Innholdsfortegnelse for 17-Nov-2021 i Country Life

IF there is one message from COP 26, it’s that our lives will change. Either we shall have to adjust, as best we can, to the excessive temperatures and flash flooding of an altered climate or the world will have to discipline itself to consume less. Politicians glibly say that the latter can be done without donning a hairshirt, but it seems unlikely. The reality is that the restrictions on life imposed by Covid are small beer in comparison with those required to meet the carbon targets being set for us. Some people will embrace them more zealously than others. In London, the movement of traffic is being deliberately slowed to reduce car numbers. In the country, wood-burners and fires are being phased out, as anyone wanting a chimney lined…

Rural communities The Countryside Alliance has criticised the Government for not finding parliamentary time to discuss a Lords amendment to the Police Bill that would increase penalties for the rising crime of hare poaching Pest control Wild Justice has launched a legal challenge against the general licences in Northern Ireland, after doing the same in England and Wales Biodiversity Monoculture forest planting, often undertaken by companies to offset their emissions, may damage Nature, according to ecosystem ecology professor and Earthshotprize finalist Thomas Crowther Art collectors In the catalogue for its exhibition, ‘Leonardo and the Copy of the Mona Lisa', the Prado has downgraded Salvator Mundi, sold for about £336 million ($450m) at Christie's in 2017 as a fully authenticated painting by Leonardo, to ‘attributed works, workshop or authorised and supervised'…

I WAS interested to read the article ‘Stick to it the man’ (GENTLEMAN’S LIFE, November 3), invoking the return of the gentleman’s cane. A few years ago, I created one with a miniature cricket ball on top, ready for just such a revival. Ironically, I slipped and broke my ankle at Lord’s Cricket Ground during the Test match in August and I am currently getting around using a traditional walking stick, that ‘fine and elegant accessory’ pronounced by Hardy Amies as suitable for the purpose (both pictured). I am also using Nordic walking poles when venturing out a bit farther. When the time comes to do away with weight-bearing devices, I shall be there with my cricket-ball-topped walking cane to help relaunch this overdue adornment to today’s gentleman’s wardrobe. Malcolm…

1932 October 15, Published The 1770s dining room of 20, Portman Square, designed by Robert Adam, the townhouse of Samuel and Elizabeth Courtauld. This was the original home of the Courtauld Institute of Art when it was founded in 1932. On the walls are paintings by Manet, Cézanne and Renoir that can now be seen in the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House. Every week for the past 125 years, COUNTRY LIFE has documented and photographed many walks of life in Britain. More than 80,000 of the images are available for syndication or purchase in digital format. To view the archives, visit www.countrylifeimages.co.uk and email enquiries to licensing@futurenet.com…

With the onset of the Second World War, RMS Queen Mary, together with Normandie and Queen Elizabeth, would serve as a troopship. This would spell disaster for the Normandie, which caught fire in the New York docks in 1942 when undergoing a refit and was totally destroyed. Queen Mary, however, would go on to transport nearly one million troops during the course of hostilities. Refitted and painted a dour battleship grey, this-combined with her exceptional speed, which enabled her to carry as many as 16,000 soldiers and maintain a U-boat evading speed of 23 knots-earnt her the nickname the Grey Ghost. A degaussing coil, outfitted around the hull, altered the ship's magnetic field and provided a layer of protection against magnetic mines. She also operated as a hospital ship and…

AS restoration projects go, Staick House falls within the higher categories of challenge. Dating back, in part, to the 14th century, the rambling, timber-frame building in the Herefordshire village of Eardisland has grown and altered in response to every change in fashion or the fortunes of its owners over the past 600 years. For more than 20 years, its last owner lived as a recluse, retreating eventually to only one room. Jackdaws took possession of the upper floor and the once-fine building fell into decay, hidden from the world behind an impenetrable barrier of yew. One local resident, John Greene, had known and been enchanted by Staick House ever since he was a child some 60 years ago. As time passed, he watched its slow decline with a sadness that…

AHH, the Aga. You may well be snuggled up to yours now, dog below, tea on the go. Whether yours is classic cream or British racing green, there’s no doubt that you love it. But how about a makeover? With the kitchen having become a public space and the range-cooker market having moved up a style notch to match the demand for sleek good looks, Aga has also stepped up to the (hot) plate. In anticipation of Aga’s centenary next year, interior-design studio Taylor Howes has dreamt up a brand new Aga with a touch of modern glamour that appeals to a more style-focused consumer; an elegant mix of navy blue, with copper hardware. The new model is the latest of a succession of innovations to have been made by…

