Innholdsfortegnelse for 02-Oct-2019 i Country Life

PORTUGAL is enjoying a streak of luck. Two of its landmarks have been granted UNESCO status—the Palácio de Mafra ( above ) and the Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga—and its government has a strategy to make it one of the world’s most sustainable destinations by 2027. The capital, Lisbon, has been named the most travel-friendly European city with the cheapest airport transfers to the centre (£5.25). Heathrow’s taxi fare is the second most expensive (£45.87), after Amsterdam (£47.13). New and tempting property offerings in Portugal include boutique, sustainable wellness resort Quinta da Comporta, one of only two five-star resorts in the area, an hour from Lisbon. There are 20 townhouses and pool villas for sale, all of which are turn-key and ready to be rented now—prices have already…

MUNICH can boast plenty of accolades. As well as being the third biggest city in Germany, it was named most ‘liveable city 2018’ by Monocle magazine and, according to the Globalisation and World Rankings Research Institution, it’s considered an ‘alpha-world’ city—a world centre. All this in a little pocket of south-west Germany famed for its beer halls and this month’s Oktoberfest. ‘Munich is the cosiest city in Germany,’ says Brigitte Landwehr, head of sales for Engel & Völkers Munich (00 49 89 2370 8300). Although there’s some 40 miles between Munich and the Italian border, Munich is often referred to as ‘the most northern Italian city,’ adds Mrs Landwehr. ‘We have the Bavarian quirkiness (think dirndls and lederhosen) and the Italian avant-garde.’ ‘The “most northern Italian city”, Munich has the…

BAHA MAR had an inauspicious beginning, but, after a decade of stops and starts, the Caribbean’s largest-ever resort project is open. The 1,000-acre site, on a half-mile stretch of Nassau beachfront, miraculously unscathed by Hurricane Dorian, is potentially a game-changer for the Bahamas. The scale of Baha Mar sets it apart from anything else in the Caribbean, such as Barbados or Antigua; together with the 100,000sq ft casino—the region’s largest—there are three luxury hotels, 42 restaurants, 11 swimming pools and an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course. Against a backdrop of bankruptcy and financial mismanagement, this is all quite an achievement by its new owners, the Chinese company Chow Tai Fook Enterprises. The hotels are running at full occupancy and repeat guests have already purchased luxury branded private residences on…

DIAMONDS are a resort’s best friend, adding lustre to Alpine settings benefitting from the arrival of well-appointed names on grande rues. Five-carat Courchevel has been a cut above rival resorts, with Chanel, Dior and Hermes. Now, Chamonix is following this upward trend, according to Roddy Aris, a Knight Frank partner specialising in the French and Swiss Alps (020–7861 1727). With dazzlers such as Swarovski, Eric Bompard and Ogier, Chamonix has the client base to sustain luxe brands. ‘It can cost € 1 million or more to open and fit a boutique, so brands are seeking longevity,’ he explains. As well as shops, upmarket brands, such as Six Senses and Four Seasons, are appearing, plus Michelin-starred restaurants, which Mr Arris believes has an impact on the standard of property constructed. Jeremy…

SEVENTY years on from the National Parks Act 1949, an independent report published last weekend calls for a massive overhaul of how these and AONBs are run. The Michael Govecommissioned Landscapes Review by journalist and farmer Julian Glover (‘Our national pride and joy’, May 29) claims that the way England’s 10 National Parks (NP) and 34 AONBs are organised is ‘fragmented’ and ‘not really a system at all’, with the latter poorly funded. Its core recommendation is that these 44 areas, which make up a quarter of the country’s landmass, should be brought together under one efficient National Landscapes Service, while retaining local autonomy. Criticism is also levelled at the lack of diversity in both individual boards and visitors. The report believes the ‘cumbersome’ acronym AONB should be replaced…

