Countryside
Diary
Two and a half years ago I joined the Tory party to vote for Boris, then unjoined as soon as…
Real life
If you want to understand Surrey, look at the house names. Keepers’ Copse, Meadow View, Weavers, Highfields… What do all…
Common ground
Farmers and rewilders must discover their shared purpose
Barometer
Palm substitutes Palm Sunday was so-called because of the palm fronds thrown before Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem. But…
Real life
Surprise, surprise. The person who had the shield taken out of the street light so it shone back into my…
Real life
The woman pulled up in her flashy 4×4 which was meandering along the farm track in that way people have…
Letters
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…
Capital gains
Don’t pity me for living in London
Fair game
The vegan case for field sports
Real life
The cyclist pulled into our gateway, got off his bike and grabbed hold of the electric fencing. Installing game cameras,…
Letters
Referendum risk Sir: James Forsyth’s excellent analysis (‘To save the Union, negotiate independence’, 5 September) has one flaw: it is…
Real life
Always the National Trust sticker. It feels like every time a car parks across the gateway to my horses’ field…
The Spectator’s notes
Chris Packham is widely seen as the most extreme of well-known animal rights activists. His obsessions against hunting and shooting…
Real life
The whole of Surrey and south-west London seem to have gone abroad on holiday so I’ve got my sanity back.…
The healing power of kindness
Nobody earns the right to respect just by having lived into old age, whenever that begins — it has happened…
Diary
Writers like me are used to long hours alone. I’ve never enjoyed that side of it. I don’t like the…
Barley
‘Why can’t you write about something wholesome?’ asked my husband, in a flanking move. He was in a bad mood…
Meditations on a scream in the night
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…
