Category: countryside

countryside

Breathing New Life into Forgotten Floor Spaces in Rural Homes

Rural homes often include floor areas that remain bare and underused. Awkward alcoves, narrow hallways, and uneven corners can feel difficult to finish using standard carpet rolls. Carpet offcuts and remnants offer a practical way to bring warmth and comfort to these spaces without forcing unsuitable materials into challenging layouts. Country living often involves adapting older properties over time. Smaller carpet pieces allow homeowners to … Continue reading Breathing New Life into Forgotten Floor Spaces in Rural Homes

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countryside, Farming

Big Farmland Bird Count 

BY NICK PEARCE Farmers and landowners across the UK have been given a last-minute opportunity to take part in the national census of farmland birds, as the organisers extend the deadline due to adverse weather. The Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC), an annual event coordinated by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), will now run until March 1st, 2026. The extension comes after the … Continue reading Big Farmland Bird Count 

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countryside, Letters

Predation, Evidence, Balance

Dear Editor, Recent peer-reviewed research shared by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust has cast new light on the mounting pressures facing some of the United Kingdom’s most cherished yet threatened ground-nesting birds. The study focuses particularly on lapwing and curlew, both of which now hold red-list status due to significant population declines that have alarmed conservationists across the country. The comprehensive investigation analysed camera-trap … Continue reading Predation, Evidence, Balance

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Conservation, countryside

Lynx Fanatics Won’t Take No For An Answer

BY PHILIP WALLING What the Lynx UK Trust couldn’t achieve by straightforward means it is now trying to get by lawfare. It is applying for judicial review of Natural England’s refusal to grant any licence, now or in the future, for the release of lynx into the wild in Britain. I’ve written about this organisation and its aims before under the heading ‘This insane move … Continue reading Lynx Fanatics Won’t Take No For An Answer

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Cars, countryside

The Hare and the Duster

BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN In the rolling paddocks of motoring, where sleek German thoroughbreds once pranced and pretentious 4x4s posed, there now stands a singular monument to humble triumph. It is not polished (except by downpours). It smells vaguely of hawk and less vaguely of fart. It is ex-gamekeeper turned falconer and CSM columnist, Gary Baxter’s Dacia Duster, which has just lolloped, unburdened by vanity, past … Continue reading The Hare and the Duster

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countryside

The Grey Belt Mirage: A Greenfield Free-For-All

BY ALEXIA JAMES A revolution is unfolding across England’s cherished Green Belt, but not the one ministers promised. When the government introduced the concept of ‘grey belt’ land in late 2024, the public was assured it would target the unsightly and unused: disused petrol stations, abandoned car parks, and ‘poor-quality scrubland’ on town fringes. The reality, as stark new research from the countryside charity CPRE … Continue reading The Grey Belt Mirage: A Greenfield Free-For-All

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countryside

Conversation with a Seagull

BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN I found him on the third of December, on the jagged slate below the harbour wall. W12 – so-called for the zinc marked ring some do-gooding knave in sandals had clamped to his leg, turning a sovereign into a specimen. The tide had receded, leaving him arranged there with terrible finality: a crumpled monograph of salt and hunger, one wing extended in … Continue reading Conversation with a Seagull

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countryside, scotland

The Carbon Credit Con and Scotland’s New Mega-Lairds

BY BERT BURNETT A spectre is haunting the Highlands—and it is not the ghost of rebellions past. It is the sleek, corporate spectre of the ‘mega-laird’, armed not with claymores but with spreadsheets, investment portfolios, and a publicly-stated aim to “save the world”. As highlighted in a recent opinion piece by Dr. Josh Doble, these entities—billionaires, asset managers, and firms like Exeter-based Oxygen Conservation—are acquiring … Continue reading The Carbon Credit Con and Scotland’s New Mega-Lairds

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countryside, Life

The Aga Can

BY PETER BROOK More than just a cooker, our Aga—known in the family as ‘Aggie’—is a cast-iron monument to the reliable comforts of home. It is the 90-year-old engine room of our kitchen, and the undisputed heavyweight champion of multi-tasking, often combining cooking with warming up young, wet lambs; drying anything from washing to damp hounds; keeping those same hounds warm and cosy at night; … Continue reading The Aga Can

