Innholdsfortegnelse for 03-Nov-2021 i Country Life

THE COUNTRY CLASSICS CALLING LONDON HOME Beaverbrook Town House, 115–116, Sloane Street, SW1 So much for the urban mass migration: all the best country-house hotels are welcoming city siblings. Gleneagles in Perthshire now has Gleneagles Townhouse in Edinburgh; Chewton Glen in the New Forest, and Cliveden in Berkshire, have The Mayfair Townhouse; Beaverbrook hotel and spa in Surrey has Beaverbrook Town House. It overlooks the Grade-II listed Cadogan Gardens (guests can request a key) and has 14 suites, an Art Deco bar, a Japanese fine-dining restaurant and a private event space. The original Beaverbrook's much-loved interiors haven't lost any of their quirky charm and playfulness. The suites are named after historic London theatres. Ask for The Adelphi-a television pops theatrically out of a blue linen-covered cabinet at the end of…

THE V&A Museum has announced its first exhibition of 2022: the complete life story of author Beatrix Potter, one of the best loved children’s authors of the 20th century, in partnership with the National Trust. ‘Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature’, which opens on February 12, 2022, will include personal letters, family photographs, early sketchbooks and manuscripts, charting the author’s multi-faceted life, from storyteller to natural scientist and conservationist. Artworks from The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (below), The Tailor of Gloucester (above) and The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle will also be on display. Visit www.vam.ac.uk for tickets.…

Editor Rosie Paterson Editor-in-chief Mark Hedges Chief sub-editor Octavia Pollock Art Heather Clark, Emma Earnshaw, Ben Harris, Dean Usher Advertising Katie Ruocco 07929 364909 Pictures Lucy Ford, Emily Anderson Email firstname.surname@futurenet.com…

Where is home for you in London? Barnes, in south-west London. We moved there 3½ years ago when my wife and I were expecting our first daughter. Both of us knew that it was exactly where we wanted to live. I was born there; my parents moved to West Sussex [where they run Nutbourne Vineyards] when I was one, but always spoke of it fondly. It’s very geared to young families, too. We’ve recently sized-up from a two-bedroom cottage to a Victorian house, but didn’t want to move out of the community; we only moved about 15 yards around the corner. What do you do on the weekends? We’re signed up to both Kew Gardens (www.kew.org) and the London Wetlands Centre (Queen Elizabeth Walk, SW13); there’s always lots going on.…

A hot mess Using biomass technology, excrement from endangered zebra, oryx and wild-ass species is now used to heat a large tropical house at Marwell Zoo, Hampshire, saving 220 tons of CO2 equivalent per year The ‘shoffice’ Home workers perform better from a garden shed than an office in the house, with a 25% improvement in focal attention, confirms leading psychogeographer and neuroscientist Colin Ellard Gladiators, we salute you Archaeologists exploring a Roman amphitheatre site at Richborough, Kent, have discovered the holding cell where gladiators were kept Good neighbours The owners of Lismore House, Cornwall, turned down offers of £2m, eventually accepting some £500,000 less-so that the house would stay in local hands with owners who understand the importance of and can lead the dance at Helston's Flora Day festival…

PANTOMIME costumes worn by Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret during the Second World War will go on display from November 25 as part of a new exhibition at Windsor Castle in Berkshire. Between 1941 and 1944, the sisters organised and performed in a series of Christmas pantomimes to raise money for the Royal Household Wool Fund, which provided wool for soldiers’ comforters at the Front. Six costumes, including The Queen’s attire in the title role of Aladdin (1943), will be shown in the Waterloo Chamber, where the performances took place, alongside large-scale fairytale images used to decorate the walls, not seen for 75 years. ‘The Princesses’ Pantomimes’ runs to January 31, 2022; visit www.rct.uk for details of further Christmas-time events at Windsor Castle.…

