Sloane Rangers

Oshea and Ogilvie

2011-12-12T08:52:00.012Z

We needed a laugh - and we think the Sloaney humour of Oshea and Ogilvie will raise your spirits, too.

The duo OSHEA and OGILVIE, http://www.osheaogilvie.co.uk/ based in Exeter, write and perform their own material - sketches, songs, dances and mockumentaries. Their aim is to raise a laugh amongst the nation with their original new show and generally make the country a brighter, happier place; as they say, if you can't laugh in the middle of a double dip recession, when can you. They are available for festivals and other comedy or music events around the country.

Launch Night! is on the 15th Of December...and catch them on radio online ...
http://www.phonic.fm/2011/dynamic-duo-oshea-and-ogilvie-speak-to-paul-gallagher-on-phonic-fm

Horseworld

2011-11-05T23:37:00.006Z

The charity Horseworld.org.uk does brilliant work in rehabilitating and rehoming horses. You may decide to help them with a donation - or perhaps you have the time and money to adopt one of their animals. "A Sloaney has a Pony..."

Sloanes at Home: Movies online

2011-10-31T03:29:00.003Z

PeriodxDrama
a channel dedicated to celebrating all films and series set in an historical period.
We enjoy this collection of videos very much and think you will, too.

Occupy Everywhere

2011-10-27T20:14:00.008Z

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November...
The Guardian has photos of the Occupy Movement Protests "The Church cannot answer peaceful protest with violence"
St. Paul was a tent maker, and the child Jesus could have been born in a camp like these...

Celebrating... Mervyn Peake's Centenary Year

2011-10-27T19:54:00.008Z

Fuchsia and Steerpike from Gormenghast

Ever a favourite...something uncanny in time for All Hallow's Eve... http://www.mervynpeake.org/
http://mervynpeake.blogspot.com/2011/10/abiatha-swelter-one-of-best.html
These illustrations and many more are included in Mervyn Peake - The Man and His Art available through your bookseller and at Amazon
An audiobook, The History of Titus Groan, is available here

From The Ancient Mariner

Obituary: The Earl of Harewood

2011-07-17T20:24:00.005Z

George Henry Hubert Lascelles has died, aged 88. May flights of angels sing him to his rest.
The Guardian
The Telegraph

Soprano Josephine Barstow sings "Pace pace mio Dio" from Verdi's "La forza del destino"
This gala was held in 1985 at the London Coliseum, home of English National Opera, to mark the retirement of George Henry Hubert Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, retiring Chairman of the Board of English National Opera and author/editor of The New Kobbe's Opera Book.

Busy, busy, busy...

2011-07-17T19:47:00.006Z

You, too?
Image by Charles Pachter, a Canadian artist

Earl Spencer to Marry Canadian Karen Gordon

2011-02-18T19:37:00.018Z

Earl Spencer, Princess Diana's brother,
will marry Canadian Karen Gordon
at a private ceremony on June 18
at Spencer's Northamptonshire home.

We wish them every happiness.

Karen Gordon is a philanthropist and the founder and CEO of Whole Child International
http://www.wholechild.org/

Whole Child International works in existing children’s institutions to improve the quality of care and help prevent the bleak outcomes that await most children raised in the world’s orphanages.
As long as orphanages exist, we are committed to cost-effective interventions to help ensure the children within can develop the basic psychological tools they need to succeed in school, work, relationships, and families of their own.

"The beauty that emerges from woundedness is a beauty infused with feeling; a beauty different from the beauty of landscape and the cold perfect form. This is a beauty that has suffered its way through the ache of desolation until the words or music emerged to equal the hunger and desperation at its heart. It must also be said that not all woundedness succeeds in finding its way through to beauty of form. Most woundedness remains hidden, lost inside forgotten silence. Indeed, in every life there is some wound that continues to weep secretly, even after years of attempted healing. Where woundedness can be refined into beauty a wonderful transfiguration takes place. "
- John O'Donohue

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T09:17:00.000Z

A Valentine's Day greeting to all Sloanes and their friends. and especially to Ann Barr, loved by Sloanes everywhere.
Read Ann Barr's article on the origins of Sloanes here:
http://www.intrepid-fox.co.uk/feature/archive/sloaneorigin.html

The Volunteer

2011-02-08T09:12:00.011Z

The Volunteer is a project that looks to work and volunteer with charities doing specialized projects overseas focusing on a selection of humanitarian issues. The main objective is to raise awareness and funding for the charity while also giving an insight into the life of a volunteer.
The Volunteer aims to televise the experience of volunteering as part of a series aimed at documenting and highlighting the efforts of various charities overseas often operating in difficult and dangerous circumstances.
The Volunteer series will capture the emotions, cultural differences and challenges attached to volunteering on a project overseas while looking to inspire ordinary people to make a difference.
The Volunteer is presented and founded by Hugo Chittenden who having volunteered in Africa decided to change his life and dedicate himself to helping raise awareness and funding for charities and projects overseas.
Volunteering is something that everyone adheres to and yet something that is spoken about as a distant dream rather than an actuality.
The Volunteer aims to highlight the benefits of volunteering while outlining the highs and lows one can expect as a volunteer overseas, so as to educate and inspire those who may like to try something different.
The Volunteer has partnered up with UK volunteering organizations to facilitate the process of volunteering overseas.
A few of the supporters of The Volunteer include
SIR RANULPH FIENNES OBE - GLOBAL EXPLORER
JEREMY HUNT - SECRETARY OF STATE FOR CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
JAMES BLUNT - SINGER
SIR RODNEY SWEETNAM - NEWMAN FOUNDATION
TRUSTEES, HENRY VAN STRAUBENZEE FUND
Video
Site
Facebook
Tweets

Splendid!

The Luttrell Psalter Film

2011-02-06T01:42:00.013Z

http://www.luttrellpsalter.org.uk/

The Luttrell Psalter Film

"Journey with us into the colourful pages of the Luttrell Psalter and across the fields of Medieval England
The Luttrell Psalter Film is a short film based on the famous images of medieval village life from the 14th c. Luttrell Psalter. The Psalter was made for Sir Geoffrey Luttrell of Irnham in Lincolnshire and is famous for its depiction of ordinary people. It is a remarkable and precious part of Lincolnshire’s heritage. The film was made to be shown at The Collection, Lincoln’s museum. It is now also available to be viewed free on the internet and is available on DVD."
http://www.theluttrells.com/luttrellpsalter.html
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/luttrellpsalter.html

Orlando

2011-01-28T06:21:00.003Z

Orlando

Vita Sackville-West | Myspace Video

"Orlando: A Biography is an influential novel by Virginia Woolf, first published on 11 October 1928. A semi-biographical novel based in part on the life of Woolf's lover Vita Sackville-West, it is generally considered one of Woolf's most accessible novels. The novel has been influential stylistically, and is considered important in literature generally, and particularly in the history of women's writing and gender studies. A film adaptation was released in 1992, starring Tilda Swinton as Orlando and Quentin Crisp as Queen Elizabeth I."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando:_A_Biography

Read ORLANDO here
http://gutenberg.net.au/pages/woolf.html

The Queen's Christmas Message

2010-12-25T23:26:00.004Z

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II delivers her annual Christmas message to the people of the Commonwealth.
Video

Alice in Wonderland in British Stained Glass

2010-12-22T20:24:00.011Z

This image and our banner (above) are from the the Daniell Chapel in Daresbury, which contains the Lewis Carroll Memorial Window.

"To mark the centenary of his birth, Carroll enthusiasts from all over the world subscribed to a memorial fund, which resulted in a gift to All Saints' of this striking and unusual stained glass window, dedicated in 1935.
The window was designed by the stained glass artist Geoffrey Webb and depicts a Nativity scene, at which both Carroll and Alice are present. Below the Nativity scene are 5 panels illustrated with characters and scenes from Alice in Wonderland including the White Rabbit, the Lizard, the Dodo, the Caterpillar, Fish-Footman, Mad Hatter, Dormouse, March Hare, Duchess, Gryphon, Mock Turtle, Knave and Queen of Hearts. The famous Cheshire Cat can be found in the centre of the fifth panel. The 3 centre panels contain verses from the Lewis Carroll’s poem ‘Christmas Greetings (From a Fairy to a Child)’."

There are magnificent photographs of it - and related links - here:
http://daresburycofe.org.uk/index.php?page=alice-window
http://daresburycofe.org.uk/news/29/15/Lewis-Carroll-Centre/
http://www2.halton.gov.uk/content/tourismandleisure/localhistory/lewiscarroll/
http://www2.halton.gov.uk/yourcouncil/townsandvillages/daresburyvillage/

More links related to Alice
http://www.melaniebenjamin.com/world-of-alice.php
http://www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/fabled/cheshirecat.html
http://aliceinoxford.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=92&Itemid=139
http://www.alice-in-wonderland.biz/backgroundthomson.htm

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11 Alice In Wonderland text online
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/114 Alice In Wonderland - Tenniel's illustrations

Find more magical British stained glass here -
The UK on-line stained glass magazine
and Stained Glass Register in 2010
News, views, and links to stained glass artists and suppliers
http://www.stainedglassnews.co.uk/

Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries

2010-12-18T08:43:00.011Z

http://templars.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/wallpaper2007_07.jpg

The Monarchist gave Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries glowing reviews...

In one chapter, the reader travels on a mystical journey in search of the temple, ark and holy grail; in another, we are guided through a museum of holy crowns, sacred oil, swords and lances and other totems of antiquity. We begin to recover our lost senses...the question of why we dream of exploring mysterious islands or finding lost treasures; of why we value such hidden relics and attach almost divine significance to mystical regalia; is a curious one. Extrinsically, the Magna Carta of King John, and the Coronation Stone, are almost worthless objects; one is a discoloured old parchment, the other is made of mere sandstone; their value lies in sentiment alone. Destroy sentiment, however, and all that the human race holds dear vanishes with it; one might as well be a cow. One might as well be - dare we repeat it - a completely de-spiritualised republican.

