Innholdsfortegnelse for September 4, 2024 i Country Life

Future Publishing Ltd, 121–141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London W2 6JR 0330 390 6591; www.countrylife.co.uk AS the English language evolves, it becomes evermore misused. Here, COUNTRY LIFE identifies 10 words that have lost their true meaning Authentic As in: ‘an authentic country pub’ A truly authentic country pub would have fruit machines, plenty of Artex and a choice of pork scratchings or Monster Munch. In the modern sense of the word, no opportunities for cliché will have been overlooked: there will be scruffy furniture, gap-year waiters and a choice of ox cheek or fried quail with aioli. Craft As in: ‘our delicious range of craft beers’ An overused word that commonly appears alongside ‘artisan’ or ‘artisanal’. Generally describes a product made with slightly more human effort than the mass-market equivalent. Promotional…

Royal visit IN 1978, the offices of COUNTRY LIFE were honoured to have an official visit from the late Queen and Duke of Edinburgh (Letters, August 14). I was on the editorial staff then and have fond memories of standing in a line to shake the royal hands. We were dismayed to discover that the Queen thought COUNTRY LIFE was fortnightly and she was much keener to meet the staff of Horse & Hound (two floors below us). It might be that, having discovered what a charming lot we were, she started reading the magazine every week. I hope so. David Tomlinson, Suffolk Not so cooling AS an anniversary treat, my husband and I had lunch at The Ritz (‘Waiter! My soup is cold!’, August 14). It was an extremely…

Villa Golescu, Argeș County, RomaniaA property of Pro Patrimonio Foundation ON a hillside above the Romanian city of Câmpulung Muscel, Argeș County, is a handsome early-20th-century villa known as the Villa Golescu. Before it lies the city—Wallachia’s first feudal capital—and above is woodland largely planted by Vasile Golescu, the man responsible for the building of the villa in 1909. Its architecture speaks of the dawning sense of Romanian nationhood that emerged in the later 19th century and enjoyed a rich expression in art, architecture and literature in the first half of the 20th century. The United Romanian Principalities was established in 1862, with the election of Karl von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as prince of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1866; then, with Romania’s independence assured after the defeat of the Ottoman empire in…

A BRONZE otter sits on a wall in Bideford, Devon, holding a fish under its webbed paw. Behind it, the River Torridge flows quietly beneath a long medieval bridge. More than 400 miles to the north, another sculpted otter stands proud and alert, looking down over the Galloway coast. The books that inspired these monuments, Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson and Gavin Maxwell’s Ring of Bright Water, respectively, made otter-lovers of several generations. The two very different works, one written in 1927 and the other in 1960—both still in print—together with their spin-off films, imprinted otters onto our collective consciousness. They also undoubtedly motivated some of the passionate conservationists who helped the animals recover from perilously low numbers in the late 20th century to their current, much healthier population.…

Hertfordshire, £1.25 million It may sound like a grumpy dwarf from a fairy tale, but Gubblecote Cross (and the hamlet for which it is named) is actually a corruption of the Old English Cubbeling Cote, meaning Cubbel’s Cottages. Two miles from Tring on the edge of the Chilterns, the house is Grade II listed and 17th century, with five bedrooms, and within its superb cottage garden there are hidden seating areas, an arbour, winding pathways and a stream with a little footbridge. Nash Partnership (01442 820420) Surrey, £1.6 million One can only imagine it was the inky depths of Ravenswing’s 52ft-deep well, now a feature of the sitting room under reinforced glass, that inspired the Victorian red-brick house’s name. Over three floors, with high ceilings, archways and views all the…

LE PATRON mange ici. Four words that encapsulate the very essence of any decent restaurant and proof, if proof be needed, of the eternal importance of the ever-present restaurateur. Because in a world where corporately faceless groups become ever more dominant, a handshake, kiss or quiet word from a much-loved proprietor is still an essential part of any decent lunch. Not only the face of their restaurants, but the heart of them, too. Growing up, restaurateurs were the very centre of their world. The ebullient Domenico ‘Mimmo’ Mattera at Mimmo D’Ischia in Pimlico, his shirt unbuttoned to the navel, a gold medallion glinting atop a thick thatch of chest hair. Or the late, great Mark Birley at Mark’s Club or Harry’s Bar, eternally elegant, and meticulous in every way. Mara…

