Country Life 22-Sep-2021

IT’S been a pretty rotten summer, but there is sunshine in British hearts following Emma Raducanu’s win at the US Tennis Open in New York City. Not since Darcey Bussell first danced at Covent Garden, at the age of 19, has a teenager displayed such grace, not simply in her playing, but her composure off-court. We cheered for Andy Murray, but the dourness of his personality never quite sat comfortably with his prodigious talent. We suspect that Miss Raducanu will be more a Mendelssohn, famous for the sweetness of his early genius, rather than a narcissistic Liszt. We hope she has better luck in later life than such child stars as Judy Garland or, to judge from recent documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, Björn Andrésen, cast as Tadzio…

REJECTED for National Park (NP) status in the 1940s and a subject of discussion in Parliament again in 2019, can-do Northerners have taken matters into their own hands by ‘self-declaring’ the South Pennines Park. This area of 460 square miles in Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire includes the West Pennines and Brontë Country around Haworth, and councils, private-sector bodies and other stakeholders—who have been working together to secure funding for the past 40 years, eventually forming the company Pennine Prospects 15 years ago, which generated £45 million for the area—have come together to create a new vision that will contribute to Government targets to enhance the natural environment, biodiversity, jobs and human engagement. ‘It is an area of stunning scenery; a spectacular ever-evolving landscape that has been moulded and shaped by…

A COTSWOLDS-THEMED Monopoly will be released in spring 2022, chosen from a group of 20 AONBs including Snowdonia, the Norfolk Broads, Peak District and New Forest. ‘We expect to be wonderfully spoilt for choice putting this unique board together,’ says Ella Gibbs, custom games executive at Winning Moves UK, producing the board under licensing from Hasbro. The game will feature 30 or so Cotswold landmarks that have been voted for by the public and are speculated to include Bourton-on-the Water’s model village, the Cotswold Way, Cirencester Amphitheatre and Highgrove House. Organisers are not revealing results yet, but have said that Sudeley Castle and Broadway Tower each accumulated a ‘colossal’ amount of votes. Three Cotswolds-focused charities are now sought to star on the game’s Community Chest spaces; email thecotswolds@winningmoves.co.uk with suggestions.…

WORKS by Society portraitist Simon Elwes (1902–75) and his great-great-nephew Jamie Coreth will be exhibited together at Fine Art Commissions next month. From George VI to the then Princess Elizabeth, Elwes painted nearly every member of the Royal Family and showed at the Royal Academy yearly from 1930. An official war artist in Cairo, South Africa and India, he was promoted to Lt-Col under Lord Mountbatten and suffered a stroke in 1945 that paralysed his right-hand side; he eventually taught himself to paint with his left hand. His works can now be found in galleries, museums and collections around the world. In the same field, Mr Coreth is a leading portraitist with various accolades under his belt, including a 2016 BP Portrait Award for his painting Dad sculpting me and…

Preparing for spring Japan's blossom culture, Project Blossom will see trees planted in more than 45 locations on National Trust land and in 69 constituencies across England The fishing industry Some £24m is now available to develop technology, trial new gear and support world-class research, the first investment from the £100m UK Seafood Fund Still standing A bronze statue of Clive of India in Shrewsbury will soon be complemented by a plaque, which will provide historical context into the colonial ruler Pagan worship Cracks and joints in the lintels of Stonehenge are being repaired in the first major restoration project at the 4,500-year-old site for 60 years…

Respecting Nature Dartmoor is the only National Park to allow wild camping, but managers are considering revoking this after anti-social behaviour Failure to launch Half of adults aged between 18 and 34 still live with their parents, usually so they can save up for a deposit, finds a new study, a 12% increase from 1996 Owning a home UK property prices have risen by 79.4% in the past 10 years, yet wages rose by only 0.6% and inflation by 1.97% per year in the same period, finds new research Good grammar A professor at Lancaster University is arguing that exam boards and the national curriculum should not penalise children who use regional dialects instead of Received Pronunciation. Many may disagree with his suggestion that the use of ‘I were' instead of ‘I was' should be deemed correct…