Innholdsfortegnelse for 22-Apr-2020 i Country Life

Mabel (1881–1959) was the only daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Annesley, 5th Earl Annesley and his first wife, Mabel Wilhelmina Frances Markham, of Castlewellan Castle, Co Down. Educated at the Frank Calderon School of Animal Painting in London, Mabel was a wood engraver and watercolour painter, whose works remain in collections, including those of the British Museum and the V&A Museum. She exhibited at the Festival of Britain in 1952. Turn to page 27 to read about our Frontispiece archive series…

NHS staff Healthcare workers across the country are being provided with free e-books as a thank you for their work during the pandemic. Hachette, the publisher that owns Quercus, Orion and Little, Brown, says: ‘We owe a massive debt of gratitude to everyone in the NHS who is working on the frontline' Breathing Analysis by Carbon Brief predicts that 2020 will see the largest fall in carbon emissions ever recorded, with a reduction of some 2,000 metric tonnes of CO2 estimated, equivalent to about 5.5% of the global output total in 2019 Walking around the garden A 99-year-old army captain decided to raise £1,000 to thank NHS staff by walking 100 laps of his garden. A week later, Capt Tom Moore completed his challenge and, at time of writing, has…

OVER Easter, we began to make our permitted daily exercise a family event. To the children, who really want to sit around at home undisturbed, this has not proved welcome. They have responded by contriving to make almost every associated decision—the timing of the outing, how long it should be, the route taken and whether we are walking or cycling—the subject of negotiation. As a result, we almost invariably set off in a bad mood, often with someone sulking in the rear and different members of the family calling on each other to be reasonable (simultaneously exempting themselves from the obligation). Five minutes later, despite these unpromising starts, tempers settle. That’s because London is presently so unfamiliar and beautiful. It’s possible to pass along thoroughfares such as Fleet Street, Holborn…

CANADIANS are noted for their fondness for sport. The more dangerous, the more it is enjoyed. It remained for two woodsmen living on the shores of Rainy Lake, in New Ontario, to invent the most novel sport in the world. Now the moose is the most daring and powerful swimmer of the deer family. On Rainy Lake, moose were in the habit of crossing an arm of it. Noticing this, the woodsmen decided to pull off a new form of equestrian delight. When the moose was well out in the lake they set off after it in a canoe. The man in the bow slid from the boat onto its back, took off his hat as a whip and urged the animal to do its best. When near the shore…

The police and the pelly and me ONE of the joys of being incarcerated in my Westminster home is being able to have my daily exercise in St James’s Park, the most beautiful in London. Normally, there are thousands of tourists, but, since lockdown, I have the park all to myself, apart from a few other local residents—the pelicans, geese, herons and ducks have taken to coming onto the towpath and are now more numerous than the people. A few days ago, I had to make my way past five pelicans. I saw a police officer and a sense of mischief took over—I reported that she had better investigate, as she could see for herself that the pelicans were not social distancing, were forming a crowd and were flouting…

ANYONE who loves Norwich will have been following the recent public inquiry into the proposal to erect a 20-storey tower in the heart of the city. As Athena has already observed (September 19, 2018), shortly before the city council voted to support the scheme by seven votes to five, the tower is completely out of character with the cityscape as a whole, which is evocatively dominated by the noble silhouettes of the Norman Castle, the Roman Catholic and Anglican cathedrals and the clock tower of the 1930s town hall. All these buildings, as well as an astonishing array of medieval churches, lie in an extensive conservation area where new building is generally well scaled. The one big blemish—apart from some very insensitively planned major roads—is Anglia Square, a failed development…

Tracy Jones runs the Arts PR company Brera and is head of press, PR and public affairs at the National Gallery ‘I grew up fascinated by Millais’s Ophelia, which was reproduced in my Children’s Encyclopedia, so I think it was the similarities that made me stop in my tracks the first time I saw this painting at the Louvre. What I love most is its mystery. I find myself contemplating: who was she? Why is she in the water? What happened to her? And the most vexing question of all: who are the shadowy figures on the bank looking down on her? When The Young Martyr featured in the National Gallery’s 2010 Delaroche exhibition, I couldn’t resist visiting her most days and trying to puzzle out her story. I…

• In chickens, eggshell colour is often related to the shade of the bird’s ear lobes: red-eared hens generally produce brown eggs (except for the delightfully named Easter eggers, which lay blue or green eggs) and white-eared hens tend to lay white • Finding more than one yolk in an egg is said to be good luck, except in ancient Norse mythology, where it's a harbinger of death. Western superstition has it that a double-yolk is a symbol of imminent pregnancy; most literally, twins • The proverb ‘as good be an addled egg as an idle bird’ is thought to have originated in the 16th century, when it was used as a reprimand for inactivity • To check how fresh an egg is, place it in a bowl of cold…