LAST week, the National Trust (NT) and the Landmark Trust (LT) celebrated 50 years of caring for Lundy Island—a 400ft-high speck of granite, grass, wildlife and Stone Age remnants in the Bristol Channel, 12 miles off the Devon coast. Back in 1969, when it was gifted to the NT, the birds, beasts and plants of the island were not doing well, but, since both organisations took joint responsibility immediately, things have turned around. There may not be roads or streetlights, but seabird numbers have tripled to 21,000, including puffins and Manx shearwater, due to the Seabird Recovery Project, which focused on ridding Lundy of rats. More than 200 Atlantic grey seals now gambol beyond the shores in waters that, in 2010, became the UK’s first Marine Conservation Zone, overlapping with…

Exhibition Until January 5, 2020 ‘Two Last Nights! Show Business in Georgian Britain’, The Foundling Museum, Brunswick Square, London WC1. ‘Going to a show’ was a popular 18th-century pastime, with theatres and festivals appearing around the country. This interactive exhibition explores advertising, ticket sales, audience, dress code, sets and venues (020–7841 3600; www. foundlingmuseum.org.uk) October 5–20 Autumn Exhibition (right), Geedon Gallery, Fingringhoe, Essex. Watercolours by Yvonne Skargon, paintings by artists including Fred Cumings RA, Joceline Wickham and Jacqueline Taber RBA, plus works in ceramic, papier-mâché, glass, print, sculpture and wood (01206 728587; www.geedongallery.co.uk) Festival October 4–6 Penshurst Festival, various venues, Kent. New event focusing on books, music, comedy and poetry on the theme ‘Crossing Boundaries’, with appearances by Daisy Goodwin, Loyd Grossman and Nicholas Shakespeare. Ticket prices vary (07971 149322;…

John McEwen comments on The Cricket Game ‘Cricket in this country is a beautiful game; although photographs capture best the intensity of a particular moment, it takes a painting to reveal its bucolic glory. This one evokes the soft, early evening light and the fullness of high summer; we feel the perfection of cricket in the landscape. Decades after it was painted, my brother commissioned the artist to paint another cricket scene, this time at Worsley. In the foreground of the new version (currently at the Saatchi Gallery), our late father’s hat can be glimpsed above a deck chair–as it turned out, he was watching his last game of cricket’ DAVID INSHAW grew up ‘surrounded by Nature and wonder’ near Shoreham in Kent, made famous by Samuel Palmer, ‘the…

FOR the past five years, one of Ireland’s outstanding country houses has been in the process of transformation. Hillsborough Castle, an official Government residence for nearly a century, has been the object of a major programme of repair and renovation at the hands of Historic Royal Palaces (HRP). It is not only the scale of these works that is hugely impressive: they have taken place at a moment where the Northern Ireland peace process looms large in the European consciousness. Political circumstances, indeed, lend a powerful resonance to this project that is hard to parallel. The Georgian town of Hillsborough occupies the site of a medieval settlement, known in the early 17th century as the ‘crooked glen’, or Cromlyn. In 1611, this hamlet, with a ruinous church dedicated to St…

AS are many who shoot and fish and are partial to a nice motor, I’m forever on the lookout for, but have never quite found, the perfect all-round car. The ‘saved’ page of my Autotrader app is testament to my restless search for a Grand Unified Theory of motoring. There, you’ll find a hotchpotch virtual garage of sports cars, sports utility vehicles (SUVs), estates, pick-ups and hatchbacks. I fancy, at different times, a Lotus Elise or Jaguar XKR, an Alfa Stelvio or Porsche Macan, a Toyota Hilux or Bentley Continental GT. Round and round I go in delicious indecision. Unlike the late Stephen Hawking and his colleagues at the Large Hadron Collider, I am nowhere near resolving my conundrum: combining these divergent horseless carriages into a horseless carriage for all…