MOST of the cosmos that I planted from seed in the spring looks as if it will finally come into flower next week, as we move into November. It has been a flipsy-flopsy year weather wise and, perhaps, the cosmos decided to skip summer and wait for a warmer autumn; equally, it could be down to my skills as a gardener. I was certainly doubting my skill to shoot straight as I stood in an ever-growing midden of cartridges, with Hampshire partridges fizzing over hedges and beyond my aim. I was not pleased with myself, but my younger self would have been furious. As I have grown older, I have appreciated that shooting is about much more than simply pulling the trigger. During the day, there were hares and barn…

Cold turkey Q Fed up with sitting in a room of people glued to devices or finding my children texting at midnight, I have decreed all mobile phones and tablets will be shut in a drawer from 6pm until after breakfast the next morning. The children complained, but my husband has flatly refused to abide by the rule. How can I expect them to comply if he won’t? M. C., Kent AI am partly in awe of you and partly terrified at the prospect of ever meeting you. I imagine your children can look forward to mind-improving tomes and useful new underwear at Christmas. Their peers will be envious. Yet I do believe you are doing the right thing—it was during lockdown that I found a strange lump on my…

‘The supremist specimen of all ugliness’ William Morris ‘A spectacular and wondrous testament to the Victorian engineers who created it’ Gordon Brown ‘No steel cantilever bridge has ever matched the perfect balance of structural elegance and quality of design represented by this bridge’ UNESCO report proposing the Forth Bridge be made a World Heritage Site ‘Engineers… are not mere technicians and should not approve or lend their name to any project that does not promise to be beneficent to man and the advancement of civilisation’ Engineer Sir John Fowler…

BIRDS can be found pretty much everywhere, from our gardens to Antarctica, and from Emperor penguins diving more than 1,640ft into the Southern Ocean to bar-headed geese migrating up to 26,000ft as they navigate the Himalayas. It’s not surprising, therefore, that they have been depicted in cultures around the world for millennia, revered as deities, studied by scientists and adored by many. This is why, when I was approached to help select 180 images and objects for a book that aims to illustrate our relationship with birds across space and time, it was a daunting task. Bird: Exploring the Winged World, published by Phaidon Press, is the fantastic culmination of work over the past two years by a team comprising birders, ornithologists, natural-history experts, artists and writers. It covers how…

Classic style Manufactured on the Isle of Wight, the design of the Cranmore wood-burning stove is inspired by the work of neo-Classical architect John Nash, who lived the last years of his life on the island. Featuring clean-burn Blu technology and a clearSkies level 5 rating, it costs from £1,700, from Charnwood (01983 537777; www.charnwood.com) Antique find This Georgian fire surround is one of a pair, each featuring a finger-fluted frieze, bull’s-eye corner blocks and impressive scrolled legs. Made of Bath stone with some restoration work required, each fireplace costs £14,000 from Renaissance London (020–7251 8844; www.renaissancelondon.com) Big and beautiful New to the HEAT outdoor-living collection from Chesneys is the Clean Burn XL garden heater, designed to produce greater heat output and enough warmth for you to enjoy your garden…

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Swede hash browns with eggs and avocado Coarsely grate two peeled medium potatoes, a large peeled swede and an onion. Place them all in a clean tea towel and squeeze out excess moisture. Season well. Heat oil in a large frying pan and add dollops of the mixture to it, flattening them down until browned, then flip over to brown the other side. Repeat with all the mixture and then serve with eggs to your liking, sliced avocado and scatter over fresh parsley. Parmesan swede fries Peel and cut two medium-sized swedes into slim fries. Place these in a bowl and drizzle over vegetable oil, season generously and toss so they’re all evenly coated. Tip them out onto a foil-lined baking tray in a single layer and roast for about…

A boat stands for refuge, adventure and ambition. From a deck, out of sight of land, W. H. Auden wrote in The Sea and the Mirror: ‘All we are not stares back at what we are’. For author Adam Nicolson, writing in the catalogue to James Dodds’s 2007 exhibition, a boat is ‘the great symbol of transcendence, of our innate capacity to move beyond the brutish realities into something better and finer, but only—and this is the paradox—by attending as closely as we know how to the nature of those realities themselves’. He adds: ‘A boat in the hands of James Dodds is both canny and uncanny, real and unreal, here and afloat in some other ethereal space of which we will never be quite sure.’…

