Innholdsfortegnelse for 29-Jan-2020 i Country Life

SO it comes to pass at last: at 11pm this Friday, Britain will leave the European Union after 47 years of membership. Some will celebrate; others will weep. What everyone agrees, however, is that it will be a momentous night. How events will play out from that moment forward is anybody’s guess. Nevertheless, there is a great deal that needs to be done urgently at home if we are to bring the rancour and division that Brexit has generated under control. We have fallen into the way of dogmatic argument—over climate change, food, the environment, HS2—and it’s preventing sensible consensus. We need the Government to act decisively, but sensitively to the needs of the moment. If those who favoured remaining in the EU now generally accept the decision, by a…

RURAL post offices are shutting, tea shops struggling and pubs seem fewer and far between, but the countryside might receive a boost from an unlikely source—electric vehicles or, rather, the necessity to charge them. Marston’s, the brewer and pub chain, started installing rapid-charging stations in 2018 and it’s hoped other companies will follow suit. About 80 miles of charge can be added in 20–30 minutes at the stations and, in theory, electric-vehicle owners will spend the charging time shopping or eating, thus stimulating other businesses nearby. Marston’s has partnered with Engenie, which manufactures the charging points, to place 400 chargers at the company’s 200 sites. Ian Johnston, CEO of Engenie, told The Times : ‘We think rapid charging will mean people sit down, check their emails or have a meal.…

Sunningdale The Surrey town’s golf club spent £475,000 in legal fees to remove a member who was accused of dodging membership fees. The club was unsuccessful HS2 A leaked report suggests that the true cost of the high-speed railway has almost doubled, to £106bn Unmarried couples The Church of England declares that sex is only for married heterosexual couples and everyone else should abstain. Henry VIII founded the Church of England Greggs The bakery is universally adored, except by Piers Morgan and, now, Cornwall. The only Greggs in the county was closed after a backlash from locals over the selling of pasties Rainy days in Essex George the crow has attacked 20 cars in Braintree, Essex, removing windscreen wipers…

ATHENA is aware that strenuous efforts are afoot to save Lincoln’s Usher Gallery from closure. It’s an outstanding provincial gallery, designed by Blomfield, and opened by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) in May 1927. James Ward Usher was a remarkable man. Of humble birth, he set up as a watchmaker in the second half of the 19th century and died a very rich man. He lived above his shop, never married and, when he died, left a bequest for the building of an art gallery to house his collection of watches and other treasures to his native city. Following the upheaval that took place in local government early in the 1970s, the county council leased the gallery from the city on a peppercorn rent and has continued to…

AS a boy growing up in war-ravaged Finsbury Park, Don McCullin would abscond from school and take the tube to Cockfosters at the end of the line, from where he’d roam into the countryside looking for birds’ eggs and snakes. Yet the seeds of his visual interest in the rural landscape were sown, he says, aboard the London Midland Scottish steam trains, where, aged 15, he had a job washing up dishes in the dining car for 30 shillings a week. As he worked—‘they had no detergent in those days; there was a tin with a piece of fairy soap in it which you had to shake in the water to get a froth’—he’d look out through the slot of a window in his little pantry. ‘We’d go over these…

Deep in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, weary walkers and others heading to the far north have something of a treat in store. Artisan company Cocoa Mountain brings some of the finest chocolates to customers around the world, but those lucky enough to be passing through this part of the world can pop in to one of its two shops and cafes, in Dornoch and Balnakeil. The company opened in 2006, founded by chocolate-loving foodies Paul Maden and James Findlay. Today, the workshop creates delicious flavours, such as chilli and lemongrass, and the bestselling Scottish sea salt milk chocolate; plenty of local larder ingredients are used, too, from raspberries and whiskies. All the products can be bought online, but it is worth the pilgrimage to the picturesque headquarters to…

My mother gave me a very worn and ragged copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare when I was a young actor. I love the language and the imagery he has created with his words. To dip in and out can fire the imagination. It’s not really a luxury, but I couldn’t do without it, as I have a passion for poetry and there is plenty in his works. Making time for a silent moment of peace and calm is essential, but also seems a luxury in our jam-packed, manic lives. There is a view at the Sanctuary (www.manechancesanctuary. org) that I love—I will go and sit there in the company of the horses when I can and re-charge, being ‘filled up’ by the beauty of Nature and the…

