Innholdsfortegnelse for 09-Sep-2020 i Country Life

Saints Bay and Harbour This picturesque Guernsey bay, with its small harbour and sandy beach bathed by crystalline waters, lies at the foot of craggy cliffs Little Chapel Between 1910 and 1939, French monk Brother Déodat built the Little Chapel not once, but three times (he wasn't happy with the first two iterations). The final version, which he didn't manage to complete before his death, is decorated with pebbles, broken china and even mother-of-pearl fragments Castle Cornet ( above ) Built in the 13th century, this castle protected Guernsey from the French for a very long time-but, in 1642, when Guernsey declared for Parliament, it remained a Royalist stronghold, only surrendering nine years later in 1651 Mont Orgueil Jersey's main fortification for centuries, Mont Orgueil became redundant when Elizabeth Castle…

The Government of Jersey can grant entitled status to a few high-value residents (HVR) annually. The HVR route is open to people that can demonstrate they have a comfortable, sustainable worldwide income in excess of £725,000, on which they would pay 20% income tax (£145,000 per year). Tax is levied at 1% on anything in excess of the £725,000. HVR approval gives you the right to buy property worth more than £1.75 million and live and work or start a business in Jersey. The first point of contact for those considering the move is Kevin Lemasney (01534 440673; www. locatejersey.com)…

Although many fine trees were felled in the Channel Islands during the Nazi occupation of 1940–45, there are still several large and interesting specimens to be found, particularly in Jersey. Here are some of the most noteworthy recorded by Monumental Trees (www.monumentaltrees.com) The oldest and biggest oak tree in Jersey is a pedunculate oak ( Quercus robur ) in the churchyard of Saint Brelade's Church. When last measured, the oak had a girth of more than 17ft The garden of Noirmont Manor is home to the largest Chilean wine palm (Jubaea chilensis) in the British Isles, which stands nearly 55ft tall to the tips of the leaves In the churchyard of St Clement, there is a venerable yew tree ( Taxus baccata ), believed to be about 320 years old…

Adrian Chiles The former TV presenter stated in The Guardian that ‘the property advertising [of COUNTRY LIFE ] trumps anything the editorial delivers'. COUNTRY LIFE was PPA Magazine of the Year in 2019 and our rising readership numbers suggest rather a lot of people enjoy the editorial Williams F1 Sir Frank Williams and his daughter, Claire, have left the Formula 1 team he founded some 40 years ago. Since 1977, the British team has won nine constructors championships and seven drivers championships. Celebrated figures such as Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost all won with Williams Peace and quiet HS2 has begun digging its way north. Opponents call it a ‘vanity project'; the Government says it will ‘form the spine of our country's transport network'. The new train-line is…

ON a sunny, late-summer’s day, is there any more wholesome activity than the local dog show? Man, woman, child and every breed imaginable gathered in a usually nondescript field, which had been transformed by the presence of bouncy castle, cake stall, hog roast, balloons and, naturally, agility course and show ring. My little black, white and tan rescue dog of unidentifiable parentage attracted much interest, as always: ‘How adorable! Is she a Bernese mountain dog crossed with a chihuahua?’ (I sincerely hope not, for the chihuahua’s sake.) ‘Perhaps a border collie happened upon a papillon?’ I believe we could have been contenders in ‘Dog the judges would most like to take home’ or, with her speckled clown face, curiously small snout, feathered ears and curly tail, a shoo-in for ‘Funniest-looking…

As seen on TV QI have made a new friend in the pub and we get along like a house on fire. When she invited me to her house, I was appalled—there’s stuff everywhere: used crockery, clothes, rubbish, cats. It’s like one of those horrible TV documentaries. I can’t go back, but how can I avoid it? H. L., Wiltshire A Keep to the pub, where sanitisers and masks are freely available? Get along ‘like a house on fire’ by burning her place down? Sit her in front of the TV, ignoring the fact that ‘those horrible documentaries’ (with which you seem very familiar) know that snobbery is good for ratings? Have her sectioned? I’m not sure what you want me to say. Has she been to your house?…

