Why Slippery Farm Floors Are a Bigger Problem Than Most Farmers Realise
No one thinks much about a farm floor until an animal goes down on it. However, in cattle sheds, parlours and other farm buildings, the condition of the concrete under the feet of livestock can have a significant impact on safety, welfare and efficiency. More farmers are now using concrete grooving services to create more traction on their current floors without the disruption and cost of pulling … Continue reading Why Slippery Farm Floors Are a Bigger Problem Than Most Farmers Realise
The Charity Draft
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN There is a primal brutality to the schoolyard pick. It is a distillation of human worth, stripped of all social veneer and political correctness—a moment of unvarnished truth where utility is measured in cold, kinetic terms. At prep school, the scholarship cohort was a tragicomedy: thirteen of us, anointed as the brightest, yet a mere four could coordinate hand and eye well … Continue reading The Charity Draft
Echoes of a Silent Dial
BY ROGER WATSON An abiding memory of my grandfather’s house in Huntly, rural Aberdeenshire, was the barely audible chatter coming from his Philips transistor radio. The radio sat on a small table slightly behind the chair where he always sat at the fireside. If visitors arrived at the house, he would always turn down the volume on the transistor, but it rarely got turned off. … Continue reading Echoes of a Silent Dial
A Fragile Dawn
BY PHIL MARKS The Return of the Capercaillie to Seafield & Strathspey In the ancient pinewoods of Kinveachy and Castle Grant, a sound that had grown dangerously faint is echoing once more. This spring, the misty clearings of the Seafield & Strathspey Estates have resonated with the distinctive calls of 43 male capercaillie, a notable increase from the 25 recorded last year. In the hushed … Continue reading A Fragile Dawn
Count Binface: A Gimmick So Funny It Requires a Labour Donor
BY SEAN WALSH In an episode of the 1990s comedy series Seinfeld, Jerry’s dentist decides to convert to Judaism “for the jokes”. When Jerry is asked if this offends him “as a Jewish person” he replies “No! It offends me as a comedian”. Comedy is not something that should be taken lightly. The political class would do well to remember that. It is a good … Continue reading Count Binface: A Gimmick So Funny It Requires a Labour Donor
A Prayer for Calm
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that you are well and healthy. In light of the suspected murder of Ann Widdecombe, the following prayer is apt: Dear Lord,We come before You in this golden month, when the earth is soft and the light is long, and we ask for the grace of peace. Not the peace of absence—the mere silence of guns … Continue reading A Prayer for Calm
Ann Widdecombe: A Singular Voice Falls Silent
CSM EDITORIAL The old certainties have taken a battering this week. One of British politics’ most gloriously unrepentant characters has been snatched from us in circumstances so dark they seem to belong to another world entirely. There will be those who never cared for Ann Widdecombe’s views. She would have been the first to acknowledge that, probably with a theatrical sigh and a brisk “so … Continue reading Ann Widdecombe: A Singular Voice Falls Silent
Wrendale
BY ALLISON LEE Hannah Dale and her husband, Jack, founded Wrendale Designs in 2012—a giftware brand built around Hannah’s watercolour paintings of wildlife. With a background in zoology, Hannah has long drawn creative inspiration from the natural world. Over the years, the couple have grown Wrendale into a much-loved brand with global reach, winning numerous industry awards and two King’s Awards for International Trade. The … Continue reading Wrendale
A Sensible Case for Small Nuclear Reactors
BY NICK PEARCE For those of us who have long cherished the British countryside, the past two decades have been a trial of patience. We have watched our rolling hills, ancient meadows, and quiet valleys gradually transformed into industrial landscapes dressed in green rhetoric. The wind turbines that now punctuate our skylines and the solar farms that blanket our fields are not, as we are … Continue reading A Sensible Case for Small Nuclear Reactors
Blessed
BY PERCY THORLEY England is in fine fettle There seems to be a constant flow of negative news stories coming, in part from the mainstream media, but in greater abundance from the online media. I fail to recognise the issues raised in these dark corners of the mediasphere for to be alive in England today is to be truly blessed. The economy powers ahead, innovation … Continue reading Blessed
Gesture over Substance
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN There is a quiet tragedy unfolding in the public houses and eateries of this sceptred isle. Not war, nor pestilence, nor even one of those ghastly craft ales now passing for bitter. No, it is a tragedy of mouthfeel. The tragedy of the paper straw. Cast your mind back, if not yet addled by the creeping conformity of the age, to the … Continue reading Gesture over Substance
Have We Learnt Absolutely Nothing?
