Columnists From England

"You can't always predict what will get a child's imagination started, but in my experience they tend to remain absorbed longer with fantasy games."

"Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall cooked and ate a root while researching her book Peonies: The Imperial Flower (1999). She described the flavour as 'reminiscent of turnips soaked in wallpaper paste mixed with '."

"In 1978, she and her husband Neil (who sounds completely splendid) settled in and bought Glebe Cottage, which came with an acre of rough grass, weeds and brambles. Creating a garden there, the first proper one she’d ever had, transformed her life. ‘As much as I made this garden, this garden made me,’ she writes. She discovered she had a knack for propagating plants and started selling them at country markets before creating her own nursery, while also raising her two daughters. Soon she began exhibiting at shows and then was asked to design a garden at the . Before long, a TV producer spotted her potential and she got a job presenting the show Real Gardens. Klein first appeared on in 1989 when the late, great did a feature on Glebe Cottage."

"... Jane, 72, who in the mid-1960s worked as the first secretary of ’s fan club, and her husband, Rob, 76, a retired advertising executive, are far from being stereotypical old buffers. In fact, they were trend-setters in their day — among the first of the “down-shifting” young professionals who had the chutzpah to get off the corporate conveyor belt, sell up in London and go in search of a better quality of life in the sticks. ‘There was a time when people said to , “you must be Jane’s son”, she says wistfully. ‘Then suddenly I was Hugh’s mother’. Their decision to swap the security of a regular salary cheque for life in the freelance lane took considerable courage in 1971, with unemployment hovering at the 7% mark. “We did it for the children, really,” Jane recalls. “Both Rob and I were brought up in the countryside, and we wanted the same for Sophy and Hugh. We were living in at the time, but this was before it became posh. It was lively and multi-ethnic, with around the corner. It was lots of fun, but it was not the best place to bring up children."

"I have six grandchildren and when I have them with me I do love giving them treats — or a . But they are given as a surprise reward for behaving well, not in response to whingeing. One reason so many children are more overweight today could be that they lead less active lives than we did. We walked to school and spent more time playing in the fresh air. Houses were not as warm, so we used up more calories: food was fuel to keep us going. If grandparents are feeding grandchildren the same portions they ate as children, it's probably too much."

"For me, the perfect weekend is one spent with the whole family, ideally at the beachside cottage we rent in North Cornwall. I have happy memories of holidays in Cornwall when our children Sophy and were about the age our grandchildren are now. There are 11 of us: me, my husband Rob, Sophy and Hugh and their spouses, and our five grandchildren, and we do all the usual things: build s on and wait for the tide to come in and destroy them. We search for prawns, crabs and sea anemones in rock pools. We might even do some surfing. We'll go mackerel fishing in a boat, and if we catch anything (which everyone always does, that's the great thing about mackerel fishing). Then Hugh ... will whip out his little bottle of home-brewed and we'll all sit there in the middle of the ocean, tucking into fresh mackerel ."

"The garden at Ashwood Nurseries is wonderful and John Massey is a brilliant bloke. , naturally, but also Marchants Hardy Plants. I’ve known [founder] Graham Gough ever since he was working with Elizabeth Strangman, who is one of my all-time heroines. I love the – I love everything about it, but particularly its overall attitude. It’s incredibly welcoming and it involves not just visitors from elsewhere but everybody in the city. It has real energy."

"A garden is a place to enjoy and indulge in, something you can love, somewhere you can nurture. It stimulates all the senses, and its very unpredictability gives it a vitality not often encountered in our contrived and controlled world. My plot is on a south-west-facing slope about 150m above sea level in north , in a lull between and . The soil is heavy , ochre and grey at its worst, with random streaks of , known locally as shillet. There are trees wrapped around one side of it and a seriously overgrown hedge, up to 18m tall and counting, whose fallen leaves have gradually changed the soil beneath to acid . All the garden lies in front of the house and is bisected by a track that joins the cottage to the outside world - or is it the other way around? For such a small plot, less than an acre, there is a huge diversity of conditions, from sunny and Mediterranean to murky shade, enabling us to grow a wide range of plants. We cultivate vegetables and some fruit, too."

