LandScape Jan/Feb 2016

Frost and follies in North Yorkshire A potter inspired by the past

Secret valley’s ancient snowdrops

A garden for winter | Cornus mas | Hellebores | Venison | Hobby horses | Slipware potter | Tartan and kilts | Bell foundry | Rooks | Romney Marsh

Jan / Feb 2016

1

WINTER’S JEWELS

Jan / Feb 2016 £4.25

Life at nature’s pace

Issue 28 | Jan / Feb 2016 | £4.25

LandScape - Life at nature’s pace

www.landscapemagazine.co.uk

SECRET VALLEY CLOAKED IN WHITE A sheltered Somerset valley glimmers with a carpet of snowdrops that have thrived here for centuries

WINTER ROSE Hellebores unfurl their bright petals to create a welcome splash of early colour

Tied with twine, a bouquet of double- and single-flowered hellebores lies on a wooden table.

41

OYSTERS OF THE EARTH With a mild taste of shellfish, the slender roots of salsify bring a subtle yet distinctive flavour to dishes

C

REAMY WHITE ROOTS of purple or common salsify are an adaptable ingredient. This vegetable root of the Tragopogon porrifolius plant can be served boiled, mashed, roasted or fried. It is also suitable to add to warming soups and stews.

Salsify is a hardy winter crop, sometimes referred to as the oyster plant for its characteristic shellfish flavour. Once popular, it fell out of fashion in the last century. Now it is seldom stocked in supermarkets, being more commonly found in greengrocers and farmers’ markets.

Harvesting and storing The white roots, which grow to approximately 10in (25cm) in length, are ready to harvest once the foliage dies back. The flavour is improved if the roots are left in the ground until after the first frosts. They can be left over winter, as they tolerate further frosts and freezing temperatures.

The crop is harvested by pulling up the entire plant, along with its root. It does not store or freeze well, quickly losing flavour, texture and nutrition. For this reason, only the required amount is harvested. Salsify keeps in a sealed bag or airtight container for up to 10 days in the fridge.

Preparation Fresh from the ground, salsify has a brown and tough bark-like skin. The colour comes from soil stuck to the root by the plant’s sticky sap. Much of the preparation involves

FLOWERS AND SHOOTS

Both the grassy leaves and purple flowers of salsify are edible.

The petals can be added to salads. The flowering shoots and the young shoots before the flowers appear can be cooked and eaten like asparagus.

removing this sap. Wearing gloves to harvest and prepare keeps hands clean.

The roots are first run under the tap to remove the top soil, then soaked in water before being scrubbed hard. Finally they are rinsed in cold water again to remove any last traces of soil. Rinsing helps reduce the amount of sap on worksurfaces and hands. The sap can turn worksurfaces brown, so the roots are chopped on an older board or directly in the cooking vessel.

Using a sharp peeler, the roots are peeled over newspaper which absorbs the sap. If the peeler is not sharp, pressure needs to be applied which squeezes out more sap. The peeled roots are rinsed in a 50:50 mix of citrus juice and cold water, as soon as possible, to prevent the flesh turning brown. Now the vegetable can be chopped as desired, before rinsing in the citrus wash one final time.

Health benefits Salsify contains a substance called inulin. This helps help absorb minerals and regulate blood sugar levels, control obesity and ease constipation. It also contains many antioxidants which possess anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, and anti-cancer properties.

Fresh roots are high in vitamin C, providing approximately 13% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA). This vitamin helps maintain healthy connective tissue, teeth and gums. The root is rich in many B-complex groups of vitamins which help convert food into fuel. It also has good levels of iron and potassium. Iron is essential for oxygen delivery to cells, and is used in the production of certain proteins. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps control heart rate and blood pressure by countering the effects of sodium. ›

49

Black treacle pudding Serves 6 50g black treacle 200g butter, softened 200g golden caster sugar 3 eggs zest and juice of 1 lemon 250g self-raising flour clotted cream, to serve

58

Preheat the oven to 180째C/gas mark 4. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, combining thoroughly each time. Zest the lemon into the batter, then add the juice.

Sift in the flour and fold it in. Spoon half the mixture into an ovenproof dish and drizzle over half the black treacle. Spoon on the remaining cake mixture, then drizzle the remaining black treacle onto the batter, using a fork to create a marbled pattern.

Bake for 40 mins. Serve warm with clotted cream.

