Country Living UK November 2020

Like so many people, since March I’ve been WFH (working from home). Producing this magazine remotely, with a talented team scattered around the country, has brought its fair share of challenges. But I’m lucky to have a bright, airy office with uninterrupted views over the surrounding fields. The connection I have felt with nature during this time has given me a comforting sense of perspective in such a rollercoaster year. Right now, the fields outside my window are a patchwork of rich clay-browns and muted greens – some fields fallow and others planted up with winter crops. Witnessing the changing seasons has been a poignant reminder that, while we humans have been rocked by the pandemic, the natural world continues to turn regardless. That’s not to say, of course, that nature…

Manifesto by Dale Vince (Ebury, £20) When Dale Vince founded green energy company Ecotricity, the sustainable entrepreneur changed UK energy for ever. Now, the visionary maverick shares the ways we can all help to change the world. The Wild Life of the Fox by John Lewis-Stempel (Transworld, £9.99) Love them or loathe them, foxes are an intriguing emblem of the British landscape. With vivid detail and poetic prose, the renowned nature writer explores their hidden world. Between the Covers by Jilly Cooper (Transworld, £9.99) A collection of Jilly’s most entertaining journalism from her newspaper columns. Expect everything from hilarious anecdotes of family life to dinner-party dramas and musings on middle age, enmeshing her ‘like Virginia creeper’. Knitting from Fair Isle by Mati Ventrillon (Octopus, £18.99) Based on the remote Shetland island, super-knowledgeable knitter Mati shares modern interpretations…

Using natural ingredients such as pine, bergamot and clove, Ebi and Emmanuel Sinteh make soy candles and skincare from their home workshop in Aberdeen. OUR STORY We began making body butter for our baby daughter in 2018 before branching out into soy-based candles to make our home feel snug. We enjoyed it so much that we launched Our Lovely Goods the following year. TO-DO LIST November is peak candle season when we make festive scents such as cinnamon, orange and cardamom. Making enough for our online shop and independent stores, as well as running workshops, keeps us busy. WORD TO THE WISE Start simply and don’t overthink things. We began with four candles, adding more as we adjusted to the demand. OUR GREATEST CHALLENGE Handmaking in large quantities is difficult. It’s also a slow…

GRETNA GREEN, DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY This town plays host to a million avian acrobats each year. BRIGHTON, EAST SUSSEX The sun setting over the sea takes on a whole new magnificence as swarms form over the pier (right). AVALON MARSHES, SOMERSET Shapwick Heath and Ham Wall are both popular starling haunts within this 570-acre wetland landscape on the Somerset Levels. BLACKPOOL, LANCASHIRE Huge flocks dancing across the sky are illuminated by the lights of the pleasure beach. ABERYSTWYTH, CEREDIGION More than 50,000 birds perform before settling onto Wales’ oldest pier to roost.…

A historic footbridge in Essex will be transformed into a ‘Walkway of Memories’ dedicated to the Windrush generation this October, in celebration of Black History Month. The bridge, at Tilbury Cruise Terminal, is where the first wave of British colonial citizens disembarked from the HMT Empire Windrush in 1948 (left). The brainchild of artist and Windrush descendant Everton Wright, this unique installation will comprise more than 500 pieces including passports and wedding photographs from these intrepid pioneers.…

A titan among equines, the Clydesdale originated in the 1800s when Flemish stallions were bred with native draught mares from the Clyde Valley. With their long, strong thighs and large, open hooves, the Scottish breed was well equipped for heavy hauling, but, as mechanical power replaced horsepower, numbers dwindled. Today, the Rare Breeds Survival Trust warns that Clydesdales are at risk. There’s hope, however, at Hay Farm Heavy Horse Centre in Northumberland, where Wallace, a Clydesdale colt (above), was born earlier this year. Wallace joins British Lop pigs and Sebastopol geese at the only rare breed-approved conservation centre in the country. hayfarmheavies.co.uk…