‘Apples are robust and can be trained into any shape’ AT West Dean Gardens, a few miles north of Chichester in West Sussex, the kitchen garden is planted with free-standing and wall-trained fruit trees that show how imaginative pruning not only transforms a productive garden, but delivers more blossom and fruit. There are more than 100 varieties of apple, as well as pears, plums, figs and cherries. The big advantage to such formal training is that you get more fruit in less space, which allows you to grow more varieties. There are 10 different cordon apples along one 50ft-long wall, for instance. ‘They’re between 10 and 15 years old,’ says head gardener Tom Brown, ‘but they’re still in perfect shape’. All the stems slant to the right, having been trained…

Bang Bang Cauliflower Make a sauce by combining four tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter with a teaspoon each of honey, sesame oil, mirin, garlic and ginger. Add one tablespoon of soy sauce and mix everything together. Toss cauliflower florets in flour and a teaspoon of five-spice powder before frying in hot oil in a wok until golden. Sprinkle with chilli flakes before tipping into a bowl, together with some julienned cucumber, sliced spring onions, sesame seeds and coriander. Drizzle over the peanut sauce and serve. Cauliflower steaks Cut a thick steak slice from a whole cauliflower cutting across the core. (Save the florets that fall off for the recipe above.) Heat butter and oil in a large frying pan until foaming and fry the cauliflower. Allow it to caramelise on…

In a pickle BORGO SANTO PIETRO, 40 minutes south of Siena, Italy, is marking its 20th anniversary with two new suites, one with a private swimming pool, and a fermentation lab (www.borgosantopietro.com). The lab is the brainchild of Borgo’s resident chefs, who began pickling and preserving vegetables from the four-acre allotment to stop them going to waste in lockdown. It’s the latest in a series of impressive sustainably minded endeavours, including 200 acres of organic arable and livestock farmland, herb gardens, bee hives, an organic skin-care line developed by scientists inside the on-site laboratory and a farm-to-plate Michelin-starred restaurant. Phoebe Hunt Scott Dunn offers seven nights at Borgo Santo Pietro from £3,900 per person on a bed and breakfast basis, including return flights (020–8682 5080; www.scottdunn.com) Back to Nature A…

At Sotheby's, Nigel McKinley, my colleague from Apollo, nominated the item that he would most like for his own chimneypiece: a 5¾in-diameter, pale, celadon-white jade Qianlong plaque (below) carved with a reticulation of chilong -hornless, or baby, dragons-in dense lotus foliage. Before entering the Ezekiel Collection, it had belonged to Amber Blanco White, a feminist and political writer, who was mother to one of H.G. Wells's children. Here, the price, £37,800, was three times above the estimate. However, that discrepancy was as nothing compared with the result for a second jade disc (above) of very similar size and date, which was estimated to £20,000 and sold for £252,000. This was beautifully carved with a simpler design of three chilong and a phoenix with a larger dragon emerging through the central…

THE first Environment Act in almost 30 years received Royal Assent last week, with both the Government and conservationists hailing this as a historic moment that introduces stringent protection for wildlife and landscapes. Three years in the making, the Act requires Defra to set legally binding targets for Nature, water, air quality, resource efficiency and waste, sets out plans to improve soil health, expands protection for ancient woodland and creates a new watchdog for England and Northern Ireland, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP). Defra Secretary George Eustice said that it delivers ‘the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth’. Not everyone is as jubilant. Some conservationists would have wanted greater independence for the OEP and many believe the Act’s provisions to reduce sewage discharges in rivers is…

LAST week, the COP 26 presidency published the summit’s draft agreement on climate strategy. The document reiterates a global commitment to contain temperature rises to within 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels and calls for an acceleration in phasing out ‘unabated coal power’ and some fossil-fuel subsidies—the first time this is mentioned in an official climate document. It also highlights the need for ‘accelerated action’ to cut greenhouse-gas emissions in the next decade and urges developed countries to support developing ones in their mitigation and adaptation efforts. Environmental campaigners gave it a mixed reception: ‘There are some welcome signs within the draft texts,’ says Zoe Avison from Green Alliance. ‘It is the first time that fossil fuels have been explicitly mentioned, the role of Nature is recognised and there are calls for…

