Innholdsfortegnelse for 21-Jun-2017 i Country Life

THIS month sees the return of a much-loved equestrian favourite—Norman Thelwell’s Angels on Horseback. The Cheshire illustrator published his first cartoon in Punch magazine in 1952 and, five years later, Thelwell collected the Punch work, complete with some additions, into book form. It was an instant success that went on to sell millions of copies around the world. To mark its 60th anniversary, Thelwell’s son, David, has teamed up with Methuen Books to republish it. ‘This book is like a time machine—it has the ability to take you back to your childhood, when one’s worries were few and far between,’ says Thelwell licensee Charles Sainsbury-Plaice. ‘I think this, coupled with his ability to make people smile with their hearts and eyes, is why Thelwell is timeless.’ Angels on Horseback is…

RATTY has returned to Kielder Forest, in Northumberland, after an absence of 30 years. The Kielder Water Vole Partnership released 325 watervoles on Wednesday, June 14, with a second release planned for August. ‘Watervoles are waterway gardeners—little engineers creating a habitat structure for other wildlife to enjoy,’ says Kelly Hollings, who looks after the project for the Northumberland Wildlife Trust. ‘As a mother of three young children, it fills me with such joy that their generation will be able to enjoy spotting [voles] in the region’s rivers.’…

I HAVE just enjoyed a magical outing to the inaugural Grange Festival. I find it almost impossible to sympathise with any of the characters in Bizet’s Carmen, yet the music was wonderful to hear in such an intimate setting and brilliantly performed. As a crowning delight, the weather was beautiful. For the evening, the house and grounds truly looked like a vision of Arcadia. While I listened to the performance, my mind wandered to recent events at home and the possible outcome of a Grade 1 trombone exam taken that morning. For the past week or so, our neighbours have patiently tolerated intense morning and evening music practice. Probably much more disturbing than the repeated renditions of March to the Top and I am an Elephant, however, have been my…

Here comes the next bride Q Having already accepted an invitation to a friend’s wedding, it now emerges that my uncle is to be married (for the third time) on the same day. Do family take precedence or is it a case of first come, first served? I would hate to disappoint anyone, but the two events are miles apart. A. H., Lancashire A Now, come on—having accepted an invitation, it is never, ever acceptable to chuck it for another. As for a third marriage, of course, sometimes things don’t work out, but whereas to lose one wife may be regarded as misfortune, to lose two does look like carelessness. He’s clearly keen on the theory, but might need to put his shoulder more to the practice. Had they been…

‘ The Fleet was really a turbid sewer itself, full of dead dogs and cats and unmentionable effluent’ OUR local SSSI has been especially interesting this spring—we put it down to the dry weather, which has favoured wildflowers over rank grass. Last week, I took Sarah Wain and Jim Buckland, the gardeners at West Dean in West Sussex, through the fields with an air of proprietorial satisfaction. They reeled off flower names like Ratty announcing the contents of his picnic hamper—‘Hawksbitplantainblu ebellladysmantle’—while I made a mental note of the progress of the elderflowers. This is going to be a bumper year. As we came down through the grazing and onto the meadow, surrounded by fading bluebells and reddening sorrels, the angling of the sunlight threw out a mysterious shadow…

Tomatoes are hungry and thirsty creatures, pushing themselves to the top of the list of those needing the gardener's daily attention. Their first requirement is plenty of sunshine, so indoor crops should be grown in unshaded glasshouses. Plentiful watering is a daily task, giving the same amount each day to fend off unwelcome developments such as blossom end rot. Feed once the flowers appear with a high-potassium liquid fertiliser. For cordons, remove sideshoots as they appear. Keep an eye out for signs of whitefly, spraying or introducing Encarsia as necessary. The reward for your patient diligence will be considerable.…

THE Art & Antiques Fair at Olympia, which runs from June 26 to July 2, boasts a doubling of the number of picture dealers among this year’s exhibitors. The majority of them are specialists in the currently fashionable Modern British field, including Harry Moore-Gwyn with 20 works on paper by Sir George Clausen, some previously unseen, ranging from under £1,000 to more than £8,000. He points out that, although a major Clausen pastel sold for £500,000 in 2010, the majority of his ‘landscapes, figure studies and sketches still represent remarkably good value for collectors’. This fits well with the traditional levels of the fair from under £100 to about £250,000. Here is a very small but varied selection of offerings. Zarco Antiques, a first-time exhibitor from Lisbon, offers a…

THE RSPCA’s annual general meeting on June 24 looks set to be fraught with tension after CEO Jeremy Cooper left earlier this month. Expectations had been high that Mr Cooper, who had been appointed in April 2016, would give a new lease of life to the hard-pressed charity, which has seen a sustained drop in membership numbers. Now, his vision of an influential, less antagonistic RSPCA risks vanishing and the future of the charity is unclear. In the wake of Mr Cooper’s departure, the Charity Commission said in a statement: ‘The governance of the RSPCA remains below that which we expect in a modern charity and we are concerned about the impact on public confidence. We will consider what further regulatory action may be required should improvements not be made…

