estate and builds an elegant house with extensive formal grounds •Later 18th century Sir Brook Bridges, 3rd Baronet, replaces formal grounds with landscape parkland •1791 The third daughter of Sir Brook Bridges marries Edward Austen, eldest brother of novelist Jane Austen •1830s–1840s Sir Brook William, 5th Baronet, remodels the house and adds the garden terraces •1932–52 Following the death of the 20th Lord FitzWalter, Goodnestone is unoccupied by the family for two decades and requisitioned by the army throughout the Second World War •1950s Brook Plumptre marries Margaret Deedes, claims the dormant title as 21st Lord FitzWalter and they move into Goodnestone •1960s Margaret Fitz-Walter ( below ) begins work on restoring the neglected gardens •2004 Brook FitzWalter dies and his eldest son, Julian,…

Michael Billington tells directors–just stick to the script and add a new twist WHAT is the role of the director in theatre? Is it to be a creative artist or simply to realise the author’s intentions? I find it difficult to give a straightforward answer. There’s clearly room for both. Joan Littlewood, in her heyday at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, showed a genius for making theatre out of semi-improvised material, as in her famous production of Oh, What A Lovely War!; and Peter Brook, working in Paris over the past four decades, increasingly treats theatre as a scientific laboratory in which to explore the vagaries of the human brain. These two are exceptional artists. But in Britain today, there’s a tendency for young directors automatically to regard themselves…

UNEARTHING precious artefacts is the stuff of curators’ dreams, but that’s exactly what happened when experts at the Royal Collection Trust found that the exquisite ivory elephant automaton (right), acquired by George V in 1935, is, in fact, the missing ‘surprise’ of the Fabergé Diamond Trellis Egg commissioned by Tsar Alexander III for his wife, Tsarina Marie Feodorovna, for Easter 1892. The elephant is wound with a watch key through a hole hidden underneath the diamond cross on one side of the animal; it walks on ratcheted wheels and moves its head. ‘It was incredibly exciting when the Fabergé mark was finally revealed, because I knew then that I had found a real treasure,’ says Caroline de Guitaut, senior curator of decorative arts at the Royal Collection Trust (www.royalcollection.org.uk). The…

A CHARMING Grade II-listed church in a farming community near the Chew Valley Lake in Somerset has won a £5,000 prize for work that has enhanced both its aesthetic appeal and the use of the building. Organised by Jane Venner-Pack of the Somerset Churches Trust (www.somersetchurchestrust.org), the Playfair Prize encourages the use and appreciation of parish churches. Judges included Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, John Goodall, COUNTRY LIFE’s Architectural Editor, Alison Pollard of the National Churches Trust and architectural historian Julian Orbach. Although the first-time visitor to Holy Trinity church (above right) in the tiny hamlet of Norton Mal-reward may be forgiven for thinking that nothing has changed, pews have been cleared and the font and organ re-sited, the latter by local volunteers under expert direction. A screen has…

ON Friday, I went to Sadler’s Wells for a three-part dance performance, Love, art & rock n roll. The crowded foyer reminded me of my first visit to this theatre, nearly 20 years ago. On that occasion, I’d raced into exactly the same scene, late—as I thought, through misreading an advertisement—for an obscure 18th-century operetta. In the hurry of purchasing a ticket, I completely failed to notice that I had, in fact, come to a contemporary-dance performance. My baffled surprise at the experience was tinged by embarrassment when, during the interval, I was cross-questioned by the person next to me about my interest in dance. She concluded by saying how impressed she was that someone who clearly knew nothing about it would come to a performance. Friday’s show was engaging…

How I choose to be a lady FEEL compelled to write following your Features Editor I Paula Lester’s appearance on This Morning (Thursday, November 5) and your team’s wonderfully funny, refreshing article, ‘Once, twice, 39 times a lady’ (Leader, November 4). I’m a self-confessed traditional, old-school, lawn-mowing, house-proud, devoted wife and mother to two lads, who loves chivalry, school runs, housework, gardening, shooting, washing cars, watching my youngest play rugby (I don’t understand the rules), fast cars and dressing up, and I totally respect any woman who can look after her home and family and have a full-time career away from the home! But let’s not forget that there are strong women who take enormous pride in doing what I believe is the best, most important job. I’m repeatedly…

