Innholdsfortegnelse for 09-Dec-2020 i Country Life

Chloe is engaged to James Hannigan and they will be married at St Nicholas Church in Compton, Surrey, next year. Educated at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London WC2, Chloe has worked for Somerset House, the Barbican Centre and the Southbank Centre and recently returned to the UK after three years in the US, where she helped to raise and train guide dogs. She is the daughter of Keith and Angela Davies of Ifold, West Sussex.…

From 2021, BPS will be phased out, with money released to fund new grants and schemes. Farmers in higher payment bands will face the biggest cuts to their subsidies The payments will gradually reduce for all and will be replaced completely by ELMS in 2028, which will focus on three areas: sustainable-farming incentives, local Nature recovery and landscape improvement From next year, a new fund will help farmers invest in machinery, technology and infrastructure to improve productivity. A resilience programme will be introduced for the first three years of transition to help those struggling Defra plans to consult formally on lump-sum payments to those looking to leave the sector, to encourage new entrants into the industry…

The moon A Chinese probe has landed on the surface of the moon, with the intention of retrieving 4lb of rock samples and bringing them to Earth. If completed, it will be the first successful collection for 44 years Beavers The first dam built by beavers in Exmoor for 400 years has been discovered. The dam is on the Holnicote estate, near Minehead, and was built by beavers released by the National Trust, the first to be sent into the wild by the Trust in its 125-year history Property prices House prices have risen by 6.5% in the past year, the sharpest rise in six years, says building society Nationwide. The rise is believed to be driven by a mix of pent-up demand following lockdown and a change in people's…

Quiz of the week 1) A pannier is either a basket or an element of which item of clothing? 2) What sort of animal was Beatrix Potter's Jeremy Fisher? 3) Nociceptive, neuropathic, phantom, psychogenic and incident are all forms of what? 4) What prefix can be added to each of the following to form five new words: habit, jury, sect, stance and tense? 5) Broadcaster Channel 4 has its headquarters in London and which other UK city? Book of the week Follies , Rory Fraser (Zuleika, £14.99) After studying Alexander Pope at Oxford, the young artist-historian took to the road with his sketchbook in search of the idiosyncratic buildings he describes as ‘focal points for architecture, landscape and literature'. The result is an attractive and refreshingly youthful…

Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop, Covent Garden, London WC2 (020–7379 7866; www.pollocks-coventgarden.co.uk) ‘If you love art, folly or the bright eyes of children, speed to Pollock's,' wrote Robert Louis Stevenson about Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop. The emporium has long been admired for its miniature theatres (right), which include reproductions from around the world Semmalina Starbags, Westminster, London SW1 (020–7730 9333; www.semmalinastarbags.com) This boutique-run by sisters Emma Forbes and Sarah Standing-stocks a mix of traditional and contemporary children's clothes and toys, as well as the eponymous party bags, which are packed with favours and can be customised to almost any specification Crocodile Toys, Cirencester, Gloucestershire (01285 656050; www.crocodiletoys.com) The Cotswolds' premiere toyshop has recently made a move towards stocking ethically produced items that have been made from sustainable materials-there's no plastic to be found…

1. Sola nobilitas virtus (Virtue is the only nobility) Hamilton family, Dukes of Abercorn The current Duke, the chancellor of the Order of the Garter, would surely agree 2. À fin (To the end) Ogilvy family, Earls of Airlie The Ogilvys’ motto matches their oft-used war cry: ‘To the end!' 3. Esse quam videri (To be, not to seem) Money-Coutts family, Barons Latymer Origins of this motto can be found as early as in Cicero’s essay On Friendship: ‘Few are those who wish to be endowed with virtue rather than to seem so' 4. Pans plus (Think more) Mar family, Earls and Countesses of Mar The Mars are on their 31st peer—they’ve had plenty…

