THE Christmas Eve parties here were marvellous when Mr and Mrs Tree lived here all the village came.' Mrs Cribb, housekeeper elect, dropped this unsubtle hint as she eased her comfortable bulk back against the AGA and poured another cup of tar-like tea from her equally dark-brown teapot. 'Mr Tree would nip into the kitchen when I wasn't looking and put goodness knows what into my rum punch. Cor, it was strong stuff! The vicar got in a right state one year and fell off the pulpit.'
Maryanne and Joe, the owners of Christmas Hall since May, have, so far, been tiptoeing around the issue of Mrs Cribb, who has resolutely stayed on in her flat like a kindly yet omnipresent squatter long after the deaths of her previous employers and throughout a protracted probate sale, during which she fought a losing battle with cobwebs, rainwater leaks and small creatures running races.
There have been other 'surprises', too, such as the mysterious emergence of a 'footpath' that crosses the drive, the annual 'tradition' of a free-for-all apple-pressing day in the old coach house, the presence of some Houdini-like, rose-destroying Wiltshire Horn sheep whose owner apparently has 'grazing rights' and the parish-council hoo-hah about their proposed heat-source pump.
Maryanne had been envisaging Champagne and Ottolenghi with their best London friends renting a cottage nearby, but Joe, more naturally gregarious and away in the city all week-he has no clue what she has to contend with, the dribbling showers, crackling electrics and curious neighbours -thought a Christmas Eve party would be a cracking idea. 'Darling, it'll be fun. And a great chance to get shot of that case of dodgy red at last.'
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue) من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue) من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Under the Cornish sun
From the late 19th century, artists attached themselves like barnacles to Cornwall's shores, forming colonies that changed both art and the lives of local people
The contented garden
George Plumptre returns to the garden of the American artist John Hubbard and finds it basking in comfortable maturity
Safe havens of the West
Wildlife and people alike can thrive in four magnificent estates in Wiltshire, Somerset and Devon
A bit of light relief
Why paler hues are back in favour
A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom
As he prepares for another season on the fly, our correspondent considers what it is about fishing that has long enthralled the great and the good-from Coco Chanel to US presidents, Robert Redford and Eric Clapton
Walking with giants
On a meander around the mighty summits of Dartmoor, Manjit Dhillon recalls tales of warring giants, complex marriages and clotted cream
Romancing the stone
His walls are works of art, but it is Tom Trouton's innovative trees, fruits and even newts that set him apart as a master of dry stone
Claws for celebration
Caught in a pincer movement? Feeling the need to scuttle away? You're not the only one: Helen Scales gets under the shell of the UK's crabbiest crustaceans
Why we love (and hate) the A303
Sometimes, it is the journey we remember, rather than the destination. Julie Harding travels the long, winding-and sometimes frustrating road to the West Country, taking in the sights along the way
A valley of delightful beauty
In the first of two articles, David Robinson considers the medieval abbey at Hartland, beginning with its nebulous origins as an ancient religious site associated with the cult of St Nectan