HOTFOOT from the premier of Spectre, the after-party and two after-after-parties, Fergus Fleming claims to be a little tired. It doesn’t show—he’s still got his boyish twinkle and, surely, nobody with a hangover would decline a cup of tea. We’re meeting to talk about his new book, The Man With The Golden Typewriter, and, in a cafe near my office, we reflect on how the world of journalism has changed since his uncle’s dashing assignments for Reuters in the 1930s and, later, as Foreign Manager with The Sunday Times, and Fergus’s own career as writer and then editor for Time Life Books in the 1980s. ‘It was another world: real, old-fashioned, US-style publishing,’ he says, remembering the Time Life building in New Bond Street, with its own taxi, butler, library…

THIS martial window was commissioned in about 1662 during the restoration of Farndon church by William Barnston. The building had been garrisoned by Parliamentarian troops in 1643–5 and was very badly damaged during local fighting. Its imagery celebrates the siege of nearby Chester, in which Barnston was involved. Around the edges are depictions of single figures, including pikemen, musketeers and musicians. Across the top of the panel are portraits of several leading Royalists involved in the defence of the city, including Barnston himself (second figure from the right). These men wear the red uniform of a single regiment, rendered as brown, and their status is indicated by the sashes they wear and, probably, also by the strips of braid above the knee. In the central section of the window…

‘Freshly picked, wineberries have a taste like no other soft fruit’ IT’S been a spectacular year in the garden for fruit. Apples, pears, plums—even figs—have all carried huge crops, but our great success story this year has been the Japanese wine-berries. Their Latin name is Rubus phoenicolasiusand they’re closely related to raspberries and blackberries, although different from both. Wineberries fruit abundantly for about a month between late July and late August, which means that they fill a useful gap between the main-crop raspberries in June and July and the autumn-fruiting raspberries (and blackberries) in September. Wineberries aren’t as sweet nor as succulent as their cultivated cousins, but they have a delicious, refreshing flavour of their own and combine well when served with ripe peaches, melons and pears. They’re orange-red…

Fonmon Castle, Vale of Glamorgan This medieval property has only changed hands once, when it was bought by a direct ancestor of the present owner (01446 710206; www.fonmoncastle.com) Bodrhyddan Castle, Denbighshire Lord Langford's red-brick home has been in the same family since it was built some 500 years ago (01745 590414; www.bodrhyddan.co.uk) Stradey Castle, Carmarthenshire This estate has been in the Mansel Lewis family for 200 years (01554 774626; www.stradeycastle.com) Llanvihangel Court, Monmouthshire Described as ‘the most impressive and richly decorated house of around 1600 in Monmouthshire' (01873 890217; http://llanvihangelcourt.com) Hartsheath, Flintshire An 18th- and 19th-century house set in glorious parkland (01352 770204) Gwydir Castle, Conwy This Tudor house has a reputation for being one of the most haunted in Wales (01492 641687; www.gwydircastle.co.uk) Picton Castle, Pembrokeshire Royal portraitist Nicky…

‘In the Hall of Mirrors, homage was paid to Louis XIV, seated on a silver throne’ ABOVE the south portico of Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, towers an imposing marble bust of a young and dashing Louis XIV wearing a cuirass adorned with the sun mask of Apollo (Fig 1). It was looted from a triumphal arch at Tournai during the War of the Spanish Succession by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722), a notorious pillager of art. The installation of the sculpture famously transformed Blenheim from a ducal country retreat into a national monument, both celebrating Marlborough’s greatest victory, at ‘Blenheim’—Blindheim in Bavaria—in 1704 and mocking the hubris of the Sun King (1638–1715). It was presumably the 7th Duke who—almost two centuries later—placed a full-length State portrait of Louis…

