Innholdsfortegnelse for 28-Jun-2017 i Country Life

Cordelia, younger daughter of Mr and Mrs Richard Mulholland of Ballyscullion Park, Co Londonderry, is engaged to be married to Ian McKinley, youngest son of the Reverend Canon and Mrs Horace McKinley of Whitechurch Vicarage, Dublin. They will be married at Ballyscullion Parish Church, Bellaghy, in July, after which Cordelia plans to donate her hair to The Little Princess Trust.…

A UNIQUE ballet experience awaits spectators at Hatch House, near Tis-bury, in Wiltshire. Now in its eighth incarnation, Ballet Under the Stars brings a mix of classical and contemporary ballet to the 17th-century Dutch walled garden outside the elegant country house. Seated under a canopy roof, the audience will be treated to exceptional performances by some of the world’s leading dancers, including Bavarian State Opera Ballet principal Lucia Lacarra, who will interpret Russell Maliphant’s Spiral Twist with her husband, Marlon Dino, and Royal Ballet Guest Principal Mara Galeazzi, who will dance in the premiere of Les Colombes, a moving story of love and loss by the late Terence Brady. ‘Les Colombes is a perfect, dramatic story that has everything an artist would love to perform,’ says Signora Galeazzi. ‘The music…

NOW that our field is no longer being nibbled by sheep, the long, silvery-green grasses shiver in the summer breeze above a rich understorey of pink-and-white clover punctuated by patches of egg-yolk-yellow vetch. My husband Simon’s newly planted cobnut orchard and native hedge plants—surrounding and dissecting our small acreage of land on the Dorset/ Somerset border—have grown well thanks to the warm weather. However, the continuing dry spell has necessitated hours of watering and the purchase of a special ‘soaker’ hosepipe that slowly dribbles out much-needed moisture. The search has also been on—via eBay, trusted friends and local papers—to find a vintage tractor with which to cut the grass and cultivate the ground for the crops Simon wants to sow in order to attract all creatures great and small. Finally,…

Ready to frock and roll Q My daughter’s school prom is approaching and, apparently, all her friends will be clad from head to toe in designer labels. I refuse to spend hundreds of pounds on a dress she will likely never wear again, but when I suggested a trip to Laura Ashley, she locked herself in the bathroom. Can you suggest a compromise? N. M., Kent AYou’ve torpedoed yourself, I’m afraid, with those two words: ‘Laura’ and ‘Ashley’. (I’m replying to you, by the way, from the bathroom.) I know, I know. Wasn’t it lovely, the halcyon Laura Ashley heyday of our own generation? An age of innocence, before Hallowe’en, ring-bearers, Kardashians, baby showers and school proms snuck over from the USA, along with words like ‘snuck’. However, here they…

I WAS amazed and delighted to be sent the Country Mouse column (May 24) on Keeper’s Cottage, near Axmouth in Devon. I, too, was a gamekeeper’s daughter at that very cottage from 1955 to 1966 and have a host of happy memories of that time. There was no electricity until 1961 and water was pumped from a nearby spring. The bath was in the kitchen and clothes were washed in the copper at the back. In spite of the half-mile stony track to the main road, the baker, coalman and fishmonger made it to our gate, whereas the postman delivered mail to a tin box halfway up the lane. Memories of cowslip fields, huge mushrooms, bats in the thatch and glow worms in the grasses came flooding back, as…

TWO centuries after her death, Jane Austen remains one of the most beloved novelists in the English language. Since their publication, her novels have never been out of print and, despite there only being six, the list of adaptations seems endless—few authors can boast such literary influence. For dedicated Janeites, her 2017 anniversary is the perfect excuse to talk of nothing else. For the less passionate who have the misfortune of having to listen to them, I hereby present a crash course, designed to enable swift navigation through a world of love triangles, bonnets and all things Austen. ‘I adore Jane Austen’s novels. She has been my favourite writer since I read Mansfield Park when I was 14. Reading her novels is like sipping a warm, comforting brandy–with just a…

