September 2009 Archives

Auctioneer John Dickins has got in touch to tell me about this lovely silver novelty pig cruet set which will go under the hammer on October 10.

The set, made in the 1880s, will be sold by Dickies Auctioneers at The Claydon Saleroom in Buckingham.

It comprises a pepperette in the shape of a sow, a salt dispenser formed as a boar (the back of which hinges open to reveal a gilded interior, and the tail of which forms the salt spoon). The trough is where the mustard goes and the shovel is the spoon.

"This is without question the best cruet I have ever seen, exceptionally well modelled and made in the Victorian age," says farmer's son, John, who reckons it could make between £400 and £600.

John used be the livestock auctioneer at Thame and Winslow markets until 10 years ago when he swapped animals for antiques. He reckons he still misses working with stock. "Even though," he says, "I've never been kicked in the bo**ocks by a piece of furniture."

Michael Morpurgo is an interesting chap.

I'll always remember interviewing him about the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic (he lives in one of the worst hit areas in Devon) and he described it as "the closest to a war situation we've seen in 50 years".

He's best known as a former Children's Laureate, but with his wife Clare started a fantastic charity, Farms For City Children, in 1976 which has since allowed over 50,000 urban kids to have a week living and working on its three farms.

I've just heard today that one of his books, Farm Boy, has been adapted for the stage and is about to go on tour - so I'll definitely be going to see this.

A sequel to his novel War Horse, it's an account of the changing face of the English countryside, focusing on the bonds between a grandfather and his grandson.

The man who's playing Grandfather, John Walters (pictured above) was recently in Richard Benson's The Farm.

The tour runs from September 28 to October 31. Full details are here.

Note to self: Try to wangle an invite to the World Cheese Awards in 2010.

Not only do I love cheese - but I'm hoping they'll be held in the same place as this year's - Gran Canaria.

This year's event is happening there next week (October 1-3) and features a competition, a congress and a big trade and consumer exhibition.

Apparently, Gran Canaria is a particularly appropriate choice because its cheese consumption per capita is among the highest in the world.

"This is undoubtedly the cheese Olympics," says organiser Bob Farrand. "More cheeses and more cheese people will be together in a single location than ever before."

Here are five pictures of some of the gorgeous artefacts unearted by a treasure hunter in Staffordshire.

A lifesize Aberdeen Angus Bull is emerging from a block of clay in a studio in Wiltshire.

He is the creation of sculptor Judy Boyt and is destined for a new shopping centre in Morpeth in Northumbria.

The mall has been built on the site of the old cattle market, where the 'black bulls' were brought from the borders of Scotland and local area to be sold - and the developers were keen to reflect the history of the site.

I don't like Jeremy Clarkson, but this piece of his in The Times made me chuckle.

If you are a Top Gear fan, incidentally, here's the show's Tractor Challenge.

I've just been chatting to Marc Burford - a guy I know who works on a farm and who's in a band, Sion.

Marc (who's at the front in the photo) tells me their new single, Haze, is out later this month.

You can listen to some of Sion's music on their myspace page or read the feature I wrote about them earlier this year below.

Think rockstar and you're more likely to think stretch limo than John Deere 7920.

But that's what 21-year-old Marc Burford rolls up in.

This, however, is a budding rockstar with a difference - he's also a farmworker.

Marc splits his time between the day job on an arable farm in Hampshire and frantically rehearsing, making music and gigging.

He's been involved with the band since he was 14, has toured abroad and even played the 02 Wireless Festival in London's Hyde Park - but now feels they're on the brink of their first really big break.

Another TV chef in the headlines. After hearing that poor old pickled Keith Floyd has stuffed his last sea bass (he'd have probably done it with lemon, fennel and sweet sea salt) I now read that Clarissa Dickson Wright (she of the full name: Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmeralda Dickson Wright) could soon be the subject of a Hollywood film.

