Innholdsfortegnelse for 14-Apr-2021 i Country Life

ONE of the pleasures of buying a new house is waiting to see what comes up in the garden and there have already been plenty of surprises, to go with the obvious roses and tree peonies. However, the main herbaceous border seems to be dominated by the dreaded ground elder and I am not sure how to deal with it or whether I will simply need to dig all the bed out and start again. There is a small mercy in that it is good to eat and we ran a recipe in Country Life for eating the weed last year in a type of quiche (‘Real men eat ground-elder quiche’, July 15, 2020). Further investigation suggests that it can be widely used as a food and that it makes…

BEING a lover of primroses, I have planted great numbers in my Devonshire garden. Owing to the mild and early spring, many flowered in February; but every morning, to my disgust, I find dozens of flowers nipped off and strewn along the paths. At first I attributed the mischief to sparrows, but I soon came to the conclusion that some other kind of bird must be responsible. Eventually the crime was brought home to a pair of blackbirds, and after they had been disposed of, the primroses were allowed to bloom in safety. It is difficult to understand why primroses should be picked off in this way: the stem is nipped close up to the flower, and no part is ever eaten. Smaller birds eat the petals of both primroses…

A Fine Madness , Alan Judd (Simon & Schuster, £14.99) The life of the talented, but pugilistic Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe was short, successful and eventful; he was mysteriously stabbed to death in a pub aged 29. In this gripping novel, Alan Judd has convincingly reimagined Marlowe's rumoured secret-service role through a fictional friendship with Thomas Phelippes, who is forger to the Queen's spymaster, Walsingham, and living through a febrile, terrifying period in history.…

A New Innings, by Manoj Badale & Simon Hughes, is published by Clink Street (£19.99). For Simon Hughes’s centenary podcast and other news about anniversary events, visit www.thecricketer.com Where is your favourite place? Sunset Ashram, a clifftop restaurant in Ibiza What is your favourite building? The Taj Mahal Book? A Good Man in Africa (William Boyd) Music? Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in D Minor. I love the church organ and played it when younger Alternative career? Playing keyboards in a band Who is your heroine? My mum, my best advisor…

Some of the world's 80-plus swallow species are familiar to us: the blue-and-white house martin, which builds its nests out of mud beneath the eaves of our homes; and the smaller, brown-and-white sand martin, which digs a nesting burrow in the banks of rivers and gravel pits. Other species range from the purple martin of North America, weighing 64g, to the tiny fairy martin of Australia, which tips the scales at 10g. By far the commonest species is our own barn swallow and the rarest is the Red Sea swallow, known from a single corpse found beneath a lighthouse on the Sudan coast in 1984-and never seen since.…

• Druids considered the field maple’s colour-changing ability to be a natural alchemy and called it ‘sunshine fire’ • Field maples have given rise to several place names, such as Mappleborough, Warwickshire (maple hill), Mappowder, Dorset (from mapuldor -old English for maple tree) and Mappleton, Derbyshire (a settlement where maples grow) • A maple harp was excavated from a Saxon barrow at Taplow, Buckinghamshire, and another, at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, was found wrapped in a sealskin bag • Ten years ago, the field maple shot to fame when it was chosen as one of the trees to line the aisle of Westminster Abbey for the wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge • In 2020, the wood inside the shaft of a Bronze Age spearhead found on a Jersey…

AS ashamed as I am to admit it, the entire island of Jersey—birthplace of Lillie Langtry, home-in-exile of Charles II and Victor Hugo, festival haven and home to more than 100,000 residents—can be summed up in three words: cows and potatoes. Yes, I know, I know; I’m an ill-informed idiot with fodder for brains and nothing but lunch on his mind. However, I really don’t mean to be rude, but rather to offer the highest compliment. For this Channel isle has not only given us a magnificent, world-conquering mooer—renowned for the lush richness of its milk—but some of the very finest tubers on earth, too. I’ve never actually been to Jersey. More fool me. A British Crown Dependency and part of the British Isles, rather than Great Britain or the…

Where one snowdrop is planted, three will grow next year. It follows that a group will increase rapidly and that periodic replanting will give grand effects. Now is a good time, when the flowers are over, but the leaves are in full vigour. Carefully lift a clump of bulbs and tease them apart. Cultivate the intended planting site to a planting tilth, then insert the bulbs an inch or two apart. They will look a little stiff at first, but soon form a more splendid sight than before.…

IT is likely that only now will Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, begin to be fully appreciated for the contribution that he made to the life of Great Britain. In his later years, it became amusing for the press to paint him as a caricature: a peppery, rather inconsiderate man, forever putting his foot in it. One journalist followed him on an African trip and confided to The Duke’s detective that, for him, it had been a wasted journey as no gaffe had been made. This trivialisation of so much of what The Duke did was tiresome for him, although he pressed on regardless, with a clear vision of what he aimed to do and the drive to follow it through until the goal was achieved. Prince Philip’s life was…