Click the link and begin your pilgrimage!

British Birds Under Threat

2010-12-14T09:41:00.020Z

http://www.rspb.org.uk/

We can help our birds - and it is so easy and pleasant to do.
British Birds Under Threat - On a wing and a prayer
RSPB - How to help birds on your farm
RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch

"Drink up thy Zyder"

2010-12-07T19:33:00.025Z

We love the smell of simmering mulled cider - a traditional British and American drink - during the Christmas holidays, and offer guests hot mulled cider throughout the cold winter months.

Cider making in Somerset - video at link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/video/2010/dec/06/cider-making-somerset

UKCider - the real cider website and directory anyone can edit
http://www.cideruk.com/
http://www.ukcider.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Mulled Cider
Recipe courtesy Nigella Lawson from Nigella's Christmas Kitchen, 2007

Prep Time:30 minInactive Prep Time:--Cook Time:30 min
Level:
Easy
Serves:
6 servings

Ingredients
1 pint (16 fluid ounces) cider
2 fluid ounces dark rum
9 fluid ounces apple and ginger tea, from herbal teabag
1 1/2 ounces soft dark brown sugar
2 clementines
4 cloves
2 sticks cinnamon
2 fresh bay leaves
2 cardamom pods
Directions
Pour the cider, rum and herbal tea into a wide saucepan. Add the sugar and place the saucepan over a low heat. Slice the clementines in half and stick a clove into each half. Add the clementines to the pan. Break the cinnamon sticks in half. Add the cinnamon, bay leaves and cardamom pods to the saucepan. Heat the saucepan until the mixture is almost boiling. Turn down the heat once the pan is near to boiling.

To serve, ladle the mulled cider into heatproof glasses with handles.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/mulled-cider-recipe/index.html

From Jamie Oliver -
Incredible mulled cider
drinks | serves 15
It wouldn’t be Christmas without mulled something, whether I make wine or cider, its just one of those things that tells me I’m home and it’s Christmas. I know there are loads of packaged mulled wine and cider flavourings in the shops these days but honestly, it’s not hard to make this from scratch so please don’t cheat! Just pick up a few bottles of decent Scrumpy and give this a try. You’ll be simmering away most of the alcohol so if the kids want a taste, it’s ok to give them a little glass.

Ingredients
• 2 litres good cider, such as Scrumpy
• 6 cloves
• 3 or 4 star anise
• ¼ nutmeg, finely grated into the pan
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 vanilla pod, halved
• juice of 1 orange
• juice of 2 clementines
• juice and seeds from 1 pomegranate
• 4 or 5 tablespoons of caster sugar, to taste

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fruit-recipes/incredible-mulled-cider

Please Help Foxes - NFWS

2010-11-25T17:48:00.009Z

The National Fox Welfare Society - a wonderful charity - helps cure sarcoptic mange in foxes. Please donate or visit their shop for lovely fox gifts for animal lovers. Link

Prince William to marry Catherine Middleton next year

2010-11-16T12:39:00.004Z

We wish them
every happiness.
BBC Link

Alan Moore on Austin Osman Spare

2010-11-12T21:08:00.007Z

Man Myth and Magic cover image from "The Vampires Are Coming", a painting by Austin Osman Spare

"Austin Osman Spare (30 December 1886 – 15 May 1956) was an English artist who developed idiosyncratic magical techniques including automatic writing, automatic drawing and sigilization based on his theories of the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self. His artistic work is characterized by skilled draughtsmanship exhibiting a mastery of the use of the line, and often employs monstrous or fantastic magical and sexual imagery."

Posy Simmonds' "Tamara Drewe" is now a film

2010-10-02T23:56:00.011Z

Congratulations to Posy Simmonds, creator of "Tamara Drewe". The creator shares her experiences as illustrator and writer here.
The series is available online ttp://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/tamara-drewe

Of Chatsworth and Its Duchess

2010-09-20T03:55:00.008Z

Chatsworth is having an Attic Sale! One can only imagine...
Derbyshire, England
Viewing October 1-4, 2010
Auction October 5-7, 2010
http://www.sothebys.com
http://www.chatsworth.org

And the Duchess of Devonshire has a new book, titled WAIT FOR ME.
The Guardian has delightful photos and a review
Essay on the author at The Lady

Sloanes and Witchcraft: Winston Churchill OBOD

2010-09-19T15:08:00.015Z

The roots of English mysticism are rooted deep in the past.

This photo shows a young Winston Churchill flanked by a number of men in suits and Druid robes, and documents his initiation into the Albion Lodge of the Ancient Order of Druids in August 1908 at Blenheim, his family home.

Helen Duncan was the last person charged under the Witchcraft Act in Britiain, and Churchill helped to end it. http://psychictruth.info/Medium_Helen_Duncan.htm

"Some maintain that Churchill, a natural psychic in his own right, who had been
ordained as a Druid during a special ceremony at his ancestral home of Blenheim Palace
at the turn of the century and no stranger to Spiritualism, was actually defending a religious freedom."

PDF

Visit the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids online
http://www.druidry.org/

True Prep: Not Sloane

2010-09-15T02:36:00.001Z

Q.E.D.

Churchill's Final Mission is Completed

2010-08-19T02:47:00.007Z

"...it was on the eve of war as he sat at home at Chartwell awaiting the nation's call to arms that he was to return to this childhood passion with an unexpected fervour.

In the end, Churchill had to put his grand plans to reintroduce some of the lost British species of butterfly to his Kent estate on hold until after 1945. But it was a mission he was to resume as soon as the conflict ended. Now more than half a century later his breeding efforts are being recreated by the National Trust in the grounds of the red-brick Victorian country house where he lived until his death in 1965. The old summerhouse which he converted into a butterfly sanctuary has been revived with breeding cages.

Visitors will be able to experience the butterfly garden with its insect-friendly lavender borders – thought to be the oldest of their kind in existence – as well as the vast buddleia jungles just as they were in the 1940s and 1950s when the Churchills used to throw magnificent garden parties in which they would buy in hundreds of butterfly specimens from the renowned dealer L Hugh Newman."

The Independent

Butterflies in decline
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/27/butterfly-decline-conservation-endangered-species

http://www.kentbutterflies.org/

The Legend of the Moonrakers

2010-08-15T22:57:00.012Z

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonrakers
here
and here

'The Wiltshire Moonrakers' by Edward Slow'
featured in 'Wiltshire Rhymes and Tales in the Wiltshire Dialect' (1894)

Down Vizes way zom years agoo,
When smuggal'n wur nuthen new,
An people wurden nar bit shy,
Of who they did their sperrits buy.
In a village liv'd a publican,
Whi kept an Inn, The Pelican,
A man he wur, a man a merrit
An his neam wur Ikey Perritt.
Ael roun about tha country voke
Tha praise of thease yer landlard spoke;
Var wen any on'em wur took bad,
They knaw'd wur sperrits could be had;
An daly it wur nice an handy,
At tha Pelican to get yer brandy.
Twer zwold as chep as tis in Vrance,
Tho a course, twer done in iggerance.