ALMOST 30 years ago, a chap called Ian Bleasdale wrote a guide detailing all the walks on the Greek Island of Paxos. He and his wife, Elizabeth, had fallen for the island’s rugged charms and, after many visits tramping its networks of old paths, decided to share their knowledge with like-minded souls. So popular did this prove that they went on to produce multiple editions, publishing the last—and 12th—edition, in 2011 before hanging up their walking boots and closing the lid of the laptop. By this stage, the guide had morphed into a more substantial publication than its first incarnation, evolving from a map with annotations in the margin to a book containing photographs, a brief history of the island, walking notes of immensely intricate detail and a handy, pull-out,…

IN my journalistic youth, it was standard practice to keep cuttings books as an easily referenced record of one’s triumphs and embarrassments. As I was already in the habit of making personal scrapbooks and have retained them, most of my life is covered until, rather reluctantly, I began to rely on computer records instead. It is often easier to find something quickly in the cuttings books, which is why from time to time I use them to compare today’s objects and prices with those in my earliest COUNTRY LIFE columns, then headed ‘Around the Salerooms’. Recently, I was reading an article on the Mutualart website (www.mutualart.com) about an American artist, Thomas Kuntz, who was born in 1965. He makes automata—often representing the inhabitants of the ‘Uncanny Valley’, as he calls…

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Full speed ahead A VESPA used on The Who’s 1996 Quadrophenia Tour will be sold on behalf of Teenage Cancer Trust via Sotheby’s, among other artefacts and clothing from the likes of Amy Winehouse and Marianne Faithfull. ‘In every show, it appeared onstage ridden by Billy Idol, a genuine Ace Face riding a genuine 1964 Vespa GS scooter,’ explains lead singer Roger Daltrey. ‘Back in the early days, this was the scooter every Mod would have wanted, but only an Ace Face could afford. It has been lovingly restored for Teenage Cancer Trust with genuine 1960s parts and runs as well today as when it left the factory in Italy in the 1960s. We took it out on tour with The Who again last year and raised nearly £20,000 for…

LAST week, Agromenes took time to explore a part of the country of which he knew little. It was the Brecklands in south Norfolk, between the River Waveney and the Wissey, in the magnificent setting of the Thetford Forest. The genesis of the trip was to discover more about a lost Victorian patron, the beautiful adventuress Yolande Duvernay, a French ballerina who married ‘England’s Richest Commoner’, Stephens Lyne-Stephens. He had inherited a Portuguese glass fortune and invented the mechanism that enables dolls to open and close their eyes. With an income equivalent to £3 million a year today, he had bought and enhanced Lynford Hall, where his wife continued to live for 34 years after his death in 1860. There, she gathered pictures and furniture and created a collection that…

ALTHOUGH the interior of Burghley House has been transformed and filled with treasure over the centuries, its enchanting exterior looks much as it did when William Cecil, indisputably the most powerful public servant of the Elizabethan era, built it between 1555 and 1587. Cecil was undoubtedly politically astute, ruthlessly so—the character of Polonius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet is perhaps based on him—and Elizabeth I trusted him implicitly, rewarding him with lands and a title, 1st Baron Burghley, although he inherited the manor of Little Burghley, at Stamford, Lincolnshire, from his father. Burghley House, with its flamboyant turrets and local, sunny Barnack stone, reflects a period of national optimism, creativity and a certain amount of competition among rich men. Cecil (1520–98), the Lord High Treasurer, was intent on creating an opulent second…

FINN KOEFOED-NIELSEN has a history with trees. He grew up in the New Forest in a family cottage made entirely of wood. After some years in London spent maintaining and repairing, among other things, the Palace of West-minster and some very expensive houses, he set about creating his dream career working with wood. What’s more, he was inspired to embark on this new branch of carpentry after reading an issue of COUNTRY LIFE. ‘I’d been looking for ages for something to do with wood that I would enjoy and that might stand a chance of paying the bills,’ he admits over a mug of tea in the kitchen of his stableyard home in sleepy Chilton, Buckinghamshire. ‘And then I saw the article in COUNTRY LIFE about Jim Steele, the national…

