Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2025 i The Field

Joseph Nesbitt-Larking Hailing from the Hertfordshire countryside, Joseph Nesbitt-Larking is something of a modern Renaissance man: a chef, live-fire food specialist, musician, composer, writer, host, tutor and more. Having co-run the UK’s largest barbecue school for nearly 10 years, he now helms the lunch service at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Stuttgart, where he lives with his opera singer wife. Joseph regularly travels to host barbecue features at various international food festivals, and is passionate about sharing his enthusiasm for beautiful produce and helping people cook with confidence. What does September hold? “I’m technically on paternity leave but can never sit still for long, so I’ll be planning events and doing a spot of writing when I can.” Tessa Waugh Tessa Waugh has been writing on country subjects for 25 years.…

THE GRAND surroundings of 17th-century Ragley Hall, which is the ancestral seat of the Marquesses of Hertford, will be familiar to many Field readers as the setting for no less than half a dozen Game Fairs in recent years. However, there is much more to the 5,500-acre estate than the Capability Brown-designed parkland that this year once again hosted the country’s premier fieldsports event. According to estate director Charles Granlund, concerts, corporate activities, festivals, film shoots and weddings are all part of the mix for this model rural estate, which has all but 250 acres of its farmland in hand. In 2024 the current Lord Hertford’s focus on environmental stewardship and local community resulted in the award of a prestigious RASE Bledisloe Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in land management…

HOW WELL do you speak dog? Have you mastered more than 100 common phrases used by your dog? If not, it’s likely that he speaks human a lot better than you speak dog. A range of studies worldwide shows that our canine companions understand about 90 to 100 words and commands. This doubles in the gundog and working breeds, especially collies, who have a human vocabulary of around 200 words according to a study published by Applied Animal Behaviour Science in 2022. However, this is put in the shade by Chaser, an especially brainy border collie who took three years to learn the human names of more than 1,000 objects. Chaser also got to grips with grammar and conversation so that he could understand sentences comprising command and object names.…

CAPTAIN MATTHEW Webb, the first person to successfully swim the Channel, famously remarked that “nothing great is easy”. This is, surely, right up there with Captain Oates’ “I am just going outside and may be some time” in terms of quintessentially British understatement. Indeed, it’s difficult to overstate the magnitude of Webb’s achievement. At a time when swimming was far from fashionable, swimming to France must have seemed impossible. Seaman William Hoskins had crossed the Channel on a bale of straw in 1862, and five years later John MacGregor paddled across in a canoe. One JB Johnson tried to swim the Channel in 1872 and lasted a little over an hour. In 1875 Captain Paul Boyton, an American daredevil and showman known for his water stunts, donned an Indian rubber…

ONE OF my favourite times of year is when Olympia Auctions’ biannual smorgasbord of Fine Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria comes around. This year it was 25 and 26 June. The sale in question nearly always offers both weapons and armour from the 16th (and earlier) century, as well as loads of civil war and later stuff. This is ‘my’ period, hence my fevered anticipation. And, this time, they’ve got so much kit that it’s spread over two days instead of their more usual one. Unlike most more general auctions, where lots tend to sell at about 60 to 100 an hour (sometimes more), Olympia can struggle to sell at 30 an hour as nutters like your correspondent fight lengthy bidding battles over the goodies coming under the hammer. “Sword…

WHENEVER I find myself among fellow gardeners, sooner or later someone will announce, as if it’s an incontrovertible fact that no one can gainsay, that “passionate gardeners are such nice people”. Since I am, by this definition, a nice person, I swallow the impulse to mutter “up to a point, Lord Copper”. Gardeners certainly dodge some of the worst traits of common humanity: they usually have an aesthetic sense so they are rarely, if ever, narcissists; they are mostly extremely generous, both with plants and hard-won knowledge; they rarely commit serious crimes, since incarceration would take them away from their beloved garden; and, for the same reason, they like to stay in one place so they tend to be calm, unhurried and easy to be around. But the very best…