1 Keep calm when a tartan-clad dowager suggests a Foursome: it’s a Scottish reel 2 Don’t forget your cartridges. Your host will feed you, but you feed your gun 3 There is no shame in coming off at the Cresta Run’s shuttlecock corner. You even get a tie 4 Sing lustily during carols. It’ll warm you up 5 If in doubt about the vicar’s drinks party, take a hip flask 6 Tickets! Remember to book, whether they’re for the ballet, Olympia or even the local panto. They all go fast 7 Hogmanay. Don’t panic if you don’t know all the words to Auld Lang Syne. Very few do… 8 If you only go to one meet on your feet, Boxing Day is the most social 9 If you only go…

THE magnificent RHS Rosemoor garden at Great Torrington in Devon was the setting for a tour and tea hosted by Charles Stanley Wealth Managers on a sunny autumnal afternoon late last month. After Champagne and a welcome from Chris Harris-Deans, investment manager and director of regional development at Charles Stanley’s Exeter office, the group embarked on a guided walk around the eight-acre garden created by Anne Berry. There was a poignant feel to proceedings, as Lady Anne, who gave the garden to the RHS in 1988, had died two days before, aged 99. After the tour, guests enjoyed a cream tea, with a talk about the history of this exceptional garden by Val Bourne, a contributor to COUNTRY LIFE .…

FROM the sheltered entrance courtyard at Banks Fee—a broad 18th-century Cotswold-stone house set above Gloucestershire parkland—the visitor is welcomed by immaculate stretches of pleached hornbeam and clipped yew and charmed by pairs of plump lollipops of Quercus ilex that have been encouraged to grow into each other. The eye is then drawn from the velvet squares of lawn and the contrastingly shaggy rosemary to tantalising glimpses of the rolling countryside that brought Kate and Hugh Sloane to Gloucestershire from Sussex 16 years ago. ‘We had done it before—made a garden from nothing—in our first house,’ explains Mrs Sloane as she reveals the courtyard garden, designed by Arne Maynard as a series of shallow terraces that links the front of the house to the handsome Victorian stables. ‘Our Sussex garden was…

AT a time when many local-authority galleries and museums are starved for funds, we are lucky that some of our smaller trustee galleries are able to punch above their weight. The Watts Gallery at Compton—an exotic Victorian oasis beside the Pilgrim’s Way in the Surrey countryside—is one such, producing a regular programme of small, well-researched exhibitions surveying the careers of artists whose work relates in some way to that of G. F. Watts himself. The latest is devoted to that arch-Orientalist J. F. Lewis, whose exotic scenes of life in Cairo and the desert delighted visitors to the Royal Academy’s (RA) Summer Exhibitions and helped fuel the burgeoning demand for exotic Eastern—and Eastern-inspired—art and artefacts. The term ‘Orientalism’ embraced such works and the fashion they spawned, which, in England, reached…

History The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company William Dalrymple (Bloomsbury, £30) THE story of the unstoppable and ruthless rise of the East India Company, as told by William Dalrymple, is a rip-roaring tale of wild adventure, amorality, feckless greed and despicable behaviour, all in the pursuit of money. Yet it is more than this. As its title suggests, it is also about the ‘Great Anarchy’ in 18th-century India, a long, lawless destablisation that followed the fall of the Mughal Empire. The East India Company—known as The Company—was a joint-stock company founded in 1599 by 101 London investors, whose aim was solely to make a profit—as great as possible. That it grew into the first multinational corporation and ‘ran amok’, as the author concludes, made it ‘the…

AFTER a decade of planning, Soho House Hong Kong finally opened last month in Sheung Wan—the latest and biggest yet of the exclusive brand’s now 24 private members’ clubs worldwide. This ‘home-fromhome’ for ‘like-minded people’ is adorned with more than 100 pieces by local artists, from Tsang Kin Wah and Ho Fan to Firenze Lai. ‘We’ve properly integrated the work space, the gym space and the house space into one [28-storey] building,’ explains founder and CEO Nick Jones. ‘It’s a superb location.’ Visit www.sohohousehongkong.com for more. Further enticement to invest in Asia’s World City—which saw 1.3% property growth in the first half of 2019 and contains the world’s most expensive residential property, say Savills—comes in the form of a new cultural and retail destination in the $2.6 billion Victoria Dockside…