‘I felt towards him in the darkness and encountered a ghastly stickiness’ IF I were a piece of glass, I’d be getting worried you were going to write on me,’ Zam says, as he eyes the raspberry-jam jar on which I’ve just written ‘raspberry jam’. As we’ve nearly finished the jam, it doesn’t actually need labelling, but I’m in possession of a lovely white pen that shows up beautifully on glass. The pleasure I get from it makes me almost glad of the chutney glut. I tried to dissuade him from going down the chutney path, because we both know we won’t eat it. But we’ve got a lot of fruit we don’t want to waste and we don’t really like apple pie. Apparently, it’s been a very good…

Rutland bitter DESCRIBED as ‘easily quaffable’, this classic English pale ale celebrates Britain’s smallest county and is, say its fans, far punchier than its alcohol-by-volume measurement (3.4%) suggests. Made from water syphoned straight from Rutland lake, one of the largest man-made lakes in Europe, the bitter’s distinct, hoppy taste and aroma are apparently due to the unique local yeast used in the fermentation process. Rutland has had its own brewery, Ruddles, since 1858, but it didn’t start producing Rutland bitter until about 120 years later. Once pints started being pulled, however, it fast became a local favourite and was awarded protected status in 1994, meaning it could not be brewed anywhere else. Disaster struck in 1997, when Ruddles was bought out by a rival company and its brands moved to…

I VERY much enjoyed Jonathan Self’s piece on epitaphs (November 4) and the inscription on Spike Milligan’s stone in Gaelic, meaning ‘I told you I was ill’, to avoid giving offence to those lying nearby. However, I feel the sentiment expressed in my favourite epitaph remains hard to eclipse, and I quote: ‘Here lie I, Martin Elginbrod: Have mercy on my soul Lord God: As I would do, were I Lord God, And ye were Martin Elginbrod’ Chris Gebbie, East Sussex The writer of the letter of the week will win a bottle of Pol Roger Brut Réserve Champagne…

‘Beetroot-red, I apologised for uttering the f-word in front of the Archbishop of Canterbury’ WE artistes do fulminate so when a mobile phone goes off during a performance. I was centre stage at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, introducing Bonnie Langford to a rammed house (‘She’s been playing this historic building since she was a foetus’) when it happened. An utterly inappropriate hurdygurdy version of I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside. Alas, I recognised it. My ringtone, my pocket—my phone. A stellar company we were, celebrating the 85th birthday of my old tutor, Stephen Sondheim. The Langford, who sang Can That Boy Foxtrot while actually upside-down, clinging determinedly to the reluctant leg of Anton du Beke, pretty much stole the evening. She was up against a mighty…

RUDYARD KIPLING’S features—moustache, spectacles and bushy eyebrows, above a small physique—were known throughout the Empire. From his pen came many of its most cherished tales, poems and resonant phrases—‘the white man’s burden’; ‘Known unto God,’ for the graves of soldiers in Picardy and Flanders—and he was a friend of imperialists such as John Cecil Rhodes. Kipling produced the words that the big-thinking but tongue-tied Croesus couldn’t find. These days, however, even Kim and The Jungle Book are no longer the common currency they were a generation ago and readers stay away from an author whom they regard as an out-and-out propagandist for the British Empire. But they misjudge him: the books are much more complex than they might expect, as was Kipling the man. Born in Bombay in 1865, he…

It is in the nature of the British gardener to try to grow certain herbaceous perennials permanently in the open that would prefer to live in a milder climate, but it's wise to supply the poor creature with a little comfort in the short, dark days of winter. Cut off leaves of Gunnera manicata and place them, upturned, over the crowns (right). For small plants, a big upturned clay flowerpot packed with straw and with a slate across the drainage hole may be just the thing.…

Matthew Dennison discovers why they’re the ultimate teacher’s pet ‘Doug tilts his face and cocks his head. He looks as if he really loves his work’ PICTURE the scene. In a primary school in south-east England, a small boy is reading aloud. He sits on his own, his only audience the dog on his knee. A neatly groomed pug, with characteristic dark mask and black-tipped ears, the dog is falling asleep, burrowing deeper into the boy’s lap. Unexpectedly, the boy begins to cry. The dog’s handler is at his side immediately. ‘Doug the Pug’s bored,’ offers the boy by way of explanation. ‘He’s gone to sleep.’ The handler denies it. ‘But his eyes are closed.’ She tells him that Doug has closed his eyes to envisage the wonderful story the…