Across 6 Birds of prey disturbing parrots? (7) 9 Person who releases the throwing arm of a clay target launcher (7) 11 Bird of prey… seen in lowlands? (3) 12 ___ Organic Gardens, Warwickshire – sounds exactly correct! (5) 13 Slender fencing swords, tipped by buttons (5) 14 Richard ___, triple Olympic gold medallist equestrian (5) 15 Protection for a shot’s personal audio devices (3,5) 17 Irish wetland area for e.g. snipe – and sort of Serb dog! (3,4)  19 ___ water dog: good water retriever, herder and pet (7) 21 Vegetable that may have sprouting purple heads (8) 24 The Kennet and Avon is one (5)  26 UK animal charity (5) 27 Floury potato… found off Scotland’s west coast! (5) 28 Caviar is a salted form of this (3) 29…

AT A TIME when health and safety, risk assessment and insurance issues are pressing down ever harder on anything that requires a bit of bravery, the idea of 40 or so riders galloping hell for leather together across hunting country, hurling themselves over hedges, ditches and rails for three miles simply for the fun of it seems both thrilling and slightly outrageous. Hunt rides are races but were traditionally referred to as ‘rides’ because the lack of formal rules and regulations meant the officialdom of formal National Hunt and Flat racing wanted no association with them. They are run by hunts, and staged and built by volunteers to showcase the best of their particular country. Although it took the success of jockey Rachael Blackmore to put an end to female…

BROOCHES are back, and with a bang. Whether old-school bling, minimalist in design or breathtakingly ornate, these versatile accessories provide an opportunity to personalise and pep up even the plainest attire. What’s more, they offer an eye-pleasing helping hand when it comes to securing a tie or fixing a scarf. Whether you’re pining for a pin that pops, a brooch that expresses your personality or simply something brilliant, you’ll find it in this sparkling guide from The Field.…

PICK ALMOST any morning between October and the end of January outside The Beckford Arms on the edge of the Fonthill estate, and you’ll find a group of plus-fours-clad guns assembled as the early-morning mist lifts. Fast forward to the end of the last drive, battered by the south Wiltshire elements, and it’s not just a pint of Beckford Phoenix waiting for them inside, where cartridges for sale are chalked above the bar, but upstairs are deep baths running with the smell of Bramley bath salts: lavender, spearmint and geranium perhaps or a steaming bubble bath laced with sweet orange. The brainchild of Chloë Luxton, wife of the Beckford Group co-founder Charlie, Bramley was born when the couple took on the 18th-century pub in 2009 and wanted an alternative to…

FOR MANY years shooting has operated in a state of limbo regarding the future of lead shot. Despite legislative threats, growing pressure from environmental groups and voluntary commitments from key organisations to transition away from lead, a large portion of the shooting community remained sceptical. There was a prevailing belief among a number of guns, retailers and even some gamekeepers that the ban would never truly materialise. It was a mindset that fostered complacency, with relatively little effort being made to adapt or prepare for a future without lead ammunition. This uncertainty had tangible economic effects. Game dealers and processors found it increasingly difficult to sell shot game to supermarkets and export markets, particularly in Europe where lead-shot meat has faced tightening restrictions. Supermarkets began to distance themselves from lead-shot…

Despite fishing Britain’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters for decades, angler Stephen Newton no longer brings home fish for the table because of pollution. “I’m not keen to eat creatures that have lived in what amounts to dilute excreta with an overlay of chemicals,” he said. Inspired by the Angling Trust’s Anglers Against Pollution campaign, Newton has decided to play his own part in raising awareness by launching his own movement with a catchy title and a range of clothing to match. ‘End Poolution’ is selling T-shirts that feature slogans such as ‘Carp not crap’ and ‘Fish not faeces’. Newton hopes this will help increase knowledge among anglers and the general public while raising much needed funds. Profits will be donated to the Angling Trust. “The T-shirts are a way…