THE future of the Stonehenge Tunnel appears to be no closer to being resolved, as the Treasury and ministers battle over whether the project should go ahead. The Treasury believes the £2 billion project doesn’t represent value for money, but Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is committed to its construction. The tunnel aims to remove the notorious bottleneck on the A303, described as ‘the world’s most scenic traffic jam’. Sajid Javid, the Chancellor, told the Financial Times he wouldn’t comment on rumours, before adding: ‘Wait until my national infrastructure strategy, which will be published alongside the Budget.’ The Government’s first budget will take place on March 11. What is life in the countryside without endless fundraisers to repair the village hall? Yet, for some, they may no longer be necessary, as…

BELIEVE it or not, the days are getting longer and the darkness of December is firmly in the rear-view mirror. For further evidence of spring’s soft approach, look down, not up—sure enough, the first snowdrops will soon be staring right back at you. Across Britain, these hardy plants are pushing through and bringing sleeping gardens back to life. Galanthus , the milk flower, is here. All white on the night: where to see snowdrops The NGS Snowdrop Festival runs from February 1–28, with 105 gardens scheduled to take part. For a full list of participating gardens, visit ngs.org.uk/ snowdrops or download the NGS app. The National Trust offers many Galanthus displays; visit www.nationaltrust. org.uk/features/places-to-see-snowdrops Further north, the Scottish Snowdrop Festival runs until March 11 (www.visit scotland.com) Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire Last…

The quick brown fox TIGER, the labrador, definitely not a lazy dog, takes her responsibilities very seriously. She is accountable for keeping the squirrels from digging up the bulbs in Rachel’s delightful garden, but, most of all, for defending the space from foxes. Tiger is, to say the least, obsessive about this role, but in Barnes in London, this is no bad thing: the place is crawling with the vulpine hordes. The foxes walk with the strut and style of a triumphant matador along the tops of the wooden fences that divide the gardens. Bold in broad daylight, they are brazen by dusk, seeking squatter’s rights in and under the sheds unless Tiger, hackles rising, explodes out of the kitchen door. It becomes worse at this time of year, the…

The tree sparrow THE two species of sparrow have many points in common but the tree sparrow is more shy and retiring and seldom aggressively familiar or truculent, like the house sparrow. Both birds are found near human habitations, but the tree sparrow is of a peaceable and quiet disposition. His call note is less shrill than the house sparrow’s, and is frequently uttered on the wing. He does not exasperate your frayed nerves in the early morning by the continuous repetition of ear-splitting notes. I often think that the house sparrow does this out of pure cussedness, and ‘only does it to annoy because he knows it teases’. I have sometimes flung every available thing at a house sparrow in order to silence him. This is only a waste…

One of the pleasures of writing this column for the past five years has been appreciating and charting the constant evolution of the wine scene: realising that brilliant Pinot Noirs can be made in the Mosel valley, as well as in Burgundy, the Sonoma Coast and Central Otago; seeing a floral, Côte-Rôtie-esque style of Syrah emerging in Australia; Italy and Spain revealing more riches, including from lesser-known grape varieties such as Fiano, Aglianico, Godello and Mencia; and even southern England emerging as a seriously good producer of sparkling wine. I celebrate the dedicated producers who battle the elements and pests to make this possible. However, I also want to celebrate, in the last of this run of columns, the unique and magnificent British wine trade, the importers, wholesalers and retailers…

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…

SMELL is the most evocative of the senses. The power a scent can have over us is remarkable—relationships are relived, family members return to your side and childhood holidays feel as if they were yesterday. Penhaligon’s, which turns 150 this year, believes that if you don’t feel something for a fragrance, you won’t wear it. ‘It should speak about who you are and make you feel yourself,’ enthuses Mr Collingridge. He was introduced to the brand aged 12 by his grandmother, who bought him a scent library of 10 1.5ml fragrances (the company sells a 2ml version of it, at £20), and he has used the products ever since. In the 1860s, Cornish barber William Henry Penhaligon’s creative ambition led him to London, where he worked as head barber of…

When frost turns the grass white, it is a sight for sore eyes, yet, like snow, its beauty is instantly compromised the moment a human footprint appears on it. Frosted grass is physically frozen and your heavy tread breaks the leaf. For weeks afterwards, you will see where you walked, as your blackened footprints will give you away. Even when the lawn is not frosted at this time of year, it is typically sodden, another reason for not making it worse by walking on it. The cast-iron signs of our youth urging us to Keep Off the Grass were right.…

