IT took a fairy to settle a jovial dispute about our village pub’s new signage. ‘I think that’s a harebell, rather than a bluebell,’ declared one patron, and the matter was cleared by examining the flower’s flared petals, familiar from The Song of the Harebell Fairy, from Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies of the Summer, in which they chime for fairy feasts and balls.
Barker’s miniature residents of woodlands, hedgerows and flowerbeds appeared in print in 1923 and have since gone on to enjoy a global popularity that might have surprised their modest creator. The daughter of a seed merchant, she originally took up drawing to escape the confines of her childhood bed, to which she had been relegated by severe illnesses, including epilepsy (she credited the Pre-Raphaelites and Kate Green- away among her lifelong sources of inspiration).
Details reflected those seen in the meadows: the primrose fairy has wings modelled on a brimstone
Her father encouraged her, but tragedy soon hit again, when he died suddenly in 1912. Ingenuity saw the family through, with Barker helping out by selling her illustrations. In 1923, she managed to publish her Flower Fairies of the Spring, although it was a muted beginning that hardly hinted at the phenomenal success to come. Two years later came the book that would change her life: Flower Fairies of the Summer.
Denne historien er fra March 08, 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.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra March 08, 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.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
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
