Did anyone else hear the item on Radio 4 this morning calling for a County of Culture to celebrate all that the countryside has to offer?

Farmstay UK, which represents working farms involved in tourism, is promoting the idea and contesting that we shouldn't just have a City of Culture like Liverpool or Glasgow but include the countryside as well.   It sounds like a cracking initiative, which might get funding if Farmstay Uk has its way.   After all, the British countryside has just as much culture and art, if not more, than most cities.  Just consider the country houses open to the public, the history, the creativity in local craftsmanship.   

Brian Sewell, the terribly posh art critic, is backing the concept of a County of Culture because he says rural areas are undervalued in terms of their cultural contribution.   

Anyway, the big question would be which county deserves County of Culture status first and why?      

That is a fantastic idea and I can think of loads of contenders.

Northumberland could be a good start.

http://www.countrylife.co.uk/countryside/article/315062/Guide-to-Northumberland-s-famous-footballing-brothers-many-castles-oh-and-a-certain-famous-wall.html

IIt may be predictable, but my vote goes to my home county, Nottinghamshire. It's home to some of my favourite landscapes, its been the inspiration for some great books and its history is fascinating.

http://www.countrylife.co.uk/property/article/295703/England-s-counties-Nottinghamshire.html

I will proudly wave the flag for Farmstay.  Stayed on three, one near Stirling, one between Maidstone and Ashford, and one in Yorkshire whose closest town escapes me at the moment....BRADFORD, finally remembered it. 

Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire are the cradle of my families civilization, so I can go with either of them. 

It has to be Gloucestershire of course.

The Old Spot Pig. Gloster Cattle. Cotswold Sheep, Elvers, Cheese, Cider, Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, William and Hubert Parry, Herbert Sumsion Dick Whittington, Three Choirs Festival. Gloucester Cathedral. Tomb of Richard III. Tewkesbury Abbey. Berkeley Castle. Badminton Horse Trials, Frampton Fair, Stow on the Wold. Moreton in Marsh, Tintern Abbey. Cheltenham Town Hall and Pump Rooms.The Cotswolds, The Vale and the Forest of Dean.Source of the river Thames.Poetry, Music, Three professional theatres and six amateur.Grand opera companies, hundreds of church choirs and dozens of choral societies. An active folk scene, skittles and darts teams and a number of excellent restaurants plus hundreds of good ones.

I haven't rested my case however, some may say that the number of 'Royals' (Charles & Camilla. Princess Ann. Duchess of Westminster. Duke and Duchess of Kent and dozen of the minor gentry) living in the County is also an indication of its culture. Oh, I nearly forgot. My wife lives here as well as Burocrat Basher.

Noticed you didn't actually mention Gloucester itself - wise move.

 Dorset! Thomas Hardy and all that, Dorset knobs (biscuits!) the Jurassic coast, oh, and my sheep!

crazysheep:

Dorset! Thomas Hardy and all that, Dorset knobs (biscuits!) the Jurassic coast, oh, and my sheep!

Crazy sheep. But you don't keep Dorset Sheep in Dorset, whereas I keep them in Gloucestershire.

 I do have one poll Dorset ewe! makes a very acceptable cross with the Dartmoor!

i would say its West Somerset And DEVON!

weve got the Ruby Red Devon,North Devon cattle,Devon closewool,Exmoor Horn.

Devon

Can be no other, home of the Yeoman Farmer, home of good cider, South Devon Cattle, and of course, Mole Valley Farmers!

I note you are all flying the flag for your home counties. I'm not prepared to do that!

I currently live in Surrey which is overpriced, over populated and has the culture of.. London.

I'd also struggle to mount a case for Leicestershire where I grew up. The bit I'm from was built on mining so there's a cultural heritage that is quite interesting - but the scenery is pretty uninspiring.

 Somerset.

 Home of glastonbury festival, somerset cider, the somerset carnivals and of course the wurzels!

Isabel Davies:

I note you are all flying the flag for your home counties. I'm not prepared to do that!

I currently live in Surrey which is overpriced, over populated and has the culture of.. London.

I'd also struggle to mount a case for Leicestershire where I grew up. The bit I'm from was built on mining so there's a cultural heritage that is quite interesting - but the scenery is pretty uninspiring.

 

But Leicestershire is next door to Rutland, which is a nice little county and worth at least some votes.

Of English counties, I'd certainly plump for one in the West or South West; I have fond childhood memories of Dorset, Devon and Somerset, but especially the Jurassic coast of Dorset.  I also have fond memories of of Norfolk coast where my grandparents' farm was, but really don't find Norfolk inspiring as a county.

Moving here to Wales, apart from the bits of the north coast blighted by Liverpudlian dreams of seaside delights and the industrial strip to along the south coast, pretty much anywhere outclasses much of England.

Ceredigion, as we all know, boasts the Cardigan Island coastal pathpark and we have a fantastic spread of coastline where you can get some of the best views of whales, dolphins and porpoises in the British Isles as well as beaches little visited by the mass of tourists.  The spectacular spread of the Cambrian Mountains dominates the hinterland from north to south and forms the source of the lovely rivers that intersect a county and water some of the best grazing in the country.  With no major cities, we have instead a collection of fine towns including Cardigan, Aberystwyth, Tregaron, Lampeter, Aberaeron and two universities as well as the National Library of Wales.  Many small fairs and festivals dot the area, from the Lampeter Food Festival to the Aberystwyth Music Festival.