Quite a few of the TV reviewers watched Farmer Wants a Wife. Here's the verdict in The Guardian, the London Paper and The Independent.

The Withnail farmhouse has ended up going to a new buyer, after the £265,000 acution deal fell through.

Kent based architect Tim Ellis has snapped up Sleddale Hall and hopes to transform the ramshackle building (more photos of which are here) into a house.

Mr Ellis, an under-bidder at the auction, hasn't decided on his exact plans but, as a fan of the film, "would like to restore the building in a way that other fans could approve of".

Five more pictures from the film set of Bovine.

Derek, Sarah and Karla made their TV debuts last night on Farmer Wants a Wife.

As predicted, it turned into a tussle between Canadian Karla, who had a "fixation with British men", was keen "to get knocked up" and outdid Viz's Finbarr Saunders when it came to double entendres.

Home counties Sarah, contrastingly, spoke of wanting to "meet a future soul mate".

Forget finding love on the telly - a big rural romantic event, which has been held for more than 150 years, is under way in Ireland.

The legendary Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival, which runs to October 4, attracts singletons from around the world to County Clare.

The get-together became known for attracting bachelor farmers who were in search of a bride (sounds like perfect material for William Trevor).

Visitors can register with the resident matchmaker, Willie Daly, who helps with introductions...

Listen to what Radio 4's Today programme had to say about it.

Don't forget the new series of Farmer Wants a Wife starts on FIVE at 9pm tonight.

I've tracked down tonight's stars - including Derek from Buckinghamshire and he reckons the show could have "a bit of language and lots of sexual innuendo".

Derek ended up finding himself the subject of two women's affections. "It was like three friends spending time together and having a laugh. We all just gelled."

Only trouble is, he wasn't allowed to choose both (after all, the show isn't called Farmer Wants a Threesome). He had to pick one - and it's after that point that it starts getting complicated.

I spent last Friday in Devon on the set of the short film, Bovine. 

News for foodies and TV lovers.

The original TV chef, Keith Floyd, died last night. Coincidentally, a documentary about him made by Keith Allen called Keith Meets Keith aired yesterday evening on C4.

Veteran TV broadcaster Murray Walker has covered a lot of races over the years, but last weekend was a first for him. He was commentating on a pig race.

Forget the glamour of the Monaco Grand Prix, the exuberant occasionally tongue-tied former Formula 1 (try saying that quickly and it won't be just him who's tongue-tied) commentator was on the mic at this unusual contest in Hampshire.

The event, which was the brainchild of farmer Rob Shepherd and attracted more than 1000 visitors, raised £7000 for the Damerham Sports Field fund.

Rob reckons 85-year-old Murray, who lives locally and jumped at the chance to get involved, had a great time. "He had a grin on his face from ear to ear. After all, it's a bit more interesting than opening a fete!"

As this video footage from the BBC shows, it featured five races and a grand finale, with the porkers hot-footing across a 100m course.

If you're planning to go to that exhibition featuring the pigs I mentioned last week, don't bother.

It's a stinker (metaphorically, as well as literally), according to that nice Mr Januszczak.

Haven't had much pet-related news on Field day recently - so here's a video clip that'll make cat lovers laugh. Its behaviour is just so very wrong.

Check out the picture below, too, which was taken by a friend of mine, Wayne Hutchinson. First time I saw it, I didn't notice what the cat was doing - but then I noticed the object in mid-air above its head.

Meet Derek. He's the guy who'll appear in the first episode of the new series of Farmer Wants a Wife.

The show, which is presented by Louise Redknapp and airs at 9pm on FIVE next Wednesday, will follow the 30-year-old's romantic endeavours.

A master cheese grader is set to insure his biggest asset for £5m - his nose.

Nigel Pooley who works at Wyke Farms in Somerset uses his expert sense of smell to select over 12,000 tonnes of cheddar every year.

Remember that short film I've been talking about, Bovine?