Quiz of the week 1) In which year was the Falklands War? 2) What does a philatelist study or collect? 3) What is the only British chart hit for which both artist and song title are palindromes? 4) The spice saffron comes from which flower? 5) Who was captain of the Pequod in Moby Dick? 100 years ago in COUNTRY LIFE June 23, 1917 EVERY nation expresses itself by what it builds or has built. The Pyramids stand to us for Egypt, the Acropolis for Greece. In Westminster Abbey England sees herself expressed, as in the Kremlin of Moscow—with its marvellous churches Russia’s soul is written. In the Old World, where nationality means most, there are great numbers of places of national expression. Our stones are all holy. It…

Letter of the week This is England I MUCH enjoyed the recent issue celebrating 120 years (May 31). My father, Frank Whitaker, was the second-longest-serving editor of COUNTRY LIFE , from 1940 to 1958. I was interested to note Clive Aslet’s comment that a decision was made for the magazine to ‘close its eyes’ to the Second World War. I remember my father telling me that, early in the war, he had published photographs of bombed buildings in England. Service personnel wrote to say they were experiencing the reality first hand and hoped not to see similar articles again; they wanted instead to be reminded of the England they were fighting for. I can only assume the editorial decision was made in response to this plea. Wartime publishing had…

‘Athena was hopeful that other British cities might learn from Hull’ LAST week, Athena fulfilled her New Year’s resolution of revisiting Hull, now nearly halfway through its year as a City of Culture. It was, from the first, a hugely memorable visit and an inspiring example of how an investment in culture can serve us in the 21st century. Arriving by train, she received a strikingly warm welcome at the station from a team of volunteers clustered in a small pavilion on the concourse. One of them offered information about events that day and directions to them. Emerging into the sun, Athena crossed into the city just as Hull began its lunch. The fish-and-chip shops were busy and the Prince’s Quay had an almost Mediterranean appearance, with tables set out…

What are the current trends? We're increasingly seeing more interest in indoor pool rooms-unless climate change makes a big difference in this country, it makes more sense to invest in something that you can use year round. No project is the same as another, of course: some people's plans are quite straightforward and traditional in their design, but those of some clients are more complex. Almost all indoor pool rooms will include an element of other leisure facilities besides swimming-a spa area or a gym are pretty standard, but it can get more complicated. What’s the most elaborate design? We're currently going through the planning process for a very unusual project that involves building down two levels under a large conservatory that is part of a listed house. As well…

Having called time on their Art Antiques London events in Kensington Gardens, because London could not really take three major summer fairs, Anna and Brian Haughton have revived the spirit of their earlier ceramics fair and seminar (www.haughton.com). From June 30 to July 7, they are hosting a joint exhibition in their Duke Street, St James's gallery with Christophe Perlés, the Parisian specialist in Continental wares, and Robyn Robb of Chelsea with early English ceramics. Their own contribution is a notable collection of First Period Worcester. During the run, on June 28 and 29, there will be a high-powered seminar in Christie's galleries across the street, on ‘The Splendour of the Dining Room'. The 14 speakers include Timothy Schroder, Ivan Day, Timothy Wilson, Rosalind Savill and Katharina Hantschmann.…

DNA spinners tell us that about 10% of Scots have patrilineal links to the Picts, which perhaps means that those mysterious inhabitants of northern Britain were more than a shifting confederation of tribes and had a genetic identity that distinguished them from other Celts, Gaels, Scots, Britons, Romans, Angles, Saxons and Vikings, with whom they fought and eventually intermingled. Similarly, in their arts, some motifs and skills were their own and others were shared with some or other of their neighbours. So little is known of the Picts because, other than inscriptions on their stones and occasionally jewels, their written records amount to little more than a list of kings—many of whom bore names that persist among Scots. At times, they were overlords of much of Scotland and Northumbria, but…

THE rhythm to fly-fishing—the swish of the rod, the pause and the hope—can transform me. Time turns as liquid as the flow. Last week, I was in this blissful state on the River Ballynahinch in Connemara, when I was disturbed by strange mewings and movement in a clump of tussocky grass beside me. I put down my rod and went to investigate and there, just 2ft in front of me, with its prick ears, chestnut coat and creamy yellow bib, was a young pine marten. It didn’t move, clearly under orders from its mother to stay put. The fishing had to wait. Few UK mammals have been more brutally treated than the pine marten. Although it was once widespread, it was persecuted to near extinction by gamekeepers in the 19th…

As I write, summer appears to have gone away on what I hope turns out to be a short holiday. Sunnier and warmer days will return and wines that major in refreshing nimbleness rather than heavy solidity will be in demand. I urge you to turn your attention to one of France's most enchanting, remote and under-appreciated wine regions. This is Gascony, perhaps best known as the homeland of Armagnac (see page 92), but also a producer of fascinating table wines. Why you should be drinking them Gascony was languishing in the 1970s when a far-sighted genius named André Dubosc came on the scene. He revitalised the vast Plaimont co-operative, which farms more than 120,000 acres, and turned it into a dynamic producer and exporter of excellent, good-value…

