Innholdsfortegnelse for 06-May-2020 i Country Life

For a large number of us, a window box is all we know as a garden-narrow, hard-working creatures, putting up a good fight against the concrete city. The bigger and deeper the box, the more luscious your displays can be. Try single Waltzing Mathilda dahlias and Double Dandy dwarf sunflowers. Drainage holes in the bottom are essential-cover them with bits of polystyrene. Good compost is vital too: choose a rich, peat-free mix and beg, borrow or steal some homemade compost for soil vitality. Mix all of this with some grit-oyster shell normally sold as hen's feed works very well. Edible herbs that flower are brilliant, as they can cope with neglect. Perennial pink marjoram will be beloved by bees, as will electric-blue flowering boragean essential for summer gin and tonics.…

• Hampton Court Palace's astronomical clock (right) -commissioned by Henry VIII-tells the hour, month, day of the month, position of the sun, the 12 signs of the zodiac and the phases of the Moon • The Queen of Time clock is set over the entrance of Selfridges, on Oxford Street. The 11ft-tall masterpiece was unveiled in 1931, for the store’s 21st birthday • Take a look at the clock atop Horse Guards-the official entrance to St James's and Buckingham Palace. A dark mark above the II on its face is said to mark the execution of Charles I, which took place at 2pm • St Pancras’s original station clock was sold to an American collector for £250,000 in the 1980s. They backed out when the clock was dropped—the pieces were…

Chester Street, £12.75 million Situated in one of the few Belgravia streets to pre-date Cubitt's development, this graceful townhouse has been restored to its original glory by the current owners, who reversed an earlier ‘brutal conversion' into flats. It has four reception rooms that are ideal for entertaining, a bespoke kitchen and breakfast room, four bedrooms and three terraces. Through London Real Estate Advisors (020–3327 2750; www.londonrea.com) Groom Place, £4.95 million Tucked away in pretty, cobbled Groom Place, this spacious mews house has beautifully designed interiors. The ground floor is completely taken up by a magnificent reception room, with stairs leading down to an open-plan kitchen and dining area. The master suite occupies the entire first floor and comes with a large dressing room. Two more bedrooms are on the…

• Traces of the old London Bridge can be seen at low tide on the north and south banks of the Thames • The old steps beside Southwark Bridge (1921)-which has now been restored to its original bright green and yellow-were used by bygone Thames watermen to moor boats conveying passengers across the Thames • The huge piers beside Blackfriars Bridge are all that remains of a former railway bridge, removed in 1985 • Claude Monet painted the predecessor of the current Waterloo Bridge more than 40 times ( below ). To public dismay, it was demolished in 1936 • After Richmond, the second oldest Greater London bridge is Kingston (1828)…

Bees Two sites have been designated as ‘exemplary' for the shrill carder bee. Lytes Cary Manor in Somerset, in the care of the National Trust, and the RSPB's Rainham Marshes in Essex have been recognised for their work in protecting the endangered species Belgian gourmands Citizens of Belgium have been called upon to eat more fries in a bid to boost the nation's potato industry. The trade association Belgapom has asked people to increase their fry intake from one to two portions a week The ozone layer A gap in the ozone layer that was the size of Greenland has closed, only weeks after it opened. The hole stretched over the top of the Arctic ice cap and was described as ‘unprecedented' by observers Frisky hedgehogs Hedgehogs are taking…

LUXURY brands across the nation have banded together to make personal protective equipment (PPE) for our health services. On Savile Row, Huntsman and Cad & The Dandy have joined forces to sew scrubs, with staff producing and donating up to 100 sets a day, with more than 1,000 orders having been submitted already. Cloth merchant Dugdale Bros & Co has chipped in, too, providing the tailors with six rolls of fabric to meet demand. Further afield, brands such as Barbour, Stewart Parvin and Emma Willis are doing their bit. Barbour is closing in on its target to make 50,000 items of PPE in its South Shields factory, with Dame Margaret Barbour saying: ‘The factory, where we normally make our classic wax jackets, is no stranger to adaptation. During both World…

Sensitive discussions THE much-needed rain last week has brought London into the full and brilliant verdancy of early summer. Views have suddenly been eclipsed as the leaves on the trees open completely and the blossom of a spectacular local display of wisteria is fading. In our tiny garden, the vegetable seeds we have planted (with a few disappointing exceptions) have erupted into life. It’s undoubtedly good news for these tender seedlings that the rain has also brought about the final collapse of a homemade basketball net that has been the mainstay of games for the past few weeks; the soaked cardboard frame has torn and sagged off the wall. Without it, the destruction caused to our garden plants by ball games promises to diminish sharply, although pressure is mounting to…

