Innholdsfortegnelse for 27-Nov-2019 i Country Life

OH hush the noise, ye men of strife/And hear the angels sing.’ The assault on ears and nerves by relentlessly jangly melodies—Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, the fa-la-las and ding-dongs noisily played in shops—can obscure the messages and magic, uplifting and poetic, that underline much Advent music (‘Doorways to Heaven’, page 148). That’s not to disparage the annual unification the Christmas repertoire brings—it’s a joyous feeling to know words and tune well enough to carol lustily in chorus—but to hear within the familiar verses words that comfort, that crystallise hope and conciliation with the tenderness and awe surrounding a newborn baby. We hear it when the hoary coldness of Rossetti’s poem In the Bleak Midwinter gives way to the radiant warmth of a stable…

Bell tolling The 450-year-old Whitechapel Bell Foundry in East London, which cast Big Ben, is to become a boutique hotel; one campaigner calls the move ‘historical vandalism’ The advance of aliens The spread of Japanese knotweed and other waterway-choking invasive species is another unwelcome consequence of flooding, says the Wildlife Trusts. It was found on a deluged nature reserve in Rotherham Tree spend Tree-planting rates are a new electoral battleground; although it’s been accelerated in the past year, Defra figures show the amount spent has fallen by about £20 million a year over the past few years Goats Goat farmers in Northern Ireland are on alert after an animal imported from Britain was found to be suffering caprine arthritis encephalitis, which causes lameness and affects productivity, movement and condition…

MEAT production came under fire once again after a BBC investigation looked at its effect on the environment for a programme aired this week. However, for farmer Patrick Holden of the Sustainable Food Trust (SFT), the real issue lies not in meat itself, but in ‘the tendency to treat it as if it were one single commodity, referring to its global impact rather than critically differentiating between livestock systems that are part of the problem and those that are emphatically part of the solution’. Perversely, condemnation of red meat may be pushing well-meaning consumers to make worse choices for the environment. Mr Holden points out: ‘The least sustainable meat is intensively farmed chicken and the most sustainable is grass-fed, or mostly grass-fed, lamb and beef.’ These dietary changes are making…

WE have just had a rare weekend away without the children. News of our proposed absence in Worcestershire was not well received, but, when the moment came, the prospect of being spoilt by an aunt and uncle for a couple of days clearly held some appeal. The weekend was a delight. A particular highlight was a spectacular morning walk amid the Malvern Hills that included a visit to Little Malvern Priory with its 15th-century stained glass. Not only was the church beautifully kept, but there was a small note encouraging visitors to help themselves to tea, coffee and biscuits. We didn’t avail ourselves of the offer, but felt truly welcomed. Rather less enjoyable was the business of travelling after so much rain. At moments, the flooding assumed biblical proportions and,…

In a puff of smoke Q A lifelong smoker, I recently converted to ‘vaping’ as the consensus seems to be that it’s better for you (I suppose it can’t be worse). However, I am now a source of great hilarity for my adult children, who have taken to calling me Puff the Magic Dragon. Do I look ridiculous? A. H., Cheshire A Yes, you do, slurping noisily at what resembles a fountain pen. You also smell ridiculous. The scent of tobacco had integrity—a rush of contentment, triggered by Proustian chains of association: of jazz cellars and jokes traded over the Talisker, of espressos and fuggy chalets, of working men’s clubs, of sated limbs stretching across rumpled linen in a Parisian dawn. Vapes? Air freshener from Poundland. Those whose minds…

ATHENA watches the Restoration and Renewal Programme of the Houses of Parliament with a kind of horrified fascination. Richmond House (Athena, May 1) seems now doomed to expensive and unnecessary demolition. Meanwhile, despite the designation of the Palace of Westminster as a World Heritage Site, you would hardly guess its historic importance from the way work to it is being managed. There is, for example, currently no senior archaeological appointment to oversee the work across Westminster and Whitehall. Instead of building up a new understanding of the evolution of the area since the Middle Ages, therefore, we are going to be left with an incoherent dot-to-dot puzzle of excavations and watching briefs undertaken by different bodies across this massively important area. The Government has form when it comes to ignoring…

