Innholdsfortegnelse for 01-jun-16 i Country Life

Editor: Arabella Youens Sub-editor: Victoria Marston Design: Heather Clark Picture Editor: Emily Anderson Editor-in-chief: Mark Hedges Advertising: Johanne Calnan 020–314 84208 US Advertising: Kate Buckley 00 1 845 266 4980; buckley@buckleypell.com Email: first name.last name@timeinc.com THE world is a different place since we last visited Guernsey in the summer of 2014. Then, we celebrated its proximity to the UK, its laidback lifestyle and the relaxed nature of its residents—‘less showy than Monaco; not as Home Counties as Jersey,’ we said. Fast forward 24 months, and the twin unsettling plates of international terrorism and increased interest from HMRC on tax arrangements for the wealthy are shining a torch on islands like Guernsey. For a long time, the island has been criticised by some for being like England was 30 or 50…

‘You don't have to look off the island to find world-class professionals and that makes running a business so much simpler' Zef Eisenberg, entrepreneur I’ve lived on Guernsey since 2004. I love powerboats, so when I decided to move out of London, I thought of relocating to Southampton, but Guernsey is more convenient for work as well as play. I’m minutes from the office, minutes from the marina and I have a love of the island stemming from idyllic family holidays when I was young. I live in a renovated period house with great views, at the top of St Peter Port—it’s a wonderful location. I’ve worked in lots of areas, including property and engineering, and you really notice that the level of expertise in these sectors on Guernsey…

‘We help to make the move as smooth as possible for those who are relocating' What is Locate Guernsey? Our role is to actively attract people and businesses to the island as well as helping to make the move as smooth as possible for those who are relocating. We act as a sort of relationship manager and a single point of contact to navigate through the various touch points with the States of Guernsey. The level of service varies as every individual case is different: some people want the red-carpet treatment with all the trimmings, such as access to key ministers and businessmen; others just need a bit of hand-holding. Who uses you? It’s a combination of personal relocations and those of different businesses. We’re seeing more of a trend…

Supporters of the Meynell, long renowned for its history, fine horsemen and rolling grass country, celebrated its bicentenary last week with the unveiling of a painting commissioned from Daniel Crane. The Meynell, which merged with the South Staffordshire in 1970, can trace its roots to when Meynell Ingram, grandson of Hugo Meynell, the father of hunting, started hunting foxes in the Hoar Cross and Sudbury areas of Derbyshire, where the kennels remain. ‘Being involved with this pack at this time is an immense privilege,' says huntsman Jamie Nicklin, who is depicted with his hounds. ‘I challenge anyone to find a better grass country then we have here.' Mr Crane's painting is set in an area near Thurvaston between three famous coverts: Peat Moss, The Spath and Boden's Thorns. The unveiling…

Exhibition June 7–28 ‘The Horse’ Sladmore Contemporary, 32, Bruton Place, London W1. A new equestrian exhibition from British artist James Gillick, displaying his paintings of Thoroughbreds, Egyptian Arabians and polo ponies (020–7499 0365; www.sladmorecontemporary.com) June 10–July 6 William Swann, Gallery An Talla Dearg, Isle Ornsay, Isle of Skye. The fourth annual summer exhibition of the artist's work, inspired by the beautiful Isle of Skye (above, www.wjswann-art.com) Flower festival June 2–4 Ephemerald: A festival of flowers, Sackville College, High Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex. The National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies celebrates its 55th year Emerald Anniversary with this wonderful festival of flowers (01323 895832; www.sussexareanafas.org.uk/ephemerald.htm) June 4–5 Floral Fringe Fair, Knepp Castle, West Grinstead, West Sussex. Set in the beautiful setting of the Knepp estate, this quirky fair offers plant,…

The mouse’s floral bower OR some days, the flowers of the Japanese quince F outside my study window have been disappearing. The culprit is a mouse that I have spotted detaching blooms, one by one, and taking them down to, presumably, its burrow. Is this normal mouse behaviour or have we a rodent Cecil Beaton in our midst? Sarah Lambirth, Suffolk Thank you, Thelwell I READ with interest your short article on Norman Thelwell and the marketing of his work by Charles Sainsbury-Plaice (Town & Country, May 25). I am very pleased to see that the artist is being remembered in this way. Thelwell was a former pupil of Rock Ferry Grammar School, later a comprehensive, on the Wirral, where I taught art for 31 years until its closure…

