Country House

My house sits in the middle of a farm surrounded by forestry. We love to see the wildlife in our garden but are unable to have flower beds as the…

There are stirrings in the hedgerows as the peak season for first pheasant and then partridge hatching gets under way. With this comes the biggest dilemma in low-ground wild game…

I may be a dyed-in the wool country bumpkin, but sometimes I envy the urban gardener. Life on a town-centre vegetable plot is so pest-free.

There is a widespread myth that to be a successful trapper you need to have inherited generations of skill, learnt at your father’s knee. My father, by whom I was…

I read that Sir John Mortimer has a glass of champagne a day and describes it as “penicillin for the soul”. What a wonderful idea. As I’d only have a…

On a shoot recently I was given a snifter of 1997 orange gin, a great change from sloe gin. I would like to have a go at making this. Have…

In this day and age you can plant a fruit tree at any time; pot-grown plants are available all year at garden centres.

Billiard table restoration

We have a tired and battered billiard table which we would like to have re-baized and restored for our growing grandchildren. The table has been stored in a barn with…

How to make lavender sugar

Last year I dusted my mince pies with vanilla sugar, which I had made myself. Earlier this year I read an article saying that lavender sugar was also good, but…

Make your own cider

Cider's now rosy. Thanks to the clever marketing of the Magners brand, cider is a tipple to be seen with. Robert Gore-Langton tells you how to make your own cider