AN Aga adornment, a loyal and loving attendant, an able and enthusiastic hunting machine, sometimes boisterous and, at other times, quietly contemplative, the Sealyham terrier is a multifaceted canine beloved by farmers, footballers’ wives, the showing fraternity, actors and the aristocracy.
Longish, quite low to the ground, propped up on succinct legs ending in substantial paws and boasting copious amounts of facial hair (if not brought into contact with the groomer’s clippers), which includes a bushy moustache punctuated by a prominent ebony nose, these personable dogs characteristically come in a white hue, but their uniformity can be interrupted in some by patches of black or brown.
Today, a dozen working Sealyhams are in hunting mode on a West Country farm. Having failed to locate a rodent in the hen house, they are now loping through long ryegrass, tongues lolling, short, sharp pants the only sound from these focused creatures that never seem to bark. Here is the quiet and unassuming Enid, the empathetic Tilly, fiercely loyal Grace and the exceptional ratter Peggy. Striding ahead at the front of the pack is Harry Parsons, dressed in a burnt-orange and mustard-yellow check shirt that rivals the weather for its sunny demeanour. Almost single-handedly, 64- year-old Mr Parsons has also brightened the future prospects of this breed that has frequently stared into the abyss of extinction —and, indeed, still does to an extent.
Denne historien er fra September 07, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra September 07, 2022-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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Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