In a parliamentary debate on whether to ban grouse shooting, sparked by an online petition started by group Wild Justice, MPs from all sides of the House of Commons lined up to highlight its economic, social and environmental benefits. A particularly impassioned defence of grouse shooting came from former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who represents Richmond in North Yorkshire. He said: “Grouse shooting is fundamental to hard-working people in constituencies such as mine.” Sam Rushworth, Labour MP for Bishop Auckland, also talked of the environmental and social benefits before opposing the motion. Indeed, only one MP spoke in favour of the ban, and so agriculture minister Daniel Zeichner confirmed that “the Government has no plans to ban grouse shooting”. Adrian Blackmore, director of shooting for the Countryside Alliance, said: “Wild…

NDC JUST OVER a decade ago, my father and I were walking-up the boundaries of a friend’s farm in Cornwall when we took shelter from a rainstorm in an old granite barn. In the back rested an old grey Fergie, connected to a saw bench and looking extremely neglected. It is said that they’re always grey because that was the cheapest paint after the war when fewer battleships needed painting and gallons of the stuff were available from the Admiralty for next to nothing. It was also exceedingly weather resistant and hard-wearing, which means that after nearly 80 years most of these splendid machines are still to be found patinating in their original livery. Back to this Fergie, however. Much of the greyness in evidence was courtesy of decades of droppings…

AWHILE BACK I wrote a piece for The Field about targeting big river brown trout. Last September I took my own advice and had a week on the Usk and the very upper Wye doing just that. The last weeks of the trout season are my favourite times of all, and the adventure was glorious. I hooked two large brownies, one in each river, and neither fish gave me a ghost of a chance of landing them. I’d stalked and strategised for days, put in intense effort and enjoyed (or should that have been endured) a total of five minutes’ angling embarrassment. Now this September I’m going to be concentrating on the absolute opposite end of the spectrum: pursuing plentiful, pristine wild trout that exist in serious numbers in small…

HERE’S SOMETHING to bring up the next time you want one of those old-fashioned, spirited conversations/disagreements in the pub: what is a condiment? Shelve the smartphones momentarily and ask each person to define the word. Chances are that each will differ and the debate will descend into secondary squabbles about sauces, seasonings, pickles and dips. In the midst of such animated exchanges, compromise is rarely found. In all likelihood there is no satisfactory definition of a condiment. Instead, there exists a sort of taxonomy of gastronomy in which a condiment can be (but is not always) a sauce, a spice, a seasoning or a pickle and so on ad nauseam. However, something that appears largely consistent between most interpretations is the notion that condiments are commonly added by the diner…

THE DIMINUTIVE has almost universal appeal. There is something endlessly fascinating to both children and adults about the world of Lilliput and the art of the miniature. It can be said that miniatures are an expression of the soul that affects people in different ways. To generalise wildly, model ships, toy soldiers and little cars stir the imagination of boys; small dolls appeal to girls; while doll’s houses, complete in every detail, captivate girls, boys and big people as well. Throughout the ages expert craftsmen have delighted in making tiny pieces of furniture, incredibly small silver sets of tableware, minute musical instruments and working models of machines, and they still do. The world of firearms is no different. Indeed, royalty was particularly partial to possessing miniatures: Louis XIV of France…

THIS MONTH we look at a new competition model from Beretta – the 688 Performance. It has 30in Steelium barrels (there is a 32in option), 3in chambers, high-performance steel proof and Optima HP multichokes, and weighs in at 8½lb: substantial but typical of modern Sporters. The selective single trigger is adjustable both for position and breaking weight. There is an adjustable comb too, as well as the facility to alter the gun’s balance (out of the box it is on the hinge point, which is welcome but uncommon). Trigger-pulls are set around 4lb. The Performance is not Beretta’s entrylevel Sporter – the Silver Pigeon I Sport covers that base at about £1,000 less – but it is clearly aimed at those who want a serious clay-busting machine at a nottoo-eye-watering…

BETWEEN Newbury and Andover, in unspoilt Hampshire downland, escarped woodland and open cornfields lies the pretty, privately owned village of Faccombe. Here may be found The Jack Russell Inn with its 11 superbly appointed bedrooms, panelled bar, elegant dining with spacious seating and gardens, and decor reminiscent of the Travellers Club in London. This is no ordinary ‘gastropub’ but a deeply civilised and tranquil destination for those who come from all over Europe and the US to shoot, fish, walk The Ridgeway, go racing at Newbury or shop for antiques at Hungerford. It is also popular with Hampshire residents to stay and celebrate a special occasion; a private dining room can seat up to 18, with an open fire and the comfort of sofas and armchairs close at hand. The…