THE National Gallery has launched a research project that investigates its links with slave ownership, delving into the history of its collection to examine whether trustees, donors, sitters, painters or a work’s previous owners had connections with either slavery or the abolitionist movement. The study began in 2018 and uses data from University College London’s Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and The History of Parliament online. Thus far, it has covered the period from 1824 to 1880, with entries available to search on its website (www.nationalgallery.org.uk). ‘We acknowledge that our collection has a particular, historically rooted character and that we need to tell a broader story, so that is why we are one of many UK museums and historic…

MANY fathers and mothers who read with dismay the early literary efforts of the children in whom they are anxious to discern the dawning of genius, will read with encouragement and satisfaction the letters that Horace Walpole wrote about the age of eight. It is amusing to find this boy, who was to become one of the most brilliant letter writers in our language, no better than others in his age of innocence. To his Mamma he writes: ‘I am very glad to hear by Tom that all my cruatuars are al wall, and Mrs Selwen has sprand her Fot and gvis her Sarves to you and I dind ther yester Day.’ The wit in him began to dawn when he was at Eton, from which place he wrote: ‘I…

Its home is in the frozen heights of Scottish mountains covered with wind-scorched ling and, in winter, duvets of snow. The charismatic ptarmigan, a small grouse, is our only true montane bird. Relics of the last Ice Age, they took refuge in the Highlands and, being masters of camouflage, change their plumage with the seasons. Winter sees ptarmigan turn pure white, with feathered pantaloons reaching down and over their feet, insulating their legs and making snowshoes of their claws. In spring, the ermine robes are shed-at first, patchily, to resemble the melting snow trapped among moraine. Salt-and-pepper speckles in the feathers continue the deceit through the breeding season, suggesting the quartz and mica crystals of granite boulders, as the birds forage over wide-open moors. Dining on heather shoots and stunted…

WE heard last week the authentic voice of Britain. As the countries of the world were weighing their words in Glasgow—committing, pressing, demanding and often posturing—a simple direct statement by the former Prime Minister, Sir John Major, reminded us all of the standards that should characterise our public life. His challenge to the Government and, by implication, the whole political establishment, was to list examples of fundamental British values that have been betrayed over the past two years. Sadly, the media merely concentrated on detailing the allegations of sleaze. Characteristically, Sir John looked beyond that to the very nature of political decision making. What on earth was the Government thinking when it chose to whip its MPs to overturn the independent judgement of the adjudicator it had itself created? Long…

IN December 2013, Halswell House was placed in a bankruptcy sale. The house and its many handsome outbuildings were offered in some six lots, comprising 12 separate freeholds, reflecting some of the flats and tenancies created after the estate’s break-up in 1950. By good fortune, at that very moment, the entrepreneur and gallery owner Edward Strachan had grown weary of his valiant attempt to acquire another desperately endangered country house, Piercefield, Monmouthshire, from the Reuben Brothers. He arrived at Halswell House as the auctioneer began the sale in the traditional manner, first offering to sell the property as a single lot. Happily, there was only one other bid and he bought it in minutes. ‘Tree-ring dating provided a range of 1590–1600 for the earliest parts’ Within six months, Mr Strachan…

COME a little way into the Brook Field,’ entreated the eponymous heroine of Richard Jefferies’s Amaryllis at the Fair. Local boy Amadis did as she asked and ‘here they sat, happier and happier, and deeper and deeper in love every moment’. Had Amaryllis suggested he go with her to ‘Field TL2286’, some of the romance of the occasion would have been lost. Defra’s insistence on field and County Parish Holding (CPH) numeric notwithstanding, there is both charm and practicality in knowing a field location by its name rather than a number—even if field parcel numbers are the way to the heart of the Rural Payments Agency. Names suggest a story to be told and a slice of rural history to be devoured. Said to have been first documented in the…

THE last time Grade II-listed Lord’s Wood, near Marlow, Buckinghamshire, appeared on the open market was in 1973, when an article in COUNTRY LIFE (November 15, 1973) was curiously dismissive of the architectural merits of the handsome Lutyens-style house. It was built in 1899 for the artist Mary Sargant-Florence, a prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group, whose daughter, Alix, married James Strachey, youngest brother of one of the group’s founders, Lytton Strachey. The opening paragraph reads: ‘The house would hardly merit a second look as a piece of architecture; you can see dozens similar in the millionaires’ belt north of Regent’s Park, or in the plushier interstices between the South Coast resorts. But as the contents have been dispersed, and as the house will no doubt fade into managing-directorial anonymity,…