‘“Use it or lose it” remains the most compelling of rural mantras’ MY butcher is a country hero—his small shop is a triumph of enthusiasm over available space. Not only the best of local meat, including grass-fed beef and succulent lamb, but really free-range chickens and organic pork. Every day, there are prepared cuts: delicious-looking butterfly legs of lamb, rolled and stuffed loin of pork, spare ribs in exotic sauces, the widest choice of homemade sausages and venison ready for the casserole, as well as a magnificent collection of country pies. To complete the scene is a delicatessen with more than 40 cheeses, sun-blushed tomatoes, olives, artichokes, pâtés, taramasalata, artisanal bread and even fish brought straight in from the sea 30 miles away. Anything he doesn’t have immediately, he produces…

John McEwen comments on A Cornfield ‘I first saw this painting years ago and it stimulated my very modest collection of early English watercolours as, at the time, I was unable to afford oils! De Wint taught my ancestor Cheney, who lived, as I do, in Shropshire. This picture resonates with me as I am also a farmer and it captures the essence of the simple beauty, but fundamental importance of the English countryside and its agriculture ’ JOHN RUSKIN wrote of de Wint: ‘He despises all rules of composition, hates Old Masters and humbug—synonymous terms with him —never was abroad in his life, never sketches anything but pig-styes and haystacks, and is a thorough-going John Bull of an artist.’ Most artists were tradesmen’s sons. De Wint’s father was a…

‘ The illegal sale of eels is the hidden ivory trade of our time ’ THE charred roof of the smokehouse is festooned with dangling eels. They hang stiffly like new leather belts, fingers of smoke licking and curling between their yellowing skins. I’m here to witness yet another batch of eels being smoked at Brown and Forrest Smokery in Somerset—just one more of the thousands of careful curings the company has carried out during the past 30 years. I watch as Jesse Pattisson carefully piles sawdust onto the dying flames of a log fire. By the time this mini-bonfire peters out in a couple of hours, these eels will be bronzed and delicately imbued with the rich flavours of beechwood smoke. ‘We only use the finest silver eels above…

ONE of the contentions of a Remain campaign that has been dubbed Project Fear has been the claim that house prices will fall dramatically if Britain leaves the EU. This is bananas—curved or otherwise—say the ‘Brexiteers’. So what is the reality for the country-house market and can the previous European referendum tell us anything? ‘Just before the European referendum of 1975,’ says Dan Gandesha of Property Partner, ‘quarterly price growth had slowed to 7%, a year after hitting 18.2%, and 2½ years after recording the highest-ever quarterly average house-price rise of 42%. Average quarterly price growth didn’t fall as low as 7% again until the fourth quarter of 1980, more than five years on from the referendum.’ However, Andrew Giller of house sees problems in making historical comparisons as…

Best place for a picnic Explore the narrow, cobbled streets of St Peter Port, where you can buy local delicacies for a picnic in the beautiful Candie Gardens (top). Live concerts are held there on Sunday afternoons throughout the summer. Family day out Take a step back in time on Sark island, where the whole family will enjoy a carriage ride and a cycling adventure. Be sure to seek out the Venus Pool on Little Sark. Short sail to another island Set off from St Peter Port on a 20-minute boat journey to the little island-paradise of Herm. Here, you can enjoy the sweeping, sandy beaches that surround the north of the island, with Shell Beach and Belvoir Bay both ideal spots for a relaxed afternoon in the sun. Lunch…

Forest bug Pentatoma rufipes, half an inch long The forest bug is one of a host of shield bugs that are named after their distinctive shape, which, in this case, can be recognised by its red legs and a spot of varying colour in the centre of its plate-like back. It passes through several larval stages, when it feeds on the sap of oak trees, before emerging as a brown adult in July. Simon Lester…

IT is interesting to ponder whether a Thoroughbred amounts to a collector’s item. It qualifies in the sense that people find racehorses highly desirable, although, in their purest form, they are more akin to status symbols. Nevertheless, some become much sought-after when they retire to stud and they assume a status accorded to the works of a great artist. Both for their uniqueness and their value, they become the ultimate collector’s item. Like a Monet, the best stallions are worth more than their weight in gold. They’re considerably heavier for one thing and, if you threw open those French doors to the paddock outside, Galileo is one stallion you would love to call your own. A Thoroughbred jewel, he achieved pre-eminence as the world’s most desirable stallion after he won…

