202101-BBC Countryfile

100 REASONS TO LOVE WINTER! Embrace the natural delights of January outdoors ISSUE 172 JANUARY 2021 £4.75 PLANT BRITAIN! Life in the deep eJpoiicnctaCrmeoeup-naptilgraynnftiilne’gs freeze Wildlife walks on your doorstep Forgotten wonders of ancient Britain foTxhein KEEP winter COSY The extraordinary hidden Warm jackets – world of the country fox we rate the best HIGHLAND HOGMANAY How the Scots’ New Year eclipsed Christmas THE CHARMS OF CHESHIRE A timeless blend of rich history and rugged beauty



Winter needn’t be spent entirely indoors – EDITOR’S LETTER explore the land to boost your mood, page 64 HOW TO Come out of hibernation… CONTACT US So 2021 lies before us, a whole blank canvas To subscribe or for subs enquiries: Domestic telephone: 03330 162112 to fill in with adventures and memories. But Overseas telephone: 01604 973720 Contact: www.buysubscriptions.com/ who would have anticipated, this time last contactus Post: BBC Countryfile Magazine, year, just what 2020 would bring – with all its lockdowns, PO BOX 3320, 3 Queensbridge, The Lakes, Northampton NN4 7BF challenges and heartaches. What a year it’s been. To talk to the editorial team: I would like to say a big thank you to you all for sticking Email: editor@countryfile.com Telephone: 0117 300 8580 (answerphone; with us and for the kind messages of appreciation and please email rather than call) Post: BBC Countryfile Magazine, Eagle support. It has been a huge boost to all of us on the House, Colston Avenue, Bristol BS1 4ST Advertising enquiries: 0117 300 8815 magazine team to read how our pages have helped many of you enjoy the App support: http://apps.immediate.co.uk/support countryside and its charms throughout this past year of adversity. Syndication and licensing enquiries (UK and international): So this January issue is a call to seize every day. It may be the middle of winter [email protected] +44 (0)207 150 5168 now but, as we discovered when planning this issue, there are mood-improving Follow us on Twitter: wonders to be found on every walk – see page 64 for our suggestions. I’d also @countryfilemag like to take a note out of Sara Maitland’s column that one new year’s resolution we Follow us on Instagram: @Countryfilemagazine can all make is to take a few small steps to help the countryside. Her column on Like us on Facebook: page 17 o ers some great advice, as does Ellie Harrison on page 114. Over www.facebook.com/ countryfilemagazine 40,000 people buy the magazine every month – we’re an army for good. Find us online for lots Lastly, our cover story is a joyful celebration of the fox – page 36. Adele of bonus content: www.countryfile.com Brand o ers fresh insight into the complex and rather marvellous Download the o cial BBC Countryfile Magazine app from the Apple, Google Play or Amazon App Store. world of an animal often dismissed as a savage chicken killer. There’s much more to tell you, of course (Clare Balding is here Escape to the country on page 60!), but I want to sign o with a heartfelt wish from the with our podcasts; whole team that 2021 is a happy and wholesome year for you! visit iTunes or countryfile.com/ podcast Fergus Collins, editor@countryfile.com THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS Photos: Oliver Edwards, Alamy Adele Brand, page 36 Mary-Ann Ochota, page 54 Clare Balding, page 60 “Whenever I follow or watch wild “At times when the future feels “Pigs can collaborate and communicate foxes, I am struck by a singular spectacularly unpredictable and through symbols. They have impression that they know precisely worrying, I find solace in exploring excellent memories and are able to where they are going and why.” our shared and mysterious past.” recognise specific individuals.” www.countryfile.com 03

Contents 13 32 Tasty lunch from seasonal produce Here’s to a Highland Hogmanay 18 64 Explore the enchantments of Cheshire Life-giving reasons to embrace winter days outdoors MONTH IN FEATURES THE COUNTRY 6 13 JANUARY IN THE COUNTRY 18 THE CHARMS OF On the 46 PLANT BRITAIN On the CHESHIRE IN WINTER cover cover Where to go winter beachcombing. The best winter firewood. Join the Countryfile team and get Make campfire bread on a stick. Wild hills sparkling with frost, elegant involved in Plant Britain – an ambitious 13 OUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS country estates and half-timbered new campaign to plant thousands of Our countryside goals for the year ahead. market towns – join Neil Coates for a trees across the country. 14 ON THE FARM WITH ADAM timeless seasonal escape in Cheshire. Adding recycled human waste to the soil may sound stinky, but it’s a crop saviour. 54 FORGOTTEN WONDERS On the cover ON YOUR COVER 32 HIGHLAND HOGMANAY On the Cover: Naturepl.com, Alamy Photos: Getty, Alamy, Naturepl.com, BBC cover Fascinating remnants of our The flaming russet coat of a red fox (Vulpes In homes across Scotland ancient past can be found across Britain. vulpes) flares bright against the snow on a preparations are afoot for New Year’s Mary-Ann Ochota seeks out some of our morning hunting trip. Eve. Martha McGill explores the roots most obscure ancient marvels. of a uniquely Scottish celebration rich with ancient tradition. 60 HOG IN THE LIMELIGHT 36 FOX IN THE FROST On the Clare Balding tells the tale of the cover Learned Pig, whose feats of memory Smart, swift and stealthy, the astonished Georgian Britain. fox is one of nature’s great survivors. Find out how they feed, breed and 64 LOVE WINTER On the cover communicate in the frozen months Paw prints in snow, birds on frozen of winter, with Adele Brand. lakes – reasons to find joy in the season. 04 www.countryfile.com

subscribe today and save with our special o er, page 30 36 Why the fox thrives in winter 60 Clare Balding on the cleverest of pigs 54 Discover ancient marvels REGULARS Great days out 17 COUNTRY VIEWS 100 YOUR LETTERS WINTER WILDLIFE WALKS If we all made a new year’s resolution to Have your say on rural issues, from On the help our environment and countryside, litter to lapwings. what a di erence it would make. 76 On North Sea shores cover 102 WINTER MIDLAYERS On the 30 SUBSCRIBE NOW! cover St Mary’s Island, Northumberland/Tyne & Wear We test the best cosy thermal A special o er for new subscribers. 80 Art in the sky garments to wear under your rain jacket 44 BEHIND THE HEADLINES Attenborough, Nottinghamshire and make winter walks enjoyable. Rural tourism was hit hard by Covid-19 in 83 Midwinter marshes 2020. Will enterprising business owners 106 QUIZ & CROSSWORD be able to prompt a recovery in 2021? Tollesbury Wick, Essex Test your countryside knowledge. 94 READER PHOTOS 84 Canopy creatures 113 NEXT MONTH Your Great Days Out in pictures. Llyn Parc Mawr, Anglesey What’s coming up in the February 96 BOOKS, RADIO AND TV 2021 issue. 86 Prehistoric ponies What to read, watch and listen to, plus 114 ELLIE HARRISON Dunkery Beacon, Somerset a Q&A with Worzel Gummidge writer, director and star Mackenzie Crook. Instead of making resolutions, this new 88 Angels of the north year I’m finding fresh ways to appreciate the natural world. Welney, Norfolk www.countryfile.com 89 Gold on the water Gartmorn Dam, Clackmannanshire 90 Hare-raising walk Bleaklow, Derbyshire 92 Where to see winter flora Top seven, nationwide 05

Photo: Getty

FROSTED FINERY “Late lies the wintry sun a-bed, A frosty, fiery sleepy-head; Blinks but an hour or two; and then, A blood-red orange, sets again.” Thus wrote Robert Louis Stevenson in his poem Winter-Time. There is a magic in the blend of low light, snow and frosted foliage that you cannot find at any other time of year. For more winter delights, see page 64.

FROZEN FALLS When it gets really cold, even waterfalls can be petrified. Here a walker admires gigantic icicles as the mighty Summerhill Force in Teesdale, County Durham, is stopped in its tracks by many days of sub-zero temperatures. ‘Force’ is a corruption of ‘foss’: a Viking word for waterfall. The recess behind the waterfall is known as Gibson’s Cave. Photos Naturepl.com, Guy Edwardes, Getty, Alamy SNOW BIRD FIERY FLOWER The stunning finch-like snow Coppery-red flowers of witch bunting is well adapted for hazel ‘Jelena’ look like flames in gleaning a living in harsh terrain the subdued light of late winter. with its snowy plumage and Witch hazel is a shrub native to broad diet. Some 50–60 pairs North America but cultivars are breed in the wild Cairngorms, prized for their winter colours in but up to 15,000 birds from Scandinavia overwinter in gardens throughout the UK. Britain and can often be found Witch hazel is also famed for its in small flocks on the East Coast as far south as Norfolk. medicinal properties (and smell!) – a natural astringent that helps bruises heal quickly. 8

COLD COVE An unusual aerial shot of Lulworth Cove, the almost circular inlet on the Dorset coast so beloved of summer bathers. In winter it is a starkly di erent landscape of hard cli s and limpid waters – but beautiful. Note how the dusting of snow accentuates the rock strata, showing how the layers have been raised and twisted by geological forces.

