Innholdsfortegnelse for 8-Mar-2017 i Country Life

Venetia, aged 25, is the younger daughter of Mr Peter Trotter of Aldsworth, Gloucestershire, and Mrs Janet Trotter of Andoversford, Gloucestershire. Educated at Loughborough University, where she played on the lacrosse First Team, Venetia now manages Dubarry of Ireland’s flagship London and Cheltenham stores. A keen horsewoman, she hunts with the Cotswold and has represented Great Britain in modern pentathlon.…

ONE of the most spectacular racehorses of all time has been immortalised in bronze in time for the Cheltenham Festival (see page 78). Tristram Lewis’s sculpture of Denman, the 2008 Gold Cup winner, will be unveiled this week in an exhibition at the Osborne Studio Gallery in London SW1 (until March 24, 020–7235 9667; www.osg.uk.com). The story of the huge liver chestnut’s rivalry with his lighter-framed stablemate, Kauto Star, captured hearts—the pair ran against each other in the Gold Cup four times—and when his relentless galloping style (he was nicknamed ‘The Tank’) wore down rivals in the 2009 Hennessy Gold Cup, Newbury racecourse erupted. Art has become Mr Lewis’s second career and it was a model of Brown Jack by Munnings—he’s working on the first fully illustrated biography of the…

Pints and perseverance Country pub the George & Dragon at Hudswell, North Yorkshire, saved from closure in 2010 by the villagers, has been named National Pub of the Year by the Campaign for Real Ale Calm waters A Second World War bomb discovered in Portsmouth Harbour posing a ‘very serious threat' has been towed out to sea and detonated Feathered friends Whitton Sands, an ‘island paradise for birds' on the Humber, has been acquired by the RSPB. The island, barely visited by humans and teeming with wildlife, includes breeding marsh harriers and bearded tits, as well as pink-footed geese, lapwings and golden plovers…

THIS time last year, a local hero, Alfie, was on his way to amateur jump-racing’s Holy Grail, the Cheltenham Foxhunters’, a race shown on national television and which illuminates country sports and Corinthian spirit. Cue feverish anticipation and sausage roll-baking. Could the last person out of the village please turn the lights off. Full of picnic, in we pile to the pre-parade ring, where only the horses are relaxed, then the theatre of dreams that is the Cheltenham paddock (page 78) and, finally, like wittering sardines, into the owners and trainers’ stand—the racecourse looks after all owners, whether of an Irish airline and the Gold Cup favourite or a few tail hairs apiece, with equal courtesy. At 66–1, dear, rewarding Alfie is a front-runner, hogging the television cameras and leaping…

THERE is an old theory that as gnats dance in the winter, notably in January and February, that it betokens a good harvest-time to follow. If there is anything in the prognostication (and I am not inclined to ignore such altogether, for it is the wisdom of hundreds of years ago), then it is likely to come true, for since the end of November the ‘dancing fairies’ have been very much in evidence. We are not wise to ignore altogether the wisdom of our forefathers, many of whom were more observant than ourselves.…

Getting back on the case DEFINITELY related to ‘The enduring I pleasure of treasure’ (Leader, February 15): my grandson recently had his 30th birthday and I couldn’t think of a gift for him, until I remembered his great-grandfather’s leather gun case, which had been on a shelf in my garage since 1989. A friend cleaned and polished it to its former glory and I had one delighted grandson, ready for his next shoot. Pamela Gunnell, Lincolnshire Stonehenge needs some tunnel vision OUR leader, ‘Seeing Stonehenge’ (February 22) advocates widening the Y A303 instead of building a tunnel past the monument, in order that motorists may continue to view the stones as they travel. This argument misses the point of the long campaign for a tunnel, which has, shamefully, now…

Daniel Libeskind is an architect. He is best known for designing the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester ‘This little etching was generously given to me by my wife, Nina, as a birthday present a few years ago. It hangs on the wall of our house in New York and I look at it every day. It depicts David kneeling by his bed with his hands in prayer and there is a lyre next to him on the floor. It’s very small, no larger than about 8in by 6in, but I find it inspirational to look at and think about how wondrous Rembrandt was to be able to capture God, music, light and silence in one scene’ PRINT etching derived from goldsmiths and…