WINTER COMFORT Sponge puddings add a touch of warming nostalgia to meals on chilly days

Hazelnut crust fruit sponge Makes 4 60g crushed hazelnuts 200g mixed dried fruit 125g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing 175g light brown soft sugar 3 large eggs 200g plain flour Preheat the oven to 200째C/gas mark 6. Grease four individual pudding mini basins with butter. Melt 25g of the butter in a bowl for 15 secs in a microwave. Stir in 25g of the sugar and all of the hazelnuts. Divide the mixture between the basins, flattening down with the back of a teaspoon.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the remaining butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat in the eggs thoroughly, one at a time. Mix in the dried fruit and then sift in the flour, folding into the batter.

Divide the batter between the basins, leaving a thumb width of space at the top. Bake for 20 mins. Loosen around the basins with a flat knife, then turn out onto plates and serve, with custard.

Hot toddy puddings Makes 6 100g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing 155g golden caster sugar 3 eggs, plus 1 egg yolk 1 lemon 55ml whisky 2 tbsp milk 20g piece root ginger 200g plain flour

Preheat the oven to 200째C/gas mark 6. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and 150g of the sugar together. Beat in the eggs and the yolk, one at a time, combining well each time. Zest the lemon into the bowl then add the juice of half of it, followed by 50ml of the whisky and all of the milk.

Peel the ginger, then grate it into the mixture. Sift in the flour, then fold it into the mixture. Divide between six greased ovenproof mini pots. Thinly slice and quarter the remaining lemon half and place in a small bowl. Add both the sugar and remaining whisky to the bowl, then place the slices on the top of the puddings. Bake for 25 mins.

Serve immediately.

59

SHED OF TREASURES From cucumber straighteners to a walking stick saw, one man’s passion for vintage garden tools has created a unique collection

A

HUNDRED YEARS OF garden paraphernalia fills neat rows of open shelves in a storage room. Watering cans thrust forth their spouts from a top shelf, apple pickers with baskets resembling oversized shuttlecocks stand in line in a corner and spades of every conceivable shape hang uniformly from a wall. Smaller tools are grouped on the shelves according to their function.

Approximately 3,000 different items make up this well ordered personal museum charting the history of horticultural work. The beautifully polished garden tools represents 35 years of collecting by owner Trevor Farrell.

The vintage implements range from the instantly recognisable to the strangely specialised. As well as the folding knives, pruning saws, shears and forks, there is a narrow spade for lifting horseradish and at least 20 different asparagus knives.

Other items include long glass cucumber straighteners, a mole

catcher and an object that looks like a hockey stick with a blade for cutting turf. There is even a shelf full of children’s tools, all as sharp and effective as their adult equivalents.

Starting out “I’ve always loved gardening and I’ve lived in old houses where I found things in the attic and in outhouses, such as some Victorian hanging baskets,” explains Trevor, a vet by profession.

“That interested me in the tools. I love the combination of the metal and the wood, the wear on the blade and the patination you get from years of hands using them. They’re tactile, practical and appeal to my artistic sense.”

A self-confessed hoarder by nature, he started looking around for more items. “One stimulating find early on was when my gardener came back with a pair of 1940s’ ‘Greensleeves’ hedge clippers that had four blades instead of the usual two. ›

Garden tool collector Trevor Farrell examines one of his trowels. Behind him are shelves of vintage watering cans.

(Clockwise from top left): Rows of copper and galvanised watering cans in a range of sizes; a 19th century seed drill with a row of teeth at the bottom to create furrows to plant the seeds in; a range of secateurs for a variety of uses including very slim ones for pruning grapes; a turf racing iron, used to cut lines in grass before it was lifted.

79

H FIRING THE EARTH Deep in the Scottish countryside, Doug Fitch and Hannah McAndrew create rich brown slipware pottery, following centuries-old traditions

IDDEN IN THE trees at the end of a stony track in the hills of Scotland’s Southern Uplands is an isolated farmhouse. The nearest town, Castle Douglas, is over five miles away along single track roads. Opposite a disused cowshed stands an outhouse that has been converted to an artist’s studio. This is the workspace of potters Doug Fitch and Hannah McAndrew.

The couple specialise in slipware, a type of pottery where slip, a suspension of clay in water, is used to decorate an unfired pot. For centuries, it was the traditional pottery of ordinary people in both town and country. However, the mechanised processes of the industrial revolution caused its near total decline. Added to this, many of the remaining craftsmen were lost during the First World War, and their skills died with them. Today though, this husband and wife team keep the age-old tradition alive in the warmth of their studio, while the wild winter wind blows outside.