No compromise Q After several unsuccessful rounds of IVF, I don’t feel able to go through it again, but my wife is determined to keep going. I want to focus on what we do have, rather than subjecting ourselves to endless heartache, but I’m struggling to see what compromise might be reached. Can you help us? W. A., Wiltshire A This is a raw one. My beloved nephew and his adored wife faced your predicament. The miracles now wrought by treatments were, in their case, unsuccessful. The treehouse in their garden reproached visitors into awkward avoidance of the subject. He, like you, had drawn stumps, determined to stay positive, but wanting to go no further. Yet my niece was too visibly being destroyed. Her health was failing, her work…

Mice and things that are nice FOR the past few nights, I have heard squeaking noises coming from the woods surrounding our house. Last night, the sound had moved closer and I found three sets of eyes watching me from a Scots pine. It was pitch dark, but, with one hand holding a torch and the other my camera, I was able to get a picture. I didn’t stay long as I didn’t want to disturb the parliament of owls, but they watched me with no concern. I’m sure others remember the Owl Babies children’s book, with Sarah, Percy and Bill waiting for their mother to return with ‘mice and things that are nice’. Ralph Rayner, Devon Unusual delicacies WRITE in response to Jamie Blackett’s comments I about his cows…

ALTHOUGH popularly attributed to Isaiah Berlin, the distinction between the fox, who knows many things, and the hedgehog, who knows one important thing, derives from the 7th-century BC poet, Archilochus (Greek, of course). After some thousands of years dispensing wisdom, the one big thing Athena knows is that predicting the future is a mug’s game: she likes the quotation that ‘in the future, everything will still have a beginning, a middle and an end, although not necessarily in that order’. All of which is by way of an exordium to declaring that all confident predictions about the shape and future of our cultural institutions post Covid-19 are to be treated with scepticism. Will a public accustomed to social distancing ever again wish to be shoehorned into the crowded galleries of…

Camassia bulbs were an important food plant for many North American natives and the flower-rich meadows were fought over by different tribes who made cake from camassia flour and stored the cooked bulbs over winter. The plant was officially discovered in 1806 by Capt Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, plant hunters and explorers sent by President Thomas Jefferson to find a navigable route to the Pacific, shortly after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Lewis wrote in his journal on June 12, 1806: ‘The quamash is now in blume and from the colour of its bloom at a short distance it resembles lakes of fine clear water, so complete in the deseption that on first sight I could have swoarn it was water.’ Many thought that Lewis and Clark had perished…

The Petworth Park Fair, intended for May 15 to 17, will now be online from May 15 until the 31st (www. petworthparkfair.com). It is hoped to hold it in reality (with refreshed stock) from September 11 to 13. There will be 57 virtual exhibitors, including Karen Taylor, who deals by appointment, predominantly in English watercolours. She will also be showing this 23½in by 19½in English School portrait in oil of Mary Anne St Quintin. It was perhaps painted at about the time of Mary Anne's marriage in 1801, when she was 19, but a costume historian might know better. I would tentatively suggest an attribution to Thomas Beach (1738–1806). He mostly worked in the West Country; the St Quintins were Cambridgeshire, but Bath might have been the meeting point.…

About 303 St Alban dies About 793 Offa of Mercia establishes St Alban's Abbey About 460–80 Constantius of Lyon mentions St Alban's tomb Mid 6th century An account of Alban's life is composed by Gildas 731 Alban features in Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica 1077–93 Norman rebuilding of the abbey 1178 Body of St Amphibalus found and brought to St Albans 1308 Date of surviving shrine pedestal 1539 Abbey suppressed 1877 St Albans given cathedral status 1989 Diana, Princess of Wales unveils restored shrine…

Pici cacio e pepe, the choice of Padella’s chef and co-founder, Tim Siadatan Notes Serves four Ingredients For the pici 375g white-bread flour180ml water1tbspn olive oilPinch of fine sea salt For the cacio e pepe 1 batch of pici dough160g unsalted butter1tspn freshly ground black pepper1tspn lemon juice100g Parmesan, finely grated ‘Cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper) is a Roman dish and one of the most popular ones on our menu. Romans use pecorino, but we prefer a high-quality, aged Parmesan, because it has a better depth of flavour’ Method Place the flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the middle. Stir the water, olive oil and salt together and pour into the well. Combine, until a dough starts to form. Once formed,…

