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

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).
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The Season: The Hampton Court Flower Show

Link: Royal Horticultural Society.
Link: Debrett's

Saving "The Chap"

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

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.
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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

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.

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The Ecologist Online

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

Link to BBC story
Link to Telegraph interview