OUTSIDE, daisies dance and cornflowers bloom. Inside, they come to life again under the sure hands of Sarah Becvar, her fingers lightly swirling a piece of linen under the drumming needle of her sewing machine. On the walls of her garden studio hang dried bunches of flowers and watercolour sketches, jars of flowers stand next to a kettle and books of wild- flowers line the shelves. At one end of the airy, white-painted space is a large work table, at the other is the all-important sewing machine. Tucked away in rural East Sussex with her three friendly golden retrievers curled up nearby, Mrs Becvar embroiders the wildflowers of the surrounding meadows freehand, her needle acting as a paintbrush.
Growing up on her family’s dairy farm half a mile up the road, now mainly arable and run under regenerative lines by her brother, Anthony, the young artist roamed the countryside, learning the different flowers— cuckooflower, bluebells, cow parsley—and taking them home to draw. Her family was supportive of her creative bent: her mother had studied interior design and her paternal grandmother, who lived on the farm, was a formative influence. ‘She loved embroidery and crochet and never threw anything away.’ In the studio reside tall jars of buttons her grandmother collected, each tiny piece telling a story. ‘It was she who taught me that a weed is only a weed if it’s growing in a place you don’t want it to and to let the wildflowers grow, just as we’re encouraged to do now.’
Denne historien er fra August 30, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra August 30, 2023-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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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds