Countryside
Michael Morpurgo: Kale smoothies, writing, Pilates – my strict isolation schedule
Writers like me are used to long hours alone. I’ve never enjoyed that side of it. I don’t like the…
How ‘barley’ cropped up
‘Why can’t you write about something wholesome?’ asked my husband, in a flanking move. He was in a bad mood…
Vegans are brave – and they have a point
It was a clear and icy night at home in Derbyshire last week. I love these times and, before bed,…
I’m at risk of becoming a cat person
Just before Christmas our cat Runty died and I wasn’t in any rush to find a replacement. I like cats…
Hare coursing gangs are terrorising the countryside
If you’re driving at dawn or at dusk in the countryside at this time of year, you might well see…
Can giving voice to the horrors of the past re-traumatise?
It is 50 years since Ronald Blythe published Akenfield, his melancholy portrait of a Suffolk village on the cusp of…
The commercialisation of shooting may kill the whole sport
A few years ago I was sitting on the sofa at Sandringham enjoying a ham sandwich with the Queen’s then-head…
A gang of sheep rustlers is stalking the county – who will be the next target?
Though autumn is happily still some way off, we’ve already reached that stage in the shepherd’s calendar when full-grown lambs…
In defence of British landowners (and the truth about grouse moors)
I was surprised to read the article by Ben Macdonald in last week’s Spectator urging Britain’s grouse moor owners to…
Grouse moors have destroyed Britain’s natural heritage – so we must rewild them
Britain’s hunting estates were once beautiful. Walking through the New Forest, we can all appreciate how the purchase of land…
The savagery and death lurking within our beautiful countryside
This is the time of year when the English countryside reaches peak incredible: when we rural folk mentally pinch ourselves…
Natural England is overwhelmed – and farmers are paying the price
Last week, on the first day of the government’s ban on farmers shooting pest birds, I walked across St James’s…
The greatest Beatle? Pete Best
Which of the Beatles would you most like to have been? Not either of the dead ones, presumably. Nor the…
Professional villagers won’t rest until they have eliminated mud from the countryside
‘Don’t touch anything sharp. Don’t saw anything or drill anything or sand anything,’ said the builder boyfriend as he left…
Surrey’s Gore-tex-collar crime wave
The frustrating thing about rights is that when you give them to people they don’t cherish and appreciate them. They…
The horrors of Soho House’s country outpost
It is summer and the listless metropolitan thinks of grass. It cannot afford to stay at Durslade Farmhouse, Somerset, a…
Snakes, kookaburras and bandicoots: a garden in Australia’s rainforest
What you can see from a tin house in the Australian rainforest
West Heslerton and other villages with one careful owner
Squire power The village of West Heslerton in Yorkshire was put up for sale at £20 million after its owner,…
Hate tax havens? Try imagining a world without them
However wicked tax evasion is and however distasteful some tax avoidance may be, people should imagine a world without tax…
Too grand for the Queen Mother: my strange life at Country Life
The remarkable life and times of Country Life
The noisy, filthy, scary glory of geese
They’re noisy, filthy, scary – and glorious. No wonder we have such complicated feelings about them
How Brexit would affect British farmers
How would British farming change without EU subsidies?
The joy of winter birdwatching (and how it’s changing)
Our harsh December days are a temperate escape for some gorgeous birds
Wrestling with the romantic glory of the Lake District
Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling is the best thing in the Lake District. I lived near Wigton, just north of the…
The pitfalls of picnics (and how to avoid them)
Strange, isn’t it, that despite having such famously terrible weather, we Brits are so fond of a picnic. It’s something…
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