Berries and herbs Co-op, Irresistible Pinot Noir, Casablanca Valley, Chile 2019. £8, Co-op, alc 14% Has lightly spiced raspberry and blueberry aromas, then a black-cherry and red-fruit palate, with fresh acidity and good persistence. Bitter herbal twist on the finish. Impressive quality for the price. Structure and acidity The Wine Society, The Society’s Greek White, Peloponnese, Greece 2019. £8.95, The Wine Society, alc 12% The society's first own-label Greek wine, new in the range. Moschofilero gives aromatic fruit and the Roditis structure and acidity. Made by Semeli Estate from grapes grown at 2,300ft–2,600ft, it's got great typicity-firm, citrussy and floral aromatics, with a lovely sappy and mineral quality. Juicy white peach Simpsons Wine Estate, Rosé, Kent, England, UK 2019. £14.99, Majestic, alc 12.5% Charles and Ruth Simpson were…

THE Government has made a great deal of its promise in July to provide £1.57 billion in grants and loans towards sustaining the cultural sector through its present crisis. However, as Athena commented then, the real value of the so-called Cultural Recovery Fund depends in part on what the long-term funding policy of the Government proves to be. Last week, a letter from Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, to the directors of national museums was leaked to The Art Newspaper and gave an insight into the issue. In response to the £100 million offered to the national museums collectively from the scheme, the letter advises directors to ‘take as commercially minded an approach as possible’ to the management of their institutions and…

Sir John Sorrell is co-founder and chairman of the London Design Festival ‘It was my good fortune to be awarded a grant to go to Hornsey College of Art at the beginning of the 1960s, when Bridget Riley was teaching there. As well as inspiring an eager group of young, naive students, she was producing her famous, breakthrough series of black-and-white paintings, which are as exciting today as they were 60 years ago. I love all of them and have chosen Fission to represent a body of unforgettable work by a great artist, who is still creating outstanding work today’ THE Abstract painter Adrian Heath (1920–92), author of Abstract Painting: its Origins and Meaning (1953), said in old age that resistance to Abstract art in England remained unchanged throughout his…

• Roald Dahl’s Alfie the tortoise —who lived on the balcony of Mrs Silver’s flat in his 1990 children’s book Esio Trot (tortoise spelt backwards)—was inspired by one the author spotted on the balcony of his daughter’s neighbour in London • Each summer at the University of Oxford, the colleges' pet tortoises battle it out in a race at the Corpus Christi College Tortoise Fair • Alagba, meaning elderly one, was the resident tortoise in a Nigerian palace in Oyo State. She died last year, but was said to have had at least two personal attendants to see to her every need • When explorer William John Bankes began transforming Kingston Lacy in Dorset into an Italian palazzo in 1835, tortoises featured heavily in his design. To ensure an accurate…

• Always include a weather-resistant Triumph tulip with May-flowering tulips to extend the flowering season • May-flowering tulips go over in days in hot temperatures. If they're in containers, reposition them somewhere cooler • Use rugged containers and John Innes compost • If a bulb has fine foliage, it needs a warm spot and excellent drainage • Most bulbs are planted in September, at twice the depth of the bulb. Keep tulips back until the temperature falls, as they’re prone to a fungal disease • Once planted, place your containers in the lee of a building, to prevent water-logging, and cover with chicken wire, to avoid squirrel, badger and vole damage • If it’s a species with two Latin names, such as Scilla siberica or Narcissus pseudonarcissus, it will spread…

IF you’re thinking of adding a fruit tree to your garden, an apple, pear or plum might come to mind, but what if there were a tree that was naturally more disease and pest resistant? One that wisely waited to flower until after the last frost? One that needed only minimal pruning to become a handsome specimen tree with an enviable goblet shape? The answer is Mespilus germanica or the medlar tree. It may be less well known and grown than its popular fruit cousins, but this wasn’t always the case. The medlar’s origins are murky, but it’s thought that these russet-skinned fruits, which look like a cross between an apple and a rose hip, flourished on the western shores of the Caspian Sea as far back as 1000 BC…

One of the supporters of Ingrid Nilson's fairs (organised as The Antique Dealers Fair) is Brilliant Gin, a craft product that I can vouch to be well named. News has recently come in of another spirit-a revenant indeed-that stems from the antiques trade itself. In 2014, Irving Graham, a Newcastle collector, bid £300 at auction for a small, cracked, blue-and-white Chinese wine cup. It was in an elaborate presentation case and turned out to be an imperial piece from the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (1661–1722). Mr Graham sold it for £28,000-undamaged, the cup would have made much more-but luckily not before discovering a note in 17th-century French hidden in the case. It was a recipe for a liqueur called baijiu, distilled from nine roots and herbs in exact amounts…

