Staunton Notebook – December 2021

I am not a ‘Climate Change Denier’, certainly not. But I am a ‘Climate Change Solution Sceptic’, at least at local level. Take hedgerows, The government has declared its ambition to plant thousands of miles more of them, but have they checked this out with farmers and...

Staunton Notebook – November 2021

Back in 1954 the Twelfth Earl Ferrers put the whole Staunton Estate up for sale, saying to his son “I’m not going to leave you with this great White Elephant I’ve been lumbered with all these years.” He was a sick man, and practically bankrupt. At the auction a number...

Staunton Notebook – October 2021

‘’Desire lines,’ – never heard of them? Nor had I until we were planning the route of the Staunton Ridgeway nearly thirty years ago. Jacqueline and I lived at Melbourne then, and wanted to make a footpath which would connect to Staunton Harold. We had the farm...

Staunton Notebook – September 2021

In ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Shakespeare writes a play within a play. A motley crew of Athenian working men assemble to rehearse a play to be performed before the Duke of Athens on his wedding day. The play calls for one man to carry a sword, and they decide to...

Staunton Notebook – August 2021

“We love the peace and quiet” is a comment we are hearing from visitors to our Brewhouse Flat in the building behind the hall. Holiday accommodation is a new business for us, and this week we are welcoming our tenth pair of guests. When you ‘live over the shop’ it’s...

Staunton Notebook – July 2021

“Few heed the warning of a distant drum.” I’d been hearing for several years about a disease in Wales which was killing the larch trees. But Wales is a long way off and anyway theirs were ‘Jap’ larch, while ours are mainly European. We should be OK. Not any longer. I...