AMONGST the celebrated country seats in the west of England Westonbirt... takes rank with such places as Chatsworth and Trentham.’ So wrote William Goldring, assistant editor of The Garden in the issue of February 20, 1886, of the estate that, by then, had been owned by Robert Stayner Holford, one of the richest men in Britain, for nearly 50 years. In 3,500 words, Goldring sets out his reasoning, admiring the garden’s harmonious design with its many ‘vistas, glades and nooks’, marvelling at the lake, the rockery and the formal Italian garden and waxing lyrical over the 30-plus glasshouses filled with a profusion of orchids, azaleas, amaryllis and winter pelargoniums. But his greatest admiration was reserved for the trees—Holford’s passion and a collecting area into which he funnelled quite as much…

IT started, as so many things do, with a roasted grouse. Harold McGee, the genial, self-effacing author of culinary classic On Food and Cooking, had been in London to meet up with Heston Blumenthal. ‘It was a fascinating couple of weeks,’ he says from his home in San Francisco. But, despite varied adventures with the culinary avant-garde, the lunch that he remembered most was his first grouse at St John, that white-walled temple to carnivorous delight in East London. ‘I expected to enjoy it,’ he writes in his latest book, Nose Dive, a scintillating ‘Field Guide to the World’s Smells’. But he didn’t expect that first bite to leave him speechless. ‘I was completely absorbed, first by intense sensation—a meatiness that was almost too strong to be pleasant, and edged…

WITH the Platinum Jubilee fast approaching, The Royal Collection Trust has launched a commemorative fine bone-china collection and the event’s official souvenir book. The china range, which takes inspiration from the Robe of Estate that The Queen wore on Coronation Day in 1953, is handmade in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, using traditional techniques and includes a tea cup and saucer (£65), mug (£25), tankard (£40), side plate (£40) and pillbox (£45). Also available are handmade Christmas ornaments, including a fine bone-china bauble (£45). The keepsake book, titled The Queen: 70 Glorious Years (£19.95), celebrates her life and service through 77 images—a mix of official portraits and informal snapshots, including a particularly endearing one of a young Princess Elizabeth hugging her family’s first corgi, Dookie—all put into their historical context. Both are available…

NOVEMBER is a rewarding time for the dairy, but when I was a beef farmer, I used to dread it. We would watch as the pastures became poached, then, with heavy hearts, take the decision to bring the cows indoors for a winter of hard work and expense feeding and bedding them. We converted to dairy and invested in cow tracks and electric fencing more in hope than expectation that the new mob-grazing method would do what it promises: allow milk to be produced from grazing from February to December. Last week, we had 6in of rain, bridges burst and Dumfries was flooded. We brought the cows in and fed them silage, but, within a couple of days, they were out again. Fields that were under water would previously have…

POIGNANT black-and-white British Pathé footage shows RMS Queen Mary approaching the port of Southampton on her final voyage as a transatlantic passenger liner in 1967. Streamers fly as crowds line the quay, their cheers momentarily silenced by the deafening blast of the ship’s horn. She dwarfs the tugs escorting her in. This ‘triumph of British engineering’, as the commentator describes her, mightier than Titanic and fast with it, had made the journey to and from New York 1,001 times, but it was all over now. As the ovations died away, so, too, did the golden age of the ocean liners. Yet on her launch, in September 1934, tourist travel by sea had been at its height. The Cunard Line had been running ships between the UK and America since the…

IT’S a staggering fact that there are about half a million listed buildings —the precise number is impossible to tally and it changes anyway—on the National Heritage List for England. Notionally, this is a list of all buildings of special architectural or historic interest in this part of the UK. ‘Special’ is a high test—and is distinct from the curious. There are also degrees of listing, with the most important identified as Grade I or Grade II*. Conferring ‘listed’ status triggers the demand for an extra planning consent, so listing carries clear implications for owners. There is a political aspect to this act of heritage recognition as well: Historic England recommends listing and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport—almost always—agrees. Now and then, however, the minister does overturn…

• ‘Crockmede’ (crock or pottery meadow), at Brockworth, Gloucestershire, is likely to have Roman connections and indicates where pottery from that time was discovered • More generally, many field names record the fact that clay for pottery and bricks, as well as chalk, flint or stones for roads and buildings, were dug from there. Clay Pit and Gravel Field are obvious examples; Marl Field less so • Although some names go back centuries, others are far more modern. Combines Field near Duleek in Co Meath commemorates the first Combines4Charity world-record beating event held there in 2009 • On James Robinson's Cumbrian farm, Teapot Field celebrates the fact that his great-great-grandfather ‘was an expert root-grower [who] exhibited at many local shows and the roots from the field were good enough to…