THE English country gentleman –not necessarily noble, not rich, not clever, yet proud, respectable, doing his duty, whether as Sheriff or as member of Parliament, or as county magistrate, with a sigh, grumbling at his hard fate, yet who would not change places with the King of any other country.’ So said the New York Times in 1879 and, although in some respects the world has (understandably) moved on, we find that this morsel has stood the test of time. We may jest that a gentleman requires the right residence, the right watch and the right wardrobe, but it is, of course, your actions that define you. Yet still we bring you this magazine –because, at the end of the day, who doesn’t enjoy lusting after the latest Rolex?…

GENTLEMEN of a certain age will recall that acronym in the dating classified ads, GSOH, and how those lacking it need not apply. We now live in an age of online matching, dating apps and algorithms, but a good sense of humour remains as important as ever, even if it’s now better known as ‘banter’. Why does it matter so much—and for those who don’t naturally possess it, what can be done? ‘Women like to be put at ease,’ says Lara Asprey, a matchmaker and relationships expert. ‘Pulling out a chair for a lady is lovely, but that type of gentlemanliness can also increase the pressure on an occasion and turn it into a quest for perfection. The ideal is to get acquainted via playfulness and a kind of dance,…

‘No one bats an eyelid if you turn up in jeans these days’ FOR some gentlemen of a particular class and age, denim is something to be feared. Corduroy, tweed, flannel and linen—these are the fabrics you want hanging in your wardrobe. Denim? That’s for cowboys and gigolos, they believe. For them, the ultimate mystery remains how to wear what has become the most ubiquitous garment on the globe: a pair of denim jeans. Now, however, is the time to embrace denim, not just because the demise of 9-to-5 office life means that the worsted suit will be reserved for high days and holidays, but because denim is enjoying a revival. Once dismissed as a scruffy garment, jeans can be worn almost anywhere and to any occasion. Unless it’s a…

‘Who were these hipsters? What did they want? Better coffee?’ FATHER still calls and asks if I have enough razor blades. He knows that the answer will be that I have none, which is more than enough, because I haven’t shaved in about three years. His is a different generation, where beards were worn by druids and Marxists (some things don’t change). He views my beard as a mild affront to every leg-up in life he’s ever given me (there were plenty) and it would not surprise me to wake up in the evening to see him descending from the ceiling à la Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible to shave it. Which, when you think about it, would be pretty impressive for a man in his seventies (my dad, not…

What is Xupes? My father and I founded Xupes (pronounced ‘zoops’) in 2009. As well as watches, we also sell luxury handbags and jewellery. Where can we buy your watches? Through our website and we have a boutique in The Royal Exchange, London EC3. We also sell through international platforms such as Chrono24. What’s in your collection? We’ve got a broad collection, with prices starting from about £1,000. We specialise in a core of 10 brands, including Rolex, Patek Philippe, Cartier and Panerai. Do you offer trade-in? Yes and you can trade a handbag or piece of jewellery for a watch—or the other way around. We also offer finance through Klarna and Splitit. What about certifications and warranties? We’re accredited by seven brands, including Omega, Cartier and IWC. Every watch…

MARY BORDEN stared down the line of beds—each touching the stark walls of a room that had once been a glittering casino, but was now shabby with neglect, its chandeliers and glass ceiling dusty and streaked with dirt. You couldn’t really call it a hospital ward. In each bed was a miserable lump of humanity, shivering under a dirty blanket. How had she ended up here? When Britain entered the First World War on August 4, 1914, Borden had been living the life of a pampered millionaire. Her London residence on Park Lane had been a vibrant centre of intellectual life and her salon was frequented by the likes of Ford Madox Ford, E. M. Forster and Percy Wyndham Lewis. The wife of a doting missionary, she had been pregnant…

IT might seem obvious to say that Sir Rocco Forte is a creature of his hotels, but having interviewed him a few times recently, it’s a relief to be seeing him not over Zoom, but in the Dover Suite in Brown’s, London W1. A more gentlemanly setting is difficult to imagine. P. G. Wodehouse volumes line the shelves in the instantly recognisable Everyman editions, there’s a photograph of Churchill and The Queen on a vintage escritoire and everything breathes that particular kind of unobtrusive comfort for which his hotels are famous. I don’t think, if you inherit wealth, you’re necessarily a gentleman. It’s all about how you talk to people Sir Rocco himself, a very fit 76, is well-mannered, his right cuff undone with a certain careless ease. So does…