ONE sultry afternoon in 2001, I received a phone call from a friend. ‘It’s ready,’ he said. ‘Come now.’ Twenty minutes later, I was on his garden terrace. On a table before us were a bottle of Tanqueray Export Strength gin, running with condensation; a bucket of ice; a perfume atomiser, once property of a lady, but now filled with Noilly Prat; a cocktail shaker that, quite rightly, had never been shaken, only stirred; and a knife fitted not to making fiddly little twists, but to slicing plectrum-like patches of peel. ‘Shall I do the honours?’ asked my friend, whereupon, he approached a small tree that stood in a pot nearby and relieved it of its single burden and glory: a large and beautiful lemon. It’s a perfectionist’s drink,…

LAST June, floods led to the temporary closure of the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, but, luckily, they were unscathed. Not so, however, the Musée Girodet sited between the River Loing and a canal in Montargis, 70 miles south of Paris. As it happened, the museum had been largely emptied for restoration, but not only was it flooded, so too was the temporary store in a former bank vault. The museum celebrates the town’s most famous artistic son, Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson (1767–1824). Girodet was a highly theatrical and mildly sensual painter who managed to balance on the opposing artistic and political stools of neo-Classicism and Romanticism; he was a fine draughtsman and many of his drawings were lost or damaged in the flooding. So too were other works of…

‘Some are private drawings, which provide an insight into the workings of the creative mind’ PICASSO is such a household name that it’s extraordinary to realise just how long appreciation of his work and that of his French contemporaries took to arrive in Britain. Tate didn’t acquire its first Picasso—a conservative early flower painting, not a radical Cubist canvas—until 1933, two decades after the artist had established himself as a leader of the European avant-garde. Even now, representation of early-20th-century French art in British galleries is patchy, because, by the time the UK art establishment had woken to its importance, it had become extremely expensive. Many of the pictures on display in our museums have been given by generous donors rather than being funded by the public purse. However, back…

‘She said Harris tweed would only crease if you jumped on it’ IF you describe someone as ‘tweedy’, it evokes either a red-faced yokel or a posh-voiced man wearing a flat cap on a grouse moor. Which is grossly unfair on tweed. I hadn’t thought about it until now, but the material is the marvellous invention of the Scots and Irish (I don’t think there’s an English tweed, but correct me if I’m wrong). I have no fewer than five tweed jackets all of handmade fabric by Ian Sutherland on the Hebridean Isle of Lewis. All are Breanish tweed with windowpane check patterns. Blue on blue, blue on white, blue on grey, blue on brown and, for a change, a pure cashmere jacket of green on black. All were…

FAILING an act of God—or an unholy (and unlikely) alliance between Michael Heseltine and Tony Blair—it’s safe to say that Britain will leave the EU in the next few years and the time will come to have a long, hard think about how, as a newly autonomous trading nation, we set out our stall. When, in very different circumstances, a younger and newly elected Mr Blair set out to buff up our profile, he decided that our future lay in championing our creativity, in particular that of Young British Artists and musicians such as Blur and Oasis. The current Government’s more complex challenge will require a good deal more than chummying up to rock stars and conceptual artists. What image will Britain now project? A powerhouse of financial services? A…

TODAY, Lucrezia Borgia’s Daughter, a CD based on music sung by Italian nuns in the 16th century, is released by Obsidian Records. It has been recorded using only the voices of women, of all ages, in an attempt to revisit the sound of the 16th-century convent, ‘where singing was more prolific than sleeping’. ‘Suor Leonora d’Este (1515–75), Lucrezia Borgia’s daughter, was a princess, a nun and a musician,’ says Prof Laurie Stras of the University of Southampton, who collaborated with Musica Secreta for the CD. ‘She left few clues to illuminate her history, as almost all her 60 years were spent enclosed in a convent, [except for] a mysterious book of anonymous motets published in Venice by Girolamo Scotto in 1543.’ Prof Stras has been studying this book for the…