Dogs with sea legs The National Trust has ‘hired' Sweep, a seafaring Border collie, to look after rare-breed sheep at Orford Ness, a shingle spit off the Suffolk coast. The sheepdog commutes by boat A birdwatching nation More than a million people took part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch, counting 17 million-plus birds Whisky connoisseurs A collection of more than 50 bottles from top Sutherland distillery Brora, which closed in 1983, goes under the hammer this week at Whisky Auctioneer Mr Jeremy Fisher A moor frog has turned blue in what was perhaps Britain's first colour change in 700 years, after two teenagers in Staffordshire played it the sound of mating rivals…

WITH the easing of lockdown restrictions, Easter offered us the first opportunity in many months to see friends and family again outdoors. As a consequence, we enjoyed a very sociable holiday and spent long periods of time in many layers of clothing trying to ignore the weather as it vacillated unpredictably—and improbably—between extremes of temperature. Not even biting cold wind and flurries of snow, however, could diminish the sheer pleasure of company. Throughout, we sat doggedly out of doors, chatting away in hope of the next burst of sunshine. For the children, rich pickings of chocolate and cake were an added incentive to brave the elements. Although the family has been driven outside, the cold weather has unexpectedly served to bring the garden indoors. This year, my wife has spent…

Seaside tang Asda, Extra Special Albariño, Rías Baixas, Galicia, Spain 2019. £9, Asda, alc 13% Rías Baixas in Galicia has a reputation for producing some excellent whites from the Albariño grape, combining ripe fruits with coastal freshness. This well-priced example features soft orchard-fruit aromas with subtle lemon and orange notes. In the mouth, there's a pithy grapefruit core fleshed out with apple, lemon, pear and peach and a seaside tang. Hint of lychee Edoardo Miroglio, Bio Viognier-Traminer, Thracian Valley, Bulgaria 2019. £12.50, Swig, alc 13.5% This organic blend has a perfumed nose of ripe pear and citrus fruits, with hints of rosemary, lychee and jasmine running through. Rounded and oily on the palate, with grapefruit juice and lime-zest bitterness, plus good acidity to balance. Sappy palate Tesco, Finest…

TWO weeks ago, the pedestrian embankment that runs for nearly quarter of a mile between Lambeth Bridge and Westminster Bridge became the site of an unofficial memorial to those who have died as a result of the pandemic. The National Covid Memorial Wall, as it has become known, the work of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign, takes advantage of a long stretch of wall that runs beneath St Thomas’s Hospital and faces across the Thames towards the Palace of Westminster. The idea of the memorial was simple. Volunteers and members of the public were invited to draw hearts on the wall to represent those who have died from Covid-19 in the UK. Notes posted along the length of the wall as it was being created offered concise instructions…

JUST as Family and Friends Divided had become Friends Reunited and the wretched Trump era laid to rest, Harry and Meghan gave their Oprah interview and a whole new Grand Canyon opened up again. This chasm really surprised me because my team was astonished to discover that I wasn’t on the Sussexes’ side. I swear I did not come across all Piers Morgan. I didn’t say: ‘That was performance art, staged by two millionaires and a billionaire.’ But, even as I tried to exercise restraint, I could hear the disappointment flowing through the cables that lie under the ocean that separates us. When I protested that the Archbishop doesn’t marry folks in his backyard, you’d have thought I’d become a Covid-19 denier. When I reckoned it was probably a spunky…

WHERWELL is a village that answers the popular ideal of English rural beauty. Set in the valley of the River Test, its focus is a small green with a war memorial enclosed by timber-frame and thatched cottages. From this extends a short lane that runs to the parish church. How might it be possible to add a substantial new house to such a picturesque composition without spoiling the whole? It is conventional to argue that an addition must declare itself by material and design to be a modern creation. For his own new house, however, the architect John Simpson attempted something completely different. Harewell Hall stands on the east side of the lane to the church. Its position—and also its design—are bound up in unexpected ways with the deeper history…

Swallows have been central to our folklore, mythology and culture since the earliest civilisations. They appear as hieroglyphs on Ancient Egyptian tombs and their mummified corpses were buried with kings to guide them on their journey to the afterlife. The Greek philosopher Aristotle, writing in the 4th century BC, famously declared that ‘one swallow doesn't make a summer' and, in To Autumn, John Keats coined the memorable image ‘gathering swallows twitter in the skies'. Swallows are a popular design for a tattoo, especially among sailors, who choose the bird as a kind of guardian angel, bringing them safely back to their families after a long voyage. However, most of all, as we have seen, swallows are linked with the coming of spring-and all the hope that the new season brings.…

