NDC I was fortunate to have an enlightened teacher at prep school who encouraged us to engage with nature. Being utterly hopeless in most academic arenas, the option of keeping a bird-table diary (like a gamebook, but less terminal) and being asked to bring in recently expired specimens to be examined on the ‘nature table’ were my salvation. I’ll never forget the excitement of her handing me a freshly roadkilled tawny owl to practise my schoolboy taxidermy. The end product was not a success but it taught me much about the physiology of a creature I’d only seen fleetingly when mobbed by small birds and which I considered to be enormously exotic.
One of this teacher’s great passions was fungi, or ‘flowerless plants’ as we were instructed to call them. This enthusiasm infected me powerfully as an eight year old and remains with me to this day. In those far-off days before risk assessments existed, we were sent off into the woods to forage for mushrooms and then triage them in the classroom into the edible pile, the inedible pile and the instant death pile. It taught me both to respect and admire the bewildering variety and potency of mushrooms and to appreciate the fact that there existed a whole world of gastronomic pleasure away from the generic button mushroom.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2023-Ausgabe von The Field.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2023-Ausgabe von The Field.
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A sweet-pea Summer
Sweet peas are enjoying an Instagram moment’ but to appreciate fully these charming flowers one must hasten back to the real world, says Ursula Buchan
Top sporting stays
Effortlessly smart and with superb shooting and fishing on the doorstep, these British hotels are the perfect base for fieldsports enthusiasts, says Madeleine Silver
Tradition with a twist
Showcasing the finest British produce from honey, beer and butter to game and venison, this month’s trio of dishes truly encapsulate the taste of Britain, says Philippa Davis
Daylesford
Organic farming at its finest
The best of British breeds
When it comes to developing and establishing the world’s most popular gundog breeds, Britain has a lot to be proud of, says David Tomlinson
Ping and you're winning
An email alert for burgonets coming to auction draws Roger Field’s attention to a promising lot. Meanwhile, a sale from novelist John le Carré’s estate temporarily raises an eyebrow
Saving the queen of flowers
Trailing clouds of glory into your garden, historic roses are as vital a part of British heritage as a Gainsborough painting and must be preserved
Long live the sporting pub
Not just a place to drink, the right kind of country pub is a beacon for fieldsports enthusiasts. The Star Inn in Harome is one such spot
The sole survivors
An increasingly casual attitude to what we wear has given rise to the so-called dress sneaker’ but proper gentlemen's shoes will never go out of fashion
A win in the willow
The cricket bat industry is steeped in tradition yet must move with the times to meet demand, opening a lucrative door for landowners in the process