Bulletin 117 – February 2016

Restoring Time We are shortly going to replace the stable clock over what is now the Ferrers Centre for Arts and Crafts.  The original clock was installed in 1779 in the newly built stables of the fifth Earl Ferrers. The maker was John Whitehurst of Derby, a famous...

Bulletin 116 – January 2016

Life Cycles Back in 1955, when my father bought the three farms at the heart of the Staunton Harold Estate, he also acquired two of the drives leading into it.  Five years later, when I was first married and living at the thatched cottage on the Coach Road, I planted...

Bulletin 115 – December 2015

The Law of Unintended Consequences I hope readers of this bulletin will forgive me if, for once, I forsake the affairs of Staunton and climb onto the world stage.  As I write, parliament will shortly be debating whether to send the RAF to join the half dozen countries...

Bulletin 114 – November 2015

Theft and Vandalism  How far should we go in securing our property?  Time was when every farmyard had a yapping dog on  chain and the back door was unlocked all day.  Our busy farmyard at Castle Farm had no dog, but the kitchen door welcomed all comers.  When we moved...

Bulletin 113 – November 2015

It’s happened again – we go to visit some stately home or garden – it costs me a few pounds to get in and hundreds to get out.  This time it was the ‘Lost Gardens of Heligan’ down in Cornwall which we’ve been visiting since they were first rediscovered. ...

Bulletin 112 – October 2015

Beating the Bounds, and the ‘Bounders’   Bureaucracy is the bane of our age.  Ringing a public utility company calls for stamina and determination, a long trawl though departments and reference numbers.  Council offices and government departures likewise.  So when...