‘This recipe is inspired by a classic Persian dish that lets the broad beans take a starring role. It will serve you well as a Sunday supper or even a lazy weekend brunch. The flavours are punchy and bright, so mopping up your plate with a little sourdough is a delight’ Broad-bean and pancetta tart Line a large tart tin with shortcrust pastry and blind bake at 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 for 12 minutes. Meanwhile, fry broad beans with garlic, chopped pancetta and olive oil. Remove the tart case from the oven and add the broad beans, garlic and pancetta. Pour in a mixture of beaten egg with a splash of single cream and bake for a further 20 minutes or until the eggs have set. Scatter the top of…

How to get the look Furniture The pair of vanity units in this room was made by Jonathan Sainsbury, a traditional furniture-making business. It is at 26, Old Street, Bailie Gate, Sturminster Marshall, Wimborne, Dorset (www.jonathan-sainsbury.com; 01258 857573) Bath The Water Monopoly sells a wide range of handsome traditional baths at its London showroom, 10/14, Lonsdale Road, London NW6 (020–7624 2636; www.thewatermonopoly.com) Taps For an exquisite range of sanitaryware, bathroom furniture and accessories, Lefroy Brooks is a brilliant option. Visit http://uk.lefroybrooks.com or telephone 01992 708316 Flooring Walking on Wood, 490, King's Road, London SW10 (020–7352 7311; www.walkingonwood.co.uk), supplies a wide range of floors, from classic options such as oak through to more offbeat alternatives…

‘Stories are being told that the Russian system won’t allow’ HOT on the heels of the BBC’s recent adaptation of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, another British institution has served up a compelling show of Russian culture. The National Portrait Gallery’s (NPG) current exhibition explores the golden age of Russian culture from 1867 to 1914. On display are 26 outstanding portraits of Russian writers, composers, musicians, actors and patrons, many of which have never been seen before in the UK. ‘Russia and the Arts: The Age of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky’ opens with Ilia Repin’s portrait of Pavel Tretyakov, the shy patron whose collection led to the founding of Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery. Repin completed the work in 1901, three years after the sitter’s death, making it the only posthumously painted portrait…

Art Antiques London June 24–30 THE seventh Art Antiques London will bring 60 international exhibitors to its pavilion beside the Albert Memorial. A highlight of the lecture programme will be ‘Face to Face: Dame Rosalind Savill in conversation with Richard, 10th Duke of Buccleuch and 12th Duke of Queensberry’, in which they discuss the extraordinary task of preserving and presenting four great houses—Boughton House, Drumlanrig Castle, Bowhill and Dalkeith Palace—and their sumptuous art treasures. Monday, June 27 from 5.15pm to 6.30pm (www.artantiqueslondon.com) The Tube before Beck So familiar has Harry Beck’s schematic London Tube map become that we hardly register the many changes it has undergone since he came up with it in 1931. He realised that geographical information was irrelevant and made the design on his own initiative.…

The artists of the Second World War, like the poets, attract significantly less attention than their First World War predecessors. In neither case is that entirely fair and the veteran Broadway dealer John Noot has long been determined to give the artists their due. From Saturday until June 19, as part of the annual Broadway Festival, he is showing about 60 of the works that he has been collecting for some years, including James Walker Tucker's Letters from Home ( above ). It is a chronological show, beginning before the actual outbreak of war, with a view of Hitler's Berghof holiday home at Berchtesgaden by Otto Eduard Pippel (1878–1960), who portrayed it, as did COUNTRY LIFE no less, as a sunbathed mountain idyll. There is also a comment by the…

Architecture/history Life in the Country House in Georgian Ireland Patricia McCarthy (Yale, £45 *£40) I SEE as much taste and as much neatness without or within to the full as in England, accompanied with more beauty of exterior… and hardly ever ill-situated.’ Thus did the judge, antiquarian and MP George Hardinge (d.1816) describe the country seats he saw during his travels in Ireland. The qualities he appreciated are readily apparent in this beautifully produced book, which describes the life and changing face of the country house in Ireland from 1720 (coinciding with the introduction of Palladian neo-Classicism to Ireland at Castletown, Co Kildare) to the Great Famine of 1845–9. The subject is not an easy one to address, particularly as Irish documentation is notoriously exiguous. Nevertheless, through careful scholarship, an…