APASSION for silk scarves was stitched into my life from an early age. Both my grandmother and my best friend have worked for the most chic of all scarf brands: Hermès. My grandmother was a model in the 1970s and would seemingly glide luxuriously, draped in freebies. One such was my first scarf: a treasured and beautiful, orange-and-red, equestrianthemed confection. In my eyes, this was not only a scarf but a piece of art. With its distinctive hand-rolled and hand-sewn edge, it whispered elegance. The weight of the Hermès silk is twice that of inferior twills and the pattern is also double-sided, as are the fine scarves sold by Clare Haggas in her Cotswolds boutique. The Hermès scarf has been made in Lyon since 1937 but the story of the…

After years of uncertainty Defra has announced that the sale and use of lead shot for live quarry and clay shooting will be banned after a three-year transition period, which will begin in summer 2026. This means it will become an offence to use a shotgun cartridge loaded with lead from the 2029-30 season in England, Scotland and Wales. While accepting the need to move away from lead, many countryside and fieldsports organisations have lobbied for a longer transition period. “The lead ban will have a significant impact on some aspects of shooting where no viable alternative to lead can be found. However, our overriding goal has been to maintain the integrity of shooting sports, along with the gun trade on which they depend,” said Graham Downing, council member of…

Estates recognised for conservation success Three Scottish estates were awarded with Wildlife Estates Scotland accreditation at the GWCT Scottish Game Fair by Jim Fairlie MSP, Scottish Minister forAgriculture and Connectivity. Finzean in Aberdeenshire, Glen Creran in Argyll and Reay Forest in Sutherland account for more than 120,000 acres. New patron for Hunt Staff Benefit Society The Earl of Yarborough has been announced as the patron and governor of the Hunt Staff Benefit Society (HSBS). He succeeds the former Prince of Wales, now HM The King, who held the position for 40 years. The Earl has been Master of the Brocklesby since 1991 and has long been a great supporter of the HSBS. It’s a watershed moment for the River Deveron Water is now flowing freely down a 6.8-mile tributary of…

The Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC) is the annual national census of farmland birds run by the GWCT. It has been providing vital data for the past decade to help us understand which species are in the most serious trouble and how we can help them. This year’s count has again clearly illustrated the crucial role played by agri-environment schemes in supporting farmer-led conservation: essential for the Government to meet nature-recovery targets. Of the 1,369 farms where counts took place, 65% were in such schemes and nearly half undertook supplementary feeding of birds in winter with many having planted wild-bird seed mixes, both of which are options in the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). Many SFI options are based on GWCT science, and our data shows red-listed bird species benefit from…

ASA scorching first day of The Game Fair came to a close, it was time for The Field ’s annual Summer Party, hosted by Editor Alexandra Henton on the resplendent Rose Terrace at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire, by the kindest permission of the Marquess of Hertford. Sun-kissed partygoers, who made their way to the gathering through the blooming formal gardens, were greeted with champagne enlivened for the evening with a touch of top-notch Foxdenton sloe gin. The Hall provided some much-needed shade after a particularly warm opening day, allowing pastel and linen-clad revellers to cool off and catch up against the backdrop of Capability Brown avenues and darting house martins. There were no formalities this year, and there was a contented burble as attendees laughed and swapped sporting stories while…

THIS COUNTRY estate in the Wylye Valley has expansive arable and livestock farming enterprises, as well as a portfolio of residential and commercial properties. Bapton Manor has its own fishing on the River Wylye, and also potential for a pheasant and partridge shoot over rolling Wiltshire downland on the edge of the Cranborne Chase National Landscape. The Grade II-listed Georgian manor house, which dates to the 17th century, has eight bedrooms, with seven further houses and cottages in the sale providing rental income and housing for estate employees. There are 1,796 acres in total, including arable farmland, permanent pasture and woodland. Farm buildings have graindrying and storage capacity for more than 4,000 tonnes and extensive livestock facilities. Available as a whole or in six lots. Agent: Savills ♦ Tel: 01962…