THIS 1668 carved relief survives at the end of Warwick Lane, EC4. It depicts the legendary figure of Guy of Warwick, heroic ancestor of the Earls of Warwick, and marks the location of the family’s former inn within the City. The image was copied from an engraving in William Dugdale’s Antiquities of Warwickshire (1656), representing the gigantic figure of the hero carved into the living rock at Guy’s Cliffe, near Warwick. The book was published in Foster Lane, about five minutes walk away. The architect John Deykes, who was born and worked in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, restored (and presumably saved) the panel. At the bottom, a footnote refers to the popular history of London by Thomas Pennant (a fifth edition was published in 1813), which relates that six oxen were…

THE power of a good book has never been more keenly felt than right now. Luckily, London is blessed with myriad independent bookshops-each distinctive. Literary institution Heywood Hill boasts an indulgent ‘A Year in Books’ subscription service (www.heywoodhill.com). Finally found the time for a deep clean? Stock up on eco-friendly and Vegan Society-registered cleaning and laundry products, from Wilton London (www.wilton london.co.uk). Save some of the TLC for yourself: The Mercantile London stocks beautifully scented soaps, room fragrances and candles (www. themercantilelondon.com ). Garden centres and nurseries have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic and many have been forced to close. Exceptions include The Palace Gardener (www.palacegardener.com);you’ll find inspiration courtesy of Arthur Parkinson on page 13. If you’re short on suitable outdoor space, Patch Plants (www.patchplants.com) carries a rather…

TWO years after her brother The Prince of Wales edited COUNTRY LIFE (November 14, 2018) to mark his 70th birthday—it became the magazine’s biggest-selling issue ever—The Princess Royal is to take the reins of the July 29 issue to commemorate her own 70th year. The Princess Royal, who has appeared on the COUNTRY LIFE Frontispiece no fewer than 10 times (including in 1969, when she was photographed by the Earl of Snowdon), is working on content for this special souvenir edition, which will be published shortly before her birthday on August 15. The issue will reflect The Princess Royal’s enduring love of horses—she became the first member of the Royal Family to compete in the Olympics, when part of the British eventing squad in 1976, and went on to win…

Mince pies A survey by dessert experts Jack andbeyond.com has ranked our favourite puddings, leading to heated debate and outrage online. Sticky toffee pudding was placed in the top ‘God' tier, but fruit cake, mince pies and Christmas pudding were ranked as ‘Worst' Homeless hermit crabs Microplastics in the ocean are affecting hermit crabs' ability to choose new shells. Scientists found that the cognitive function of crabs that had been exposed to microplastics was diminished and that, if presented with two shells, they would choose the ‘sub-optimal' one…

ON May 3, 1990, Huon Mallalieu’s Around the Saleroom column was first published, beginning 30 years of his coverage of the deals, highlights and controversies of the fine art and antiques world, which continues to this day (Art Market, page 92). ‘I started off by haunting junk shops when I was 10 and, right through my school days, I was always searching and looking for things,’ Mr Mallalieu tells me. As did most of us, he left university without a clue about what he really wanted to do, before landing an interview at Christie’s, where he was told to ‘forget everything you learned at Oxford’. His wide-ranging expertise was sharpened at the auction house’s reception, he remembers. ‘Back then, everyone had to spend six months on the front desk. You…

Quiz of the week 1) In Homer, who was the son of Laertes and husband of Penelope? 2) Which musical features the songs Some Enchanted Evening and There is Nothin’ Like a Dame? 3) What was the name of the first manned mission to land on the Moon? 4) A jeroboam is equivalent to how many standard-sized bottles of wine? 5) How many wings does a mosquito have? Time to buy No 1 Wildflower Gin, £34.95, Cotswolds Distillery (01608 238533; www. cotswoldsdistillery.com) Ducklings greetings card, £2.95 or £14 for six, Lottie Cole (07971 853412; www.lottiecole.com) ‘We don’t belong anywhere, because we can belong everywhere’ The Gracekeepers, Kirsty Logan Skyline Summit Gore-Tex men’s boot, £170, Ariat (01367 242818; www.ariat.com) Book of the week The Restaurant, William Sitwell (Simon…

1917 October 6, published The gift: Col Sir Arthur and Lady Lee take the air outside Chequers. The Buckinghamshire estate (see page 62) was donated by the Lees to the nation, to be used in perpetuity as an official residence and retreat of successive British Prime Ministers. This photograph appeared on the Frontispiece, on the above date, to mark the bequest. Chequers was the subject of an architectural feature, for the first time, in the same issue. 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 £35 plus VAT, or will be, once life returns to normal. Please email enquiries to clpicturelibrary @ti-media.com…