• The first-ever underwater arrest took place in Guernsey? Scuba-diving police seized a man who was gathering ormers (the local equivalent of abalone, the harvesting of which is strictly regulated) at a prohibited time • The Channel Islands used to have bizarre laws regulating knitting? Among others, fishermen were forbidden from taking up needlework during the fishing season. The islands' knits sold far and wide-‘there's a legend that Mary Queen of Scots wore a pair of Guernsey stockings to her execution,' says Keith Wilen of Locate Guernsey-and it's easy to see why fishermen would have happily traded nets for needles. ‘Wouldn't you rather sit and knit in the warm rather than being out in a rough sea, getting wet and cold trying to catch fish?' wonders Susie Galvin of Locate…

WHETHER they are designing silver brooches of curled potato peels for the screening of the 2018 film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society or one-off pieces to be auctioned for charity, Guernsey’s jewellery designers brim with creative talent. Of all the makers, Bruce Russell is one of the longest established (www. brucerussell.com). The company was founded by his grandfather in 1887 and the fifth generation has now joined the business, which specialises in making gold and silver pieces. ‘My grandfather was still around when I first started to learn the art,’ explains Mr Russell. ‘I loved it so much that I came after school to practise on pieces of copper and tin, which was all I was allowed to do at the beginning.’ Today, the company makes a…

With 27 beautiful beaches ranging from secluded coves to vast sandy bays, you’ll have plenty to explore before you find your favourite. Cobo, Pembroke and Port Soif are particularly popular with families, who enjoy the soft sand, swimming at high tide or exploring the rock pools when the sea retreats. Each has nearby kiosks to enjoy lunch and light refreshments For a slightly less sandy day by the sea, Les Amarreurs is a scenic beach with a small jetty, located at the western end of L'Ancresse Common. This working fisherman's bay is home to colourful boats and a children's playground Vazon Bay, Guernsey’s largest beach, is popular for kayaking, kite and windsurfing, as well as being the home of the Guernsey Surf School For ultimate social distancing, pay a visit…

Anyone with a British or EEA member country passport can live in Guernsey; there is no minimum revenue requirement. New residents make an online application for a Certificate or Permit under Population Management Law. Incoming residents can occupy an Open Market Part A home indefinitely. Buying a property worth £1.32 million or more in the first 12 months of residency entitles the purchaser to an income tax cap of £50,000 per year for up to four years. Starting a business is straightforward. Legal entities are established on the Guernsey Registry. For more information, contact Locate Guernsey (01481 743834; www. locateguernsey.com)…

AFTER days of mounting nervousness, the children have finally gone back to school. Seeing them in uniforms again was a shock and the process of furnishing their satchels with face masks and hand sanitiser was a painful reminder of how much has changed since they last put them on. Equally unfamiliar was the scene at the school gate, with signs urging social distancing and the children lined up for temperature tests. What struck me even more, however, was the experience of returning to an empty house afterwards. Listening to the deep silence before settling down to undisturbed work, I felt a powerful combination of relief and regret. I didn’t dare analyse which sense was the stronger. The re-opening of schools marks another stage in London’s return to life. Nevertheless, the…

‘Mankind was just so impossibly heavy. There were so many of them and they showed no sign of halting their endless reproduction. Stop, she wanted to cry out, please stop. You cannot all fit on the space between the oceans, you cannot grow enough food on the land beneath the mountains’ A Thousand Ships, Natalie Haynes…

ALL Property is Theft.’ The French anarchist Proudhon’s rallying cry hung on my wall in 1968. I’d now quite like a poster above the Aga that says: ‘All property developers are thieves’ BBC. To whom it may concern: faithful Radio 4 listeners (average age 56) turn off the radio when the comedy programmes come on at 6.30pm and 11pm. Segregation of the airways based on sensitivity and intelligence is perfectly acceptable—I think you’ll find that Trollope and Julian Barnes rarely appear on Radio 1 COUNTRY LIFE is a weekly periodical with a surprisingly diverse, literate, open-minded and prescient readership DÉJÀ VU all over again’, first uttered by Yogi Berra, expresses how we feel when we hear the words ‘Brexit’, ‘deal or no deal’ and politicians on Radio 4’s Today ENGLISHMEN…

