Innholdsfortegnelse for 18-Jul-18 i Country Life

HESTERCOMBE GARDENS in Somerset, which last year marked 20 years of being open to the public (Town & Country, April 26, 2017), has another major anniversary to celebrate: 175 years since the birth of Gertrude Jekyll, a suitably pioneering lady to honour in the 100th year since women won the vote. Responsible for more than 400 gardens around the world, and not a few COUNTRY LIFE articles, she was the first woman to be given, in 1897, the Victoria Medal of Honour of the RHS, the society’s highest award. Hestercombe, designed with Sir Edwin Lutyens, her frequent collaborator, is hailed as the greatest example of the pair’s work. Last year, the Hestercombe Gardens Appeal was launched, to raise some £1.5 million towards restoration of the landscape, which has been slowly…

Ride the lightning COMMENTING on your recent article about cumulonimbus clouds (‘On cloud nine’, June 27), my partner, a former US Navy combat pilot, told me the story of Lt-Col William Rankin, a Korean War fighter pilot who, in 1959, due to engine failure, was forced to eject from his F-8 over the coast of South Carolina, directly into a severe 45,000ft-high cumulonimbus thunderstorm. Falling through the storm, he and his parachute were tossed savagely for more than half an hour, with blades of blue lightning and thunderclaps ringing round him. He tells his extraordinary story in a book, The Man who Rode the Thunder—nice reading for a sunny summer’s day! Caroline Alexander, by email Burn, baby, burn STUDENTS studying law and business at Durham (Town and Country, July…

Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at the University of Oxford, is a leading expert on Leonardo da Vinci and art and science. His latest book, Living with Leonardo, was published in March ‘This magical little picture, the central predella panel from Domenico Veneziano’s St Lucy Altarpiece in Florence, marks my transition at Cambridge from natural sciences to art history. The perspective appealed to my scientific instincts, with its geometry incised into the white gesso priming. However, the maths do not rule. The space of the loggia and garden–and the passage of light–is as delicately tender as the meeting of the Virgin and Angel. I particularly like the closed door (porta clausa) that is a symbol of virginity, as is the trellis of roses without thorns’…

PART cyborg and part strumming troubadour, the grasshopper is a chirpy little bug related to the biblically pestilential locust and the hearth cricket from Dickens’s fairytale. His courtship song remains essential to the soundscape of our high summer. There are 11 British members of the family Acrididae, of which the three most common species are the dorsally viridescent green grasshopper (Omocestus viridulus), the common field (Corthippus brunneus) and the flightless meadow (left, C. parallelus). They are localised in abundance, generally favouring damp grasslands to the south of Yorkshire, but the field variety has proved most adaptable to modern habitat and can widely be found sunning itself on heaths, brownfield sites and coarse grasses. Folk names include skipjack, griggan and the Welsh sboncyn gwair—sprite of the grass. They tend to fall…

I’VE come to think of it as the Walled Garden Mystery. For three nights now, rabbits have been gnawing their way through the salad patch until there’s scarcely a leaf of radicchio left. (Lepines, incidentally, seem immune to the attraction of rocket.) The conundrum? How the rabbits get in. The brick walls are old, but 6ft high, the pedestrian door is varnish-blistered, but solid plank, and the galvanised field gate, the obvious point of entry, is sheeted in anti-rabbit wire mesh. Yesterday, I patrolled the outside walls, looking for tunnels in the manner of an especially diligent Colditz guard. For one tired moment, I paranoically imagined genetic-freak rabbits hopping over the walls. This morning, as I surveyed the bone stumps of lettuce, I realised I was in a horror…

BY its very nature, an apartment tends to be more compact than a house and definitely low maintenance—no mowing the lawn or contemplating repair of the gutters—giving you more time to relax, cook a leisurely meal and welcome friends. So far so good, but how do you make the best use of space, particularly when you might not have acres of it? Whatever the size of an open-plan room, the answer is ‘zoning’. For example, a living area can be thoughtfully designed to create distinct—but linked—zones for dining, cooking and relaxing. The best solution is often a kitchen area defined by an island that looks onto a dining table and comfortable seating area beyond. A few bar stools at the island signal an area for relaxed conversation as dinner is…

PLAYS, like London buses, often come along in pairs. One night I was at the Young Vic watching Fun Home, an American musical based on a graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel about her relationship with her father, the next I was at the Jermyn Street Theatre seeing The Play About My Dad by Boo Killebrew, a no less personal piece about a father-daughter reconciliation achieved through the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Is it merely coincidence? Or is there something about dads and daughters that, down the ages, has made for good drama? ‘Shakespeare explored every aspect of the father-daughter relationship, brutal to joyous’ Some years ago, my critical colleague Benedict Nightingale spent a season in New York and was struck by how many plays revolved around young adults struggling…

