Country Life 16-Nov-2022

WE ramblers, after a hard week’s work in smoky towns and cities, go out rambling for relaxation and fresh air. And we find the finest rambling country is closed to us,’ said Benny Rothman, prime mover behind the Kinder Scout Trespass, at his trial. That was 70 years ago and things have moved on since those unenlightened days—anyone can walk amid the exhilarating bleakness of Kinder Scout, which, in 1951, became part of the first of Britain’s 15 national parks. The CRoW (Countryside and Rights of Way) Act was passed in 2000; there are now joined-up coastal paths and 16 national trails among the 140,000-plus miles of public tracks, many of which, ironically, are hardly used. Earlier this month, a ‘right to roam’ private member’s bill, an amendment to the CRoW…

For all the latest news, visit countrylife.co.uk WINTER has been been unbelievably slow to arrive this year, but it surely is coming and with it the need to turn on the heating. Those whose lives revolve around heritage buildings are considering their options carefully. Last week, the National Trust told COUNTRY LIFE that it will not be closing its properties this winter, despite the cost-of-living crisis. ‘The two big impacts this winter will be energy and inflation, particularly the inflation of the cost of materials and repairs,’ says Andy Beer, director of operations and consultancy. ‘We are accelerating our investment in energy-saving measures and encouraging our teams to be assiduous in keeping costs down, but we want to stay open. What we are not going to do is close anywhere because…

Quiz of the week 1) Who succeeded Edward III in 1377? 2) Which is the world’s heaviest flying bird? 3) Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats is loosely based on which T. S. Eliot work? 4) Which is the UK’s largest forest? 5) Nicholas Hawksmoor was a notable practitioner of which architectural style? 100 years ago in COUNTRY LIFE November 18, 1922 MODERN furniture design has been recently discussed in these pages, and the forthcoming Arts and Crafts Exhibition at Burlington House will contain many specimens. This will be in connection with the Winter Exhibition and is held under the auspices of the Royal Academy... It is a great opportunity. But what happens?… A special stipulation has been made by the Academy that only the names of individual designers or workmen will be appended to each exhibit and…

Letter of the week A man of style and substance I FEEL confident that John Jervis would have been pleased to be praised 250 years later in COUNTRY LIFE for his uniform (GENTLEMAN’S LIFE, November 2). When he joined the Royal Navy in 1748, aged 13, he was given £20 by his father to cover the cost of his uniform and other expenses. When this ran out, his father would provide no more and Jervis had to sleep on the bare deck for three years. It probably explains why he became such a strict disciplinarian. Shortly after the Cotes portrait of 1769 featured in your issue was painted, Jervis stayed up all night with Capt Luttrell and a pistol to confront the ghost at Hinton Ampner, Hampshire, where his sister was living.…

ONCE again, this week has shown exactly how different agriculture is from any other industry. The eruption of avian flu means that farmers have had to destroy whole flocks of birds destined for the Christmas market. It means that turkeys will be in short supply, free-range chickens more expensive and many farm businesses will be pushed into free fall. Contaminated land and buildings often cannot house birds for 12 months after an outbreak and many of those hit this year will miss out on Christmas 2023 as well. Government compensation helps, but it doesn’t cover the loss. Family businesses that have been built up over many years will have to start all over again. Farmers also face the problems of other businesses: rocketing input costs, supply shortages and huge increases in…

THE grants offered by Arts Council England (ACE) to a sector still struggling to recover from covid were always going to generate controversy. About 1,700 organisations made applications for the funding period of 2023–26, the largest number to date, up 600 on the previous round. However, the good news—that £446 million will be distributed to 990 organisations over the next three years, the highest-ever number of recipients, 276 of which have never received money before—must not obscure the limitations of what has happened or its failings. The former Secretary of State Nadine Dorries insisted that ACE funding be transferred from London. In response, in the name of ‘levelling up’, ACE aims to provide access to cultural activities of quality on people’s doorsteps in ‘villages, towns and cities everywhere’, as well as…