Countryside
There is a new and deadly threat to the countryside
Surprise, surprise. The person who had the shield taken out of the street light so it shone back into my…
The lost dogs of Surrey
The woman pulled up in her flashy 4×4 which was meandering along the farm track in that way people have…
Letters: In defence of organic food
A note about manure Sir: I am afraid Matt Ridley shows a lack of understanding about agriculture in general and…
The political baggage of moving house
We are currently house-hunting — please let me know if you have one going spare. We are looking for a…
Don’t pity me for living in London
Don’t pity me for living in London
A vegan’s defence of field sports
The vegan case for field sports
How do we stop the Lycra dads using our stable yard as a toilet?
The cyclist pulled into our gateway, got off his bike and grabbed hold of the electric fencing. Installing game cameras,…
Letters: Why does No.10 seem so oblivious to the threat of Scottish independence?
Referendum risk Sir: James Forsyth’s excellent analysis (‘To save the Union, negotiate independence’, 5 September) has one flaw: it is…
Beware cars with National Trust stickers
Always the National Trust sticker. It feels like every time a car parks across the gateway to my horses’ field…
Is Chris Packham finally facing facts on shooting?
Chris Packham is widely seen as the most extreme of well-known animal rights activists. His obsessions against hunting and shooting…
If the office is ‘too dangerous’, why is everyone jetting off on holiday?
The whole of Surrey and south-west London seem to have gone abroad on holiday so I’ve got my sanity back.…
The genius of Alfred Hitchcock
Nobody earns the right to respect just by having lived into old age, whenever that begins — it has happened…
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…