A COUPLE of years ago, back in a time when people such as me went to watch fairs with a cough or a cold and thought little of it, I had the great pleasure of interviewing the designer Ini Archibong in Geneva. He was there to talk about the Hermès Galop d’Hermès, a watch in the shape of a stirrup that he’d helped design. He told me that, when he began the process of creating the shape, he had put silhouettes of some of history’s most iconic watch designs up on a wall and invited his collaborators to see if they could identify them—Patek Philippe’s Nautilus, Panerai’s Luminor Audemars, Piguet’s Royal Oak and so on. He recalls they reeled them off one by one. Merely from the outline. ‘ Form…

Garden design James Scott of The Garden Company (01442 832666; www.thegardenco.co.uk) Landscaping The Garden Company (01442 832666; www.thegardenco.co.uk) Riven Yorkstone paving Reclaimed from the garden Greenhouse Griffin Glasshouses (01962 772512; www.griffinglasshouses.com) Swimming pool The Garden Company and Stephen Langley of Millennium Pools (07979 804994) Rusted-steel edging T. Brown and Sons (07825 925257; www.tbrownandsons.co.uk) Fountain and sculpture David Harber (01235 859300; www.davidharber.co.uk) Sawn sandstone and natural rock Rand and Asquith (01484 719263; www.randandasquith.co.uk)…

THE past year has not only been a time for businesses to learn new skills, but to reflect on what changes they might make when they open physically. Lowell Libson of Clifford Street, London W1, has changed address, although only from the north side of the street to the south. Mr Libson began his career at Phillips in the decades when London auction houses had dedicated English-watercolour departments; he went on to the Leger Galleries and became managing director of Spink-Leger as those dealers were gradually swallowed by Christie’s and, in 2001, set up his own business. Watercolours still play their part, but it’s become one of the most important for traditional British art as a whole. The second-floor gallery at 3, Clifford Street had an agreeably clubby atmosphere, which…

May 20–August 29 Glyndebourne, East Sussex Kát’a Kabanová, Il turco in Italia, Così fan tutte, Luisa Miller, Tristan und Isolde (01273 815000; www.glyndebourne.com) June 1–August 3 Longborough Festival Opera, Gloucestershire Die Walküre, Così fan tutte, The Return of Ulysses, The Cunning Little Vixen (01451 830292; www.lfo.org.uk) June 1–August 15 Opera Holland Park, London W8 The Marriage of Figaro, La traviata, The Cunning Little Vixen, L’amico Fritz, The Pirates of Penzance, Hansel and Gretel, L’occasione fa il ladro (0300 999 1000; www.operahollandpark.com) June 2–July 25 Garsington Opera, Buckinghamshire Der Rosenkavalier, Eugene Onegin, Le Comte Ory, Amadigi (01865 361636; www.garsingtonopera.org) August 4–25 Nevill Holt, Leicestershire La traviata, Don Giovanni (01858 437451; www.nevillholtopera.co.uk; ‘Very much on song’, March 24)…

1921 Prince Philip is born 1939 Prince Philip meets Princess Elizabeth at Dartmouth 1939–46 Prince Philip on active Royal Navy 1944 Prince Philip's father dies 1947 Prince Philip marries Princess Elizabeth; becomes Duke of Edinburgh 1948 Prince Charles is born 1950 Princess Anne is born 1952 George VI dies and Princess Elizabeth becomes Queen 1956 Pilot Duke of Edinburgh Award for Boys; an Award for Girls is begun in 1958 1960 Prince Andrew is born 1964 Prince Edward is born 1969 Princess Alice dies 1972 The Queen and Prince Philip celebrate their silver wedding 1977 The Queen celebrates her Silver Jubilee 1992 Three of his children's marriages dissolve; fire starts at Windsor Castle 1997 The Queen and Prince Philip celebrate their golden wedding 2002 The Queen celebrates her Golden Jubilee…

Raptors eating fast food A red kite has been spotted flying over Suffolk with a McDonald's cup in its talons, triggering concerns about the effect littering is having on wildlife Up a creek without a paddle A man who broke lock-down rules to go kayaking in Scotland was stranded on a Loch Lomond island after he lost his paddle Dolphins As people increasingly head towards the beach, the charity Whale & Dolphin Conservation has warned that pursuits such as jet-skiing or paddle-boarding may frighten or even injure dolphins Sporting guns After Defra announced a two-year consultation on banning lead ammunition (COUNTRY LIFE, March 31), the National Game Dealers Association declared that it will stop accepting lead-shot game from July 2022…

