Country Life 20-Apr-2022

THIS is an exciting time for new housing. That idea may astound readers battling the banal, poorly planned housing estates of volume house-builders that are spreading like a disease across Britain. Campaigners against that sort of ugliness have our sympathy, but a different approach to place-making has emerged. It is creating communities, revitalising local economies and providing well-planned streets that echo the vernacular of the surroundings. If this example proves popular, it could make development seem a positive benefit, rather than an evil to be fought at all costs. A good example is Cotford St Luke in west Somerset, built in the grounds of an old asylum, with pretty streets, a pub, school, supermarket, community hospital and hall, bus service and much green space. The Prince of Wales and the Duchy of…

Voting is now open for the Historic Houses Garden of the Year Award, with hundreds of shortlisted entries having been whittled down to eight finalists. They include the 24-acre hillside plot at Parcevall Hall in North Yorkshire, laid out from 1927 by Sir William Milner. ‘[This] award recognises the beauty and quality of independent historic gardens—often still those of family-owned homes,’ explains Lady Ursula Cholmeley, chair of the Historic Houses Gardens committee. ‘Each generation of inhabitants makes their mark and leaves a legacy for the future.’ Voting closes on September 30 (www.historichouses.org/garden-of-the-year)…

THERE’S only one way a composer can respond to a global tragedy—by writing music. John Rutter’s new setting of a Ukrainian prayer, created in the wake of the Russian invasion, has become an unexpected hit with choirs across the world. As Mr Rutter says, it ‘is likely to end up being one of the most widely circulated pieces that I have ever composed’. The choral conductor-composer was looking for a Ukrainian choral piece to use at his latest Come and Sing day and was ‘at the chapel at Clare College in Cambridge on Ash Wednesday, where I heard the choir sing a Ukrainian hymn. I thought it was lovely, but the music by Valentyn Silvestrov was a bit ambitious for the all-comers group I was due to host—so I took the…

THE lesser known early work of Sir Alfred Munnings (Artist of the week, April 27) will be celebrated in a new exhibition at Castle House in Dedham, Essex, the artist’s home of more than 40 years. In 1892, when Munnings was 14, his family moved from Suffolk to Norwich, where the young artist became an apprentice at lithograph printers Page Bros & Co. There, he learnt to design advertisements and posters for large companies, such as Colman’s Mustard, Bullard’s Brewery and Caley’s Crackers and Chocolates, his Belle Époque aesthetic clearly influenced by Alphonse Mucha and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. ‘I was doing work which they could not, bringing poster and figure design work to a firm that had never before done anything of the kind,’ he explained. ‘As those years went on,…

FEW people had greater knowledge of the British country house than John Cornforth, former Architectural Editor of COUNTRY LIFE. It is fitting that he is remembered through an annual series of lectures, held in association with Christie’s, which examine great homes from the perspective of their owners. The third and final lecture of this year, on May 4, will see the Earl of Devon speak about Powderham Castle near Exeter, with an introduction by current Architectural Editor John Goodall. The lecture will take place at Christie’s, 8, King Street, London SW1, and will also be streamed online. Tickets are £40 for the in-person event (including drinks) and £10 for online, with all proceeds going to the National Trust (to book, telephone 020–7389 2755 or email johncornforth@christies.com).…

Clean swims Official bathing water status has been granted to part of the Wolvercote Mill Stream at Port Meadow, Oxford, and the Isle of Wight's East Cowes Esplanade Spotting water voles The People's Trust for Endangered Species is calling for volunteers across England, Scotland and Wales to take part in its national water-vole survey, which runs from April 15 to June 15 Hogarth and Walpole The earliest surviving portrait of Horace Walpole, aged 10, painted in 1727–28 by William Hogarth, will stay in this country, after a public appeal raised the remaining £25,000 required for the Strawberry Hill Trust to purchase it Fighting fly-tipping The Government has decided that households will no longer have to pay to get rid of DIY waste. It's hoped this will reduce fly-tipping Our plant heritage Horticultural charity Plant Heritage has accredited three new…