Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2015 i The Field

From bonefishing in the Bahamas to mayfly days on chalkstreams and a species day for two guns, this year’s S&TA auction brims with tempting lots. Guide prices range from £40 for a day’s sea-trout fishing for two on the Denbigh & Clwyd Angling Club’s water in North Wales to £7,000+ for an eared dove-shoot for four in Argentina. To view the lots and bid visit www.salmon-trout.org/auction. Bidding closes at midnight on 18 October and all the funds raised will support the charity’s campaigning work in protecting and preserving aquatic ecosystems. Early results from the S&TA’s 2015 National Riverfly Census show a “massive decline” of the Gammarus shrimp on the 12 monitored English rivers, which include the Lambourn, Dove and Test. Levels of this important invertebrate were once several thousand in…

LEMINGTON BREEKS BARBOUR Essential ladies’ kit. Flattering cut for sporting Dianas. Price £179 Tel 0800 009 988 www.barbour.com NEOPRENE GLOVES PHILIP MORRIS Close fitting and cosy with splits for busy trigger fingers. Price £20 Tel 01432 377089 www.philipmorrisdirect.co.uk CAPE PURDEY Swing in style with this lodenand-alpaca mix short cape. Price £825 Tel 020 7499 1801 www.purdey.com TECHWOOL ACTIVE JACKET BERETTA Traditional wool combines with hi-tech fabric. Banish being sodden. Price £640 Tel 020 7408 4411 www.beretta.com LODEN COAT ALAN PAINE Put wool to work. Waterproof and breathable in an abundant range of sizes. Price £310 Tel 01623 415760 www.alanpaine.co.uk HELMSLEY COAT & BREEKS WILLIAM & SON Cut a subtle dash in discerning grey tweed. Waistcoat available. Price £675 & £375 Tel 020 7493 8385 www .williamandson.com TORRIDON WAISTCOAT HARKILA British…

PRIME Oak harnesses the natural strength and warmth of oak’s timeless beauty to meet the demands of modern living. As a specialist in oak-frame design and manufacture, Prime Oak crafts discerning and aesthetically pleasing buildings that provide extra space and natural light. This improves both clients’ homes and lifestyles, but also helps to retain the unique character of their existing home. An orangery from Prime Oak can nestle into courtyards and beneath first-floor windows to avoid obstructing your view and remain in keeping with your home. The glass lantern helps to create ambience by bringing in light and warmth, and the result is a bright, airy space that will soon become established as the most favoured room in the house. They encapsulate aesthetic appeal and good taste to complement a…

BLAME the Guards Depot for my excessive interest in field footwear. A long time ago, in a land that time forgot, I was thrown a pair of stippled ammunition boots and told to “bone” them with a hot spoon. Once the leather was smoothed down, one began “bulling” with a duster stretched on a finger, a dab of polish and a drop of water. One came to loathe and eventually love those boots in equal measure. I also remember with unequivocal fondness the more relaxed, rubber-soled DMS (Directly Moulded Sole) “combat” boots. These were the practical footwear in which we trained – ran, shot, jumped – when not engaged in the stamping rituals of the parade ground. For years, my generally positive experience with the DMS set the standard by…

VIKINGS ate turnips. This hard vegetable is rooted in the British culinary repertoire, be it bashed and served with haggis in Scotland, simmered in Welsh lamb cawl or used as a staple in the standard stew of the English. The original Hallowe’en lantern was a turnip. The Irish gave this idea to the Americans. And there, in the great US of A, turnips gave way to pumpkins as rugby did to American football, as single malt to bourbon. The Americans, never ones to hide their light under a bushel (or inside a brassica), are more passionate about pumpkins than they are about baseball; and it goes farther than the lantern. In 2013 Americans spent more than $15 million on pumpkin-flavoured beers. Pumpkin-flavoured cider and pumpkin-flavoured Dunkin’ Donuts, bagels, cookies, pretzels…

