Bulletin 123 – July 2016

Brexit  Can it be true?  The case I have championed for more than twenty years has finally triumphed.  In the lead-up to the vote, it was the topic of very conversation, and nearly everyone I spoke to was for ‘out’, but still I couldn’t believe that the country as a...

Bulletin 122 – June 2016

Strictly for Birds Not being a man who takes much notice of such things, I cannot say if house martins have always nested in our buildings at Staunton.  Certainly we were always aware of them in the stable courtyard, now the Ferrers Centre, and in the Hall since we...

Bulletin 121- May 2016

Belief in the European Union is a perfectly valid position. It is valid for a German with memories of the last war, or a Bosnian with experience of more recent wars and massacres. It is valid for the people of Eastern Europe, offering them stability and the chance of...

Bulletin 120 – April 2016

This Farming Life The Home Farm at Staunton Harold is long gone, the buildings converted to houses and sold off.  Thanks mainly to the enthusiasm and commitment of son-in-law Andrew a farming business has again been established over the last ten years.  As I write...

Bulletin 119 – March 2016

The Landscaping of our Valley Two men were mainly responsible for Staunton Harold as it looks today.  The first Earl Ferrers began converting his Jacobean house into a Palladian mansion, and laid out the gardens around it in the geometric pattern of terraces and...

Bulletin 118 – February 2016

The weekend before last John and drove down to Bournemouth  on a special mission.  The mission: to meet Win Kail (nee Bugg), an amazing old lady who celebrated her 100th birthday last December. In 1932 Win arrived at Staunton Harold Hall by laundry van (the family...