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countryside

The Great Rewilding Fraud – A Vanity Project Funded by You

BY BERT BURNETT The headlines are back, and so are the outstretched hands. Another rewilding charity, Trees for Life, has launched a campaign for £3.6 million of public and donor money to finance what can only be described as a series of vanity projects disguised as conservation. Their so-called ‘Missing Species Programme’ promises to restore lynx, beavers, red squirrels, and aurochs to the Scottish Highlands, … Continue reading The Great Rewilding Fraud – A Vanity Project Funded by You

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countryside, International

Fiesta de la Transhumancia

BY ED ANDERSON Fiesta de la Transhumancia Madrid brings the countryside to the city One month ago, Madrid got to witness one of its most bizarre but beloved spectacles as hundreds of sheep and goats hurled themselves throughout the city to finish their long voyage of from the hinterlands of Spain to the heart of Madrid at Plaza Cibeles. There was something quite surreal about … Continue reading Fiesta de la Transhumancia

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countryside

Notes from the Actual Countryside

BY GARY BAXTER Right. Let’s talk about the great Highland heist. No, not the one with balaclavas and getaway cars – the one being carried out in broad daylight, dressed in the respectable suits of ‘investment managers’, ‘supply chain logistics’, and even the righteous robes of certain fucking charities. First up, we have the latest installment from our friends in the salmon farming industry, Bakkafrost … Continue reading Notes from the Actual Countryside

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countryside, Recipes

The Medlar’s Reward

BY PETER BROOK A forgotten fruit of the country-house kitchen There are few fruits so old-fashioned, and so richly evocative of the English winter, as the medlar. Once found in every English rectory orchard and manor garden, its curious brown fruit was prized long after apples and pears had disappeared from the shelves. Today, the medlar is enjoying a quiet revival — a reward for … Continue reading The Medlar’s Reward

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Books, countryside

Dew Ponds

BY JAMIE FOSTER David Rivière’s “Dew Ponds” is an absolute gem of a book, a beautifully crafted exploration that transforms a seemingly simple feature of the landscape into a subject of wonder, history, and artistry. From the moment you pick up this compact yet richly detailed volume, it’s clear that this is a labour of love, offering a perfect blend of meticulous research and visual … Continue reading Dew Ponds

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countryside

In Praise of Mud

BY LIZ SMITH Let me be frank, Townies. I was one of you. For decades, I inhabited a world of comforting, soulless predictability. My existence was a symphony of beige: beige flats, beige meals from chain stores, beige conversations about the latest streaming service. My most significant interaction with nature was bravely rescuing a spider from the bath with a wine glass and a stiff … Continue reading In Praise of Mud

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countryside

Notes from the Actual Countryside

BY GARY BAXTER So, Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, it’s Sunday morning and I’m mucking about on the internet. I’ve just found out that some so-called “wildlife saviours” have decided they want to raise £25,000 fucking pounds to save curlews in just 6 FUCKING DAYS! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THESE CLOWNS FUCKING ABOUT WITH THINGS THEY KNOW NEXT TO NOTHING ABOUT! It’s nothing more than a massive, bloody … Continue reading Notes from the Actual Countryside

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countryside

Notes from the Actual Countryside

BY GARY BAXTER Right. The Scotch has been poured, the blood pressure is merely simmering instead of boiling over, so let’s have a look at what other masterstrokes of genius are being cooked up by the clipboard-wielding classes this week. You’d think they’d run out of ways to complicate the simple art of land management, but their capacity for nonsense is apparently limitless. First up, … Continue reading Notes from the Actual Countryside

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countryside, Propaganda

Kleb

BY VICTORIA MARSDEN A Vindictive Little World of Her Own Dr. Kleb has a theory, and it’s a simple one: if a bird dies, it must be murder. Natural causes? A tragic case of a raptor forgetting how to fly? A simple misunderstanding with a particularly assertive squirrel? Don’t be naïve. In Dr. Kleb’s world, every missing feather is a clue, every moor is a crime scene, … Continue reading Kleb

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