Pick of the crop Bathroom wall lights Pick of the crop Bathroom vanities…

A YELLOW school bus, heading west on Pont Street in Chelsea, fills the shop window of Anya Hindmarch’s new pop-up at the intersection of Cadogan Lane. The corner venue is a constantly changing space that sits within Hindmarch’s ‘Village’ of five other permanent businesses along the same stretch of road, including a retro-looking café and a boutique specialising in organisational accessories and labelling. In the past, the concept shop has transformed into, among other things, a greengrocer, a hairdresser and a blazing holiday grotto, complete with Father Christmas at ease in an armchair. Now until October 13, it’s a back-to-school stationery shop devoted to the Peanuts comic strip. The passengers in profile aboard the Pont Street bus are all Woodstocks, the iconic yellow bird and Snoopy confidante. ‘I remember when…

Roasted fig, honey and walnut cake with a Cognac glaze Ingredients 125g unsalted butter, softened150g caster sugar2 eggs100ml buttermilk100ml honey1tspn vanilla-bean paste200g self-raising flourA pinch of salt150g fresh figs, chopped100g walnuts, chopped For the glaze 100g icing sugar2tbspn honey2tbspn CognacA splash of water Method ▸ Preheat your oven to 180˚C/160˚C fan/350˚F/gas mark 4 and grease and line a 20cm (8in) loose-bottomed cake tin. ▸ Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy with electric beaters, for about 3–4 minutes, then add the eggs, buttermilk, honey and vanilla. Beat until fully combined and then fold through the flour and salt. Add the chopped figs and walnuts, mixing them through so they’re evenly distributed, and then pour into the prepared tin. ▸ Bake for 45–50 minutesor until a skewer comes…

IT is peak frangipani season in Darwin, the huge waxy blooms gleaming white in the dusk, a scent of almonds in the warm air. We are strolling back to our ship through this modern city, capital of the Northern Territory at the top end of Australia, after a day of top moments. That morning, we were privileged to catch an exhibition of powerful and moving work by Aboriginal and islander artists. These were the winners of this year’s national art awards, each piece redolent of the stories, totems and dreamscapes of the artist’s own country. And this evening, at a tiny, tucked-away Sri Lankan restaurant called Ella by Minoli, I tasted one of the most sublime dishes in a dedicated epicurean life: cured snapper in a painterly pool of coconut…

DESPITE, or perhaps because of, the threat of Napoleonic invasion, French fashions were in high demand in Regency England at the turn of the 19th century. Fantastical as the scenes, gowns and hairdos in Netflix’s bodice-ripping Bridgerton may be, the series does accurately represent the ton’s obsession with new dresses, secured by visits to the modiste. This period in fashion, from about 1795, extended into the Regency of 1811–21, when Prince George deputised for his father, and was enthusiastically encouraged by the extravagant and corpulent royal. Crowned King in 1821, he famously invented his own tartan outfit for his first state visit to Edinburgh in 1822, where he was described by a contemporary as resembling a trussed-up sausage. The luxury-loving Prince led the fashion pack known as ‘macaronis’—in stark contrast…

AS you harvest your crops, check the onion skins for an indication that the coming winter will be particularly harsh: ‘Onion skin thin, a mild winter coming in,/Onion skin thick and tough, coming winter cold and rough.’ Some believe this folklore could be attributed to the La Niña years. This atmospheric and oceanic phenomenon, the cold counterpart to warm El Niño, is characterised by a dry summer or even a summer drought—which would lead to thickened onion skins—followed by a cold winter. Michaelmas Day on September 29 is traditionally the end of the harvest season and sets the tone for the weather of the following period: ‘As the wind is on St Michael’s Day so it will be for three months.’ Clear weather on Michaelmas Day is also a sign…

IF people were asked to name the most important plants in the British countryside, my guess is many would choose something special, such as the ultra-rare lady’s slipper orchid. Or perhaps bluebells for those hazy pools of azure that float through many woods in spring, hardly occurring elsewhere in Europe. Others might opt for a more enduring expression of the national landscape, such as an oak wood. If so, then note that you will have to queue up with the Germans, French, Estonians and Bulgarians, to name a few, who also have oak as a totem tree. The likelihood is that most won’t opt for my candidate: moss or, rather, mosses, so this is a good place to explore the extraordinary contribution they make to our world and to these…

