Country Living UK October 2021

Last year, between lockdowns, I visited North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. I spent a week in a little croft owned by a family who’d farmed there for years and had recently converted it into a holiday home. During that time, I experienced just a taste of how it feels to live in a truly isolated location. A curious mix of barren and breathtaking beauty, this lovely island embraces fast-changing weather fronts that whip across the land day and night, almost always accompanied by wind. According to locals, the windspeed rarely drops below 30mph and that constant battling against the elements brought home to me how tough life is there. In this issue (page 103), we meet a new generation of crofters from the Outer Hebrides. Whatever has gone before, they…

October “The fallen leaves in the forest seemed to make even the ground glow and burn with light” Malcolm Lowry, October Ferry to Gabriola BACK FROM THE BRINK… Wild boar After centuries on the cusp of extinction, wild boars are back. Populations now number more than 2,600, with the largest in Gloucestershire’s Forest of Dean. Adult boars and their young (known as humbugs owing to their stripy coat) are descended from captive animals that escaped in the 1990s. Such unplanned rewilding has been controversial, however: some lament the agricultural damage they cause while others applaud another victory for biodiversity. To track boar, look for tell-tale signs of large areas of uprooted, disturbed soil or slotted hoofprints – and should you come across one, stay still and marvel from a distance (visitdeanwye.co.uk). QUAINT AND CURIOUS……

SPOTTER’S GUIDE Autumn’s amber alerts As the days draw in, October offers bursts of blazing colour to illuminate the gloom HUNTER’S MOON In autumn, the time between sunset and moonrise is minimal, so when this giant orange orb looms into the sky it seems as though there’s a second sun. DEWBOWS Get up early to see delicate rainbows on spiders’ webs – dewdrops turn the silks yellow, orange, purple and blue as they disperse light. FUNGAL BLOOMS Damp, dark days conjure fungi, such as the liberty cap and red-and-white fly agaric, to carpet fields and woodland.…

Editor’s choice “There’s a simple, homespun beauty to this shade that belies the expert craftsmanship required to create it. Each stitch has been hand-crocheted by highly skilled textile artists. It’s available in a range of colours: my favourites are this warm mustard and a rich navy blue. A work of art to treasure.” PRICES AND AVAILABILITY CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS. DEBBIE GEORGE MUG PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW SANDERSON…

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My garden is surrounded by trees – a rare thing in a suburban plot. So often, trees are removed during building work, because they are stealing someone’s light or, perhaps, because they are diseased – an increasing threat to many species in Britain. All of these are sound reasons, but the result is often soulless gardens, with little to soften metres of fencing, and houses that back on to one another and overlook their neighbours. It’s hard to find peace in such a space. Trees bring height and breadth. They create texture with their varying leaf shapes and tangles of branches, and they introduce movement as they sway or shimmer in the breeze. They soften the hard edges of buildings and filter the sun to form an ever-changing display of light…