NOT only the country-house ideal as we know it, but the whole of Edwardian domestic architecture was shaped by COUNTRY LIFE . Some of the reasons why this came about are straightforward: the magazine had the best critics, the most educated social historians and the most comprehensive experts in gardening and house design of any regular publication, not to mention the campaign it maintained for more than a decade to raise standards. Other reasons, however, are more in the realm of magic. COUNTRY LIFE’s first number came out in January 1897 and, right from the start, there were illustrated scholarly articles on the historic homes of England. This was a novelty: there were then few places where readers could be regularly tempted into a properly researched, accurate account of an…

FOR some, it’s the allure of high pheasant, soaring stratospherically over an ancient Yorkshire valley. For others, that visceral thrill of grouse, fast and furious, hugging close to the contours of the Scottish moors. However, for me, it’s the rather less taxing appeal of a plump Hampshire partridge, shot in shirtsleeves on a mild September afternoon —preferably after a long and merry lunch. It’s been a while, however, since I’ve seen Perdix perdix, our native English bird. It’s said to taste superior to that upstart Frenchie, which now rules the roost, but it’s been so long since I’ve eaten one that I couldn’t say for sure. ‘Move fast,’ my father would say as soon as the last drive was over. He’d always spot a brace or two of grey legs…

FOCUS/20, the highlight of this autumn’s design calendar, takes place in a virtual format from September 13 to 18. Although social-distancing restrictions mean that showrooms are open only to trade visitors by appointment, the team behind the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, has been working hard to launch a programme of inspirational —and completely free—online experiences for all of us to enjoy from the comfort of our armchairs. ‘Rose Uniacke is a champion of traditional skills and craftsmanship’ The virtual programme features a variety of Conversation in Design webinars. On Wednesday, September 16, at 4pm, COUNTRY LIFE Executive Editor Giles Kime talks to one of the UK’s leading interior designers, Rose Uniacke. Much admired for her ability to create rooms that somehow manage to be both serene and exciting, she is…

TULIPS are often, and not always correctly, regarded as unreliably perennial additions to the garden, but their charm, availability and range of colours are so extraordinary that this is mostly a price worth paying for a big flounce in spring. Their transience is understandable, as the epicentre of this decorative genus is on the stony hillsides of Central Asia, where the bulbs (protected underground in snug, often hairy bulb tunics) enjoy harsh winters and hot dry summers, during which moisture is drained away and they become dormant, entering a phase of aestivation. Our maritime climate presents challenges, but some species—or Botanical tulips—can be encouraged to spread and increase in number if you can mimic their natural environment and provide good drainage. Avoid waterlogged soils and seek quiet, perhaps overlooked corners…

• The French for medlar is cul de chien or dog’s bottom, a reference to its suggestive appearance • You'll find medlars mentioned in literature including Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Cervantes's Don Quixote and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It and Measure for Measure • D. H. Lawrence, not enamoured with medlars, described them in a poem as ‘wineskins of brown morbidity’ and ‘Autumnal excrementa’ • They are members of the rose family, typically grown on quince stock, and fruit by their third year • Medlar jelly is ideal with game, poultry, lamb or pork, pâtés and charcuterie. Medlar cheese—a set paste similar to Spanish membrillo —is good with hard and blue cheese or simply spread on hot toast…

ON August 15, a service was held at the National Memorial Arboretum to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VJ Day. Several other notable Second World War anniversaries have occurred in the past few months: August 19 was the 78th anniversary of the disastrous landing at Dieppe; two months earlier, services of thanksgiving, muted due to lockdown, marked the 80th anniversary of the evacuation of Dunkirk. This remarkable feat took place over eight days, between May 26 and June 4, 1940, when 338,226 British, Belgian and French troops, abandoning everything—tanks, vehicles and equipment—were evacuated from mainland Europe in a flotilla of some 800 little ships of all descriptions. It inspired Churchill’s ‘We will fight them on the beaches’ speech and entered into folklore. For many, it will come as a surprise…

IDON’T understand why your life is quite so chaotic,’ my mother said recently. I was huffily defensive. ‘It’s not only me, actually. Everyone’s life is like this.’ Two days later, we lost our game of brinkmanship with the Government and finally pulled the plug on a fortnight in France. Monday. Olive arrives, she and friends having booked a week to be in our supposedly empty house. Anna is leaving at dawn to spend a year in Paris after wading through epic levels of bureaucracy—apartments, jobs, Covid-19—beginning with a holiday with much-missed university friends. We buy her a new suitcase, hug her goodbye, say ‘see you at Christmas’ and drive to the first household taking us in. Tuesday. ‘A bit of a fly in the ointment,’ says Zam as I open…