‘I went to Dublin in 1981, under the impression that I might attend Trinity College, perhaps to study theology, which I did not. Instead, I studied Rock and Roll. In any event, I was exposed to the Long Room [the library] and to this illuminated, mystic, sublime testimony to humanity early in life, a work that I return to again and again. For its unending inspiration, its details that can’t be overstated, the gears and codes and mechanisms like a great human engine, somehow it speaks to love, to the universal’ John McEwen comments on the Chi Rho page SIR KENNETH CLARK, in his 1969 TV series Civilisation, warned that civilisations come and go, destroyed by ‘cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs’. It is notable that,…

PICTURE the scene: you’re a Victorian labourer who has just completed a 16-hour shift sweating over a lathe or wrestling with a steam hammer. Before you head back to your two-up, two-down terrace for a nourishing dinner of bread and broth with your nine children, there’s just time to spend a couple of farthings on something to break the monotony and gloom of the day. The appeal of the gin palace and the rowdy tavern can’t be overstated. But what’s this? A frothing glass of dandelion and burdock, served beneath a picture of John Wesley in a temperance bar? It’s a wonder the workers’ revolution didn’t begin then and there. Yet remarkably, thanks in part to Methodism (and concomitant demands for abstinence from its parishioners) and in part to spurious,…

‘It has a story, it is crafted and nurtured. English wines are more pretty and elegant with a lovely vibrancy to them–they are exciting to drink, more unique and individual’Charlie Holland, head winemaker and CEO, talks to Hetty Lintell CHRISTMAS wouldn’t be the same without bubbles of some sort and some of the finest sparkling wine is found on English soil. With the trend for buying British ever growing, there is no better time to try English sparkling wine and, if you’re investing in something special, you’ll want to know where it comes from. ‘Many companies buy in grapes from other estates,’ explains Mr Holland, ‘but we use our own, picking only what we want to pick when it’s ripe and ready.’ Mr Holland isn’t trying to make perfect…

• Be instinctive, not formulaic. Use the materials’ natural movement, allowing stems to rise or fall as they did when they were growing • Make branches more pliable by discarding the stiffer cut ends and hand- warming/flexing stems before use • Cut flowering stems with an attractive blossom at the end—avoid/hide unsightly stubs • Condition flowers (as in Feast of flowers, above) and water plants to prolong and retain vitality • Spray-paint can be nice and Christmassy, but be subtle • Incorporate growing ingredients to add a surprise dimension to give away or to plant after Christmas • Foliage is as important as flowers and Mr Connolly frequently incorporates living specimens, which can be replanted after use. Wherever possible, do compost spent arrangements • There’s no need for floral foam.…

TONY VENISON, Gardens Editor of COUNTRY LIFE from 1979 to 1994, died last week. Friends and colleagues remember a plantsman who gathered about him a formidable stable of writers, making the magazine the place to turn for intelligent writing about plants. Mr Venison was a regular visitor to Benton End in Suffolk, where Cedric Morris had opened the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing and, in 1968, he was a founding member of the influential East Anglian Gardening Group. It was thanks to his efforts that East Lam-brook Manor, the home of Margery Fish, champion of English cottage gardening, was saved from developers. In 1994, he was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal, the RHS’s highest international honour. Although his seemed a solitary life, Mr Venison had many friends and…

Quiz of the week 1) The music of which pop group featured heavily in the soundtrack to the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever? 2) Megatherium is an extinct, giant relative of which slow-moving, Central and South American mammal? 3) In Greek mythology, who is credited with slaying the Minotaur? 4) Who is fourth in the line of succession of the British monarchy? 5) What is the predominant spice used in a Hungarian goulash? Riddle me this Three doctors say Bill is their brother. Bill says he has no brothers. Who is lying? Time to buy Camden Beer 2019 Brut Imperial Pilsner, £7.99 , Camden Town Brewery (01423 525750; www.beerhawk.co.uk) Unmissable events Exhibition December 3–5 ‘Victor Edelstein: Venice’ ( below ), The Studio, Glebe Place, London SW3. The…