FROM the drama of its mountainous mainland to the innumerable idyllic islands that pepper its coastline, it’s hard to think of another European destination that can boast the sheer variety of Greece. Property hunters can, and do, buy everything from private villas with heart-stopping views to entire islands. Developments, however, have historically remained thin on the ground and buyers looking for turn-key solutions need to head south, to the Peloponnese. An 8,000sq mile area located two hours south-west of Athens, the region is comprised of four peninsulas of mountainous landscapes, magnificent beaches and fragrant hills tumbling down into clear blue water where the Aegean meets the Mediterranean. The Peloponnese contains countless pretty villages and towns, but the most sought-after is Porto Heli. A traditional Greek fishing town built around a…

Three more branded resorts in the Caribbean Canouan, St Vincent and the Grenadines Three-bedroom Patio Villas managed by Mandarin Oriental, with spa, watersports and 18-hole golf course. Prices from $8.2 million (£6.7m), through Savills (020–7016 3740) Half Moon Bay, Antigua Due to open in 2022, the new resort will occupy 132 acres of oceanfront on the east coast. The Rosewood Residences are priced from $4 million (£3.3m), through Savills (as above; www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/half-moon-bay-antiqua) Four Seasons Resort, Nevis Properties on the Four Seasons Resort Nevis, St Kitts and Nevis, are available to buy with prices from about $1.4 million (£1.15m) for a two-bedroom golf villa (00 1 869 469 1199; www.fourseasons.com/nevis)…

A BREEZE stirs azure ripples on the water as palm trees wave and children squeal in the shallows. A waiter distributes cocktails, a lifeguard rakes the caster-sugar sand and music wafts across from the tempting bar. This is a beach, but a beach untroubled by seaweed or riptides. The first private oasis in southern Europe, The Beach at La Reserva de Sotogrande in southern Spain, some four miles from the Mediterranean, is a 35,000sq ft lagoon in the hills, complete with glass-walled restaurant. Across a breakwater is a deeper expanse of dark-blue water, with kayaks and paddleboards ready to launch. The Beach is the heart of La Reserva Club (00 34 856 560 922; www.lareservaclubsoto grande.com), within the 1,154-acre private residential community, a glamorous gem in Sotogrande’s crown. This part…

COUNTRYSIDE and farming organisations have applauded the Government’s decision to invest £62 million to bolster flood resilience across England. ‘Many farmers and landowners feel vulnerable to the risk of flooding and the devastation it could cause to their land and rural businesses,’ says Ben Underwood, regional director for CLA East. ‘The £62 million funding announcement from the Government is welcome news.’ The investment will support 13 protection, mitigation and recovery projects in Cumbria, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Essex and, above all, North and West Yorkshire, with £19 million going towards schemes in the Calder Valley ( above ), which was heavily hit by the 2015 floods. However, cautions Mr Underwood, ‘there remains the need for long-term policies to prevent and mitigate the impacts of similar-scale flooding events in the future’. The CLA…

Quiz of the week 1) The flag of which of these nations doesn’t have the colour green in it: Hungary, Wales, Romania or Algeria? 2) Seismology is the study of what? 3) If someone is bibulous, what are they excessively fond of? 4) Which day of the week is named for the Norse god of thunder? 5) Whose London home is Lambeth Palace? Time to buy…

