Innholdsfortegnelse for 3-May-2023 i Country Life

MY LONDON LOVE AFFAIR My first visit to London was on January 30, 1965. I was not yet a year old, but my parents took me to the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill. I was there. My next occasion to visit was at the age of six, when I approached Buckingham Palace and took care with my feet not to stand on the lines of the squares (I still do, thanks to A. A. Milne). London, as our capital city, has everything and is everything. It, alone, is the reason most people visit our England from abroad. It is a multicultural curdle of the entire world, with more than one-third foreign-born—more than 270 different nationalities call it home. You can eat almost every culinary dish ever served within its…

For all the latest news, visit countrylife.co.uk As the junior fashion editor at British Vogue back in 1969, Grace Coddington might have expected to get up close with fashion royalty, but it was with actual royalty that she made her first impression. Tasked with assisting Norman Parkinson when he was to photograph Prince Charles for his investiture as Prince of Wales (Frontispiece, April 26, right), she was told to bring some make-up in case the young royal came in ‘flushed from the polo field’. As Miss Coddington began powdering the soon-to-be Prince of Wales, he said, in an effort to put her at ease, ‘I bet you do this all the time’, to which Miss Coddington admitted it was her first job. Parkinson took a polaroid image of Miss…

FROM Scarborough to Cornwall and Southwold to Torbay, the hotspots for holiday lets are increasingly no-go areas for affordable housing. The staff upon whom the tourist industry relies are increasingly priced out of the areas where they work and local people see no hope for their children to buy where they were brought up. It’s a concentrated version of what has been going on in much of the countryside for many years, as cottages are snapped up to become second homes at prices no one on rural wages can hope to afford. That pressure is exacerbated in popular rural holiday areas, which attract people to convert homes into holiday lets. As a result, in Broadland in Norfolk, north Norfolk, Cornwall and north Lincolnshire, more than 10% of the properties are…

CHARLES III’s coronation marks a break with tradition. For the first time, few dukes and duchesses will have a role. Historically, however, wherever there was a sword to carry, an orb to bear or a sceptre to hold, the highest-ranking peers in the realm were at hand to do the job; many are now celebrating this heritage by holding special coronation exhibitions. Between 1702 and 1953, the Dukes of Richmond bore the 3ft-long Sceptre with the Dove —a gold rod representing the sovereign’s spiritual role—at seven coronations (out of a possible 12). Each of them carried the same sceptre—supplied in 1661 by royal goldsmith Roger Viner—in a rare feat of continuity. The family’s historic role is the focus of this year’s exhibition at Goodwood, the Richmonds’ West Sussex seat. It…

Sit comfortably The Mayfair 230cm (90in) oval dining table has an easy-to-clean safety-glass top and comes with eight dining armchairs, £3,799, as a versatile outdoor entertaining solution, from Bridgman (020–8804 7474; www.bridgman.co.uk) Relaxing in style Inspired by 19th-century design, the Charlton chair, £3,360, is made from sustainably sourced teak and designed for outdoor use, from Jamb (020–7730 2122; www.jamb.co.uk) Two’s company Designed for relaxing à deux, the Double chaise longue from The Heveningham Collection is shown here finished in black, with a Sunbrella Antique Beige cushion, £5,635 (01424 838483; www.heveningham.co.uk) Top pot Designed by architect Robert A. M. Stern, the Olympian urn, £699, is made from cast stone by Haddonstone (01604 770711; www.haddon stone.com) Sitting pretty The Amelfi outdoor floor cushion, £135, is both UV and mould resistant, as well…

Where? Gleneagles Townhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland Who? Well-healed travellers and architecture aficionados will fit in well. Why? The mercantile confidence of Edinburgh’s New Town reached its climax in the 1840s with the swagger of this magnificent former bank on St Andrew Square. But how do you convert what resembles a fragment of imperial Rome into a contemporary townhouse hotel—especially one that has to follow in the footsteps of a fêted sibling? 'How do you convert what resembles a fragment of imperial Rome into a contemporary townhouse hotel?' Gleneagles Townhouse has risen impressively to the challenge. The domed banking hall, with its gilded plasterwork and soaring granite columns, is now The Spence, a palatial brasserie conceived by London restaurateurs Zoe and Layo Paskin. After dinner, hotel guests can repair to Lamplighters…

AS well as becoming sovereign of numerous realms, Head of the Commonwealth and Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Charles III has inherited more duties than he or anyone else could easily call to mind. One likely to give him great satisfaction is the oversight of the Royal Collection. His enthusiasm for art and history is evident and his rescue of Dumfries House, turning it into an important cultural asset, bodes well for his management of the collection. His late mother may not have shared these interests to the same degree, but here, as in so much else, she was an admirable exemplar. The Royal Collection is unlike any other assemblage of art. Although not a museum, and subject to different constraints, in terms of size, scope and quality…