IF you fancy a medium/large estate car from the VAG group of car manufacturers, you aren’t alone. Imagine a world without the Audi A3, VW Golf and Skoda Octavia – the roads would be mighty quiet. Car parks in some southern towns would be all but deserted. The interesting thing (for car nerds, anyway) is that all these familiar cars are built on the same MQB (Modularer Querbaukasten or modular transverse matrix) platform. The different members of the VAG group get to put their own design over an already developed base. Lots of “different” cars at little extra cost. The lesser-known member of the VAG group is SEAT. Its dealers are fewer and farther between but you can be sure that they’ll be delighted to see you; unlike their Audi…

LOOKING at Jonathan Sainsbury’s work makes me realise how lucky I am that the cherry tree outside my window has died. A wren now picks among the moss at its base; a tree creeper patrols the trunk for insects; twittering flocks of long-tailed tits and goldfinches are busy among the lichen-covered upper twigs. It’s a scene straight from one of Sainsbury’s paintings. Laughing, Sainsbury agrees: “Where I live in Perthshire everything is damp and wet, so you get dead wood. We have an oak tree that must be about 300 years old and the bottom branches have died. It gives me a lot of inspiration and I have done a whole series of paintings of branches.” The branches and bramble bushes he paints feature birds like the long-tailed tits –…

A village shop in the running to become Britain’s best independent community retailer is appealing to customers for support following the expansion of a nearby mini-supermarket. West Meon Village Shop in Hampshire is a finalist in the National Federation of Retail Newsagents awards on 13 October in London having won the southern regional competition. There has been a shop in West Meon for more than 50 years but in 2006 it was facing closure. Thanks to 500 shareholders the shop was saved. Like many village shops, West Meon has added services to survive. A post office is open twice a week, paper, milk and veg box deliveries are offered, bread is baked daily and a café is run on the premises. The community-run shop aims to break even, but following…

BEEKEEPERS from all over Britain gather together in October to show their precious produce, meet friends and hear about new research from experts at the 84th National Honey Show. The first show was held from 11 to 13 October 1923 at Crystal Palace in London after the Kent and Surrey Beekeepers’ Association decided to broaden the joint show held the previous year into a national event. There were 16 open classes and two judges. In 1925 it was moved to September and included demonstrations in a bee tent within the exhibition hall. One of the notable early exhibitors was David Lloyd George, who won prizes for his heather and heather-blend honey and opened the show in 1936, the last held in Crystal Palace as a month later it was destroyed…

DON’T be surprised to see City types trading the wine bar for a straw bale and looking for a fence to lean over to give themselves agricultural credibility. Investment farmland continues to rise, beating most other major asset classes – including even prime residential property in central London – and hitting an average of £12,500 an acre. So says Knight Frank’s new Farmland Investment Index, citing a 14% increase in the average value of investment farmland in the past 12 months, which represents a 228% rise over the past 10 years. The index tracks the value of large blocks of arable farmland across England, typically upwards of 1,000 acres and thus big enough to ring the pockets of investors. It even has its own term – investment grade land –…

AROUND three the sun finally arrived on stage like an Eighties rock band, in a blaze of light but bloody late. It had been a long day’s drench for beaters, keepers, guns and, of course, the birds. If they’d been reared, we would have given them best, taken a long lunch, played cards. But these were wild partridges, tough as Gurkhas, and they’d faced the rain, the wind and the guns. High on the flank we watched the team line out. “What’s this drive called?” I asked the Duke of Norfolk quietly. “It’s Burpham Field Over Peppering Dryer Lane,” he replied, before taking his place on No 6 peg, the last player to walk on stage for one of the rarest performances in the sporting world. Well, not quite the…

FROM an escarpment overlooking the River Iwerne near Blandford Forum it is possible to discern a small covert, the Warren, which has every claim to be called the crucible of modern foxhunting. It was here, in the mid 1800s, that Peter Beckford, who lived at nearby Stepleton House, where he wrote Thoughts Upon Hunting, laid out his woodland with a centre circle and eight open rides or “alleys” so he could “quarter” and train his hounds and observe which hunted best together as a pack. Soon afterwards, in the 19th century, the young Squire Farquharson took on the sporting and daunting task of hunting “The whole of Dorsetshire”, moving hounds between three kennels and, as is recorded in former Cattistock Master Henry Higginson’s The Meynell of the West (1936); enjoying…