I TEND to decide on a colour and use a big quantity of the same decoration. Last year, I chose red paper baubles; the previous year, I collected pinecones from the garden and sprayed them gold,’ explains Sue Jones, creative director of OKA. ‘Everyone says you should have one thing of questionable taste on your tree and mine is a flying pig in a tutu, which hangs in between the more elegant decorations. ‘Discovering LED candle lights that turn on with a remote control has been life-changing. They clip onto each branch, so no more tangled cables. I love having only the twinkling tree lights on at night, it makes the room feel so magical.’…

Buckinghamshire, £4.75 million The exotic planting of the gardens of Harwin, combined with an expansive view over the surrounding Buckinghamshire countryside, could fool most visitors into thinking they were anywhere but England. Architect Richard Rowsell designed this futuristic five-bedroom home to take advantage of its mostly west-facing outlook, which means that many of the rooms have superb views of the landscape beyond. Constructed out of the most contemporary of materials, Harwin is not only modern, but energy efficient, too, and, with a gym, cinema room, indoor pool and some three-quarters of an acre of gardens, the property offers every comfort you could need. Hamptons International (01628 260324) Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire, £3.65 million The Ridgeway may date back some 4,000 years, but High Point is significantly more modern than that.…

Among a handful of the Marquess's purchases that survived bankruptcy auctions was a spectacular 100-carat diamond tiara (facing page), now for sale with London jewellers Hancocks, whose Guy Burton describes it as unique ‘in every way', ‘a truly magnificent piece'. The jewel, from the last decade of the 19th century, packs a considerable visual punch, a design of diamond scrolls and clusters and large, pear-shaped single stones. At the base of the design, a row of large diamonds can be detached to form a rivière necklace. Without exaggeration, Mr Burton calls it ‘a showstopper' -it may well have been worn as exactly this by Lord Anglesey on stage. The tiara was inherited by his cousin and heir, the 6th Marquess. Although the new Lord Anglesey was rumoured as a possible…

THE real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes,’ wrote Marcel Proust. On the 20th anniversary of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, the Right to Roam group organised Arts figures to lobby the Prime Minister to extend public access to private land (see page 35). They cite the benefits to national health and the unfairness of one in eight households having no garden, as well as the baffling statement that love for Nature ‘is actively discouraged by the law’ in England. Recognising the health benefits of roaming free is nothing new: William Wordsworth and John Ruskin understood this, as did National Trust founders Octavia Hill and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley. Thanks to past campaigners, England has 10 national parks, 15 national trails,…

ALL large-scale road projects will have their verges lined by wildflower meadows, says Highways England (HE). As revealed in The Guardian , HE has committed to increasing biodiversity along its infrastructure projects, meaning wild orchids, cow parsley, wood anemone and daisies could soon line stretches of England’s roads. According to the charity Plantlife, which has been campaigning to have wildflowers introduced to roadsides, some 97% of England’s wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s. As well as looking nicer than the sea of discarded drinks cans and crisp packets we’re used to, they will also provide a welcome sanctuary for pollinators. ‘Verges will look different under this approach,’ says Ben Hewlett, HE environmental adviser. ‘They’ll be a lot more natural looking. It won’t only be rye grass. It’s going…

Utah monolith A monolith that was in the state of Utah has disappeared and been destroyed, only a week after it was discovered. The monolith, the origin of which is unknown, was pushed over and removed by environmental activists who were concerned about the impact that tourism to the site was having on the surrounding area Monty Python The famous ‘Black Knight' scene in Monty Python and The Holy Grail appears to have been done before: a similar joke was found in the margins of a medieval manuscript at the British Library. The drawing in the Sherborne Missal shows two ‘wodewoses' fighting each other with severed limbs, ‘a wonderful instance of medieval cartoon violence,' says curator Ellie Jackson…