Working with nature Doug weighs out clay while Hannah works on a mechanical potter’s kick wheel, which is powered by kicking the legs.

There are pots and plates everywhere, some finished, others on racks drying. “Our work is influenced by a tradition that has changed and evolved over the centuries,” says Doug.

“Medieval potters were based outside the towns and villages because of the fire risk and the amount of smoke from the kilns. They drew inspiration from the countryside around them, where they also found wood, lead ore for a basic glaze and clay. They even used to dig clay from the roads. That’s where the term ‘potholes’ comes from,” he explains.

“We work with traditional natural earth tones. In Britain we have a lot of red clay and smaller amounts of white. The white clay comes from North Devon. It is finer than red clay and requires a higher firing temperature, which many potters didn’t have the equipment to achieve. Because this made it more expensive, it was used mainly for decoration.” The basic palette of black, white, green and red slip is made by mixing different clays with naturally occurring iron, manganese and copper oxides. By placing the pots in the hottest parts of the kiln, varying tints of brown can be produced.

Developing passion Doug’s interest in pottery began when he was at school in Northamptonshire. “When I was 11 my old headmaster, who was an archaeologist, used to take us out field walking around the site of the long-vanished medieval village of Lyveden to collect medieval pottery shards. We’d take them back to school and identify them using archaeological surveys of the area. Some of the bits had the potter’s thumb marks and fingerprints still in them.”

At college, he learnt kiln-building, glaze chemistry and all aspects of ceramics. “All I was interested in was ›

85

FABRIC OF SCOTLAND In its myriad colours, the pleated tartan kilt has long been an evocative symbol of life north of the border

90

“In Plaid array’d, magnificently shone, Nor seem’d his purple, or his ermine less, Tho’ cover’d by the Caledonia dress.”

Allan Ramsay, ‘Tartana’

T

HERE CAN BE few forms of dress as truly iconic or as inextricably linked to one country as the kilt. Whether worn to celebrate Hogmanay, to perform Highland dancing or as a working garment, these distinctive pleated pieces of tartan are universally associated with Scotland.

Despite those strong bonds, however, it is almost impossible to pin the origins of both kilt and tartan to a single time or place. Even the origin of the words is unclear. Kilt may be a Celtic, Gaelic or Scandinavian word meaning the wrapping or tucking of cloth around the body.

Tartan may have its roots in tiretane, a French word for a fabric woven from linen or wool. Another theory is that it comes from a combination of the Irish and Scots words tuar and tan meaning colour and district. Or it possibly came from closer to home, from the Gaelic word breacan which means striped cloth.

The earliest example of tartan found in Scotland dates from the 3rd century and was discovered in an earthenware pot buried near Falkirk. It became known as The Falkirk Sett and is now kept at the National Museum of Scotland.

Early tartans were dyed in colours derived from local plants, flowers, lichen and tree bark. Tests carried out on a piece of tartan taken from a suit dating to 1743, however, found origins from much further afield. The red in the material came from cochineal made from crushed South American beetles. The blue was indigo from India and the yellow had been created from Old Fustic, a flower found in North America.

Highland garb The kilt itself was mostly worn in the Highlands, being regarded by Lowlanders as a barbarous form of apparel. Historians argue over the exact date when it was first worn and by whom. Before it became

today’s structured garment, Highlanders wore cloth, of anything from 3-6yds (2.5-5.5m) in length, gathered into folds and belted around the waist. The upper part would be thrown over one shoulder.

Then in the mid 1700s, a Lancashire businessman called Thomas Rawlinson opened an iron-smelting plant in the Highlands. According to one theory, when his workforce found their belted plaids to be too hot and unwieldy the solution was to cut the material in half. This enabled them to only wear the lower part indoors.

Kilts then were worn in folds, but today pleats are an essential part of the outfit. The first pleated kilt on record dates back to approximately 1790 and had wide box-style pleats.

Hanging offence In 1745 Charles Edward Stuart, still remembered 271 years later as Bonnie Prince Charlie, led a Jacobite rebellion. He and his mostly Highland supporters believed the British throne of King George II belonged by rights to the Stuarts. After the rebellion was defeated at Culloden, the government passed the Act of Proscription, banning the kilt. Those who disobeyed could be imprisoned, exiled or sentenced to death. The law remained in force for 36 years, until it was repealed in 1782. A proclamation announced that Highlanders were no longer bound down to “the unmanly dress of the Lowlander”.