ONE of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is, I think, to have a happy childhood,’ said Agatha Christie—and it’s true that a store of happy memories is a very valuable thing to take into the adult world. What parent wouldn’t want their child to grow up riding bikes, rockpooling, building sandcastles and learning to sail or disappearing with a picnic basket for lunch and not coming home until sundown? So far, so ‘Famous Five’, you may say, but the island of Guernsey is one of the few places left that offers this quality of life in the 21st century. One of the benefits of living on the island, residents say time and time again, is that children don’t have to be accompanied everywhere: thanks to…

FOR a newcomer to the island, it’s a challenge to pinpoint what it is that makes Guernsey feel at once familiar and, at the same time, slightly irregular. The landscape of patchwork fields, narrow lanes boarded by high hedges and steep, wooded valleys descending to the rocky shore could be Cornwall. The bungalows that line some of the roads are wearily reminiscent of Worthing. The shops lining St Peter Port’s picturesque harbour front include high-street heavies such as Marks & Spencer and Boots scattered among other, independent outfits, but it’s refreshingly free of the neon blights that can detract from other south-coast resorts. This isn’t a place to show off designer labels and chain restaurants have a short history here—Pizza Express opened and closed within a short space of time.…

‘The UK holds internationally important numbers of wintering waterbirds’ TYPICALLY mild winters, such as that of 2014/15, appear to have encouraged a recovery in some bird species, such as the little grebe, the shoveler duck and the crane, according to the latest survey of wetland birds in the UK. Run by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) in partnership with the RSPB, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), the 34th annual Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) reveals mixed fortunes for both resident and visiting birds. Using data collected by more than 3,000 volunteers during 2014/15, the newly released WeBS reveals that the top 10 recorded species were mallard (present on 27,637 core count visits), mute swan (17,940), black-headed gull (17,624), moorhen (16,601), coot…

THE People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) want its annual Great Stag Hunt (www.ptes.org/stagbeetles) to assess the spread of Britain’s biggest, but increasingly rare, beetle, which can measure up to 3½in in size. Although it looks formidable, the stag beetle is harmless and its numbers are dwindling across Europe due to predation, largely by cats and magpies, and habitat loss. It’s already extinct in some parts of Britain—although prevalent in southern England and coastal areas of the South-West, it’s less common in the South Downs and northern England. The PTES is keen to hear of sightings in counties that border the known range, such as Devon, Norfolk and Worcestershire. ‘The stags emerge from mid May onwards,’ counsels PTES conservation officer Laura Bower. ‘Gardens are important habitats, as the beetles rely…

FARMERS need to develop ‘resilience mechanisms in today’s erratic and challenging marketplace and future government policy should facilitate this by addressing the outcomes of price volatility and periods of prolonged low prices,’ according to a House of Lords European Union Committee report entitled Responding to price volatility: creating a more resilient agricultural sector. The report quotes the AHDB when it says that the current challenges facing the sector require farmers to acquire a new and broader set of management skills, coupled with a willingness to set benchmarks, which are a key means of enhancing competitiveness. It also voices concern that, although the system may support individuals through periods of low prices, it could stifle innovation and efficiency and strongly suggests that CAP Direct Payments should be less complex. The NFU…

QUITE early in the year, I start to look for signs of cow parsley. Little rosettes of its softly dark, ferny foliage start pushing up out of the ground, along the woodland edges, while there are still signs of the early celandine. However, things happen so quickly in spring that, in no time at all, the wiry stems of Anthriscus sylvestris are up tall and fanning out their lovely umbel flowers. Cow parsley, wild chervil, beaked parsley, keck, Queen Anne’s lace: whatever you like to call it, this is one of the daintiest of the carrot family’s wild species, certainly more so than the hogweeds and hemlocks that power through on muscular stems as the season progresses. When cow parsley erupts along roadsides and clearings as it is presently…