Sense and Sensibility (1811) Girl falls for a cad, stands in rain, gets cold, almost dies. Her sister doesn't say much Pride and Prejudice (1813) Feisty girl dislikes sexy, proud man. There's lots of tense dancing Mansfield Park (1814) Boring heroine pines after even more boring hero Emma (1815) Matchmaking is tricky when your best friend is in love-with every man she meets Northanger Abbey (1817) Country girl thinks that men who live in big, scary abbeys must be murderers Persuasion (1817) Woman turns down poor man's proposal. Eight years later, he's rich. Game on…

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife ’ Pride and Prejudice ‘ The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid’ Northanger Abbey ‘A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of’ Mansfield Park ‘If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more ’ Emma ‘I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives’ Persuasion ‘Know your own happiness. You want for nothing but patience–or give it a more fascinating ’ name, call…

‘The original designs capture the subtle frivolity of the era’ THIS magazine is nothing if not consistent. COUNTRY LIFE still has the famous Frontispiece, which began in our first issue published on January 8, 1897 (although if the Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire was wearing pearls, he was hiding them well), as well as features on architecture, gardens, wildlife, the Arts and country pursuits—plus wallpaper. ‘The manufacturers of this country have in great measure failed to realise the wealth of native talent available in the world of wallpaper,’ we complained almost exactly 100 years ago. It’s presumably the French who we thought were stealing the limelight. Following Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf’s invention of a machine that could print continuous rolls of wallpaper in 1785, France dominated the market. Companies such as…

OUR flora used to be our pharmacy. From all-heal to wound-wort, the names of numerous native plants testify to the medical employment we once found for them. Not counting algae (although we’ve resorted to those for health, too), about 2,590 plant species are native to Britain or as good as, having become naturalised here by the end of the Middle Ages. At least 600 have been used in healing and not just in folk and quack cures, but also in conventional medicine, where plants remained the predominant ingredients of remedies into the 19th century. The proportion is remarkable, and so is their story. It was well under way by the Bronze Age. At first, the discovery process was probably one of trial and error, foraging that was fortunate or not.…

THE Slow Art Workshops, about which I wrote here two weeks ago, will be coming into their own in many of the 50 galleries taking part during London Art Week (LAW) from Friday to July 7. To reiterate, in the organisers’ words, the purpose ‘is to give people of any age curious about any kind of art, the opportunity of looking at it and, more importantly, handling it, within a small group led by a specialist dealer or curator. These workshops are not talks, or master classes for aficionados, but environments in which anyone can engage with objects first hand, look, think and ask questions. They are as much about passion and pleasure as knowledge; offering a gentle reminder that there is more out there than contemporary art.’ As numbers…

Jane Austen and her World by Josephine Ross (National Portrait Gallery, £9.99) Jane Austen: the Secret Radical by Helena Kelly (Icon Books, paperback, £8.99) Jane Austen’s England by Helen Amy (Amberley, £14.99) The Making of Jane Austen by Devoney Looser (Johns Hopkins University Press, £22) Jane Austen: The Banker’s Sister by E. J. Clery (Biteback, £20) The Jane Austen Marriage Manual by Helen Amy (Amberley, £9.99)…

‘The howling is the only thing that brings him back’ MY father advised that my pet should always be a gundog. As the owner of an indeterminate number of dachshunds—four, five?—a pair of dalmatians and their seven puppies, a Kerry blue terrier (who bit the vicar after he’d mistaken him for a rug) and a yellow lab, he spoke from experience. Thus, when we got married, we made a special visit to the Northern Game Fair in the grounds of Raby Castle, Co Durham, where there was a display of different varieties of gundog. We fatefully picked the weimaraner, which—then extremely rare and now uncommon—is the most beautiful dog in existence. It has a short coat the colour of gleaming silver and the shape of a supermodel and its…

‘Will future historians regard us as the lucky generation?’ HISTORY comes round to bite us; it always does. As human nature doesn’t change much over the years, the same situations and dilemmas keep repeating themselves. The criticisms made of a Prime Minister who, before the election, relied solely on a small clique of favoured confidants, to the exclusion of older, wiser counsels, would have been perfectly comprehensible at the court of Richard II. As Dame Hilary Mantel has been reminding us in her Reith Lectures, the people of past times were not so different from those of today. Conditions were probably less squalid than we commonly imagine. They had a lingua franca in Latin. There was less to contend with in their lives—no aircraft noise, pneumatic drills or Glastonbury levels…

