Innholdsfortegnelse for 02-nov-16 i Country Life

‘ We may just have found a way to save our forests and protect our trees before it’s too late’ BREXIT, Donald Trump, extremism in France and Germany, ISIS, civil war in Syria: today’s world looks seriously dangerous and damaged. The voices calling for cooperation, toleration and fraternity are drowned out by strident nationalism, fundamentalism and sheer greed—demands that find easy acceptance on the front pages of our populist newspapers. However, in the face of all that gloom, Agromenes has been buoyed by a group of recent achievements that give us hope that some things are well and truly on the mend. The first is, of course, the Paris agreement on Climate Change. That was entirely unprecedented, as 195 countries gave real and tangible commitments to act together to avert…

Landscape photographer Martin Birks took this mesmeric, almost otherworldly, image on an autumnal misty morning. Having seen a favourable weather forecast, Mark rose early and drove from his home in Lincolnshire to the well-known local landmark—a limestone reef knoll on the Derbyshire side of the upper Dove Valley—in a bid to record the way the first light plays on the shapely incline. ‘I’d wanted to capture a dramatic sunrise here for a while,’ he admits. ‘It was a stunning view above the fog and there was a group of other photographers, who I enjoyed chatting with. One eventually made his way back down the hill and I liked the scale he added to the scene.’ PL It is one of the award-winning images that are on display at London Waterloo…

THE designer gained an intimate understanding of furniture as a restorer and gilder before setting up as an antique dealer and interior designer. Her shop on the Pimlico Road in London offers decorative antiques as well as her own growing range of bespoke furniture designs. Her interior-design projects include Jo Malone’s London headquarters. This is the drawing room of an apartment on the first floor of a late-Victorian building that overlooks Buckingham Palace. Rose was commissioned to create a formal entertaining space that combines classic style with contemporary twists and which makes the most of vast floor-to-ceiling windows in this room as well as in the bedrooms. The simple colour scheme comprises a combination of pale grey on the walls and lime-green silk at the windows. The space is furnished…

‘The buyer “won’t even need to change a lightbulb”’ IT is rare enough to find a historic house that perfectly reflects the era in which it was first built and rarer still to find one that hasn’t, at some point, been altered or ‘restored’ to within an inch of its life. Then again, how often do you see an important medieval manor house—built in four main phases between the 13th and 16th centuries and basically unchanged since then—which has been sensitively adapted for modern family living but lost nothing of its timeless ancient charm? Such a house is the exquisite, Grade ’ II*-listed Bramshott Manor (Fig 1) at Bramshott, near Liphook, on the Hampshire-Surrey-West Sussex border. Believed to be the oldest continuously inhabited manor house in Hampshire, this medieval…

$11 million (£9.08m) 11 bedrooms, swimming pool, private garden, terraces, 140 acres Lion Castle Plantation House, St Thomas Chestertons International (020–7201 2071) This historic plantation property includes the four-bedroom, 9,000sq ft main house, built in 1721 of coral stone, a two-storey apartment building and a separate three-bedroom manager's house-all with spectacular views of the island's south coast. $4.6 million (£3.8m) Four bedrooms, infinity pool Atelier House, Carlton Ridge, St James Savills (020–7016 3740) Bringing a cool contemporary look to tropical climes, this four-bedroom villa, half a mile from the famous beaches of Barbados's platinum coast, hits the spot. Built in 2012 and surrounded by a half-acre garden of palms, lilies, bougainvillea and flowering shrubs, it has a dramatic double-height sitting room, extensive outdoor terraces and ocean views. $11.5 million (£9.5m)…

‘It was not until after his death that the English took him to their hearts’ THE colouring of his trees, his herbage and plants, is fresh and juicy; and touched with as much spirit as delicacy; his skies are brilliant and clear; and his pictures exhibit a sparkling glow of sunshine which is almost peculiar to himself. His animals, particularly the cows, sheep and goats, are designed with a correctness and perfection that has never been surpassed. His pictures are held in the highest estimation, and are somewhat scarce.’ Thus wrote J. R. Hobbes in his 1849 The Picture Collector’s Manual, but of which Dutch master was he writing? In Britain, at least, were this question answered with the name van de Velde, the reaction even of most connoisseurs would…

MARGARET CAROLINE RUDD was a scandalous figure in London during the 1770s and 1780s. The last time I mentioned her here (May 1, 1997), I did scant justice to her career—but then, during it, she managed to evade justice for herself. I noted that she was ‘a notable courtesan who was tried for forgery at the Old Bailey in 1775. Although acquitted, her career is said to have ended soon after, and today she is remembered only for giving her name to a design illustrated by Hepplewhite: the elaborate “Rudd” was “the most complete Dressing Table made, having every conveniience that can be wanted, or mechanism and ingenuity supply”.’ Since then, books have been written about her, including ThePerreaus and Mrs Rudd by D. T. Andrew and R. McGowen (2001),…