LIKE Dame Edna, we are looking for a New Norm. The business leaders are urging a return pell-mell to the Old Norm. But Old Norm is on life support, gasping for breath. We’ve learned a great deal, very quickly. One of those things is hubris. What if humans are the real virus? Another is how to perform intimate cabaret when the other half of Kit and McConnel is on the other side of a large county and where the audience is not present. With another year until vaccine, this is something I and other musicians shall have to perfect. The Song of the Pangolin has arrived on YouTube, but ensemble? Intonation? Timing? Oof, it’s hard. A song of thanks to you now, Mr Pangolin In all of this you been…

In the 1790s, Wheatley completed a series of oil paintings depicting views of street sellers in the vicinity of the down-at-heel Covent Garden where he had grown up. Absent is the glittering archness of his earlier fancy pictures. Here, however, is a vision both kindly and picturesque, celebratory and charming. Reproduced by engravers, 13 of these images were printed in editions that sold well into the early 20th century, their fame enhanced further by their popularity as images on chocolate boxes and biscuit tins.…

PEOPLE have been finding innovative ways to stave off lockdown lethargy. A cricket writer tells me that he and his friends are compiling lists of the best elevens ever, from A to Z. For most of us, reading is also a great resource, and everyone secretly enjoys compiling lists, so I thought I would offer my ‘Desert Island Discs’ of 10 favourite theatre books—diaries, memoirs, biographies, fiction and criticism. Obviously, it reflects my own taste, but I would welcome any suggestions from readers of books that should be included. ‘She refined her performance to the simplicity of Matisse line drawing’ 1. Peter Hall’s Diaries: The Story of a Dramatic Battle (Hamish Hamilton, 2000) Dip into these briefly and you’ll find yourself still reading an hour later.…

OH, for the silence of a city street in lockdown, where the jangle of the ice-cream van is stilled, the cars are tidily parked and the officious sign saying No Ball Games is obeyed at last. The snoopers soundlessly twitch their curtains. There are no buses, no trams, no school run. Peace reigns over the town. Here, in the country, it’s birds, birds, birds, from dawn until dusk. They’ve never had it so good, not since the war, at least. Traffic is down by two-thirds nationally, but in our corner of Dorset, the roads are deserted, except for the occasional district nurse trundling by on her bicycle or a carload of policemen weaving the lanes looking for trouble. The other day, I heard an unfamiliar rumbling sound when I was…

Peonies are at their best in May and June, and plenty of top florists will deliver to your door. Top tip: pop the stems in cold water, to prevent any premature wilting Best for eye-catching elegance McQueens is responsible for Claridge’s floral foyer displays, so you know you’re in good hands (www.mcqueens.co.uk) Best for rule-breakers You won’t find any tightly bound bouquets at Grace & Thorn, which prefers a more offbeat approach (www. graceandthorn.com) Best for a clean conscience Petalon uses seasonal flowers, donates a percentage of profits to bee conservation and uses biodegradable packaging. When social distancing permits, delivery is by push bike (www.petalon.co.uk)…

Residents love Belgravia’s great green spaces. Belgrave Square in particular is ‘a vast five-acre garden, with a tennis court and a children’s play area, which is rare to come across in the centre of London,’ says Susannah Odgers, of Knight Frank Residents like the eclectic array of food shops and boutiques on Motcomb Street and Elizabeth Street Residents could do without the area’s stuffy reputation. Belgravia may once have been considered to be a bit old fashioned, but ‘there is a younger, family-led atmosphere now,’ says Miss Odgers…

A HOBBY is a defiance of the contemporary,’ wrote the American philosopher Aldo Leopold, who suggested that ‘every hobbyist is inherently a radical’. The far-sighted farmers obsessed with finding our last Gloucester cattle were dismissed as cranks, but now, we’re grateful for the milk—and cheese— of the magnificent, glossy beasts that they tenaciously saved and for the Rare Breeds Survival Trust that these men formed. ‘The thrill of finding the cattle and saving them was enough for my generation,’ said one octagenarian member of the group. The sheep with the golden fleeces that fired the medieval economy, on which numerous charming towns across middle England were built, have become a similarly niche farming interest (‘For the love of a longwool’, page 68). But the knowledge and enthusiasm of this close-knit…

Welcome, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle THE excitement in the Hedges household is that we are hosting hedgehogs in the garden. When I was born, there were about as many hedgehogs as humans in Britain, but that has all changed. Now, hog numbers are below a million and falling, although there have been recent reports that the drop in road traffic over the past few weeks may have helped reduce the numbers killed on the road. Their other mortal enemies are slug pellets, autumn bonfires and badgers. Hedgehogs are surprisingly noisy, chuntering to themselves as they forage for worms and slugs —it was this that led us to discover their presence. Following a particularly loud romance, they have a gestation period of about 30 days before the young are born. Hoglets arrive with…

