Indholdsfortegnelse for August 13, 2025 i Country Life

Future Publishing Ltd, 121–141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London W2 6JR 0330 390 6591; www.countrylife.co.uk FEW A-level students need to be reminded that results are released this week. Nor will television presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who cheerfully consoles the disappointed by flagging the fact that despite a ‘C’ and two ‘U’s at A level, he’s really done rather well. Arguments for and against university are equally convincing. Those in favour note that a degree is crucial for the law, medicine, finance and academia. Those against highlight the fact that the average student loan is £50,000 and that employers offer apprenticeships in everything from accountancy and financial services to engineering and robotics. It’s clear that success is dictated by more than your degree; determination, critical thinking and capacity for hard work are all…

Where are the new Cotswolds? HAVE you been to Chipping Norton lately? Once little more than an agrarian backwater, the land of Jilly Cooper’s novels is now a billionaire playground: a smorgasbord of ex-politicos and A-listers drawn to luxury shopping (Bicester), luxury groceries (Dayles-ford) and private members’ clubs (Estelle Manor). Ever since the invention of Rupert Campbell-Black, the land of Burford and Cirencester has dazzled the collective imagination as a place of glamour, power and sex. Yet with Britain becoming a hotter travel destination in every sense of the word, that reputation has reached fever pitch and the Cotswolds, where US Vice President J. D. Vance rented a house this summer, is beginning to feel saturated. A rivalry has emerged between areas eager to capitalise on the region’s declining fortunes…

THE crowds flocking to the open days organised by the innovative Leicestershire farmer Robert Bakewell (1725–95) at his Dishley Grange, the high prices his beasts commanded, his portentous, secretive air (he had one ram no one was allowed to see) and the cannily promoted image of a food producer for the working class—‘I do not breed mutton for gentlemen, but for the public’—fuelled what the papers called the ‘Dishley craze’. ‘Is it not amazing that this extraordinary genius should be able to electrify so many people with the same or nearly the same degree of enthusiasm,’ wrote George Culley, a former pupil, in 1784. As a young man, Bakewell travelled widely and made important connections, corresponding with American president George Washington and the English farmer king, George III. His then…

WHICH birds offer the most remarkable spectacle in the northern hemisphere? A majestically soaring golden eagle? A gabbling overhead flock of geese or swans? Perhaps it’s a shock glimpse of a golden oriole or the elusive nightjar. However, it could just as easily be a huge white stork (Ciconia ciconia), although, as with orioles, sightings of them in this country have been so scarce that the older guidebooks to the birds of Britain don’t even bother to include them. In one of Nature’s unlikeliest myths, it was once maintained that storks were republicans. The suggestion was proposed to explain why they shunned breeding in Britain and yet nested in Holland, as well as other places in Europe no longer retaining a ruling royal family. The absurd notion was banished in…

ON the afternoon of June 28, 1940, the Luftwaffe bombed and strafed lines of lorries parked on St Peter Port’s harbourside. The Germans thought these were British troops sent to fortify the island, but they were, in fact, delivery lorries stacked high with tomatoes waiting to be exported to the mainland. Fifty-one vehicles were destroyed and 33 innocent people were killed, with another 36 seriously injured in the hour-long attack. The islanders hoped it was a random strike, but, within a couple of days, the enemy had quietly landed on Guernsey—the Channel Islands became the only British territories to fall into Hitler’s hands. The situation was initially presented as a ‘model occupation’. German High Command sought to project a message that the British mainland had nothing to fear from occupation…

The garden at Ballynure House, Co Wicklow, Ireland The home of Clare Reid Scott AS soon as you enter the barely there, wrought-iron gates of Ballynure House in Co Wicklow, Ireland, the estate deploys its magic. A small lake appears on your left, a flawless Monet painting with a gently arched bridge and a mournful weeping willow. Two mute swans glide across the glassy surface. Further on, the leisurely avenue is densely planted with young oak and beech. Their slim trunks partially screen the view, as green leaves confer a pale, watery light. The vista opens again on a handsome pastoral landscape where paddocks and farm fields sweep down to a fringe of woodland along the fast-flowing River Greese. The Georgian house, assuredly pure in all its lines and a…