LAST week, The Queen outlined her Government’s host of proposed new laws and plans for a ‘smooth and orderly’ departure from the EU. Of note for the countryside is an Agriculture Bill, one of eight—out of a total of 27 proposed—that relate to Brexit. The Bill, which has not yet been fully outlined, will focus on support for farmers once the UK is out of the Common Agricultural Policy and the NFU is calling it a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity to enhance and promote British farming’. ‘The Repeal Bill will be a long and complex process to fit EU law into UK law,’ says NFU President Meurig Raymond. ‘Working closely with the new Secretary of State for Defra and his ministerial team will be essential and this is already off to a…

I ESCAPED this week from the frying pan of London for—what proved to be—the fire of Dublin. It’s a city I associate more with showers than sunshine, but, this week, it broiled unfamiliarly in the heat. During the day, tourists and commuters huddled on the shady side of the street. At night, I threw open my window to keep my bedroom cool and was regaled with the continuous sound of building. The only consolation as I lay awake listening to pneumatic drills and roaring mechanical diggers was that Ireland is clearly reviving from its economic doldrums. My open window also introduced me very unexpectedly to a cat. Leaving my room one morning, I tried to close the sash. For some reason, it was jammed and it simply wouldn’t shut despite…

I don't know about you, but my general view of Muscadet was, until recently, of a neutral, crisp white wine, good for accompanying oysters or mussels in a harbourfront restaurant in Honfleur, but which didn't taste of very much. To be sure, the qualification sur lie, meaning the wine has been aged on its lees, might add a bit more richness and depth, but, essentially, Mus-cadet was a light quaffer. Why you should be drinking it How wrong I was! After a revelatory experience with a trio of terroir-specific Muscadets, I'm now thinking that this is one of the most exciting wine areas in France-Muscadet can be as great as Chablis or the finest Mosel Riesling. A movement towards identifying and defining the finest cru sites has been under…

Exhibitions Until July 24 ‘The Mysterious Miss Austen', Winchester Discovery Centre, Hampshire. First editions, letters and portraits (www.hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk; 0300 555 1387) July 15–September 20 ‘Jane Austen 200 Exhibition', Gosport Gallery, Hampshire. Focusing on Austen's family and her connections to south Hampshire.(www.hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk; 023–9250 1957) July 29–October 7 ‘Jane Austen 200', Willis Museum, Basingstoke, Hampshire. Exploring Austen's social life and writings (01256 465902;www.hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk) Until October 29 ‘Which Jane Austen?', The Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxfordshire. Challenging the perception of one of our greatest literary heroes (01865 277150; www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk) Until January 8, 2018 ‘Jane Austen by the Sea', The Royal Pavilion, Brighton, West Sussex. Exploring the author's relationship with coastal towns (0300 029 0900; http://brightonmuseums.org.uk) Events July 18 A Special Anniversary Service, Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire. There will be an Evensong service at 5.30pm…

‘Her prose reminds us of the glories of our language’ THAT young lady had a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with,’ wrote Sir Walter Scott in his diary in March 1826, after reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice for the third time. Unreservedly, he celebrated Austen’s ‘exquisite touch’ and her ability to make ‘commonplace things and characters interesting from the truth of the description and the sentiment’. By contrast, Thomas Carlyle dismissed her six novels as ‘dishwashings’ and ‘dismal trash’. Happily—and with good reason—posterity has mostly preferred Scott’s verdict on Britain’s best-loved female novelist, who died 200 years ago, at the age of 41. Austen defined her approach to fiction as working on…

‘Most women, whatever shape or size they are, love shoes. You don’t need to look a certain way to enjoy them and feel amazing’ Emmy Scarterfield talks to Hetty Chidwick On a hot summer's day in London, I slipped into a cool, calm paradise at 74, Fulham Road, home to Emmy London, designer of some of the most feminine shoes on the market. Emmy started her footwear and accessories company when a friend asked for help finding a pair of bridal shoes. Seeing a gap in the market, Emmy's pretty shoes quickly became the talk of the town and now, 13 years later, the mother of twin girls is at the top of her game. Although elegant, bespoke bridal designs account for 20% of sales, Emmy London shoes are not…