Both Bonhams and Cheffins are running online auctions to help fight coronavirus packed with donated items and experiences. Cheffins's sale, for the Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust's Covid-19 Fast Response Fund, includes lots from Jeffrey Archer, the opportunity to have supper and a tour of The Pavilion at Lord's and a private tour of Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket, home of Sheikh Mohammed's Darley stallions. Bonhams, for the NHS Charities Covid-19 Urgent Appeal, offers lunch at Claridge's with Joan Collins, art by Kapoor, Gormley and Perry and pretty well everything between. Cheffins closes bidding on Friday and Bonhams on April 29. All premiums and VAT are waived and all proceeds go to the charities.…

In 1908, the British Museum bought 46 Piranesi drawings at the Sotheby's sale of the collection of John Gott, Bishop of Truro. Although there is no documentary evidence, they had probably been bought by Gott's uncle, who had died in 1817 when making his Grand Tour. The drawings, which provide an excellent chart with which to navigate Piranesi's career, are the subject of the exhibition ‘Piranesi Drawings: Visions of Antiquity', which is closed at the moment, but will continue, once the museum reopens, until late August (www.britishmuseum.org). A catalogue of the same name is published by Thames & Hudson and the British Museum (£20). Other recommended books include The Complete Etchings (two volumes, 1994) and The Mind and Art of Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1978), both by John Wilton-Ely, and Studies…

WE may have peaked with home haircuts. Nit inspections, minor trims and even a bolder gap-year cut have been conducted in the kitchen over the years, but, when Olive appeared with a magazine picture saying ‘I thought something like this’, I wondered when she thought I’d turned into Vidal Sassoon. We had a go and then revisited it the following weekend, when she said, holding up one side of her new fringe: ‘I don’t really want two of these.’ We were pretty pleased with the results until we had a FaceTime conversation with another family and the first thing the father said was: ‘Crikey, Olive, what happened to your hair?’ I hate FaceTime. It undoes all the joy of talking on the telephone, which is that you can give the…

AT a time of great anxiety and loss, the courage and selflessness of all those involved in the medical and caring professions have been truly humbling. Beyond the walls of the hospitals, care homes, doctors’ surgeries and pharmacies, we have also seen a heart-warming burgeoning of remarkable kindness and concern for those in need across the country. Younger people shopping for older folk, some making regular telephone calls to those living alone, Church services recorded and emailed to parishioners and, of course, we have seen the very best use of technology—allowing us to keep working, but also to keep in touch through virtual parties, games, singing—and some of the funniest videos I have seen for a long time! In such testing times, it is reassuring to see that adversity is…

Hungry bats The sound of traffic has a negative impact on the ability of bats to feed, a study suggests. Research from the Vincent Wildlife Trust and the University of Sussex says that ultrasonic sounds from cars disturbs the abilities of bats to echo-locate their insect prey Somerset fishermen Porpoises have been spotted swimming up and down the rivers Tone and Parrett, no doubt taking advantage of all the uncaught fish that thought the UK lockdown was their lucky break Bins Fly tipping is on the up as many refuse centres around the country have been closed, prompting councillors and MPs to ask that they be re-opened. Last week, a local council in Hertfordshire spent £28,000 removing four tons of rubbish from the A41…

‘If I’m ever in a coma, they should play me recordings from the hen run of contented clucking’ THERE is very little good to report at the moment, but we can celebrate the news that Faith, Hope, Charity, Grace, Humility, Patience, Prudence and Chastity have had their lives saved as a result of coronavirus. These are our new hens (Chastity drew the short straw at the naming). They were due to meet a sticky end, being coated in barbecue sauce in ready meals, after their egg-laying curves had started dipping, when the Quartermaster General returned from an unfulfilled visit to the supermarket and decreed that we need to get back into egg production pronto. ‘And, while you’re at it, you need to dig over the vegetable garden so we…

WHEN he’s not posting portraits of his beloved bantams or the glorious abundance of jewel-coloured, wildlife-attracting annuals, half-hardies and bulbs that he grows in metal troughs and dolly tubs at home in a tiny courtyard in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, Arthur Parkinson treats his 19,000 Instagram followers to selfies wearing a head-dress he has made from hydrangeas or giant dahlias, or clutching a hen. His posts are accompanied by captions that are full of information and engaging opinions about gardening for wildlife (hens included—they’re very good at weeding between paving cracks). Last year, an appearance on BBC Gardeners’ World whetted his appetite for presenting and, this year, he will, hopefully, be making his first garden for the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show, postponed to September from July. The stage is set for…

Born and schooled at Eton, where his father was assistant master, Reynolds Stone largely taught himself the art of wood-engraving. He went on to become the leading engraver of his generation, designing everything from the old £5 and £10 notes to the royal coat of arms that still appears on British passports. Reynolds and Janet Stone found the Old Rectory by chance, when they were visiting the church at Litton Cheney. As Janet recalled in her 1988 memoir, Thinking Faces: ‘We peered through the windows and thought it looked remarkably dim inside… but then we went round the garden. We knew at once that it was too incredible-nine acres of romantic ferns and rushing streams and ponds-and so we moved in.' Although things got off to a bad start, with…