Well I'm travelling to Devon where it's being filmed to spend some time on set later this week.

The director, Will McGregor, tells me he's aiming for something "raw and honest" with the 10-minute short, capturing the emotions of a farming family whose herd is hit by TB.

Will cites an eclectic mix of influences and reference points in terms of how he's developed the look and feel of the film. Aranofsky's The Wrestler, McQueen's Hunger, Meirelles' The Constant Gardener plus a hefty dose of British social realism (particularly Mike Leigh and Ken Loach) with a bit of Dardenne brothers and Tarkovsky mixed in for good measure.

I'm intrigued...

Artist Zhang Huan has turned part of the White Cube gallery into a pig sty, as this article in the Telegraph explains.

His installation is a tribute to a pig that survived nearly 50 days in the wreckage of last year's Sichuan earthquake in China and, as a result, became known as 'Cast-Iron Pig'.

Regardless of its sturdiness, that's one porker that could still have done with this cat's earthquake kit.

Good news for Katie Price (aka Jordan).

She may be getting divorced from Peter Andre today, but she will be able to take solace from the fact that she made it into Country Life's 100 Most Powerful People in the Countryside list.

She crept into 100th spot with the mag (which I've mentioned before because of its bizarrely posed ladies) declaring her "an ambassador for the 2012 equestrian sports" and citing the huge queues at her stand at Badminton and Burghley as evidence of her "drawing power".

Alongside the usual suspects, the list has some surprising inclusions, such as Bear Grylls in his role as Chief Scout (24th), explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes for "putting the backbone into Britain" (35th) and Hay Festival founder Peter Florence for showing that "rural Wales can be as intellectually powerful as London or Manhattan" (52nd).

Quite what Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik is doing in there at 46, I can't imagine. Whatever next? Katie Price as a Country Life frontispiece?

Strange, but I always feel compelled to bring you Archers-related news on Field Day even though, as I've said before, I can't bear the show.

Followers of the series, however, might want to check out this new book, The Archers Miscellany, which Tim Teeman is raving about in The Times today. 

Apparently, it even contains an Archer family tree. Dan Brown, watch out...

This man needs to be careful.

Cows have very rough tongues, so he better make sure he holds that bucket in place.

It's a photo that, like the man standing in a field with the strategically placed pumpkin, rather interrupted my concentration when it arrived.

Turns out he's Mr March (something Tarantinoesque about that name, wouldn't you say) in a great 2010 charity calendar - this one put together by Sarah Yarrow, a primary school teacher from Richmond in North Yorkshire.

Couple of TV programmes to look out for.

The painter Sir James Guthrie, a man who had a strong affinity for the countryside, will be discussed in A Portrait of Scotland next Monday (September 7) at 9pm on BBC Four. The 90-minute programme sees Peter Capaldi explore the story of Scotland's art.

A whizz through today's news reveals a few rural-related stories. There's the piglet that's been adopted by a Rhodesian ridgeback, the pears grow in the shape of babies in China and a new novel set in the Irish countryside in the 1950s by William Trevor. If you haven't tried William Trevor, he's well worth a look (his short story The Day We Got Drunk on Cake is simply gorgeous). He was interviewed on R4's Front Row recently - you can listen again here. 

Guest blogger: Heather Gorringe

Heather runs an award-winning business, the wonderfully named Wiggly Wigglers (it sells garden products including worm composters - hence the name.)

The 43-year-old farmer's wife from Herefordshire has one son (Monty), two chickens (Lilian and Valerie), two pigs (unnamed as they will become pork), two chocolate labs (Toast and Jam) and one chocolate cat (Noah). She's big on twittering and in this post explains why.

Artist Jackie Spurrier, a friend of Field Day, will be exhibiting new works next month.

Great picture in The Sun today of an albino otter.

Reminded me of one of my favourite (bad) jokes.

What's a chicken tarka masala?

It's just like a chicken tikka masala - but 'otter!