7RS àYH SODFHV WR GO WINTER BEACHCOMBING Wrap up warm and head for the coast where ocean treasures await, hidden among dunes and rockpools 1 HERNE BAY, KENT Visitors from across Europe flock to Herne Bay to search the fossiliferous beds. Shark teeth, often belonging to the extinct Striatolamia genus, are the most prevalent type of fossil found. 2 BRACELET BAY, SWANSEA RIGHT As the tide pulls out rockpools appear among the pebbles and sand. See what gems you can find before watching the winter sun sink over the Bristol Channel. 3 WHITE PARK BAY, COUNTY ANTRIM Formed between 200 million and 50 million years ago, idyllic White Park Bay o ers the chance to unearth belemnites, ammonites and gryphaea among the faults, landslips and raised beaches. 4 CLAIGAN CORAL BEACH, ISLE OF SKYE 4 Despite its name, this island beach is actually made of maerl: small pieces of dried, sun- bleached seaweed. Scan the driftline and 3 5 rockpools for more hidden sea treasures. 5 REDCAR, NORTH YORKSHIRE The shingle surface of this Yorkshire beach means it’s easy to spot ancient shells and 2 1 bivalves – the perfect bounty to excite new beachcombers, both young and old. Wise buy 30TH ANNIVERSARY Photos Homer Sykes, Alamy THE LOST WORDS GAME Wainwright the wanderer This colourful and captivating card game is based on the gorgeous A thought from the iconic fellwalker and author 30 years after his death book by best-selling author Robert Macfarlane and illustrator of over “Give me a map to look at, and I am 40 beloved classics Jackie Morris. content. Give me a map of country I Simple yet engaging, the game know, and I am comforted: I live my (and book) aims to recover words travels over again; step by step, I recall from the natural world that are fast the journeys I have made; half-forgotten disappearing from children’s lives. incidents spring vividly to mind, and again I can su er and rejoice at £13.99, kosmosgames.co.uk experiences which are once more made very real. Old maps are old friends, 10 understood only by the man with whom they have travelled the miles.” Alfred Wainwright’s passion for journeys was clear. Read more about the hillwalker and his epic Coast to Coast walk in our next issue. www.countryfile.com

MONTH IN THE COUNTRY FROM THE BOOKSHELF: NATURE DIARIES Drop deep into the minds and worlds of our favourite naturalists THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE by Gilbert White The ultimate nature diary and an inspiration for all naturalists written by an 18th-century rural reverend, recording his wildlife encounters in a Hampshire parish. CLAXTON: FIELD NOTES FROM A THE SEASONAL TABLE: A TASTE OF JANUARY SMALL PLANET by Mark Cocker Immersive and reflective adventures in a wild Join Kathy Bishop and Tom Crowford on their West Country smallholding Norfolk haven over the course of a year, by one of Britain’s greatest countryside writers. A new year begins and it’s time to tidy up and get things in order before spring is upon us. There are hedgerows to cut, fruit trees to prune, wood to chop and stack. THE NATURE DIARY OF AN ARTIST Tangled plant skeletons from seasons past are pulled from the flower beds to reveal by Jennie Hale bobbing snowdrops and yawning crocuses. In the vegetable patch, last spring’s A beautifully crafted sketchbook record of the rainbow chard is still producing cut-and-come-again leaves for the kitchen. artist’s wildlife encounters in the English Coupled with freshly laid eggs, it makes a hearty breakfast or lunch. countryside through the seasons. RAINBOW CHARD ON TOAST WITH FENNEL AND SMOKED CHILLI DIARY OF A YOUNG NATURALIST by Dara McAnulty INGREDIENTS Serves 6 2. Using the same pan, turn the heat up high 1 tbsp sunflower oil and add the fennel seeds and chilli flakes to the Evocative and moving exploration of a wild year 2 eggs remaining oil. Cook the spices for a minute or two on Dara’s local patch in Northern Ireland, Small pinch of fennel seeds before adding the rainbow chard and stir-frying written when he was just 15 but winning Small pinch of dried chipotle chilli flakes until the chard is tender but still holding a little national awards for nature writing. Large bunch of rainbow chard, finely shredded bite. Season to taste with sea salt and set aside 2 large slices of sourdough bread to keep warm. www.countryfile.com 1 small clove of garlic, peeled 3. Lightly toast the sourdough bread, then rub Unsalted butter the garlic clove over the surface of each slice and A few fresh rosemary flowers (optional) butter generously. 4. To serve, top each piece of toast with a pile of METHOD: chard and an egg. Scatter over the rosemary flowers 1. Heat the sunflower oil in a large frying pan over a (if using) to finish. medium heat. Crack each of the eggs into the pan and gently fry until the whites are set but the yolks Discover more recipe ideas from Kathy and Tom on are still nice and runny. Lift out of the pan and set Instagram instagram.com/the_seasonal_table aside to keep warm. and their website theseasonaltable.co.uk

winter The perfect... warmth winter firewood By Vincent Thurkettle, author of The Wood Fire Handbook Kilo for kilo, all firewood types have a similar heat value, but when it comes to scent, crackle and flame, there is a lot to learn – these are my ‘hot favourites’. I’m learning to light smokeless fires but can’t resist the wood-smoke scent. 1. Beech A dense wood, one year to season. Bright yellow flames, good embers, long hot burn, rarely throws sparks. Smoke gentle with scent of fresh-cut hay. My first choice. 2. Oak Dense logs, can take two years to season. Very good embers, reasonable flames, crackles, rarely throws sparks. Best used in mixture. Fierce, eye-watering smoke, but a hint of smoke suggests mulled wine or cloves to me. 3. Elm Ridiculed in firewood poems but an excellent firewood. Long seasoning. Dense, hard to split, poor flames, but first-rate embers. Smoke is sharp but fruity. 4. Hawthorn Beautiful logs, but it is hard to get hold of. Seasons in a year, good flame, excellent embers, rarely throws sparks and has a thin sweet-scented smoke. 5. Fruitwoods (apple, cherry, plum) Dense, delightful firewood. Bright flames, good embers, seasons within the year. The smoke is floral and sweet-scented. 6. Ash Medium density, easy to split, naturally low moisture content, seasons rapidly. Pale ethereal flames, moderate embers. Produces soft, vanilla-scented smoke. 7. Birch Medium density, easy to split, seasons rapidly. Good flames, moderate embers, rarely throws sparks. Bark makes great natural firelighters. Smoke is aromatic. 8. Scots pine Best for kindling. Low-density, resinous, catches easily – important when building a ‘top-down’ fire. HOW TO MAKE... CAMPFIRE BREAD ON A STICK No scales, no kneading, no fuss, this super-simple campfire recipe – perfect for kids and adults alike – will warm your stomach, hands and heart on even the coldest winter nights. You will need: 1 mug plain flour • 1 pinch salt • 1 tbsp olive oil • Cold water • Sticks (greenwood is best) 1Mix the flour and salt 2 Add more water 3Dust your hands with 4Twist the rolled 5Hold the twisted Photos Getty, Alamy, BBC. Illustrat on Enya Todd together in a large a little at a time to a bit of flour, pull o dough around your dough above the hot bowl. Pour in the oil and form a dough. If you a quarter of the dough stick; choose one long embers, rotating the a few splashes of water, overdo it with the water, and roll it between your enough to keep your stick until the bread then bring the mix don’t worry, just add a palms to form a long hands from getting too turns golden brown on together with your hands. little more flour. sausage shape. close to the fire. all sides. Eat while warm. 12 www.countryfile.com

MONTH IN THE COUNTRY 2021 RESOLUTIONS: FROM THE MAGAZINE TEAM Rarely has the promise of a new year felt so full of hope for better days ahead. More than ever, it feels like a time to connect with nature and landscape. We’ve come up with a few outdoor aspirations for 2021 to bring us closer to the countryside we love. What are yours? “I’m resolved to see a bittern in “I realised during lockdown “Number one on my list DON’T LOSE Britain for the first time. I’ll aim walks my plant knowledge has for 2021 is to discover new YOUR WAY! for the Somerset Levels, which much room for improvement. wild places to swim safely, I know well but haven’t visited surrounded by beautiful The UK Government has set a for over a year. So, it will be a So, I resolve to buy myself a deadline of 1 January 2026 for pocket guide and learn my pine countryside.” all historic walking paths to be journey of rediscovery.” from my spruce.” Margaret Hilary Clothier, Fergus Collins, editor Bartlett, production editor picture editor registered for inclusion on o cial maps, otherwise they “While cooped up in lockdown “My 2021 resolution is to “My garden has been a real could be lost forever. With the I found that I yearned for the go for a walk or run every day refuge over the past year. coast as a cure. I want to make In 2021, I want to continue my help of thousands of coastal visits my regular dose – ideally with friends and botanical learning and create volunteers, the Ramblers has family – to help keep both a home for as many bugs as uncovered over 49,000 miles of medicine in 2021.” my mind and body well in possible.” Daniel Graham, of these paths in England and Laura Phillips, deputy Wales – now the race is on to tough times.” section editor art editor Joe Pontin, features editor register them before time runs out. Ramblers needs “This year I want to get in “I’m planning to finally make “I’d like to walk all 630 miles of touch with ancient Britain – to a wildlife pond for my two the South West Coast Path, your help to prioritise, nature-loving sons. We hope swimming in the sea every day. research and build the visit the country’s stone to attract lots of creatures, The walk includes 230 bridges, applications to save the paths. circles, henges and old trails especially frogs to see their 13 ferry crossings and 30,000 Find out how you can get and feel a connection with our incredible transformations.” steps!” Carys Matthews, involved at ramblers.org.uk ancestors.” Maria Hodson, Tim Bates, art editor group digital editor Countryfile on TV production editor BBC ONE, 3 JANUARY, 7PM www.countryfile.com Sean Fletcher looks back at 2020, a year when 40% of adults spent more time outside and three-quarters of parents used the outdoors as a classroom. Sean speaks to trailblazing naturalists, 18-year-old Mya-Rose Craig and 15-year-old Dara McAnulty, then meets a family from Oxfordshire to discuss their allotment journey, before talking through the Countryside Code. Also, Matt Baker joins a litter pick on the Grand Union Canal. 13