One winter, Crismis time about,
Thease lanlords tubs as ael ran out.
Zays he, this yer's a purty goo,
Var mwore what ever shall I do;
Thie smugglin Zam's a purty chap,
Ta lave I here wieout a drap;
An wen a promised dree months back,
A hooden vail ta bring me whack.
Bit praps tha zizevoke voun his trail,
An med a pop'd inta jail,
Howsemdever, I'll zen and zee,
Ta marrer wats become a he.
Zoo nex day at nite he off did start,
Two girt chaps wie a donkey cart.
Ta Bristil town thay took ther way,
An got there as twer gettin day;
Tha smugglers house tha zoon voun out,
An tould'n wat they wur com about.
Ael rite, zays he, I've plenty bye,
Bit we mist keep a cuteish eye,
Var tha zize voke, they be in tha watch,
An two or dree have lately cotch.
Zoo tell woold Perritt thats tha razin
I coudden zen avore ta pleaz un.
Soo wen twur dark thase smuggler bwold,
Got dree tubs vrim a zacrit hould;
An unobsarved he purty smart,
Zoon clap'd em in tha donkey cart;
An tha top a covered up we hay,
Then zent tha chaps an cart away;
Ael droo tha streets quite zaef an zound,
Thay zoon jog'd out a Bristil town.
An vore tha vull moon ad rose,
To ther neative pleace, wur drawin close;
Wen to ther girt astonishment,
Thay met wie a awkurd accident,
In passin auver Cannins Brudge,
Tha stubborn donkey hooden budge;
Tha chaps thay leather'd well his back,
Bit a diden keer var ther attack;
Bit jibb'd an beller'd, shook his mean
Then kick'd bouth shafts right off za clane.
Up went tha cart, tha tubs vill out,
An in tha road zood roll'd about;
An vore tha chaps cood ardly look,
Ael dree ad roll'd straite in tha brook.
Well here's a purty goo zays one,
Why will, wat ever's to be done?
I'd like ta kill thic donkey quite,
If thee wurst, zays Tom, tid zar un rite.
Doost knaa wat tha matter wur?
I thinks a got a vorester;
Var I nevir knaw'd un hack like this,
Unless zummit wur much amiss.
Look at un now he's in a scare,
An gwain as hard as he can tare;
We bouth shafts danglin on tha groun,
A wunt stop till he gets wom I'm bown.
Zoo let un, I dwoant keer a snap,
Var then thay'll gace thease yer mishap;
An zen zumbiddy on tha road,
Ta help ess get wom saef tha load.
Bit zounds, while thus we do delay,
Tha tubs, begar, ull swim away;
We mist get em out at any price,
Tho' the water be as cwoold as ice.
Dwoant stan geapin zo, var goodness zeak,
Run to thic rick an vind a reak;
I thinks that I can reak em out,
Var ther thay be swimmin about.
Two reaks wur got, an then thaese two
Did reak an splaish we much ado;
Bit nar a tub diden lan,
Thay hooden zeem ta com ta han.
Zays Tom, I'm tired a tha job,
An hooden a tuck un var ten bob;
I ad a mine ta let em goo,
An zoo I will if thee hoot to.
Get out, girt stup, we mist get in,
Tho we do get wet ta tha skin.
Till never do ta let em be,
Zo tuck thee pants up roun thee knee.
Tha chaps then took tha water bwould,
Tho thay wur shram'd ni we tha could;
An jist as thay did heave one out,
Ael at once a feller loud did shout--
HEL'OH, me lads, wat up to there,
NIGHT POACHERS, ah, if teant I swear.
Let goo, zays Will, I'm blow'd if tent,
Vizes excizemen on tha scent;
Push off tha tub var goodness zeak,
Get out tha brook, teak hould a reak;
Reak at tha moon a shinin zee,
An dwoant thee spake, I'll tackle he,
Bit av ad a mishap as ya see.
Comin frum Vize we donkey cart,
On tha bridge tha donk mead zudden start;
An jirk'd, an jib'd, then gied a kick,
An het bwouth shafts off purty quick.
Out went our things wich as ya zees,
Lays ael about, an yer's a cheese;
He roll'd rite on straite in thease brook,
An Tom's a reakun vor'un look!
Tha Zizeman swallered ael o't in,
An ta zee Tom reakun, gun ta grin,
Girt vool, zays he, as true's I'm barn,
Why that's tha moon, thee beest reakun vor'n
An then a busted out agean,
An zed of ael, that beat all clean;
Ta zee a crazy headed coon,
Reak at the shadder of the moon.
Will wink'd at Tom, Tom wink'd at Will,
Ta zee how nice he'd took tha pill;
Ah, zur, you med laff as long as ya please,
Bit we be zure it be a cheese.
Zee how he shows hisself za plain,
Com Tom, lets reak vor he again.
Zo slap an dash went on reakin,
While Zizeman he var vun wur sheakin;
An off a went houlden his zide,
Var longer there a cooden bide.
We grinnin his eyes did auverflow,
Ta zee thay chaps a reakin zo;
An ta think that now he'd tould em zo,
Tha girt vools hooden ther frake vergo.
Zoo up a got upon his hoss,
An as tha brudge a went across,
He zet up another harty grin,
Wen a look'd an zeed em bouth get in;
An zed girt vools till zar em rite,
If thay da ketch ther deaths ta nite.
Bit wen he ad got clane away,
Tha tubs wur got wieout delay;
And hid away, quite zeaf and zoun,
Var a dark nite wen tha moon wur down.

Then at the Pelican thease chaps,
Purty zoon wur tellen ther mishaps;
Bit ael ther troubles they vergot,
Wen they'd emptyied well tha landloards pot,
An wen he a coose did pay em well
Thease little stowry not ta tell;
Zo wen tha Zizemin nex did com,
Woold Perritt he a coose wur mum.
An in a glass did jine wie glee,
Wen Zizemin twould tha tale ta he;
Bit he laff'd mwore wen zeaf one nite
Tha tubs wur brought wom snug an tite;
An many a bumper went a round,
To think thay'd beat tha Zizemin zound.

Bit he tha tale did zoon let out
To ael the countery roun about;
An to thease day, people da teeze,
All Wilsheer voke about tha cheese.
Bit tis thay as can avourd ta grin,
To zee ow nice a wur took in.
Zoo wen out thease county you da goo,
An voke da poke ther vun at you;
An caal ee a girt Wilsheer coon,
As went a reakun var tha moon.
Jist menshin thease yer leetle stowry,
And then bust out in ael yer glowry,
That yer smeart Excisemin vresh vrum town,
Wur took in wie a Wilsheer clown.

Request a bespoke Moonraker or other pub sign -
here

A different kind of moonraking - find out what the "mowing devils" are up to here
and here

Although he did not act in the film version of Ian Fleming's MOONRAKER, we note that August 25th is the 80th birthday of Sir Sean Connery. Many Happy Returns, Commander Bond!
M16 takes a look at some of the best Connery films.

"A translation, in verse, of the mottos of the English nobility and sixteen peers of Scotland in the year 1800 (1822)"

2010-08-15T10:43:00.003Z

Great fun to read. Are you there?
Link at http://www.archive.org/details/translationinver00amicrich

Obituary: Robbert Fack

2010-08-15T05:30:00.010Z

A friend of Sloanes - the legendary Robbert Fack will be missed.
Obituary - Telegraph
DSC

Video: Lady Antonia Fraser in her writing room

2010-08-15T05:20:00.005Z

Enchanting.
http://www.antoniafraser.com/

Sartorial Splendour - Admiral Cod

2010-08-15T05:07:00.002Z

We like Admiral Cod (the blog), for its writing, menswear and other fine things.
Link

Kill the cull, not Wales's badgers

2010-07-12T10:00:00.005Z

Despite no scientific evidence that bovine TB is transmitted by badgers, the farming lobby is hellbent on slaughtering them

Link

A BadgerCam is in our Links column

From badgers to WIND IN THE WILLOWS -
Obnoxious Mr. Toad was inspired by author Kenneth Grahame's own son...
Link

Misery Bear's World Cup

2010-06-26T06:54:00.003Z

Sweet and rather sad.
Link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clips/p00887k5

Thank you for Helping to Save the Barge Inn!

2010-05-25T02:05:00.007Z

Thank you to all who helped to Save the Barge Inn!

An appeal for this community hub has been answered.
Link
The Barge Inn website
The Barge Inn Community Project

We'll visit The Barge Inn during the Crop Circle season.

Photographs of London from Fotocommunity

2010-04-24T12:09:00.000Z

We think this is definitely worth a visit: Photographers at Photocommunity share hundreds of great images of lovely London here.

Celebrate Sir Hans Sloane's 350th Birthday on April 16th

2010-04-12T14:23:00.013Z

Available now here - more soon

"Welcome to Chelsea Physic Garden

Situated in the heart of London, this 'Secret Garden' is a centre of education, beauty and relaxation. Founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, it continues to research the properties, origins and conservation of over 5000 plant species.

Friends of the Garden have privileged access on weekdays throughout the year and on Sundays and Bank Holidays between April and October.
For the general public, our 2010 Opening times.

To celebrate the 350th Birthday of Sir Hans Sloane, the Garden will be not be charging admission fees on Friday 16th April 2010.
More details about Our Local Hero, Sloane."

Founded by Sir Hans Sloane - The British Museum

Ann Barr, The Woman Who Invented Sloanes

2010-04-08T04:04:00.019Z

Image: Ann Barr and friend, from article "Ann Barr, The Woman Who Invented Sloanes".

Ann Barr did most of the work on the first Official Sloane Ranger books. Peter York (Peter Wallis, actually) did much less to comprehend and map the terrain. Ann is a Sloane, and Peter is not. One source reports that York has done no work on the new book leaving it to Olivia Stewart-Liberty.

The authorship of the Sloane Ranger Handbook is apparently a sore point with poor Peter York (Wallis).

"From Peaches Geldof to David Cameron, a fresh breed of Sloane is taking over the country. This work unveils them to an unsuspecting public. It includes breeds of a subtle and powerful social network: Chav Sloanes (who call friends 'Blud'), Turbo Sloanes (who live in NYLON), and Eco Sloanes (who have strong preferences for veg boxes and kaftans)...." the York/Liberty "Sloane" book is just wrong.

Some Sloanes have always functioned - and made fortunes - in an international environment; that's why so much of the map of the world became pink. Creative marketing claims to the contrary, values and traits of Sloanes have not changed.

The original books are unsurpassed, and Sloanes thank Ann Barr!

A short letter from Ann Barr to the editor of The Observer was a delightful surprise.

Sloanes are OK, ya?

Carole Cadwalladr's spiky article 'The rebirth of posh' (Review, last week) was very interesting, but two points. Peter York was not the author of the original Sloane Ranger's Handbook, 1982; it was a communal book by 60 Harpers & Queen contributors, woven together by me as features editor and deputy editor (and Sloane Ranger person). Peter York was the co-author, for his media skills.

My other concern is confusing the Sloane Ranger with the super-rich. Sloane Rangers are not necessarily well-off or aristocrats, but a stratum of a bygone middle class, at least one rung down from David Cameron and friends. They work behind the scenes to help the community, but do not expect to lead it - and don't all vote Tory.

Ann Barr
London W11
Link

Nicholas Coleridge was mentored by Ann Barr and remembers her here.

William and Kate to Name the Date?

2010-04-08T00:48:00.003Z

Tina Brown, friend of Princess Diana and Royal insider, thinks so. Link

SAGA Magazine

2010-04-07T17:25:00.004Z

"Vita Brevis - Ours Longer..."
Emma Soames is the brilliant editor behind SAGA Magazine - making aging cool and grey the new black.
Great fun! SAGA

The Lady: Joanna Lumley

2010-04-05T18:23:00.007Z

The Lady Magazine presents a profile of the enchanting Joanna Lumley - a national treasure: From Purdey to Patsy

In this BBC video, Joanna Lumley travels to arctic Norway in search of the Northern Lights (or Aurora Borealis), a phenomenon which occurs due to solar winds interacting with the earth's magnetic field.