Those shrubs that are appreciated for the colour of their stems in winter, such as the various forms of Cornus alba , now begin to unfurl leaves from those bare canes. If we wish them to shine brightly next winter, they should now be pruned. This is a simple and satisfying operation, as all that's needed is to cut the stems to the ground with secateurs. This results in a general sense of shock and awe, but in no time the new shoots will be back up to full height and you can anticipate another glorious show in due course.…

I HAVE been revelling in the sound of silence, the music of the birds and the humming of the bumblebees. When this is all over, I will miss the nothingness. Clearly, it will never be the same normal again. The chance to build on the selflessness of so many gentlefolk to make it a better, wiser and kinder place is an outstretched hand of hope for us all. My father’s memorial service was cancelled; the vicar, Pauline, tragically died: these have not been easy times. I have had the virus and it was horrific. However, I have emerged more confident in the natural goodness of people. The sound of clapping and tooting of horns in praise of our medical and care professions, as well as essential key workers, each Thursday…

The heady heights Q I’m a man, I’m short and I’m fed up. I know this sounds a shallow problem, but will I be forever overlooked just because I don’t tower over people? Ladies are considered adorable in miniature, but I’m largely ignored by the opposite sex. As you may be able to tell, I’ve become very demoralised and would appreciate a pep talk. S. F., Essex A If you’re a Masai huntsman, Spartacus or a basketball player, perhaps height matters, but today, in the general scheme of things? Not so much. Consider elfin Mahatma Gandhi, who changed his country’s future. Stephen Hawking, who became a sex symbol. Dudley Moore, who took joshing because common sense told him that the subtext ran: ‘We love you the way you are…

Serve with antipasti Monte del Frá, Bardolino, Veneto, Italy 2018. £9.50–£12.99, Bay Tree Wine Co, Booths, Caviste, Field & Fawcett, Noble Green, Richard Granger, Slurp, alc 12.5% The Bonomo family's estate is east of Lake Garda, nine miles from Verona. This Corvinadominant red has cranberry, redcurrant and cherry, plus baking spices. Serve slightly chilled with antipasti. Perfect partner for seafood Kranz, Riesling, Pfalz, Germany 2018. £12.95, The WineBarn, alc 12.5% This wine has white-blossom, citrus and green-apple notes on the nose. It's a refreshing Riesling that features a dry palate with, again, crunchy green apple, plus salivating lime-peel bitterness and white-pepper spice from natural yeast fermentation. Superb value Tierhoek, Old-Blocks Chenin Blanc, Piekenierskloof, Western Cape, South Africa 2018. £14.50, Berry Bros & Rudd, alc 13.5% From blocks of…

IT’S getting sombre. The PM’s trip to St Thomas’s winded us all. Our bluff gallows humour, the usual British response to crisis, evaporated. His resurrection (at Easter, with a timeliness that even Dominic ‘Second’ Cummings could not have engineered) he marked in a speech of Damascene conversion to the NHS, which I found overwhelmingly moving. It’s getting closer. Over at the house, our young cleaner, Maria, has had it. Alan, who helps with the garden—he’s had it. Dalena, who lives in the caretaker’s flat, had it and was really very ill. She is a physio at the local hospital and is already back at the front. The proximity of it all makes isolation in my church easier to bear. Unlike infection rates, my oil painting and violin playing show no…

TECHNICAL precision may be a reassuring quality in a car (particularly when it’s driven at breakneck speed), but it’s not desirable in everything. One great attraction of furniture and textiles made by hand is that most have a degree of inconsistency that ensures that no item is exactly the same as the next. It’s something that helps to explain the enduring appeal of pots, baskets and textiles that are thrown, woven and printed by hand. The latter, in particular, are enjoying a huge renaissance, partly because of their artisanal character and also because they have a simplicity that lends itself to a current yearning for unfussiness. Printing textiles with wooden blocks is thought to have started in China several millennia ago, but its full potential wasn’t fully realised until…

Arthur Parkinson’s The Dyeing and Cutting Garden, designed for the RHS on behalf of Sarah Raven, will be at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show, September 10–15 (www.rhs.org.uk) Where is your favourite place in Britain? St Ives, Cornwall. There’s an amazing bird garden called Paradise Park, which I visit every time I go What is your favourite building? The game larder at Chatsworth. It was Debo’s hen house Book? Poultry for Anyone (Victoria Roberts), a beautiful book for anyone thinking about getting chickens Music? Anything by Kate Bush or Hans Zimmer, who does the soundtracks for the BBC’s Planet Earth series Dinner guest? Claudia Winkleman. She’s so sparkly and I love her fringe…

How to plant a container • The height of the central plant should eventually be roughly twice the height of the pot • Use a mix of perennials, annuals and bulbs. For a reliable display, always put in fresh bulbs; you can always replant the old bulbs in a cutting patch • Put crocks in the bottom of your pot to ensure good drainage and always use fresh compost (John Innes No 1 is good). Replant the whole pot with new compost every spring, once bulbs are over • During summer, feed pots every week with dilute seaweed fertiliser and deadhead spent blooms to keep plants tidy and encourage more flowers You will need • A barrel 26in wide • 5 x Erigeron annuus (tall fleabane) An airy perennial that…