BY NICK PEARCE Adam Watson stands in the East Tennessee morning with the kind of stillness that comes from years spent around horses and emergency scenes. The light catches the gate behind him—a simple farm gate, unremarkable to most. But Watson sees it differently now. He sees the hidden labour, the assumed two hands, the quiet transfer of risk that happens when a person with … Continue reading Two Hands, One Arm
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, there is a particular gift in the quiet moments of rural life that so often pass us by. Not the showy ones—not the blazing sunsets or the dramatic thunderstorms—but the quiet, steady ones. The way the light lingers at the end of the day, as if reluctant to leave. The sound of the greenfinch in the ash tree, singing … Continue reading A Prayer for the Living Earth
BY DAVID CAMPBELL (And has the scars to prove it) I love rugby. I loved playing it, and I love watching it now that my body has wisely retired from active service. My introduction to the game came during my final year at Carnegie Mellon University. A friend who played for a local club asked if I had ever played. I admitted I hadn’t—and, more … Continue reading An American Who Played Rugby
BY JAMIE FOSTER Barclay Price’s Nature’s Great Masterpiece, published by Amberley Books, is a delightfully esoteric and meticulously researched gem that unearths a truly surprising strand of British social history. As the subtitle clarifies, this is not a pastoral ramble through the countryside, but a captivating chronicle of the pachyderms that have walked, trumpeted, and occasionally rampaged through our island story. Price takes the reader on … Continue reading Nature’s Great Masterpiece
BY SEAN WALSH Instead of just being a regular guy and buying a motorbike, getting a tattoo, or doing the American Beauty thing, Andy Burnham had to include all of us in his mid-life crisis by becoming prime minister. It’s still shocking to think that the constituents of Makerfield hate the rest of the country so much that they would impose this on us. But it is … Continue reading Burnham’s Vanity Street Project
BY BERT BURNETT RSPB, We Warned You As the smoke continues to drift across the A9 and the acrid smell of scorched Caledonian pinewood lingers in the glens, we must take stock of the reality that has unfolded in the Cairngorms over the past week. Over 10 square kilometres of one of our most fragile and treasured habitats has been reduced to ash. More than … Continue reading Burning Questions
BY ALEX STORY We beat Argentina and lost to France, not in football unfortunately, but in the fat stakes. With nearly 40% of its adult population being obese, Argentina ranks 36th out of 193 countries in the world. France, with only 10%, is 172nd. Britain, for her part, is listed as 77th according to the Global Obese Observatory. American Samoa wins the overall prize with three quarters of … Continue reading Fat or Sugar?
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
Dear Editor, I write to propose a small but necessary addition to the next issue of Country Squire: a complimentary box of tissues, stapled inside the cover. The intended readership? Our Argentinian friends, who woke this morning to a triple dose of national humiliation. Let us begin with the football. A dour, cynical World Cup final—lost not to genius but to Spanish monotony—has exposed Argentina for … Continue reading Pass the Tissues
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, it is the time of year for holidays. I have written a prayer for safe holidays. May you have a restful and enjoyable time. Dear Lord,We thank You for this season of departure, when the suitcases are dragged from the loft and the satnav is dusted off. Thank You for the excitement that fills the house on the … Continue reading A Prayer for Safe Holidays
BY ALLISON LEE Byland Abbey is a ruined monastery and small village located in Byland, North Yorkshire. Founded as a Savigniac house in 1135, the abbey was later absorbed into the Cistercian order in 1147. Its early history was marked by disputes with four other religious institutions: Furness Abbey, Calder Abbey, Rievaulx Abbey, and Newburgh Priory. By the late 14th century, however, Byland was regarded … Continue reading Byland
BY PERCY THORLEY When I was at school, many decades ago, it was considered a cardinal sin to ever deploy the word “nice” in an English essay or composition. It is a word of no real intent. One hears it all the time – “I will have a nice cup of tea” or “That Andy Burnham seems like a nice chap”. From such sentences we … Continue reading Honourable
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
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
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
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
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
BY JAMIE FOSTER In the summer of 2014, with the rumble of dragons awakening in the form of Russia’s seizure of Crimea, Michael Pugh made an audacious decision. Despite the splendour of his life as an expat lawyer in Moscow, he chose to leave—not by plane or train, but by horse. The resulting memoir, Riding Through War and Peace, is a breathtaking odyssey that captures a … Continue reading Riding Through War and Peace
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
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
