Innholdsfortegnelse for October 23, 2024 i Country Life

Future Publishing Ltd, 121–141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London W2 6JR 0330 390 6591; www.countrylife.co.uk IN Britain, and especially in Wales, there is a saint on which to call for pretty much everything in life. This week, the shoemaking town of Northampton will be celebrating St Crispin’s Day (October 25): the saint, who was himself a cobbler, is patron saint of leatherworkers and of the county of Northamptonshire. You can read all about him on page 58 (‘Upon St Crispin’s Day’). The most high-profile international example of canonisation this century, apart from former popes, is probably Mother Teresa, who was beatified in 2003, but the practice has rather gone out of fashion in Britain. In 1970, Pope Paul VI canonised 40 English and Welsh martyrs of the 16th and 17th centuries—one,…

Ageing well YOUR coverline ‘Making your old house feel like a new one’ and the feature by Giles Kime (‘Mixing old and new’, October 9) are, in my opinion, the wrong way around. It is infinitely preferable to make a new house feel like an old one. Oliver Blount, Cornwall Plump it up MY husband, on picking up your Interiors issue (October 9), remarked that the definition of good taste is when any cover of COUNTRY LIFE fits in perfectly with our decor. I might add that, among certain friends, said husband is known as Mr C; the ‘C’ stands for cushions. Wives of other cushion addicts have my sympathy. Jane Moth, Staffordshire Lost in transcription THE William Adolphus Knell painting Grace and William Darling (right) (‘Bravery beyond belief’, September…

IF oak is the hail-fellow king of the English wood, beech is the ice queen. Oak is one trope for England, hearty, rustic and guileless; the smooth-boled beech is the alternative Albion, the shadow-self, secret, minimalist, spiritual. The Gothic architects of our great houses of prayer took inspiration from the beechwood; the way the immense grey pillars of the trees support the roof of Heaven, the sense of sacred gloom cast by the dense foliage. ‘A beech “hangar” has set many a poet into a fluttery exaltation’ The arrival of the beech here is contentious. Sometimes, it is claimed as a Roman import, but beech pollen has been found in Hampshire dating from 6000BC, some 500 years before the Channel departed us from mainland Europe. The beech was here when…

Out of the wilderness OFFERS over £1 million are sought for 5¾ acres off Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, with planning permission to extend a one-bedroom summerhouse into a three-bedroom home. Once part of the Grey Walls estate, the grounds were designed in 1926 by Thomas H. Mawson, founder of the Institute of Landscape Architecture, whose clients included Lord Leverhulme, the Maharajah of India, Queen Alexandra of Denmark and the King of Greece. The natural limestone supports rare trees and shrubs, with terraces offering glimpses of the sea, an orchard and woodland glades, within the Silverdale National Landscape. Thought to be the last garden Mawson designed, it was probably intended for his own family. As few as 10 years ago, it was overgrown, but rescuers have restored ‘the gardens, now a truly…

THIS year at the Venice Biennale, the artist representing Saudi Arabia, Manal Al Dowayan, was asked by a journalist if she could show her art back home. ‘I explained it was commissioned by the Saudi Ministry of Culture. Of course I can show it!’ was the response. Her exasperation is not uncommon among Saudi artists. Over the past 20 years, the accelerated social change in the Arab kingdom has been so rapid that it is perhaps understandable that Western journalists are struggling to keep up. Forty years ago, it would have been unusual to see any art in the Gulf country. Culture was strictly censored, limited to a few Modernist sculptures along a sand-blown corniche in the city of Jeddah and exhibitions endorsed by the religious ‘morality’ police. Many artists…

The garden at Hergest Croft, HerefordshireThe home of Edward Banks SOME gardens are so large and full of interest that it is difficult to decide where to wander and what to look for. The Banks family garden, Hergest Croft near Kington in Herefordshire, is one such—Kew and Wisley are others; the only other privately owned garden in Britain to have more Champion Trees is Tregrehan in balmy Cornwall. Lawrence Banks often observed that Hergest Croft is neither an arboretum nor a botanical garden, but a collection of trees and shrubs that have interested the family over the centuries. Every generation has had its enthusiasms and opportunities, and these contribute much to the character of today’s garden. Although it has been growing for about 150 years and famous for at least…