Scent for gents Acqua di Parma has launched a new men's fragrance, destined for the bathrooms of discerning chaps. Oud & Spice is a warm and earthy fragrance, perfect for winter, with opening notes of citrus, leading to pepper and clove. Originating from the resin of the rarest and most highly prized variety of agarwood, this is set to be a star of the iconic Italian fragrance house's collection. From £90 (www.acquadiparma.com) They see me rollin’ After launching its triple watch rolls last year, Bennett Winch's elegant cases are now available as doubles and singles, perfect for housing either your family heirloom at home or some favourite pieces for travelling. Handmade in London, the rigid and stable protective shell opens to a soft interior, which doubles as a cushioned tray…

IN 1999, Christie’s sold a blue front door for £5,750. The same blue door that Richard Curtis cast as the front door of travel-bookshop owner William Thacker in the film Notting Hill. According to Amelia Walker, head of private and iconic collections at the London auction house, a door is ‘an unusual thing to sell. Normally, you only remove a door when you’re doing a complete refurbishment or if you have a very good reason’. Once you start looking for notable front doors, you’ll find them everywhere: at 221b, Baker Street, NW1, home of Sherlock Holmes (www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk), or 18, Folgate Street, E1, where, behind the imposing black door and black brick surround, is concealed a museum dedicated to the family of French Huguenot silk weavers who once lived there (www.dennissevershouse.co.uk).…

THE most iconic painting of the Rococo age is swinging back into frame looking better than ever, after a summer of technical analysis and conservation (right, mid clean). As of yesterday, Fragonard’s Les hasards heureux de l’escarpolette (The Swing) (1767–68) is back at the Wallace Collection, London W1, in a relit gallery alongside seven other paintings by the artist for the first time—the largest collection in Europe outside France. Playful and candy-coloured, The Swing is one of the most popular paintings at the museum and is frequently referenced in literature, art, design and cinema, even featuring in Disney’s Frozen, despite the fact that mystery surrounds its ‘scandalous’ subject. One theory is that the commission came from a gentleman wishing to depict a moment where he, lying in a rose bush,…

Rural prosperity Victoria Vyvyan of the CLA calls the autumn Budget ‘a missed opportunity' to improve prosperity in the countryside, where the economy is 18% less productive than the national average Christmas trees A pathogen that affects trees including Douglas fir, western hemlock, tanoak and several pine species has been identified in Cornwall Savile Row suits Gieves & Hawkes, possibly the most famous tailor on Savile Row, with George III, Nelson, Churchill and Noël Coward among historic clients, could close due to the debts of its parent Chinese company, Trinity Limited…

• parish England 's, Canterbury (above), where St Augustine founded his mission after arriving from Rome in AD597 • One of the newest is Genesis (opened 2020), a boat on the Lee in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and home to the St Columba East London community • The UK's smallest is the church above the holy well of St Trillo at Rhos on Sea, Clwyd (11ft by 8ft, seats six) • Holy Trinity Church in Hull is the largest in England • If you can find it, the pre-Norman Church of the Holy Cross at Kilgwrrwg, Monmouthshire, is one of the UK's most remote functioning parish churches-across two fields and a stream from the nearest house, its location is said to have been chosen by allowing a pair of…

FOREIGN tourists are back in London. Not in huge quantities, admittedly, but enough to swell the crowds. Waiting to buy cheese at a stall in Borough Market, I heard two Americans ahead of me in the queue, both of them evidently first-time visitors to Britain, expressing astonished delight when it was revealed to them by the stallholder that Cheddar was a place. ‘No way!’ one of them exclaimed with a laugh. ‘That’s so cute.’ There was a time when this observation might have met with tight-lipped reserve. On this occasion, however, everyone in the queue smiled. No one spoke, of course (this is Britain), but the message was clear: welcome back, we have missed you. The cancellation of so many celebrations over lockdown has perhaps made this Halloween seem more…