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AS I WATCH the combine cross back and forth, I am struck by the simple truth that farmers have worked and shaped the land I’m looking at for thousands of years,’ writes the barrister-turned-Suffolk farmer and author Sarah Langford in Rooted: Stories of Life, Land and a Farming Revolution. ‘Beyond these fields it might feel as though the planet is beginning to fall apart. Our own small world may feel like it’s already fallen apart. But, as I stand and watch, I feel something reassuring in the thought that crops will be sown, crops will grow and crops will be harvested, no matter what chaos lies beyond them.’ There’s a romantic timelessness to the rhythms of the land as summer reaches its peak and begins its slow demise, a time…

Sporting artist ♦ Under the hammer ♦ Royal Armouries ♦ Sporting dog ♦ The boot room ♦ Gun review ♦ Country queries ♦ Gardening ♦ Field to fork ♦ Cookery ♦ Wine ♦ Travel ♦ Books ♦ Field testers ♦ The Last Hurrah ART LIVES in the space between the artist and the viewer. Many of us enjoy painting, modelling and writing for pleasure, yet the creative leap happens when the work is seen or touched or read by someone other than the person who made it. Sculptor Sarah Coward loves that moment of magic, and it is one of the reasons she is a regular exhibitor at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials. “It’s about wanting to sell directly to clients so that you meet the person who buys your…

FEW professional sportsmen are able to retire at the top of their game. Most can’t resist the prospect of one last match or one more round before hanging up their boots, racket or clubs. It’s the same with sporting dogs, although it is usually the dog’s owner rather than the dog itself that gets the timing of when to call it a day wrong. Now as the days start to shorten and shoot dates become imminent there will be many owners who genuinely believe that their old dog is good for one more season. Sadly, many will be disappointed, for a dog’s sporting life is depressingly short. A study undertaken by John Houlton published in Vet Record in 2020 showed that the majority of gundogs stop working at the age…

Send queries to Rosie Macdonald, Country Queries Editor, The Field, Future Publishing PLC, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR. For more, visit: thefield.co.uk Email country-queries@hectareshouse.co.uk Follow Rosie on Instagram @dizzy_m Framing one’s question Q A water leak has damaged one of my most favourite photo frames: a Bryn Parry frame with a deerstalking scene on the mount [below]. It depicts a stag to the right and a stalker lying in wait to the left. Do you know where I might find a replacement? CS, Herefordshire A Countryside Greetings (countryside greetings.co.uk) sells a range of Bryn Parry merchandise but sadly the frame in question is no longer produced by them. A small variety of Parry photo frames can be found on Etsy (etsy.com). A stag frame is available at £27 plus postage but stock…

WHAT COULD be more British than chuntering about the tail end of an Indian summer while striding through golden fields of stubble in pursuit of early-season partridges? Sweltering back-to-school weather delivers guns in the south a fresh raft of problems, from ensuring dogs don’t work themselves into exhaustion to certifying that their own cheeks are well sunscreened to avoid undesired rosiness. If September proves unusually warm, guns are forced to choose whether to risk a perceived breach of sartorial propriety by removing their shooting jacket, and exposing their naked shirt sleeves, or stoically face the prospect of eventual desiccation. Jettisoning jackets in even the tropically humid environments presented by reeling balls and regimental dinners is strictly verboten but is it also a capital offence on peg or while shuffling up…

EVER SINCE ancient Greek farmers entreated their goddess Demeter for a hand with harvest, there has been recognition that women play a vital role in agriculture. Yet while necessity gave women farming jobs long before today’s rich spectrum of career paths opened up to them, their roles tended to be menial rather than managerial. Thomas Hardy’s heroine Bathsheba Everdene may be fictional but the obstructive chauvinism she faces as a rare female farm owner would have rung true among readers long after the 1874 publication of Far from the Madding Crowd. Then, within living memory, came the ‘Land Girls’ who did so much to keep this country fed during the two world wars. First formed in 1917, the Women’s Land Army (WLA) recruited 23,000 female workers to replace the men…