BY CALUM CAMPBELL Let’s be honest—if you’ve been following the latest rewilding headlines, you’ve probably had that sinking feeling in your gut. The one that says: here we go again. Right now, there’s a huge push to release pine martens into parts of the country where they haven’t set foot for centuries—if they ever even lived there at all. And while the PR machine is working overtime, … Continue reading Have We Learnt Absolutely Nothing?
$1M Or Your Money Back
BY RICHARD TAYLOR Compare and contrast the UK’s recent 20% tax on private education with the approach of US billionaire Joe Liemandt (pictured). His new Founders School in New York, with fees of $150k/£113.25k p.a., promises parents their money back if their offspring haven’t hit $1m/£760k in profit by graduation after four years minimum and $600k in fees. Founders School’s own FAQ is unambiguous about it: “What … Continue reading $1M Or Your Money Back
A Prayer for Those Who Tend the Earth
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that you are well. Today, I have written a short prayer for the quiet custodians of this land—the ones whose hands are chapped, whose backs are sore, and whose work so often goes unspoken. Dear Lord,We pray this July for the farmers who rise before the lark, whose first sight of the day is the mist … Continue reading A Prayer for Those Who Tend the Earth
Rusty the Bull
BY ALLISON LEE In April 2025, Steven Nesbitt received a wake-up call that would change his life. “I’ve been a farmer all my life,” Steven told me. “My grandfather lived to be 96, and my father is now 93, so I thought I was immortal.” When he began to feel unwell and struggled to keep up with his farming work—let alone walk up hills—he sought … Continue reading Rusty the Bull
Reggie goes to Encaenia
BY STEPHEN PAX LEONARD Reggie stabbed at the bell. “Mrs Daddywood!” “Morning, Mr Reggie. There is a letter here for you, pet. I’ll be there in one sec.” “Oh rather, let’s be having it,” said Reggie as he concealed the Hendrick’s and cucumber behind the Edwardian ‘plum pudding’ mahogany centre table. Reggie was still a tad squiffy after last night’s escapade at the Ath., but … Continue reading Reggie goes to Encaenia
Progressive Erasure
BY ALEX STORY The goals of Progressivism are “continually receding ones”, which is, to paraphrase Mussolini, “like a trodden road leading on and on to the land of heart’s desire, which though it grows closer and closer, will never be reached”. To advance towards the mirage, progress must convince. Indeed, one needs to emancipate oneself from the past and its many thorns. Complexity, you see, … Continue reading Progressive Erasure
The City Speaks in Small Voices
BY ROGER WATSON The sleek black Mercedes S350, summoned on my Uber app, drew up outside our hotel at Heathrow Airport minutes after I entered my request for a car to Terminal 5. Out popped a smartly dressed driver, beaming from ear to ear to assist with our luggage. The car was spacious, immaculate, and the journey was smooth. I detected an accent that was … Continue reading The City Speaks in Small Voices
Isabelle Spofforth: The Sacred Art of Slow Looking
BY ALEXIA JAMES In an age of infinite scrolling and disposable images, the paintings of Isabelle Spofforth demand something radical: stillness. A classical oil painter rooted firmly in the tradition of the Old Masters, Spofforth is not chasing trends. She is pursuing something far rarer—a timelessness that feels almost out of step with the contemporary art world, and yet deeply needed by it. Her work, steeped in … Continue reading Isabelle Spofforth: The Sacred Art of Slow Looking
Sun Appears, Nation Collapses
BY ANONYMOUS The UK has got to be the only country on planet Earth where the sun comes out for three bastard days and the whole place starts acting like civilisation has officially collapsed. Thirty degrees. That’s it. Not fifty. Not people frying eggs on the pavement in the Australian outback. Not Dubai at midday. Not some desert village where the goats are wearing factor … Continue reading Sun Appears, Nation Collapses