A pirate’s life for me AS a Pembrokeshire ex-pat, I was pleased to see note of the county’s more famous, if less law-abiding son Black Bart in your ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ article (October 13). Although there is no doubt that he was ‘a very naughty boy’ (to borrow a line from The Life of Brian), one has to admire his exploits. Going to sea at the age of 13, Bartholomew Roberts had risen to the rank of third mate when, in 1719, his merchant ship was captured by pirates under the captaincy of fellow Pembrokeshire old boy Howell Davis. Possibly because of their shared language and origins and/or because Bart was an accomplished navigator, he was soon assimilated into the pirate crew. Only six weeks later, Davis was killed…

AS the days draw in, Athena has been reminded of the ways that a sudden surge of plentiful, strong and cheap lighting is having an impact—apparently without much public discussion—on nighttime London. The agent of change has been the Light Emitting Diode or LED, which not only operates with about 80% greater efficiency than the conventional incandescent bulb, but lasts much longer and is far more versatile in terms of colour and intensity. Given all these advantages, it is no surprise that the widespread installation of LED lights is high on the agenda for the Government as it seeks to meet its ambitious carbon-emission targets. London is the city that has so far embraced this technology most actively, but, in the next decade or so, LED will surely be universal.…

I AM shuffling books in my bookstore when a customer comes up to me. Peering over her mask, she says: ‘I guess you haven’t been back home during all this. Do you get homesick?’ It’s a friendly question that deserves a friendly answer. I’ve learned that most folks don’t expect a diatribe about the state that believes Donald Trump won the last election. They don’t want to hear the heartbreaking news that Mississippi is the first state to reach the morbid milestone of losing one in every 300 residents to coronavirus and that, if Mississippi were a country, it would have the second-highest per capita death rate in the world, just under Peru. They only wonder if I miss home. Remembering my manners, I call on Eudora. For more than…

The list of accomplishments of Sir John Fowler (1817–98) and Sir Benjamin Baker (1840–1907) extends far beyond the Forth Bridge. Fowler designed the Grosvenor Bridge (also known as the Victoria Railway Bridge), which, when it opened in 1860, was London's first railway bridge over the Thames. He designed the elegant, two-span train shed that still survives today as part of the oldest (eastern) side of Victoria station. He was also the brains behind the former Manchester Central Station, with its massive, single-train span shed, among several other termini. Fowler began working on the Metropolitan Railway in London, the world's first underground line, several years before Baker joined his practice in 1862. He promoted Baker to chief assistant in 1869, making him a full partner in 1875. Together, they acted as…

WHEN Bonfire Night rolls around, I look forward to that smoky feast of baked potatoes cooked in the fire’s embers, cinder toffee and toffee apples eaten with gloved hands, the smell of gunpowder lingering in the air. Growing up, a slab of dark, sticky and spicy parkin was as essential to the night as the guy on top of the bonfire, so, when I left home to go to university, I was surprised when friends from other parts of the country had never heard of this staple of my northern childhood. I looked on them more with pity than with hunger and, ever since, I’ve made it my business to spread the parkin love as far and wide as possible, baking it in kitchens from Moscow to Paris and Houston,…

Dahlias are old news now. In mild and sheltered areas, their roots can be left in position over the winter, but, elsewhere, they must be lifted and stored now, together with potted specimens. Remove the rootball with care and work off the loose soil. Cut down the top growth and dispose of it. Label each plant as you go or chaos will ensue in the spring. Place each plant in an old pot or a bucket. Store it in a frostproof place. No light is required for the next few months, so a shed or a pot store are equally appropriate.…

‘Here are the greatest masterpieces of western civilisation’ Europe’s 100 Best Cathedrals Simon Jenkins (Viking, £30) IF Simon Jenkins were a building, what listing would he receive? Certainly Grade I, but I suspect a special super-plus category would be required. Many people would be content with a career as newspaper editor, columnist, National Trust chairman and general leading light, but he has further tasked himself to visit seemingly every structure of significance in this corner of the planet. After England’s Thousand Best Churches, England’s Thousand Best Houses and Britain’s 100 Best Railway Stations comes this latest volume. Does the man ever put his feet up? The success of these works, based on heroically large numbers, has spawned imitators, in whom a trainspotterish urge may be suspected, but his book fulfils…

