There is no sting in this tale
Country Life UK|May 08, 2024
A living prehistoric relic, the scorpion fly is a permanent guest at the ugly-bug ball, says Ian Morton
There is no sting in this tale

THERE are beautiful insects and insects handsome to the human eye, but among the least pretty of those six-limbed legions is one directly descended from ancestors that flourished in the Permian period, some 250 million years ago. It is a living fossil plainly deserving of survival, for botanists surmise that, before the emergence of bees and other busy insects, its forebears were essential pollinators of early seed-bearing plants.

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Don't rain on Venus's parade
Country Life UK

Don't rain on Venus's parade

TENNIS has never been sexier—at least, that is what multiple critics of the new film Challengers are saying.

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2 minutos  |
June 05, 2024
A rural reason to cheer
Country Life UK

A rural reason to cheer

THERE was something particularly special for country people when one of the prestigious King’s Awards for Voluntary Service was presented last week.

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2 minutos  |
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My heart is in the Highlands
Country Life UK

My heart is in the Highlands

A LISTAIR MOFFAT’S many books on Scottish history are distinctive for the way he weaves poetry and literature, language and personal experience into broad-sweeping studies of particular regions or themes. In his latest— and among his most ambitious in scope—he juxtaposes a passage from MacMhaighstir Alasdair’s great sea poem Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill with his own account of filming a replica birlinn (Hebridean galley) as it glides into the Sound of Mull, ‘larch strakes swept up to a high prow’, saffron sail billowing, water sparkling as its oars dip and splash. Familiar from medieval tomb carvings, the birlinn is a potent symbol of the power of the Lords of the Isles.

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6 minutos  |
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Put it in print
Country Life UK

Put it in print

Three sales furnished with the ever-rarer paper catalogues featured intriguing lots, including a North Carolina map by John Ogilby and a wine glass gibbeting Admiral Byng, the unfortunate scapegoat for the British loss of Minorca

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4 minutos  |
June 05, 2024
The rake's progress
Country Life UK

The rake's progress

Good looks, a flair for the theatrical and an excellent marriage made John Astley’s fortune, but also swayed ‘le Titien Anglois’ away from painting into a dissolute life of wine and women, with some collecting on the side

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4 minutos  |
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Charter me this
Country Life UK

Charter me this

There’s a whole world out there waiting to be explored and one of the most exciting ways to see it is from the water, says Emma Love, who rounds up the best boat charters

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3 minutos  |
June 05, 2024
Hey ho, hey ho, it's off to sow we go
Country Life UK

Hey ho, hey ho, it's off to sow we go

JUNE can be a tricky month for the gardener.

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3 minutos  |
June 05, 2024
Floreat Etona
Country Life UK

Floreat Etona

The link with the school and horticulture goes back to its royal founder, finds George Plumptre on a visit to the recently restored gardens

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4 minutos  |
June 05, 2024
All in good time
Country Life UK

All in good time

Two decades in the planning, The Emory, designed by Sir Richard Rogers, is open. Think of it as a sieve that retains the best of contemporary hotel-keeping and lets the empty banality flow away

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2 minutos  |
June 05, 2024
Come on down, the water's fine
Country Life UK

Come on down, the water's fine

Ratty might have preferred a picnic, but canalside fine dining is proving the key to success for new restaurant openings in east London today, finds Gilly Hopper

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3 minutos  |
June 05, 2024