Perhaps because I enjoy crosswords, I haven’t a clue what this is about, although it has been explained to me. The artist-craftsman Kit Williams is best known for the 1975 book Masquerade, which launched a national treasure hunt for his golden hare. He does not like crosswords or anagrams and did not want to provide clues that could be cracked by puzzlers, so he devised a way of hiding them in the illustrations. As his encryption machine, he used a 32½in by 26in ‘orrery’ carousel constructed of wood with a metal mechanism and hand-painted front. ‘The circular wooden frame surrounding the image carries a message: Dance Three Rings The Song Thrush Sings Add One A Day To Ensnare The Hare. At the top of the frame a model song thrush…

• Current system of direct payments to be replaced by targeted payments that reward ‘public goods’, such as better air and water quality, higher animal-welfare standards, improved access to the countryside or measures to reduce flooding • Direct payments will be phased out during an ‘agricultural transition period’ that will last seven years • Agricultural policy will be devolved • Defra will invest in supporting farmers to improve productivity and will monitor, evaluate and report on financial-assistance schemes, allowing for scrutiny on how well the schemes work…

Central-London landmarks Tourist coaches will be prevented from parking with idling engines by Westminster Council, which will replace spaces with cycle racks and electric-car charging points Hair dye Scientists have proven what we all know—stress really does turn your hair grey The Crown Netflix has revealed that people in 73 million homes worldwide have seen the show about our Royal Family COUNTRY LIFE We have achieved our 10th successive ABC increase. In the future, it will probably be easier to tell you when we haven’t accomplished this feat…

A fresh approach to hot drinks LAST weekend, I was relaxing at home when one of the children walked up to me cradling a cup of hot chocolate. They held it ostentatiously, as if to underline the fact that they had successfully undertaken a new and challenging task. Indeed, they are not encouraged to make hot drinks unsupervised and hot chocolate is not a staple of their diet. Conscious of both facts, the child proudly offered me a sip. The drink, they explained, was a leftover Christmas treat and they had been saving it up. They virtuously added that they had also tidied up the kitchen after making it. Apart from the fact that it was surprisingly tepid, I dismissed the chocolate from my mind and decided to make a…

Dipping a toe Q I can’t swim—not even a doggy paddle. This mightn’t sound like a very serious problem, but it’s a secret I’ve kept for years. I’m petrified of water and it’s something I desperately want to overcome, but fear I’ve left it too late in life. I can’t exactly join children’s swimming lessons… can I? D. S., Wiltshire A No, you probably can’t. Such a shame—learning to swim in mixed-age groups is so rarely anything but an innocent delight. However, this is a serious problem, as you are missing out on one of life’s fundamental pleasures, be it wild swimming in a silken tarn on a summer’s day, body-boarding onto white sand or soothing the blistering heat of a Greek noon in a blue infinity pool. I…

Make that change YES, definitely ban the sale of horticultural peat, but we need to go further (Agromenes, January 15), or charging the public for plastic bags is absurd and hypocritical. Charge the customer for a paper bag, perhaps, but an outright ban in supermarkets of any plastics is essential. Supermarkets can well afford to make these changes. Jane Nicholson, Gloucestershire A family affair I AM a guide at Haworth Parish Church, West Yorkshire, so was particularly interested in your article on Anne Brontë (January 15). However, the two eldest sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, and their mother, Maria, were not buried in the graveyard, but rather in what is referred to as the ‘Brontë vault’ inside the church (below). The remainder of the family—Patrick, Branwell, Aunt Elizabeth, Emily and…

‘I visit the wonderful Barber Institute in Birmingham whenever I can, particularly haunted by this exquisitely decorated painting with a young, ginger-haired man screwing up his face, expressing disgust. And also fear, suggested by the whites of his eyes–such a vivid detail. It’s somehow a modern face, reminding me of one of my students. I rarely get round to reading the captions in galleries, so it was years before I realised that this young fellow is St John the Evangelist and the disgusting, terrifying thing he has just seen is Jesus’s Crucifixion’ John McEwen comments on St John the Evangelist SIMONE MARTINI was witness to the golden age of Siena before the Black Death in 1348, when the city, centre of its Republic since the 12th century, had a…