Alternatively, Powys has culture in the form of the Hay on Wye festival, the beauties of the Brecon Beacons and a host of lovely small towns nestled between hills and mountains, including Machynlleth where the last independant Welsh Parliament stood and Builth Wells, home of the UK's best agrucultural show.

Mid Wales is the home of many of the finest native sheep breeds, as well as the famous black cattle.  We also host a panoply of wildlife from the cetacians I've already mentioned to the Red Kites that circle our farmlands.  Of course many will have heard that our land is also populated by dragons and these can be seen in all their glory at the annual dragon festival in Newcastle Emlyn.

 

Isabel Davies:

I note you are all flying the flag for your home counties

I have been silently following this thread and was considering doing just that, but nominating the county of my birth in its former (and current cricketing) boundaries including Birmingham and Coventry.  I could then extol the obvious virtues of 'Shakespeare Country', aka Stratford upon Avon and include other cultural highs like Jaguar (Coventry); Land Rover (Solihull); Aston Martin (Gaydon); Massey Ferguson (Coventry) not to mention the performing arts such as Birmingham Royal Ballet, CBSO; UB40, Black Sabbath, Duran Duran.  In literature, JRR Tolkien; Barbara Cartland and that Edwardian Lady of Country Diary fame.  Artist - Sir Edward Colley Burne-Jones   There are of course very important inventors who added to our culture such as Alfred Bird (custard powder) and don't forget comedians Tony Hancock; Rik Mayall; Jasper Carrot.  The founder of addictive substance manufacturer George Cadbury; the really annoying media people Bill Oddie and Claire Short. 

Unfortunately I can't come up with any local breeds of livestock.  Of course culture is a purely personal thing but I do wonder how having a breed of cattle or sheep named after a county or region thereof could possibly qualify, likewise the beauty or otherwise of the countryside.

I also have another difficulty - I am not sure what European City of Culture status is supposed to to achieve.  Do you get taxpayers' money re-routed via the EU?  Can anyone enlighten me? 

Isabel Davies:

I note you are all flying the flag for your home counties. I'm not prepared to do that!

Likewise I'm not going to nominate the county I currently live, not as first county anyway.  However it is difficult because there are so many beautiful counties to choose from.  Lancashire my home county, and maybe a surprise to many that I support the White Rose too.  The North Yorkshire moors to me are just enchanting.  Maybe that's why I proposed up there...

Devon, Dorset and Cornwall are all well established tourist spots so do we go for somewhere the Townies might understand first of all and then somewhere more diverse second?

But yes lets celebrate our green and pleasant land and educate a few more people into the life in the countryside. 

Isabel Davies:

I note you are all flying the flag for your home counties. I'm not prepared to do that!

I am prepared to do it.

This county is home to the Punch horse, Red Poll cattle and gives it's county name to one of the most prolific breeds of sheep in the world. There is the heritage of wool with the villages of Kersey and Lavenham. It is the home to Snape maltings music venue, one of the largest FWAG memberships has a super county show one of the most hostile attitudes of any government development agencies to agriculture. It is Suffolk. I could of course go on and on.

There is the sanction of the past as destiny of culture as embodied by Tusser, Young, Constable, and Gainsborough which assures that nostalgia of celebrations of the culture is more rooted in looking back than forwards.

Culture is not about history it is about looking forward and progress of people and society, it is not machines and monuments it is about ability and skill. Suffolk has some weaknesses in this area as the nation likes to encourage through traffic, trade and export our youngsters to other parts of the nation for their education at University.

Suffolk needs this county of culture because society in these great Isles over looks such places as they are quite and self reliant. Suffolk could act as a catalyst for agricultural development in this nation if government of parish, local, district and nation were not to continually overlook the value of agriculture in landscape (Suffolk Landscape10/10, heritage 10/10, people 10/10. Infra structure 5/10, Roads 2/10, Government support and recognition 1/10 - to many tories I guess, well we all have a chip to bear!).

 We have the nation's largest population of nimbys, and Richardson does not live in Suffolk he is NFN.

 

Agree with Townie - the south west has got an awful lot going for it.

Having just returned from two weeks holiday in sunny Cornwall, I think it takes some beating in terms of competing for County of Culture.

Cornwall's industrial past with mining and fishing has left a fantastic heritage of things to see and do.  It's also a county rich in art and crafts with

The Tate Gallery at St Ives and a whole vibrant community of artists still producing wonderful work largely off the back of the landscapes of the region.

 Love them or loathe them, even the celebrity chefs Rick Stein and Jamie Oliver have brought their own brand of culture to Cornwall with Stein's

enterprises at Padstock and Jamie's Fifteen restaurant at Watergate Bay bringing fresh opportunities to young people struggling to get jobs.

The mystical stories of Tintagel, the history of Bodmin, Launceston, Penzance and Truro, and the beauty of St Michael's Mount all add up to an amazing

county that could compete well against any city for culture.   There's also the Eden Project, the breath-taking coastal walks and the elegance of National

Trust country houses like Lanhydrock and Trelissick.  Yes, I'm smitten! 

  

Jane King:

Agree with Townie - the south west has got an awful lot going for it.

 

Now now Jane: that was only a prelude to explaining how much better Wales is 

 

Does whales have Ambrosia Custard,Cornish pasteys,Devon Cream Teas,Somerest Cider,Chedder Cheese,Cutcombe YFC,The only 3 stag hunts in the Country,EXMOOR!,Dartmoor,Bodmin,And best of all us West country Folk!?OH ARH