Tartans and the clans The notion of specific tartans being used to signify clan allegiance appears to be a relatively new invention. An enterprising firm of weavers in Bannockburn, William Wilson and Sons, may be responsible for that fashion. In the 18th century they dominated the market in making tartan cloth for the military, creating a way of making standardised patterns to meet bulk orders. This led to the notion of linking ›

Tartans were originally coloured with natural dyes from plants and animals, usually in reds, greens, and blues. Today the range is much wider, particularly for those worn by dancers.

91

RINGING IN THE NEW Using methods dating back more than 200 years, skilled craftsmen produce bells that have been marking the turn of the year for generations

B

ELLS HAVE BEEN ringing in the New Year from church towers all over Britain for hundreds of years. They call congregations to worship, ring joyfully for weddings or toll mournfully for funerals.

For more than two centuries, many of these bells have come from the foundry of John Taylor and Company. Their bells hang today in cathedrals, including St Paul’s in London. Others have more humble, but equally important homes in parish churches in towns and villages across the land.

The firm has been based in a red brick factory in Loughborough, Leicestershire, since 1838. Outside it looks just like any other modern manufacturer housed in an early industrial building. Inside, however, is a scene that would have been familiar to Victorian workers.

Machines that were first made in the 19th century are still in use. There is a simple explanation for this. Many of the processes have been perfected down the years and no one has found a way of improving on them. ›

96

A new bell is revealed as its mould is lifted off in a haze of dust and heat.

Away from the reach of predators, rooks roost in the very tops of tall trees.

THE HIGH-RISE NESTER

Rooks are social birds who enjoy life together in the tree tops

A

HARSH CHORUS OF bird calls comes from the upper branches of a clump of tall ash trees, still bare of their leaves. Then a raggedy-winged black bird shoots out of the tree canopy, to be joined by another, and then another. They hang in the grey winter sky like smuts from a bonfire, before floating down to land on the topmost twigs.

The rooks are nesting.

Corvus frugilegus are large black corvids, members of the crow family. By late winter, they have been back at their colonies, known as rookeries, for up to two months.

Rooks pair for life, meeting up with their mate again in early winter, after spending time in feeding flocks. The pair usually return to the nest they made a year or more before. High in the tops of trees, safe from predators, this nest is built from large and small sticks. It is all held together with earth and grass, then lined with moss and leaves. On first arriving back, time is spent

110

repairing the nest, making good any damage caused by seasonal gales. New sticks are added, using twigs the birds break off with their strong bills from lower down the tree. Those nest twigs that have survived the winter are rearranged.

Early starters More than one million pairs of rooks breed in Britain, mainly throughout lowland areas of the country. They are generally absent from heavily urbanised areas, and also from the Highlands and far north-west of Scotland and its offshore islands. These regions have few suitable trees for nesting.

They are among the earlier British birds to start mating and egg laying. Once the nests are repaired, the rooks settle down to breed soon after the start of the New Year. A single brood of three to five greenish eggs, approximately 11/2in (4cm) long are laid. The female incubates these for between 15 and 17 days. ›

SHADES OF BLUE

At first sight, rooks are large black birds, indistinguishable from other crows or corvids.

However, a closer look reveals that their black feathers have a blue, green and purple iridescence to them. Around the base of the straight, pointed, grey bill is an area of bare, greyish-white skin. This is one of their main distinguishing features. Rooks grow to 18in (45cm) in length, weighing approximately 11oz (310g). Their wingspan is 36in (90cm).

111

LANDSCAPE OF MIST AND MARSH From the rich and fertile Romney Marsh to the red roofs of Rye, this is a land of water, smuggling and wildlife

Bring every season to life in your home with LandScape

8

issues a year

GORGEOUS GARDENING We celebrate the beauty and diversity of the British garden and its plants. You’ll find inspiration and advice as we invite you into gardens where nature and nurture flourish.

INSPIRATIONAL COOKERY Every issue has tempting recipes that make the most of the season’s produce. You’ll find new ways to enjoy traditional favourites for every meal.

EXQUISITE CRAFT Enjoy discovering how to create beautiful decorations using seasonal flowers and foliage. Follow our step-by-step guides to creating simple crafts for home and garden.

CELEBRATING HERITAGE

Enjoyed this free issue ?

Subscribe here now...

Read about the craftsmen and women who are keeping Britain’s traditional skills alive. Visit towns, villages and countryside that encapsulates the country’s proud history.

CHANGING COUNTRYSIDE Learn about the animals and birds that inhabit our fields, rivers and seas. And we explain how there’s more to many of our farm animals than meets the eye.

LIVE LIFE AT NATURE’S PACE WITH