SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL dubbed the British ‘an island race’. He was right, with our nation itself an island, but his words are truer for some than others. There are hundreds of islands around the coast, ranging from large ones, such as Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides, covering more than 770 square miles, to myriad tiny, uninhabited ones barely big enough to moor a dinghy.
Island life can be a dream, promising sea, seclusion and satisfaction—but does the reality match the fantasy? Is it feasible or impractical? Idyllic or too isolated? Most island dwellers say they wouldn’t swap it for the world, but to live the life requires practicality, pragmatism and adopting a routine shaped by sea and tide.
Rev Canon Dr Sarah Hills, vicar, Holy Island
Sarah Hills swims in the sea off St Cuthbert’s Beach in Northumberland every few days. ‘It can be freezing, but it’s so refreshing, both physically and spiritually,’ she reflects.
She moved to Holy Island, often referred to as Lindisfarne, in 2019, after five years as canon for reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral. ‘I had a very deep sense of calling to come here,’ Sarah says of the island that, covering 1,000 acres at high tide, is often referred to as a ‘thin’ place, with Earth and Heaven deemed to be particularly close together. It is known for its castle, once the holiday home of COUNTRY LIFE founder Edward Hudson and improved by Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 22, 2020-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 22, 2020-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Give it some stick
Galloping through the imagination, competitive hobby-horsing is a gymnastic sport on the rise in Britain, discovers Sybilla Hart
Paper escapes
Steven King selects his best travel books of 2024
For love, not money
This year may have marked the end of brag-art’, bought merely to show off one’s wealth. It’s time for a return to looking for connoisseurship, beauty and taste
Mary I: more bruised than bloody
Cast as a sanguinary tyrant, our first Queen Regnant may not deserve her brutal reputation, believes Geoffrey Munn
A love supreme
Art brought together 19th-century Norwich couple Joseph and Emily Stannard, who shared a passion for painting, but their destiny would be dramatically different
Private views
One of the best ways-often the only way-to visit the finest privately owned gardens in the country is by joining an exclusive tour. Non Morris does exactly that
Shhhhhh...
THERE is great delight to be had poring over the front pages of COUNTRY LIFE each week, dreaming of what life would be like in a Scottish castle (so reasonably priced, but do bear in mind the midges) or a townhouse in London’s Eaton Square (worth a king’s ransom, but, oh dear, the traffic) or perhaps that cottage in the Cotswolds (if you don’t mind standing next to Hollywood A-listers in the queue at Daylesford). The estate agent’s particulars will give you details of acreage, proximity to schools and railway stations, but never—no, never—an indication of noise levels.
Mission impossible
Rubble and ruin were all that remained of the early-19th-century Villa Frere and its gardens, planted by the English diplomat John Hookham Frere, until a group of dedicated volunteers came to its rescue. Josephine Tyndale-Biscoe tells the story
When a perfect storm hits
Weather, wars, elections and financial uncertainty all conspired against high-end house sales this year, but there were still some spectacular deals
Give the dog a bone
Man's best friend still needs to eat like its Lupus forebears, believes Jonathan Self, when it's not guarding food, greeting us or destroying our upholstery, of course