2Q ëH IDUP ZLë Adam Henson RECYCLED HUMAN WASTE SAVES THE DAY Ihad no idea that talking Processed biosolids look nothing like the waste we land in a safe, sustainable way. Photos: Sean Malyon, Alamy about sewage could cause flush, and once on the land the smell doesn’t linger As for the smell, it’s a short-term such a stink! But then, as a problem when the sludge is first farmer, I’m used to getting spreading human waste over spread, but as soon as cultivators stuck in to lively debates your fields is such a good idea?” get to work and mix it in to the about the rights and wrongs asked one. “Biosolids is just soil there’s barely any odour. of British agriculture. In this another risk we can well do case the story goes right back without,” said another. Well, I’m NIGHT SOIL TO NEW SOIL to last summer. the first to admit that adding poo to the land sounds a bit Let’s be frank about this: We’ve grown oilseed rape on weird but from these comments everyone has a poo most days. our tenanted farm in the it’s obvious I’ve still got some So if we say the average stool Cotswolds for the last 20 years, convincing to do. So here goes. weighs about 200g and there but the 2020 harvest was a are 65 million of us in the UK – disaster. Our yield was down First, the stu we flush down a conservative estimate – that about 30% and the culprit was a the toilet isn’t what ends up on works out at around 13,000 tons destructive little blighter called our fields. Long before it arrives of human waste produced on a the flea beetle, which loves to on the farm, the waste is filtered, daily basis. Something needs to feast on young plants just as steamed, fed in to anaerobic be done with it, and who wants they’re beginning to germinate. digesters and tested for metals. to go back to the days when So this year we’re cutting our There’s an industry code for untreated sewage was routinely losses, reducing our oilseed rape eradicating any viruses, harmful pumped straight into the sea? by half and taking action to bacteria or pathogens, and the defeat the ravenous flea beetle. laws on biosolids are enforced The last word has to go to a by the Environment Agency, viewer in Lincolnshire who wrote BATTLE WITH THE BEETLE which requires a detailed report to tell me that when she was a every time a consignment is sent child in the 1940s, a regular One method is adding sewage out to the fields. visitor was the “night soil man” sludge to the soil. In polite with his horse-drawn metal tank company, this by-product of the Secondly, it’s a tried and who went round the village after water industry is known as tested form of recycling that dark, emptying the contents of biosolids, but whatever you call returns organic matter to the the outdoor loos. “A few days it, it’s making a big di erence. later you would see them in the Not only is mixing sludge in to fields returning their harvest to the soil an ingenious way of the earth, a benefit to all as, masking the scent of the crop come the spring, villagers would from the flea beetle, it’s also a be in the fields collecting strong, great source of nutrients which healthy tomato plants, marrow nourish the plant. It’s early days seedlings and many more but I’m already delighted with plants.” Which just goes to prove how healthy the crop looks. the famous saying: there’s nothing new under the sun. It hasn’t gone down quite so well with a handful of Ask Adam: What topic would you Countryfile viewers though, and like to know more about? Email your they’ve been quick to criticise. suggestions to editor@countryfile.com “Do you honestly think 14 www.countryfile.com

Make your Fancy Christmas something classy this Christmas? crunchy! Try Tyrrells Black <Z] M WZ 8W[P 8ZI_V Cocktail crisps* *available from Waitrose You deserve to make your Christmas as special as possible, Get to know Tyrrells so when it comes to the perfect snack, it has to be Tyrrells As a much-loved and quintessentially W hile the festive Only the best English crisp brand, Tyrrells knows season may end the value of local provenance, up looking a little What makes Tyrrells the perfect choice? people and sourcing. di erent this year, For a start, its crisps are made from Tyrrells potato crisps are there are still locally grown Herefordshire potatoes hand-cooked in small batches with plenty of time-honored traditions to and seasoned using only the best their skins on to maintain that rustic look forward to. There’s the tradition quality ingredients. From harvesting the of picking out the perfect Christmas potatoes, right through to cooking them look and taste. Tyrrells prides itself on tree – not too tall, not too stubby, not with only the finest ingredients, every using authentic ingredients, so for too dense and not too sparse – and step that goes into making these crisps instance, in its Mature Cheddar & making sure every decoration is in is refined to ensure there’s perfection in Chive seasoning, you will find real just the right place. Then there’s the every packet. Cheddar and chives. much-loved Christmas morning walk to make room for the feast awaiting They’re the ideal snack to have in the Discover the Tyrrellbly, you. Whatever your own special family cupboard for just about any occasion in the rituals are, you should celebrate them festive calendar. Enjoy a handful of these Tyrrellbly tasty range more than ever. delicious crisps while curling up by the fire with a mug of mulled wine after a wintry at tyrrellscrisps.co.uk There’s also all the more reason to woodland walk or pour some into a bowl treat yourself to the finer things, while when you need something nibbly to tide you’re at it. Pick up a couple of bottles you over before your Christmas dinner. of that nice wine you always wanted to try. Splash out on an organic turkey You can choose from a huge range of from your local farm shop instead of one flavours, from Mature Cheddar & Chive from the supermarket. And, for the most to Black Tru e & Sea Salt, as well as the delicious accompanying snack, why not gloriously colourful mixed root vegetable go for Tyrrells’ delicious hand-cooked crisps – there’s a little something for English potato crisps? everyone. So, go on, make sure your snack cupboard is stocked up for Yuletide and pop a pack of Tyrrells in your basket.



OPINION Sara Maitland This new year let’s all make a resolution to help our environment and countryside Illustration: Lynn Hatzius For a tranche of wildflowers and birdsong; the Sara Maitland is 2. Buy vegetables and dry goods reasons (mainly great fox-spider believed to be a writer who lives loose instead of packaged. to do with extinct in the UK, was seen again in Dumfries and 3. Buy locally grown and production) in Surrey for the first time in over Galloway. Her seasonal food. I write this column about six 25 years; rural verges were works include weeks before you see it. enhanced by less mowing and far A Book of Silence 4. Walk or cycle every journey Usually this doesn’t less plastic rubbish dumped and Gossip from under four miles if you can, matter, because – despite from cars. the Forest or at least work out some the surprises and sensible way of reducing variations that nature so Perhaps, instead of focussing your petrol usage. often throws at us – the on the – absolutely genuine – 5. Reprogramme your countryside beats to a problems and horrors of heating so it only comes deep and steady rhythm Covid-19, we should all focus on on when you need it and we usually call the seasons. one little action we can take to turn it o when you know But for this issue I am continue the good things of the you’re going to be away for writing the week the new pandemic into the post-Covid several hours. lockdown – and its Scottish future. My new year’s resolution parallel – kicks in, and we can is going to be to take a bag with 6. Switch to a renewable energy have very little idea about where me on my daily walk and collect supplier if possible. we will all be when you read this. two items of verge-side plastic However, we do know pretty and dispose of them responsibly. I am sure that readers can much for certain that there will But there are lots of choices. come up with more suggestions, be a new year and therefore an and more that are appropriate to appropriate time for good I made contact with a sta their own lives. Each month more resolutions. So it is worth looking member at the European Climate than 40,000 people buy BBC at what we might have learned Foundation and she came up Countryfile Magazine; if each of through these di cult months with a list of six environmentally us made even a tiny commitment and how we can take that useful new year’s resolutions: it would genuinely add up and forward into happier times. 1. Halve your meat consumption. make a di erence. One of the most important things we have learned is how No matter how we respond or positive for the countryside some what happens next, no one sane aspects of our restrictions have would argue that somehow a been. One of these was the pandemic was a good thing – or discovery that the ancient rural that any positive outcomes could tradition of “community make it ‘worthwhile’. It is horrible cohesion”, of mutual support and and scary and very demanding. care, was not dead but vital. But For too many people it has been above all, no one who was able to tragic. But surely we can look on get into the countryside during it as a wake-up call too. lockdown can question just how directly polluting human beings And remember, over 70% of can be, with our cars, our bright new year’s resolutions don’t last lights and even our heavy footfall. even until the end of January! And how much di erence that Surely our pollution makes. For example, we wonderful saw a massively improved countryside starscape and an increase in deserves better. www.countryfile.com Have your say What do you think about the issues raised here? Write to the address on page three or email editor@countryfile.com 17

Photo: Alamy A favourite among local walkers, Wildboarclough Valley in the Peak District National Park lies quiet under a blanket of snow. Its quirky name may originate in Clough Brook’s tendency to flood, rather than the presence of wild boar

DISCOVER CHESHIRE’S WINTER CHARMS Roam wild hills sparkling with frost, explore elegant country estates and while away the afternoon in a little-changed market town. Cheshire’s old-England delights make for a timeless seasonal escape, says Neil Coates

The rolling fields of Torgate Farm stretch out below the shapely summit of Shutlingsloe, dubbed the ‘Matterhorn of Cheshire’. Ascend its steep sides for magnificent views across the county and the Peak District National Park to the east