IT intoxicates gently, fills the body with warmth, and the soul with enthusiasm,’ sighed the poet and philologist Frédéric Mistral. ‘In its essence it concentrates the strength, the gaiety of Provence—sunshine.’ Ah, aïoli, not merely a garlic-powered mayonnaise that, when made properly, could halt a blood-crazed vampire horde. But a mighty Provençal dish in its own right, a lavish and lovely cornucopia of southern French abundance, held together in a slickly luscious allium embrace. For Le Grand Aïoli is all about celebration, of harvests, life and love. And the feast days of a dozen different saints, a communal banquet eaten at long tables in shady village squares. ‘A mad, joyous circus,’ in the words of artist and writer Richard Olney, of vegetables cooked and raw, of hard-boiled eggs and salt…

HOWEVER much I love history, I rarely want to live in the past. An exception is the period in which Art Deco gladdened everything in its path. It probably stems from childhood, when I’d often pass the Hoover Building in Perivale, Greater London. Its surging Aztec featherwork and dazzling white façade were fanciful enough, but were made even more outlandish by the contrast with their dreary suburban surroundings. Even now, having been converted into a supermarket and apartments, this former palace of industry conjures thoughts of Josephine Baker in a banana dress, cocktails on Burgh Island or RMS Queen Mary steaming over the horizon. When life proves devoid of brilliance, along comes Art Deco. Originally called Moderne, the style was later renamed Art Deco after the Exposition internationale des arts…

Will weedkiller be rounded up? SWATHES of the countryside will soon be turning what many consider to be an unpleasant shade of orange, the result of spraying fields with glyphosate (Roundup) to kill weeds before drilling an autumn crop. However, farmers may have to think again about using this effective, but controversial herbicide following a recent study. Researchers at the Ramazzini Institute in Italy found that rats developed multiple types of cancerous tumours when exposed to currently permitted levels of glyphosate. The EU has asked for the raw data so it can decide if dosage rates should be changed; current UK regulations expire in December 2026. Over the years, there have been calls for a total ban of the weedkiller and there is little doubt that continuous spraying is bad…

Good training CLERGY and model railways are a surprisingly common pairing (The legacy, July 30). Living in an old rectory, I see all around the grounds the relics of what was an amazing garden railway built by previous rectors, complete with natural landscaping, stations, tunnels, bridges and streams. From time to time, people in their senior years arrive trying to recapture the childlike wonder of their past. This brings to mind Proverbs 22:6: ‘Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.’ Robert Colley, by email All aboard TOWN MOUSE writes of her admiration for 1938 London Underground stock (July 23). Here on the Isle of Wight, these trains are also spoken of with great affection: after being…

IN September 2022, a curious spectacle played out in the streets of London. Over the course of six days, 250,000 people gathered in an extraordinary queue, at times 10 miles long. The phenomenon was caused by mourners, crowds of ordinary people, deeply moved by the death of a beloved Queen, Elizabeth II. She was not the first queen to be commemorated on such a scale: 121 years earlier, on February 2, 1901, the grand state funeral of 81-year-old Queen Victoria unfolded at Windsor Castle, a great gathering of European royalty; three centuries before that, in 1603, London played host to the funerary procession of Elizabeth I, who died aged 69. There was ‘such a general sighing, groaning and weeping as the like hath not been seen or known in the…

THIS house, near Chichester Harbour in West Sussex, hadn’t been touched for generations when interior designer Isabella Worsley was asked to lead a root-and-branch renovation, working with architect Martin Taylor (www.mtid.co.uk). They set about reconfiguring the layout, moving the bedroom to the ground floor and creating an open-plan kitchen, dining and living space on the top floor that opens onto an expansive terrace overlooking the sea. ‘We wanted to create an interplay between the inside and out,’ explains the designer. As the house is to be used in both winter and summer, introducing richness to the space was vital. ‘As we all know, the English coast can be stark in winter and houses feel exposed to the elements. We wanted to make sure it would be enveloping, so we chose…