THANK you for publishing the introductory paragraph to my letter on Werrington Park (‘A wonder of the West Country’, May 24 and Letters, June 7). I would like to add that the front range is dated by the diary of Lord Sandys. He visited the house in September 1751 ( COUNTRY LIFE, November 30, 2000) and noted that the owner, Humphrey Morice (1723–85), was then ‘adding a handsome apartment to the house’. This presumably rules out William Kent, who died three years previously, as its designer. Likewise, Roger Morris died in 1749, although he could plausibly have designed the church (incidentally, Morris also designed the Twickenham house of the painter Thomas Hudson, whose signed—rather than attributed—portrait of Humphrey Morice (above) hangs on the stairs at Werrington). Richard Garnier has, instead,…

‘We don’t understand the origin of life yet, so we can’t tell if it was a fluke or inevitable I COULD carry on doing the job posthumously so exiguous are the duties,’ laughs Martin Rees on whether he’ll be Astronomer Royal for life. ‘It involves some obligation to bang the drum for science and astronomy, but that’s it.’ The incumbent used to be director of the Royal Observatory, but now all the modern telescopes are in the Canary Islands, Hawaii or Chile, where viewing conditions are better. The post was created by Charles II in 1675 when he founded the Royal Observatory at Greenwich; our maritime nation needed astronomy for navigation and the Admiralty ran it. ‘The Astronomer Royal was the first government-appointed scientist and astronomy the first professionalised science,’…

More ways with fennel Fennel-slaw dogs (below) Combine 250ml of Greek yoghurt, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and a little salt in a blender, then trickle in 50ml of olive oil. Finely slice a quarter of a spring green cabbage, 1 large bulb of fennel and a sweet apple, then mix together with a few spoonfuls of the dressing. Serve the slaw heaped on hotdogs. Fennel-and-sausage ragu tagliatelle Remove the skins from 400g of high-quality sausages. In a large pan, fry a couple of finely sliced red onions, 1 fennel bulb and the sausagemeat. Sprinkle with seasoning, freshly chopped basil and oregano. Pour a glass of red wine over them, then simmer to reduce before adding a tin of chopped tomatoes and a handful…

A RICH-RED resin used in medicine, mummification, painting and varnish, dragon’s blood was one of the ancient world’s most precious plant substances. The best product was sap harvested from trees whose branches were scaly, snaking, crested with dagger-like leaves and sprang, like writhing necks, from massive trunks. They were thought to resemble multi-headed dragons; perhaps even to be some monster such as Hydra or Ladon, which, upon being heroically slain, had metamorphosed into vegetable form but remained capable, if wounded, of shedding magic blood. We now know that they were Dracaena, chiefly D. cinnabari from Socotra and possibly also D. serrulata and D. ombet, from Arabia, Egypt and the Sudan, but there was no such clarity in Antiquity. So remote were these trees’ habitats, and so protective were the…

In association with Boxwood Tours, Country Life is delighted to announce an exclusive tour, from September 19 to 23, enjoying the gastronomy and gardens of this richly fascinating region, hosted by Country Life contributors David Wheeler and Kirsty Fergusson. From our comfortable base at Le Vieux Logis, a member of Relais & Châteaux with a Michelin-starred restaurant, our tailor-made tour explores the Dordogne's varied horticultural gems, frequently in the company of their owners. As well as Marqueyssac, we explore romantic Sardy and the medieval Château de Losse, with its sensitively restored gardens and château. Hautefort boasts immaculate formal gardens and les jardins du manoir d'Eyrignac reveal topiary at its best. The Chartreuse du Colombier includes a walled garden, potager, Baroque pavilion, avenues and borders full of old roses and traditional…

IN the century before Prince Albert broke Queen Victoria’s spirit and erased from the job description of British royal women any intellectual remit, three German princesses—Caroline of Ansbach, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz—married heirs to the British throne. Their husbands—George II, Frederick, Prince of Wales and George III—were exacting men of uncertain temper. George II admired Handel, Frederick exercised artistic patronage widely and George III’s fascination with emerging agricultural technologies earned him the moniker ‘Farmer George’. None of them sought their contemporaries’ esteem for intellectual or cultural achievements, considering these the province of their consorts. A dazzling new exhibition at Kensington Palace, shown at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, earlier this year, illustrates the extent to which Caroline, Augusta and Charlotte seized…

I HAVE a friend who was diagnosed with heart disease when he was in his thirties. His wife immediately took action to cut his cholesterol and banned him from eating butter ever again. No butter on his fresh asparagus, with jam on his scones, on new potatoes and warm toast or in his freshly baked potatoes. Instead, he was offered margarine. Then, two decades later, the scientists said that they’d been wrong. Eating butter didn’t damage the heart. Butter is good for you —it’s margarine that’s the problem. He’s an angry man. I agree with him. I think scientists should just shut up about their possible findings. In the past few weeks, I’ve made a collection of health warnings and a strange lot they are. We shouldn’t keep cats because…