My first serious job (to declare an interest) was working for Christie’s Wine Department, where my work consisted of cataloguing sales. Very occasionally, tasting or other notes were added, to flesh out more mundane details of quantity and title. Once, feeling bored and rebellious, I made one up, stating that the six bottles of Dr Rutland’s Invalid Port on sale had been prescribed for Sir Winston Churchill during the Second World War as a tonic. Mea maxima culpa. Another memory concerns old Champagne. In those days, most of the very old Champagne that came up was sold to precisely two individuals—one a property developer and the other a Labour politician. Why you should be bidding Nowadays, Christie’s sales are rather better filtered. An exceptional one is being held at…

Email: countrylife_letters@ti-media.com Post: Letters to the Editor, COUNTRY LIFE Editorial, Pinehurst II, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough Business Park, Hampshire GU14 7BF (with a daytime telephone number, please) TI Media Limited reserves the right to edit and to reuse in any format or medium submissions to the letters page of COUNTRY LIFE N.B. If you wish to contact us about your subscription, including regarding changes of address, please ring Magazines Direct on 0330 333 1120…

• Lick the Spoon Founded by husband-and-wife team Diana and Matthew Short 13 years ago, this company produces handcrafted creations and batches of its own chocolate near Bath in Wiltshire 01225 811125; www.lickthespoon.co.uk • Hotel Chocolat Co-founder Angus Thirlwell now has more than 100 shops, but champions small growers and produces his own cocoa beans in St Lucia 0344 493 1313; www.hotelchocolat.com • Prestat Roald Dahl was a fan of this artisan producer, which has a shop in Piccaddilly and a Royal Warrant from The Queen 020–8961 8555; www.prestat.co.uk • Chocolarder Based in south Cornwall and founded in 2012, the firm prides itself on ordering beans direct from farmers, transporting them to its factory by sail 01872 857071; www.chocolarder.com • Forever Cacao Family business using ethically sourced Peruvian Ashaninka cacao,…

• Black Mountains Smokery smoked Gressingham duck breast Perfect with blackberries or in an autumnal salad, these have been hot-smoked over Welsh oak. From £7.95 (01873 811566; www.smoked-foods.co.uk) • Godminster organic smoked cheddar Matured for up to a year in Somerset and smoked over oak, this makes for a perfect Ploughman’s lunch. £5.99 (0345 656 1234; www.ocado.com) • Smoked anchovies Sourced from smaller day boats across the south coast, these hand-filleted beauties will take a Caesar salad up a notch. £4.50 (020–3770 9300; www.farmdrop.com) • Smoked Stilton Made in Nottinghamshire’s Vale of Belvoir, this classic Stilton is smoked over maple-wood chips. Extremely moreish. From £5 (01394 448414; www.artisansmokehouse.co.uk • Smoked mutton Dorset-based Capreolus Fine Foods specialises in smoked meats: the Great Taste Award-winning leg of mutton, cured with rosemary, juniper,…

• Don’t try to put an eight-course tasting menu onto a 2in-diameter cracker • Don’t make anything than can’t be eaten in one mouthful • If it’s chewy, don’t do it. Canapés need to aid conversation, not embarrass the guest • Don’t make a tray so elaborate and heavy that the waiting staff need to pump iron for six weeks before they come to work • Don’t create too narrow an array of canapés. Keep dazzling guests with each tray that arrives in the room • Do serve cheese straws. Nothing better complements a chilled glass of Krug • Do hand out little sausages, as they sate hunger—but avoid drenching them in honey • Do create a series of canapés that mimic the courses of dinner, finishing with a sweet…

Ludlow Farm Shop Opened in 2007, the Ludlow Farm Shop is set on the sprawling estate of the Earl of Plymouth. Groaning with its own produce, 80% of what it sells is either made on site or sourced from Shropshire and the surrounding counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Powys. Everything is beautifully packed and emblazoned with the shop’s distinct stag’s head logo. This season, gather around the hearth with a warming cup of cocoa made with their malted hot chocolate (£5.99) and visit the delectable cheese counter—the Plymouth Cheese hamper (£30) is a fine addition to any festive spread. Made using milk from the estate’s own herd, goodies include Ludlow Blue and Oakly Park cheddar, with a Ludlow Farm Shop spicy carrot relish and a cheese knife. For an…