LEADING the field in this year’s early-autumn market is handsome, Grade II-listed Thorney Hall, an impeccably refurbished country house set in 60 acres of woodland, water meadows, pasture, lake and ponds at Spennithorne in lower Wensleydale, two miles south of Leyburn and four miles east of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For sale through the Harrogate office of Strutt & Parker (01423 205442) at a guide price of £5 million, the hall stands on high ground with glorious southerly views over its own land and the River Ure to Richard III’s Middleham Castle and behind it the hills of Coverdale. This is said to have been a favourite view of Lord Bolton, the prominent Yorkshire landowner who built Thorney Hall in 1860 as a home for his daughter, who had…

The garden of Patthana, Co Wicklow, Ireland The home of T. J. Maher and Simon Kirby FOR more than 20 years, Patthana in west Wicklow has been one of the most exquisite small gardens in Ireland. The 19th-century granite cottage with its quarter-acre in the village of Kiltegan is the home of artist T. J. Maher and his husband, Simon Kirby. Mr Maher has brought his painter’s eye to the matters of colour, texture and composition to create a pair of perfect courtyard gardens full of luxuriant foliage and rich tones with—up a few steps—a miniature country garden of a lush lawn and pint-sized, harmonious borders. In 2020, the couple was able to buy from a farmer the adjoining field, a slightly sloping, three-quarter-acre rectangle with no features, no shelter…

BRITONS have such a reputation for behaving badly abroad that scientific studies on the phenomenon have previously been ordered. And the bad behaviour isn’t anything new. Rumour has it that, in the mid 19th century, the residents of St Moritz in the Engadine Valley were so irked by merry English visitors hurling themselves down steeper parts of the village on crude sleds that they built them the Cresta Run. It is now the world’s most famous toboggan track and the birthplace of modern-day skeleton racing, a single-rider sliding sport that sees competitors lie face down on a sled that looks like little more than a kitchen tray. It’s not necessarily my weapon of choice against the icy serpentine chute that drops 515ft and sees riders grapple with 4G forces. COUNTRY…

A DISGRACE, a scandal, an indelible stain on the family name. When Giuseppe de Nittis (1846–84), scion of a prominent dynasty from Barletta, southern Italy, declared that he wished to pursue art as a career, his eldest brother and guardian, Vincenzo, flew into a rage. ‘In Naples and even more in the provinces, artists were la bohéme,’ recalled Giuseppe in his memoirs, published posthumously in 1895. ‘If I had said that I wanted to become a mason… Vincenzino’s indignation would not have been greater.’ But a wilful streak ran in de Nittis’s blood and the young Giuseppe defied his elder brother to join the fine-art academy in Naples—only to be expelled in June 1863, at the age of 17, for holding his own against a teacher who had denigrated him.…

Close Encounters of the Fungal Kind Richard Fortey (Harper Collins, £25) IT feels strange to read a book that follows one’s own interests and experiences as closely as Richard Fortey’s joyous book does mine. Both of us have searched out fungi in Borgo Val di Taro, Italy, found the second instance of a rare UK fungus (OK, mine was the third), incubated fungi in jars of rabbit droppings in our spare bedrooms, wondered why fungi are often brightly coloured when there is no conceivable reason for them to be anything other than beige and why some fungi are common, yet most are very rare. I could go on—in fact, I will: we are equally doubtful about the more outré and evidently ill-supported claims around ‘wood-wide webs’. I adored this book,…

I SUPPOSE we’ve all thought about what we’d do if we only had one day left to live. Some of us might drink the very best wine; others might feel compelled to tell the postman about their feelings for him. I wasn’t facing quite such a cataclysmic conundrum, but things have changed. After a long period of only writing, I now find myself back in full-time, office-based employment. One minute you’re in your pyjamas at 10:30am, chasing a squirrel down your street with a broom, the next you’re in a meeting, talking about company values. I’ve made the leap from magazines to book publishing. ‘It’s just words on a page,’ I told the interviewer, ‘ink and paper, albeit slightly longer word counts.’ Against the odds, I got the gig. I…