‘The countryside is now luxuriant and verdant’ COME out of the kitchen door, whistle for the dogs, watch them rush from the stable yard and run ahead of you to the main gate, thrilled that you are, finally, taking them for a walk. Ignore the gaps in the avenue that you have been meaning to replant, ignore the lodge with its peeling paint and missing slates. Turn right and follow the high garden wall for 100 yards, then continue past a small patch of ancient, mossy woodland dappled with sunlight and a boggy field that you wish you had bought when it came onto the market 10 years ago. Turn right again and follow the lane for 200 yards (noting that the luscious, pink, wild, Sherard’s downy roses—what a…

‘A mud-work by Richard Long is covered with plastic to avoid food splashes ’ WHEN John Maynard Keynes moved into his new rooms at King’s College Cambridge in 1909, he decided to commission his lover, Duncan Grant, to paint a series of murals. The murals, depicting nude revellers cavorting and harvesting grapes, were uncovered in 2014, concealed for almost a century under a comparatively sober series of paintings by Grant and his partner, Vanessa Bell. These murals are among the many treasures hidden within the confines of the Oxford and Cambridge colleges. For years, college art collections could only be seen if you managed to squeeze past the porters and navigate a network of quads, sets and staircases—nowadays, the majority of the paintings can be found online as part of…

TO the casual visitor, ‘Proud Preston’ might seem like any other cotton town: this, indeed, would echo Dickens’s impressions of the place, which inspired Coketown in Hard Times (1854). Prior to the 1832 Reform Act, however, it was one of just two boroughs in the country—with Westminster—in which all the male householders had the vote. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was a centre of county society, a role represented by the town’s fine Georgian area, centred on Winckley Square, as well as being a centre of Catholicism. Perhaps most famously of all, every 20 years since 1542, it has been the setting of the Preston Guild. These qualities and many others led to it receiving city status at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002. Most of Lancashire’s industrial…

‘Within a matter of hours, it seemed this noble army had gone’ WE have never tired of revisiting the First World War. A hundred years on, its tragic ironies continue to cast their spell. Names like Gallipoli, Arras and Passchendaele remain bywords for thwarted youth and needless slaughter. There is one battle, however, whose name has come to symbolise a generation’s sacrifice like no other—its doom-laden resonance is almost embedded in our genes: the Somme. To us, the Somme is synonymous only with bloody failure, but, at the time, after two years of stalemate, the battle promised to be the turning point of the war. Civilians and Government had allowed their generals the failed offensive experiments of 1915. This time, however, on the rolling fields of Picardy, Gen Sir Douglas…

The project This is the bathroom of the master bedroom of an historic Grade I-listed house in the Chilterns THE brief for this project was to integrate the bedroom suites so that their style blended seamlessly with those in the rest of the house, at the same time as having a luxurious feel. The room has the benefit of a view down the Long Ride, a key feature of the surrounding parkland, parts of which date back to the 14th century. The starting point was to restore the listed panelling and to match the wooden floors to those in the rest of the house. The bathtub sits on a wooden plinth, to make the most of the breathtaking outlook. At the far end of the room is a seating area…

‘Little Tew is the most sought-after village’ THIS week highlights the sale, for the first time in many years, of three memorable, but quite different Oxfordshire houses, which encapsulate the spirit of a more leisurely, more thoughtful age in the run-up to the First World War. By far the grandest is High Wall (Fig 1) in the leafy Oxford suburb of Headington, a landmark country house built in about 1910 by the Arts-and-Crafts architect Walter Cave and originally set in extensive, Grade II-listed gardens attributed to Harold Peto in Country Life articles by Lawrence Weaver (November 10 and 17, 1917). In the early 1970s, however, a large chunk of High Wall’s magnificent formal gardens, including Peto’s rose gardens, was lost to development when the High Wall estate was split…

IT often happens like this: a new play appears, gets rave reviews and then is downgraded on its second outing. That is emphatically not the case with Joe Penhall’s Blue/ Orange, which was lauded when first seen at the National in 2000 and looks every bit as good in its current revival at the Young Vic. Why is this? Because, I suspect, it deals with complex issues to do with mental health, medical practice and racial attitudes in a way that is consistently gripping. Jeremy Herbert’s design resembles a boxing ring and what we are witnessing is a bout between two embattled professionals. At issue is the fate of Christopher, a young black Londoner who has spent 28 days in an NHS psychiatric hospital diagnosed with a borderline personality…