Indholdsfortegnelse for May 14, 2025 i Country Life

Future Publishing Ltd, 121–141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London W2 6JR 0330 390 6591; www.countrylife.co.uk HAS there been a better spring for blossom? Ornamental cherries provided their thick icing of flowers, plum trees were full of the promise of fruits to come and few could have failed to notice the particularly fine apple blossom, dolloped thick on the bough. Thankfully, the winds have been kind, leaving petals in place so that field edges are white with May blossom as ferns and cow parsley unfurl in the verges. Look about at the uncrumpling ash leaves and the fresh new hazel and you can almost hear the sap rising. Certainly, the wood pigeons are audible. Leave the garden for only one day and the plants in the borders seem to have grown inches…

San Jorge I AGREE with your sentiment that we do not celebrate St George’s Day as we should (Country mouse, April 23). Some years ago, my wife and I were visiting Barcelona in Spain on April 23 and discovered St George (honoured in a sculpture at the city’s Generalitat Palace, above) is the patron saint of Catalonia. In Barcelona, they have a day’s celebration and it is marked by the exchange of roses and books between loved ones. Since then, it has been a tradition my wife and I have upheld—and great fun it is, too. Cry God for England! Neil Sims, Essex Green with envy THE answer to your question on nostalgic-foods was, in my mind, obvious—ice pops (‘Madeleine, my Madeleine’, April 23). However, only the green ones. The…

The gardens at Somerleyton Hall, near Lowestoft, SuffolkThe home of Baron and Baroness Somerleyton THERE exists a pair of particularly bewitching 19th-century photographs of the Somerleyton Hall gardens. One depicts the gargantuan, glass-domed winter garden: a network of colonnaded rooms, lit by gas and heated to different climates, housing a vast array of palms, citrus and vines. The other shows Lady Somerleyton feeding her pet seal in the pond. Seals do not live in the shrubberies these days, but Somerleyton’s theatrical splendour still resonates, from the Paxton-designed peach cases to the curling metal aloes that top the walled garden gates. The dilemma for Hugh, 4th Baron Somerleyton, and his wife, Lara, when they moved into the hall in 2010, was how to retain that enchantment, at the same time as…

LAST month, I guided a group of COUNTRY LIFE readers around the gardens of the Italian Riviera. We stayed at Villa della Pergola above Alassio, which has just become an RHS Partner Garden. The estate has a long connection with England because its two main houses were built by an expat and his father-in-law in the 1870s and later acquired by Sir Walter Hamilton-Dalrymple, who fled to Italy in the wake of the trial of Oscar Wilde. Some of the garden’s palm trees, roses and wisterias date back to these early years, but its botanical interest soared after it was bought in 1922 by Daniel Hanbury, the second son of Sir Thomas Hanbury, who founded the famous gardens at La Mortola. Between the wars, Alassio had a substantial population of…

THESE days, with numbers declining dramatically, all insects need our appreciation. Yet some bugs are easier to love than others and none are more readily adorable than the children’s favourite, gardener’s friend and familiar logo the ladybird. Our fondness is revealed through how we have named them. We only have to consider the collective term for ladybirds: a loveliness. Neither avian nor all-female, the ladybird’s curious name is an homage to the Virgin Mary, traditionally depicted in red robes. Its benevolence and ability to fly made it ‘our lady’s bird’, together with a possible link between her symbolic number and our most common species, the seven-spot (Coccinella septempunctata). Ladybirds are found around the world and in nearly a quarter of languages their names invoke the Virgin. In Germany, for example,…

YOU shouldn’t muck about too much with a prawn cocktail,’ warn Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham in their introduction to their retro classic The Prawn Cocktail Years. They’re not wrong. Because this is one great British dish that even the most piscine-averse can embrace with relish. Sure, the vast majority are sorry shadows of the real thing: mean, tasteless prawn commas, drenched in a lurid slick of ketchup and mayonnaise (shop bought, of course), with a meagre dribble of Tabasco and a dusting of cayenne pepper long past its prime. All dumped atop a tangle of cheap, shredded lettuce and served in a smudged cocktail glass. Flanked, of course, by a meagre wedge of lemon and a few triangles of lustily buttered bread (yum). But, for me, the cheap prawn…

The Manifesto House: Buildings that changed the future of architecture Owen Hopkins (Yale, £30) ON hearing about Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, the Duke of Marlborough’s gift from a grateful nation, Jonathan Swift quipped: Thanks, sir, cried I, ’tis very fine,But where d’ye sleep, or where d’ye dine?I find, by all you have been telling,That ’tis a house, but not a dwelling. Swift’s complaint applies to many of the predominantly 20th-century examples in this book, but not exclusively. The author, director of the Farrell Centre in Newcastle, has difficulty acknowledging the ambiguity in the meaning of the word. In the world of painting, sculpture or music, manifestos are usually texts that relate to and promote particular forms of non-verbal works. Architecture has had similar texts, but in this book, the primary…