• Make sure you buy traditional method (it will say on the label). It’s more time consuming and expensive to make, but the end product is by far the best. • When you pour it, you should get a lovely little mousse collar around the top, but, most importantly, there should be thin trails of bubbles coming up from the centre. It should last 10–15 minutes without going flat. • Some 90% of flavour comes from the nose, so serve in a wine glass or tulip-shaped glass to better channel the aroma. Coupe glasses are pretty, but aren’t best for showing off the bubbles or the taste and aroma. • English sparking wine is perfectly suited to smoked salmon, due to the higher level of acidity cutting through the oily…

WHEN I was an undergraduate, I spent my free time working as a horticulturist at Oxford University’s Plant Sciences Department. My duties included the upkeep of a remarkable garden created by someone whom I, as did others with a vocation for plants, soon came to regard as a mentor: Ken Burras, the grand master of British horticulture, who, inspiring and encyclopaedic as ever, turned 90 last month. From the annuals I bedded out in summer to its spring bulbs, perennials, grasses, climbers, shrubs and trees, almost everything in this garden had variegated foliage. It was designed as a living lecture theatre in which the different kinds of variegation—genetic, chimerical, viral and so on—illustrated aspects of mutation and inheritance. Having been conceived and made by Mr Burras, it was also…

THE staff of COUNTRY LIFE came together with the finest gentlemen in the land earlier this month—plus plenty of ladies and probably one or two reprobates—to celebrate this year’s GENTLEMAN’S LIFE supplement. Guests enjoyed drinks courtesy of Pol Roger, Chase Distillery and Nine Elms Drinks amid Ronny Colbie floral arrangements, Huntsman suits and live jazz from the Harry Bolt Trio.…

Guys and Dolls, Sheffield Crucible, December 7–January 18, 2020 (0114–249 6000); West Side Story, Curve, Leicester, until January 11, 2020 (0116–242 3595); Gypsy, Royal Exchange, Manchester, November 30–January 25, 2020 (0161–833 9833); Wizard of Oz, Leeds Playhouse, until January 25, 2020 (0113–213 7700); The Boy in the Dress, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until March 8, 2020 (01789 331111); Goldilocks and the Three Bears, London Palladium, W1, December 7–January 12, 2020 (020–7087 7747); Mary Poppins, Prince Edward, WC2, until June, 2020 (0844 482 5151); A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic, SE1, until January 18, 2020 (0344 871 7628); Wilton’s Music Hall, E1, November 29–January 4, 2020 (020–7702 2789); Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, November 28–January 4, 2020 (0131–248 4848); The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Bridge Theatre, SE1, until February 2,…

WHEN, in 1963, the newly established Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal, Cumbria, staged a survey of 20th-century Scottish artists—including recently acquired works by Joan Eardley, Elizabeth Blackadder, Ian McKenzie Smith, Anne Redpath and Alistair Park—it acknowledged their debt to the Scottish Colourists and borrowed some paintings by this older generation to include in the show. The Colourists had enjoyed success and international recognition during their lifetimes, but interest in their work had waned and the curator, Helen Kapp, took a lead in drawing attention to their contribution to British Modernism. It would take several decades for the significance of this group of four to be widely re-evaluated, after which their popularity has continued to grow; in 2011, Peploe’s Still Life with Coffee Pot (1905) smashed auction records for a…