“YOU WILL FIND HEATHERY MOORS, HIDDEN VALES AMID RIPPLING HILLS AND BUCOLIC HAMLETS” T ourists often pass straight The area’s most beautiful, secret CLOCKWISE FROM TOP The River through Cheshire, crossing the countryside is a step south again to the Dane criss-crosses Dane Valley in flat plain across which the M6 upper Dane Valley, on the boundary with the Peak District National Park; and West Coast mainline both Sta ordshire. Here, old packhorse trails the dramatic red sandstone surge to a more endearing and miners’ ways meander between chasms, escarpment of Alderley Edge elsewhere. If the county makes an gorges, crags and moorland domes. o ers gentle walks among pine impression on them, it might only be to Winter’s grip ices waterfalls, crispens hill and beech woodland; spot red deer remark that the cows’ two-tone hides paths and accentuates centuries-old sessile in their brown winter coats on the mirror the county’s half-timbered old oakwoods – spellbinding seasonal 566-hectare Lyme Park estate manors, and recall that their milk is used splendour in a tumultuous landscape. Photos: Alamy, Getty, National Trust Images to make a pale, crumbly cheese. Alternatively, look to the immense Lyme Yet there is much to love about Cheshire. Park at Disley, spread over ridges, moor Take time to roam one of England’s oldest and woodlands cosseting a huge country counties and you will find heathery moors, mansion. Red deer browse the estate, hidden vales amid rippling hills, while numerous paths and tracks make atmospheric meres, ancient woodlands, discovering the landscape a pleasure. bustling waterways, majestic mansions and An enjoyable approach is from Nelson Pit parklands, striking peaks, bold ridges, Visitor Centre at Higher Poynton, where bucolic hamlets and lazy valleys, all laced with enticing paths and byways. NATURE RESERVE Winter is a marvellous season in which to At delightful Marbury Country Park near Northwich, explore. On crisp, snow-blue days, Cheshire’s bordering Budworth Mere, bitterns (right) overwinter countryside is peerless, while in inclement along with many other species. Walks thread to the weather its ancient villages, enticing market nearby Trent and Mersey Canal and the remarkable towns and the historic city of Chester make Anderton Boat Lift, with further flashes (lakes) and fascinating alternatives. There’s no better hides adjoining. northwichwoodlands.org.uk way to shrug o winter’s chill than with a brisk ramble and there are few better places to do so than this county, where hugely di ering landscapes lie within just a few miles of each other. HEAD TO HIGH GROUND Cheshire’s hilly east is in the Peak District National Park, crowned by the county’s highest point – the gritstone eminence of Shining Tor, at 559m. Easily gained on firm paths from the Cat and Fiddle (the second-highest pub in England, at 520m), winter’s sharpest days reward with crystal- clear views of more than 50 miles to the Welsh Mountains and along the Pennines. A sti er walking challenge awaits along lanes just to the west, where Shutlingsloe’s mighty steep-sided wedge of a 506m summit rises precipitously above the secluded Wildboarclough Valley. www.countryfile.com 21

The River Dee meanders through the centre of Chester, a city first founded as a fort by the Romans in AD 79 routes from the snug Boar’s Head pub run “THE FOREST landscape from picturesque villages, such along canal-sides and through woods to IS POCKED BY as Burton and Parkgate. hilltop viewpoints. This is just one of many PRIMEVAL easy canal-based rambles on Cheshire’s MERES AND One place to home in on is Little Neston, extensive inland waterways network; they MARSHY where crumbling quays stretch out towards are relaxing, reliable destinations to choose HOLLOWS” the long-gone shipping channel, and the tiny when winter weather puts you o higher, white-painted Harp Inn fronts serpentine more exposed locations. creeks and lagoons beloved by generations of ornithologists. The views across the On chilly days, head to the bold sandstone ephemeral Dee to the shapely hills of escarpment at Alderley Edge. It’s a restful Flintshire are exquisite. place to walk, incised with ancient copper- mine workings amid a filigree of easy paths THE WOODS IN WINTER and tracks through woods of Scots pine, oak and beech. There’s plenty of winter magic In medieval times, the earls of Chester in the countryside between Alderley and ensured that vast areas became their Shining Tor, an area featured in Alan personal hunting domains. The Forest of Garner’s classic children’s tale The Mara stretched endlessly south from the Weirdstone of Brisingamen (1960). Mersey; vestiges survive as today’s Delamere Forest. Take the train to In complete contrast, beyond Chester Delamere Station, at the heart of the Mara, stretches the broad estuary of the River Dee when snow dusts the forest and you’ll and the Wirral coastline’s immense sea- experience a landscape more high Canada marshes and reed beds. The RSPB manages than rural Cheshire. much of this fascinating edgeland and its large reserves host a tantalising range of Delamere Forest is pocked by primeval wildlife – marsh harriers, waders, egrets, meres and marshy hollows, a residue of the bearded tits, wildfowl and peregrines last Ice Age 12,000 years ago. A chill winter overwinter here at ponds, pools and inlets. day catches them at their best, with ice- Marshland tracks thread this absorbing patterned surfaces, frosted reeds and pine cones glistening on overhanging firs. Since 22 www.countryfile.com

DISCOVER Built on the banks of an Iron Age hillfort, 13th-century Beeston Castle was partially demolished by Parliamentarians in 1645 following a long siege during the Civil War Photos: Alamy, Getty the 1990s, when it was re-flooded (having ABOVE Blakemere Moss was Further south lie the Peckforton Hills, been drained 200 years ago), Blakemere drained in 1815, reportedly by where wooded crags and scarps erupt from Moss fills its huge, shallow basin, dappled prisoners from the Napoleonic the flatlands. Here are crumbling and bordered by countless skeletal, Wars, then rewatered in 1998 fortifications, such as Maiden Castle hillfort drowned pines; it’s a breathtaking, OPPOSITE Spot dunlin and other and Beeston Castle’s dramatic cli top unexpected vista. In deepest midwinter waders on the RSPB’s vast Dee ruins. The well-waymarked Sandstone Trail the forest is a renowned dark sky location Estuary Nature Reserve and side-paths encourage exploration, for stargazing the glittering Milky Way. where an astonishing grove of wizened sweet chestnut trees caps the thickly wooded www.countryfile.com Bulkeley Hill. An energetic leaf-cruncher walk from Burwardsley takes in these and the cli top viewpoint of Raw Head, highest point on the Sandstone Trail, where it peeks above tree-shrouded clefts and blu s, looking across to the distant giants of the snow-capped Berwyn Mountains. Another Norman playground was Macclesfield Forest, where huntsmen once pursued deer and boar across upland and through deep forest. The hilly rump remains; old salters’ ways, farm byways and the Gritstone Trail slink between tops and vales, reservoirs, hamlets and moorland wastes. A few red deer still browse the steep deciduous woods, while spruce and fir stands provide a winter home to goshawks, goldcrests and crossbills – it’s a rewarding challenge to spot these beautiful birds. 23

A stunning Tudor masterpiece started in 1504, Little Moreton Hall took over 100 years to build – its topsy-turvy architecture still seems to defy gravity today BLACK AND WHITE WONDERS Cheshire oozes marvellous black-and-white St Oswald’s at Lower Peover, or Marton’s ‘magpie’ buildings. Little Moreton Hall is St James’ and St Paul’s Church is a chocolate-box England writ large, all miniature marvel and one of Europe’s oldest. wonky gables, galleries and bay windows Siddington’s little All Saint’s Church sits on overhanging a moat. A few miles distant is its hillock, where fresh corn-dollies still the exquisite Gawsworth Hall, with its entreat for a good harvest. jousting ground and Shakespearean • nationaltrust.org.uk/little-moreton-hall connections, while nearby, Adlington’s • gawsworthhall.com astonishing timber-rich hall played host to the • adlingtonhall.com composer George Frideric Handel. • peoverchurches.org.uk • martonchurch.co.uk Here, too, are ancient churches wrapped • siddingtonchurch.co.uk around wooden frames – the enchanting

“HALF TIMBERED BUILDINGS OCCUR AT ALL SCALES, FROM SIMPLE COTTAGES TO RENOWNED MANSIONS” Photos Getty, Alamy, National Trust Images A HUNTING LEGACY Dam lake, sheltered by huge beech trees CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Beautiful and the commanding village church. Tiny half-timbered buildings line Bridge Cheshire’s ‘magpie’ architecture is one of its Styal is one of England’s most remarkable Street in central Chester; drink in calling cards. Numerous half-timbered villages, a glorious mix of old farms and the charms of Lymm village on a black-and-white buildings occur at all scales thatched cottages side-by-side with an walk beside the Bridgewater Canal; and in all locations, from simple cottages to eye-catching planned industrial settlement Styal’s Quarry Bank cotton mill, renowned mansions, now indelibly part of built to house workers at Quarry Bank Mill, established in 1784, was powered the landscape. The prevalence of wood- huddled in the Bollin Gorge below. With its by water from the Bollin River framed buildings reflects the extended woodland walks, Ship Inn and community- survival of huge tracts of forest here thanks run café it’s a half-day well spent – longer if USEFUL WEBSITES to the hunting earls and their royal the mill (run by the National Trust) is open. patronage, more so than in most other • visitcheshire.com areas. As these royal hunting grants At the southern end of Cheshire is The portal for comprehensive lessened from the 14th century onwards, Audlem, a miniature town clustered around information about the county and its more timber became available for building its magnificent church, buttermarket attractions, with a section dedicated and Cheshire’s vernacular architectural building and strange bear stone, where to walking routes for all abilities. largesse was established. This defining bear-baiting once entertained. Today it’s a • cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk building style remained dominant until the destination for local produce and craft Features reserves large and small 18th century, when local brick production shopping as well as rambles from the bustling across the county. ballooned (see box opposite). canal wharf to the flight of 15 locks raising • rspb.org.uk/reserves-and- the Shropshire Union Canal nearly 100 feet. events/reserves-a-z/dee-estuary- Chester’s heart is a heady jigsaw of Roman burton-mere-wetlands walls, half-timbered exuberance and narrow In a land for all seasons, winter in Cheshire A guide to the main RSPB site on ginnels linking medieval churches and the is hard to beat. CF Cheshire’s Wirral coast. astonishing cathedral. Most of all, though, it’s the unique two-storey medieval Neil Coates is a travel writer and shopping arcades, The Rows, that stick in author of several walking guides including the mind. With its ancient inns and Cheshire Walks (Pathfinder Guides). upmarket shopping, this is the ideal refuge on a wild winter’s day. ASTONISHING ARCHITECTURE This is just the tip of Cheshire’s architectural winter iceberg; when cold wind and sleet blows, its towns and villages come into their own. Knutsford’s array of eccentric Victorian towers, villas and Italianate buildings is intriguing. Dappled with boutiques and antiques, cosy cafés (try Courtyard Co ee House, with its penny- farthing bicycle collection) and winding byways, the town borders Tatton Park’s huge, mere-dotted estate. In winter the red and fallow deer are particularly visible; look too for little owls hunting near the Old Hall. Lymm village, all steep lanes, inns and independent shops, has tranquil walks beside the Bridgewater Canal and up a hidden dingle to the picturesque Lymm www.countryfile.com 25