The Lady: Alice and Me

2010-04-05T12:38:00.017Z

Hugh St Clair tells the real-life story of his greatgrandmother Alice Liddell, who was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland
"My great-grandmother was Alice in Wonderland. When I tell people, they look rather bemused, but it’s true – Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s enigmatic book, beloved by children and adults alike, was my great-grandmother. Indeed, that chance meeting that Carroll had in the quad at Christ Church College, Oxford with the Liddell children in 1856 has certainly benefited our family – my children were privately educated on money from the sale of ‘Alice’ memorabilia.
Since the book’s publication in 1865, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has been translated into hundreds of languages and has never been out of print. There have also been countless adaptations in other media, especially theatre and film. The latest, directed by Tim Burton, starts with a young woman who, fearful of the imminent proposal of an eligible (but ridiculous) suitor, escapes into a fantasy world with the mysterious White Rabbit.
Alice was born in 1852, the fourth child of eight surviving children – five girls and three boys. Her father, Henry Liddell, was a distinguished academic, head of Westminster School, then Dean of Christ Church College, Oxford. When the family moved from Westminster to Oxford they got to know the Rev Charles Dodgson (Carroll’s real name) – a shy and stuttering mathematics don, more relaxed in the company of children than adults. An eccentric man, he had an amazing collection of mechanical toys in his rooms and loved dressing up in children’s fancy dress outfits. It was while he was out photographing Christ Church Cathedral that he came across the young Liddell children playing in the Deanery garden. He soon struck up a friendship with the family, becoming a fixture in their lives. He was particularly drawn to Alice...."
Continues at The Lady Magazine
To see a collection of images of ALICE past and present, visit the very smart blog of M.A. Peel or "Emma Peel"

National Trust: The Lyme Caxton Missal

2010-04-05T12:30:00.006Z

"The Lyme Caxton Missal

Turn the pages of history at Lyme Park, with our interactive display which lets you view the pages of the Lyme Caxton Missal.

The Missal was printed by William Caxton, England's first printer, in the 15th century. It is a rare copy of an early printed prayer book, famed in its time of print for being one of the first books to be printed in two colours, red and black.

For a sneak-peek of the unique Missal, watch our short film and discover more about its captivating history."

Link

A fascinating combination of old and new...

Daffodils

2010-04-04T14:19:00.006Z

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

~ William Wordsworth

May we all be blessed with peace and renewal this Easter Day.

Rural Dating: Finding love in the countryside

2010-03-24T10:14:00.004Z

This article gives good practical tips and resources for Sloanes and country friends who are ready to be
"Matched".
From The Telegraph

Video: Cold Comfort Farm

2010-03-21T05:03:00.007Z

"In England in the early 1930's, 20 year old Flora Poste, recently orphaned and left with only 100 pounds a year, goes to stay with distant relatives on Cold Comfort Farm. Everyone on the gloomy farm is completely around the twist, but Flora tries to sort everything out...

This is yet another great adaptation of a great book - and it's so delightfully funny and cleverly-written. Kate (Beckwith) is so lovely in her role as Flora. Her appearance as a penniless heroine reminded me of Emma Woodhouse and Northanger Abbey. Don't miss the hilarity-driven performances by respected actors like Ian McKellen, Eileen Atkins, Rufus Sewell, Stephen Fry, and Rupert Penry-Jones"

Wikipedia

A lovely review of the book is here

Cold Comfort Farm is listed amongst the best books at the Gutenberg Project

Read the book online here

Haunting Heligan

2010-02-28T11:38:00.004Z

Are the Lost Gardens of Heligan haunted, as they say? All the more reason to go! The Heligan website is exquisite.
You may also enjoy the Ghost Club.

NYT: Interactive London Shopping Map

2010-02-27T07:31:00.008Z

From the New York Times:
Mayfair Lady. An interactive map with eight featured venues - from Vivienne Westwood to Purdey, with a stop at Punchbowl. Very clever indeed.

Snowdrops

2010-02-22T02:39:00.011Z

It has been a long, hard winter and we are longing for signs of Spring. SAGA has a charming article about snowdrops and where to view them. Link

"The blackbirds and thrushes that had been singing freely previously suddenly ceased singing about December 15, and remained silent for a month, and as suddenly began singing again about January 15. Where they all came from I cannot think, there seemed such an increase in their numbers; one wet morning in a small meadow there were forty-five feeding in sight that could be easily counted. They say the thrushes dig up and eat the roots of the arum, yet they are not root-eaters. Possibly it may have a medicinal effect; the whole plant has very strong properties, and is still much gathered, I suppose for the herbalists. The root is set rather deep, quite a dig with a pocket knife sometimes; one would fancy it was only those which had become accidentally exposed that are eaten by the thrushes. I have never seen them do it, and some further testimony would be acceptable. The old naturalists said the bear on awakening from its winter sleep dug up and ate the roots of the arum in order to open the tube of the intestine which had flattened together during hibernation. The blackbirds are the thrushes' masters, and drive them from any morsel they fancy. There is very little humanity among them: one poor thrush had lost the joint of its leg, and in order to pick up anything had to support itself with one wing like a crutch. This bird was hunted from every spot he chose to alight on; no sooner did he enter the garden than one of the stronger birds flew at him—'so misery is trodden on by many.' There was a drone-fly on a sunny wall on January 20, the commonest of flies in summer, quite a wonder then; the same day a house-sparrow was trying to sing, for they have a song as well as a chirp; on January 22 a tit was sharpening his saw and the gnats were jumping up and down in crowds—this up-and-down motion seems peculiar to them and may-flies. Then the snowdrops flowered and a hive-bee came to them; next the yellow crocus; bees came to these, too, and so eager were they that one bee would visit the same flower five or six times before finally going away. Bees are very eager for water in the early year; you may see them in crowds on the wet mud in ditches; there was a wild bee drowning in a basin of water the other day till I took him out.

Before the end of January the woodbine leaf was out, always the first to come, and never learning that it is too soon; whether the woodbine came over with 'Richard Conqueror' or the Romans, it still imagines itself ten degrees further south, so that some time seems necessary to teach a plant the alphabet. Immediately afterwards down came a north wind and put nature under its thumb for two months; the drone-fly hid himself, the bees went home, everything became shrivelled, dry, inhuman. The local direction of the wind might vary, but it was still the same polar draught, the blood-sucker; for, like a vampire, it sucks the very blood and moisture out of delicate human life, just as it dries up the sap in the branch. While this lasted there were no notes to make, the changes were slower than the hour hand of a clock; still it was interesting to see the tree-climber come every morning at eleven o'clock to the cobble-stone wall and ascend it exactly as he ascends trees, peering into chinks among the moss and the pennywort. He seemed almost as fond of these walls as of his tree trunks. He came regularly at eleven and again at three in the afternoon, and a barn owl went by with a screech every evening a little after eight. The starlings told the time of the year as accurately as the best chronometer at Whitehall. When I saw the last chimney swallow, November 30, they went by to their sleeping-trees about three o'clock in the afternoon—a long night, a short day for them. So they continued till in January the day had grown thirty minutes longer, when they went to roost so much the later; in February, four o'clock; in March, by degrees their time for passing by the window en route drew on to five o'clock. Let the cold be never so great or the sky so clouded, the mysterious influence of the light, as the sun slowly rises higher on the meridian, sinks into the earth like a magic rain. It enters the hardest bark and the rolled-up bud, so firm that its point will prick the finger like a thorn; it stirs beneath the surface of the ground. A magnetism that is not heat, and for which there is no exact name, works out of sight in answer to the sun. Seen or unseen, clouded or not, every day the sun lifts itself an inch higher, and let the north wind shrivel as it may, this invisible potency compels the bud to swell and the flower to be ready in its calyx. Progress goes on in spite of every discouragement. The birch trees reddened all along their slender boughs, and when the sunlight struck aslant, the shining bark shone like gossamer threads wet with dew."

~ Richard Jefferies,
FIELD AND HEDGEROW

Tory Chic: The return of poshness

2010-01-18T00:22:00.011Z

Tory Chic: The return of poshness
From The Guardian:

'Over the last few years, in trendy parts of London, at music festivals, and among clothes-horse celebrities, Barbours have become so ubiquitous that there is even a half-mocking nickname for the look, referencing the London borough where it is commonest: "Hackney farmer". The boom is even affecting sensible old John Lewis: this year, national sales of Barbours there are up more than 80%.

And the Barbour craze is only part of a much broader new appetite for products with posh associations. Brogues and Oxfords, the more clumpy and traditional-looking the better, have become the shoes of choice for many cool young men. Hunter wellies, once something for squelchy point-to-points, are now what Kate Moss and her fashion disciples wear to Glastonbury, and are currently on sale at Jigsaw. Tweed has become hip. So have faintly caddish moustaches and even – according to the high-street chain Vision Express – monocles. "There was recently a trend for waistcoats, a very young man's trend," says the fashion journalist Charlie Porter. "There is a thing for bow ties right now. There's no way a bow tie can be anything but posh." The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook – published more than a quarter of a century ago, the last time there was a vogue for upper-class style – lists the key items in the male Sloane wardrobe: "the thick, woolly Action Man sweater . . . the blazer . . . trousers worn a bit short . . . the cardigan." Over the last few years, British men's fashion magazines have featured little else.'

Link

We also like this article on Barbour from the Times Online.