The Buildings of England. Yorkshire: the North Riding Jane Grenville and Nikolaus Pevsner (Yale, £45) WHEN Yorkshire was first surveyed by Nikolaus Pevsner in the ‘Buildings of England’ series, its vast extent was divided into three volumes covering the ancient administrative units of the West, North and East Ridings. These architectural surveys were published respectively in 1959, 1966 and 1972, but, on April Fool’s Day 1974, two years after the last appeared, the Ridings—a name derived from the Old Norse thrithi meaning one-third—were abolished. Memory of them, however, remains strong in Yorkshire and the three revised volumes, of which this is the last to appear, have observed these original divisions. 'Ampleforth Abbey is more accurately assessed as “one of the greater glories of the North Riding”' The area…

THIS week, for the first time in years, I am home alone. No beloved Rose. No beloved children. No beloved children’s friends sleeping on sofas and floors. ‘Happy the man,’ wrote Alexander Pope when he was only 12, ‘whose wish and care/A few paternal acres bound, /Content to breathe his native air,/In his own ground.’ Whatever. I am in more sympathy with what Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote when he was 25: ‘Well, they are gone, and here I must remain,/ This lime-tree bower my prison!’ The empty house reminds me of a time when I struggled with loneliness. Loneliness is one of those experiences, like depression, the memory of which continues to haunt long after it has been banished. It is not to be confused, of course, with solitude. Lonely…

Quiz of the week 1) Entomophobia is the fear of which animals? 2) Dorothea Brooke is the heroine of which novel? 3) What does a vexillologist study? 4) The chough is a member of which bird family? 5) Since 1066, which royal dynasty has ruled the longest over England? Word of the week Corallidomous (adjective) Inhabiting coral reefs Cabinet of curiosities by David Profumo ALTHOUGH she is some 50 years old and has not enjoyed an easy life, Miss Abu is now gatekeeper to my library and a spectacular Muse (she is very soft-spoken, but I believe her name is Agneta). Strikingly handsome and piscatorially successful—that’s a nice pike she’s hefting—she smiles perpetually and her attire suggests a habitat of eternal Scandinavian summer. She was a poster girl for…

LATE last month, a Regency bridge linking Scotland and England over the River Tweed, a few miles outside Berwick, re-opened after 2½ years of closure for a £10.5 million restoration. The Union Chain Bridge is little-known relative to its importance in the history of suspension-bridge construction. By modern standards, the dimensions of the structure may seem modest—it’s 437ft long, supported at one end by a 60ft-high pylon of masonry and with an 18ft carriageway—but this is an ancestor of such prodigies as the 6,450ft Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco in the US of 1937 and the Akashi Kyokō Bridge in Japan of 1998, which is nearly 2½ miles long. The Union Chain Bridge was the creation of a royal naval officer, Capt Samuel Brown. After a distinguished career at…

I NEVER danced with a man who danced with a woman who danced with the Prince of Wales, but I have defended him through the years with a stubborn loyalty that resides in the world of black and white. Or, more accurately, exists in the archives of COUNTRY LIFE. For instance, on June 26, 1997, I took issue in these pages with the vicar of St Mary the Virgin in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, who complained that the then Prince of Wales did not attend church regularly enough. He accused the Prince of ‘not appearing at an act of worship since February’. I welcomed the column inches to express my belief that one’s spiritual life cannot be measured by church attendance. My theme was simple: the Prince’s spiritual life is a private…

Saturday, May 6 10.20am The King’s Procession. The King and Queen will leave Buckingham Palace via the Central Gate, riding in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach 11am The Coronation Service will begin promptly at Westminster Abbey Gun salutes will ring out across the country at the moment of crowning 1pm The Coronation Procession. The King and Queen will return to Buckingham Palace in the Gold State Coach, escorted by some 4,000 members of the Armed Forces 1.45pm The King and Queen will receive the Royal Salute 2.15pm Members of the Royal Family will gather on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the Coronation Flypast There will be big screens set up in Hyde Park, Green Park and St James’s Park Sunday, May 7 Communities are invited to enjoy Coronation Big…

WE gardeners are used to taking every measure available to us when sowing seeds. We study the back of seed packets, listen to the weather forecast, check a phone app, stare at the sky; tea leaves may even be read in the search for optimal sowing. Although we dedicate ourselves to the start of our plants’ lives, we are not always so mindful about their end when we make our plans. I’m not the only person to have sown at the right time and then found himself wheeling a barrowful of runner beans to the house, the feeling of triumph mixed with that sinking sensation when I contemplate the amount of chutney that I (and everyone I know) will be eating over the coming year. Of course, there are times—such…