The human touch Robots could take over a third of UK jobs in the next 20 years, says Oxford University. Insurance underwriters are at the top of the list, rated 98.9% at risk; 16,000 Aviva staff have already been asked if a robot would be better in their role British food traditions Only 20% of Britons enjoy a Sunday roast, more than half of us would rather have brunch than a full English and just one in 10 opts for fish on Friday Off-season wandering A crocodile shark, familiar to tropical waters, has baffled experts by washing up at Hope Cove in Devon…

LATER this year, a very special sparkling wine will join the growing cellar of fine English varieties. The Windsor Great Park Vineyard 2014 vintage, which will be ready in the autumn, is made from grapes grown on the Crown Estate. The Queen joined the ranks of English vineyard owners in 2011, when Laithwaite’s Wine leased a site of just under 10 acres in the park. ‘We are delighted to be working with [Windsor] to revive their once-great wine-making tradition,’ says David Thatcher, CEO of the online wine merchant. ‘The Windsor Great Park English Quality Sparkling Wine is a great addition to our range.’ Laithwaite’s planted the Windsor vineyard with the same grape varieties that are used for Champagne—Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier—then enlisted the help of leading Sussex winery…

JUST around the corner is a lime tree that charts the seasons for me in central London. Its branches as yet remain barren, but a surrounding carpet of daffodils has come into bloom, brilliantly coloured harbingers of spring. We were tempted out by the accompanying sunshine for a family visit to the Tower. The Crown Jewels formed the unquestioned highlight of the trip. I have never really warmed to them before, but the children’s wonder was completely infectious. There was also enthusiasm for the ravens, but, to my disappointment, rather less for the White Tower. T he history and architecture of this great building—London’s first high-rise—left them cold. Instead, it was the armour displayed there that caught their attention. When I tried to move them on from the three suits…

If South African wines haven't featured heavily in this column, that isn't because of any bias against the Cape, one of the world's most beautiful and fascinating wine areas. The historic problems with vine material have largely been solved-investment has, perhaps, been slower to pour in than in certain other places, but South Africa is certainly on the up. For the time being, I find the whites more consistently enjoyable than the reds. Why you should be drinking them South Africa is proving increasingly adept at making Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, the biggest globetrotters among white grapes. It also has a unique strength in old bush-vine Chenin Blanc, the vine of the Loire Valley, which achieves a special, honeyed fragrance in the Cape. Because of the relative weakness of…

‘More or less every aspect of life was better under the Georges’ IDON’T live in the 21st century,’ declares Christopher Boyle. ‘I never have. Even from the tiniest age, I’ve always been stuck somewhere in the first half of the 18th.’ His religion prevents him from believing in reincarnation, but he’s thought about it. ‘It’s not just the buildings, but music, literature—everything. I’ve been teased for laughing out loud on the Tube while reading Alexander Pope.’ Dentistry left something to be desired 250 years ago and he admits to worrying about the food, but more or less every other aspect of life was better under the Georges. ‘The invention of the internal combustion engine spelled the end of civilisation—that and the 1832 Reform Act, of course.’ The chairmanship of the…

‘It’s steadily removing the honesty, authenticity and simplicity Morris fought to save’ ANYONE who has visited Kelmscott Manor will remember its soft and gentle form: a timeless expression of an ancient Cotswold house in an unspoiled Oxfordshire setting. Kelmscott’s special quality is owed in large measure to its celebrated 19th-century owner, William Morris, founder of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in 1877. Morris published an illustrated book on the house and lovingly repaired and decorated its interior as an example of how old and historic buildings should be preserved without intrusive alteration or self-conscious modernisation. Since 1962, Kelmscott has belonged to the Society of Antiquaries of London, an elected body of more than 2,900 fellows founded ‘for the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge…