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NOW GO THERE COVID-19 Where to stay and what to do in Cheshire, by Neil Coates Please abide by Government advice on travel, and remain at home if recommended to do so. The information on these pages is meant to assist you once restrictions have been lifted. 9 5 13 14 10 12 2 3 7 68 11 4 STAY 4 1 Yew Tree Farm B&B, rural dining inn. Close to Macclesfield EAT Utkinton, Tarporley Forest and the Gritstone Trail in Map: Laura Hallett. Photos: Getty, Alamy, Geograph / Alan Murray glorious, secluded, hilly countryside. 4 Bhurtpore Inn, Aston, fulfilling, home-made, winter-busting Restful rooms in a comfy 250-year-old B&B rooms from £81. Nantwich meals, close to Lyme Park and the farmhouse on a working arable farm rylesarms.com Macclesfield Canal. facebook.com/ set between Delamere Forest and the Rural free-house with cask ales, theco eetavernpottshrigley Peckforton Hills, with great country 3 Mill Hotel, Chester local food and fire-warmed views to match. Rates from £40pppn. traditional atmosphere. Handy for 6 The Po ee, yewtreefarmbb.com Substantial, comfortably converted Wrenbury station and the Llangollen Burwardsley, Chester Georgian canal-side cornmill at the Canal. Named after a siege in 2 Ryles Arms, Sutton, heart of Chester, close to the city walls colonial India. bhurtpore.co.uk An enterprising café which is part Macclesfield and cathedral. It has a swimming pool of the village post o ce, shop and and health spa, plus canal-boat dining. 5 The Tin Hut Co ee store, in sublime countryside by Chic accommodation in a tastefully B&B rooms from £85. Tavern, Pott Shrigley, Cheshire’s sandstone spine. converted, recently refurbished barn millhotel.com Macclesfield Ultra-local fare is to the fore and it adjoins this excellent 400-year-old has a tucked-away garden. Reliable, quirky, corrugated-iron thepo ee.uk 23 former village reading room, with www.countryfile.com 27

DISCOVER 8 7 WALKS MUST SEE 13 Shutlingsloe 7 Rode Hall snowdrops 8 St Boniface Church, Bunbury ‘Cheshire’s Matterhorn’ (506m) soars above Macclesfield Forest. Well waymarked and Snowdrops emerge as a morale-boosting winter A breathtaking 14th-century village-centre maintained forest paths and tracks rise steadily marvel. Rode Hall, by Scholar Green near sandstone gem, with superb alabaster and from the car park at the side of Trentabank Congleton, has enchanting snowdrop walks in decorated tomb memorials, vestiges of medieval Reservoir to the moorland edge and the signed, February in sublime, Humphry Repton-designed paintings and colourful decorated screen. The paved path to Shutlingsloe. It’s a short, sti landscaped parkland. rodehall.co.uk/snowdrops village watermill is nearby. climb to the summit; four miles return. cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/nature- RAINY DAY PLACES 9 reserves/trentabank-reservoir 10 9 National Waterways Museum, 14 Old Pale Ellesmere Port Walk to Delamere Forest’s highest point for Discover how Britain’s waterways coped with great views. Start from the Forest Visitor Centre wintry weather in times past. Superb exhibitions of and head north-east below Go Ape, then west canal history and ephemera, boats of all sizes and beside Blakemere, advancing on a woodland interactive units at England’s largest inland canal path to join the Sandstone Trail heading south. port, on Trent and Mersey Canal. Adults £9.75, Diverge to the Old Pale summit, then follow child £6. canalrivertrust.org.uk/places-to- good paths north back to the visitor centre; four visit/national-waterways-museum miles. forestryengland.uk/delamere-forest/ walking-trails-delamere 10 Macclesfield Silk Museum 15 Chester’s Walls Unravel the intriguing history of silk working in Macclesfield – weaving, design and printing. The From Eastgate Bridge, walk north on the walls adjacent Paradise Mill has working heritage looms past Chester Cathedral. Leave right at Falconry and demonstrates manufacture from silk cocoon to Centre steps (Kaleyard) and join canal towpath, wearable fabric. Entry is by donation; mill £9.50. left, through a deep cutting, then past the macclesfieldmuseums.co.uk Northgate Locks to old wharves near Telford’s Warehouse. Regain walls at The Water Tower to 12 FARM SHOPS complete the anticlockwise circuit; two miles. Photos: Alamy 28 11 Alsager Hall Farm Shop, Alsager www.countryfile.com Cheshire and Sta ordshire produce features here, with farm-reared lamb, locally grown vegetables, great cheeses, local bakes, beers and delicatessen specialities. hallfarmshopalsager.co.uk 12 Rose Farm Shop, Utkinton, Tarporley Cheshire’s larder at your fingertips, including home-farm pork and beef, with local lamb alongside Cheshire varietal cheeses, home- cooked and cured meats, dairy products and drinks. rosefarmshop.co.uk



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The Highland Hogmanay In homes across Scotland – whether croft or castle – preparations are afoot for New Year’s Eve. Martha McGill investigates the roots of a celebration rich with ancient tradition W inter is dark in the ABOVE Tens of thousands join the street party In subsequent decades, kirks across Scottish Highlands and during Edinburgh’s Hogmanay festivities the country battled to stamp out islands. Shetland traditional celebrations. Church averages fewer than six their midwinter celebration, which records show the Kirk-Session of Elgin hours from sunrise to began with Christmas Day and repeatedly cautioned parishioners sunset in late December, and the concluded with the feast of the over Yule festivities – an exasperated more southerly Inverness gets only Epiphany on 6 January (Uphaliday, or declaration of 1618 expressly an extra 45 minutes. When the air is end-of-holiday). The period was known condemned “dancing, singing carols, barbed and the scenery is bleak, new by the Scandinavian term ‘Yule’. That play[ing] at the football […] women to year festivities o er a rousing all changed in 1560, after the Scottish be clad in men’s apparel or men in reminder that the light will return. parliament declared the country women’s apparel, casting of snowballs, Protestant. The new kirk’s First Book hurling with stools on the streets and Today Scots celebrate by drinking of Discipline attacked the observance […] all insolencies and superstitious in the streets, peering at fireworks of holy days as ‘superstitious’; rites”. Guilty parties would be fined through a haze of drizzle, sharing Christmas, the reformers declared, and imprisoned, or “punished in their midnight kisses and uniting in spirited was a Papist invention. bodies” if they were unable to pay. – if not always comprehensible – renditions of Auld Lang Syne. But over These prohibitions were reinforced the centuries, the Scots have welcomed by a 1640 act of Parliament that the new year in a wide variety of ways. outlawed the celebration of Yule. In most areas, Hogmanay has long Astonishingly, it wasn’t until 1958 that constituted the biggest community Christmas was reinstated as a public event on the calendar – often bigger by holiday in Scotland. far than Christmas. MIDWINTER MERRIMENT To understand how Hogmanay became so prominent we must go In the Lowlands, the suppression of back to the 16th century. Before the Yule refocused celebration on the new Reformation, Scots liked to linger over year, which didn’t have the same uncomfortable associations with HOGMANAY: THE STORY OF A WORD Catholicism. In more remote areas, including much of the Highlands, it was The term ‘Hogmanay’ was traditionally used to in 1948. The etymology of the term is unclear; di cult to enforce restrictions, and Photos Alamy, Getty indicate both New Year’s Eve and a New Year’s scholars have argued for French, Greek, Norse, midwinter festivities remained lengthy Eve gift. The earliest recorded Scottish usage Scandinavian, Goidelic or Flemish roots. Perhaps a airs. In 18th-century Shetland, comes from 1603, when the Kirk-Session of Elgin the most compelling possibility is it stems from celebrations lasted 24 days. Today, rebuked a man for “singing and hagmonayis” at the medieval French aguillaneuf, which had the Lerwick’s dramatic Up Helly Aa new year. There are many other forms, including same meaning, and could be rendered as spectacle, which involves a costumed hogmana, hug-me-nay, hangmonick and the hoguinané. The French may in turn derive from procession and the burning of a Viking wonderful huggeranohni, recorded in Shetland the Latin hoc in anno, meaning ‘in this year’. boat, does not take place until the last Tuesday in January. Highland and 32 www.countryfile.com