"Why did I write this book? I have already written a book of s published as long as 1973. It was called ‘’The Escapist Generations’’. If some of my readers remember this other book they will find repetitions. The basic story is the same — childhood scenes in California, memories of — but this time I have written a book of confessions, something I have never done before. I am a private person. For many years I have managed to keep my secrets to myself, protecting the men and women I have loved. Now all my loved ones are dead and no longer vulnerable. No one is left who might be hurt or damaged by these confessions unless it is myself. The time has come to tell a story which requires to be told."

"|year=1992|page=9|isbn=9780709049623}} (252 pages; 1st part of quote; 2nd part of quote; last part of quote)"

"Nerina Shute, who began writing about films in the along with fellow reviewers Graham Greene and John Betjeman, and who, some 60 years later, rounded off her literary career with a frank about her , has died aged 96. Shute, who was the last survivor of a celebrated coterie of film critics of the 1930s, was celebrated also for her openness about her sexuality: she was predominantly lesbian, but married twice. In 1930, when she was 22, she shocked many by a novel which contained what she archly called an "ambisex-trous" woman character, while at 84 she wrote a memoir, Passionate Friendships, in which she was candid about her many love affairs."

"Every day, sometimes once, or twice, or even three times, she found herself drinking , or whisky, in the , the famous where flashy young s with padded shoulders, seedy old men of past fame, forgotten geniuses, tough young women whose finger-nails were no cleaner than Shute's, and the usual sprinkling of stars and pretenders, met daily, or nightly, for a quick drink, a dirty story, and perhaps a chance contact with someone useful."

"(Bee-Balm; Oswego Tea). Robust plants with brilliant flowers, often grown on the banks of streams and lakes for the colour they impart to the surroundings. In masses they form striking effects …"

"(C. esculenta of ). A robust species, growing about 2 ft. high, with large dark blue flowers, the irregularly spaces segments of which are twisted and wither independently. Western North America."

"Being rich in farinaceous matter s are cultivated in the Orient for food. The seeds—known as s—can be eaten raw or can be used in soups and various Japanese and Chinese dishes. ... In the Orient the plant is held sacred to Buddha who is thought to have been born in the heart of a Lotus blossom. The comprises a Lotus flower, the and two crossed Palm branches. Incidentally Hindus compare their country to the Lotus, the petals suggesting Central India and the leaves the surrounding provinces."

"' WATER STAR GRASS C. An uncommon little aquatic with bronzed grassy foliage and small bright yellow flowers lying flat on the water surface. It is easy to grow, does not attract algae and merits more general cultivation. Tropical America."

"Aquilegia (') .—The dainty columbines are almost too well known to need description and there can be few who will not appreciated their charms in the border. Planted in groups about 12 inches apart, they are a joy from May to July and associate well with subjects such as ', s, , s, ' or ferns ..."

"are native to Central and South Africa, so that it is hardly surprising to find them real sun lovers in the garden."

"Neptunia plena A warm-water aquatic of great charm with opposite pairs of finely pinnate leaves, reminiscent of '. Like that plant they are sensitive to the touch."

"The sometimes attacks in natural lakes, destroying the roots or eating the hearts of the flowers. Trapping and shooting are the only remedies."

"' ( Señorita Water-lily] is a of a delicate lavender-blue shade with golden s tipped with blue. It is very free, but the flowers are small, rarely more than 3 or 4 in. across. It hails from Mexico and Texas."

"Butterflies attract attention and cash because they are popular and attractive, and because there are rightly seen as symbols of wildlife in decline."

"England is said to be one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. It has lost most of its big wild animals. A thousand years ago in my village, which was quite a big place even then, s used to build their dams on my river. Perhaps a thousand years before that the villagers might have heard a wolf howl from a distant down of a rumour of bears in the forests that extended that extended for after mile. Even a hundred years ago, there would have been far more wild flowers, particularly at the edge of the cornfields, colourful blooms whose names attest to their former familiarity: , , ."

"The oak has long been a symbol of strength and, with the growth of the Royal Navy, also patriotic pride. It once fought our naval battles and carried our cargoes, framed our houses and spanned the roofs of cathedrals and barns, fed our pigs, tanned our leather and nourished our earliest industries."

"s of hunting camps built about 9,500 years ago indicate that by that time Britain had become densely wooded. At , in the is , bones and antlers from a variety of s were uncovered, including and in abundance, wild boar, (a prehistoric wild ox), , wolf, , , fox and hedgehog."