Celebrating 30 for 30 IT’S the 30th anniversary of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and, to mark the occasion, £30 million has been allocated to 15 new projects across the UK. The capital’s 200-acre Crystal Palace Park, a 170-year-old former pleasure ground, will receive the largest sum of £4.7 million for restoration and the creation of a new visitor centre and playground; on the lower Thames, 1920s Tilbury Riverside station, the port that welcomed the Windrush generation in 1948, will receive £4.48 million to transform it into artist-studio lets, a café and event space, with direct access to the river. Up in North Yorkshire, £2.57 million will give Ripon Museums a boost and, in Wales, £1.06 million should enable Community Benefit Society Menter y Plu to buy and reopen Tafarn…

SO often, news from the countryside is a story of loss: of biodiversity, of storm damage or of farmers’ income. This year is no exception; it is already clear that the harvest was the second worst we’ve ever had in the UK, with yields of wheat, barley and oats down by 15% overall. However, the exclusive concentration on loss, failure and the wide range of threats to our future is doing us country people no good. That is why Agromenes is continuing his crusade to remind us that there is much for which to be grateful and a surprising amount of good news to celebrate. The current concerns about mental health and the record numbers of people unable to work because of stress would be much alleviated if the focus…

LONDON has always been a magnet for the rich and super-rich, but, in the 1880s, there was an important shift in the character of this group. The landed aristocracy, who had long presided over London Society, saw their income fall as a consequence of Britain’s free-trade policies and the agricultural depression. At the same time, growing foreign trade and the expanding Empire created new fortunes in larger numbers than ever. With wealth drawn from across the world, these plutocrats were a more cosmopolitan elite than Britain, or any other nation, had ever seen before. Their opulent houses were designed as settings for lavish entertainment and their aim was to gain acceptance in High Society. Generally speaking, the strategy worked, helped in some cases by the friendship of the Prince of…

HE is the most famous saint of whom you have heard, but probably know little or nothing. His name is irrevocably associated with English triumph on the field of battle. Shakespeare is the culprit, of course, to whose essential contribution we must add the historical reality of Henry V and some uplifting theatrical and film interpretations. It’s pure histrionics, but when we listen to that call to arms on St Crispin’s Day we cannot but stand a little taller. ‘The brothers spread the Gospel by day and made shoes by night’ St Crispin, whose saint’s day is on October 25, may be little more than illuminated briefly by the halo of heroism, for the timing of his inspiration was a coincidence. An English army, weary and short of food, had…

SET in the leafy neighbourhood of Riverdale, just north of Manhattan in the US, this house is home to designer and editor Dara Caponigro and her family. She bought it 10 years ago as a wreck with no plumbing, electricity or internal doors and only half of its original windows still in situ. This room was previously used by the couple’s daughter, but has now been reimagined as a guest room, with the help of London-based decorator Rita Konig. ‘I’ve known Dara since we both worked on the magazine Domino together, but this is the first decoration project I’ve done for her,’ says Ms Konig. The starting point was the wallpaper, Olive, which is part of her debut collection for Schumacher (020–4532 0960; www.schumacher.com). It has a small-scale multidirectional leaf…

I REMEMBER the first (and only) pair of diamond earrings I was given, in my twenties: tiny, antique dragonfly studs from Bentley & Skinner on London’s Piccadilly, purveyors of the finest antique jewellery. ‘You can only have these if you promise to wear them. Don’t leave them sad and lonely in your jewellery box,’ insisted my benefactor. I duly wore them on repeat, even on my wedding day as my ‘something old’. For those fortunate enough to have a jam-packed jewellery box—or pieces snaffled away in strategic hiding places (‘no one will look in the rusty tea caddy at the back of the cupboard’)—I can hazard a guess that you might not wear your more sentimental pieces. Inherited jewellery carries the weight of emotional memories—sometimes lovely, but sometimes sad and…

HOW to avoid Parliament taking every penny upon one’s death? The question plagued Humphrey Chetham for much of his life. The answer? By establishing the first free public library in the English-speaking world. There are now more than 3,500 across the country, championed by writers such as Alan Bennett and David Nicholls, but many are under constant threat of closure. Lancashire-born Chetham (1580–1653) was apprenticed to a Manchester linen weaver in 1597 and established himself as a shrewd businessman in the cloth trade. His fortunes brought him (reluctantly) into the public domain and, in 1631, he was fined for refusing a knighthood, although he accepted the title of High Sheriff of the County of Lancashire in 1635. Concerned about poverty caused by ignorance, Chetham donated money to form a bluecoat…