‘Before I tied the knot, I started to become exasperated by questions about when I was getting married and found myself responding: “Next week, actually… Did you not get the invitation?”’ Lara Asprey, matchmaker ‘At a party, if a man was becoming amorous with me, my late husband had this wonderful way of appearing at just the right moment with a plate of oranges, asking, “Isn’t it half-time?”’ Jilly Cooper, novelist ‘My favourite put down involves the writer Rebecca West who called a chauvinist male writer “every other inch a gentleman,” turning cliched compliment into witty barb with the insertion of a single word’ Jonathan Silvertown, professor and author ‘Spencer Tracy was once pestered in front of a group of people by a young method actor to try method acting,…

• Unless you really are svelte, avoid skinny jeans. ‘If you have a waist over, say, 36in, be confident with your waist size and don’t try to pour yourself into something too small,’ says Brant Richards of jeans manufacturer Hebtro. ‘Get straight-leg jeans’ • Should you tuck a shirt into your jeans? ‘If you're thin, tuck it in,' advises personal stylist Phill Tarling. If you're not thin, leave your shirt untucked, but ensure the shirt tails aren't too long • Want to ensure you look smart, not scruffy, when wearing jeans? Consider teaming them with a tie and jacket, but try a woolen, knitted or even a bow tie. ‘This can look sporty, preppy and classy,’ believes Mr Tarling • Avoid ‘builder's bum' by ensuring you buy a pair with…

MANY years ago, somewhere high up in the French Alps, my mother was dangling on a chairlift. The lift had ground to a temporary halt and, being neither a fan of skiing nor heights, it was hardly her favourite place to be. So as she swung, many metres above some precipitous slope, she attempted nervous conversation with the stranger beside her. ‘Bonjour,’ she said. ‘Bonjour,’ came the grunted reply. ‘Ça va?’ ‘Oui, ça va.’ Then silence, punctuated only by a bitter wind whistling between the pylons. In one final attempt at furthering Anglo-Gallic relations, she went equestrian. ‘Aimez-vous les chevaux?’ At last, a smile broke his craggy resolve. ‘Oui!’ he cried. ‘Avec les frites.’ Now, the British generally prefer their horses in stables, rather than on a plate—but the veneration…

Braces • ‘The advantage of braces over belts is that you can have a looser and more comfortable waist, without trousers gliding down,' advises tailor Erlend Norby. They are a more comfortable option for many wearers, as they hang from the shoulder without constraining the stomach • Braces are more practical for high-waisted or wide-legged trousers • They don't affect the hang of trousers by cinching in the waistband Belts • The 1987 film Wall Street continues to cast a long shadow. Gordon Gekko, the rapacious financier played by Michael Douglas, wore boldly coloured and striped braces (including designs made by Albert Thurston), which set a fashion among financiers globally. More than 30 years later, negative reaction against brash City capitalists includes Gekko's trademark braces • Many wearers consider belts…

It’s off to work you go Q I am 40 years old, live in a rural area and recently inherited a substantial sum. I have given up work and spend my time pottering about the house, reading, listening to the radio and taking naps. Life would be perfect were it not for my housekeeper, who disapproves of my new lifestyle and is forever making sarcastic comments—not only to me, but also to visiting friends. I can’t fire her as staff are impossible to find in this area and she’s related to all likely replacements. How can I tell her that it’s none of her business? I’m starting to think I may have to get a job, just to keep her quiet. M. H., Norfolk A Don’t weaken. There is a…

Theatre is back with a bang and with a stellar line-up more accustomed to Hollywood. Here are the shows and names to look out for next year: • Rafe Spall will star in the West End premiere of To Kill A Mockingbird at the Gielgud Theatre, beginning March 2022. The show was due to open in 2020 with Rhys Ifans as Atticus Finch; he was forced to pull out due to scheduling conflicts (www.gielgudtheatre.co.uk) • Killing Eve star Jodie Comer (right) makes her West End debut in the UK premier of Prima Facie—about a young and brilliant barrister, Tessa—at the Harold Pinter Theatre, from April 15, for nine weeks only (https://primefacieplay.com) • Amy Adams will also be making her West End debut in Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie at the…

Greens of Highgate A ‘very good little greengrocer,' according to the Highgate Society's William Britain (11, Highgate High Street) Red Lion & Sun A favourite of Winkworth's James Wilkinson, this pub has two gardens (25, North Road) Sacred Spirits The owner of this Highgate distillery started making gin in his back garden (50, Highgate High Street) The Lauderdale House cafe ‘A great place for families to meet,' says the Highgate Society's Catharine Wells (Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill) Highgate Butchers Shopkeeper Phyllis Harper is honoured with a pink plaque (76, Highgate High Street)…

Westminster Abbey, SW1 An oak door at Westminster Abbey is thought to be the oldest in the UK, installed in the 1050s during the reign of Edward the Confessor Hampton Court Palace, KT8 When the original Tudor frontage of Henry VIII's palace was partly demolished by Sir Christopher Wren, the door went with it, considered old-fashioned. The Victorians found it at the bottom of the moat and reinstalled it during further renovations. It's still there today-the same door that was used by the King and his six wives 23, Leinster Gardens, W2 When is a door not a door? When it's not quite there. Nos 23 and 24 of elegant Leinster Gardens are two false-fronted houses, complete with fake front doors, erected to help disguise the railway line behind 32,…

FEW places would claim to be the birthplace of climate change, but the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, has acknowledged its contribution to the crisis and is now looking into the past to find solutions. The Gorge was a ‘crucible of invention,’ according Nick Ralls, CEO of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. ‘My office is yards away from the old furnace where Abraham Darby experimented with new fuels for iron making. Unfortunately, a by-product of that is pollution. When you see paintings from the 18th and 19th century, you have these wonderful pictures of the red glow in the furnaces and the haze of smoke that hung over the Gorge. It’s a bit of a strange claim to make, but [climate change] started here.’ The local museums have felt the effect…

Cling on to summer Tesco, Finest Côtes de Provence Rosé, Provence, France 2020. £9, Tesco, alc 12.5% Cling on to summer with a glass of this cracking value Provence rosé. Made by the négociant Castel Frères, the wine is delicately coloured and scented with tart redcurrant and strawberry fruit, tangy and juicy in character, but also elegant with fresh acidity. Apricot pastries Codorníu, Cuvée Barcelona 1872 Cava Brut, Penedès, Spain NV. £12, Ocado, alc 11.5% Brilliant value, this light and fresh Cava blends Macabeu, Xarel·lo and Parellada. Appealing aromatics: apricot pastries, lemon tart and a creamy yeastiness. Lifted citrus on the palate, with nutty notes. Lovely aperitif style. Gunflint edge Saint Clair, Barrique Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand 2017. £17.70–£19.99, All About Wine, Corking Wines, Exel, New Zealand…

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GILLING CASTLE does not obviously declare either its depth of history or its exceptional interest. It stands at the point of a steep-sided ridge overlooking the Vale of Pickering, yet the main front today decisively turns its back on the view and masks the architectural complexity of the building. To the modern visitor, therefore, who approaches up a densely wooded bank from the village beneath, the impression is not of a castle commanding its surrounds—a relationship only apparent from a distance (Fig 2)—but of a large, coherent Georgian country house enclosed by trees. As it is initially revealed, the castle comprises a central block five window bays wide flanked by two strikingly long wings that terminate in pavilions, originally a library and Catholic chapel. The front is low, with a…

Ralph recently branched out into Albion cattle. He was inspired by Adam Henson (who isn't?), plus they have beautiful blue-roan faces. Mostly, however, Ralph, a retired geneticist, loves anything obscure and beautifully marked. He travelled to Kirkcudbright to collect Scots Dumpy eggs and to Wales for a pair of handsome Brecon Buff geese. His animals have to earn their keep, however, and he's doing a nice line supplying Lincoln Longwool fleeces to an upmarket mattress company. Come the apocalypse, the country will be grateful for the gene pool he's assembling. KG…