A crowd of revellers below Edinburgh’s Conongate clock celebrate the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve in an engraving from 1876. Today, the city’s Hogmanay celebrations last for three days and culminate in a spectacular fireworks display. This year’s events will be di erent, however, due to Covid-19 restrictions

To honour the Nordic roots of midwinter festivities, hundreds of ‘vikings’ in full armour lead the torchlit procession through the streets at the beginning of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay BLACK BUN island parishes were also more likely to resist the Gregorian calendar shift of Midwinter celebrations call for hearty fare. 1752, which put New Year’s Day back 11 In the early 16th century, the Scottish court days. This meant several communities celebrated Twelfth Night (the eve of celebrated New Year’s Eve on 11 Epiphany) by eating cake. Traditionally, a January. But over time, methods of bean was hidden in the cake, and whoever welcoming the new year have become found it was appointed the ruler of the more uniform across Scotland. festivities. After the Reformation, kirk sessions scolded bakers for supplying ‘Yule FOOD, DRINK AND FIRST FOOTING ABOVE A first-footer bearing drink arrives bread’, but failed to stamp out festive just after midnight in this 1882 illustration cookery altogether. Eighteenth-century So how did Highlanders celebrate in recipes described how to make a ‘plum times past? Music, singing, dancing with neighbours. Traditional Scottish cake’ wrapped in dough, and by the 19th and bell-ringing were customary Hogmanays were not necessarily century this concoction was termed modes of celebration. So, too, was bacchanalian: it was usual to spend ‘Scotch Christmas bun’. As the century eating and drinking. Oatcakes or much of the night making orderly visits progressed the cake became sweeter, the bannocks (flat breads cooked from to each neighbour in turn, delivering dough morphed into pastry crust, and grain) were traditional fare. Other good wishes. the dish became a Hogmanay staple. popular options included bread, cheese, cake and local staples. By 1800, first-footing was popular in 34 the Scottish Lowlands (as well as in Recalling Hogmanay in her childhood Wales and much of England), and it home in the late 1950s and 1960s, the became established in the Highlands Orcadian writer Morag MacInnes later that century. The first-footer was mentions substantial meals of salted herring and tatties. Whisky was the first choice of drink. Nineteenth- century accounts told of how Scots made the ‘het pint’ – a concoction of whisky, ale, sugar and nutmeg – and took it out into the streets to share www.countryfile.com

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT On January 11, the clavie blazes atop Doorie Hill in Burghead, Moray; a traditional 31 December ceilidh will start a few hours before midnight; whisky, shortbread and black bun for the night ahead Photos: Getty, Alamy, Bridgeman the first visitor to cross the threshold reprimanded a group of young men for shake o adversity and ensure good after midnight. He might carry a lump making “a burning clavie, paying it fortune in the year to come. In January of coal or food and drink to represent superstitious worship, and blessing the 1918 during the First World War, the warmth and sustenance in the new boats after the old heathen custom”. A Aberdeen Press and Journal reported year. London literary magazine The clavie is a pot of fire, made by cutting a the Gordon Highlanders had Athenaeum explained in 1830 that barrel in half, filling it with kindling and celebrated Hogmanay in “caves the proper Scottish first-footer was coating it in tar. This practice survives, quarried deep below the trenches”, a prosperous bachelor who brought transplanted to the town of Burghead, some 400 yards from enemy lines. The shortbread, cheese and a kettle Moray. On 11 January (Hogmanay men shared food and rum punch, sung “singing full of het-pint”. His presence before the calendar change), the clavie songs and remembered lost friends. betokened good luck, but if he dropped is set alight and carried through the any shortbread, a friend would be lost town, then mounted on a hill and left to This principle of forgetting hardship in the new year. Dropping cheese meant burn. Locals collect the embers, which in a spirit of conviviality also appears in the loss of a relation. And if he were so are said to bring good fortune. an 1827 song by James Hogg, which feels careless as to spill the het-pint, none of just as poignant now as we move from the young ladies of the house would From the late 18th century, various the horrors of 2020 into hope in 2021: “enter into the blessed bands of authors recorded another curious ritual matrimony” that year. practised in the Highlands and Western The year is wearin’ to the wane Isles. A man would don a cowhide and An’ day is fading west awa’, Also customary was guising. This run three times around a house making Loud raves the torrent an’ the rain, could entail simply blackening the face bellowing noises. Others from the And dark the cloud comes down with soot or burned cork, but it might community would chase him and beat the shaw; mean donning a full costume. In late him with sticks. The 19th-century writer But let the tempest tout an’ blaw 19th- and early 20th-century Shetland, Robert Chambers explained that at Upon his loudest winter horn, guisers commonly wore outfits the end of the ceremony, a piece of Good night, an’ joy be wi’ you a’, fashioned from straw. Guisers visited sheepskin was burned and held to We’ll maybe meet again the morn! CF di erent houses in turn, and participants’ noses, for protection sometimes sang, played music or against witchcraft or infections. Dr Martha McGill researches the performed plays. It was also common history of supernatural beliefs at Warwick for people – often children – to go The primary purpose of Hogmanay University. She is the author of Ghosts in between houses to beg for food or festivities is to bring people together, Enlightenment Scotland (Boydell, 2018). money. In the northern Hebrides, young men from poorer crofts called on their wealthier neighbours and recited supplicatory rhymes. Another significant custom is redding (or cleaning) the house. In years past, the women of a household would sweep the floors, polish the furniture, dust the crevices, wash and change the linens, and darn neglected stockings. Highlanders also practised saining, or the blessing of the house. In a work published in 1823, William Grant Stewart wrote that Highlanders burned juniper at new year to cleanse their homes and guard against disease. RITUALS OF FIRE Symbolising warmth, vitality and protection from malevolent spirits, fire featured in many Scottish festivities, including Hogmanay. In January 1689, the kirk session of Du us in Moray www.countryfile.com 35

Smart, swift and stealthy, foxes are one of nature’s great survivors. Find out how they keep their flame burning to feed, breed and communicate during the big chill, with Adele Brand 36 www.countryfile.com

WINTERAFSOHX The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) does not hibernate Photos: Gary Jones in winter and instead continues to hunt and www.countryfile.com forage for food. Its auburn-haired coat thickens to a rich pelt, keeping it warm and allowing it to weather the cold months well 37

They are vivid when the woods seem Foxes are beside us, always, weaving unique sleepy, and theatrical when most perspectives on landscapes that we think we wildlife conserves its strength. It is know. They are the product of a much older the contrast that jolts when a fox world – of wildwood coursed by wolves and emerges on a pounded by bison – “Something from thewinter’s morning, but have thrived during thousands flame-coloured fur untamed times flowsagainst monochrome of years of human influence on the hills, underscored by the unspoken bright under that British landscape, and puzzle of a wild we continue to shape animal in a working, cosy orange fur” their lives. humanised Whatever we do landscape. And this nudges them, from the Photo: Gary Jones one was awake before me: it has left its contents of our flowerbeds to our choices about footprints behind like a diary, pointing litter. But there is still something from the through barbed wire across a paddock untamed times that flows bright under that and towards a human home. cosy orange fur, a guide that reminds us that 38

WINTER FOX the viewpoint of our wild neighbours can be cherries grow. They have their hotels too: the ABOVE The size of a fox’s very di erent to our own. banks that slope enough for easy digging, the territory varies according hollows where root balls have been pulled up by to its environment and This one left a drop of blood on the snow – a collapsed tree, and of course the patio food supply, ranging from from prey it was carrying, or some mishap with decking and garden sheds that give a roof to up to 4,000 hectares in the hawthorn, perhaps. But in this lane where many newborn cubs. hill country to as little as cars stand cold behind grand houses and sheep 20 hectares in urban areas clamber about their hay, a wild fox has lain its WEATHERING THE WORLD own line of purpose. Its tracks are business-like, direct, most unlike the rambling chaos of They adapt to settings and they adapt to footprints that an exploring dog leaves in its weather, defying the burning dawns of India as wake. Whenever I follow or watch wild foxes much as the brittle chill of the Canadian north. I am struck by a singular impression that they I have seen them active in both, while my local know precisely where they are going and why. foxes huddle under the garden conifer in autumnal drizzle. Perhaps, like Britain’s people, We draw buildings, roads and hedgerows foxes find our relatively balmy climate on our maps. They know the land as a patchy unreasonably trying. Regardless, snow forms restaurant, some quarters o ering rabbit a stately backdrop for a thousand calendar warrens or high grass that harbours field voles, images of foxes, at least when it isn’t turning and corners where blackberries and wild 39