Three Little Monkeys Ride Again Quentin Blake; illustrations by Emma Chichester Clark (HarperCollins, £12.99) Age 3–5 When Hilda Snibbs takes her three naughty monkeys to visit her mother in the countryside, mayhem is sure to ensue. This winning combination of Quentin Blake’s anarchic storytelling and rich, mixed-media illustrations by Emma Chichester Clark is the pair’s second book about Hilda Snibbs and her mischievous trio, destined to become classic picture-book characters. Gaspard the Fox Zeb Soanes; illustrations by James Mayhew (Graffeg, £12.99) Age 3–5 The BBC’s Zeb Soanes was inspired to write about Gaspard after he helped care for an injured urban fox and formed such a bond that she became a regular visitor to his London home. In this charming tale, Gaspard goes on an adventure one evening, in search…

Bradford December 22, 6pm. Free, reserve tickets online Bristol December 23, 6pm, and December 24, 3.30pm Bury St Edmunds December 23, 7pm Carlisle December 23 and 24, 6.30pm Chester December 23, 6.30pm, and December 24, 3pm Chichester December 19 and 20, 6pm, and December 21, 3pm Coventry December 15, 6.30pm Durham December 22, 6pm, and December 24, 3pm St Mary’s, Edinburgh December 22 and 24, 7.30pm Ely December 22 and 24, 6pm Exeter December 24, 6pm Gloucester December 23 and December 24, 6pm Guildford December 22, 6pm Hereford December 22, 7pm. Ticketed —download a form to reserve Lichfield December 23 and 24, 7pm, doors open 6pm Liverpool December 22, 3pm Manchester December 22, 7.30pm Newcastle December 24, 6pm Norwich December 17, 7pm, December 22, 6pm, and 24, 3.30pm for a…

Titian There will be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see his six great mythological paintings—the ‘poesie’— together when, for the first time, the Wallace Collection will loan a work; its Perseus and Andromeda will join the other five in a spring exhibition at the National Gallery Merits of fox control A study by the GWCT shows the density of Vulpes vulpes populations is likely to increase during the breeding months for ground-nesting birds, such as curlew and lapwing, when the birds are most vulnerable Equine crime A police initiative to seize horses, microchip them and force owners to pay costs to reclaim them is reducing incidences of fly-grazing, says a report to World Horse Welfare Setting an example The band Coldplay has revealed it won’t take its new album on tour…

EMITTING a loud cronk as it soared majestically over my head, with an unidentified morsel of prey clasped in its flint-axe-shaped beak, I wondered momentarily where the mighty raven might be heading. I see this intimidating-looking bird most days when walking my labrador in the field behind our house. The largest of the crow family—and, indeed, all passerines—ravens (and carrion crows) are known in Scotland as corbies, a term that’s believed to derive from the 15th-century French word corbin. Hearing that powerful, croaking call took me back to where we used to live in Dumfries-shire, on the opposite side of the valley to a cottage aptly called Cronksbank, after the corvids that flocked to the bleak hillside behind it. I couldn’t see what my Dorset/Somerset-based raven was about to consume…

ALMOST in any light and under any conditions the deer is the most picturesque animal that can be emparked. It is one of the three animals which move gracefully and are built for speed and agility. If a comparison were to be made from this point of view between the stag, the hare and the thoroughbred horse, many reasons could be advanced for giving top place to the first mentioned; and the stag is never more majestic than during that autumn period when he figures as lord of the harem. His blood is up and he is a warrior, ready not only to attack his rivals, but to drive even human intruders out of the field. Everyone acquainted with his habits is aware that the time of year is one…

Meet some stars of the Nativity and a celebrity , look inside magical , crack your favourite , find out the history of the traditional , visit a tiny this Christmas, read about the in folklore and learn to grow cheerful PLUS Message from the Bishop of Leeds, the Editor’s Quiz, the big crossword, British myths and legends, the cheat’s guide to entertaining, the relatives we all recognise, what really makes a white Christmas, plus Kit Hesketh-Harvey’s great Christmas disasters and The Reverend Richard Coles’s favourite things On sale December 11…

THE invitation to make drawings of readers has, for me, several interests. One is that reading happens to be the only discipline in which I have a proper qualification: more than half a century ago, I had the privilege of reading English at Downing College Cambridge at the feet of F. R. Leavis, the most remarkable literary critic of the time. Leavis was dogmatic, but, taken properly, could really help you to read both perceptively and as a whole person. I have always valued the time spent with the Metaphysicals: Pope, Hopkins and —inevitably with Leavis—D. H. Lawrence. At that time, Leavis hadn’t really discovered the genius of Dickens; Hard Times was singled out as the work of merit and it was only later that he opened up to the…