Devon, £1.25m Down Park House, built for John Pethick, a former mayor of Plymouth, sits in an elevated position on the edge of Yelverton village, a stone’s throw from open moorland and a short walk from a golf club. Double doors open out from the drawing room onto a spacious verandah with views over the south-facing gardens of just over an acre. The eight-bedroom house is presented in excellent condition; a second kitchen, on the second floor, could be part of a useful annexe space, which has planning permission to be used as a separate residence. Jackson-Stops (01392 214222) Somerset, £2.75m A generous verandah runs the length of six-bedroom Stocklinch Manor, near Ilminster, overlooking the meticulously maintained gardens and grounds of 5¾ acres. The main part of the late-Victorian house,…

St Peter Port, £6.5 million Dating back to 1810, Courtil Brock is a handsome Regency villa with classically pleasing proportions located on the outskirts of St Peter Port. Downstairs, the principal rooms include an elegant drawing room, a library and a formal dining room off the entrance hall, with a further sitting room, kitchen, cinema and office completing the ground-floor rooms. Upstairs are five generous bedroom suites and there is room to extend at both the basement and attic level. Outside, the gardens and grounds feature detailed planting, a koi pond with a waterfall, a vegetable plot and a fragrant rose garden; a highlight is the oak tree planted in 1812 by Henry Brock, the property’s notable first owner. Savills (01481 713463; www.savills.com) St Martin, £3.8 million Otterington is a…

GREAT DIXTER in East Sussex means inspirational gardening—and has done for more than 100 years. Plants, design and artistry come together in a manner unparalleled in any other garden that I have visited or heard of. COUNTRY LIFE readers know it well through the weekly columns of Christopher Lloyd, from 1962 until his death in 2006. His influence on sophisticated garden owners cannot be overstressed. The house was assembled and the garden first laid out, shortly before the First World War, by Christopher’s father Nathaniel Lloyd, who wrote a book about topiary. It was called Garden Craftsmanship in Yew and Box and was published 100 years ago in 1925. Reprints are still available from your favourite online bookseller. I first visited Great Dixter in October 1970 and met Lloyd Snr’s…

SINCE summer first was leafy, man has reached for a branch of a tree or a large leaf to dispel the heated air and ward off flies,’ wrote MacIver Percival in The Fan Book more than a century ago. Early civilisations went an artistic step further and created ceremonial fans, two of which were discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb. Personal folding fans as fashion accessories were present in Japan from about the 6th century. Percival, however, was writing in 1920, by which time usage was on the wane; his book was aimed at collectors. Yet fans, it seems, are back: they have been observed once again on public transport during this scorching British summer, compensating for ill-equipped air-conditioning systems. They were spotted at this year’s Wimbledon Championships, at the Lord’s Test…

THIRTY-TWO is a funny age. You are no longer kicking about trying to find your way in the world—you should probably be beyond that stage—yet you’re hardly at the height of your powers. Many of my friends have bought their first house, but don’t have children yet. We are in that relatively happy period where we can still go to the pub on a Tuesday night or head out to stalk roe deer when the mood takes us. Yet, for all that, there is a growing sense that we should be taking our professional lives seriously. All of sudden, things have become more expensive. Pals who were fishing gillies or were making cider now seem to be heading to the City or becoming barristers. The last year has been a…

Quiz of the week 1) The black redstart, the wheatear and the nightingale belong to which family of birds? 2) In French opera houses, what job does the souffleur have? 3) In what year did MPs start receiving a salary? 4) How many years are there between the maiden flights of the Supermarine Spitfire and Concorde? 5) What fish is traditionally used to make an Arbroath smokie? 1) Chats 2) Prompter 3) 1911 4) 33 (March 5, 1936, and March 2, 1969, respectively) 5) Haddock. Riddle me this: The helmsman Riddle me this I manage the sails and control direction; without my skill, the ship would lose its connection. Who am I? Time to buy On this day… August 13, 1976 Dean R. Campbell, founder of the Left-Handers Club, marked…

WHAT, then, is different about being a countryman? Why do we know we are not the same as our urban and suburban friends? We could list lots of small things that mark that difference, but, fundamentally, it is that the outdoors is at the heart of our lives. Urban England is about indoors; the town shields people from the elements. They can live, work and play hardly noticing the weather. It’s there to be grumbled about, but it’s actually peripheral to urban life. In the countryside, however, it’s what really matters. That’s why most of our politicians simply can’t grasp rural reality because it is so far from their daily experience. That difference increasingly matters. It’s not only that the outdoors is under threat. The march of new housing and…