'...what’s happening with Barbour gives me a little fillip of excitement. What is happening, by the way, is that for the past three or four years, its wildly practical but, not exactly sexy, blingy or, let’s be honest, aesthetically lovely, waxed coats — the kind you can imagine William Hague, or for that matter General Haig, and sundry little William-and-Katettes scampering across grouse moors in — have become increasingly fashionable. And they’ve become fashionable not so much because of anything Barbour itself has done to relaunch, rebrand or restructure, but despite it.

I say this lovingly. Barbour is not a foolish, crass brand. It didn’t wake up one morning, spot someone from Dalston wearing one of its jackets and think, ooh yes, let’s hire an Italian designer to sex this up with some mink collars and lilac beading. Instead it has been quietly getting on with streamlining its silhouettes and ramping up its technical credentials so that you now find slinky Barbour jackets that weigh even less than Cheryl Cole and come in colours you might actually want to wear, ie black.'

Link

Emma Watson brings her special magic to the Burberry brand.

Memories of Love: Lady Antonia Fraser and Harold Pinter

2010-01-02T08:51:00.006Z

'(Fraser's) new book, which she will be reading on BBC Radio 4 from January 11, is neither autobiography nor biography but a love story, romantic, poignant and very funny, illuminating her husband’s character and creativity. It will show the Pinters on holiday (on Paxos with Simon Gray and Ronald Harwood and their wives, performing each other’s plays) and the Pinters sharing their works in progress'

Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter by Antonia Fraser will be published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on January 11.
Link

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T04:12:00.004Z

The Queen's Christmas Message

2009-12-25T15:12:00.003Z

At the BBC, here.
Happy Christmas, everyone!

Fairy Tale Films: The Chagford Filmmaking Group

2009-12-13T08:34:00.010Z

Perfect for the holiday season - and for the child in us all.

From the site:

The Chagford Filmmaking Group is dedicated to making films of British fairytales - traditional stories rooted in the British landscape.

We are a non-profit organization creating films that we would want our children to see. We simply wish to tell the magical stories that are part of our heritage.

"Elizabeth-Jane Baldry's films are imaginative and refreshing - a new storyteller from the green heart of Devon"

- Alan Lee
Academy Award winner, conceptual designer, Lord of the Rings

We love their work and wish the group every success.

Please subscribe to their free mailing list at the site.

Hedgerow Trees: A Strategy for Renewal

2009-11-30T20:15:00.003Z

"The importance of hedgerow trees:
Hedgerow trees are just one of the many assets that contribute to the
natural wealth of our countryside. As individuals they provide firewood,
habitats for wildlife, offer shade and shelter and often carry local
significance marking boundaries. Collectively however, they provide the
countryside with a stature and irregularity of form that visually defines its
beauty – a cultural asset of unquantifiable value to our society."

From the Game Conservancy Trust. PDF

Dominick Dunne: A Tribute

2009-11-28T12:08:00.009Z

A beautiful memorial to Dominick Dunne is offered at Vanity Fair
Leave your condolences here.

Wikipedia

Exeter catacombs identified as potential swine flu mortuary

2009-11-08T22:22:00.003Z

"Exeter city council is considering using 19th century catacombs to store the bodies of swine flu victims if the outbreak worsens.

They’ve identified the empty underground burial chambers in Bartholomew Street, currently used as a tourist attraction, as a potential mortuary.

A council spokesman said the plan would be implemented if the crematorium and cemeteries could not keep up with funeral demands."

Link

BBC: Lorna Doone

2009-11-04T23:21:00.011Z

Now we can enjoy the romance of Exmoor online...

"The BBC dished up Lorna Doone as its classic costume drama for Christmas 2000 and served its source material well. R. D. Blackmore's novel of dangerous times and inter-clan warfare on Exmoor during the time of the Monmouth Rebellion is highly romantic. At its centre is the ongoing war between John Ridd (Richard Coyle), the yeoman with a noble heart, and Carver Doone, the reckless young leader of the outlawed family who murdered Ridd's father. Aside from their familial enmity, they are also rival suitors for the hand of the eponymous heroine (a spirited performance from Amelia Warner). The production avoids overkill on the swashbuckling front: the battle scenes are grim and bloody; Lorna herself is cocooned by her family but the Doone clan lives in a bleak, rough encampment with few comforts. And in Aidan Gillan's Carver, we have an anti-hero of extraordinary charisma, driven and ultimately destroyed by his single-minded determination to make Lorna his wife or see her dead. A stirring evening's viewing which offers the good old-fashioned satisfaction of just desserts all round." --Piers Ford

Read an online illustrated version of the book here.

BBC: A walk in Lorna Doone country - Link

The Devil Rides Out

2009-11-03T13:45:00.002Z

Christopher Lee has been knighted. Congratulations, Sir!

The Avengers

2009-10-28T02:07:00.001Z

Marvellous then - and now.

When Boris Met Dave

2009-10-07T20:49:00.005Z

Much ado about some Hoorays.

English Cider, the apple of my eye

2009-09-24T21:22:00.010Z

'...I sip a pint of Aspall Draught Suffolk Cyder with Henry Chevallier Guild, a partner in family-owned Aspall and the newly installed chairman of the National Association of Cider Makers.
"Cider has suffered from a serious image problem over the years," he says. "For too long it was seen as the preserve of tramps such as you describe, students and Wurzels. It was to get you drunk, quickly and cheaply.
"Happily that has changed, thanks in part to the efforts of Bulmers and Magners, and cider is currently outperforming every other drinks category. The market doubled in value between 2004 and 2008 and increased in volume by 91 per cent. Cider now accounts for seven per cent of all alcohol sales in the UK, with the trade worth £1.8 billion."
Guild's family has been making cider ever since his five-times great grandfather – Clement Chevallier – arrived in Suffolk from the apple-growing island of Jersey in 1725.
"In those days, cider was held in great esteem and would have been drunk in the grandest of houses," Guild explains. "My dream is to see English cider restored to its rightful place, served in the best hotels and restaurants alongside the finest of wines."'

Yes, please!
Article at the Telegraph

From Chambers' Book of Days for September 25th
CIDER-MAKING

"Debarred by the adverse influences of climate from the profitable cultivation of the vine, the northern nations of Europe have endeavoured to supply this deficiency by the manufacture of exhilarating liquors from fruits and grains of various kinds, more congenial to their soil and skies. Of these rivals to the grape, with the exception of John Barleycorn and his sons, there is none which may more fairly claim to contest the palm of agreeableness and popularity than the apple and her golden-haired daughter, the bright and sparkling cider, whom some ardent admirers have even exalted to a level with the regal vintage of Champagne. Hear how John Philips, in his poem of Cider, eulogises the red-streak apple and its genial produce:

'Let every tree in every garden own
The Red-streak as supreme, whose pulpous fruit
With gold irradiate, and vermilion shines
Tempting, not fatal, as the birth of that
Primeval interdicted plant that won
Fond Eve in hapless hour to taste, and die.
This, of more bounteous influence, inspires
Poetic raptures, and the lowly
Muse Kindles to loftier strains; even I perceive
Her sacred virtue. See! the numbers flow
Easy, whilst, cheer'd with her nectareous juice,
Hers and my country's praises I exalt.
Hail Herefordian plant, that dost disdain
All other fields! Heaven's sweetest blessing, hail!
Be thou the copious matter of my song,
And thy choice nectar; on which always waits
Laughter, and sport, and care-beguiling wit,
And friendship, chief delight of human life.
What should we wish for more? or why, in quest
Of foreign vintage, insincere, and mixt,
Traverse th' extremest world? why tempt the rage
Of the rough ocean? when our native glebe
Imparts, from bounteous womb, annual recruits
Of wine delectable, that far surmounts
Gallic, or Latin grapes, or those that see
The setting sun near Calpes' towering height.
Nor let the Rhodian, nor the Lesbian vines
Vaunt their rich Must, nor let Tokay contend
For sovereignty; Phanaeus self must bow
To th' Ariconian vales.'

Like hop-picking in the east, the gathering of apples, for cider, forms one of the liveliest and most interesting of rural operations throughout the year in the western counties of England. These comprise mainly Hereford, Monmouth, and Gloucester shires, Somerset and Devon, the first and last counties more especially representing the two great cider districts of England, and also two separate qualities of the liquor, Herefordshire being noted par excellence for sweet, as Devonshire is for rough cider. Both descriptions, however, are made in the two counties. In the sweet cider, the object of the maker is to check the vinous fermentation as far as possible, so as to prevent the decomposition of the saccharine matter, which in the rough cider is more or less destroyed. The cider lauded by Philips in such encomiastic terms, is the sweet Herefordshire cider; but as a native of the west midland counties, a due allowance must be made for local predilection. It, nevertheless, enjoys a deservedly high reputation, and it is stated as a positive fact that an English peer, when ambassador in France, used frequently to palm it on the noblesse as a delicious wine.

In the manufacture of cider, those apples are preferred which are of a small size and have an acid or astringent taste. Red and yellow are the favourite colours, green being avoided as producing a very poor quality of liquor. Where cider is made in small quantities, or where it is desired to have it of a specially fine description, the apples are gathered by the hand when thoroughly ripe, care-fully picked, and any rotten portions that may appear, cut away.

