Country Living UK November 2019

…we are well into the crisp, bright days of autumn and have plenty of ideas for turning your home into the ultimate comfort zone. This includes our expert guide to hearth-warming textures, colours and stoves (page 78), plus 20 per cent off the many designs and shades in our top-quality range of Country Living carpets by Carpetright* (more details on pages 105). And, in another exclusive this month, we have an interview with Prue Leith (page 106). Known to modern audiences as the queen of Bake Off, Prue was already a legend in her own lifetime before she joined the immensely successful television series. She founded Leiths School of Food and Wine in 1975 to train professional chefs and amateur cooks; in fact, our very own food and drink director,…

PRICES AND AVAILABILITY CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS…

London, BDC 13-17 No vember Glasgow, SEC 21-24 November Harrogate, HCC 5-8 December *PRICES QUOTED WITH THIS SIGN INCLUDE SPECIAL DISCOUNTS THAT ARE ONLY AVAILABLE ON PIECES PURCHASED AT THE FAIRS. PRICES WILL DIFFER ONLINE…

Back from the brink THE OSPREY ONCE EXTINCT IN ENGLAND – DUE TO HABITAT LOSS, EGG COLLECTION AND TAXIDERMY – THE OSPREY HAS STAGED A REMARKABLE COMEBACK. AT RUTLAND WATER NATURE RESERVE IN LEICESTERSHIRE, BREEDING PAIR MAYA AND HER MATE 33 HAVE RECENTLY WELCOMED FOUR HEALTHY CHICKS – THE THIRD OF WHICH WAS THE 150TH TO HATCH SINCE THE SPECIES’ REINTRODUCTION IN 1996. THERE ARE NOW 25 OSPREYS IN THE AREA, WITH EIGHT BREEDING PAIRS AMONG THEM. TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE RUTLAND OSPREY PROJECT, VISIT OSPREYS.ORG.UK. TAKE YOUR TIME TO… make a mug of hot chocolate Rather than shrinking from dark and chilly evenings, revel in them by warming yourself with this classic wintry treat. Alison Walker, Country Living’s food and drink director, suggests picking out your favourite kind of chocolate – whether…

My parents arrange their final night in our ancient blacksmith’s cottage for a week when I’m out of the country, so there’s no ceremonial last goodbye to the old place, which houses every childhood memory my brother and I share. No last look around the outhouse and farewell to the spiders among the ancient beams. No wondering if the sparrows will return again in the spring to nest under the porch tiles. I don’t get to linger in my bedroom, remembering the winter mornings when I could see my breath when I woke, or the light summer evenings when I’d fall asleep listening to my father mowing the lawn. I’m glad really. Winter is a dreary season for goodbyes and I’d rather remember the house with pink roses tumbling over…

AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST Sally Coulthard On an 1856 map of our farm, you can see the orchard as clear as day. Some of the trees are still standing; varieties of apple that we’ve yet to identify – definitely not eaters, more likely heritage cookers or cider fruit. Families living here over the decades added a pear tree, plums, a quince and a lone walnut. We’ve bolstered numbers with both sweet and sour cherry trees, a fig and a Cox’s Orange Pippin. The plums and cherries got a light pruning back in the summer, but November, when we’re settling the smallholding in for winter, is the perfect month to tackle the apple and pear trees. It can be daunting if you’ve never done it before, but most fruit trees are pretty forgiving. Both The…