‘There has been no let-up in the constant stream of GM propaganda’ You say you want a revolution? LAST week, the Government announced that Britain’s long-held aversion to genetically modified (GM) crops could come to an end after Brexit. Finally, some might say; disaster, from other quarters. Since 1998, only one GM product has been licensed—a type of maize, MON 810, which is resistant to pests—due to general reluctance across EU member states. Indeed, last year, a new regulation allowed members to ban farmers from cultivating GM crops altogether and, of the 28 EU countries, more than half followed through, including Germany, France, Scotland and Northern Ireland. And they’re not alone—countries ’ as far afield as Russia, China, India and Africa have policies in place to prohibit the growing…

Quiz of the week 1) What breed is the Obamas' dog Bo? 2) What type of orange is used to flavour Earl Grey tea? 3) How many King Williams plus Henrys of England have there been in total? 4) One of which singer's stage personae was the Thin White Duke? 5) Which five-letter Greek root word means ‘green'? The nature of things Small tortoiseshell butterfly THE case of the disappearing tortoiseshell: it’s a conundrum worthy of Holmes or Poirot. Formerly abundant and seen everywhere, Aglais urticae has been missing, in recent years, from many of its formerly familiar haunts. Various grounds for its retreat have been suggested, from too-tidy gardeners to the modern default reason for all ills—climate change. Another thought is that the flourishing of the parasitic fly…

Black on Maroon Ann Christopher RA is a sculptor. Her exhibition ‘All the Cages Have Open Doors’ opens at Pangolin London, Kings Place, London N1, today ‘I have to choose a group of paintings as they are, to me, one work. Walking into a room in Tate Britain in the 1970s was the first time I experienced an overwhelming reaction to painting. At the time, I knew little of Rothko and the journey of those paintings, but I do remember being moved to tears—not in a depressive way, but with powerful emotion. Rothko’s paintings still have the ability to draw me to them and move me. They have an extraordinary sense of depth both physically and mentally—a sense of mystery as if one is looking inside one’s head ’ FOR…

‘ The management of Somerleyton is about balancing a Victorian inheritance with 21st-century practicalities ’ MOST people today are free to create their own gardens. They might inherit planting or features from their predecessors, but they usually feel few constraints about making changes. The situation for the heirs to historic family homes is rather different and the garden of Somerleyton Hall, which lies in Suffolk countryside a few miles from the east coast, between the fishing ports of Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, is a fascinating example. Somerleyton’s present house and ’ garden were the creation of two leviathans of Victorian commercial entrepreneurship: Sir Samuel Morton Peto and Sir Francis Crossley, both of whom became MPs and Baronets. Peto started his working life in the 1820s as a bricklayer in his…

CHARMIAN GREEN, the Warwickshire’s senior master, explains that she can’t see me on Tuesday: ‘I’m taking a bitch to Cirencester that I’m trying to get to whelp.’ It scarcely matters, because, the following day, we follow hounds together in her car, strewn with the detritus of MFHs around Britain—tail bandages, vet wrap, Nurofen, Marlboros. A morning beside Mrs Green demonstrates better than anything else what’s involved in running a large, happy and successful hunt. After 35 or so years as master, she knows the name of every covert, field and pond, hound, farmer (plus their wives and grandchildren), every follower and supporter. Additionally, while watching hounds, she has a constant eye open for old friends and new opportunities: ‘I was going to ask if you could help with car capping…

‘ It’s as sleek and pared back as a hipster’s fixie’ THE fact that a new four-poster has been named after the spiritual home of the hipster suggests that something is afoot; had it been christened Kensington or Holland Park, you’d have thought that it was the type of four-poster you had always known, but the Hoxton is a distinctly Modernist incarnation, as sleek and pared back as a hipster’s fixie and available in a choice of oh-so-chic nickel or brushed brass. The Bed Of Ware this most certainly isn’t. Four-posters were a medieval status symbol, but they also have their roots firmly embedded in practicality, offering a cosy mix of privacy and thermal efficiency. However, in the 1990s, the chill hand of Minimalism pretty much banished them from…

Co-founder, Barneby Gates (www.barnebygates.com) For me, The Hambledon (above) is an absolute haven of inspiration. It's like a miniature department store, selling everything from fashion and homewares and bath and beauty products to stationary and books, all immaculately curated and displayed over three floors of a beautiful old town house in the heart of Winchester. The Hambledon, 10, The Square, Winchester, Hampshire SO23 9ES (01962 890055; www.thehambledon.com)…

