Country Living UK May 2020

Welcome to our 35th birthday issue! Back in 1985, when we published our first magazine, we were the trailblazers for sustainability, smallholdings, organic food, artisan crafts and traditional (and modern) rustic style. Today, as we celebrate more than 80 million issues of the magazine, we continue to be steeped in these staples of rural life. We know that many of you have been with us since the early days, so we invite you to join our celebrations with a mix of nostalgic and forward-looking features – from a star-studded round-up of countryside memories (page 64) to our own manifesto for the future: 35 ways to ‘be more country living’ (page 80). The year of our launch was marked by some other significant milestones, too. It was in 1985 that scientists…

Take your time to… Carry out a hedgerow survey HELP SAVE OUR HEDGEROWS WITH A COUNTRY WALK. THE PEOPLE’S TRUST FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES’ DATA COLLECTION IS BUILDING A PICTURE OF THE NATIONAL HEDGEROW NETWORK. ASSESSING THE LINKS, GAPS, STRUCTURE AND SPECIES THAT CREATE THESE RICH NATURAL HIGHWAYS WILL SHOW WHERE CONSERVATION AND REGENERATION IS MOST NEEDED. IT IS ALSO ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAYS TO RAISE THEIR PROFILE, SHOWCASING THE HEDGEROW AS AN ASSET TO THE BRITISH LANDSCAPE. TO TAKE PART, SEE PTES.ORG. SPRING SUPERSTITIONS… BIRTHDAY CANDLES A cake with candles is obligatory at any birthday bash, but what are the origins of this celebratory custom? Food historians suggest it comes from the ancient Greek festival Mounukhia – a springtime rite dedicated to Artemis, goddess of the moon. Festivities involved revellers carrying…

FOR STOCKISTS see Where to Buy PRICES AND AVAILABILITY CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS. *BASE NOT INCLUDED…

Four-thirty on a still morning in May and I am padding along by the river near my home. A brisk walk to get here has shaken the sleep from my eyes and the bleariness from my head. As the mist rises off the water and the first stirrings of light start to show in the East, I feel like the only person in the world. And then it begins: a song thrush, high in a huge oak, breaks into song, romancing me by repeating each of his phrases several times (he has a repertoire of more than 100 to choose from). I scan the treetops with my binoculars until I find him silhouetted against the lightening sky on the uppermost branch, his speckled breast swelling as he sings his heart…

Our farm has been around for a few hundred years. I often think about the crops and animals kept here over the centuries, and how different things must have been when farmers relied on manual labour, heritage crops and keeping just a few animals. They would almost certainly have had a house cow. Many pre-war smallholders and family farms would have kept a cow solely for dairy. One beast alone could produce much more milk, cream and cheese than an average family could consume, meaning that the cow not only supplemented the farmhouse diet but also brought in a bit of revenue. To keep a cow producing milk, she would have to have had a calf every year, but the female calves could have been sold on, or kept to…

This is the ideal time of year to make elderflower cordial. The flowers are just beginning to open, guaranteeing the maximum amount of fragrant nectar. With their sweetly scented blooms and deep purple fruits, the flowers represent the very essence of summer. I like drinking the cordial chilled with sparkling water, and, if I prepare it carefully (see recipe overleaf), I can usually make enough to last the year ahead. As May comes around, I monitor the plant every day. In the morning, I look out onto my neighbour’s garden to see if their elder tree is blossoming. Once the creamy-white flowers start to unfurl, I go hunting for trees in nearby parks. This year, however, I might not have to go very far, as a couple of young elder trees…