Gladdened by the lengthening days and the arrival of a newborn Red Poll calf, John Lewis-Stempel welcomes the advent of spring on a mild March morning
DOWN through the druid’s grove of alder. Over the stile, struggling with the sack of cattle cake on my left shoulder, into the wood. The sack weighs me down, so I walk lurched over, like a farmboy Quasimodo. From the far top of the wood comes the trumpeting of a cow, repeated and insistent. I could have driven round to the cows, as I did this morning, but who doesn't want the excuse to walk through a wood on an early March evening? When the unbearable heaviness of winter has lifted. When the days are getting lighter, longer.
There is an old farming adage: ‘March comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb.’ It’s a truth my grandfather taught me. Today,out of the wind, in the shelter of the trees, you can actually feel a new, baby tenderness in the air. Spring is here and there’s a spring in my step as I follow the pale clay path through the trees.
A wood is different to a forest. A wood is wild, but not so wild that it’s frightening. You can’t get physically lost in a wood, only spiritually and imaginatively absorbed. For me, for you, every step along this woodland path is yard-stoned by the mild English culture of arboreality: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Winnie-the-Pooh, The Animals of Farthing Wood, The Chronicles of Narnia and, of course, Brendon Chase.
Denne historien er fra March 22 2017-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra March 22 2017-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
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