I HAD to visit an optician in London the day before lockdown ended and we moved into a new state of tiers for fears. The capital was blissfully empty and I was reminded that the joys of walking and absorbing has as much a place in a city as it does in the countryside. If you look upwards in London, wonders reveal themselves everywhere. The following day brought an explosion of activity, as seemingly everyone emerged from their houses to eat, drink and buy Christmas presents—albeit under strict regulations. It was an end to winter’s hibernation for humans, although I fear the Government may, at some point, want to put us all back to sleep again. A friend who runs a local surgery in Barnes is pondering how her practice…

Dog days Q Having grown up in a pet-free house, I always dreamed of having a dog and recently got a puppy. I was so excited, but it refuses to toilet outside, barks at all hours and has destroyed most of the furniture. I only really like it when it’s asleep and don’t know if I can continue to co-habit. T. F., Essex A Pet-accustomed or pet-free: the difference between households is Montague and Capulet. It’s a brave jump and I applaud your honesty in confessing its difficulty (which is considerable: a veteran dog-owner would never write ‘to toilet’). Hold hard, my dear. Give it another month. Enrol in one of the two dozen dog-obedience classes listed by the Kennel Club in Essex, such as the Wiggly Dog Club…

Love it or hate it Kanonkop, Kadette Cape Blend, Stellenbosch, South Africa 2018. £11, Tesco, alc 14% Kanonkop is a renowned producer of South Africa's love-it or hate-it grape, Pinotage. This blends 37% Pinotage with Bordeaux varieties, so the full-on Pinotage effect is toned down. Quaffable, with sweet, dark fruit and a hint of oak. Serve with spicy fare Domaine Maby, Prima Donna Rosé, Tavel, Rhône, France 2019. £11.95, The Wine Society, alc 14.5% Tavel is a pink-only appellation and this blend of Grenache and Cinsault is Maby's top cuvée, showing structure, concentration and complexity. It's dry, but fruity, packed with watermelon, boiled cherry sweets, dried herbs and strawberry laces. One to enjoy with spicy Middle Eastern fare. Newly cut grass Terra de Asorei, Nai e Señora Albariño,…

Sister Teresa Keswick has been a contemplative Carmelite nun for 37 years. A former London lawyer, she is a skilled embroiderer and has a column in The Oldie ‘This is the finest portrayal of sadness that I know. We are shown a Bathsheba who has hindsight and, therefore, knows the consequence of David’s terrible command. It is a command and not a request; she is not at liberty to refuse it. But there is a second and far greater meaning to this picture and that is the affection with which Rembrandt has painted Hendrickje Stoffels. There can be few greater privileges for any woman than to be seen and then revealed by a genius who loves her, with a love that is a reflection of divine love’ THE story…

THERE’S something a little unnerving about the birds that appear in our best-loved literature—and it’s not only the hysteria of squawking, honking and gobbling, the flying feathers or even the menacing beaks. There’s their disconcerting ability to talk (actually talk, no literary permission required…) and superior aerial view of life on dry land, but, perhaps most of all, it’s their tendency to symbolise something much greater than they seem. Cosier creatures might be scattered throughout literature as cheery extras, but not so with birds—they are a much-used tool for moral tales. Stumble across a feathered beast and they’ll almost always have something to say and a message to share. The Dodo When four birds appear aboard a boat in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland , mimicking the first time the story…

IT is not often that something becomes more beautiful when it’s dead, but dried flowers are an exception. Celebrated for their mortality, these aren’t so much blooms as skeletons, in a romantic sense. There is a new fashion for dried flowers around the home, but gone are the dusty and dowdy arrangements you might remember from old childhood drawing rooms. Fiona McLaughlin is doing it very differently indeed, as I discovered on visiting her shop, Fiona Fleur, on the aptly named Floral Street in Covent Garden, WC2. Here, she creates sculptural ensembles that are works of art. After deciding on a change of career several months ago, the 30 year old honed her craft from classic fresh floristry to her niche of dried flowers. ‘Opening during a pandemic has meant…