THIS evening, after our little tête-à-tête dinner, we went out for a little on the Terrace, & nothing could have been more enchanting,’ wrote Queen Victoria in her diary on June 2, 1850, at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. ‘The calm sea stretched out before us & innumerable birds singing, the only sounds to interrupt the quiet of the place.’ This week, that same private garden terrace opens to the public for the first time. A painstaking restoration has brought back to life the Italianate terrace, which was an integral part of Prince Albert’s vision for Osborne as an idyllic hideaway away from Court. Visitors can now enjoy the intricate Victorian planting—complete with the myrtle that was a present from Albert’s grandmother, a sprig of which appears in…

LAST week, 19 breeding pairs and trios of rare hazel dormice were reintroduced into the woods of Warwickshire, an initiative led by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) to stem the species’ decline. In the past 20 years, dormouse numbers have plummeted by 70%, claims new research from the University of Exeter, despite the fact that, over the past 24 years, the PTES has done its best to help, with more than 864 dormice released at 22 different sites across 12 English counties. The decline of the adorable hazel dormouse, with its caramel fur and big black eyes, is attributed to the loss of woodland and hedgerow habitat and changes to countryside management. It is now extinct across 17 English counties. The Warwickshire reintroduction, supported by the Heritage Lottery…

March of the machines As a farmer, I find the article ‘Put a robot in the field’ (June 14) deeply worrying. We are shifting our reliance onto technologies and the people who can fix them and they certainly cannot be mended in an average farm workshop. I’m not saying that farming shouldn’t embrace new technology, but it must also be looked at as substituting meaningful employment. Work is more than a means to a livelihood—it’s part of our connection to each other, giving respect, motivation and fulfillment, as well as a sense of meaning and purpose to life. We bemoan the loss of young people in farming and yet there are grants available for us oldies to substitute hands-on graft for technology, thereby exacerbating the problem—and that’s before…

‘Savings are in no one’s interest if they’re made at the expense of infrastructure’ WE have all come to accept the realities of our privatised world: switching energy companies and shopping around for telephone deals is the norm that is supposed to save us money and allow us ‘the benefits of the marketplace’. Savings are, obviously, marvellous to have, although research indicates that most of us are resigned just to take what we’re offered. Athena certainly regards the necessary internet research and painfully slow encounters with telephone call centres as mortal drudgery. More importantly, she’s acutely aware that such savings are in no one’s interest if they’re made at the expense of infrastructure. Take the example of telephone exchanges. Often constructed by the old GPO in the 1960s, these structures…

1 What is Emma Woodhouse’s annual income? ‘Jane Austen is the greatest ever romantic novelist, who, in Mr Darcy and Mr Knightley, created ultimately desirable heroes. She is also one of the funniest writers because, like Proust, she has perfect pitch class-wise and has affection for even the most ludicrous characters, such as Mrs Elton and Mr Collins. As one of her most endearing characters, Mr Bennet, points out: “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh ’at them in our turn?” Jilly Cooper, author 2 To which city is Catherine Morland invited by her neighbours, the Allens, in Northanger Abbey? 3 In Sense and Sensibility, what token does Marianne Dashwood give to Mr Willoughby? 4 At 27 years old, who is the oldest…

‘Fawley arose at a time of confidence for the country house and developing ideas’ MAGNIFICENT House’, ‘fine assembly’ and ‘sure we are in London’: according to Mrs Philip Lybbe Powys, these were the expressions on guests’ lips during a party at Fawley Court in 1777. Visitors to the Henley Royal Regatta will know it from the elegant fishing lodge that James Wyatt built in the form of a temple. Ever since the Regatta began in 1839, Temple Island has marked the start of the course and, for many years, served as the Leander Enclosure. The house itself, a few strokes upstream and connected to the river by a long-water (Fig 5), is less familiar and Country Life is visiting it for the first time, to celebrate a nine-year campaign of…