Join COUNTRY LIFE on a tour of the Gardens of Lazio & Umbria from April 25–29, 2022. The tour price of £3,995 includes return flights from London, all garden entries, most meals, two nights at the Hotel de Russie in Rome and two nights at Hotel Sina Brufani in Perugia. The hosts are COUNTRY LIFE contributor Charles Quest-Ritson and garden expert Kirsty Fergusson and the tour is timed to coincide with the magical weeks of early Italian summer, when roses bloom and nightingales sing day and night. We explore some of the most famous rose gardens including Ninfa and a private garden owned by a former president of the World Federation of Rose Societies. The tour starts in Rome at the Hotel De Russie, a Rocco Forte hotel, with interiors…

‘Genesis is non-committal on the forbidden fruit, but I believe that it was a pear’ MANY years ago, in the middle of an especially enjoyable picnic (no rain, no whingeing children, no wasps), a Spanish friend suddenly exclaimed ‘Esta es la pera!’, or ‘This is the pear!’, explaining afterwards that his countrymen, presumably because they hold the fruit in such high esteem, use the expression to convey pleasure in a particular situation. This week, after I heard that a derelict farm known locally as Robertsons —because a family of that name owned it for several centuries, ending in about 1900 (more or less yesterday in these parts)—had been sold, I found myself wondering if one could say ‘Esta no es la pera!’ when unhappy with a particular situation. For the…

I AM not, personally, a great advocate for the capsule wardrobe. If you don’t believe me, ask my wife—she has long given up trying to get me to dispose of any items of clothing. Being asked to put together a list of 10 items without which a gentleman cannot consider himself properly dressed is, therefore, a daunting task of reduction. I suppose there is a sort of Zen-like quality about having a wardrobe of the barest of essentials, but I leave that to the Zen masters. After much searching of what passes for my soul, I have chosen 10 items that I believe to be essential—but I could easily have added another 90. The tweed or Saxony suit Speaking from personal experience, the tweed suit is an indispensable garment: a…

‘Many watches increase in value, so some customers will lose no money in an upgrade’ NOT all that long ago, if you wanted to buy a second-hand watch, your first thoughts might have turned to the gentleman in the ankle-length mac, whose schtick began with the words: ‘Wanna buy a watch?’ The second-hand market was—or, at least, felt—dodgy. Few authorised retailers played the game and still fewer brands legitimised it. Want a warranty with that second-hand watch? Forget it. Stories of people burned by fakes or watches well past their sell-by date became the prevailing narrative. A lot has changed, however. Today, the second-hand market, now known increasingly as ‘certified pre-owned’ or ‘CPO’, is booming. International operations with huge inventories, such as WatchFinder and WatchBox, lead the way and smaller…

James Smith and Sons (020–7836 4731; www.jamessmith.co.uk) This venerable London institution is best known for umbrellas, but also has a superb range of walking sticks a very African ebony cane. Emily Hannah (01954 201159; www.emilyhannah.ltd.uk ) One of the most extensive ranges of walking sticks in the UK, including a nice line in tippling canes, which have a concealed spirit flask in the shaft. The Stickman (www.thestickman.co.uk/shop.htm) In the North Yorkshire town of Helmsley, Keith Pickering has crafted crooks for bishops and a magical walking stick for Nanny McPhee. No telephone orders.…

Serves Ingredients 1kg Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and cut into chips (approx 2cm by 2cm by 6cm) Groundnut or grapeseed oil Sea salt Method Place the cut chips into a bowl under running water for 5 minutes, to wash off the starch. Place 2kg cold tap water in a large saucepan and add the chips. Place the pan over a medium heat, bring to the boil and simmer until the chips are almost falling apart (about 10 minutes, depending on the potato). Carefully remove the cooked chips and place them on a cooling rack to dry out and cool. Then, place in the freezer for at least 1 hour, to remove more moisture. Heat a deep-fat fryer or a deep pan no more than half filled with oil (to a…