"... being rare often means your genetic resources are limited, and that makes you vulnerable to change. Small populations are also liable to be picked off by chance events, like a shrub growing up in front of you, or that new borehole for a new housing estate dug a few metres away. Conservation has recently come to the aid of many threatened plants, drawing many a little further back from the brink, but perhaps at some cost to their inherent wildness ... But the wise conservationist will aim at preventing flowers from reaching that state of extreme vulnerability in the first place."

"I can't say I have ever had much of a passion for proper . In fact, on about the only occasion I ever did any, I disliked the experience very much. I was about 23, and, wearying of ever finding a full-time job in , I got myself enrolled as a temporary member of staff at a northern university where I spent about four months on a cold, treeless fell, counting s. It was very boring and drove me to the bottle."

"An average produces about five s of debris per per year. The get through this mountain of raw by sheer numbers. Fungi make up about 10% of the weight of living matter () in a wood. They are the weightiest component of all, bar the trees. You would require a convoy of dump trucks to remove the fungi of just a small copse. Yet all we see of them are their scattered in autumn."

"s are one of the few birds to have benefited, at least initially, from human activities. When , the barn owl managed to exploit the new that was created when forests were cleared to grow food. Not only did the absence of trees make it easier for barn owls to access open ground but the presence of s actually boosted the number of s scuttling around on the ground. And although barn owls originally evolved to nest in cliff cavities and tree hollows, human settlements, with their churches, farms and other buildings, offered an enticing array of places to roost and raise a family."

"Nature never ceases to amaze me. I often describe my writing as the intersection between nature, people and history — I'm fascinated by the relationship between us, our , and how that has changed over the centuries. In many ways, that relationship is more sophisticated than it has ever been — we now know so many things about how the natural world works. And yet, something has also been lost. Unlike our ancestors, few of us could, with any confidence, recognize the plants in a typical or name more than a handful of birds that visit our gardens. Key moments that once defined the year, such as s, solstices or natural signs of seasonal change, have also lost their meaning."

"We have sheep to thank for the invention of . Very early sheep farmers tried many different methods for removing wool, some more painful for the sheep than others. Plucking (also called rooing), tearing and combing out would are mentioned in n texts from the late third millennium ... ( is still harvested by combing in China), while modern comparison from traditional shepherding communities suggest that some farmers may have cut the wool off using knives — shepherds in Nepal still use a curved, sickle-like knife ..."

"For us, as kids, snow was synonymous with fun. Snow meant speed, exhilaration, and toppling laughter. Snow gave us the freedom to fight, slide, crash, and make a mess, without the fear of a scolding. Snow put a wrench in the works, stopped the numbing timetable of school lessons and stealing an extra day of free time."

"In Europe, nearly one in ten species of wild s faces extinction, and in the US about a quarter of all wild bees have disappeared in the past ten years alone. s of all kinds — bees, butterflies, moths and other bugs — are showing declines worldwide and although not all species are threatened (some are even improving their numbers), the overall picture is alarming."

"Yorkshire-based Sally has put together a compendium of s, including the new, the old and the forgotten. The book is a thing of beauty itself and includes illustrations by printmaker Louise Lockart. It’s also a fascinating read and serves as inspiration for those who love making things. Sally covers everything from why craft matters and endangered crafts to maker spaces and how to make a living from your hobby. Alongside this, she delves into the details of over 70 crafts, from trug making to globe making and crochetdermy, and hopes this will encourage readers to try something new."

"Recent of ancient human remains revealed that, across Europe at least, farming was spread by the physical movement of people, not the dissemination of ideas. Scientists can trace the DNA of , over multiple generations, as they slowly made their way around the coast and into mainland Europe, mixing with local groups as they went. And, by around 4000 BCE Neolithic farmers had finally reached Britain."

"In the book Biophilia, designer and best-selling author, Sally Coulthard, demonstrates how to transform your living and working spaces into places that put you in touch with nature. The illustrated guide covers key elements for the ‘biophilic home’, including sounds, s, views, colour and natural light. Each section explores the links between home, health and happiness, drawing on environmental research and while making practical suggestions for bringing the natural world into your home."

"Of all the deep burrowers, the best known is the Common earthworm ('). This is the 's friend — also known as the lob worm, the night crawler, the granddaddy worm and the dew worm — and is the largest naturally occurring earthworm across most of Europe (around 9–30 centimetres). The body of the Common earthworm can be as thick as a pencil and its tail can be flattened into a paddle shape, to help the earthworm grip the sides of its burrow."