THE Rugby World Cup might have become the big beast in the global rugby calendar, but there’s nothing quite like the Six Nations to stir the emotions and rekindle rivalries that date back 139 years. Our revered tournament touches places that others can’t reach and, throughout seven weeks of good-humoured revelry, the action will be punctuated by thunderous collisions, moments of barely believable dexterity and the sheer unbridled joy of watching speedsters decked in national colours pinning back their ears. England They’re World Cup finalists, so hot favourites, right? It would appear so. England have their traditional rivals, Ireland and Wales, at their own ‘House of Pain’, Twickenham, and that bodes well. The most recent Six Nations after a World Cup led to a grand chelem in Paris. Eddie Jones’s…

• Weimaraner: noble, beautiful, but can be a handful. The charming ‘grey ghost’ has a powerful drive to hunt, plenty of energy and a stubborn streak—not one for the faint-hearted • German wirehaired pointer (GWP): like the HWV, the GWP has a wiry, protective coat, suitable for rough cover and harsh weather. Bold, courageous and hardworking • German shorthaired pointer (GSP): beautiful to watch, the GSP is quick, charismatic and strong, as well as stylish—a relentless worker, but wilful and can be high maintenance • Italian spinone: a large, hairy, well-built gundog with a big heart and origins that go back centuries. Its hardiness makes it ideal for thick cover, but its size means it takes up a lot of space—intelligent, but not the easiest HPR to train • Korthals…

Bergamot An inedible, yellow, intensely perfumed citrus fruit, mainly grown in Calabria, Italy. The oil from the skin gives Earl Grey tea its delicate aroma Vetiver A dry, straw-like grass root from South-East Asia, useful for keeping insects away. In its native land, it is woven into fans and blinds as a natural air freshener. When it’s wet, the scent intensifies; mild, earthy, and musky, it invokes a feeling of calmness Patchouli Part of the mint family, it is thought of as the scent of the 1960s, with the best having a mossy, dark-chocolate note. In the 1800s, it was a benchmark for the authenticity of Eastern fabrics, as it was used to protect them from insects. Even English and French clothing makers would scent their fabrics with artificial patchouli…

Join COUNTRY LIFE on a tour of the Gardens & Palazzos of Venice & the Veneto from September 14 to 19. The tour price of £3,580 includes return flights from London, all garden entries, most meals, two nights at the Hotel Monaco in Venice and three nights at Hotel Villa Michelangelo in the Berici Hills. COUNTRY LIFE contributor Charles Quest-Ritson and garden expert Kirsty Fergusson are hosting and leading the tour and will be joined in Venice by guest lecturer Jenny Condie. Highlights include a private boat across the Lagoon and up the Grand Canal to Hotel Monaco; a private visit to the flower-filled garden of Palazzo Cappello Malipiero Barnabò; an exploration of the fertile countryside of the Veneto, where we are invited to drinks and lunch with the Contessa…

Mozzarella, artichoke and pomegranate salad Add three handfuls each of rocket and baby spinach to a large salad bowl. Spoon over about six grilled, drained and halved artichoke hearts in oil, 150g of mozzarella balls, lemon zest and the seeds from one pomegranate. For the dressing, put 100ml of olive oil, 50ml of apple-cider vinegar, 20ml of lemon juice, one teaspoon of Dijon mustard, one teaspoon of honey and seasoning into a lidded jam jar. Shake the jar vigorously and pour the contents over the salad. Toss well and serve. Sea-bass ceviche with pomegranate Arrange two thinly sliced sea-bass fillets in a single layer on a cold plate and refrigerate for half an hour. Add a generous squeeze of lemon and a splash of yuzu juice to the fillets, cover…

WE inherited the glasshouse from the most recent-tenants-but-one. The carpenter who built it for them made it big, 18ft by 12ft, as a lean-to. It has a concrete floor and a low concrete wall, windows all round and a roof made of three sheets of corrugated plastic. They were clear when they first went up, but they’re made of square tubes, for rigidity and perhaps insulation, and the tubes have filled with algae and dead insects. The winds and the frosts have cracked them, so they let in the water in places. The whole building is damp and rotten as a pear. Only the glass holds it all together. A couple of summers ago, noticing it sagging and rotting like a bad tooth, we found some old paint and painted…