Hydrangeas come and go in popularity. The in-crowd at present favours Hydrangea paniculata, a big fellow with round-ended conical blooms that dominate the woodland garden in late summer. Although some hydrangeas are a little delicate, so that we leave the papery flowers on until May, H. paniculata is made of sterner stuff and should be pruned now. This shrub obeys the golden rule of pruning: the harder you prune, the more growth it produces. What's more, the flowers will be bigger, too, so reach down with your secateurs and prune right back to within a few buds of ground level.…

DURING the Victorian heyday of the Savoy Operas, a friend of Sir Arthur Sullivan came upon the composer in a box at Covent Garden, attending a performance of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with the score spread out before him. ‘You see,’ the composer smiled, ‘I’m taking a lesson. After all, it is the greatest comic opera ever written.’ Although Sullivan had mixed feelings about the success of his lighthearted collaborations with W. S. Gilbert and would have preferred acclaim for his more august classical creations, there’s no doubt that his Gilbertian works display the eminent gifts and learning of the leading British musician of the age. His effortless talent, wit and grace give the Savoy series their distinction, with the lyric sentiment and rhythmic vivacity of Sullivan’s scores…

THE WOMEN’S LACROSSE WORLD CUP is fast approaching—it’s to be held in Guildford, Surrey, this July—and the England team is more confident than ever before. Last year, they beat bronze medalholder Australia in the Melbourne test series; next, they defeated silver medallist Canada in the US Fall Classic in October; and now, for the first time in more than 10 years, a World Cup podium place beckons. However, despite energy, determination and skill, the team needs help. Although the players think and play like professionals, they are still funded like an amateur club. The cost of putting Team England on the field in July is budgeted at more than £200,000. Currently, this is funded by the players, but they desperately need a stronger financial base, which would allow them to…

R&B Distillers, which is in the process of building the first legal distillery on the remote Isle of Raasay, off the east coast of Skye, has released the second iteration (its first award-winning batch has sold out) of its lightly peated single-malt whisky, Raasay While We Wait. This smokey limited-edition number has spent 18 months in Tuscan red-wine casks for a fruity, round flavour and reflects the high minerality of Raasay water, which filters naturally through the volcanic rock of Dùn Caan. The edition is 1,974 bottles in honour of the year 1974, when Raasay resident Calum Macleod completed the mammoth 10-year project of building a hand-constructed road across Raasay, from Brochel Castle to Arnish.…

A preventive against misuse of poisons To avoid unfortunate happenings, all bottles containing anything poisonous should be marked and it is an excellent plan to tie round the neck a small bell (such as is put round a cat's neck), so that when reaching for a bottle in the dark or in a hurry, the bell tinkles and denotes danger. From ‘500 Household Hints by 500 Housewives’, published by Country Life in 1926. We cannot vouch for the accuracy of any advice given…

IT is rare that a house is ever frozen in time. Successive owners have needs and tastes that add something new; colour palettes change, layouts are reconfigured, cellars become media rooms, derelict outbuildings are reborn as swimming pools. Or sometimes they simply need to be protected from the ravages of time—or the ravages of their previous owners. All these changes offer an exciting opportunity to make a house your own. We are fortunate in this country to have a wealth of experts to help us on our way—architects, designers and builders whose intimate knowledge of country houses and their gardens offer an extraordinary opportunity to maximise the possibilities that they present, whether they are village houses, converted barns or listed manor houses. The following are those who Country Life considers…

‘Sebastiano’s technique was even more virtuosic than Titian’s’ ENGLAND’S National Gallery was founded in 1824 by a parliamentary vote to purchase—for £57,000 —38 paintings owned by a Russian-born insurance broker, John Julius Anger-stein. Depictions of the collection hanging in his house, 100, Pall Mall (where it remained until being transferred to Trafalgar Square in 1838), shows it dominated by Sebastiano del Piombo’s The Raising of Lazarus (Fig 6). Perhaps because of its enormous size—it’s 12½ft high—as well as its art-historical significance, the painting had the honour of being catalogued ‘NG1’ in the new national collection. Angerstein had bought the painting in 1798 for 3,500 guineas, making it more highly valued than his paintings attributed to Titian and Raphael. That was largely for one reason: Sebastiano had based the painting…