I think it’s fair to say that the brilliant British fashion designer Jasper Conran is one of the reasons why I became a fashion editor. In the mid eighties he was the sine qua non – British Designer of the Year in 1986 — and I had images of his clothes pinned on my bedroom walls– Bodymap and John Flett may have made extraordinary & directional pieces that I admired, but I didn’t want to wear their clothes, I wanted Conran’s elegant aesthetic which spoke to the fashion history books in which I buried myself in the library.
I shall draw an aesthetic veil over his work as part of the High Street’s Designers at Debenhams group which, it’s fair to say, speaks to me not all. However the vast sums of money Conran has earned from his clever endeavours there have allowed him to indulge his passion for all things bucolic, instilled in him from an early age when he went off to prep school in Dorset.
With the publication of his first book, Country, that passion is now documented in a book of photography charting the people and places of Britain outside its metropolitan areas. Astonishing in its breadth, the very large & weighty book is the product of an intense collaboration between Conran & photographer Andrew Montgomery who between them organized a staggering eighty shoots in just under a year to capture the book’s ravishing colour saturated images.
Speaking to Conran last week, he told me that, “the central tenet of the book is answering the question what do people do and what do their lives look like (albeit through my eyes). How do you pass the time during the country? How do you convey what goes on in the country other than through green field and trees? “
Comparing the process of putting the book together to that of editing a collection, Conran told me that he, “had more ideas than I could fit in” , although given the breadth of the subjects, it’s hard to think what he feels he missed. And then he tells me: “I wanted nuns frolicking, but we didn’t find any.”
The publishers of Country have very kindly offered a copy of Country worth £50 to one lucky LLG reader. Simply leave a comment below to tell us what or where is your favourite thing or place in the British countryside.
(IGiveaway open to readers in the UK & in the US.)
Usually £50/$60, it’s available on special offer for £35 on Amazon in the UK here
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My favorite thing in the UK countryside are public footpaths! What a great idea to let people walk freely across open farm and park lands and assume that they will treat them well.
A favorite countryside site I haven’t been to, but would love to visit some day is Northumberland. I love that it not only houses Hadrian’s wall (rolling hills and an ancient military wall, nice!) but also Langley Castle. Oh to spend a night as a pretend princess in a castle — how fun!
The beaches in North Norfolk remain my favourite part of the UK. Not so much in summer, when you feel entitled to some Platonic, ideal beach, but in the Autumn and Winter when there is barely anyone around. The beach at Holkham in the winter is truly one of the more peaceful places I’ve ever been.
So hard to choose, but maybe Ullswater. In all weathers it is beautiful and calming.
Walking through a bluebell forest in the Spring is my idea of total heaven, so I would have to say the idyllic Bluebell Woods of Yoxall Lodge in Staffordshire are my favourite place in the UK.
Perhaps paradoxically, travel abroad seems to have given me a greater appreciation of the unique nature of our own landscape and nowadays I tend to find the disorderly abundance of a country lane in early summer as inspiring as any view in more exotic locations. The various regional and historical influences in rural architecture and gardens also add greatly to the interest, I think, of the British countryside.
Chatsworth epitomises this; the formal european influenced symmetry of its architecture and the gardens immediately surrounding the house, contrasting beautifully with the perfection of the rolling countryside — all helped by the genius touch of ‘Capability’ Brown.
I find it fascinating that the legacy of Brown (as well as Kent, Repton etc), and the landscape movement in general, can be felt not only in the many parks across the UK, but in Central Park — generally understood to have been based on Birkenhead Park — and also on the continent in the form of the naturalistic Jardin Anglais’s.
I’m aware therefore, and feel grateful, that such landscapes as that around Chatsworth– which, I understand, reflect a profoundly different philosophical appreciation of the relationship between man and the natural world that developed in the 18th century — have had a significant influence in enabling those of us who live in towns and cities some regular access to nature.
i love walking the South Coast path.
and styles for crossing fences.
i love the way lavender in bloom glows in the English light…whether inland or by the sea.
i love how elderflower cordial in fizzy water tastes like drinking the fresh spring air.
