Overweight gundogs are slow and plodding when, at four or five years old, they should be in their prime. Overweight gundogs are unlikely to be cooperative with their new health kick, so enforcing the rules will take some authority. Read: Be pack leader in your own home for Janet Menzies’…
NL
Billiard table restoration
A reader writes: We have a tired and battered billiard table which we would like to have re-baized and restored for our growing grandchildren. The table has been stored in a barn with the chickens for many years.We are hoping the restored table will make future visits here more exciting…
The pet gundog on the peg: how to train a part-time gundog
No doubt most people start with the best of intentions. The decision is made to get a proper gundog, one that will sit obediently at the peg, walk to heel off the lead, retrieve on command and recall instantly on the first pip of the whistle. We have all seen…
Brussels sprout gratin with sherry, nutmeg and cheese
Brussels sprout gratin with sherry, nutmeg and cheese This dish can be made up and baked straight away or assembled the night before then cooked when required. If making in advance, it will need 10 to 15 minutes’ extra cooking time and the top may need covering if it starts…
Country Christmas interior design ideas
Christmas is the time of year to bring the outside in. Fragrant pine trees are decorated with twinkling fairy lights and placed in the corner of sitting rooms and the halls are decked with boughs of holly. If you want to achieve a cosy, country Christmas interior this year, opt…
Game recipes for the Christmas table
If the history books are to be believed, we have Henry VIII to ‘thank’ for first adding turkey to the table, but as far as I’m concerned he would have done better to leave it in the Americas where it belonged. He may well have been the first monarch to…
Two Fabarm side-by-side shotguns
I’ve taken a look at two Fabarm side-by-sides imported by Anglo Italian Arms. Both are built on rounded-bar, forgedsteel- frame, trigger-plate actions that are mechanically alike. The guns have similarities in stocking and boring, too, but beyond that their specifications are quite different. One, the 12-bore Infinite RS, is a…
Crispy pretzel parmesan partridge
Nearly impossible to say after a glass or two but always utterly delicious to eat, this crispy pretzel parmesan partridge served with a buttery sweet and tangy sauce makes for a wonderfully fun starter. Crispy pretzel parmesan partridge Ingredients Sauce 100g honey 100g raspberry vinegar 200g salted butter Partridge 90g…
How to keep a pointsettia flowering after Christmas
Q: At about this time every year I buy poinsettias to give as Christmas presents. Do they come in colours other than red or white and is it worth trying to keep them going from year to year? What is the best way to keep a poinsettia flowering? (Read The…
The Christmas Robin: a few surprises hide behind its cheerful red breast
Everybody knows and loves the robin, but despite being our most familiar bird it retains a degree of mystery. Most robins hatched in Britain never move far from their birthplace, but we know that a few fly south in the autumn. One unfortunate bird, ringed in Montgomeryshire, was shot more…