them absurd. I once found four foxes in a small TOP Foxes form strong data suggesting that ‘helpers’ make little field ripping about the white blanket with all pair bonds that can last di erence to cub survival. And the group had its the madness of puppies. They stalked, they until the death of one vagrant, a large male who acquired the nickname pounced, they flaunted the open-mouthed partner, and most live in ‘Spectacles’ due to dark fur around his eyes. He play face that all mammals – even humans – are pairs or family groups rolled by every few months like an erratic wont to show in moments of levity. The fox’s ABOVE They readily visit fairground, sparking extraordinary angst in one playful side is irrepressible as it bounces on gardens and venture close small vixen, but tolerated by the rest. I often trampolines and steals wellies, but the other to human habitations wished to put a GPS collar on him; some foxes side of winter forces gravitas. That is etched all year round do take prodigious journeys, especially when on the scarred muzzles of old males and echoes dispersing from their parents. One American in clipped triple-barks under leafless trees individual managed more than 400km around new year. (248 miles), although most do not travel far, especially in high-density populations. To understand a fox’s winter, it is necessary to sketch their social life, which by turns is fraught, This, then, is the loose brickwork of fox playful, hostile and contradictory. They do not society, subject to disorderly rearrangement hunt in packs like wolves; there is nothing to be with every death, dispersal and birth. Many gained through three foxes bringing down a foxes live in family groups dominated by a mouse. What binds them is land. breeding pair, but there are a significant number that exist as ‘transients’, travelling The family that I called the Horse Meadows fast and alone over a much wider landscape. Group once knew this landscape, thriving where farmland meets gardens and sheep and cats WINTER BREEDING live as neighbours. The family had its dogfox, well-known to local people with his rusty-red fur And then, winter arrives with fieldfares cleaning and one missing eye. It had its vixens, some out the berry bushes and roe deer sporting subordinate; they guarded and washed the seasonal grey, and tensions in fox politics turn youngest generation, oblivious to the scientific critical. Vixens are only fertile for three days a year, typically between Christmas and mid- January. Although they are often described as monogamous, genetic research has shown a more complicated picture, and seasonal trespassing by very large males does lead to successful extra-pair matings. Lower-ranking vixens may conceive, but often will not carry the cubs to term due to stress hormones, and any survivors can be at risk from the highest- ranking vixen. In the heated debate over fox control, it is often overlooked that one of the biggest brakes on the system is the intense competitiveness of other foxes. Vixens do not care about the abundance of their species; they only wish to promote their own genetic material. Photos: Alamy, Getty FOX TALK hind legs, pushing at each other in the ‘foxtrot’ ritual fight. Foxes have a rich range Screams that split open evenings with of other chatter, from the terse triple barks all the energy of a cat’s claws down a that echo through the woods in the blackboard: that can only be a fox, raging breeding season, to close range ‘clicketing’, at its own kind with ear-shattering but which has been compared to stones being bloodless zeal. The fox’s loudest cry is so knocked together. More subtle fox talk, improbable, such a poor fit for its delicate such as scent marking and body language, frame, that it is regularly mistaken for a also guides their lives. Look out for curled human victim of crime. Sometimes the tails in submissive foxes and arched backs protagonists lie facing each other like in dominant ones. sphinxes, open-jawed and evocative with the ears; sometimes they are on their 40 www.countryfile.com

A vixen with her cub. Only fertile for three days a year, vixens gestate for around 52 days and bear litters of four or five cubs in March or April. Born deaf and blind, cubs rely on their mother’s milk for the first four weeks before venturing into the open to sample solid food

TOP Natural hunters, foxes have keen senses, including excellent hearing. They can turn their large ears, allowing them to locate prey, and hunt by stalking, listening for the movement of prey under the snow before pouncing and digging

RIGHT A fox carries its prey, a pheasant hen, in its jaws. Opportunistic omnivores, foxes eat what they can find – birds, berries, eggs, mice, rabbits, frogs, worms, grains Science takes a wider view. Defra’s habitat herbivores killed by cars, or meat presented NATURAL BORN model suggests 430,000 foxes nationally, and to them as a garden treat. KILLERS? recent research indicates that, while their spread into urban areas continues, the rural We talk of wolves only in the past tense, but For some, the most picture is mixed. Mange, competition with foxes coexisted with them long before they memorable fox encounter is badgers and intensity of gamekeeping are all acquired us as neighbours. And even earlier, unspeakably distressing: a factors, but modern land management a cousin species leapt on lemmings and left its chicken coop turned into a deserves a closer look. Notwithstanding the own furred footprints in the snow. The fossil bloodbath. Anger is followed many farmers who work hard to conserve record tells us that during Eurasia’s coldest by moral questions about wildlife, there are vast areas of Britain where times, Arctic foxes thrived while red kin moved greed and waste, but that hedgerows are annually flailed, hay-meadows southwards. A warming climate signals the achieves nothing: holding converted to silage and arable margins pushed reverse; now we know British Arctic foxes only a wild animal to human back for extra crops – all actions that reduce through the odd jawbone uncovered in ethical standards is food for foxes. Pleistocene treasure troves such as Creswell profoundly flawed. The Crags in Derbyshire. As the ice released us, red instinct itself is common in The recreational revolution adds new foxes returned over Doggerland, a bridge since carnivores from lions pressure: pony paddocks and golf courses can lost under the North Sea. downwards: they do not do severe damage if managed badly. Of course, have supermarkets and foxes are far more robust than yellowhammers Much has changed for foxes over the past can’t be sure of tomorrow’s or dormice, but good vole numbers appear to 8,000 years, and today they share Britain with meal. Their prey drive reduce predation on our beleaguered lapwings tens of millions of people. Many of us watch compels them to snatch at and redshanks, so there are many benefits them; sometimes they sit on the roadside and every hunting opportunity, when small mammal habitats survive. watch us. There is much about their world that which can be catastrophic seems mysterious, but we enrich our own lives when prey is artificially WIDE RANGING TASTE by pausing to wonder about theirs. CF confined. Foxes will usually store food that they cannot Foxes eke a living wherever there is food and Adele Brand is a Surrey-based ecologist. “The foxes eat immediately, and shelter, from south-coast beaches to the gave me my book The Hidden World of the Fox – they electric fences and sturdy Highlands, catholic in their food selection and filled its pages with vole hunts and territorial coops keep both hens and complex in their interactions with other squabbles, stories of wild things surviving the human wildlife safe. species. They hunt rabbits – at least where world and the people alongside them,” she says. haemorrhagic disease hasn’t eradicated this textbook prey. They hunt earthworms with enthusiastic zeal and, perhaps more startlingly, can also be e ective predators of dawn fawns. One Swedish study found that 81% of roe fawns were taken, a fact that British forestry managers worried about deer browsing pressure may wish to ponder. Adult deer are far beyond a fox’s capacity, but where their range still overlaps with that of the wolf, foxes readily consume deer and wild boar carrion. In Britain, they instead exploit THE BOXING DAY HUNT Photos: Getty, Alamy, Roeselien Raimond Boxing Day is also St Stephen’s Day, which foxhounds or bloodhounds follow a pre-laid seems to have become mixed with folklore scent, or a human runner. Controversial about another St Stephen who was a patron trail hunts – where the route is not revealed saint of horses. The ancient practice of in advance – also continue, accounting for feeding horses generously on 26 December conflicts between participants who argue possibly contributed to this becoming the that they are legally keeping culture alive busiest day on the hunting calendar. and those who claim that foxes are being Sixteen years after the Hunting with Dogs deliberately or recklessly killed. Many Act outlawed foxhunting, its traditions are meets have been cancelled for 2021 due to kept alive by bloodless draghunts where the ongoing uncertainty about coronavirus. www.countryfile.com 43

BEHIND THE HEADLINES RURAL TOURISM AND COVID Rural tourism in Britain was hit hard by Covid-19 last year, but will the ingenuity and enterprise of business owners prompt a recovery in 2021, whether or not an e ective coronavirus vaccine comes to the rescue? Mark Rowe reports WHAT HAS THE visits to the county in 80% IMPACT OF 2020 (49% down on COVID 19 BEEN? 2019), 32 million fewer of UK tourism is in rural areas visitor days (-51%) and a Revenues from rural £1.76bn loss of revenue 3.1m tourism were expected (-56%). In the Yorkshire to fall by £17.6bn in 2020 Dales and North people are employed in as a result of Covid-19 Yorkshire Moors the UK tourism industry control measures – National Parks, the almost a third more than financial losses are the estimated impact on thought to be around tourism of Foot and Mouth 25–30%, though Susan Disease in 2001. VisitBritain Briggs, director of consultancy forecast a 49% decline in The Tourism Network, says this is far domestic tourism spending last year, higher for some B&Bs and rural hotels. “Many equalling a £44.9bn loss to the economy closed or reduced their capacity voluntarily and (and this was before the November restrictions). saw income drop by 80%.” While many guests have rolled over cancelled bookings and More than half of the annual value of the deposits to 2021, “that money has already been tourism sector to Cumbria’s economy has been spent keeping things open this year,” says Briggs. wiped o . Even before the November lockdown was announced, there had been 23 million fewer GOVERNMENT SUPPORT £73bn Rural and coastal businesses didn’t receive any specific financial aid. If they domestic tourism employed sta , they could obtain support for furlough, while B&Bs and holiday spending in UK cottages who pay business rates got grants of up to £10,000. The self-employed rural areas got some financial support through the measures that applied to all businesses. (2019 estimate) RURAL MUSEUMS EUM INNOVATION 49% MUSEUM Most rural museums were Most rural tourism businesses have decline in UK domestic closed for at least four an in-built advantage in implementing tourism in 2020 months, though Arts social distancing, thanks to lower Council England and other population density, less reliance on Sources: VisitBritain, CLA and National grants have helped many to public transport and more space Coastal Tourism Academy stay open, for now at least, with sta around shops, businesses and accommodation furloughed. Those that reopened first properties. Susan Briggs points to farmers who www.countryfile.com tended to be those where Covid-secure have opened small campsites to handle overflows environments were easier to construct: from adjacent sites. “These are people who are modern buildings with wider floor areas eager to please – they drop milk round to the and better ventilation. Museums in listed tents and those little touches are things people buildings, such as Blackwell, the Arts & remember and which will change people’s Crafts house at Bowness-in-Windermere, impressions of the countryside.” Elsewhere, farm took longer to adapt. attractions have o ered drive-in-cinemas. 44