Prepare ye the way. Nobody wishes to measure their length on their garden path, so watch the forecast and take timely action. Frankly, it is a good idea to keep off smooth paving in frost and ice to avoid sliding into ponds, but a stiff broom across the surface never does any harm. When snow falls, remove it as soon as you can with a shovel, and put salt down before it sets into ice. But go canny with that salt. It is destructive to plant material and can leave brown edges on your lawn in spring.…

THIS week, we have a tale of two Magdalenes, the first penitent, the second, one would like to think, quietly triumphant. The first is the sainted Mary of Magdala, the disciple of Jesus who witnessed the Crucifixion and was the first to see him after the Resurrection. An unfortunate consequence of so many of the women in Christ’s life being called Mary was that, in 591, in an Easter sermon, Pope Gregory I conflated three of them into a composite who had been a prostitute before having seven devils exorcised and anointing Christ’s feet. That was why Mary Magdalene became a symbol of penitence and was often painted as a desert hermit clad largely in her own hair. The star of the Old Master and 19th-century paintings sale at Artcurial…

When he died in 1999, Coloradan financier William M. B. Berger had only been collecting British art for about three years, but, over that time, he acquired more than 60 paintings by many of the greatest artists and of remarkable quality ( COUNTRY LIFE , January 8, 1998). Today, the Berger Collection Trust sponsors an annual prize for the best art book in the field. The winner this year, from a shortlist of six, is Hugh Belsey's magnificent two-volume catalogue raisonné of Gainsborough's portraits, fancy pictures and copies after Old Masters, published by Yale University Press for the Paul Mellon Center. Mr Belsey's whole career has been leading up to this and it is an extraordinary achievement. The catalogue includes about 1,100 paintings, 200 newly attributed, and there is much…

IN anticipation of post-Brexit/ Covid-19 financial meltdown, I was about to enjoy the satisfaction of announcing a grim austerity Christmas to the fam: presents would be limited to a charity-shop jigsaw puzzle and a bar of tar soap per person. This scheme, worthy of the great Grinch, was derailed at once by our daughter, Jeanie. Her request for student membership of the London Library as an early present—‘Please, Dad, please’—was a budget-buster. How could I deny such piety, given my many strictures on her to study hard? Every act has its consequence. In the dog-eat-dog world of family present-giving, it will mean our other children have to receive something of equal value. Poverty beckons. Technically reading History of Art at Glasgow University, Jeanie attends lectures on Zoom, which allowed her…

SINCE the start of term in September, sending the children off to school every morning has been one of the rituals that has lent life a veneer of normality. Alas, no more. At 9.21am on Wednesday —just as England at large was emerging from its second general lockdown—I got a text message stating: ‘There is a confirmed case of coronavirus in the class. Please collect your child immediately.’ I joined a small group of disconsolate parents standing by the school gates a little while later, all of them frantically trying to reorganise their days by text, email and phone. The mood was philosophical and several had done this multiple times already. Listening to their experiences of trying to keep active and healthy children at home for up to two weeks—as…

IN spite of Bird Preservation Acts and Societies, the work of destruction goes on. Last week a man, who has been engaged in the ‘art’ for many years, was prosecuted and the case proved. The accused pleaded ignorance of the law and the case was dismissed with costs, four shillings! A short time ago, an osprey was shot in Kent and all round these coasts is a ring of collectors who destroy almost every rare bird. A meal of cold lead and a home in a glass case is all that this ‘land of heroes’ has to offer these charming visitors. I never read of the killing of these beautiful creatures without thinking of Shakespeare’s lines: ‘For he being dead, with him is beauty slain, And, beauty dead, black chaos…