THERE are few images as evocative as an English churchyard filled with dark yews. For centuries, most village churches have had their yew trees, protecting weddings and funerals from the elements. It’s mentioned by Shakespeare as the “double-fatal yew” – a reference to both its poisonous leaves and its unique suitability as bow-making material – and Wordsworth, Keats and Tennyson use the image of the yew as a point of poetic reference. In such ways, the English yew has entered our subconscious as a comforting, ancient presence in the background of the important events of our lives. Its story began a long time ago. The evergreen yew evolved millions of years before our “broadleaved” deciduous trees. Being evergreen, it tolerates shade better than most plants and its own shade discourages…

PLAYING WITH GUNDOGS Q I was recently told that I should never allow my young dog to enter into tug-of-war games if I am to have the slightest chance of taking her shooting. I don’t shoot very often and feel there must be some happy balance between the two. Any thoughts? AT, by email A Some trainers say that if you play correctly with your dog you are teaching her that you are fun to be around and it helps the dog focus on you. You need to be in control of the game always and the dog must have been taught the “give” command. In any game the dog must give up the toy immediately when asked to do so; must never put her teeth on the owner’s arm…

ON the 6th of September, 1831 two men walked into 314½ Oxford Street, the premises of James Purdey & Sons. These men were destined to make history, each in a different way. The younger one was 22-year-old Charles Darwin, who was to change how we looked at the world and the development of life on earth. The other was 26-year-old Robert Fitzroy, captain of HMS Beagle, a trained meteorologist and the commander of an expedition that he had just invited Darwin to join, tasked to survey Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia and the Southern Cone. They entered Purdey’s to acquire guns and ammunition for the voyage. Fitzroy was a mighty spender and had an extensive shopping list. That day he would commit more than £400 to the purchase of firearms, ammunition…

19 sept - 4 BRITISH FOOD FORTNIGHT Events in churches, hospitals and butchers’ shops promoting British food For details, visit www.lovebritishfood.co.uk. 1-31 GREAT BATH FEAST Tastings, talks and tutorials; www.greatbathfeast.co.uk. 3-21 HODGE MARCUS The Jerram Gallery, Half Moon Street, Sherborne, Dorset, tel 01935 815261. 9-11 ANTIQUES & FINE ART FAIR Esher Hall, Sandown Park Racecourse, Portsmouth Road, Esher, Surrey; www.esherhallfair.com. 10 FISHING DAY (IN AID OF KIDS FOR KIDS) Albury estate, nr Guildford, Surrey; www.kidsforkids.org.uk. 10 SYBIL ANDREWS LINOCUTS Osborne Samuel Gallery, 23a Bruton Street, London W1, tel 020 7493 7939. 10-11 BRITISH NATIONAL PLOUGHING CHAMPIONSHIPS Marden, nr Tonbridge, Kent; www.ploughmen.co.uk. 10-11 SUFFOLK GAME & COUNTRY SHOW Trinity Park, nr Ipswich, tel 01702 549623. 13-14 GARDEN, DESIGN & NATURAL HISTORY AUCTION Summers Place Auctions, The Walled Garden, Billingshurst, West Sussex.…

RHODRI Thomas, the head of Strutt & Parker in the southwest, is an affable sort and one couldn’t hope to find a player of a straighter bat. You could be forgiven for thinking that Thomas sounds more like a cauli-eared tight head prop from Llanelli but, in fact, he’s more cut glass than a Victorian decanter. He sounds like the love child of Radio Four’s Charlotte Green and Henry Blofeld, the tones akin to a drop of vintage port in its fruitiness and depth of character. Befitting his Head Boy demeanour, it was Thomas who’d steered his chirpy little band to take a day at Barney Stratton’s estate, Stockton, which covers a considerable acreage of the Wylye Valley in Wiltshire. They shoot over about 8,000 acres, half of it owned…