The King’s Observatory, Kew, London The home of Robbie Brothers ON June 3, 1769, George III waited at the Kew Observatory for Venus to begin making its slow passage across the face of the sun. Nine others were present when contact was finally made between the planet and the edge of the solar disc, Queen Charlotte and the observatory’s superintendent Stephen Demainbray among them. According to Demainbray, the King ‘was the first who saw’ the phenomenon, beating, perhaps unsurprisingly, all others present to the observation by ‘half a second’. When contact was made, a bell was rung, summoning upstairs other guests in the observatory, including Princes Ernest and George of Mecklenberg-Strelitz. The Kew observatory had been built specially to witness this celestial event, having been commissioned from Sir William Chambers…

EIGHTY years ago, on August 6, 1945, an American warplane, named Enola Gay after the pilot’s mother, dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima. Nine days later, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender. The Second World War was over. Conflict in the Far East has resonated less than that elsewhere, but it tore apart the British Empire more effectively than Germany ever did and the participants generally suffered considerably worse. The Japanese attacked the American fleet in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. Capturing Hong Kong on Christmas Day, they swept south, often on bicycles, towards Singapore: diadem of the British Empire. Their tactics of speed, surprise and encirclement were those that Gen Wavell (commander-in-chief in South-East Asia) had himself adopted against the Italians in North Africa. Churchill demanded Singapore be defended ‘to…

AT every WOW!house, there have been three types of room that have particularly piqued my interest—the ones that are small, those that are dark and, better still, those that are both. Natural light, height and space might be the ideal, but designers often tackle rooms that have few, if any, of these attributes—and working with them requires a particular type of cunning. This year, notable examples were James Thurstan Waterworth’s snug for Hector Finch Lighting, Nicola Harding’s powder room for Drummonds and Alex Dauley’s Nucleus Media Room. Collectively, they eloquently demonstrated that darkness in an interior is equally as beguiling as large amounts of natural light and also that achieving it is much more than simply wiring every electrical light with a dimmer switch. The Georgians were masters of the…

DURING Guernsey’s five-year occupation in the Second World War, the British lieutenant-governor’s residence in St Peter Port, Old Government House, was commandeered by the Nazis to serve first as a headquarters and then as a luxurious soldatenheim (barracks) for its troops. Now the island’s only five-star hotel (www.theoghhotel.com), this opulent mansion over-looking the harbour contains the remnants of a library that held books Wehrmacht officers would read, lounging by the swimming pool where guests now sip cocktails. Two of the volumes on its shelves today—which would have been strictly verboten to German soldiers—are by Victor Hugo. The author, political thinker and human-rights advocate lived in the Bailiwick of Guernsey from 1855–70, having been exiled from France for opposing Napoleon. It was at his Georgian home (now a museum: www.maisonsvictorhugo.paris.fr/guernesey) on…

OF all our raptors, common buzzards (Buteo buteo) are the most likely to provide us with the twin pleasures of sight and sound. In those peerless blue skies on sunny afternoons in late March, buzzards are invariably on the wing performing near-effortless spirals as they fire down salvoes of the softest, rising cat-like call. Mewing buzzards in display are one of the most affecting indicators of the British spring and now part of its very essence. There are at least 64,000 pairs spread more evenly through these islands than any other raptor, but this wasn’t always the case. In the early 20th century, persecution had driven them to the western fringes and, even as late as the 1970s, the species was almost trapped to the west of a line between…

Mistress: A History of Women and their Country Houses Anthony Fletcher and Ruth Larson (Yale, £25) THERE is nothing so mysterious as other people’s marriages, particularly those from the distant past. Mistress, an examination of the role of women in country houses, describes the union of Thomas Thynne, heir to Longleat in Wiltshire and then a 16-year-old student at Oxford, to Maria, daughter of Lady Tuchet. In 1594, he rode out to an inn, met the girl for the first time and married her that evening. It was no coincidence that a priest happened to be staying at the inn, for so was Maria’s mother, who orchestrated the whole thing. If you were to assume that the young man was overcome by desire, you would be wrong. The couple slept together…

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