HELP FOR HEROES veterans from the Army, Navy and RAF are working with Wessex Archaeology and Historic England to conduct exploratory dives to survey the wreck of HMS Montagu, which ran aground in thick fog off Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, in 1906, without loss of life. The battleship was launched in 1901 and, although it was soon to be rendered obsolete by the arrival of the Dreadnought class of fast, all-gun battleships, its speed—thanks in part to its steel hull—represented a considerable technical advance on the iron-clad ships of an earlier era. The surveys will provide data enabling Historic England to decide whether to recommend the ship for listing. The dives are part of Operation Nightingale Heritage, a Ministry of Defence-led initiative to aid the recovery of wounded,…

FARMING bodies have welcomed the vision for Brexit set out by the Cabinet on July 6, as well as the subsequent White Paper (Agromenes, page 39), hailing it as a significant step towards securing the future of the countryside. ‘I’m pleased that the Cabinet has agreed to propose to the EU a free-trade area for goods, [with] a common rulebook for all goods, including agri-food,’ says NFU president Minette Batters, who has long advocated that frictionless trade is necessary for farmers to keep delivering high-quality food and environmental benefits. ‘It’s good to see our arguments have been listened to.’ Sheep farmers, in particular, depend almost entirely on the EU for exports, so the Cabinet’s new approach is particularly reassuring for Phil Stocker, chief executive of the National Sheep Association. ‘I…

Quiz of the week 1) What colour are the flowers of the lesser celandine? 2) Pork chitterlings are made from which part of the pig? 3) London’s 30, St Mary Axe skyscraper is more commonly known as what? 4) The Babington Plot was devised to assassinate which monarch? 5) Which writer created the fictional detective C. Auguste Dupin? Time to buy Histoire Naturelle Limoges porcelain oval plate, £113, Joanna Wood (020–7730 5064; www.joannawood.co.uk) Butterfly Mix wildflower seeds, £6, Seedball (020–8802 5565; www.seedball.co.uk) Green collar (from £14) and lead (£16), Reg & Bob (http://regandbob.com) Five things you (probably) didn’t know about… Paddington Bear • Paddington isn’t his real name. He has a Peruvian moniker, Pastuso, which he feared people wouldn’t be able to pronounce. • In early drafts, Paddington called…

MENTION the words ‘natural navigation’ and you may be greeted with the following: ‘Ah yes, that’s moss growing on the north side of trees, isn’t it?’ Natural navigation is a huge subject, but moss on trees is one of only two elements to have carried into modernity—the North Star is the other. Moss’s popularity is a bit of a mystery as it’s one of the harder organisms to read. It indicates moisture, which it needs to reproduce, but there are many reasons why a surface might be moist and aspect is only one of them: flat roofs, rough bark and the bottom of trees all usually have moss on them. If you’re seeking a confident sense of direction by examining trees, look instead for a powdery substance with a rusty-orangey…

SOON, the sun will sink down behind the great mountain, but, by then, I’ll be back. The wolf on the sled is large, but my horse is strong and the town is just a mile or so further. I was in the midst of that marvellous dream again. The one in which I’m a mid-19th-century Dakota wolfer and I don’t have to pay Council Tax or change trains at Basingstoke every morning. Then, I awoke. It was the rain that did it. Great drops thundering down on the canvas canopy‘a waterproof canopy’, the man who rented us the skiff had promised. It hadn’t always been so grim. Five days previously, in the shadow of St Helen’s Church in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, we first set our oars in the sun-dappled water and…

INSPIRED by the 10th-century Egyptian astronomer Ibn Yunus and soon to be unveiled in Jeddah’s sprawling new airport is a 7ft pendulum suspended 50ft from the (heavily reinforced) ceiling. The sculpture, which has a mirrored surface that will reflect and distort its surroundings on each swing, was designed a long way away by the Oxfordshire-based sculptor David Harber and his team. Other designs, most of them more modest in scale, can be found all over the world. ‘In my job, I think it’s safe to say that I get to see more beautiful gardens than anyone else,’ says David. In May this year, his practice exhibited its first show garden at Chelsea, in collaboration with Savills. It’s been more than 25 years since David decided he could ‘do a better…