ANEW generation of architects and designers is celebrating the colour, texture and resilience of oak. ‘It’s reliable, steadfast and has historic value,’ states Peter Russell, partner of bespoke joinery specialist Stuart Interiors. ‘We’ve seen a change from the throwaway culture of the latter part of the 20th century—now, people want things that will last.’ Mr Russell says he’s currently creating a large solid-oak staircase for a new-build house, with a construction team worrying about whether they need to create a special steel support. ‘I have to explain that there’s no need: solid-oak staircases put into houses 500 years ago still exist today,’ he says. ‘Other blonde timbers, such as sycamore and maple, tend to yellow, whereas oak improves with age,’ explains Bruce Hodgson, MD and creative director of bespoke kitchen…

I have a great interest in clocks, having acquired a number of old and broken grandfather clocks, which, after some instruction, I began repairing. One of my favourites is a lantern clock from about 1640, which my father bought for a very modest sum when he was studying medicine at Cambridge. It had been in our home all through my childhood, with a very large chime, but, in his later years, it fell into disrepair. I couldn't bear to see it not working, so I took it away, cleaned it, got it going again and it's been keeping perfect time ever since. It's part of my childhood, my life, and will, presumably, be handed on to one of my children Rhubarb or apple crumble is certainly one of my favourite…

Gloucestershire, £2.5 million For a pool with a view, little beats Spring Bank House in Tunley, near Sapperton. This four-bedroom Meisterstück Haus offers more than 4,000sq ft of airy living space and comes with 4 1/4 acres of land, an infinity plunge pool that looks out across woodland to the glorious valley below and spring-fed ponds for wild swimming. Strutt & Parker (01285 627680) Buckinghamshire, £15 million This extraordinary estate in Jordans, near Beaconsfield, has it all: a Grade II-listed house with a great history-it was a refuge for Quakers during the Civil War years-an Arts-and-Crafts cottage and a Grade II-listed barn thought to incorporate timbers from the Mayflower, plus six acres of landscaped gardens and a stream-fed, filtered pond you can swim in. Knight Frank (01494 858189) Devon, £1.25…

More ways with globe artichokes Pasta with crab, artichoke and crushed chillies (below, serves 4) Prepare a globe artichoke (as for the main recipe) and cook the heart in lemon water until tender. Drain and cut into medium-sized pieces. Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil and cook 500g of pasta until al dente . Meanwhile, gently heat 300ml of vegetable stock, 100ml of double cream, 2 tablespoons of crushed chillies and seasoning in a pan. Add the artichokes and 200g of white crabmeat, heat gently through and pour over the pasta. Italians can’t stand Parmesan with fish dishes, but I think it tastes rather good with this one. Artichoke-heart and prawn salad Prepare a globe artichoke and place the heart in a bowl of lemon…

Biography Collecting the World James Delbourgo (Allen Lane, £25) WHAT Pliny… never conceived the human genius would dare to undertake, we have seen accomplished,’ declared one of Sir Hans Sloane’s eulogists following his death in 1753. Sloane’s name, he predicted, would become ‘immortal’. In a sense, it has: the map of London abounds with streets christened to honour him. But how many residents of Chelsea on their morning trudge across Hans Crescent or through Sloane Square would be able to tell you anything about the man whose life they commemorate? No one who reads James Delbourgo’s encyclopaedic new biography of Sloane will want for information about the person he artfully calls ‘the most curious man in the world’. Born in Ulster in 1660, Sloane was a marvel of his age—a…

‘Clearly, captive and dead specimens did not satisfy her’ GARDENERS, look away now. There are caterpillars in this exhibition. They’re shown munching their way through their food plants, marked by gaping holes in the leaves, but, just as ugly ducklings can turn into beautiful swans (in the song, at least), so papilionid larvae do sometimes produce radiant adults—the Menelaus blue morpho butterfly, the idomeneus giant owl butterfly and zebra swallowtail butterfly, as well as the somewhat less ambitiously named flannel moth and snout moth. These were the subject of Maria Merian’s colourful studies, a selection of which is on show in The Queen’s Gallery at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. Made in the decades either side of 1700, they were compiled as books of engravings, although those in the Royal Collection…