‘ By halfway, your thighs are burning and you’re out of breath and out of control’ Jeremy Rollason, head of Savills’ Alpine team The Piste de l’Ours in Switzerland’s Four Valleys has hosted 28 World Cup downhill races since 1981 and my brother and I decided to race to the bottom. In normal use, it’s classified ‘merely’ as a red run, but this doesn’t take into account blind crests, treacherous trees and a 51° gradient. For fun, we set a stopwatch at the top and set off in tuck position, trying to avoid ski schools and other hazards. By halfway, your thighs are burning and you’re out of breath and out of control, but we made it without incident, high-fived and checked the time: three minutes. Wow: that must be…

‘ Back home in the North, another post-passer had a dinner for 30’ WE’VE all known people who have been banned from pubs for one reason or another, haven’t we? Perhaps I should rephrase that for COUNTRY LIFE readers and suggest that the odd one among you may have vaguely heard of someone who had been requested to leave a hostelry, almost certainly because of a slight misunderstanding later cleared up with a handshake. The further north you get in these isles, the more likely such incidents are to occur. And then you get to Scotland. I recall one elderly lady who had been barred from an Inverness establishment for fighting, an order she routinely disobeyed. Would her family, the landlord entreated, remove her Zimmer frame at night so…

We're accustomed to contemporary Italian design in the UK (Boffi, Minotti and Cappellini, to name a few), but, to date, classic pieces from Italy are rare birds. However, to judge by the hordes that recently flocked to admire the Florentine tiles on show at the Balineum pop-up store at Pentreath & Hall, there is a growing appetite for the country's more traditional style. Last month, Frette, the manufacturer of luxurious bedlinen, opened a London store after an absence of 16 years. On the New Kings Road, SW6, Officine Gullo (www.officinegullo.com), the Florentine kitchen manufacturer of breathtaking kitchens that combine modern technology with classic Italian styling ( left ), has been demonstrating that not all Italian design is Modernist.…

‘Today, the game of marbles seems an unlikely rural menace’ PUNISHMENT ‘with the utmost severity of the law’ was the warning on a handbill, dated May 18, 1850, printed for the churchwardens of the Sussex village of Warnham. It was addressed to ‘idle and disorderly persons’ and their ‘crime’ was to ‘play at marbles and other unlawful games’ on the parish highways on Sundays, thereby ‘molest[ing] and otherwise annoy[ing] females passing’. Today, the game of marbles seems an unlikely rural menace or cause of molestation. Although the world’s largest manufactory, Vacor de Mexico, produces as many as 12 million daily, the casual observer can be forgiven for assuming that, in Britain, playing marbles is a pastime mostly confined to the lost world of Richmal Crompton’s ‘Just William’ stories. That assumption…

TODAY’S ski-chalet buyer is not who he used to be. Now that the baby boomers have hung up their skis, a new breed of enthusiasts is taking to the slopes in a very different way. For one thing, the sport has gone virtual: from checking conditions online to sharing mountain-top photos on social media and recording stunt videos for YouTube, today’s skiers and snowboarders simultaneously use their smartphone with their salopettes. Recent research by Savills highlights that the ever-growing range of leisure options for this generation is spreading the prospective market even thinner. Resorts are realigning themselves to lure skiers in, offering on-slope free wi-fi and moving away from the traditional rustic look preferred by the older afficionados, towards a more contemporary style. Savills cite annual events such as…

‘ Many schools were run by cardiganed spinsters’ Social history Terms and Conditions Ysenda Maxtone Graham (Slightly Foxed Editions, £17.50) WOMEN who have been to boarding schools,’ writes Ysenda Maxtone Graham, ‘live with flashbacks both joyous and nightmarish.’ Reading this hilarious, poignant study, I had two. The first was of a thunderstorm during which our headmistress, Mother Bridget, summoned the school to the concert hall to read Act 3 of King Lear: an act of inspiration. The second was of yawningly dull weekends, when our only occupation was to ‘report’ hourly to the nun on duty. Some girls on the nun’s list had ‘G’ by their names. This meant ‘Greasy’ and allowed them to wash their hair twice a week. In creating this ‘patchwork of twentieth-century boarding-school life’, Miss Maxtone…

THERE was something inordinate about the poet, novelist and dramatist Victor Hugo, but, as V. S. Pritchett once wrote, ‘take away excess from Hugo and the genius vanishes’. His love of romantic theatricality also makes him a gift for composers of operas and musicals: one has only to think of Verdi’s Rigoletto and Ernani and Boublil and Schönberg’s Les Misérables. To that list, one can now add The Grinning Man, with a score by Tim Phillips and Marc Teitler and a book by Carl Grose, which has just opened at Bristol Old Vic. I doubt it will make theatrical history like the long-running Les Mis, but it’s still a wonderfully weird, macabre new musical. The source is Hugo’s 1869 L’Homme qui rit, which Mr Grose has freely adapted. The…