Quiz of the week 1) What does a Geiger counter measure? 2) If you dug a hole through the centre of the earth starting from beneath the Houses of Parliament, you would emerge off the coast of which country? 3) What does the average person do 13 times a day? 4) On which continent do house martins spend our winter? 5) Coprastastaphobia is the fear of what? 1) Ionising radiation 2) New Zealand 3) Laugh 4) Africa 5) Constipation Word of the week Auripotent (adjective) Rich in gold Time to buy Another log on the fire By Oliver Preston A novel note ‘If your ceiling should fall down, then you have lost a room, but gained a courtyard. Think of it that way’ The Right Attitude to Rain, Alexander McCall…

PELHAM WARNER heralded The Cricketer, which the former Middlesex and England captain launched in April 1921, as ‘a bible to be collected in instalments’. One hundred years on, it’s still with us, easily among the most enduring of British sports publications. As one who has read the magazine for 40 years, I confidently assert that it’s never been better. Not only is it visually satisfying, it excels in its feature coverage of a sport that has always attracted good writers. ‘It’s selling well, too,’ says Simon Hughes, its 14th editor in a distinguished line that has included E. W. Swanton, David Frith and Chris Martin-Jenkins. ‘We’re nowhere near the peak of 40,000 a month in the 1980s, but I’m hoping our 100th anniversary will generate even more interest.’ The publication…

Bremont MBII Watches made by Britain's biggest watch brand, Martin Baker- or MB-are tested to endure ejection from a fighter jet. But future icon? Some would say that, with its ‘trip-tick' case, coloured middle barrel, double crowns and black and yellow seconds-hand counterbalance, the MBII is already there (0800 817 4281; www.bremont.com) Hermès Galop d’Hermès The watch designed by Ini Archibong for the French maison was introduced only a couple of years ago. Inspired by a stirrup, genderless, effortlessly chic and designed to be worn with bracelets, it's immediately distinguishable from anything else on the watch market (020–7499 8856; www.hermes.com) Breitling Top Time Limited Edition For years, the Top Time languished in Breitling's archives, but, last year, the style was revived for a new generation. First introduced in 1964 and…

Hannah is going to have to re-work her timetable, as she keeps ending up in a flustered tangle of leads and poo bags. Bertie the Jack Russell upsets the formation by being an inveterate bottom-sniffer, which Posy the poodle doesn't like much. Dotty the dim pointer bounces all over everyone, causing Otto the dachshund to sit down in protest, and the whole schemozzle brings on prolonged and deafening yapping from Henry, an oversensitive husky. The trouble is that Lenny the aged labrador has to be walked alone in case his hip dislocates itself, as does Teasel, a springer that needs two hands on the lead. Still, dogs are better house trained than toddlers-Hannah previously worked as a nanny-and she's lost three stone.…

1878 Lionel Dalhousie Robertson is born on November 9 to Dr James and Harriet Edwards 1895 Attends The Heatherley School of Fine Art and Frank Calderon's School of Animal Painting in London 1898 Elected to the London Sketch Club, the youngest member at 20, joining Cecil Aldin 1905 Exhibits at Graves's Gallery, Pall Mall. Marries Ethel Ashness Wells; they have five children, Marjorie (b. 1908), Derrick (1910), Philip (1914), Lindsay (1917) and Kenneth (1919) 1915 Posted to the Romsey Remount Depot, Hampshire 1919 Moves to Buckholt, Hampshire, his home for the rest of his life. On February 26, he notes in his diary that he despatched an astonishing ‘4 pencil sketches of the Hursley. 4 originals “The Seasons” (for Buick Cars), 1 poster Aintree biscuits and 4 pen sketches for…

The one fair that I got to after March last year was the postponed Petworth Park event in West Sussex, which took place in beautiful September weather. We should not have to wait a full year for the next incarnation, as it returns to its marquee on May – (www.petworthparkfair.com), among them first-timers from September, such as Timothy Millett with historical medals and Jenna Burlingham with Modern British artists. Christopher Clarke of Stow-on-the-Wold will make a first appearance, bringing campaign furniture and equipment, including an intriguing rarity-if not already sold in the gallery's current online exhibition (www.campaignfurniture.com). This is a collapsible paper travel lantern (above) with hardwood, perhaps hawthorn or apple, top and base. The treen authority Edward Pinto wrote that ‘Survivals are extremely rare, understandably as they must have…

CAROLINE HILL painted landscapes, mostly in France, still lifes and portraits. Graham Greene was her most celebrated sitter; her portrait of Sir Lennox Berkeley hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. In 1959, when they were young, she did a portrait of my mother, Jocasta Innes, which I never knew about. Ten years later, Jocasta and her lover, Joe, took the basement flat in Blackheath as the lodgers of Caroline and her husband, Nic. My mother and Joe lived at the scrattier end of Bohemia. Once, they flooded the flat. On one occasion, smoking in bed, they set it alight. I have no doubt there were rows about art and love and money. One morning, Nic found his wife’s portrait of Jocasta lying in a nearby skip. I knew nothing about…