THE opening of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries in Westminster Abbey a month ago has attracted a wave of positive publicity. This ambitious new project has allowed a state-of-the-art display of many objects in the abbey’s outstanding collection and offers visitors spectacular elevated views into the interior of the church. To accomplish all this, it has been necessary to adapt the triforium and construct a new access tower, the first major architectural addition to the abbey in 250 years. Remarkably, the Dean and Chapter have raised the necessary funds—£22.9 million —without recourse to any public funding. Coverage of the opening has focused, quite correctly, on the contents of the new galleries ( Country Life, June 6, 2018). Indeed, it’s wonderful to see such a fascinating and impressive collection displayed in…

WHAT comes to mind when you think of Florence? Art, of course. The Tuscan capital’s cobbled centre is home to an embarrassment of Renaissance riches: you could spend a weekend here doing nothing but looking round galleries and still barely have scratched the surface. However, although the past is front and centre, this is a city with its eye on the future, too—the likes of Alessandro Michele (who’s turned Gucci around since taking the reins in 2015) and shabby-chic design guru Riccardo Barthel have sprinkled their modern-day magic over it. Belissima! Emma Hughes Sleep in style The stately Hotel Helvetia & Bristol is a 19th-century palazzo that’s a biscotti’sthrow from the Palazzo Strozzi. Service is five-star, but it still has the feel of a private residence and no two rooms…

AT the heart of the 2½-acre walled garden at Benvarden, deep within the 15-acre demesne of lawns, woodland and riverside walks, is a secluded wooden seat bathed in a sea of sun-filtered green. The seat nestles against the garden wall at one end of an open, ivy-clad loggia named the Creation by Valerie and Hugh Montgomery, who have gardened at Benvarden since 1956, when Mr Montgomery inherited the estate from his father at the tender age of 23. The Creation sits on the site of ‘the most wonderful domed 1870 greenhouse,’ explains Mr Montgomery. A simple timber frame, now quilted in long-fingered ivies and the brighter, fuller green of wisteria, casts chequered shadows on the wall and offers square-framed glimpses of blue sky. The stone path leading to this lovely…

Architecture Lincolnshire Houses David L. Roberts (Shaun Tyas, £35) LINCOLNSHIRE is not a showy county, apart from its outstanding cathedral, medieval churches and the odd Victorian extravaganza. Lawrence Weaver wrote: ‘It must be confessed that Lincolnshire lacks any very definite tradition of domestic building and it yields few attractive materials.’ Yet, as this long-awaited book reveals, there’s a wealth of unknown and fascinating buildings to be found hiding in this secretive part of England. The late David Roberts explored the county up hill and down wold (the Lincolnshire wolds share an etymological root with the Cotswolds), as well as across fen and river plain and along the coast. Through his research and writing, he exposed the character of Lincolnshire houses in a way that makes them intriguing and placed them…

THE only landscape panorama of the legendary Dunkirk evacuation of 340,000 servicemen to be produced by an eyewitness—who happened to be Churchill’s nephew, John Spencer-Churchill, a muralist who was serving as a captain in the Royal Signals—will be exhibited at the British Art Fair later this year. The fair is held at the Saatchi Gallery, London SW3 (September 20–23, www.britishartfair.co.uk). Other official war paintings of Dunkirk were created by artists from second-hand information. Spencer-Churchill sketched the mayhem on scraps of paper, even loo paper—in the distance, a paddlesteamer can be seen on fire and bottom left is the bandstand from which Maj-Gen Alexander, the commander who was the last man to leave the beaches, just before midnight on June 2, 1940, addressed the troops. The artist later commented: ‘I…

A TENTED encampment not dissimilar to the set of popular 2001 film A Knight’s Tale will take over the grounds of Arundel Castle in West Sussex next week, for the 10th annual International Jousting & Medieval Tournament (July 24–29). As the world’s longest jousting tournament, it draws exceptionally trained horses (some perhaps recognisable from starring roles in Poldark and Peaky Blinders) and brave professionals, in full armour and wielding lances, from all over Europe, who will camp on-site for an immersive medieval experience. The defending individual champion this year is an Englishman. Organisers promise ‘a true clash of the titans with plenty of fierce rivalries’, doing battle in hand-to-hand combat and at the tilt rail. There will also be falconry displays and archery. Tickets are on sale at www.arundelcastle.org…