Pour Tu The children's clothes sold by this family business are made in store. 14, Fountain Street, St Peter Port, Guernsey Hedge bread man Tony Moore, a Guernsey carpenter-turned-baker, sells artisanal sourdough from a roadside stall. Le Varclin, St Martin's Fermain beach cafe Set right at the edge of beautiful Fermain Beach, this is a great place to enjoy a drink or tuck into the freshest of crabs. Fermain Lane, Guernsey Vinifera Wine bar meets coffee shop at this Jersey venue. 4, Broad Street, St Helier Jane James Ceramics Coastal life in its many facets is the inspiration for this artist. 51, Central Market, Halkett Place, St Helier, Jersey 37, Broad Street A great boutique stocking an interesting selection of women's clothing. 37, Broad Street, St Helier, Jersey…

Becky Rowe an independent jeweller who began an evening class aged 12 and started her own business in 2011 (www.beckyrowejewellery.com) Martin & Martin specialists in handmade pieces and known for its in-house brand of Patois Jewellery (www.patoisjewellery.com) Derek Birch & Son a family-run business that was established more than 50 years ago by a Sheffield-born hand-engraver (www.derekbirchjewellers.com) Ray & Scott one of the largest jewellers in the Channel Islands, with showrooms in St Sampsons and St Peter Port, stocking watches and jewellery (www.rayandscott.com) Martyn Guille one of Guernsey's most renowned silversmiths, bringing together elements of local historic interest with contemporary aspects (www.martynguille.com)…

THE statistics tell the tragedy eloquently enough; since 1970, our farmland birds have declined by 63%. Some have fared worse even than this base figure (page 96). The grey partridge, an avian so delightful taxonomists named it twice, Perdix perdix, is down by 92%. There are swathes of British countryside where the Boxing Day walk is left un-thrilled by lapwings performing the flippy-floppy aerial manoeuvre that gave them their name (lapwing is from the Old English leapwince, ‘a leap with a waver in’). We have long admired farmland birds in these isles. Indeed, as an agricultural people, we created the very landscape of open fields and thick hedges for them to inhabit and we chopped down the wildwood—skylarks do not nest in black forests. Who is to blame, then, for…

Hen harrier The bird of prey has had its most successful breeding season in almost 20 years, after 60 chicks fledged from 19 nests across the northern Pennines. The news has been hailed as a boost for the disputed ‘brood-management' scheme, in which chicks are removed from nests on grouse moors and hand-reared Organic farming Sales of organic foods and drink soared during lockdown, with the Soil Association reporting an 18.7% rise in sales in the 12-week period to the end of May, compared with the same timespan last year…

1) In Stephen King's 1981 horror novel, what breed is the rabid Cujo? 2) The UK is home to which two species of eagle? 3) Followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are more commonly known by what name? 4) Which famous artist had both a Rose Period and a Blue Period? 5) In 1934, the surgeon Robert Kenneth Wilson took a photograph purporting to show what? Book of the week Islands of Mercy, Rose Tremain (Chatto & Windus, £18.99) From genteel Bath to the Borneo jungle via London, Dublin and Paris, Rose Tremain has yet again excelled in bringing the places and people of a different era (the 1860s) vividly to life through her exquisite, perfectly pitched prose. Exploring the human quest to…

A fresh take on Morris ARCHITECTURAL and interior designer Ben Pentreath has collaborated with Morris & Co to produce the Queen Square Collection. ‘I’ve always loved the designs of William Morris and we’ve used his superb, timeless papers and fabrics in many of our decoration projects over the years, so it was a wonderful experience to be let loose in the Morris & Co archive,’ says Mr Pentreath. ‘We’ve taken many original patterns and recoloured them in a palette of my favourite colours to cast his designs in a completely new light.’ Eighteen wallpapers and 18 fabrics form the collection, with Daffodil Archive cotton/linen, £89 per m, shown here covering the sofa, and Willow Bough Olive and Turquoise cotton/linen, £79 per m, on the central cushion. ‘I find it extraordinary…

Production in the kitchen garden is at such a level we can hardly keep up with it. Cut courgettes constantly unless you are fond of marrows. The carrot crop reaches its glory about now. Runner and French beans must be picked over daily to maintain quality and, soon, we will long for a frost to bring the glut to an end. Sweetcorn, too, is in season. For this brief period, the living is easy, but days will shorten and things will tail off. Then we turn to the leeks and parsnips waiting their turn.…