"If you visited your and told him you were suffering from a broken heart, what do you think he would prescribe? s? ? Or would he just tell you to go home and stop wasting his time?"

"With the 1927 publication of In Search of England, H. V. Morton began to establish his name as the most popular travel writer in Britain. Part of Morton's appeal, particularly to the lower middle class, was that he engagingly interwove human interest accounts of his journeys with potted historical and literary vignettes to convey the sense of an enjoyable holiday. Yet beyond these seemingly casual aspects lay serious ideological purposes, and these are of importance in exploring interwar views on . Morton insisted that the nations's strength ultimately depended on the health of its rural areas. Yet the urban and industrial revolutions had inflicted fundamental damage on the fabric of the nation. Morton called for renewed recognition of the central continuities, especially , in ."

"In the quiet village of , men still talk about the as though it happened last week. Eyam is the last place in England with a vivid memory of the . Eyam is a mile-long street of fortress-like stone houses set in a cosy cleft of the wild moors. There is a church, a manor-house behind a wall, and the remains of the village stocks. I went into the church, where the elderly caretaker began to talk, as they all do in Eyam, of the Plague ... (She might have been talking about that year's influenza!)"

"What appeals to me about Morton's work is that you are reading two histories at once. As he recounts stories of the and eras, he is also giving a contemporary account of a world that has entirely vanished. He writes with a crisp matter-of-factness about his faith and his place as an Englishman abroad in the 1930s. I don't mean in a colonially superior way, but just with a certainty that I think few could express today. In the book he is mostly exploring the youthful nation state of 's . For Morton, visiting what remains of the places where stayed is often a case of begging a ride from a local. It is still an age when traveling in the near East is more an expedition than a holiday. When Morton visits the site of the for example, it is a waterlogged ruin, where he imagines the frogs to be croaking out her name. A plate image in the book shows a desolate empty location, and he laments the mutilated statues on the road from the village of ."

"At the highest point of the stands the and the 's private walk. At this part of the hill has never been built over, or shaved off and lowered, like so many of the famous , it preserved its original height. ... I do not know of a more beautifully situated radio station, unless it is on its Pyrenean mountain, whose insistent voice dominates the air over southern France and northern Spain. The immensely powerful Vatican Radio broadcasts on twenty-four short, and three medium, wave-lengths and in every language."

"Shakespeare's London was a small walled town whose gates were shut each night with the coming of darkness. His contemporaries went a-Maying and gathering s where now are tramcars and gasometers. A Londoner was to Shakespeare a man who was born probably within sound of , who worked and slept within the ancient town wall of London, and would probably die there and be buried in one of the city churchyards. London three centuries ago was a small comprehensible cathedral city standing behind its wall, and its citizens could look at it and walk all round it, as men can walk round and . A mile or so away was the royal , where the King lived. There were two ways to it, one by river and the other along the strand of the . To the north of the were meadows and hedges, a , a and more fields stretching up to a rural lane that led to and was to become known by the odd name of ."

"A fascinating volume. No brother historian but will envy the beauty and simplicity of the writing. You have achieved your avowed purpose more completely than any other book of its kind that I remember."

"By using intelligently the diaries of Field-Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, Sir Arthur Bryant had made a contribution to the inside story of Hitler's war which was of the greatest importance. He had given on a broad canvass a faithful picture of the two greatest figures on the British side."

"I have read it with delight. Every page of it is alive with the sense of the reality of those times. To read it will hearten us all for the struggle in which we are now engaged. It will warm your heart and teach a lesson too."

"He has the gift of making the record of past events continuously moving and exciting."

"The Luddites, he thought, were right, and the Industrial Revolution "has so far harmed man even more than it has benefited him"."

"It is my hope and belief that your Toryism, without ceasing to be Toryism, is broadening into Englishry, as I hope my Whiggery has to some extent so broadened in the course of years. You will hold an important place—you do already—as interpreter of the country's history to the new generation, probably more important than anyone else now—so it matters a lot."

"The story is well known, but Sir Arthur's account makes us tingle again at the dangers, anxieties, and triumphs. He is excellent also on the Armada, making us share the heightening tension as the Spanish galleons sailed up the Channel and feel for their ultimate appalling fate... Sir Arthur has read widely, and generously acknowledged, the work of our finest Elizabethan historians. But it is his own intense imaginative commitment which makes The Elizabethan Deliverance so vividly and splendidly readable."