Living in Greece and not appreciating the piercing hot weather from June onwards, it’s a treat to go home to East Sussex where whatever the weather
the countryside is bliss. Drive from Eastbourne (dear old Eastbourne, always polished and on parade) to Brighton through dappled lanes and over
the Downs, just magical, like being transported to another time and reminds me all of what is wonderful about the English countryside.
Kibberick Cove in Cornwall is a favorite spot…so secluded and only accessible by foot down a steep field, Every time I have been I have never seen anyone else there. It’s so wild, I love it!
My favourite thing in the countryside is a huge house near Doncaster called ‘Brodsworth Hall’. I used to ride past it all the time when I was a young girl and would try to peer up the driveway and through the trees. It belonged to Lady Grant Dalton, about whom I would fantasise befriending and having tea in delicate China cups with on her front lawn. My Aunty lived in a house on the estate and she was her official hairdresser. I heard stories about the inside of the house but I had to use my (vivid) imagination until many years later, after her death, when the house opened to the public. It was a complete joy to finally get to enter the magical place! It didn’t disappoint. It remains one of my absolute favourite places!
Mine is Cowrie Cove, another spot in Cornwall. Childhood memories are inextricably linked with this lovely little spot with hours spent combing for Cowrie shells, and perfect rocks for jumping into the sea. Its hidden location keeps it quiet and private. A truly magical place.
Without a doubt, Dartmoor. There’s just something about its harsh barrenness that amplifies its raw beauty. I love being able to see for miles, walk in the footsteps of giants, be soaked to the bone but totally at peace all at once; it was also my first experience of the English countryside.
“You are soaked in cold rain/Like a pelt in tanning liquour.” When I first read these lines in English class as a young teenager, I felt I instantly recognised the feeling – it was very much like waiting for a bus on those awkward stops where there’s no bus shelter and you’ve been caught in a downpour. Then, “The moors swollen waterbelly/Sags and quivers…” and suddenly poetry was a foreign land once again, just as the English countryside was to me.
I think part of that is where I was born – Hackney, East London – to parents whose only experience of the English countryside had left a dark shadow: a racist haven, distinctly unfriendly with poor vegetarian food options. But the poets said differently: Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney and Coleridge were amongst my favourites. It was in their shadow that I first took out my OS map, compass and printed instructions to Hughes’ memorial stone in the middle of Dartmoor. I did it alone, somehow I needed to, and I’ve never looked back since.
I’m always drawn to north Norfolk which has a wonderful feel about it. Not just the coastline with huge sandy beaches, many unspoilt by commercialism, but windmills and lovely villages. I particularly love Heydon, a rare privately owned village with a delightful green surrounded by old houses and cottages. A couple of shops, a pub and a blacksmiths are set in this cul-de-sac village. The village has been used as a film location as it’s like stepping back in time. The parish church sits on one edge of the green next to the gate leading to Heydon Hall, a wonderful Tudor hall still lived in by the family who own it.
English countryside is fabulous but London even better,especially for an American!
Boxhill and the South Downs — climbing up the chalk face, picnics at the top, rolling down the lesser slopes, views in all directions, an English childhood encapsulated.
My favorite place in the English countryside is the rolling Sussex downs, the fresh air breezes over the downs from the sea, the country lanes and the gorgeous hedgerows. There is a sense of grandeur and history about the downs, the bodies that have walked the fields before you seem to beckon through history. A walk on the downs grounds you and makes you feel more connected with the universe.
Skylarks rising on Clee Hill, Shropshire while I lie on the ground in the sun with my eyes closed.
I hope that this giveaway is still going — I could not spot a closing date. My favourite thing about the English countryside is the feeling of history — even the remotest places mean something to someone.
Sissinghurst — english history and gardens interwoven in a sleeping palace — bliss.
Sissinghurst really is one of my favourite places in the world LLGxx
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