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IN a dark and dangerous world, optimism is often difficult. Yet, these past few weeks have lifted the heart. Who would have thought that Sir Keir Starmer would be so close to a trade deal with the US that will not disadvantage our farmers nor lower our food safety and welfare standards? Of course, it may collapse, as might any deal with so mercurial a President, but it is already further down the line than most could have imagined. Then there’s the Indian trade agreement, which, in this world of tariffs and counter tariffs, ought to be welcomed. It’s sad that the Government didn’t effectively explain that it is a proper part of such a deal to ensure that there isn’t double taxation on those who come over temporarily to…

IN 1892, Harold Ainsworth Peto left his London architectural practice, where he and his partner Ernest George had built up a fashionable clientele, and changed the course of garden history. His achievement was to create what we now know as the Italianate garden. This is identifiable not only by the inclusion of classical features rediscovered during the Italian Renaissance—colonnades and fountains, axial paths and pergolas—but by that Roman requirement that there be a connection between the villa and its surroundings. Peto (1854–1933), the fifth son of an MP, grew up at Somerleyton, Suffolk (page 90), a house rebuilt in an elaborate Continental style with an outstanding Nesfield garden. Illness caused the young Peto to leave Harrow early and he travelled through Europe before starting his architectural training, which included time…

THE great thing about a gate is that it is something that everybody can own, no matter how small their garden. Usually, they are tediously practical and are there for security or access. It is not those gates with which we are concerned here—instead, we are talking about gates that add something to the place. At some point in most of our lives, we have all been captivated by a gate, be it a national monument known to everyone, such as the Brandenburg or Tiananmen Gates, the ivy-covered door to a Secret Garden, the ornately carved entrance to a stately pile or the down home-welcoming white picket gate of The Waltons. The presence of a gate is often the beginning of an exploration. Why is it here? Is it locked?…

The graduate of the run-wild school Imogen is happy. When she was a child, her parents were keen gardeners of the old school. Lawns were edged to within an inch of their lives, any weed that dared show its head was squirted, greenfly were pursued with a selection of noxious sprays and everything was cut to the ground in September. Now, she has her own garden and is doing exactly the opposite. The shrubbery provides food and cover for all manner of creatures. Her lawn bristles with dandelions, her bees are the busiest in the county, her borders are full of hibernating bugs, the birds are singing their hearts out and she smiles lovingly on wasps, slugs and all colours of aphid. A fox lives under the shed and a…

IT was the late African naturalist Leslie Brown who pointed out how badly we named the honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus). The species is not remotely related to the other buzzards, although it is, at least, buzzard-sized, with a bigger wingspan, a longer, barred tail and a slender head and neck that give it a curious resemblance to a cuckoo. Nor does honey form any part of the bird’s diet, although social insects (wasps, hornets, bumblebees and the like) are central to its ecology and determine almost everything about its physiology and way of life. Honey buzzards arrive in Britain, for example, in late May—precisely when their insect prey becomes most abundant. The connections further ensure that the species is scarce in this country: our summers are too unreliable and too…

Sims Hilditch courtyard room Emma Sims-Hilditch THE courtyard room has been conceived as a modern mud room and country-house entrance, practical yet brimming with character,’ says interior designer Emma Sims-Hilditch, founder and creative director of Sims Hilditch (020–3701 9578; www.simshilditch.com). Two smaller rooms—a boot room and dog-washing station—branch off from the main entrance hall, separated by glazed screens reminiscent of traditional ‘below stairs’ rooms in English country houses. ‘We have affectionately named it the Bow-WOW!house room, in tribute to the dog-washing station,’ she adds. Inspired by her own home and the Sims Hilditch design studio in the Cotswolds, the courtyard room focuses on timeless functionality and charm. ‘We have blended traditional and contemporary elements throughout,’ she explains. Fitted joinery is painted in uplifting shades of green and yellow, alongside an…

WILDLIFE sculptor Hamish Mackie was born left-handed. His Cornish school insisted he change, sometimes binding his left arm. This produced some curious consequences, including mirror writing, and perhaps diverted him from academic subjects. Influenced, however, by favourable accounts of unusual artistic talent, Radley accepted him, and there, tutored by an exceptional art master, Paul Kilsby, he was introduced to sculpture. He sold a clay sheep to a school parent and never looked back. ‘Failing to get into the army,’ as he puts it, he met the established animal sculptor Mark Coreth—well on the way to pre-eminence—who encouraged him, saying: ‘I will tell you everything I know on the basis that you will tell the next person.’ Thereafter, ‘self-taught and influenced by Rodin and Bugatti’, he has made, at 51, more…