WATER buffalo saved Napton Farm. ‘The family had farmed here for 400 years, but, with only 80 Friesians, we were too small for modern requirements,’ explains Roger Alsop. ‘I didn’t want to be the one who let it go.’ Fortunately, a nearby farmer had water buffalo: ‘I went for a chat and came back with 20 cows and a bull!’ Now, Roger and Jackie are joined by son Stuart and nephew James Hill (pictured). ‘He’s the most photogenic,’ laughs Roger. ‘He’s been “Farmer James” since CBeebies filmed here.’ Water buffalo have been farmed across Asia for centuries—‘I believe there are more buffalo milked than cows in the world’—and the Alsops began by supplying Indian sweet shops for fudge. ‘Going into the middle of Birmingham was a bit different,’ remembers Jackie.…

IT was a happy coincidence that, following a recent stay in hospital, I commented to a friend about the great health benefit I found in re-reading Owen Sheers’s A Poet’s Guide to Britain when I was there—and then read your editorial stating that ‘poetry should be prescribed on the NHS’ (Leader, October 3, 2018). To conserve the resources of the NHS, perhaps we could all beg, borrow or buy poetry to help us get better more quickly. I am a great believer in this, but have been laughed at for holding such a view—if it works, we would all benefit and it’s well worth being laughed at. Rev Chris Abbott, West Sussex The writer of the letter of the week will win a bottle of Pol Roger Brut Réserve Champagne…

1945 August 17 The picturesque High Street in the Oxfordshire village of Burford survives, although you’d be hard pressed to find a day with as few as four cars parked along the kerb. Often referred to as the ‘Gateway to the Cotswolds’, Burford was granted one of the earliest town charters in the country in the late 11th century. The COUNTRY LIFE Picture Library contains 120 years’ worth of photography and articles from the world’s leading architectural and gardens experts. Many are available to license or purchase in print form from £28 plus VAT. Please email enquiries to clpicturelibrary @ti-media.com…

‘The more people who eat game, the fewer opponents shooting will have’ Brace yourself THE origin of each gun being handed a brace of birds to take home after a shoot seems lost in the mists of time, but, whoever had the idea, it was a cracking good one. The quaint ritual reminds us that the ultimate justification for harvesting game is the provision of food. It also offers the perfect moment to thank the gamekeeper in the equally time-honoured way. Taking game home encourages respect for the bag, too, something that every new gun must learn. In these sad days of shot game sometimes proving hard to sell, the end-of-day handout makes the essential task of getting all shot game into the food chain that little bit easier. Ten…

WHAT could be more thrilling than welcoming delivery of your wedding presents, each holding a lovely memory of the person who gave it to you, before making use of your new gifts by throwing your first dinner party as husband and wife? Engaged couples should look to The Wedding Present Company, whose knowledgeable staff will help you to create an original, timeless list, and to Doggart & Squash, who will conceive culinary creations to serve on your new tableware. ‘There’s nothing more thrilling than the delivery of your wedding presents’ Brimming with imaginative ideas and under-the-radar brands, The Wedding Present Company encourages couples to choose future heirlooms, to be passed on to the next generation. Each list is totally bespoke and although you can, of course, choose classic presents from…

OAKWRIGHTS offers secondary accommodation that provides a wealth of opportunities to transform a property—and everyday life. Its experienced designers and craftsmen will build workshops and hobby spaces, as well as covered areas for outdoor entertaining that take pressure off the main house. Working with Oakwrights As busy company executives, Tom and Sarah approached Oakwrights to design and build a four-bay garage with loft-space accommodation above. The building was designed, manufactured and erected by Oakwrights, and the groundworks and internal fit-out were undertaken by one of the company’s approved partner contractors. After initial discussions with the clients, it was decided that the conventional triangular room section of a loft would not offer the internal width or height required. The solution provided was an asymmetric roof design in the form of Oakwrights…

MOVING house can be taxing—and it’s not only the bank balance and furrowed brow that feel the strain —the stress we put on the environment when we relocate is considerable. Removals comparison website Buzzmove estimates that a typical UK house move generates an average of 16.8kg in CO2 emissions, which is the equivalent of keeping a lightbulb switched on continuously for more than seven weeks. ‘We’re all far more environmentally conscious these days, but moving house can be chaotic, so it’s all too easy to let eco-friendly choices go out of the window,’ says Luke Morgan of Strutt & Parker (020–7318 5095). ‘Make sure you’re organised well in advance of your moving date so you’re only taking the things you need and not creating more emissions than necessary by…

