OUT on the wild, windy moor, there was no one around but the dogs and me. The sleet was unremitting and cruel like parody, too thin, too seedy, to be proper snow. Light snow remained on the ground, however, left over from the wuthering flurries of the night.
On a clear day standing on Chimney Bank atop of Spaunton Moor, you can see 360° to the rim of the encircled world of heather. Not today; today, the moor was strangely, squinty close, conscribed by the ice in the eye, and was strangely intimate for vast moorland. I'd driven up from Thirsk, 20 miles away, where the family and I were staying at the Golden Fleece on Market Square. In James Herriot's books, Thirsk is fictionalised as 'Darrowby' and the Golden Fleece is 'The Drovers' Arms'. This is Yorkshire's Herriot Country.
I'd left the town just after dawn, the Christmas lights of the Market Square reflecting off the cobbles, the sash windows of the close-packed Georgian buildings festooned with baubles and tinsel; a Dickensian Christmascard scene. Art became Life. I was unconcerned by the night's snow shower, even with the infamous 25% gradient of Sutton Bank along the route, as I was driving a four-litre farm 4x4. (I know, I know, climate change, no one should have a gas-guzzler, but you try farming with a Nissan LEAF.) Such is hubris that, a quarter of the way up Sutton Bank, my knuckles on the wheel were as white as the driven snow and my mind went to Herriot: how the hell did he manage, in a 1930s Austin, with bald tyres, to do his wintry rounds as t'vitn'ry? But they were resourceful and tough, that generation. They did for Hitler.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue)-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue)-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
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The original Mr Rochester
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Get it write
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'Sloes hath ben my food'
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Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery