![Wild about the garden](https://cdn.magzter.com/1387284093/1651597990/articles/vrRSg6_3D1651731391822/Wild-about-the-garden.jpg)
The chequered path to the kitchen is lined with Persicaria affinis ‘Donald Lowndes', Gillenia trifoliata and Alchemilla mollis
RECENTLY, there have been quite fanciful ideas circulating about rewilding. If you believe some people, in the not-too-distant future, tracts of the British countryside could look like a mixture of the western US and the African savannah, with wolves, lynx and bison emerging from dense forests, rivers dammed into lakes by families of beavers and swathes of grassland and scrub bush populated with bustards, cranes and wild boar. At Ready Token House in Gloucestershire, Mark and Tabitha Mayall have introduced an altogether gentler style of rewilding, creating the perfect habitat for a host of native wildflowers andаrange of small creatures—many endangered—in particular butterflies.
When they bought the property in 2015, to one side of the house and garden was some 60 acres of sheep pasture. They negotiated with the tenant farmer to stop the sheep grazing and returned the whole area to permanent meadow, where a rich array of wildflowers has rapidly established itself.
The junction of the terrace and the lawn, with beech pyramids, Veronicastrum virginicum and Verbena hastata f. rosea 'Pink Spires'.
Ready Token's elevated position is confirmed by the spectacular views to the southeast, which, on a clear day, reveal White Horse Hill 30 miles away. It also means that the not-too-fertile soil over underlying Cotswold Jurassic limestone is an ideal base for wildflower meadows, naturally limiting grass density and allowing for a wide variety of both grasses and wildflowers to get established and thrive. The hands-off management regime of recent years has brought spectacular results, with both the variety of plants and insects, and the quantities of individual ones increasing dramatically.
This story is from the May 04, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 04, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
![Happiness in small things](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/mf8lKaEmG1726038722887/HAPPINESS-IN-SMALL-THINGS.jpg)
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
![Colour vision](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/7YAj_VpOg1726038563289/COLOUR-VISION.jpg)
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'](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/VJIVdvBcU1726038380972/WITHOUT-FEVER-THERE-IS-NO-CREATION.jpg)
'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](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/bOl6DSmiC1726038097329/THE-COLOUR-REVOLUTION.jpg)
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](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/9yrUKqBgR1726037988939/BULLACE-FOR-YOU.jpg)
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!](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/LOYrZ-iYR1726037799030/LIGHTS-CAMERA-ACTION.jpg)
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?](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/8vNS80pTG1726037613482/I-WAS-ON-FIRE-FOR-YOU-WHERE-DID-YOU-GO.jpg)
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](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/hIXEDzn-C1726037336735/BRAVERY-BEVOND-BELIEF.jpg)
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](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/-X02p6wQE1726036889166/LETS-GET-TO-THE-BOTTOM-OF-THIS.jpg)
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](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5168/1828669/upJuA3JbH1726036596234/SING-ON-SWEET-BIRD.jpg)
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