Roasted butternut and free-range pork sausage tray bake Serves 4 Ingredients 6 free-range sausages1 butternut squash, chopped, but not peeled3 red onions, peeled and chopped into wedges5 cloves garlic, peeled3 sprigs rosemary200g puy lentils500ml chicken stock80g spinach leaves4tbspn crème fraîche2tbspn honey1tspn wholegrain mustard1tbspn balsamic vinegar Method Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Arrange the sausages on a large baking tray. In a separate bowl, put the chopped butternut, onion wedges, garlic and rosemary. Pour over a splash of olive oil and toss everything together, so all is evenly coated. Spoon the butternut mixture around the sausages so it sits almost in a single layer and season well. Roast for about 35 minutes, or until the sausages are browned and the vegetables are cooked. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, cook…

THE speed with which properties of the Abama Resort are being snapped up is testament to the fact that Tenerife has well and truly shaken off its Brits-abroad reputation. Since the launch five years ago, sales have continued to accelerate at the luxe branded-residence development in the south-west part of the island, 30 minutes from the airport. This year’s phase of Bellevue residences sold out in record time and more than 50% of the freshly launched Las Villas del Tenis had sold before construction began this summer. With an enviable spa, tennis courts, a private, sheltered beach with a pier for boating excursions, 18-hole golf course, two Michelin-starred restaurants and 400 acres sloping up the Teide volcano, offering far-reaching views over the Atlantic—not to mention the connecting Ritz-Carlton, Abama—there’s plenty…

Jumby Bay Only 10 minutes by boat from the hustle and bustle of Antigua, Jumby Bay is one of the world’s ultimate private-island getaways. In 1998, residents bought the entire island and created the Jumby Bay Island Company, which selects its small number of owners from like-minded people who share the same dream of laid-back Caribbean luxury. Although it’s a resort (run by the Oetker Collection, which manages Le Bristol in Paris), the 300-acre Jumby doesn’t feel like a hotel. Development is very low density—there are only 56 homes and 40 hotel suites. Each estate home is generously built and has its own character, charm and at least one amazing pool; the very best have multiple pools and their own private beach. There are currently a number of homes on…

A gem of a location, the Cycladic island of Kéa offers natural beauty in spades, wonderful beaches and no fewer than four ancient cities ripe for exploring—and now a One&Only resort has broken ground. The One&Only Kéa will comprise a 65-hectare (160-acre) beach-front site on its own secluded bay, with 75 resort villas, a beach club, destination spa, three restaurants and two bars. Forty two- to five-bedroom villas will be built in a contemporary style using local materials. Prices start at € 3.2million for a turn-key, two-bedroom property (00 30 210 361 4255; katerina@dolphincp.com)…

THE wellness industry is here to stay. From yoga retreats to meditation centres, detox residencies, wellbeing cafés and specially tailored food supplements, the offering grows every year. Currently valued at more than $4 trillion, a newer tranche is emerging in the form of holiday homes that tap into the market. The Global Wellness Institute estimated the value of the wellness property sector as a $134 billion industry in 2017, with a projected growth to $198 billion by 2022. For Hugo Thistlethwayte, head of Savills International Residential (020–7409 8876), wellness is very much ‘on the radar’ when it comes to his clients searching for second homes overseas. ‘It’s an extension of lifestyle amenities,’ he explains. ‘It started with having a pool, gym and a bit of spa pampering, but now, throughout…

A SUMMER of record temperatures, flash floods, Arctic wildfires and catastrophic ice-sheet melts has put the spotlight on the climate emergency and what we can do to halt or prepare for it—including moving to a new house. Increasingly concerned that ‘the UK is not acting fast enough’, people such as Alison Green, a national director of the Scientists’ Warning movement, are looking at how we can better withstand the breakdown caused by extreme weather. ‘The most important thing is to live near like-minded people who can help each other’ For Dr Green, this has meant not only leaving behind her role as Arden University’s pro-vice chancellor to found Transition Lab —an organisation that works on adaptation and mitigation strategies—but also house-hunting for a climate-resilient property. ‘I thought “business as usual”…

GIVE back the money.’ That’s the demand of sensible people who have looked at the dealings of the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) with Calor Gas. How on earth has a sensible, well-meaning company given money—albeit only £5,000—to this collection of ideologues? Calor, which provides a great deal of the energy used in rural areas, has a real stake in the countryside and yet the company has managed to support an organisation that is wholly opposed to rural interests. The story is not a pleasant one. The LACS has long held a few hundred acres of land to provide what it calls a ‘sanctuary’ for Exmoor’s red deer. The whole idea is, of course, ridiculous. Without a proper conservation policy, the deer population outgrows the food available. Nevertheless, the LACS…

MY 15th flight in 10 days has landed and I’m worried that the environmental-campaigner bit of my biography at the bottom of this column will be questioned. I did check, but getting to the Norwegian Arctic Circle and then the Amazon jungles of Peru doesn’t easily work by other means. Greta Thunberg gave us a shining example this summer of alternative, intercontinental transport, but some of us need different ways of atoning for our sins. The offset schemes on the airline-booking websites are woefully inadequate. The Liberal Democrats have just proposed a frequent-flier levy, which sounds sensible if it’s used to promote greener transport and isn’t merely some silly political gesture. In the meantime, we’re planting trees by the thousand here in Suffolk. We’ve run out of places for new…

THE year 1819: the United Kingdom is polarised, Parliament is in uproar and the Government is deemed, by those opposing it, as the most extreme, uncompromising and arbitrary in living memory. The faint cry for Parliamentary reform has risen to a deafening roar and a new tactic, the mass political meeting—a visible demonstration of the will of ‘the people’, championed by Wiltshire gentleman-farmer and reformer Henry Hunt (1773–1835)is being rolled out across the nation. Addressing thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of their disenfranchised countrymen, speakers called for the destruction of the old corrupt order through a radical reformation of the House of Commons. ‘Electors barely alive, are carried in winding sheets; others, visibly demented, are steered through by partisans’ The key demands were equal representation across the UK, requiring a…

TO kennel or not to kennel? A question that has caused heated debate in the shooting field and near-catastrophic family fallouts for decades. In the Edwardian era, gundogs were commonly housed in rows of purpose-built kennels, presided over by strict gamekeepers who might be in charge of hundreds of dogs, depending on the size of the estate. However, times and attitudes have changed. Today, a gundog is often a much-loved pet that lives in the house, as well as a working companion in the field—but is it really possible for a dog to fulfil both roles? ‘I compete with and work my dogs, but I also love them and want to spend quality time with them,’ enthuses Tracy Corbin of Corbinsbere Gundogs, Wiltshire. ‘Of course it’s possible to have a…

On the road again Although shooting or picking up locally as part of the village or local syndicate is unbeatable, there’s nothing quite like a sporting road trip. Combine that with staying somewhere suitably hospitable overnight and you’re in clover. If you need a stylish, but cosy pitstop in the Home Counties, The Crab & Boar pub at Chieveley, near Newbury, Berkshire, serves seafood and seasonal game. There’s also a fine selection of beers, wines and whiskies—and the 14 en-suite rooms (many with a bath) offer a chance to spruce and warm up in comfort before dining. Gundogs are welcome, too. Rooms from £95 (01635 247550; www.crabandboar.com). Further south, The King John Inn in Wiltshire, set within Cranborne Chase, has a legendary reputation, helped by being within hailing distance…

