When David Ross celebrated a recent milestone birthday, he asked friends whether they could give him trees as presents. “I’m obsessed by them,” says the landowner, entrepreneur and philanthropist. “I…
Features
The Field’s 50 British heroes
Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown (1919-2016) Born in Leith, ‘Winkle’ (on account of his diminutive stature) Brown’s passion for aviation was cemented at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin when a chance…
The Jack Russell terrier: the rise of a rural favourite
What is it about Jack Russells that the true countryman and woman cannot resist? After all, they can be about as obedient as an angry iguana, are capable of taking…
England’s chalk hill figures: a source of endless fascination
When the late Henry Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath, was having difficulty conceiving a child with his second wife Virginia in the 1950s, the couple made their way south from…
What it was like to live in the real Rutshire of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals?
The Cotswolds’ Slad Valley is famous as the idyllic setting for Laurie Lee’s Cider with Rosie but increasingly the area is associated with another beloved author: Dame Jilly Cooper. (Read…
Baroness Batters interviewed by The Field
It’s a cartoon-worthy, perfect spring day at Minette Batters’ rambling red-brick farm in south Wiltshire, the spire of Salisbury Cathedral peeping in the distance from her favourite vantage point. “I…
Britannia: a yacht for the ages
“I am sure that all of you who are present here realise how much the building of this ship meant to the late King, my father,” spoke the late Queen…
The Field interviews Harry Cobden
Has any job a greater test of heart, nerve and sinew than that of a National Hunt jockey? Triumph and disaster are constant companions, as Harry Cobden was reminded again…
John ‘Mad Jack’ Mytton: a spectacular eccentric from the Regency era
The Regency era produced some spectacular eccentrics who managed to gamble and drink their way through vast fortunes. However, none were as potty or as tragic as John ‘Mad Jack’…
William Garfit interviewed by The Field
Unsurprisingly for someone who has spent most of his life gripping a paintbrush, pen or gun, it’s with a firm handshake that William Garfit greets me on the doorstep to…