“Many (hotels and B&Bs) closed or NEWS reduced their capacity voluntarily and WHAT DOES saw income drop by 80%” 2021 HOLD? Susan Briggs, director of consultancy The Tourism Network Rhoda Meek, director of Isle20: “There’s a great opportunity in 2021 NEW ORDERS AT THE PUB for island creatives and producers and businesses to really innovate The UK has 116 community-owned pubs; according to the Plunkett Foundation, and capitalise on their creativity. during the first lockdown, two-thirds of community pubs carried on trading, We need to Covid-proof businesses, o ering services such as shops, home deliveries, takeaways and wellbeing so tourism is not the main income.” support lines. Plunkett’s More Than a Pub programme has been relaunched, o ering business development advice and up to £100,000 in loans and Susan Briggs, director of The grants to communities seeking to take control of their pub. For example, Tourism Network: “The only way residents in the village of Stonesfield, Oxfordshire, have been encouraged forward is to believe in better times. to buy a share in their local pub The White Horse to secure its future. Rural tourism will really take o in 2021 – there’s been a change in THE NIMBLE BUSINESSES STORIES OF SURVIVAL mindset. People now understand the power of nature to heal.” SCOTTISH ISLANDS GO ONLINE WINDERMERE JETTY MUSEUM Caroline Robinson, business Rhoda Meek, owner of Tiree Tea, heard Cumbria’s Windermere Jetty Museum, development manager, Lakeland the news of the first lockdown while which documents local boating history, Arts: “There are a lot of creative assembling tea bags in her spare room. “I was closed for four months with sta people in arts organisations... That had no customers and realised I had to do furloughed. Upon reopening, it has been means you can be nimble and adapt better online,” she recalls. Her response adapted and expanded along the shores of to a fast-changing environment. was to start a community venture, Isle20, Lake Windermere so that visitors can take Covid has given us a chance to that has brought together small businesses food from the café out to makeshift accelerate a lot of the technology from the Scottish isles on a shopping campfires. Exhibited boats were relocated changes we were looking to do.” website, isle20.com. Meek now has 110 to a wildflower meadow and there are also vendors and a directory of 480 businesses. plans to interpret the area’s oral history. Dan James, sustainable economy manager, Visit Exmoor: “My fear is Photos: Getty, Alamy THE WENSLEYDALE THE TAN HILL INN THE COURTYARD DAIRY for the survival of small business EXPERIENCE amid restrictions and ongoing In the Yorkshire Dales This cheese shop and café uncertainty. There are glimmers of O ering luxurious yurt stays, National Park, the Tan Hill in Settle, North Yorkshire, hope: there is a growing demand for this farm also gave guests Inn invested in geodesic imported a pair of cable-car authentic rural experiences that opportunities to get bubbles to enable guests to gondolas so that diners connect with nature in all seasons.” hands-on during farm tours. eat outside in cold weather. could safely social distance. Samantha Richardson, academy www.countryfile.com director, National Coastal Tourism Academy: “Covid-19 presents a significant opportunity to truly address seasonality – 32% of all visits to coastal areas take place in July and August.” Patricia Yates, director of VisitBritain: “There is a big job to do to get domestic holidays humming again and boost consumer confidence. Tourism has been one of the first and hardest hit sectors from the Covid-19 pandemic. Tourism is also going to need all of us to make sure it bounces back to once again be one of the most successful sectors of the UK economy.” Have your say? What do you think about the issues raised here? Write to the address on page three or email editor@countryfile.com 45

New planting of woodland in England in 2019–2020 was up 54% compared to the previous year, with 2,330 hectares planted, according to the Forestry Commission. But that’s still below the rate needed to meet the Government’s commitment to plant 30,000 hectares of trees across the UK by 2025 Photo: Getty

It’s time to… PLANT BRITAIN Britain has a low percentage of tree cover compared to many other European countries, yet woods and forests are vital for biodiversity and our fight against climate change. So Countryfile is launching an ambitious campaign to plant more trees across Britain – and everyone can get involved, says John Craven

From ancient times, the tree has been “We want to challenge everyone a powerful emblem of strength, to do their bit, no matter how growth and rebirth to people of many large or small a space they have” faiths and philosophies, symbolised by the concept of The Tree of Life. TOP Even small copses Also joining this arboreal surge are The But in more recent times we have come to of trees can sequester Woodland Trust, pledging to plant 50 million realise the vital role trees play in protecting significant amounts of trees over the next five years, more than double our planet: they are trees of life in a very carbon dioxide as they its usual target, while the National Trust is real sense. grow ABOVE Matt Baker aiming for 20 million over 10 years. The By absorbing carbon dioxide and letting out plants the first sapling Government has set itself the challenge of oxygen, they help purify the atmosphere and at Countryfile Wood, creating 30,000 hectares of new woodland in stand in the very forefront of the battle against Quarry Bank, Cheshire England by 2025, but critics are already climate change. Yet all around the world trees querying whether that target will be met. Photos: Getty are being hacked down at a disastrous rate. Here in the UK we are woefully short of them; Countryfile’s ambitious project is now well only 13% of our land surface is covered by underway with 200,000 trees already planted, trees compared to an average of 38% in special areas being created at 12 Woodland mainland Europe. Trust sites across the nation and its own But action is being taken. Countryfile has Countryfile Wood beginning life alongside an just launched a two-year mission called Plant Britain, with the initial goal of planting 750,000 trees – one for every child in the UK who started primary school this year. When I was at primary school in the 1940s all we knew about trees was that they produced wood. Today’s youngest students are much better informed and hopefully Plant Britain will enforce the message that trees are important in their lives. 48 www.countryfile.com

the Countryfile series editor. “From gardens to shared community spaces, balconies and window boxes, we’re encouraging the UK to go planting to combat climate change, for their own wellbeing and for the sake of our wildlife.” ancient woodland at Quarry Bank, sitting on CLOCKWISE FROM SMALL STEPS BRING BIG BENEFITS the border between Greater Manchester and Cheshire. Matt Baker was there to plant the ABOVE Children love In the middle of a housing estate in Witney, first sapling, which became the first entry on coming back to a tree Oxfordshire is a new ‘tiny forest’ about the size Plant Britain’s interactive map. Many they’ve planted to see how of a tennis court. One of the many projects thousands more will follow as viewers across it has grown; for the Plant highlighted by Plant Britain, it’s being created the UK log in to show where and what trees Britain launch, Margherita by the charity Earthwatch, which hopes to start they have planted. Taylor interviews an hundreds more across the country. Standing expert to discover exactly amid 600 saplings of native species, from oak to As an extra incentive, if you leave your how trees capture carbon; birch and blackthorn, Earthwatch programme contact details on the Countryfile website staked saplings in a manager Louise Hartley says: “Tiny forests like – bbc.co.uk/countryfile – you might be newly planted wood this will improve air quality, act as a bu er randomly selected to go planting with a against tra c noise, help prevent flooding, be Countryfile presenter on one of the 12 sites. The havens for wildlife and provide space for local closing date for entries is 1 February at 10am. people to connect with nature, and we will be “We want to challenge everyone to do their bit, carefully monitoring all these benefits.” no matter where they live or how large or small a space they have to plant in,” says Jane Lomas, But can you still be part of Plant Britain if the only space you have is a window box? “Of course you can,” says Isabelle Palmer, city garden designer and author of The Balcony Gardener. “There’s a whole selection of dwarf trees out there to make your own mini urban forest in a pot or recycled container. You can grow trees from seed or buy them from garden centres at very reasonable prices,” says Isabelle. www.countryfile.com 49

“The Woodland Trust believes Who is paying for the trees in Plant Britain? we need to boost the UK’s tree Many people taking part will be providing their cover from 13% to 19% by 2050” own, as will the various partners in the scheme, including the council in Bradford which is “Conifers, such as spruce and yew, emit a high TOP Joe Porter (left) of ‘greening-up’ Anita Rani’s home city with amount of oxygen, are evergreen so you’ll have Westonbirt Arboretum 55,000 more trees. Anita reported from your forest all year round, and grow very slowly shows presenter Ellie Bradford in the launch programme, which within the confines of your pot. You don’t need Harrison how trees are also featured Ellie Harrison being bravely a garden to create something special.” a vital life support for transported to the treetops at Westonbirt, wildlife ABOVE For the The National Arboretum in Gloucestershire. HRH The Prince of Wales is passionate about Plant Britain launch, Anita woodland. “Ever since I can remember I have Rani (left) plants trees Over the next two years, Countryfile will be had a passion for planting trees and restoring with residents of Bradford’s checking regularly on the progress of Plant lost habitats such as wildflower meadows. I Canterbury Estate Britain. This is a big, ambitious project, always look for every opportunity to plant a tree coinciding with the BBC’s 100th anniversary. Photos: BBC in the right place, let alone to replace trees that The Woodland Trust believes we need to boost die or have blown down with two others, if the nation’s tree cover from 13% to 19% by possible. Planting a tree means leaving a lasting 2050, so here’s your chance to grab a spade legacy – one that my children and your children and make a di erence! CF and grandchildren will be able to enjoy long after I am gone.” WHAT YOU CAN DO Plant a tree – in your garden or local Woodland Trust site – then log the details of where you planted it online. Do this before 10am on 1 February 2021 and you’ll be entered into the draw for a chance to plant a tree with a Countryfile presenter. To log your details and for more information, go to bbc.co.uk/countryfile Watch John Craven on Countryfile, Sunday evenings on BBC One. 50 www.countryfile.com