For general purposes, the fruit is beaten from the trees by the aid of long poles, and collected in baskets beneath, by women and children. It is then spread out in heaps in the open air, and remains exposed to the weather till it becomes mellow. It is then conveyed to the cider-mill, a primitive apparatus, consisting of a stone wheel revolving in a circular trough of the same material, and driven by a horse. The apples are ground as nearly as possible to a uniform consistence, it being especially desirable that the rinds and kernels should be thoroughly pressed, as on the former the colour, and on the latter the flavour of the liquor essentially depend. The resulting pulp, or, as it is termed, pomage, is taken to the cider-press, a machine constructed on the principle of the packing-press, on the floor of which the crushed fruit is piled up, between layers of straw or hair-cloth, and subjected to a severe and protracted pressure. The heap thus formed is styled the cheese. Wooden tubs or troughs receive the expressed liquor, which is then. placed in casks, and left to ferment. This operation being successfully completed, the cider, bright and clear, is racked off into other casks, which are allowed to stand in the open air till the ensuing spring with their bungs lightly fixed, but which are then tightly closed. The best time for bottling it is said to be when it is from eighteen months to two years old, or rather when it has acquired its highest brightness and flavour in the cask. If the proper time for doing this be seized, the liquor thus bottled may be kept for a very long period, but, as a general rule, cider is extremely difficult to preserve, from the readiness with which it turns sour, owing to the development of lactic acid.

As a summer drink, cider is a most palatable and refreshing one, though its extended use seems to be confined to the western counties of England, where it occupies the place in popular favour held, in other parts of the country, by beer. The percentage of alcohol which it contains, varies from 5½ to 9. We retain a most affectionate remembrance of the liquor in connection with the fairy nooks of Devon, and the rich pastures of Somerset, through which, some years ago, it was our fortune to ramble. Enchanted land of the west! how our fancies are entwined with thy sunny valleys, deep shady lanes, and the beauty and vigour of thy rustic inhabitants. Long may Pomona shed her choicest blessings on thy head, and her refreshing juices cheer the heart of the thirsty and way-worn traveller!"

Farthing

2009-09-20T23:51:00.003Z

"One summer weekend in 1949--but not our 1949--the well-connected “Farthing set”, a group of upper-crust English families, enjoy a country retreat. Lucy is a minor daughter in one of those families; her parents were both leading figures in the group that overthrew Churchill and negotiated peace with Herr Hitler eight years before.

Despite her parents’ evident disapproval, Lucy is married--happily--to a London Jew. It was therefore quite a surprise to Lucy when she and her husband David found themselves invited to the retreat. It’s even more startling when, on the retreat’s first night, a major politician of the Farthing set is found gruesomely murdered, with abundant signs that the killing was ritualistic.

It quickly becomes clear to Lucy that she and David were brought to the retreat in order to pin the murder on him. Major political machinations are at stake, including an initiative in Parliament, supported by the Farthing set, to limit the right to vote to university graduates. But whoever’s behind the murder, and the frame-up, didn’t reckon on the principal investigator from Scotland Yard being a man with very private reasons for sympathizing with outcasts…and looking beyond the obvious.

As the trap slowly shuts on Lucy and David, they begin to see a way out--a way fraught with peril in a darkening world."
from http://us.macmillan.com/farthing

Riveting... read it online.

Walton, Jo - Farthing

The Homebody: Traditional British style

2009-09-11T15:17:00.020Z

"Fashion is going through one of its periodic love affairs with tartan and tweed"... We like to shop, but must admit that we can probably manage with the things we already have.
Link
Olivia Pollack tells how to wax a Barbour jacket at Country Life.

THE CHAP warns against clothes that aren't really made in England, and have a petition to sign. We hope Barbour has everything made in Britain now.

Why are posh people so scruffy?

2009-09-10T10:47:00.016Z

Rachel Johnson, now editor of THE LADY

"So why do some of the upper classes live in what some might think of as squalor?
What's the point in ironing your underclothes?
The truth is they like to be comfortable. What is more comfortable than wearing an old sweater with that special 'eau de cologne Anglais rustique', which is a mixture of damp wool, dog and gun oil - with the odd gravy stain added for good measure.
After all, who wants to take their boots off if they are shortly going back outside - and anyway, what is the point? Why spend hours spraying 'surfaces' with chemicals when there are so many more amusing things to do? Is there any point in ironing your underclothes?
It could be said that the upper classes are highly eco-friendly. They don't hoover very much, hardly ever turn on the washing machine and have the heating on only when it is really very cold.
And, more to the point, where would you rather go for a cup of tea? To Rachel's comfortable messy house or to an immaculate drawing room where you are frightened of leaning back in the chair in case you crush the perfect cushions?
Dirt is a way of life to me and my fellow toffs. It's both comfortable and relaxing. It's medically desirable as you build up resistance to an enormous range of bugs.
You save lots of money as you don't need to buy many clothes, and when you do they last for ever. And it's even environmentally friendly.
A blind eye to the dust on the mantle and the mud on the kitchen floor has served our family well for more than 800 years. Neat freaks be damned, I have no intention of changing those habits of eight centuries. Not now. Not ever."
Read more of this delightful article by Kishanda Fulford here.

Diary of a Nobody

2009-08-19T04:53:00.004Z

An introduction and links to enjoy this classic of Sloane humour - including an audio version - are here.
A new Pooterish diary is here.

Meet the aristocrat who's got prisoners in stitches

2009-08-16T02:12:00.014Z

http://www.finecellwork.co.uk/products/show/DeMorganAnimals

This interview from THE INDEPEDENT with the delightful Lady Anne Tree, friend of the rich and famous and penniless and infamous, will give you a wonderful lift.

'Throughout all these years, Anne Tree had continued writing her letters to ministers about her plans to give prisoners something worthwhile to do – including one that was hand-delivered to her cousin, Lord Cranborne, when he was a defence minister. "They had become," she admits, "ruder and ruder. One told one minister that, 'It is shits like you who let this country down.'" Its dispatch was followed by a long silence. "Then, out of the blue, Angela Rumbold [a Home Office minister in the Thatcher and Major governments] wrote to say she had read that letter. We met and finally she gave me the go-ahead. It was a humbling surprise. I nearly died."

Among the first to support the fledgling charity (Fine Cell Work) were friends of Tree and her husband in the States. Bill Paley, a former head of CBS, and Henry Ford both commissioned rugs to be made by prisoners. She even managed to persuade her sister-in-law, the 1960s supermodel Penelope Tree, to get some of her fashionable friends, including Mick Jagger, to do designs for cushions. Fine Cell Work was finally registered as a charity in 1995 and, with Tree now its president, is thriving with a six-figure sum generated annually by sales.

Needlework is suddenly very fashionable, and not just among Fine Cell Work's prison workers. "Stitch 'n' Bitch" circles are the new book clubs among young urban professionals. Julia Roberts, Madonna, Russell Crowe and Kate Moss are all said to relax with their tapestries. And versions of graffiti artist Banksy's street creations in cross-stitch are currently on sale in London's Spitalfields Market. So Anne Tree could claim to have been ahead of the pack. She prefers, though, to see herself as taking her lead from her grandmother who restored the hangings at Hardwick Hall, one of the properties linked to Chatsworth. Single-handed? "Yes, with a team from Chatsworth of mainly miners' wives."

On prison reform, too, Tree was arguing for more humane, enlightened treatment of offenders long before the modern penal-rehabilitation movement got going in the 1960s, but again perhaps, there is a better sense of perspective on her role in looking back. In the forthcoming V&A exhibition, the quilt commissioned from Fine Cell Work will hang with one made 160 years ago by female prisoners on a convict ship heading for Tasmania. It is sometimes known as the Elizabeth Fry Quilt, as the women had been given the materials to make it by the celebrated 19th-century prison reformer as part of her drive to find them useful things to do while incarcerated. I can't help wondering whether ministers placed as many obstacles in Fry's path as they did in Anne Tree's.'

Link

Here are some little-known facts: 52% of male and 72% of female adult prisoners have no qualifications. 40% of prisoners under twenty-one have been in the care of the local authority in their childhoods, where in the population as a whole the figure is only 2%. Half have serious problems with reading, two-thirds with numeracy and four-fifths with writing.
This means that giving support and incentives for learning is critical to improving these lives.

Please help Fine Cell Work.
http://www.finecellwork.co.uk/products/sponsor/

W House Tours: "The Marchioness"

2009-08-04T06:58:00.008Z

"A member of the fabled and complicated Guinness family by birth and marriage, Lindy, the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, presides over Clandeboyne, an astounding 2,000-acre estate in Northern Ireland."
Featured in America's fashion bible, W Magazine. Link

Girls' guide to life: 10 golden rules for surviving the decades ahead

2009-07-31T12:25:00.010Z

Author and editor Nicholas Coleridge with daughter Sophie.

We like all of Nicholas's observations and wisdom - perhaps these were the best.
"I've noticed that people with a sense of humour invariably survive better than neurotic, perpetually anxious ones.

Marry someone nice
Another crucially important one. Only marry nice men who are going to be kind. It's fine to have dangerous, unpleasant, unreliable boyfriends — by all means have several at university — but don't actually marry them.

Never marry men who eat wine glasses as an after-dinner stunt or have a crazy gleam of madness in their eyes. Because probably it is madness, and it's seldom a long-term good bet."

Extracted from a speech to leaving girls at Queen Margaret's School, York. Nicholas Coleridge is managing director of Condé Nast magazines. His novel Deadly Sins is published by Orion (£12.99).
Link

The Season: The Hampton Court Flower Show

2009-07-07T06:43:00.004Z

Link: Royal Horticultural Society.
Link: Debrett's

Saving "The Chap"

2009-07-05T01:08:00.020Z

One of our favourite magazines, The Chap, was recently in a spot of difficulty. But friends rallied round - read about it here, and join the campaign!

Welcome to Hedgelink

2009-07-04T04:07:00.012Z

Everyone is worried about the economy - banks and hedge funds; we turn for some relief to the enduring beauty of hedge banks and hedge rows.
All About Hedges
Welcome to hedgelink. The first place to look for information on the UK's native hedges, hedgerow conservation and hedge management.
Link
Hedgelink offers a library of delightful photos here; one is shown above, with thanks.
Still yearning for green? Visit Linnette Applegate's blog Toddington Manor.
Linette has created some garden design software - and it is lovely work! She offers samples and free downloads
which are wonderful in themselves, and the software is superb.