IN the beginning there was a mysterious, undescribed ‘field tennis’ played in the 18th century; but it cannot have been much like our game, for the ground of a small club measured four acres. Conceivably it was a sort of English lacrosse. The real commencement of lawn tennis was sphairistike or one of its congeners, played in polo caps, side-whiskers, ‘shorts’ and a figure-of-eight court. Much later, Dr E. W. Lewis used to flash about the court in brown stockings and snowy white knee breeches. Soon after his time and that of Meers—Meers liked a gymnastic instructor’s kit, singlet and trousers, to which he added spectacles—lawn tennis got into rather a poor way. The ‘boom’ days, when at the Wimbledon meeting a sovereign was paid for a brick to stand…

A bargain Rioja Burgo Viejo, Crianza, Rioja, Spain 2017. £7.45, Iceland, alc 13.5% The Burgo Viejo co-op has 16 growers and some 500 acres of vineyards in Rioja Oriental. This is an absolute bargain for classic Rioja lovers, offering plenty of mellow red and black fruit, with well-defined cassis and blueberry notes. The whole thing is wrapped in a veneer of oak, with grainy tannins and leathery hints, leading to a rich, spicy finish. Smooth and rounded Château de Pitray, Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux, France 2014. £13.99, Majestic, Vinatis, alc 13.5% Proof that you should look to Côtes de Castillon for classic and affordable Bordeaux. A blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, smooth and rounded with deep strawberry, blackcurrant and cherry on the palate, plus edges of oak.…

MY most recent walk for COUNTRY LIFE was an energetic, breezy swing across the Fens (April 1), but for the past month, I’ve been in lock-down, at home and ill. A horrible chest infection (but no temperature) left my Cambridge doctor uncertain as to whether it was the virus, but my doctor at home says it almost certainly was. Although I’ve not been nearly as sick as some people, I have never felt worse. I’ve had no energy, been exhausted and struggled to be cheerful. All very unusual for me! One thing has kept my spirits up: my daily walk, recommended by the Government and visibly, evidently, vital to the nation as a whole. Hearing about children confined indoors in Spain and knowing how many people live without gardens or…

Wool has kept us warm since chilly primitive man dressed himself in the fleeces of the wild sheep he killed for meat. His descendants twigged the economic benefits-here was a useful animal that could both feed and clothe them-and, by the time the Romans arrived, bringing with them the ringleted sheep that are thought to be the forebears of today's longwool breeds, the woollen industry was thriving. By medieval times, wool was Britain's greatest export, especially to the cloth-making strongholds of Flanders and Italy. Landowners, including monasteries, counted their wealth in sheep and Edward III went to war with France partly to protect the Flemish wool trade. The Yorkshire cities of Halifax and Leeds, as well as towns such as Lavenham, Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich in Suffolk, were built…

PASSERS-BY would have to have been very deeply immersed in their iPhones to have missed the swathes of faux bourgainvillea tumbling down the front of the Cole & Son pop up on Paris’s Rue de Seine earlier this year. The occasion was Déco Off, one of the most enjoyable interior-design events in the universe, which takes place each January on the city’s Left Bank. This is the Paris of La Palette, favoured hang-out of Picasso, Cézanne and Braque, of Madeleine Castaing and Serge Gainsbourg, and is a far cry from the aisles of an out-of-town exhibition centre. Instead, visitors explore the shops dotted throughout the maze of streets around St Germain that managed to avoid Baron Haussmann’s energetic boulevardisation of the city in the 19th century. For a few days,…

• Buy bulbs after August, so that you get this year’s crop rather than last year’s • Plant camassia bulbs in moist soil during autumn at a depth of 8in or about double the size of the bulb. They'll thrive in heavy clay or damp grass • Deadhead after flowering, because seedlings will be variable • Allow the foliage to die down before mowing • Split camassias in July and August if your clump is congested • The flowers are good for cutting, but falling petals can stain white tablecloths • Plant a selection containing C. quamash, C. leichtliniiand C. cusickii, so that heights and flowering times vary. All three are equally easy to grow and can be planted in woodland or border. They can also be grown in containers,…

If you wish to grow half-hardy plants out of doors, they must be acclimatised gradually. This is called hardening off and now is the time to begin. Move the plants into a cold frame and keep the lights shut. If frost threatens, cover the lights with mats. In a week's time, prop the lights open a little, but close them at night. Gradually increase the exposure as time goes on and, for the last week of the month, open the frame entirely. Keep an eye on the weather.…