AS one of the smartest architects in Georgian England, James Wyatt was the natural choice for the 3rd Duke of Richmond when he wanted to build a new dwelling on his Goodwood estate in West Sussex. Wyatt, who had already remodelled and enlarged the main house, set to work on the new project in 1787. The fine, flint Palladian building with two long, low wings that sat so gracefully in its Classical landscape was notable not only for its elegance, but for an early form of central heating. Rooms were lined on one side with metal plates, heated from behind by large fires. That the occupants of The Kennels were the Duke’s prized foxhounds—it would be another 100 years before Goodwood House itself had central heating installed—is one of those…

IN the 18th and early 19th centuries, the country’s richest landowners and industrialists underlined their status in Society by building impressive country houses in the fashionable Palladian, neo-Classical or Regency style of their day. The less well-off sought to achieve the same effect by tacking a grand Georgian façade onto a less imposing building from an earlier period. Launched onto the market earlier this month with a guide price of in excess of £2.95 million through York-based Blenkin & Co (01904 671672), Grade II*-listed The Old Rectory at Brandsby, North Yorkshire, offers the best of both worlds. Described in COUNTRY LIFE (March 22, 2012) as ‘a house in two parts’, the original rectory dates from 1565, when it was built by the then incumbent, the Revd Robert Wilson. That house…

TO the uninitiated, tropical paradise is solely synonymous with white-sand beaches, clear-blue seas and perhaps a fruity rum punch. Yet, those more familiar with the Caribbean region will tell you it has more to offer than a turquoise sea and vitamin D—it is a playground for activity junkies of every kind, which makes it even more appealing to today’s property hunters. ‘Buyers here used to want a pretty house near the beach or in a golf community, where they could relax for a week or two every year,’ says James Burdess, head of Caribbean sales at Savills. ‘Now people can work from anywhere, they want somewhere where they can do the things they love. Properties also need to suit the needs of multiple generations who will be coming and going…

Apple, rhubarb and blackberry pie with bay whipped cream Ingredients For the sweet shortcrust pastry 250g plain flour125g unsalted butter, cold and diced50g caster sugar1 large egg, beaten1–2tbspn ice water, as needed For the filling 300g apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced200g rhubarb, chopped into bite-size pieces (or replace with pears if the season is over)150g blackberries100g caster sugar2tbspn corn flour1tspn ground cinnamon½ lemon, juice of1 egg, beaten, to brush the pastry with300ml double cream4 bay leaves Method ▸ In a large bowl, combine the plain flour and butter by rubbing them together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the caster sugar, then add the beaten egg. Mix until the dough starts to come together. If it is too dry, add the ice water gradually until…

WHEN Victorian novelist Mrs Henry Wood was a child, the curvature of her spine was so severe that it affected her musculature. Even as an adult, she was incapable of carrying ‘anything heavier than a small book or parasol’. She was also unable to sit at a desk or table to write, so the author of more than 30 novels, including her sensational tale of infidelity, murder and illegitimacy, East Lynne, wrote on her knee, in some discomfort, in a reclining chair. Ellen Wood’s is an unusual, but not unique, case. Roald Dahl also wrote on a specially made writing board on his lap, again as a means of avoiding sitting at a desk, as wartime back injuries caused him lifelong discomfort. Yet, more often than not, throughout the centuries…

The English Landscape Garden: Dreaming of Arcadia Tim Richardson (Frances Lincoln, £40) TIM RICHARDSON has, over recent decades, carved out a particular career as a garden historian, producing both witty social history and elegant garden descriptions, all meticulously researched. His 2007 book, The Arcadian Friends, was a good example of the former and his latest, The English Landscape Garden, of the latter. In a sense, the two books are companion volumes in that they both have as their theme the emergence during the 18th century of the uniquely English style of garden that has been admired, fêted and celebrated—and occasionally criticised—ever since. Mr Richardson, a former Gardens Editor of COUNTRY LIFE, is firmly in the camp of admirers and, here, his studies of 20 individual gardens make a compelling case.…

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