Shall we bother with a Christmas tree this year? Do we absolutely have to have turkey again? And will the cards we sent belatedly to those people we had originally crossed off our list this year get to them in time? Meanwhile, the thoughts of children everywhere turn to piles of presents, received rather than given.
Christmas is a time of hope for all, although the lawyers tell us that divorce petitions peak as soon as the season of jollification ends. I love not only the spiritual insights that the Incarnation brings, but also the personal rituals that we all develop within our families. And my own thoughts turn to the year ahead, and the lengthening days. I look forward to the first Cyclamen coum, the yellow aconites and the six weeks of snowdrops when different cultivars open in succession.
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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Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