IF there is any doubt about this country’s contribution to the civilised world, the weekend shooting house party surely counters it. Guests stay long enough to get to know each other well, but not so long that their presence begins to pall on the hosts. They have an activity to keep them busy for the rump of the two days; sleep, fine wine and good food account for the remainder. There can be awkward moments, of course. It’s not really done to ask the names of the others before you arrive. If one happens to be an old flame you haven’t seen for 25 years, the next 48 hours need careful navigation. For a weekend, the adage that, like fish, guests begin to go off after day three doesn’t come…

IN a year that has seen few genuine sporting estates emerging onto the open market, the sale, for the first time in more than 80 years, of the historic 540-acre Ireton Wood Hall estate at Idridgehay, near Belper, Derbyshire, is an event to be savoured by the fieldsports community at large. Selling agent Edward Caudwell of Caudwell & Co (01629 810018), who quotes a guide price of £8 million for the picturesque estate with its fine, Grade II-listed Hall, paints an enticing picture: ‘It’s extremely rare for an estate such as this to come to the market in Derbyshire —rarer still to find one located two fields to the south of the southern boundary of the Chatsworth estate between Matlock and Ashbourne, with three other well-known shoots in the…

Worcestershire, £1.25 million Handsome, red-brick Churchill Old Farm enjoys an elevated spot overlooking the paddocks and rolling countryside of north Worcestershire. Its 7½ acres adjoin the village’s Blake-down Golf Club, with formal gardens and outbuildings including a former coach house and triple garage block. Over the past 30 years, the current owners have carried out a number of vital repairs and the seven-bedroom house is in fine fettle, with its exposed beams, sash windows and feature fireplaces. Knight Frank (01905 723438) Gloucestershire, £9.25 million With the kind of grandeur that wouldn’t look out of place in ancient Rome, Georgian Bledisloe House presides over unspeakably pretty undulating parkland on the edge of the village of Coates, less than three miles from Cirencester. It has eight bedrooms (five en suite)…

IF you find yourself at a loss for something to do during these dark autumn evenings, you could do far worse than acquaint yourself with the stories, myths and history attached to the quince. Thus, you will find that the ‘apple’ that tempted Adam in the Garden of Eden may have been the quince, which remains an enduring symbol of marriage, fertility and love. Likewise, the ‘golden apples’ offered to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, could have been quinces. Although native to Asia, the quince takes its latin name (Cydonia oblonga) from Cydon in Crete, one of the many Mediterranean locations where it was grown. In the 13th century, one learns that it was Edward I who had four quinces planted in the grounds of the Tower of London…

FEW words have been hijacked as effectively as Orientalism. Originally a neutral term for the study of the Middle East and North Africa by Westerners, it was appropriated by the Palestinian-American academic Edward Said in his hugely influential book Orientalism , published in 1978. Since then, Orientalist thinking and imagery have been considered by many to be tools of Western imperial oppression. It is little wonder that the British Museum’s forthcoming exhibition, ‘Inspired by the east: how the Islamic world influenced western art’, has avoided the word (and capitalisations) in its title. During the 19th century, Orientalist artists happily described themselves as such. The Société des Peintres Orientalistes Français was only one of many groups that went forth into what was then known as the Orient (the Middle East and…

POLITICS, as we all know, is a form of theatre, but theatre itself is highly political, as these plays prove. The most high profile and glamorous is Nancy Harris’s Two Ladies at London’s Bridge Theatre, but, although it offers insights into the frustrations of presidential wives and is strongly acted and directed, I found it hard to believe. At first, the play seems close to recognisable reality. A summit meeting takes place on the Côte d’Azur, where the American president has come to seek the support of his French counterpart for retaliatory strikes against terrorist regimes. Given that Helen, the French president’s wife, is significantly older than her husband and that Sophia, the American first lady, is a Croatian ex-model seen as a trophy by her rich, right-wing husband,…