The story of Christmas AFTER enjoying your special Advent calendar edition (November 25), I was prompted to let you know of our quilt show in St Cedma’s Parish Church, Larne, Co Antrim. Fourteen of us form the Parish Piecemakers group of stitchers and, a couple of years ago, we decided to tell the Christmas story in quilts. In 11 months, we ladies hand-stitched a wonderful show that the public have enjoyed. Unfortunately, this year, it isn’t possible to invite visitors in, so we have put together a virtual tour of the exhibition, which is available on our Facebook page: @larneglynnraloo. Access is available to everyone—you don’t have to be signed up to Facebook! For 15 minutes, you can relax, enjoy and marvel at the age-old story presented in a…

LAST week, after a month of closure, cultural venues and museums across the country in tiers one and two were able to open their doors again. The re-opening in London remains limited and has been much less triumphal than that over the summer. Many theatres and concert venues, of course, never opened at all and continue to postpone and cancel events. That’s not true in all cases, however, and Athena keenly anticipates a performance of A Christmas Carol at the Bridge Theatre, London SE1, in a few days’ time. One reason for the relatively low-key re-opening of museums and galleries is the very real possibility that they may have to close a third time. That might happen in the event of a post-Christmas lockdown, but it will also be the…

FAMILY mottos come in all shapes and sizes, that much is certain. The Duke of Buccleuch’s ‘I love’ is to the point; then, there are the patriotic types—‘faithful to my king and country’ trumpets the Earl of Norbury’s—and the religious ones, such as Viscount Hambleden’s ‘relying on God, not on fortune’. Such is the way of the motto. These are not regulated, but largely a matter of family choice, explains Mark Scott, Bluemantle Pursuivant of Arms at the College of Arms: ‘Mottos don’t have to be unique—many families use identical mottos and they can be changed at will.’ The Manners’s motto is Pour y parvenir or ‘to obtain your object’. ‘When I was a child taking exams, I used to put it at the bottom of all my exam papers,’…

What flowers or leaves to choose Gypsophila is dainty and ethereal and eucalyptus leaves bring muted tones of green and brown, adding a natural effect. Stick to smaller flower heads, leaves or seeds over moisture-filled flowers such as roses, which won't dry properly and will look rather sad. Hydrangeas are also beautiful and easy How to dry I find simply removing the water when the flowers or leaves are at their peak is best -don't wait for them to die, as that will be too late. Pop them in a sunny spot and let them age beautifully and gracefully Where to dry them Find a dry spot with a constant room temperature. The longer they are in the sun, the lighter they turn, so keep them there until they turn…

Perennials Walled Garden Treberfydd, Powys (01874 730169; www.walledgarden treberfydd.com) Wildegoose Nursery, Shropshire (01584 841890; www.wilde goosenursery.co.uk) Fibrex Nurseries, Worcestershire (01789 720788; www.fibrex.co.uk) Great Dixter, East Sussex (01797 254042; www.greatdixter.co.uk) Beth Chatto's Plants & Gardens, Essex (01206 822007; www.bethchatto. co.uk) Marchants Hardy Plants, East Sussex (01323 811737; www. marchantshardyplants.co.uk) Farmyard Nurseries, Carmarthenshire (01559 363389; www.farmyard nurseries.co.uk) Cotswold Garden Flowers, Worcestershire (01386 833849; www.cotswoldgarden flowers.co.uk) Mynd Hardy Plants, Shropshire (01584 841222; www. myndhardyplants.co.uk) Trees and shrubs Dingle Nursery, Powys (01938 555145; www. dinglenurseryandgarden.co.uk) RHS Wisley, Surrey (01483 224234; www. rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley) Hergest Croft Gardens, Herefordshire (01544 230160; www.hergest.co.uk) Birchfleet Nurseries, Hampshire (www.birch fleetnurseries.co.uk) Ashwood Nurseries, West Midlands (01384 401996; www.ashwood nurseries.com) David Austin Roses, West Midlands (0800 111 4699; www.david austinroses.co.uk) Credale Nursery, Herefordshire (01568 720476; www.credale.co.uk) The Place for Plants, Suffolk (01206…