A prize of £25 in book tokens will be awarded for the first correct solution opened. Solutions must reach Crossword No 4778, Country Life, 121–141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London, W2 6JR, by Tuesday, May 9. UK entrants only ACROSS1 Faint-hearted type finds something fishy about conflict (6)4 South-eastern woman, one married in Spain? (6)10 Disobliging, not providing lodgings, perhaps? (15)11 He composed some gentle harmonies (5)12 Calm even now beside loch (9)13 Fall initially over daughter’s camera stand (6)15 Female animal bearing label in old age (6)16 Hearty girl with small medicine bottle (6)18 Lives in comfort in outskirts of Dumfries (6)21 Warning given by judiciary in yard, perhaps (9)22 Class thrown by start of exam (5)23 One imagines he’s likely to succeed (4,11)24 Find fault, throwing goods in river?…

AFTER the 2012 Olympic Games in London, a letter to a newspaper ran: ‘Everyone is in a good mood. Please can we have the Olympics all the time?’ It is true that this country is at its polite best on the great occasions, whether happy or sad, which we do with grace and style. We know when to be respectfully silent and when to sing or cheer. Gloomy economics, strikes and bitter politics are temporarily forgotten, public-transport staff and the police tend to be at their helpful best and would-be disrupters surely know they would strike a sour note and harm their cause (here’s hoping, anyway). Normal British reserve crumbles: there is camaraderie and a common topic of conversation, people smile and make friends in a pervading atmosphere of good…

Letter of the week Lady of the pew JONATHAN NOTLEY (Letters, April 12) reminded me of a memorable church service in the 1950s. We were on a family holiday in Scotland, with a few days in Braemar. My father imagined he could get us into Crathie Kirk to attend a service with the Royal Household. We duly turned up at Crathie in good time for the service. The usual low-profile security people were present, but my father espied a little old lady walking towards the door dressed in black, with a hat that reminded me of Grandma in a Giles cartoon. Introducing himself to ‘Grannie’, my father suggested we might join her for the service. She took kindly to the idea and we slid into her pew with…

George III and Queen Charlotte Fame and Victory hover behind George III and Queen Charlotte at their coronation in 1761, as Hope, Plenty and Liberty (with a copy of Magna Carta) sit at their feet. The inscription SPQB identifies the huge congregation seated in steeply raked balconies within the imagined Gothic interior of Westminster Abbey as the senate and people of Britain. The precise location of the seat granted by this ticket is given at the top. As well as conveying a political message, such complex imagery served to prevent forgery. Each ticket is signed, sealed in the top left-hand corner and individually numbered by hand to confirm its authenticity. George V and Queen Mary A winged Victory proffering an orb and sceptre is the striking centrepiece of the Earl…

AS well as the nation coming together and the strengthening of the mystical bond between sovereign and subjects, I am hoping the coronation might lead to the rehabilitation of the celebratory cigar. Although I do not drink, I fully support the loyal toast and, therefore, consider that I am only doing my patriotic duty in suggesting a ‘loyal corona’ or two on the day. I imagine there will be a fair amount of Champagne quaffed by His Majesty’s subjects and I like to think of a celebratory cigar in much the way that Lily Bollinger, who clearly found waking up in the morning cause for celebration, viewed the famous sparkling wines of Épernay and Reims. ‘I drink Champagne when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when…

Watercress, wasabi and panko-crusted salmon Method ▸ Preheat your oven to 180˚C/350˚F/gas mark 4. ▸ Pat the salmon dry with kitchen paper and season with salt and pepper. ▸ In a processor, blitz the mayonnaise, garlic, watercress, wasabi and seasoning until smooth. Spoon onto the fish and spread it over in an even layer. ▸ Prepare the panko breadcrumbs by mixing them together with the melted butter, parsley and Parmesan, then scatter them over the salmon. Bake for 22–28 minutes, until the fish is just cooked and the breadcrumbs are golden. ▸ Serve the salmon with steamed greens. 'Young, tender watercress makes a refreshing, yet peppery addition to dishes' Ingredients Serves 4 500g salmon fillet150ml mayonnaise1 clove garlic40g watercress2tspn wasabi (optional)50g panko breadcrumbs30g butter, melted25g fresh parsley, chopped25g Parmesan,…

THIS week, we travel to the excellent East Midlands Bridge Academy in Spondon, Derby, for the English Premier League. On our first deal, Three Notrumps was the contract at seven of the eight tables. It made four times and went down thrice. I really liked the line of play of Andrew McIntosh of Inverness. West led his singleton Heart, declarer played dummy’s Queen (to conserve entries to his hand—and his Clubs), East covered with the King, and Mr McIntosh ducked. A low Diamond switch would have defeated the game, but this wasn’t so easy to find and, in practice, East continued with a second (low) Heart, declarer finessing the ten. Already, West was in difficulties as either black suit discard would be disastrous. West guessed correctly to let go a…