Daphne du Maurier's Cornwall

2009-06-25T02:40:00.003Z

An article from The Times' series on Walks.

To explore the Cornish countryside setting of Daphne du Maurier’s romantic Frenchman’s Creek, choose a sunny summer’s day when the waters of the Helford Estuary flash like pirate gold and the roses and hydrangeas blaze on the whitewashed walls of Helford. Sunken paths, roofed with beech branches, lead between banks thick with ferns and moss. In the fields around Kestle Farm are hedgebanks of brambles, purple vetches and the creamy froth of meadowsweet. Amid such rural richness the modern age seems far away — the perfect time-warp through which to drop to the secret banks of Frenchman’s Creek.

Link

The Ecologist Online

2009-06-18T23:42:00.004Z

Congratulations to THE ECOLOGIST and Zac Goldsmith on the launch of their beautiful new website - Friday, June 19th. Link

Who Dares, Wins: MP leaks came from SAS member

2009-05-23T07:25:00.002Z

Link to BBC story
Link to Telegraph interview

The Camomile Lawn - Ravel's Music

2009-05-08T06:49:00.012Z

Ravel's String Quartet in F Major - music from the beloved CAMOMILE LAWN series in two different versions. Listen...
you'll find it after some delightful Indian music, here, about 29 minutes in...
and another version is here.

May Day and Bank Holiday

2009-05-03T17:16:00.007Z

Tired Horse Bank by Thelwell

The Guardian has some good ideas on what to do to celebrate this holiday - without breaking the bank.
Link

The Story of My Heart by Richard Jefferies

2009-04-28T03:18:00.013Z

The lovely STORY OF MY HEART - a long essay, really - is so refreshing to the spirit.

Published In 1883, Richard Jefferies' account of his soul's awakening describes how he placed himself in the eternal Now, and allowed the Now to become his soul's guide. Freed from the usual blocks to awareness, Jefferies' senses became windows for his soul, through which the natural world could be seen and which filled him with longing and love for 'soul-life'.

It is free to read at Project Gutenberg.
Link

Paintings by the Brotherhood of Ruralists, quintessially English, are the perfect accompaniment to this beautiful book. The beautiful image of a swan, below, is by Ruralist David Ingram. Symbolically, birds represent the mind and spirit, and swans represent the purity of the soul.
http://ruralists.com/ Visit the Brotherhood of Ruralists here - and enjoy their wonderful art, which is also for sale through the site.

Sebastian Peake's blog on his father Mervyn

2009-04-03T06:00:00.002Z

Delightful to find, and rewarding to peruse. Thank you to both Peakes.

Sloanes are OK, ya?

2009-03-17T04:30:00.012Z

A short letter from Ann Barr to the editor of The Observer was a delightful surprise.

Sloanes are OK, ya?

Carole Cadwalladr's spiky article 'The rebirth of posh' (Review, last week) was very interesting, but two points. Peter York was not the author of the original Sloane Ranger's Handbook, 1982; it was a communal book by 60 Harpers & Queen contributors, woven together by me as features editor and deputy editor (and Sloane Ranger person). Peter York was the co-author, for his media skills.

My other concern is confusing the Sloane Ranger with the super-rich. Sloane Rangers are not necessarily well-off or aristocrats, but a stratum of a bygone middle class, at least one rung down from David Cameron and friends. They work behind the scenes to help the community, but do not expect to lead it - and don't all vote Tory.

Ann Barr
London W11
Link

Nicholas Coleridge was fortunate enough to be mentored by Ann Barr and remembers her here.

The authorship of the Sloane Ranger Handbook is apparently a sore point with poor Peter York (Wallis). Link

Chelsea - Army Veterans Include Female Pensioners

2009-03-16T19:06:00.006Z

Female army veterans become first women Chelsea pensioners
Royal Hospital, Chelsea, takes new step after 300 years

'One of the army's oldest institutions took the arrival of two pioneers from what some – but not old soldiers – might think of as the monstrous regiment of women in its stride today, as two female veterans became the first women Chelsea pensioners.

It has taken the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, founded by Charles II in 1682 for "the succour and relief of veterans broken by age and war", more than 300 years to accept women army veterans; though Dorothy Hughes and Winifred Phillips, both in their 80s, looked very far from broken as they posed in their new uniforms.

"I think it's wonderful," confided Phillips. "I like men. I am alone. And I wanted to be looked after in my old age."

By their side, the male pensioners on parade to welcome their new comrades were equally enthusiastic. Ralph Dickinson, in the Parachute Regiment for 22 years and at the Royal Hospital for nine, said: "I don't see there's a problem. Women can come anywhere now, even working men's clubs, can't they? They've served just like us. Of course, you're going to get some who grumble, but they're the sort who always do."'
Article and Video at Link

Chav! A User's Guide to Britain's New Ruling Class

2009-03-15T19:00:00.009Z

A DUMMIES GUIDE might be more appropriate; but here it is... Will offer hours of amusement for Sloanies (practicing Chavspeak) and to other observers of the social scene.

In the Shadow of the Iron Duke

2009-03-14T16:29:00.008Z

from the Times Literary Supplement
In the shadow of the Iron Duke

As seen by a descendant of the Duke of Wellington: the secret misfortunes of his family
Jane Ridley

...The first Duke left a glorious legacy; but he also bequeathed a troubled inheritance. Like many public figures, “the greatest man England has known” did not enjoy spending time with his family. Wellesley gives a sympathetic account of Kitty Pakenham, his wife. As a penniless younger son in Ireland, Arthur Wellesley proposed to Kitty and was rejected by her family as not being good enough. When he returned from India fourteen years later, a major-general on the make, he proposed again without even seeing her. “She is grown damned ugly, by Jove!” he allegedly remarked when at last they met. Kitty had grown neurotic and depressive too, and Wellesley relates the story of the Iron Duke’s unforgiving cruelty towards his reclusive but obsessively adoring wife. Towards his children he was equally hard. “My father never showed the least affection for any of us”, recalled his son. Not surprisingly perhaps, the two sons of the great man grew up lacking in confidence.

The grateful nation voted the Iron Duke a house at Stratfield Saye, but there was never quite enough money to support it. The Wellington survival strategy was to marry money. As many as three dukes married heiresses to cotton fortunes. Most unconventional of these heiresses was Wellesley’s grandmother, Dorothy Ashton. She divorced her husband Gerry, later the seventh Duke, when her son Valerian was only seven. Even today Valerian is reluctant to talk about the trauma and disgrace of his parents’ divorce. Only towards the end of the book does Wellesley reveal that Dorothy, who was a friend of W. B. Yeats and herself wrote poetry, belonged to the lesbian coterie that revolved around Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf. Dorothy's lonely life ended in depression and drink, but her defiance of social convention was “unbearable” for the upper-class Wellesleys, and it led to a family rift. Another blot on the family honour was the fifth Duke, who was a member of the pro-Nazi Right Club.

Jane Wellesley has written this book partly as a tribute to her parents. Because they are both alive she cannot perhaps be quite as candid as she might; she says little about her own childhood, for example. Her father is evidently a good man, a brave soldier and an excellent Duke, but he has survived by locking the skeletons into the family closets. In this sympathetic and enjoyable book, Wellesley invites the ghosts to take their place at the family feast.

Jane Wellesley
WELLINGTON
A journey through my family
384pp. Orion. £20.
978 0 297 85231 5

Link

England's Glory: The Country House

2009-03-11T08:12:00.010Z

Image: Knole House
This delightful review from the mid-1980's expresses the power over the imagination which the country house exerts. Poetic, wonderfully written.
Link

Victorian Taxidermy - an Exploration

2009-03-01T12:30:00.003Z

This article is a good introduction to the somewhat arcane but - to Sloane Rangers and country house visitors - familiar world of taxidermy.

Royal Website Redesigned

2009-02-22T07:46:00.007Z

Congratulations are in order!

"She may be well into her 80s but the Queen has always prided on keeping herself up to date with the newest technological developments.
Now she is about to launch a new 'all-singing, all-dancing' website which will allow her subjects to track the movements of both herself and her family on a daily basis....
Users can also find out in advance when the royals are coming to their town, suburb or village....
The feature is part of a major re-vamp of the monarch's website, which was launched more than a decade ago, and was described this week by one courtier who has been treated to an advance peek as 'rather whizz bang'.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British-born creator of the World Wide Web, is flying over from the US especially for the launch tomorrow and royal aides are promising a host of exciting new gimmicks."

The site is here.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T15:27:00.010Z

Cambridge Ball to Celebrate Empire, Party like it's 1899

2009-02-14T15:04:00.010Z

The theme of the college's May Ball this year is a celebration of the British Empire. The organisers exhort students to "party like it's 1899" and to "celebrate the Victorian commonwealth and all of its decadences".

Sounds wonderful! See you there.

The Complete Foxhunter

2009-02-13T19:24:00.006Z

Archived and free online; just click on the title link.

Lovely footage of an American hunt using anise.

Beautiful Cambridge

2009-01-21T09:51:00.011Z

Sloane Rangers and others are certain to find this gallery of beautiful low-light and night photographs of Cambridge, England nostalgic and refreshing to the spirit.
Fine art prints are available for purchase, and photographer Sean T. McHugh discloses of some of his methods and offers a discussion board for fellow photographers. Top-notch.

Taki on the Madoff Scandal

2009-01-16T09:55:00.023Z

Cartoon of Gstaad's Palace Hotel by the wonderful Oliver Preston; visit him here.