ALAN SMITH, head of costume props, footwear and armoury at the RSC, has lost count of the number of Macbeths he’s worked on since 1989, when he joined the company. This year, he’s made a ceremonial belt for Christopher Eccleston in the role (until September 18 at Stratford and then from October 15 at the Barbican in London). Variety, however, is the essence of Mr Smith’s job. ‘I’m responsible for costume props such as Captain Hook’s hook, paddings and fat suits, as well as belts, sword belts, baldrics and, on the armoury side, swords, daggers, shields and firearms,’ he says. The challenge is executing the designer’s vision. ‘They come to me with a problem and I have to solve it,’ Mr Smith explains. ‘Once I’ve worked it out, there’s that…

A SPUD shortage looms. From crisps and snacks to bakers and salad potatoes, the prolonged hot weather with so little rain will seriously cut our supplies. The surviving tubers are smaller and fewer than normal and farmers are struggling to fulfil even part of their orders. Happily, the weather has been more normal in the Netherlands and arrangements for emergency imports are being made. It’s fortunate there are no customs barriers between us and that, because we have the same health arrangements, lorries won’t be held up. Potatoes are, of course, a carefully monitored crop because of pests and disease, which the increasingly warm weather patterns tend to encourage. Phytosanitary restrictions between Holland and ourselves would indeed be inconvenient if every single lorry had to be inspected. ‘Whatever your view–pro-…

IN this digital age, I still find drawing to be indispensable as a means of recording my observations. Drawing forces me to slow down and engage fully with the buildings observed. More importantly, drawing is the most direct way of communicating one’s ideas for and feelings about projects. I continue to design exclusively by hand, such as for the Belarusian Memorial Chapel in London N12 (pictured), to enable myself to mediate freely between my memory of Belarus and my imagination—something that a computer can’t do. Tszwai So, Spheron Architects It’s so important to encourage the art of drawing. The ability to look at and record the world around us is tremendously valuable. We must never forget that architecture is an artform and a concrete expression of the human spirit—nothing speaks…

THIS room is the main living space of an apartment that sits atop Putney Hill in SW15 with far-reaching views across London. It overlooks a large communal garden that has been landscaped to feel as rustic as possible, despite its urban setting. It was this aspect that governed the overall look and feel of the space. ‘The brief we were given was very clear—the room wasn’t to be glitzy in any way, but should celebrate the amazing gardens,’ explains Bunny, who founded London- and Geneva-based practice Turner Pocock in 2007 with Emma Pocock. Since then, it has established a reputation for creating relaxed, stylish spaces. To meet the brief, the designers brought the outside in by using sage green throughout as a neutral. This was combined with layers of texture,…

FOR an island with such grisly origins—Hercules slew the Giants and threw them into the Aegean, where they formed a mountainous paradise that empires would battle over for centuries—Mykonos exudes a joyousness that’s hard to shake. An embodiment of the picturesque Cyclades, with a palette of wobbly, whitewashed houses, churches with blue roofs and sun-drenched turquoise waters, it has successfully absorbed its party reputation to become a luxury destination that is still authentically Greek, albeit for the tourist with large pockets. The great and the glamorous flock to Mykonos for shops, yachts and beach clubs, but a haven of tranquillity can be found at the Santa Marina resort, on a peninsula in sheltered Ornos Bay. Still fresh from a three-year, top-to-toe refurbishment, 101 pristine rooms and suites and 13 shuttered…

ALTHOUGH one swallow doesn’t make a summer, the arrival of a mating pair is usually a harbinger of brighter days to come. And so it proved for former buying agent-turned-fund manager Rupert Bradstock, when he decided to launch his elegant west Berkshire family home, The Old Rectory at West Wood-hay, in the North Wessex Downs AONB, onto the open market in the Royal Wedding issue of Country Life on May 16. Offered at a guide price of £7.75 million through joint agents Knight Frank and Savills, the classic Georgian former rectory, set in 14 acres of lovely gardens and grounds on the edge of the 2,000-acre West Woodhay House estate, was snapped up by a decisive buyer within a matter of days, at a price rumoured to be ‘well…

THE market for roses is driven by novelty—and always has been since French nurserymen started large-scale rose-breeding 200 years ago. The unchallenged assumption is that new roses are better than old. New is beautiful: the really old roses that COUNTRY LIFE readers appreciate —Gallicas and Damasks—are only for contrarians and cranks. This year’s novelties, we are told, are infinitely better than last year’s. And no person of taste should grow anything like those vulgar, scentless Floribundas in shades of orange and yellow that were so fashionable 50 years ago. Well, I suppose there’s some truth in that, but I have no doubt that the gorgeous roses we adore today, such as David Austin’s ‘English’ roses, will likewise be sneered at by garden snobs in another five decades’ time. Fifteen…