IT was a journey to meet a Scotsman, down a long, bumpy drive past heather and bracken, deer in the dense woodland and trout in the loch on a sporting estate studded with dramatic cliffs. But where were the grouse? “This is Sussex,” said owner David McCaig, laughing as even Mark McAndrew of Strutt & Parker, who sold him the estate near Haywards Heath, admitted that had he been brought here blindfolded he would have touched and tasted Scotland. In fact, such is its landscape the Scottish scenes of the television series The Alan Clark Diaries were filmed here. McCaig is a financier, now far happier checking the progress of his pheasant chicks, or road-testing the fresh sandstone tracks through the woods and pushing the physics of a Land Rover…

IF raised within the dear old C of E you accept a suggestion of smells and bells, perhaps even a donning of birettas but it’s really not done to venerate objects, even when they’re as holy as, say, Doubting Thomas’s finger. So a degree of guilt tinged the reverence with which I picked up a Rigby .275 in the company’s HQ in the back streets of SW8. She was a real plain Jane: Mauser-actioned, ivory bead foresight, standard folding leaves up to 300yd, a little beaten up. The sort of rifle that might make £700 at auction were it not for the silver plate inlaid in the stock and neatly engraved thus: “Presented to Mr J.G. Corbett by Sir J.P. Hewett K.C.S.I. Lieutenant Governor of the United Provinces. In recognition…

AS braces of pheasants start to arrive in the kitchen I notice an autumnal shift in my cooking. My menus become heartier and there is the welcome inclusion of seasonal ingredients such as wild mushrooms, squashes and home-grown apples. When planning shoot dinners I like to include the game that is now available, a rare treat for some. However, for those lucky enough to shoot regularly I sense “game overload”. My solution is to include other luxury foods such as lobster, scallops or beef fillet, and then it’s a feast for all. This issue’s recipes should keep everyone happy. LOBSTER AND FENNEL RISOTTO Serves 4 4 x 450-700g (1-1 1/2lb) live lobsters; about 400g (14oz) lobster meat when cooked 2 dsp butter 2 dsp olive oil 1 red onion peeled…

OUR test gun this month certainly qualifies as different. It is a three-barrelled, single-trigger, Triple Crown Mammut 312 12-bore side-by-side-and-over from the Turkish firm Akkar Silah Sanayi. It has 28in barrels and weighs a hefty 8 1/2lb. First impressions are good. Plainly but neatly presented, it may be a bit heavy but it is finished to a surprisingly high standard and looks strikingly svelte considering the barrel configuration. It is a most interesting example of modern Turkish gunmaking. The Triple Crown has an attractive, un-engraved, silver nitrided receiver – notable for the massive standing breech and business-like styling. The trigger blade is sensibly shaped – not at all fussy – and gold-plated. The top lever has a skeletonised thumbpiece but is otherwise traditional. The non-automatic safety is a practical size…

WHEN the labrador was first recognised as a breed by The Kennel Club in 1903, it bore a resemblance to the Ford Model T, for it was available only in black. However, the first-recorded yellow labrador puppies had been bred by Captain Radcliffe in April 1902. It is claimed that all yellow labradors alive today can trace their ancestry back to Captain Radcliffe’s stud dog, Ben. It would be interesting to know what Radcliffe would have made of the pale-yellow labradors seen in the showring today. Radcliffe’s dogs were a dark, fox red, a shade that has come back into fashion for shooting dogs. It wasn’t until the Thirties that the first liver-coloured labradors made their appearance. Today this colour remains a rarity in the shooting field but is popular…

THERE is nothing better than a two- week break away from home to put life into perspective. Sure, it helps if the location is Deia, Majorca, average daily temperature 30°C, as opposed to Carlisle, Cumbria average daily temperature 3°F, with the bonus of 12 hours of rain a day during the summer. Not that my Cumbrian genes haven’t come in handy. The day I arrived at the villa, the 91st consecutively without rain, the heavens opened. Despite being in the presence of a life-changing rain god, the taxi driver took one look at the vertical corniche that led up to our eyrie and advised me with a volley of Spanish invective that he would go no farther. I was unceremoniously hoicked out of his cab and left with a couple…