WHEN COUNTRY LIFE celebrated its 110th birthday 15 years ago, it was decided that Sir Edwin Lutyens’s spider-back chairs that had served generations of editorial staff for well over a century deserved a nip and a tuck. On the eve of the magazine’s 125th anniversary, they remain in remarkably good condition, a testament both to Edwardian craftsmanship and their sensitive restoration. With the closure of the office, they will soon be auctioned. For Andrew Miller of James Barclay, the renowned specialist in Oriental, Persian and contemporary rug repairs, the secret to sensitive restoration lies in a breadth and depth of skills and experience. He has repairers highly skilled at re-weaving holes; others at building ends or sides. Some will understand how to restore colours sympathetically, others how to re-pile a…

Hampshire, £2 million Modern reimaginings at Old Barley Mow Farmhouse have been thoughtfully made, including the large balcony off the master bedroom, with its dressing room and en-suite bathroom, French doors and full-height triple windows, which overlook the garden and picturesque Basingstoke Canal. Located in the village of Winchfield, not far from Farnham, it has four bedrooms in all, plus a self-contained one-bedroom annexe and barn-style garage. The well-landscaped garden has canal frontage of about 190ft, with a private mooring. Hamptons (01252 216577) Northumberland, £1.6 million Originally part of the Stelling Hall estate, The Old Stables and single-storey Stable Cottage form a U-shape around a perfect cobbled courtyard, with the two properties linked by a striking tower with an archway. The main house has four bedrooms, the cottage…

Whole roasted and porcini-stuffed cauliflower with creamy orzo Serves 4 Ingredients 30g dried porcini mushrooms1 cauliflowerA splash of olive oil1 onion, roughly chopped1 clove garlic1tbspn fresh rosemary500g mushrooms, chopped(I used chestnut)100ml white wine175g mascarpone25g Parmesan, grated, plus extra below For the orzo 1 vegetable stock cube300g orzo50ml double cream50g grated Parmesan100g fresh breadcrumbsA splash of truffle oil Method Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Place the porcini mushrooms in a small bowl and pour over just enough boiling water to cover. Leave to steep. Prepare the cauliflower by removing the leaves and cutting out the core in an inverted cone that gives access to the intricate passageways amid the florets, but still keeping it whole. Steam for five minutes until it’s almost cooked. To prepare the orzo, bring a…

A TARTAN (or ‘plaid’) is a simple criss-cross coloured pattern, normally woven. Each tartan is defined by its sett—a sequence of coloured lines or ‘thread count’. Each sett is traditionally given a name, associating it with a clan, family, or other body. Araminta Campbell makes beautiful tartan designs, both as collections and bespoke (such as that used at The Fife Arms in Braemar). Every piece she makes is an ode to Scotland, handwoven in Edinburgh using traditional skills and expert craftsmanship; her aim is to preserve skills handed down through generations. Only top-quality materials are used, with the alpaca fleeces sourced locally —even the alpacas’ names are known.…

THE initial Asian Art in London feast of dealers’ exhibitions, in 1998, was accompanied by auctions at only the four main London houses (five, if one adds Christie’s South Kensington). Nowadays, auctioneers are almost as numerous as dealers, and the fringe has expanded far beyond the capital to include Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh, Adam’s in Dublin and Nagel in Stuttgart. November opened with two notable collections, one at Bonhams, the other Sotheby’s, which had much in common. Edward and Angela Parry began to buy Chinese works of art in 1919 after his return from the First World War. He was a barrister and she had inherited a fortune from her father, William Scully, an Irish land developer, who had acquired about 225,000 acres of prime agricultural land across the…

Late Constable Anne Lyles and Matthew Hargraves (Royal Academy of Arts, £21.95) THE term late period suggests a time in a mature artist’s career when, with their reputation established, they are finally freed to distil their artistic genius to its essence. With painters, this generally means they stop fussing over detail: their brushwork becomes bolder and messier as they cut to the chase. How late is late? The curators of Tate Britain’s 2014 ‘Late Turner’ exhibition reckoned that the artist entered his late period aged 60, but the authors of the catalogue of the Royal Academy’s current ‘Late Constable’ exhibition date the start of the painter’s late flowering to 1825, the year he painted his last River Stour ‘six-footer’, The Leaping Horse, aged 49. Unlike Turner, who lived into old…