Red cabbage steaks for two Super simple—but a pretty little starter. Cut a red cabbage through the core to create two steaks and fry them in foaming butter for several minutes on either side, depending on thickness, with rosemary, thyme and a clove of garlic. In a cup, whisk together a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, a couple more of maple syrup and a squeeze of lemon, then pour this over the steaks in the pan. Sprinkle with chilli flakes and seasoning and serve. Braised red cabbage with apples for Christmas Finely slice a whole red cabbage and place it in a large saucepan, together with a couple of bay leaves, a cinnamon stick, three star anise, 250ml of chicken stock, three tablespoons of soft brown sugar,…

The Lanesborough Hotel, London SW1, from £60 (www. oetkercollection.com) Ham Yard Hotel, London W1, for eccentric savoury bites, from £42.50 (www.firmdalehotels.com) The Rectory Hotel, Malmesbury, Wiltshire, Cotwolds charm, from £21 (www.therectoryhotel.com) The Signet Library, Edinburgh, featuring Scottish classics, £40 (www.thesignetlibrary.co.uk) Polurrian on The Lizard, Cornwall, for an award-winning tea full of Cornish flavours, from £16 (www.polurrianhotel.com) RP…

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Most of the leaves have fallen from deciduous trees by now. Cease rejoicing in the lovely pattern they make on the lawn and start raking them up. Exclude evergreen leaves, as these make poor-quality leafmould. As the piles form, shovel them up and barrow them away. They can either be added to the compost heap or banked up to form leafmould. In that case, simply heap them against a wall and let Nature take its course. In a year’s time, the heap will have shrunk and formed organic matter of lovely quality, odourless, friable and ready to improve your soil.…

1 The spine-chilling minor chords of ‘O come, O come’ that produce the goose pimples. Advent is a time of darkness before light. We like it when the organist keeps the minor key going and doesn’t suddenly play a cheerful major chord at the very end. 2 Light-headed from singing (and imagining) ‘Thousand thousand saints attending’ in the first verse of Lo, he comes with clouds descending—that’s a million saints—you’re suddenly cast into the saddest moment ever in verse two, ‘pierced and nailed him to a tree. Deeply wailing, deeply wailing’. The contrast almost makes you faint, especially if you’ve been standing and singing at the top of your voice for too long. 3 The beautiful Annunciation hymn Gabriel’s Message. There’s an irresistible temptation to sing ‘Most highly-flavoured gravy’ for…

TOMASSO SALINI (1575–1625), otherwise called il Cavaliere Mao Salini, was a Roman Baroque painter, who is little known other than by specialist art historians and even they disagree in attributing works to him. He was a witness in a libel case between his friend Giovanni Baglione and Caravaggio, and Baglione wrote his biography, claiming him as a master painter of floral still lifes. Paintings in other styles have been attributed to him and many of these are now listed as ‘Pseudo-Salini’, including a 30in by 24in canvas of a young man as Bacchus ( below ), which will be shown by Benappi of Dover Street, W1, and Turin during the winter London Art Week from December 1 to 6. This time, 28 dealers in paintings, drawings, sculpture and textiles will…

ACCORDING to The Times, reports of UFO sightings have fallen off a cliff. Except for a stalwart in Cardiff, who still observes and reports lots of them, very few people these days are calling the police to ask about strange lights, odd shapes, unexplained noises or burn marks on the grass. The article claims that camera phones mean that people no longer see things that aren’t there, but I’m not sure about this. Cameras aren’t everything. As someone who once spent an evening at Prussia Cove with a woman who worked for the US Post Office and whose eggs, unfortunately, had been harvested by aliens, I believe in keeping an open mind. Before UFOs, people saw fairies. Whereas everything about UFOs is metallic, slick, automatic and hypermodern, the Little People…