Quiz of the week 1) Supergrass and Radiohead have which English county in common? 2) Name the garden plant that was exchanged as a form of currency in the 17th century 3) River otters (Lutra lutra) can hold their breath for up to how many minutes? 4) Which race was first run at Epsom racecourse in 1779? 5) Which Greek god was sewn into the thigh of his father, Zeus? 1) Oxfordshire 2) Tulips in the Netherlands 3) Eight 4) The Oaks 5) Dionysus. Riddle me this: A violin Riddle me this I have a scroll, but no quill. I have a neck and ribs, but no legs. I have a saddle, but no horse and I have a bridge, but no water. What am I? Time to buy On…

THE tidal Thames ebbs and flows past the southernmost gate of Chelsea’s Royal Hospital and you might be forgiven for imagining a whiff of salt and bladderwrack. No need, however, to look to the grand river, with its pleasure boats and busy barges. Coastal-themed gardens are as rare as hen’s teeth at Chelsea, but, like the proverbial London bus, several have turned up at once in 2025. Each maritime evocation is very different from the next, yet highlights various aspects of Britain’s own coastline. None of them relies on familiar stage props, such as lifebelts, fishing nets and lobster pots; the ecological garden has come of age and they are exclusively habitatled. Most striking is the Hospitalfield Arts Garden, presented by Nigel Dunnett. Its ribbed, stylised ‘sand dunes’ rise out…

Custom made Bespoke steel gate, £4,600, Britannia Architectural Metalwork (01242 820582; www.britanniaarchitecturalmetalwork.co.uk) Hand crafted This cleft sweet-chestnut double gate is made with traditional hand tools by Richard Ely of Green Wood Craftsman, using timber he has coppiced himself, from £960 (07890 375282; www.greenwoodcraftsman.com) Handsome entrance Designed by specialist joinery company Jack Badger, to suit the house and gate piers, these bespoke carriageway gates are made from English oak with traditional oak pegs and ironwork, priced to order (01457 854440; www.jackbadger.co.uk) Antique find Featuring an attractive cross pattern, this wrought-iron estate gate dates from the early 19th century. It costs £1,850 from Garden Art Plus (01488 686811; www.gardenartplus.com) Fits the bill This vertical slatted gate is custom made in solid iroko hardwood by The Garden Trellis Co and costs from £1,674…

Glyndebourne House, East SussexThe home of Gus Christie and Danielle de Niese GLYNDEBOURNE is famous around the world as an opera house, with a country house at its heart. Today, guests who carry hampers to lake or ha-ha cannot but feel the charm of this convivial domestic setting, although the influence of it dims when they enter the auditorium itself—so sophisticated that it cannot simply be seen as an appurtenance to a family home. Yet that home continues to exist, playing a vital role as much in the life of the present generation of Christies as in that of the opera festival. Little altered since the days of John Christie, who built the first opera house in the 1930s, it stands as a living testament to his unstoppable dynamism, as…

REGENT STREET is a dazzling thoroughfare, a cinematic backlot of Imperialist Baroque. Its sweeping lines and endless porticos gleam in the spring sunlight—but, for all the splendour, the street is not entirely how I remember it from my childhood. Many established names have gone: Austin Reed, Dickins & Jones, even the British Airways booking office. Nonetheless, an unswervingly original presence remains amid today’s replacement, carbon-copy brands: the bastion of English style that is Liberty. Exactly 150 years ago tomorrow (May 15, 1875), a Chesham-born draper’s son, Arthur Lasenby Liberty, immortalised his surname by taking the lease on No 218a Regent Street. Initially called East India House, it was to provide a singular shopping experience, more like an Aladdin’s cave than a department store—building on his knowledge of nearby rivals, Liberty…

HOW lucky can you get? On foot rather than mounted on Marengo, the sturdy Arab grey that carried him through his long campaign to achieve French domination of Europe, Napoleon spotted a four-leafed clover. He stooped to pluck it at the moment when the bullet that would have ended his life and his nation’s hopes whizzed above him—or so the story goes. It was either an assassination attempt or on a battlefield, yet the supposed incident confirmed a centuries-old belief that finding a rare quadrifoliate in the Trifolium genus was good news. ‘Napoleon stooped to pick a four-leafed clover as a bullet whizzed above him’ Luck has always been a desirable attribute in those in command. Another great historical figure attached by legend to the four-leafed clover, Abraham Lincoln, was…