Taki Theodoracopulos writes this week that many of Bernie Madoff’s friends own chalets in Gstaad, where he lives, and tells what he knows of of them.

Madoff used Jewish charities to build up immunity from snoopers. Anyone suspected of being anti-Madoff was leaned on—heavily. There were many who steered clear of Madoff nonetheless. In 2003, the French Société Générale figured that Madoff’s numbers didn’t add up and placed him on its blacklist.

The trouble is that the U.S. government will not go all the way while prosecuting Madoff. Uncle Sam would if there were pension funds involved, but going to bat for some rich white Europeans is not Sam’s habit. Obviously Madoff has hidden assets, perhaps in the billions, and most of his feeder fund managers have money, too. I don’t see any of them wearing striped pyjamas any time soon. Smart lawyers, the best money can buy, will defend them against underpaid government mouthpieces. The leading players so far have maintained a stony silence, making sure to avoid any kind of apology or statement of responsibility. Villehuchet’s suicide is probably seen as a dumb act by the Madoffs, Picciottos, Piedrahitas, Toubs and Noels of this world. It’s going to be an interesting Gstaad season, to say the least.
Visit Taki here.

UPDATE: Feb. 2009 - Taki adds a very funny sequel on the Madoff scandal here; we'd like to join you, Taki, and hope that Her Grace The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire will also be there!

Sloanes in the Kitchen: AGA and the Green Movement

2009-01-13T20:09:00.021Z

"This is indeed a class war, and the campaign against the Aga starts here"
Mr. Monbiot writes
"It would be stupid to claim that environmentalism is never informed by class. Compare, for example, the campaign against patio heaters with the campaign against Agas. Patio heaters are a powerful symbol: heating the atmosphere is not a side-effect, it's their purpose. But to match the fuel consumption of an Aga, a large domestic patio heater would have to run continuously at maximum output for three months a year. Patio heaters burn liquefied petroleum gas, while most Agas use oil, electricity or coal, which produce more CO2. A large Aga running on coal turns out nine tonnes of carbon dioxide per year: five and a half times the total CO2 production of the average UK home. To match that, the patio heater would have to burn for nine months.
So where is the campaign against Agas? There isn't one. I've lost count of the number of aspirational middle-class greens I know who own one of these monsters and believe that they are somehow compatible (perhaps because they look good in a country kitchen) with a green lifestyle. The campaign against Agas - which starts here - will divide rich greens down the middle."

Prole or posh, it is time to green all our machines. Let us consider microwave ovens. Microwave ovens are so unhealthy that they were banned by the Soviets in 1976.

And, like other appliances that are never truly "off", microwave ovens are energy vampires.

Read an eco-friendly story - about AGA creating huge savings in electricity - here. AGA now has a green section at its site here. And there is a delightful blog, Girl at the Aga, by Laura James here.

The Importance of the Thank-You Letter

2008-10-17T08:24:00.005Z

From The Times
December 27, 2007
'I appreciate your gift more than I can say'
Thank-you letters: the last bastion in an epidemic of discourtesy? They certainly make a big difference
by Valerie Grove

Have you written your thank-you letters yet? Mother’s words continue to dog most of us for life. They hover like a black cloud over the season of festive giving and partying. We all vaguely expect a letter of thanks, but find them a crashing bore to write. Thanks sent immediately are thanks redoubled, we were told. “No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks” – Saint Ambrose.

The thank-you letter is a last bastion in what Mary Killen (The Spectator’s witty social problem-solver) has called an “epidemic of discourtesy”. The postal strike this year did its best to kill off the personal letter, but for my generation, whose youth was punctuated with billets doux and penfriendship, a letter remains a tangible, portable, idiosyncratic and expressive form of communication. Princess Diana – who would now have been 46 – was probably one of the last of those well-brought up gels, or “chicks”, who never failed to write enthusiastic thanks in her girlishly round but emphatic hand.

more at link...

The Return of the Old Etonian

2008-10-11T19:57:00.005Z

Article by Christopher Hitchens, which Sloane Rangers will surely find riveting.
There are a number of reasons why America does not have an Eton. In order to evolve such a school, you have to start with a monarchical foundation in the mid-15th century. (King Henry VI simultaneously founded King’s College, Cambridge.) A few hundred years of feudalism and empire are then required, during which time 18 of the country’s prime ministers attend the school, as do countless generals, ambassadors, and colonial governors. A vivid legend of the three B’s—bullying, beating, and buggery—must spring up, imprinting itself thoroughly on the formative years of a ruling caste. The national poetry must show the school’s influence, from Thomas Gray to Shelley to Swinburne. Eton is not just where George Orwell went to school, there to be taught by Aldous Huxley, so that the future authors of 1984 and Brave New World could be in the same classroom. It is where Evelyn Waugh sends Sebastian Flyte and Anthony Blanche, the two most flamboyant figures of Brideshead Revisited. It is where J. M. Barrie sends Captain Hook. It is where P. G. Wodehouse sends Bertie Wooster and Psmith. It is where Anthony Powell, another Etonian, sends Nick Jenkins, the narrator of A Dance to the Music of Time. It is where Ian Fleming sends James Bond (expelled, unusually enough, for heterosexuality). It is where John le Carré evolved the concept of the honorable schoolboy.
It’s impossible to overstate the effect that the Eton mystique can exert on the most improbable people. All through the spring and summer of this year, a capacity crowd went every night to the National Theatre to see Jeremy Irons playing an elder statesman in Howard Brenton’s Never So Good. Brenton is a renowned ultra-leftist, but his moving play, which is about the life and times of the Tory prime minister Harold Macmillan, is unashamedly evocative of the double-distilled Eton legend.

Will's Cup of Tea

2008-10-04T23:16:00.005Z

Image from the Vanity Fair article, with thanks.

Will’s Cup of Tea
For more than four years, Kate Middleton has navigated the perilous waters of being Prince William’s girlfriend, handling the snobbery, sniping, and spotlight without official support or guidance. As Britain’s odds-makers bet on a wedding, the author takes a look at the bonds—and the breakup—that cemented Middleton’s place in both the Prince’s heart and the Palace fold.

Read the article here and view a slideshow of Kate Middleton fashion photos here.

Sloanes Surf Cornwall

2008-10-02T06:14:00.017Z

'Tessa, Alicia and Becca have just been surfing at Polzeath on the north Cornish coast. They are all 18, they all talk in a manner that would do the BBC World Service proud, they are all staying just a few miles away in Rock. And they all like my clothes. But…

“But?” I say.

“Well,” says Tessa, carefully. “Are they meant to be on you? Or, you know, on somebody younger?”

Ah. Ouch. Ah and ouch. For I am here, in the chicest, most Chelsea-est bit of Cornwall, to live out a teenage dream.'

Mannanan, God of the sea, mists and the otherworld

This Is North Cornwall reports on Polzeath and surfing schools here

An article on young Sloanespeak is
here

Sloane Rangers Is Moving!

2008-09-03T08:32:00.023Z

The Sloane Rangers blog is growing and will soon move to a new domain: http://sloanerangers.com/

Devon Open Studios

2008-08-24T21:29:00.004Z

"Over 300 artists are taking part in this year's Devon Open Studios event. A series of nine Art Trails, each with its own map will run across the county between September 6-21 with trails in North Devon, West Devon and South Hams running from September 6-14 and those in Exeter, East Devon, Torbay and Teignbridge running from September 13-21. In addition to the artists, the trails will also feature local food outlets and producers enabling visitors to plan their routes and enjoy high quality local food as part of their Open Studios day out."

Rambles in Devon to see art studios - what could be nicer?
Update: LINK

Cowes Week

2008-08-03T16:04:00.004Z

http://www.skandiacowesweek.co.uk/

The Passionate Planters

2008-06-24T00:20:00.006Z

Image: Cedars of Lebanon planted at Chelsea Physic Garden in 1683; watercolour by Fuge.

How Britain Became a Nation of Gardeners.
Delightful and informative article from THE LADY.
Link

“I found the Gardener’s Dictionary , first published in 1731 by Philip Miller, and was most surprised to find just how many plants had been introduced into Britain in the 18th century. There was a network – of English merchants, American farmer John Bartram and famous Age of Enlightenment figures, such as Carl Linnaeus, Benjamin Franklin, Hans Sloane and Joseph Banks – which stretched across the world, importing and selling plants by the thousand.”

It was their stories that inspired her to write her gem of a book, The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession . It was on a mission on behalf of the great botantist Carl Linnaeus, that Daniel Solander arrived on our shores in 1760 and wrote back: “The English are all more or less gardeners.”

Wulf explains that this came with the spread of the British Empire, which brought access to plants as never before.

Ascot: Anti-Chav Rules OK

2008-06-14T00:27:00.020Z

Ascot chucks out the chavs
Sri Carmichael, Royal Reporter
13.06.08

Women face being banned from the Royal Enclosure at Ascot this year if their skirts are more than two inches above the knee or their tops have straps less than an inch wide.

Course chiefs have spelled out how to dress properly at one of the highlights of the Season and they have even warned about under-wear. Women, they advise, must wear "knickers", adding: "But not on show, please ladies!" Streaky fake tans are "a total fashion faux pas and there's no excuse".

A dress code for racegoers, dubbed "anti-chav" by insiders, has been posted to each attendee with their ticket and is available on the Ascot website. No exceptions will be made this year and race course stewards will enforce the ban strictly.

The article is here

Glorious Goodwood has a lovely site design: see it here.

Asda's 2p British Sausage: Yes, Minister Redux?

2008-06-03T01:23:00.003Z

What's in Asda's sausage? Not much meat, it seems.